Messina Times
Underdogs: The Best Type of Dogs
What is an Underdog
“A competitor thought to have little chance of winning a fight or contest.” An underdog is a person who has all odds against them. Many movies and stories based on an underdog. An example of that would Rudy Ruettiger from the movie “Rudy”. A dyslexic student at the University of Notre Dame who had to try four times to get in has a passion for Notre Dame football and all he wants to do is play for the team. After working as hard a possible to play he gets a place on the scout team. The team was only useful for practices and for back up players for players on the varsity team. Finally on his senior year at his last home game he got put into play defensive end for three plays of the game on his finally play of the game he got a sack and that's all his stat record ever showed. Underdogs have many good qualities such as that even though they wouldn’t be bet on they still tried to overcome what ever obstacle they had to. It is important for the underdogs to have this quality because they show real perseverance. Those are the type of people that good stories and differences in the world.
A Real Wizard
J.K. Rowling went through a series of events before she was successful. She had to work and believe that she would get somewhere. In 1995 J.K. Rowling was unemployed and single in Scotland with her young daughter writing stories in coffee shops. The year before she had just finished her first Harry Potter story “Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone”. Also in 1995 she was trying to find someone who would publish her book. She was turned down by 12 publishing companies all of them thought the book was inadequate and that it wouldn’t go anywhere. Until eventually Bloomsbury got set to publish the book in 1996. Then in 1997 the book was auctioned to Scholastic Inc. for $105,000 and also won the Nestle Smarties Book Prize. In 1998 “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone wins the British Book Award for Children’s book of the Year. Also the next book of the series ‘Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets’ is published. Another event that also happened in 1998 was that Warner Brother’s purchase the rights to turn the first two books in the series into films. In 1999 J.K.’s third book of the series ‘Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban’ is released and wins the Smartie’s Prize making J.K. the first author to win the prize three times in a row. Next in the year 2000 ‘Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire’ is released. Also Queen Elizabeth II of England makes J.K. an Officer of the Order of the British Empire and The University of Exeter awards her with an honorary Dlitt degree. In 2003 her fifth book of the series is released ‘Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix’ is released. Then two years later the next book of the series is released, ‘Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince’. In 2006 J.K. is named the greatest living British writer in a poll by The Book Magazine. Forbes names her the second richest female entertainer in the world. Lastly in 2007 J.K. finishes writing ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows’ and the book becomes the fastest selling book of all time. Even though J.K. was set back and went through adversity she believed that her story was great and adhered to it.
Overcoming Bullying
Many celebrities did not always have a good life. In fact many of them were bullied at a young age. Two examples would be Jennifer Lawrence and Miley Cyrus. Both are successful entertainers but Jennifer is a red carpet actress while Miley is a famous singer. Even with their success they both had to face adversity. Both back in elementary school they were both bullied. Jennifer had to switch schools a lot because of bullying. She quotes “this one girl gave me invitations to hand out to her birthday party that I wasn’t invited to.” When Miley was a kid she says she was a smaller scrawnier kid and she would get pushed and shoved by bigger older girls. Even though Jennifer and Miley faced different types of bullying they both fell out of place in the world. An overwhelming number of celebrities thought they were inadequate and they all had to face adversity.
The King
1950s and 1960s segregation was at its highest. Many African Americans were beaten, ignored, given dirty looks, and forced to sit in separate parts away from white people. But there were many great civil rights activists during the time to solve the segregation. One of the greatest activists was Martin Luther King Jr. He was a protester that would protest peacefully. Even though many people did not believe that the African Americans would not get the rights they deserved. But MLK had a conviction that they would get somewhere by protesting peacefully. One way MLK helped solved segregation was the bus boycott. The African Americans would walk or ride bikes around instead of paying for the bus. They did this because if a white would want a seat where a African American was sitting the African American would have to get up or either move to the back or stand up. Eventually the bus companies started to have less and less money until the African American were let back on to sit where ever they wanted. Another way MLK helped black rights was the Selma to Montgomery march. In the march a mixture of African Americans and whites marched to Montgomery from Selma and for rights. On the way they were beaten, gassed and arrested. Even though people didn’t know how things would go Martin Luther King Jr believed that they would get their rights.
Everybody Hates Chris
Many people do not know that the show “Everybody Hates Chris” was the actual childhood of African American comedian and actor Chris Rock set in the 1980’s. In Chris’s childhood he move to Brooklyn, New York where he grew up in a bad environment. Despite having a lot of adversity he had a conviction that he would get somewhere. Growing up in a white neighborhood of Brooklyn Chris would constantly would get bullied and come home bruised and sore. As he got older the bullying got worse. Eventually in high school Chris dropped out and had to work in fast food. Even all Chris’s setbacks he was able to become successful and starred in many shows and movie.