Balls Deep (2016–…): Season 1, Episode 7 - Last Week of High School - full transcript
The senior class of two Gary, Indiana high schools get ready to graduate. SENIORS!
♪♪
[ Indistinct conversations ]
Thomas: Holy shit.
Is that a Corvette?
It's a fucking Vette.
I told you.
He don't know what he's doing
driving that bitch is like...
[ Engine revs loudly ]
And he got pipes on it.
I got my nigga Tom here,
he with a camera crew,
like I told y'all motherfuckers.
I ain't walking in with you.
I'm walking in by my damn self.
I'm sorry.
Come on, Tom.
Uh...
We gonna find something
to do tonight.
Okay. Yeah.
We walk out there -- We walking
out there together, bro.
You ain't my date, but we walking
out there together, all right?
Okay. Thank you.
You -- You ever fuck
an 18-year-old black bitch?
Um...
[ Cheers and applause ]
- ♪ Let's do it
- Yeah!
♪ Get to it
♪ Let's do it
♪ Come on
♪ Come on
♪ Let's do it
♪ Get to it
♪ Let's do it
Oh!
[ Indistinct conversations ]
Thomas: Graduating high school
is the quintessential
American coming-of-age ritual.
It's the one
we all go through no matter
where we are in the country,
no matter what background
we come from,
unless you're
a weird homeschool kid.
As more kids go to college
and adolescence gets extended
from 18 often to the 20s
for a lot of people,
it's a rite of passage
that many communities,
I feel, take for granted.
However, in a community
like Gary,
where not everyone graduates
high school and not everyone
makes it to 18 alive,
it's still a big deal.
It's still when you become
a man... or a woman.
It's been a decade and a half
since I graduated high school,
and I have no clue
what kids get up to these days.
Are you worried at all about,
like,
teachers smelling weed off you?
Man, they smell that shit
every fucking day.
I met a kid named Keith
who goes to a school here
called New Tech.
Do we smile or no -- no smile?
No, man, we -- we --
we do anything, man.
Oh. No smile.
Okay.
They had their prom pretty late.
So, I went with them.
It was a pretty fun time,
like very regular prom-y,
sort of like a lot of, like,
grand ambitions of getting
and laid and getting,
like, completely wasted,
kind of pared down to sort
of just going to the thing,
dancing a lot,
hanging out pretty much
the same places
you would normally on, like,
a high-school weekend,
but in extremely
fancier clothing.
Wanted to make sure
he had a good time on his prom!
Oh!
Keith's also got a friend
named Triston
who goes to the fancy arts
school across town.
I got restricted from parties
by my girlfriend.
How long does this restriction
last?
Is it indefinite? Life?
For as long as she's there,
that restriction's there.
Keith and Triston are both
graduating at the same time.
They're gonna be sort
of our guides
to the underworld
of the last week of high-school.
Monte calling.
Hello?
Yeah.
Your phone's blowing up.
Yeah, nigga.
Where you at?
You need to come pick me up.
- Where you at?
- Come to my block.
Nigga, I'm on feet.
Any day, he'll go right there.
That boy is faithful.
I swear.
You got good friends, man.
Oh, yeah, man, we --
Yeah, man, we --
we -- we all we got.
Whew.
- How you doing, Monte?
- I'm good.
I just came from a job
interview. I got a job today.
Oh, yeah? Where at?
- Charley's in the mall.
- Oh, they hired you, bro?
- Yeah, I start --
- Slick!
- I start today at 4:30.
- Aw, shit! [ Laughs ]
[ Laughs ] Yeah.
That's what the fuck
I'm talking about.
Now, that's it, bro.
The whole squad got jobs now.
Gary has kind
of like a track system
with their high schools.
Instead of having,
like, everybody
in the same building, there's,
like, a separate school for,
like, the arts and gifted kids,
and then New Tech
is like the trade school.
That's where Keith
and his friends go.
What's this thing? This is my senior
checkout card.
I need this to get my cap and
gown so I can graduate.
Oh, cool. So, it's like
a little scavenger hunt.
Yeah.
Mr. Bodie, the man
I'm looking for.
We need that golden signature.
Mr. Smith,
we need some signatures.
I need your John Hancock.
- For what?
- Our blue cards.
- No, no, I'm not signing it.
- You ain't signing it?
- Oh, I can't sign this.
- Why?
'Cause I don't want you
to leave.
Ah!
- You got a pen?
- I got -- Man.
Do anybody have a pen
for this man, please?
Rumor has it
there's an electric chair
back there for the bad kids.
No, no, no, no, no.
Ms. Hogan
already signed right there.
I had you.
You remember --
Oh, yes. There? Okay.
Yeah.
So, Keith, Michael,
and Monte all got,
I think,
most of their signatures
they need to pick up
their cap and gown.
That's like the order
of business today.
No, I ain't got no balance.
They --
Matter of fact,
when they sent me my stuff,
they didn't even send anything.
- Like what?
- I don't know.
You got to call my people.
Call your people?
[ Laughs ]
It's like whatever muscle was
in the school has just relaxed,
and all the kids are just
kind of floating around.
Attendance is pretty much
a formality at this point.
So, tomorrow the last day?
All right, I'm --
I'm finna to go get all my stuff
out of my locker, too.
My jumpsuit and shit.
This is the shop, bro.
Which one's yours?
Is that the Dodge?
Yep.
My bumper fucked up.
Crazy story.
Man, we spent a lot
of hours in here, boy.
This is gonna be --
This is gonna be a good memory.
So, this is Keith's car
that he screwed up.
I think a radiator blew
and warped the cylinders,
which probably means
it's a junker.
But he's still
been working on it.
He has to get it out of here
on the last day of school
because obviously it would just
sit around the rest
of the summer if he didn't.
It's kind of an interesting.
I think an auto shop in,
like, kind of like
suburban world
is sort of just like
a last-ditch attempt to reform,
you know, basically juvenile
delinquents for the bottom
of the class, but here in Gary,
it feels like not only, like,
everybody's really excited
about being in auto shop,
but it's like
an extremely valid skill.
It's put Keith
and Monte on the track to --
to get jobs out of --
out of the city.
How long you been
in that program?
- What?
- Auto.
KEITH:
This is my third year.
When I started off in here,
we was doing engines and stuff,
but now we ain't really
doing nothing.
- Why not?
- Oh, 'cause last year,
during the summer,
they had a big misunderstanding,
and they auctioned off
everything we had in here.
Like, we had cars in here.
We had an old Benz
in here, a Cadillac.
The school sold them off?
- Yeah, the school sold them off.
- Huh.
Young Man: Tag it, bro.
All right.
[ Beeping ]
Gary, Indiana's
in pretty rough shape.
It was once a thriving steel
town in the middle
of the last century
and birthplace
of the Jackson 5
that got hit hard by the forces
that affected the Rust Belt.
De-industrialization
took the jobs away.
White flight took the tax base
out into the exurbs,
and what was left is
what you see behind me --
a de-urbanized, rotting hulk.
For the kids graduating this
year from Gary's high schools,
this is what the town
has always looked like.
It kind of goes without saying
it's a pretty harsh place
to come of age.
This is G, Man,
this is Broadway.
Back in the day --
they'll show you pictures --
this used to be lined with cars,
all these businesses open,
thriving,
folks walking up the street
like it was New York.
You know,
they'd be crowded as shit.
- Yeah.
- That's how it used to be, man.
And I look at it.
I'm like, "Damn,
I wish I could have lived here
back when it was like that."
Has it always been like this
for you, or is it in the middle?
For me? For me? Yeah.
