Shooting in the Dark
“Basketball gave me an identity completely severed from my family.”
The basketball hoop in my driveway was not straight. When my mom and I assembled it, we saw the marks on the sides showing where the poles needed to line up only after pounding the poles into the cement. This guaranteed the backboard would never be parallel with the ground.
Highlights
Easy layup,Easy layup
Fake left.
Three dribbles with my right hand.
Does this mean I’m on the team?
Run to the elbow.
Pop out at the wing.
Pass right, run left.
Go to the opposite line from where you passed.
Don’t mess this up. Don’t mess this up. Don’t mess this up.
What if I quit?

Maggie Thach Morshed is a former award-winning sports journalist. She has an MFA from UC Riverside, Palm Desert. She is currently at work on a memoir about living and teaching in South Korea. Much of her writing revolves around the themes of immigration, identity, and assimilation. @magsthach
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