...racist Thought And Action Says Far More

My First Book, 'running Loose', Was Censored Back In 1983 Or '84. Every Book I've Written Since Has Been Censored Somewhere.

I Have Made A Career Of Creating Characters Who Fight School Authority And Chomp At The Bit To Get Out Into The 'real' World And Live Their Lives, Mostly Because That's The Kind Of Teenager I Was.

There Is No Jesus Without Judas, No Martin Luther King, Jr., Without The Klan; No Ali Without Joe Frazier; No Freedom Without Tyranny. No Wisdom Exists That Does Not Include Perspective. Relativity Is The Greatest Gift.

Certainly Working With Teens Keeps Me Up To Date With Language And With Certain Kinds Of Thinking. I Often Feel Like I Have To Go Back To That 17-year-old Chris Crutcher, And That Forms The Core Voice. I Can Draw On Teens From 1964 To 2001 To Find A Part Of The Voice I Need.

...the Magnificent Seven Consisted Of One Swimmer Of Color, A Representative From Each Extreme Of The Educational Spectrum, A Muscle Man, A Giant, A Chameleon, And A One-legged Psychopath. When I Envision Us Walking Seven Abreast Through The Halls Of Cutter High, Decked Out In The Sacred Blue And Gold, My Heart Swells.