[ Horn honks ]
Ah, come on, now.
I know y'all been hitting
all these potholes in Gary --
or seeing them.
Yeah. The roads are
a little rough, man.
Psht. A little?
That's the school we used to go to.
It's abandoned now.
That field has not been mowed
in a long time.
That's how all the schools
is around here
that's abandoned and all that.
Is that 'cause there's,
like, less kids?
Like, what's --
Is it just money,
or is it because people
have moved out?
No, what it is, is property tax.
You know, they get money
off property tax.
Right.
All these houses are abandoned
or becoming abandoned,
and then the people
that do have houses --
they're not paying their taxes.
You know, they're getting
foreclosed and all of that.
That causes our schools
to have no money.
Ah, cool. So, we're in actual
Gary right now, right?
This is actual Gary,
and it's kind
of a bad part of town.
Right.
- Oh, shit.
- Yeah.
Actual setup. Yeah.
Yeah, he --
Young Man:
Now, what it this?
[ Indistinct conversations ]
[ Laughter ]
- What's that?
- Blessing the bottles.
Thomas:
Oh. How do you do that?
- Just --
- Just tap it a couple times.
- Yeah.
- Tap it a couple times?
- Okay.
- Yeah.
All right, come on.
We got an hour, Anton.
When Gary had its first
black mayor, Gordon Hatcher --
that's when all the white people
started really
moving out of Gary,
and then all the town started
changing their names from Gary.
Like, Gary used to be way bigger
than this.
- Yeah.
- Now it's Gary, the hood part,
and then there's Miller,
which is the beach part,
and then they got Lake Station,
which used to be
called East Gary.
That's just Lake Station,
Indiana, now.
Yeah, y'all came to one of
the greatest cities in America.
Y'all just don't know it.
This is one
of the hitter cities.
- Gary?
- Let me tell you. Yeah.
Young Man: Well, we're about
to throw this on...
- You got to get the powder.
- Ugh!
Keith: Gary been filled
with a lot of good people,
and it still is.
Got superstars
coming out of Gary, you know?
So, they getting ready
right now, you know?
you don't really hear them
right now 'cause they're
going to college and doing
all this shit. I'm telling you.
You gonna hear a lot of good
stuff coming out of Gary
'cause it's not all, you know,
drinking and smoking
and doing all this, you know?
Now, y'all might catch that
at Emerson with my guy Triston.
That man -- He's, like, taking,
like five A.P. classes,
senior-class president...
- Yeah?
- Bless it.
...all that shit, you know?
Y'all gonna get
a different glimpse
when y'all catch him and shit.
Hey, everybody be quiet. This
is my mama. This is my mama.
Hello?
[ Bell clanging,
train whistle blows ]
Thomas: Keith met Triston
back in middle school,
where they had class together.
While Triston's dad
still lives right
down the road from New Tech...
Holy shit.
...Triston drives every morning
to another school, Wirt/Emerson,
which has a program
for gifted kids.
- Morning.
- Is this you?
- Yep.
- Fuck, dude.
- Yeah.
- This is nice.
How are you?
Looking good.
Thank you.
Is this for the last week
of school,
or is this your usual
school attire?
Whenever we get
to dress down, I --
- I kind of dress a little up.
- That's weird.
If I was out of uniform,
I'd probably be wearing, like --
like a metal T-shirt
or something.
Triston's not only
class president
and only a full load
of college-level courses.
He's also lead sax
in the school band,
not unlike Lisa Simpson.
How you feeling
about everything?
Is it weird or...?
I really don't know.
No. I'm -- I'm gonna
go straight to college
and do the same thing I been
doing in high school, so...
- Where you going?
- Morehouse.
Summer's rolling out before you.
- Yeah.
- What are your plans?
- Are you gonna...
- Work and --
and try to enjoy as much as I
can in between work, you know?
Just waiting on
Triston's girlfriend.
- What's her name?
- China.
China. Okay.
- Giving China a ride.
- Mm-hmm.
- Makeup.
- Cool girl.
[ Chuckles ]
Uh... Hi.
You ain't gonna
say hi to nobody?
[ Laughs ]
How you doing?
- Hey. I'm Thomas.
- I'm China.
- China, great to meet you.
- Great to meet you, too.
You got a little thing
on your face.
Oh, yeah?
♪ Do-do-do-doo-doo
Thanks to Triston's
flashy choices,
I guess I'm out of a ride now
since he only had space
for his girlfriend.
I don't know if that was
kind of by design,
but fortunately I've been
to high school before,
I know how things work,
and I have my own car.
So, crisis averted.
Let's get to school.
So, Wirt/Emerson's in Miller,
which is kind of
like the nice part of Gary.
It's up by the lake.
There's a beach here.
It's got a little main street
with brew pubs and cafés
and an indie art gallery.
And it's --
it's a fitting place for, like,
the nice art school
where the fancy kids sort of go.
Beat us. Cool.
Are you guys on time or...?
- Yeah, we're fine.
- Cool.
- All right.
- Yeah, our class
wouldn't mind anyway.
We're -- We're done.
Awesome.
What do you got first?
- Government.
- Government.
Cool. You?
- Same?
- Same.
- Same.
- Ah, cool.
- Yeah.
- Same classes.
We have all the same classes.
What do kids here think about,
like, New Tech kids?
I-I really couldn't tell you.
Do you know what they think
about Emerson kids?
Is there, like, a reputation?
Are you guys like the --
the smart ones?
We do, but I don't want
to say it on camera.
What is it?
Oh, okay.
It's -- It's --
I-I can tell you,
but if it's too much,
cut it out.
They -- They think we're, um,
a lot of gays in this school.
Oh, okay.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So, they say we're
a s-- a softer school.
It's not you saying it.
Softer school. Okay.
- I got it.
- Yeah, so...
That's a softer way
of putting it. Cool.
Thomas: Part of Wirt/Emerson's
reputation
comes from
its performing-arts program.
It's kind of like a Gary version
of the high school from "Fame."
- This is me.
- That is you.
Yeah, this is, whew, 1980?
- I like your hair.
- Yeah.
It's great.
So, can you tell me who's --
who's dancing in there
right now?
You've got Laurel Brummett...
Mm-hmm.
...Jazzlyn Brokemond,
and Whitley Moses.
- Okay.
- We have one other senior,
but she's not dancing.
I understand that she's gonna
go into the Coast Guard.
- Ah.
- Yeah, so...
Wow.
That's kind of not --
as far from dance
as you can get.
Right. Well, I --
You do have to have strong legs
on those boats, though.
Yeah. I'm a Marine.
- Is that right?
- Yeah.
The other three girls --
are they sticking with it?
Oh, yeah.
Laurel and Jazzlyn
are definitely going for
being professional dancers.
What I try to tell people is,
if you're going into dance
to be famous...
Mm-hmm.
...or get rich,
then you probably
need to do something else.
If you're going into dance
because you love the art form,
then you are okay,
you're in the right place,
and you're probably
gonna be successful.
Everybody that has been
in our program...
Mm-hmm.
...that said that they
wanted to be professionals
and were willing
to take the advice
that we gave them --
they're dancing.
- Yeah?
- They're making a living.
These kids come from places
where competition is everything.
Yeah.
You know,
and the issue comes in is,
like, what kind of foundation
do they have coming from home?
Because Gary is not
an easy place to live.
And if you're soft or timid,
you know, it'll eat you up.
It's like training
with weights on.
Mm-hmm.
No, no, no.
It's like if you were walking.
Walk. Walk.
Yeah. Yes.
You'd be surprised
what they could do.
- Yeah?
- Yeah.
