Outcasts United Warren St. John, 2009

Warren St. John Born 1969 in Birmingham, AL Former reporter for the New York Times Two books Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer: A Journey into the Heart of Fan Mania (2004) Outcasts United: An American Town, A Refugee Team, and One Woman's Quest to Make a Difference (2009) Growing up in the South – He grew up in Birmingham (2 ½ hrs from Atlanta) and his dad was from a small Southern town, so he was familiar with the area and understood how people in Clarkston would react to the influx of refugees and changing demographics Current job: CEO and editor-in-chief of Patch, a community-specific news network Rammer Jammer: book about obsessed college sports fans Outcasts United: inspired to write the book after having a conversation in Atlanta with someone involved in the refugee resettlement process; he learned about the Fugees soccer team, went to a game, and met the coach; at that point, he was hooked, and he decided to do more research and tell their story

Outcasts United Setting: Clarkston, Georgia Suburb of Atlanta Tells the story of a soccer team for young refugees, the woman who founded the team, and the town where these people came together Warren St. John was employed at the New York Times when he started researching the Fugees for his next book. He took a leave of absence from his job so he could concentrate full-time on research and writing. His editors asked if he would write pieces along the way, so he published several articles about the Fugees in the NYTimes before the book was actually published.

Coach Luma

Themes Dealing with change Creating a sense of community in an atmosphere in which people don’t seem to have much in common Searching for home Searching for a sense of meaning and safety in an unpredictable world

Important terms Ethnicity = the state of belonging to a social group that has a common national or cultural tradition Refugee = a person who has been forced to leave their country in order to escape war, persecution, or natural disaster

Important terms Assimilation = the process by which a person acquires the social and psychological characteristics of a group Superdiversity = increased diversity not only between immigrant and ethnic minority groups, but also within them

Literary terms Idiom = a phrase that has a figurative, rather than literal, meaning Metaphor = comparison between two things Theme = main idea or underlying meaning of a work

Literary terms Irony = situation or words that suggest the opposite of what you really think or mean Allusion = an indirect or passing reference Mood = the atmosphere of a literary work