Chris Crutcher
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Chris Crutcher
Chris Crutcher was born on July 17, 1946 in Dayton, Ohio. His father was an Air Force pilot and his mother was a homemaker. Chris grew up in Cascade, Idaho. As a child there was not much for kids to do in Idaho, a tiny logging community north of Boise, so many children turned to sports. Chris got his education from Eastern Washington State College in 1968. His hobbies were running , basketball, swimming, biking, and competing in triathlon. Chris has an older brother who was valedictorian of his class. Chris had a lot of pressure , so his goal was to be a perfect C student. He explained, “If I could have done it exactly right I would never have gotten any other grade than a C, but I would screw up and get a D and then Id need a B to counter balance” (Collier 86). Chris loved sports. He didnt become very good at basketball until after the 12th grade. He was a bench warmer. In track he was somewhere in the middle. Football was his best sport, only because it required less athleticism. Chris said, “finding out how far you can push yourself if you have the support of your friends, thats very important to me about sports” (Collier 86). Chris now lives in Spokane, WA. He is a writer, therapist, teacher, and child advocacy worker. He received his teaching certificate in 1970. He taught at Kennewick Dropout, Lakeside, and Oakland, CA school from 1973-1976. He was a director from 1976-1980 of a Community Mental Health Center in Spokane, WA, a child protection team specialist from 1980-1982, a child and family mental health professional from 1982-1995, and a full time writer from 1995 and it still writing today. Most of Crutchers books took place in the Northwest.
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Crutcher got along with his parents so well that he dedicated Running Loose to them and
included them as characters. Crutcher said, “theyve been a real influence on my life,” he told Idaho statesman. “They let me go. Its real important to have been allowed not to carry around your parents garbage. I knew I could take off and go hitch hiking around the country and I wouldnt lose my mom and dad. ” My mom gave me a sense of passion, of doing things that werent necessarily rational, of going with my feelings. And my dad was the balance point to that. He was a tremendously rational man, the problem solver. He gave me an ability to make things simple and get to what the problem really is” (Crutcher in Hedblad 60). Chris is clearly great with his characters, themes, and styles or writing.
Some of his books are Running Loose, Stotan , The Crazy Horse Electric Game, Chinses Handcuffs, Ironman, and Deep End Marrow. Running Loose is about a boy who has a perfect life. He is the starter for the football team, has perfect parents, nice friends, and a great girlfriend. Problems start to happen when Louies football coach tells someone to injure a very good African- American football player on another team. Louie quits in protest, but his teammates and the community will not support him , even when the football coach lies about what happened. Then Louie is killed in a car accident. Louie faces loss and the unfairness. His books are the need for people to take control of their own lives, confront the wrongs done to them , and move on in constructive ways. Crutcher said, ” one thing that happens when Im writing a story is I get immersed in it. By the times Im two or three chapters into a book, my characters are real people to me. They may do things that surprise me, but I cant remember a time when I hesitated” (Hall). His books are centered around young male high school students
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that play sports like baseball, basketball, football, swimming, wrestling, and track. These kids are far removed from the “Jock” stereotype. They are faced with problems, moral dilemmas, and tough choices with which they struggle. He uses high school athletics as the proving ground for personal achievements by testing their limits (Hedblad 60). The boys become stronger and more mature individuals. Crutcher comes up with challenging topics like sickness, death, divorce, rape, sexual abuse, disability, discrimination, AIDS, abortion, youth gangs, and prostitution. Most of the teens cope with attitudes and actions of their parents, coaches, teammates, and friends. Crutchers books stress integrity, dignity, honor, courage, tenacity, survival, and hope. He stresses the joy of competitive sports and between both sexes and romantic relationships in his works. He has created well -realized female characters in supporting roles (Hedblad 60). He included first and third-person narrations. He uses formats like a letter and diary to make his books. Crutcher spends his career in helping troubled teens deal with their situations.
All of Crutchers book have a theme that teaches people about values. In Stotan he stresses life doesnt forgive you because youre young and ignorant. Life only has to be true to itself. The Crazy Horse Electric Game, Crutcher stresses about having one more last chance and to rebuild your spirit and body and confront the life which you have run from. In Chinese Hancuffs the message is in order to be free of the things that hold you, you must let go. In Ironman the message is not everybody you though were your friends are your friends. People go behind your back and do cruel things. But you still need to go on and push yourself