Walter Dean
Walter Dean
Walter Kevin Dean is an American former football running back. He played college football for the Grambling State Tigers at Grambling State University. In his senior year, he led the nation in rushing and won the 1990 Walter Payton Award as the most outstanding player in Division I-AA football. He played professional football for one season in the National Football Leagueafter he was selected by the Green Bay Packers in the sixth round of the 1991 NFL Draft...
absorb allow both fits head telling time until
As a writer, I absorb stories, allow them to churn within my own head and heart - often for years - until I find a way of telling them that fits both my time and temperament.
characters cut entire lines major pictures starting time
I live intimately with my characters before starting a book. I cut out pictures of them for my wall. I do time lines for each major character and a time line for the entire novel: What is going on in the world as my characters struggle with their problems?
army basketball game mary playing remember states though time united william
I remember one time being told I could not play in a basketball game at the College of William and Mary because I was black, even though I was playing with a United States Army team.
along finger four iron learned minutes mom sit spend time
Now, my mom did not read well and she read 'True Romance' magazines, but she read with me. And she would spend 30 minutes a day, her finger going along the page, and I learned to read. Eventually, by the time I was four and a half, she could iron and I could sit there and read the 'True Romance.' And that was wonderful.
afford began colleges feelings longer looking race time understand
There was a time I was no longer going to be black. I was going to be an 'intellectual.' When I was first looking around for colleges, thinking of colleges I couldn't afford to go to, I was thinking of being a philosopher. I began to understand then that much of my feelings about race were negative.
lay
Did you just lay down for him or what?
class grabbed threw
I grabbed a sighted guy, ... and threw him to the ground, and I said to the class, 'Did you see that?'
blind great people wide
Doing anything great is like a pyramid. You have to have a wide base, ... The whole idea is to get 5,000 blind people doing judo.
afraid bang blind hard people
A lot of people are afraid blind people are going to break, ... They want to get out and bang it up just as hard as a sighted person.
blind
The one thing you never say to a blind person is, 'Did you see that?'
dinner enjoy
I would enjoy having dinner with the poet/playwright Derek Walcott.
dad
My dad was a janitor for U.S. Radium Corporation, and he stayed there for 37 years. So he didn't read.
bad books celebrated felt found include lives mine needed people raised took
I was raised in Harlem. I never found a book that took place in Harlem. I never had a church like mine in a book. I never had people like the people I knew. People who could not find their lives in books and celebrated felt bad about themselves. I needed to write to include the lives of these young people.
books children foreign given hope people sell
People still try to sell books that way - as 'books can take you to foreign lands.' We've given children this idea that reading and books are a nice option, if you want that kind of thing. I hope we can get over that idea.