Ah, ah.
Watch.
[ Laughs ]
Oh, my God!
Okay.
I'm gonna skip rocks.
That's what I'm gonna do.
- That's a good one.
- Right here?
No. No. This -- This --
Is this even a rock or --
That's a square rock.
Nope. Nope.
Never mind.
Uh-huh.
Caught the wind on that one.
Hey, Triston, True Religion!
Oh, my jeans! True --
Okay, I'm good. I'm good.
[ Laughs ]
This is probably
the most wholesome time
I've spent on a beach
in decades.
These are kind
of definitively good kids.
Seniors!
'15!
'15.
So, what are your guys'
plans for summer?
Are you guys gonna hang around?
It's work, work for me.
And then --
And then you got college.
And are you going
to Morehouse, too, or...?
Mnh-mnh.
Purdue Calumet here.
Oh, cool.
Thomas: So, it's dawning on me
that these are,
like, straightforward good kids,
what you would call nerds,
but there's levels of nerd.
They're not,
like, kind of the sweaty, like,
unkempt nerds of our youth
who couldn't hold down
a girlfriend.
No! Oh!
Keith:
Don't drop her.
Triston looks
like he's in a John Hughes movie
with his sports car
and China there.
They're kind
of like nerd aristocracy.
You can't --
You can handle the thumb, China.
You can't handle --
[ Laughs ] Ow.
Thomas:
You guys nervous about,
like, a last summer together,
or is it...?
Yeah. No, no, no, it's...
Yeah. I may brush it off
a lot, but, yeah, I'm --
yeah, I'm really nervous.
[ Chuckles ]
I've been trying to drag the
summer out as long as I can.
[ Chuckles ]
Oh, man.
That's one month.
Huh?
- That's like a month.
- That's like a --
Yeah, it is like a month.
It's a solid month.
[ Chuckles ]
[ Sighs ]
Are you scared a little?
Yeah.
I'm gonna start crying.
What if this is our last time
coming to the beach?
♪♪
Thomas: So, this is the
second-to-last day of school
at New Tech,
and all the different trades
are out in the parking lot.
Culinary students are cooking.
Automotive kids
are riding bicycles.
Beauty school kids
just came out in their gowns.
I don't know if that means
some haircuts are on the way,
but it is a party.
It is a little weird, though,
that they wouldn't relocate to,
like, a park or somewhere,
kind of like a neutral ground
where you might not get
in as much trouble for things
like smoking and drinking
as the parking lot
of your school,
but kids are kids.
Keith and his buddies have been
running errands for people,
picking up booze.
You got this.
Yeah, I got --
Look, she always beating me!
- You know what? Fuck Debbie.
- Damn.
Thomas: Everybody's coming up to
them, handing them bills.
They know they're the ones
who -- who have connections.
Definitely the cool kids.
See what they get up to tonight.
On your mark!
And tomorrow night.
Set!
Shit.
Go!
[ Screaming and laughter ]
- Go!
- Damn! Damn! Damn!
I missed my chance with
the ammo! Now I'm fucked!
Ohh!
Now I'm just completely
in the open.
I think I made it, though.
You like what you seen?
Oh, shit!
- Aah! Aah.
- Aah! Aah!
Oh, I'm not even a senior.
- Yeah!
- Ugh.
- Good game.
- Hazed.
No! Nigga, no!
♪♪
Thomas: Keith's still got
a couple days of school,
but he works at a Subway,
and they've called him in
for a shift,
which I think is in the middle
of his school day right now
or leads into it.
Yeah. Where you at?
I'm in front of my crib.
Come pick me up.
[ Music playing loudly,
fenders rattling ]
Thomas: Hey, guys.[
Music, rattling softens ]
You don't got to pull up
to my house slamming like that.
You disrespectful if you gonna
pull up to my house slamming.
You know we heard you
before we seen you. But --
Ready to go?
- Huh?
- You ready?
Yeah.
You got what I need?
- Yeah.
- All right.
Thomas: Did you just
start at this --
No, you've been at
this Subway for a while.
Keith: Yeah.
I've been there for, like,
a little over a year.
I just got my one-year upgrade.
Yeah.
They gave me
a 2.1-cent raise,
which raised me from $8 an hour
to $8.28 an hour.
And I got Employee of the Month,
got my $40 gift card.
I went in work that day
feeling like the man.
One time I made like $10
in tips one night.
Shit.
That's pretty good.
Oh, yeah.
That shit will make your night,
man, go home with
10 extra dollars.
For somebody
who turns up as much as Keith
and who, in fact, smokes weed
on his way to his job,
Keith's actually got
a really strong work ethnic.
He gets up,
irons his shirt every morning,
like, wins Employee
of the Month.
I'm not sure how sustainable
working at Subway is, though.
It's a good summer job,
but I'm curious
where he goes after this.
Good.
- Good work with this, man.
- Huh?
- Oh, thanks, man.
- You made a nice sandwich.
I've been getting a lot
of compliments, really.
Now it's time to go to school.
How am I supposed
to go to work --
from work to school?
I thought it was supposed
to be from school to work.
Man, I'm still thinking about
going to the military, so...
- Is that right?
- Yeah.
I'm trying to go
to the Marine Corps.
Aren't you worried, though,
like, if you join the Marines,
you'd go somewhere
like Afghanistan or Iraq?
No.
I'm not scared of war.
I wouldn't mind dying in war
because, you know --
People don't understand. This --
This -- This is a great country.
For real.
Like, people say,
"Yeah, you know,
America ain't shit, you know?
They doing all this shit
under --
under cover, you know?
They're doing all this stuff
that you can't see."
- Yeah.
- I guarantee you,
you go spend about like
three days over there,
overseas anywhere, like --
you know what I'm saying?
Zimbabwe or one of them
third-world countries,
you gonna wish you was
back here in America,
with America
and all its bullshit.
Yeah.
You know, I feel
like this country's worth
dying for -- hell, yeah --
'cause this country
done gave a lot to me
and you, you know?
♪♪
Despite the fact that school's
out and also it's the weekend,
all the Emerson kids still
have stuff to do for graduation.
Triston,
who's in the Emerson band,
has to play something,
and he's having a little,
like, weekend practice
with all the other band guys
in his mom's house.
- Hey.
- Hey.
- How you doing, man?
- Good.
What's up?
How are you guys?
[ Instruments tuning ]
Ooh, snacks.
[ Gasps ] SunnyD.
Triston: 25, 20, 20.
I think there's enough
I can snag one.
There's a -- No, no, there's
method to my junky madness,
and when it's moved
and disturbed,
you cannot find anything
anymore.
This is why you never clean,
never, ever clean anything.
Here.
She got you guys --
This is an announcement
for my graduation.
- She just...
- Oh, cool.
Oh, wow, properly invited.
- Are these yours, Triston?
- Yeah.
Yeah, those are
from the Dinner Dance
and Honor Roll and band.
Most Likely to be President?
That's a pretty good accolade,
good superlative.
Best Smile, Best Smile now.
Yeah.
Yeah. Aww.
Young Man: I'm gonna get
another ri-- I'm gonna get a--
Young Woman: I'm gonna
get a ring, too.
I'm gonna get another ring.
Thomas: Oh, yeah. You guys
talking about high-school rings?
- Mm-hmm.
- Are you guys gonna get those?
- I already have one.
- We got some, but...
- You're not wearing them?
- Mine is at home.
I'm gonna just wait till
I get out of college,
get that maroon ring. Yeah,
that's what I'm gonna get.
Yeah, I never got one
from my school.
You should have got one.
Yeah, I kind of guess
I should have.
