Improbably and slowly, in ebb and flow fashion, a sense of coexistence and respect evolved, not least because a number of Somali youth joined the Lewiston High Blue Devils soccer team under coach Mike McGraw. history - and, not surprisingly, an electric atmosphere of racial tension developed. The per capita demographics were unprecedented in U.S. Starting in 2001 and over several years, almost 7,000 refugees, mostly Somalis, relocated to Lewiston. "One Goal" is about the high school soccer program in Lewiston, Maine - a predominately white mill town of about 36,000 with a crumbling economy. That's the context in "One Goal," the passionate, wonderfully reported and riveting new book by Amy Bass, who appears Sunday at the Savoy Bookshop & Cafe in Westerly. On the other hand, what if "Soccer is life!," as expressed by a high school athlete at a transcendent moment extending far beyond the green-grass parameters of an athletic field, is instead a metaphor for gratitude, acceptance, affirmation and joy in a fashion that unified an entire conflicted community? A Maine high school soccer team united a whole townĪs a bumper sticker or the sort of exultation trotted out by a sports broadcaster trying to manufacture drama, "Soccer is life!" isn't particularly clever or even memorable.
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