Invisible Child Dasanis Homeless Life. Chanel trails him, her chin high, her daughters hair freshly braided. Issuu is a digital publishing platform that makes it simple to publish magazines, catalogs, newspapers, books, and more online. Easily share your publications and get. The latest news articles from Billboard Magazine, including reviews, business, pop, hiphop, rock, dance, country and more. HR0cCUzQSUyRiUyRm9oc29iZWF1dGlmdWxwYXBlci5jb20lMkZ3cC1jb250ZW50JTJGdXBsb2FkcyUyRjIwMTYlMkYxMSUyRkJvdGFuaWNhbC1JbGx1c3RyYXRpb24tS2F0aWVEYWlzeS1PU0JQLTIuanBn?checksum=6d2c139f92842cc7161805f1711feb6db63c4e1a&format=j' alt='Office 2007 Hangs On Installments' title='Office 2007 Hangs On Installments' />It is a rare moment of belonging in a year of rootlessness. As the sun sets, Dasani and her family step out for some air. A man brushes past them, walking along West 1. Street. His hooded sweatshirt is pulled low over his face, which is dusted by a salt and pepper beard. He moves with the purposeful air of a celebrity in hiding. I seen your videos, Chanel says, stopping him in his tracks. For years, Dasanis family had been watching the DVDs of this former convict turned fitness guru who calls himself Giant. Download All Files Ftp Directory Vb Net Excel on this page. His team, Bartendaz, combines pull up acrobatics on city playgrounds with a militaristic message of self improvement, steering followers away from drugs and alcohol to the bars of health. Giant looks Chanel up and down, noting the open beer she has sheathed in a brown paper bag. Bud dont make you wiser, he observes, flashing a smile that reveals a perfect row of teeth. Chanel ignores the comment. She is already thinking through the possibilities presented by this accidental meeting. She steers Dasani to some empty pull up bars at a nearby playground. Show him what ya got she calls out. Giant, whose name is Hassan Yasin Bradley, accepts the impromptu audition the way a famous film director takes the waiters latest screenplay. While Giant remains on the fringe of prime time America, he has his share of acolytes in Harlem. Dasani springs to the bars and begins to knock out an impressive set of pull ups, her shoulders popping with the muscles of an action figure. Giant is still chatting with Chanel when he looks over and pauses. Whoa, he says. Chanel senses that she may be on to something. She explains that Dasani has been doing pull ups in Fort Greene Park for years. She can also dance, do gymnastics, run track. All she lacks is training of any kind. Now it is Giants mind that races through the possibilities. The girl is uncommonly strong. She has a telegenic smile. Shes spunky. She seems like just the kind of girl we could use on our team, he says, grinning at Dasani, who grins back. Giant quickly explains how his team works It has a limited partnership with Nike that will hopefully lead to bigger things. In the meantime, the team earns modest pay in exchange for holding training clinics, and performing at concerts and other events. At the very least, he concludes, Dasani merits a proper tryout. Meet me at the park next Saturday, he says, leaving his number before disappearing. Dasani lies awake that night. It is the first time in her life she can see a path to something else. What exactly, she is not sure. She has not even had her tryout. But for a girl who has spent her life tempering expectations, she cannot stop herself from dreaming just a little. Ima save all my money so we can get a house, she tells her mother. Use your money for you, Chanel says. Well be O. K. No, Dasani insists. Ima save all my money. Money is especially tight. This might explain why, in Dasanis words, Mommy goes loco during an inspection of the familys room at Auburn. There is a knock at the door. Chanel lets in the inspector, who promptly demands that she surrender the familys forbidden microwave oven. Chanel refuses. She cannot afford to buy a new one, nor can she fathom having to wait in line every night to reheat 1. The inspector leaves, and by the time two security officers with the Department of Homeless Services arrive to confiscate the microwave, Chanel has hidden it in a friends room. As for the inspector, Chanel offers to punch that bitch in the face. Dasani believes that her mothers biggest problem is her mouth. She reflects on this as her homeroom teacher, Faith Hester, delivers a lesson that week on personal responsibility. I dont ever wanna hear, Well, my mother told me to do this, unless you know that thats the right thing, Miss Hester tells the class. The teacher has shimmied into an empty desk next to Dasani. I am telling you, as sure as Im sitting here, Miss Hester says, her arm resting across Dasanis desk, youre gonna be held responsible for the choices you make. Hands shoot up in the air. Yes, Miss DasaniDasani recounts how her longtime rival, Sunita, began following her after school, and slapped her. And so, my mom is a violent parent, so you cant tell her anything about fights because then she gonna want to get a stick and tell you to knock the chick out. Miss Hester arches her brows. O. K., Miss Hester says. Now, let me ask you Do you think that was the right thing to doThe class erupts in chaos. O. K., O. K. Miss Hester yells. Ima tell you what I would have told my kid. They fall silent. Not everybody has something to lose, Miss Hester says. You care about your life, she continues. There are people out there who are so hurt they dont care about leaving here. They are looking for an opportunity to do something crazy and ridiculous. They have nothing to live for. Dasani ponders this. I am telling you to listen to your internal barometer, Miss Hester says. Think about your next move before you make your next move. Dasani is still in bed the next morning when her mother rises from a fitful sleep and heads to the corner store with her sister Avianna. All around, men are leaving the projects to report to early work shifts. Chanel stands in the cold, watching them. Your father should be doing that, she says. Just that week she had stopped a flag waver at a construction site. It seemed like a job that Chanel could perform beautifully. The woman told her about an organization that helps people with G. E. D. s find work. For Chanel, words like G. E. D. end a conversation. It has been 2. 0 years since she sat in a high school classroom. She can feel like a foreigner in her own country, unable to speak the language of bank accounts and loan applications. When filling out medical forms, she stops at the box requiring a work number, frozen by its blankness. I want my kids to be able to come see me at my job, pick up my paycheck, she says that afternoon, standing with Dasani outside Au Bon Pain, where the days pastries will soon sell at a discount. Just be reliant on my money, you know what Im sayinDasani stares at her mother anxiously. Im tired of my kids seeing me dull, Chanel says. Its my time to shine. I dont see you dull, Dasani says quietly. I see you shine. Dasani spends the week before her tryout for Bartendaz in focused preparation, training on the fitness bars next to the basketball court in Fort Greene Park in Brooklyn. At night, she replays the teams DVDs over and over, studying the members closely. At school, she tells no one. This new dream is carried on practical terms. It is less about helping herself than about making her parents whole. In the meantime, Dasani worries about the most immediate challenge, which is to get to Harlem on time. Punctuality is a miracle in her family. On Saturday morning, there is no sign of Dasani as the Bartendaz start to warm up at the playground at 1. Street and Lenox Avenue. Soon they are causing a commotion that slows the traffic. One after another, they fly onto the bars, whipping through moves that seem to defy gravity. Some of them wear black T shirts with the logo of a man bending a bar, his brain lit by a bulb. Salute that mind Giant calls out to his followers. There is Cinderblock, Honey Bee, Sky, Earth, Water, Blaq Ninja, Salubrious and Mel Matrix. Giants second in command is Dr. Good Body, a self described athletic alchemist the library is my alma mater who transforms the base metal of a persons character into gold. Giant orbits around his team, issuing commands in a lyrical code that is impenetrable to outsiders. He is especially fond of abbreviations. A favorite is C. A. P. Character, Attitude and Personality. His nickname, Giant, stands for Growing Is a Noble Thing. It is a bold name for a man who stands just 5 foot 7.