One, two, three.
♪♪
Thomas:
We're back at the beach,
and understandably
since it is in proximity.
This is the place
where most people come to hang
whenever they can.
[ Laughter ]
Hey, this is our crumbled home.
- This is.
- This is incredible.
It is, isn't it?
It's just, like, beautiful.
Why isn't everybody
hanging out here right now?
You guys have this
to yourselves.
- Yeah.
- This is a spot.
It is, like, perfect view
and everything.
Oh, man.
Where you going to school?
Purdue Cal,
and then later on I'll go
to Point Park University
in Pennsylvania.
- So, yeah, just spread out.
- Everywhere.
Do they have good dance
programs?
- Yeah.
- Those are the good ones?
- Top-tier.
- Yeah.
Oh, okay. All right.
- Mm-hmm.
- We're trying to --
We're trying to make it
in life, you know?
ALL: One, two, three, four,
five, six, seven, eight,
one, two.
Doo, doo, boom, boom, yeah.
You go point, point,
up, and down.
And you do this,
and you do that thing. Yep.
Dance is definitely, like,
one of my biggest passions
'cause I just love dance.
Like, I can't see myself
not dancing.
Thomas: Did you like Emerson?
Are you gonna miss it?
I'm definitely
gonna miss Emerson,
especially because it's
a performing-arts school
and, like, we have
the dance and stuff.
And I've grown up
with these people
ever since I was in,
like, sixth grade.
- Yeah.
- So, I'm gonna miss it so much.
But then again I'm kind
of glad I'm leaving, too.
Okay. And go one,
one, one, one,
up, boom, boom, boom,
boom, around...
I'm on about move one,
and they've somehow
added 13 more moves.
If you turn your heel
out -- Yeah.
Yeah. Oh, oh.
In the end, point this heel out.
Yeah. Yeah! Huh?
All right?
Are these, like, standard moves
that you guys all know, or --
or are you just
making them up on the spot?
We just make it up on the spot.
That's insane.
♪♪
Oh, like a snap.
Okay. Ah.
Hey, buddy.
[ Dog barking ]
Ah, barking.
He's just gonna keep
going the whole time.
Morning.
We're outside Keith's.
Keith's been up
for a little bit.
I think he's getting a shower
right now.
I'm gonna wait.
This is the first day
since school let out
where he hasn't had
to go to Subway
and pull a shift,
so we'll see what he gets up
to with his newfound freedom.
It's interesting.
Like, the way I grew up --
and I feel like in most, like,
white suburbs -- like,
hitting 18 technically marks
your entry into adulthood,
but it's
like "adulthood," you know?
Like, there's a wink to it.
You know,
you're not really an adult.
You're like --
You're in your infancy
of adulthood.
You aren't really
taking on responsibilities,
and there's a very health
cushion of your parents' money
and being able to stay in
their house and shit like that.
That kind of gets you
if not through college,
at least through
the next few years.
But Keith and his buddies
treat the end of high school as,
like, the actual rite
of passage it kind of once was.
Like, they're --
they're psyched to be men.
They're psyched
to not only have jobs,
but they help
each other get jobs.
It must have something
to do with growing up
in kind of a --
such a resource-deprived area.
Keith: This shit been kind
of bringing down my mood lately,
- like, being on bando block.
- Yeah?
Yeah, 'cause I don't want
to be looking at bandos
when I'm trying
to think about my future.
Thomas: That's true.
That's rough.
You feel me?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
You know, that's what I been
thinking about lately.
I don't know about them, but I've
been really thinking about my future
'cause there's a lot of eyes
watching me out back.
How do you mean, a lot of eyes
watching you out back?
Oh, just expectations?
Yeah, yeah, you know,
everybody watching me.
You know, everybody
that know I graduated
is gonna looking --
be looking for my next step.
What was my next step, you know?
Yeah.
And there's a lot of people
that's, you know I'm saying,
- that's seeing me graduate.
- That's interesting.
Do you feel, like,
a responsibility to them?
Yeah, I feel --
I feel like I owe them that.
You know,
they say it take a village
to raise a child
and all of that.
All these folks --
they done helped raise me up
and shit, so I got
to make them proud.
Like, I was telling folks
in school, "I'm gonna come back.
I'm gonna make you proud."
How you doing?
Hey, Ms. Hogan.
HOGAN: Hey, baby.
- How you doing?
- Hey.
Hi. I'm Thomas.
I know, Thomas.
[ Chuckles ] Oh, yeah.
Yep, graduation next.
It's good, bro.
Yes. Tuesday.
Not 8:00 -- 9:00.
Don't be late.
I got an interview
at Monday at 12:00.
Okay. You're gonna have
to do something different,
because the picture's
at 12:00.
Yeah, I know.
Yeah, I know.
I got to reschedule
the interview.
And wear the shoes
that you're gonna wear.
- Okay.
- Yeah.
The nice shoes, right,
church shoes? Okay.
- Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm, and bring
your cap and gown,
'cause we're taking our picture.
I'm just trying to stay there
for this summer, though, I guess.
- And then I'm --
- 'Cause you're --
you're gonna go to school,
right? Okay.
You gave up on the Marines?
- For right now.
- Why?
- People keep --
- That's funny.
You ain't talked to me.
What happened?
People keep telling me not
to go, man, even my bro.
Who is people?
You get to go to school
for free.
You get to see the world
for free.
You get free clothing.
You get free room and board.
I mean...
What it is, is I just got
a lot of choices,
and I'm just trying to play --
I can go to Ivy Tech
for their automotive thing,
- or I can go to Ivy Tech for --
- Having a lot of choices
and not having looked
at the pros and cons
of each of them,
you're just out there.
You can't wait on things
because waiting
for somebody to tell you,
"This is what you need" --
it'll get you left in the dust.
♪♪
Keith: This is Triston's crib
right here.
- Oh, yeah.
- Ooh, let's see if he here.
- He got to be.
- Oh, that's him right there.
Yo.Thomas: Keith and Triston
used to be on
sort of the same academic track.
Keith actually went to
Wirt/Emerson for a little while,
but he got kicked out for
an infraction he describes
as "some bullshit,"
but which other kids describe
as Keith smoking weed
in the hallway.
Why you don't never fuck
with me on the car repairs?
'Cause
you just started car repair.
Nigga, I've been doing
this shit for three years.
I've been do--
I've been doing this before you.
- And I got --
- That's what I'm saying.
I got four certifications,
nigga.
Yeah, four certifications,
but I've been doing this
longer than you.
Why do they put those little
bars across them now?
That's called a battery
hold-down, you know.
- Yeah, but...
- It kind of --
You know,
it hold the battery down.
If it was just for that purpose,
- you wouldn't need that.
- Why not?
You could just set
the battery in there
like -- Pop the hood on
that thing and see if you got
a battery hold-down in there.
Everybody -- I can't --
You want to bet some money --
You do not have a battery --
You do not have a --
You want to bet some money that
that blue --
You want to bet some money
that that big, blue bus
- has a battery hold-down?
- That blue --
- You want to take--
- It might not be this style,
but there's something
with some bolts...
It ain't -- It ain't in there.
...that's holding
that battery down.
It ain't in --
You don't think I know my truck?
There's something
holding that battery down.
- No, no, no.
- I tell you what.
I can't see it.
So, what college you going to?
Morehouse, then Atlanta.
- You got a scholarship?
- Not too big of one.
- Yeah.
- I got to --
I got to get some more.
Yeah, he already
know when I'm leaving.
My manager -- tell him
I'm leaving in August and shit.
Mm.
So, what you gonna
do after that?
Oh, I'm gonna go to school
or something.
I'm gonna do something.
Hella options and shit.
I just got to pick one.
And I just don't want to make
the fucking wrong move.
Anyway -- oh, shit.
Hey, I'm gonna tell you.
You're gonna love Atlanta.
- Nice out there.
- Yeah.
Thomas: The history
of high schools in Gary
kind of mirrors the city itself.
From the early 1900s
up into the '50s,
Gary had one of the most robust
and kind of progressive
public-school systems
in the country.
But then, with the economic
downturn and white flight,
people took their kids away,
and now the Gary school board
has shuttered as many schools
as they have running.
Driving around, you see
way more abandoned schools
than you see active ones,
including the one behind me,
the Horace Mann School,
which is named for the father
of public education in America,
which is a tad ironic.
All right, this is the hallway.
We're gonna go right
to the dance studio.
Thomas: So, wait.
This is your guys' old school?
How long ago did you guys
leave it?
We left my seventh-grade year.
This is Mr. Brewer's room.
JAZZLYN:
I remember this.
- What?
- Whoa.
I've never been in here
or seen this or anything.
Oh. There used to be
the nicest mirrors right there.
Yeah. We can go --
You can go up there.
You can go up there.
We had dancing up there.
So, this was the performing-arts
school then?
- Yeah.
- Place had a lot of resources
- and amenities.
- Mm-hmm.
Is that a piano?
Yes. It's a whole piano.
- What do you guys think this is?
- I was just thinking that.
I just walked past it
'cause I don't want to touch --
- Man, look at that.
- I don't want to touch it.
Is that a -- What is that?
Is that a bomb?
[ Gasps ] Or a limb?
But, no, it's not haunted,
right?
This one --
This one person, like,
was going for prom or something.
And something about her day
or something,
so she went upstairs to the
third floor and hung herself.
And, like, the rope
is still there and --
Yeah. My sister said they ran up
there and touched the rope one time.
Like, they were dared to touch
the rope and --
Oh, my God.
It's actually there?
It wasn't just, like, a legend?
Yeah.
This place
looks like it was amazing
before it turned
into the scariest place
that I've been in the Midwest.
You know, there's a sense
in which Gary's actually kind of
like an ideal place
to be a teenager.
I mean, like, spots like this --
this would have been gold
when I was in high-school
as place to,
you know, hang out and do drugs
or to make out with people --
and it's haunted,
which is like bonus grade,
but you can never find
those places out in the suburbs.
I guess the real
difference is when,
you know, there's one or two of
those spots in town that are fun
to explore when the entire town
is the abandoned building
where people do drugs
and are afraid of ghosts.
Oh, Christ. Are they dancing
again? This never stops.
[ Laughter ]
Richard: You're gonna
have to think about it
and draw out a life plan, man.
That's -- That's exactly what
people keep telling me,
and I'm just trying to do that.
But it's like, everything is
kind of equal, you know?
Mm-hmm.
Join the Marines, okay?
You can take a semester,
take a semester of college
up here right now, all right,
and get something
under your belt, okay?
But let the Marine Corps
pay for it, right?
Let the Marine Corps do
the training and education
at the same time
for you, all right,
- so you don't have to --
- But, see, that's a lot to --
that's a lot to juggle, though.
Like, you know what I'm saying?
What if I go the Marine Corps,
and then -- then
I don't go to college?
Then I get out the Marine Corps,
and I ain't got nothing.
It really all depends on you
and your drive, man,
because you could say that
about the Marine Corps, too.
You could say,
"Hey, I'm gonna go to college.
I definitely want to be
a Marine,
but I'm gonna
go to college first."
You know what I'm saying?
That's -- Right.
And then completely back
out of the idea
- of being a Marine, you know?
- Get out of the Marine Corps.
And you had told me
you wanted to do this
for, like, the longest time,
you know?
Yeah, I have.
You know what I'm saying?
But...
I watched him go from, you know,
having all these plans
in high school,
you know, having as many options
as you do, you know,
to, "I didn't choose anything,
and I'm still sitting in mom's
basement doing nothing,"
- you know?
- Right.
How you making it seem is,
I'm not gonna
do anything in life.
But I am.
That's the crazy part.
I don't want it to seem
like that.
What I want it to seem like is,
it's not as easy
as what you're thinking.
It's just a lot to think about.
It's always a lot
to think about, man.
- Yeah.
- You know?
But like I said before,
when we first sat down,
just think about it for
too long, gone, all right?
- I know you got my number.
- Yeah.
So...
How you feel about that guy?
- Cool as shit, man.
- He's real nice.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
How many have you gone through?
Like... this -- This --
He's my third one.
Keith, I'll see you later.
All right, bro -- I mean, sir.
TRISTON: What kind of ball
should I get?
I got tiny little wrists,
though, man.
I'm not the best person to ask.
I'm really bad at bowling.
I am, too.
That's why --
Oh, okay, cool.
Watch me.
Oh, killed it right there.
That's a spare.
Yeah!
Unh-unh, y'all -- y'all both
can't get on my back.
Oh, here's --
here's the kids' balls.
Gutter.
Stop.
Well, I tried.
♪ How old are you?
♪ How old are you?
Yay!
[ Applause ]
[ Pins clatter ]
Ah.
Triston's not great at bowling,
but it is sweet of him
to come out
to his little cousin's
birthday party like this.
What I've noticed
about Triston is,
where, you know, most teens
have a very distinct way
of behaving around their group
of friends and their family,
Triston seems to act
the same around his mom
as he does around
his Wirt/Emerson friends.
Even his girlfriend,
China, he's kind of,
you know, reserved and maybe
a little uncertain of himself.
The only time I've seen
him really behave differently
since we've been hanging out
is when we ran into him with
Keith earlier.
And he immediately became
kind of like a lot more relaxed
and loose-seeming, kind
of like classically cool.
And I don't know
if that's something that,
like, he feels more
comfortable around Keith,
that Keith brings it out in him,
or if he's trying to,
like, keep up with Keith,
who is extremely cool
and confident.
Let me see it.
Let me see it.
Let it go.
Let it go.
Oh, my God.
It's too heavy.
It's too heavy.
What Keith's been doing
is working a closing shift
at the Subway again,
which feels like his third shift
in as many days.
This is the last night
of school, so kind of grim.
Keith: Yeah, man,
it's the last day of school,
and I'm at work tonight,
4:00 to close.
You know, I know a lot
of stuff gonna change.
A lot of people I was used
to seeing every day --
I might never
see them again, you know?
But I was --
I-I already prepared my mind
for that, you know?
It's all a mental thing.
I'm ready to go.
It's all set up.
I just got to pick something,
you know,
and that's -- that's -- that's
what's really holding me back,
- all these choices.
- Yeah.
I'm just waiting till
the right one comes to me --
you feel me? -- till
the Lord send me the right --
the right message or something
'cause I got too many choices,
and if I pick the wrong one
and fuck up... Thomas: Yeah.
...that'll get me
into something, so...
[ Mouthpiece buzzes ]Young Man: Yeah.
Keep going. It works.
Thomas: It's already just got twisted.
Triston: One, two, three.
♪♪
These them ol' trusty boys.
[ Chuckles ]
- Good?
- Yeah.
This is really the last day
of school. You feel me?
Yeah.
'Cause day after this,
ain't gonna see nobody no more.
- Don't do it.
- You might as well.
[ Laughter ]
- I gotcha.
- All right.
- You guys have fun.
- Yep.
[ Engine starts ]
♪♪
MAN:
Mr. Triston Tyler Walls.
[ Cheers and applause ]
Miss China Marie Powell.
[ Cheers and applause ]
Miss Jazzlyn C. Brokemond.
[ Cheers and applause ]
♪♪
[ Indistinct conversations ]
- How you feeling?
- I'm good.
- On the left side now.
- Yeah.
Welcome to the left-hand pack.
I'm an alumni.
An old man and all this stuff.
MAN:
How you feeling, my man?
Good, man.
I just graduated.
Check it out.
Oh, man.
[ Cheers and applause ]
Keith:
Oh, that's a cool card.
Elizabeth:
What does it say?
"Graduate, step into your future
with a prayer in your heart
and a song in your soul.
Step into your future
with faith in the Lord
and the abilities
he's given you.
You actually did it.
Yeah. Mm-hmm.
[ Whispering ]
[ Muffled speaking ]
♪♪
Thomas: So, we're walking up
on the bonfire now.
I'm rolling in here
with Triston and China.
I think Keith's supposed
to come a little later.
He was rounding up girls.
I'm getting kind
of psyched, actually.
I don't harbor much nostalgia
for high school,
but this is definitely
one of the few, like,
American coming-of-age rituals
that's infectious.
[ Indistinct conversations ]
♪♪
What's that? Oh, no.
Oh, my God.
The fucking cops are here.
[ Indistinct shouting ]
Whoa.
Shit. So,
just as the party
was getting going,
two, I guess, beach cops -- they
didn't look like real cops --
just came out with flashlights
and busted everybody up.
Oh, man.
Fuck. I am stoned.
Well, that party was nuts.
I am completely shot
this morning.
I imagine the kids
are doing a lot better than me
on account
of their young livers,
also because they've got
their entire summer
ahead of them
and their futures past that,
which are remarkably bright,
considering
where they were coming from.
Everybody made the paper today.
It's -- Here's Emerson.
There's Paxton, DeSean,
Triston, Herschel.
Jazzlyn's dance performance
is in the write-up.
And then down here is New Tech
with Keith and his crew --
first to graduate.
Kind of making me a little
bit choked up.
Losing my boys.
100 years ago,
W.E.B. Du Bois said,
"Work, culture, and liberty --
these we need
in order to foster the traits
and talents of young black men,
not in opposite to other races,
but in larger conformity with
the greater ideals of America."
But the Gary kids did it.
If you Photoshopped out all
the bandos and vacant lots,
this would just look like the
last week of school anywhere.
It's really impressive.
I always thought high-school
graduation
was such a corny,
hand-me-down tradition,
but these kids attack it
with such sincerity and brio,
kind of make it their own.
I guess it's a case of,
when all you have
are hand-me-downs,
you take really good care
of them and make them count.
But what would I know
about that other than thrifting?
[ Indistinct conversations ]
Thomas: Holy shit.
Is that a Corvette?
It's a fucking Vette.
I told you.
He don't know what he's doing
driving that bitch is like...
[ Engine revs loudly ]
And he got pipes on it.
I got my nigga Tom here,
he with a camera crew,
like I told y'all motherfuckers.
I ain't walking in with you.
I'm walking in by my damn self.
I'm sorry.
Come on, Tom.
Uh...
We gonna find something
to do tonight.
Okay. Yeah.
We walk out there -- We walking
out there together, bro.
You ain't my date, but we walking
out there together, all right?
Okay. Thank you.
You -- You ever fuck
an 18-year-old black bitch?
Um...
[ Cheers and applause ]
- ♪ Let's do it
- Yeah!
♪ Get to it
♪ Let's do it
♪ Come on
♪ Come on
♪ Let's do it
♪ Get to it
♪ Let's do it
Oh!
[ Indistinct conversations ]
Thomas: Graduating high school
is the quintessential
American coming-of-age ritual.
It's the one
we all go through no matter
where we are in the country,
no matter what background
we come from,
unless you're
a weird homeschool kid.
As more kids go to college
and adolescence gets extended
from 18 often to the 20s
for a lot of people,
it's a rite of passage
that many communities,
I feel, take for granted.
However, in a community
like Gary,
where not everyone graduates
high school and not everyone
makes it to 18 alive,
it's still a big deal.
It's still when you become
a man... or a woman.
It's been a decade and a half
since I graduated high school,
and I have no clue
what kids get up to these days.
Are you worried at all about,
like,
teachers smelling weed off you?
Man, they smell that shit
every fucking day.
I met a kid named Keith
who goes to a school here
called New Tech.
Do we smile or no -- no smile?
No, man, we -- we --
we do anything, man.
Oh. No smile.
Okay.
They had their prom pretty late.
So, I went with them.
It was a pretty fun time,
like very regular prom-y,
sort of like a lot of, like,
grand ambitions of getting
and laid and getting,
like, completely wasted,
kind of pared down to sort
of just going to the thing,
dancing a lot,
hanging out pretty much
the same places
you would normally on, like,
a high-school weekend,
but in extremely
fancier clothing.
Wanted to make sure
he had a good time on his prom!
Oh!
Keith's also got a friend
named Triston
who goes to the fancy arts
school across town.
I got restricted from parties
by my girlfriend.
How long does this restriction
last?
Is it indefinite? Life?
For as long as she's there,
that restriction's there.
Keith and Triston are both
graduating at the same time.
They're gonna be sort
of our guides
to the underworld
of the last week of high-school.
Monte calling.
Hello?
Yeah.
Your phone's blowing up.
Yeah, nigga.
Where you at?
You need to come pick me up.
- Where you at?
- Come to my block.
Nigga, I'm on feet.
Any day, he'll go right there.
That boy is faithful.
I swear.
You got good friends, man.
Oh, yeah, man, we --
Yeah, man, we --
we -- we all we got.
Whew.
- How you doing, Monte?
- I'm good.
I just came from a job
interview. I got a job today.
Oh, yeah? Where at?
- Charley's in the mall.
- Oh, they hired you, bro?
- Yeah, I start --
- Slick!
- I start today at 4:30.
- Aw, shit! [ Laughs ]
[ Laughs ] Yeah.
That's what the fuck
I'm talking about.
Now, that's it, bro.
The whole squad got jobs now.
Gary has kind
of like a track system
with their high schools.
Instead of having,
like, everybody
in the same building, there's,
like, a separate school for,
like, the arts and gifted kids,
and then New Tech
is like the trade school.
That's where Keith
and his friends go.
What's this thing? This is my senior
checkout card.
I need this to get my cap and
gown so I can graduate.
Oh, cool. So, it's like
a little scavenger hunt.
Yeah.
Mr. Bodie, the man
I'm looking for.
We need that golden signature.
Mr. Smith,
we need some signatures.
I need your John Hancock.
- For what?
- Our blue cards.
- No, no, I'm not signing it.
- You ain't signing it?
- Oh, I can't sign this.
- Why?
'Cause I don't want you
to leave.
Ah!
- You got a pen?
- I got -- Man.
Do anybody have a pen
for this man, please?
Rumor has it
there's an electric chair
back there for the bad kids.
No, no, no, no, no.
Ms. Hogan
already signed right there.
I had you.
You remember --
Oh, yes. There? Okay.
Yeah.
So, Keith, Michael,
and Monte all got,
I think,
most of their signatures
they need to pick up
their cap and gown.
That's like the order
of business today.
No, I ain't got no balance.
They --
Matter of fact,
when they sent me my stuff,
they didn't even send anything.
- Like what?
- I don't know.
You got to call my people.
Call your people?
[ Laughs ]
It's like whatever muscle was
in the school has just relaxed,
and all the kids are just
kind of floating around.
Attendance is pretty much
a formality at this point.
So, tomorrow the last day?
All right, I'm --
I'm finna to go get all my stuff
out of my locker, too.
My jumpsuit and shit.
This is the shop, bro.
Which one's yours?
Is that the Dodge?
Yep.
My bumper fucked up.
Crazy story.
Man, we spent a lot
of hours in here, boy.
This is gonna be --
This is gonna be a good memory.
So, this is Keith's car
that he screwed up.
I think a radiator blew
and warped the cylinders,
which probably means
it's a junker.
But he's still
been working on it.
He has to get it out of here
on the last day of school
because obviously it would just
sit around the rest
of the summer if he didn't.
It's kind of an interesting.
I think an auto shop in,
like, kind of like
suburban world
is sort of just like
a last-ditch attempt to reform,
you know, basically juvenile
delinquents for the bottom
of the class, but here in Gary,
it feels like not only, like,
everybody's really excited
about being in auto shop,
but it's like
an extremely valid skill.
It's put Keith
and Monte on the track to --
to get jobs out of --
out of the city.
How long you been
in that program?
- What?
- Auto.
KEITH:
This is my third year.
When I started off in here,
we was doing engines and stuff,
but now we ain't really
doing nothing.
- Why not?
- Oh, 'cause last year,
during the summer,
they had a big misunderstanding,
and they auctioned off
everything we had in here.
Like, we had cars in here.
We had an old Benz
in here, a Cadillac.
The school sold them off?
- Yeah, the school sold them off.
- Huh.
Young Man: Tag it, bro.
All right.
[ Beeping ]
Gary, Indiana's
in pretty rough shape.
It was once a thriving steel
town in the middle
of the last century
and birthplace
of the Jackson 5
that got hit hard by the forces
that affected the Rust Belt.
De-industrialization
took the jobs away.
White flight took the tax base
out into the exurbs,
and what was left is
what you see behind me --
a de-urbanized, rotting hulk.
For the kids graduating this
year from Gary's high schools,
this is what the town
has always looked like.
It kind of goes without saying
it's a pretty harsh place
to come of age.
This is G, Man,
this is Broadway.
Back in the day --
they'll show you pictures --
this used to be lined with cars,
all these businesses open,
thriving,
folks walking up the street
like it was New York.
You know,
they'd be crowded as shit.
- Yeah.
- That's how it used to be, man.
And I look at it.
I'm like, "Damn,
I wish I could have lived here
back when it was like that."
Has it always been like this
for you, or is it in the middle?
For me? For me? Yeah.
[ Horn honks ]
Ah, come on, now.
I know y'all been hitting
all these potholes in Gary --
or seeing them.
Yeah. The roads are
a little rough, man.
Psht. A little?
That's the school we used to go to.
It's abandoned now.
That field has not been mowed
in a long time.
That's how all the schools
is around here
that's abandoned and all that.
Is that 'cause there's,
like, less kids?
Like, what's --
Is it just money,
or is it because people
have moved out?
No, what it is, is property tax.
You know, they get money
off property tax.
Right.
All these houses are abandoned
or becoming abandoned,
and then the people
that do have houses --
they're not paying their taxes.
You know, they're getting
foreclosed and all of that.
That causes our schools
to have no money.
Ah, cool. So, we're in actual
Gary right now, right?
This is actual Gary,
and it's kind
of a bad part of town.
Right.
- Oh, shit.
- Yeah.
Actual setup. Yeah.
Yeah, he --
Young Man:
Now, what it this?
[ Indistinct conversations ]
[ Laughter ]
- What's that?
- Blessing the bottles.
Thomas:
Oh. How do you do that?
- Just --
- Just tap it a couple times.
- Yeah.
- Tap it a couple times?
- Okay.
- Yeah.
All right, come on.
We got an hour, Anton.
When Gary had its first
black mayor, Gordon Hatcher --
that's when all the white people
started really
moving out of Gary,
and then all the town started
changing their names from Gary.
Like, Gary used to be way bigger
than this.
- Yeah.
- Now it's Gary, the hood part,
and then there's Miller,
which is the beach part,
and then they got Lake Station,
which used to be
called East Gary.
That's just Lake Station,
Indiana, now.
Yeah, y'all came to one of
the greatest cities in America.
Y'all just don't know it.
This is one
of the hitter cities.
- Gary?
- Let me tell you. Yeah.
Young Man: Well, we're about
to throw this on...
- You got to get the powder.
- Ugh!
Keith: Gary been filled
with a lot of good people,
and it still is.
Got superstars
coming out of Gary, you know?
So, they getting ready
right now, you know?
you don't really hear them
right now 'cause they're
going to college and doing
all this shit. I'm telling you.
You gonna hear a lot of good
stuff coming out of Gary
'cause it's not all, you know,
drinking and smoking
and doing all this, you know?
Now, y'all might catch that
at Emerson with my guy Triston.
That man -- He's, like, taking,
like five A.P. classes,
senior-class president...
- Yeah?
- Bless it.
...all that shit, you know?
Y'all gonna get
a different glimpse
when y'all catch him and shit.
Hey, everybody be quiet. This
is my mama. This is my mama.
Hello?
[ Bell clanging,
train whistle blows ]
Thomas: Keith met Triston
back in middle school,
where they had class together.
While Triston's dad
still lives right
down the road from New Tech...
Holy shit.
...Triston drives every morning
to another school, Wirt/Emerson,
which has a program
for gifted kids.
- Morning.
- Is this you?
- Yep.
- Fuck, dude.
- Yeah.
- This is nice.
How are you?
Looking good.
Thank you.
Is this for the last week
of school,
or is this your usual
school attire?
Whenever we get
to dress down, I --
- I kind of dress a little up.
- That's weird.
If I was out of uniform,
I'd probably be wearing, like --
like a metal T-shirt
or something.
Triston's not only
class president
and only a full load
of college-level courses.
He's also lead sax
in the school band,
not unlike Lisa Simpson.
How you feeling
about everything?
Is it weird or...?
I really don't know.
No. I'm -- I'm gonna
go straight to college
and do the same thing I been
doing in high school, so...
- Where you going?
- Morehouse.
Summer's rolling out before you.
- Yeah.
- What are your plans?
- Are you gonna...
- Work and --
and try to enjoy as much as I
can in between work, you know?
Just waiting on
Triston's girlfriend.
- What's her name?
- China.
China. Okay.
- Giving China a ride.
- Mm-hmm.
- Makeup.
- Cool girl.
[ Chuckles ]
Uh... Hi.
You ain't gonna
say hi to nobody?
[ Laughs ]
How you doing?
- Hey. I'm Thomas.
- I'm China.
- China, great to meet you.
- Great to meet you, too.
You got a little thing
on your face.
Oh, yeah?
♪ Do-do-do-doo-doo
Thanks to Triston's
flashy choices,
I guess I'm out of a ride now
since he only had space
for his girlfriend.
I don't know if that was
kind of by design,
but fortunately I've been
to high school before,
I know how things work,
and I have my own car.
So, crisis averted.
Let's get to school.
So, Wirt/Emerson's in Miller,
which is kind of
like the nice part of Gary.
It's up by the lake.
There's a beach here.
It's got a little main street
with brew pubs and cafés
and an indie art gallery.
And it's --
it's a fitting place for, like,
the nice art school
where the fancy kids sort of go.
Beat us. Cool.
Are you guys on time or...?
- Yeah, we're fine.
- Cool.
- All right.
- Yeah, our class
wouldn't mind anyway.
We're -- We're done.
Awesome.
What do you got first?
- Government.
- Government.
Cool. You?
- Same?
- Same.
- Same.
- Ah, cool.
- Yeah.
- Same classes.
We have all the same classes.
What do kids here think about,
like, New Tech kids?
I-I really couldn't tell you.
Do you know what they think
about Emerson kids?
Is there, like, a reputation?
Are you guys like the --
the smart ones?
We do, but I don't want
to say it on camera.
What is it?
Oh, okay.
It's -- It's --
I-I can tell you,
but if it's too much,
cut it out.
They -- They think we're, um,
a lot of gays in this school.
Oh, okay.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So, they say we're
a s-- a softer school.
It's not you saying it.
Softer school. Okay.
- I got it.
- Yeah, so...
That's a softer way
of putting it. Cool.
Thomas: Part of Wirt/Emerson's
reputation
comes from
its performing-arts program.
It's kind of like a Gary version
of the high school from "Fame."
- This is me.
- That is you.
Yeah, this is, whew, 1980?
- I like your hair.
- Yeah.
It's great.
So, can you tell me who's --
who's dancing in there
right now?
You've got Laurel Brummett...
Mm-hmm.
...Jazzlyn Brokemond,
and Whitley Moses.
- Okay.
- We have one other senior,
but she's not dancing.
I understand that she's gonna
go into the Coast Guard.
- Ah.
- Yeah, so...
Wow.
That's kind of not --
as far from dance
as you can get.
Right. Well, I --
You do have to have strong legs
on those boats, though.
Yeah. I'm a Marine.
- Is that right?
- Yeah.
The other three girls --
are they sticking with it?
Oh, yeah.
Laurel and Jazzlyn
are definitely going for
being professional dancers.
What I try to tell people is,
if you're going into dance
to be famous...
Mm-hmm.
...or get rich,
then you probably
need to do something else.
If you're going into dance
because you love the art form,
then you are okay,
you're in the right place,
and you're probably
gonna be successful.
Everybody that has been
in our program...
Mm-hmm.
...that said that they
wanted to be professionals
and were willing
to take the advice
that we gave them --
they're dancing.
- Yeah?
- They're making a living.
These kids come from places
where competition is everything.
Yeah.
You know,
and the issue comes in is,
like, what kind of foundation
do they have coming from home?
Because Gary is not
an easy place to live.
And if you're soft or timid,
you know, it'll eat you up.
It's like training
with weights on.
Mm-hmm.
No, no, no.
It's like if you were walking.
Walk. Walk.
Yeah. Yes.
You'd be surprised
what they could do.
- Yeah?
- Yeah.
Ah, ah.
Watch.
[ Laughs ]
Oh, my God!
Okay.
I'm gonna skip rocks.
That's what I'm gonna do.
- That's a good one.
- Right here?
No. No. This -- This --
Is this even a rock or --
That's a square rock.
Nope. Nope.
Never mind.
Uh-huh.
Caught the wind on that one.
Hey, Triston, True Religion!
Oh, my jeans! True --
Okay, I'm good. I'm good.
[ Laughs ]
This is probably
the most wholesome time
I've spent on a beach
in decades.
These are kind
of definitively good kids.
Seniors!
'15!
'15.
So, what are your guys'
plans for summer?
Are you guys gonna hang around?
It's work, work for me.
And then --
And then you got college.
And are you going
to Morehouse, too, or...?
Mnh-mnh.
Purdue Calumet here.
Oh, cool.
Thomas: So, it's dawning on me
that these are,
like, straightforward good kids,
what you would call nerds,
but there's levels of nerd.
They're not,
like, kind of the sweaty, like,
unkempt nerds of our youth
who couldn't hold down
a girlfriend.
No! Oh!
Keith:
Don't drop her.
Triston looks
like he's in a John Hughes movie
with his sports car
and China there.
They're kind
of like nerd aristocracy.
You can't --
You can handle the thumb, China.
You can't handle --
[ Laughs ] Ow.
Thomas:
You guys nervous about,
like, a last summer together,
or is it...?
Yeah. No, no, no, it's...
Yeah. I may brush it off
a lot, but, yeah, I'm --
yeah, I'm really nervous.
[ Chuckles ]
I've been trying to drag the
summer out as long as I can.
[ Chuckles ]
Oh, man.
That's one month.
Huh?
- That's like a month.
- That's like a --
Yeah, it is like a month.
It's a solid month.
[ Chuckles ]
[ Sighs ]
Are you scared a little?
Yeah.
I'm gonna start crying.
What if this is our last time
coming to the beach?
♪♪
Thomas: So, this is the
second-to-last day of school
at New Tech,
and all the different trades
are out in the parking lot.
Culinary students are cooking.
Automotive kids
are riding bicycles.
Beauty school kids
just came out in their gowns.
I don't know if that means
some haircuts are on the way,
but it is a party.
It is a little weird, though,
that they wouldn't relocate to,
like, a park or somewhere,
kind of like a neutral ground
where you might not get
in as much trouble for things
like smoking and drinking
as the parking lot
of your school,
but kids are kids.
Keith and his buddies have been
running errands for people,
picking up booze.
You got this.
Yeah, I got --
Look, she always beating me!
- You know what? Fuck Debbie.
- Damn.
Thomas: Everybody's coming up to
them, handing them bills.
They know they're the ones
who -- who have connections.
Definitely the cool kids.
See what they get up to tonight.
On your mark!
And tomorrow night.
Set!
Shit.
Go!
[ Screaming and laughter ]
- Go!
- Damn! Damn! Damn!
I missed my chance with
the ammo! Now I'm fucked!
Ohh!
Now I'm just completely
in the open.
I think I made it, though.
You like what you seen?
Oh, shit!
- Aah! Aah.
- Aah! Aah!
Oh, I'm not even a senior.
- Yeah!
- Ugh.
- Good game.
- Hazed.
No! Nigga, no!
♪♪
Thomas: Keith's still got
a couple days of school,
but he works at a Subway,
and they've called him in
for a shift,
which I think is in the middle
of his school day right now
or leads into it.
Yeah. Where you at?
I'm in front of my crib.
Come pick me up.
[ Music playing loudly,
fenders rattling ]
Thomas: Hey, guys.[
Music, rattling softens ]
You don't got to pull up
to my house slamming like that.
You disrespectful if you gonna
pull up to my house slamming.
You know we heard you
before we seen you. But --
Ready to go?
- Huh?
- You ready?
Yeah.
You got what I need?
- Yeah.
- All right.
Thomas: Did you just
start at this --
No, you've been at
this Subway for a while.
Keith: Yeah.
I've been there for, like,
a little over a year.
I just got my one-year upgrade.
Yeah.
They gave me
a 2.1-cent raise,
which raised me from $8 an hour
to $8.28 an hour.
And I got Employee of the Month,
got my $40 gift card.
I went in work that day
feeling like the man.
One time I made like $10
in tips one night.
Shit.
That's pretty good.
Oh, yeah.
That shit will make your night,
man, go home with
10 extra dollars.
For somebody
who turns up as much as Keith
and who, in fact, smokes weed
on his way to his job,
Keith's actually got
a really strong work ethnic.
He gets up,
irons his shirt every morning,
like, wins Employee
of the Month.
I'm not sure how sustainable
working at Subway is, though.
It's a good summer job,
but I'm curious
where he goes after this.
Good.
- Good work with this, man.
- Huh?
- Oh, thanks, man.
- You made a nice sandwich.
I've been getting a lot
of compliments, really.
Now it's time to go to school.
How am I supposed
to go to work --
from work to school?
I thought it was supposed
to be from school to work.
Man, I'm still thinking about
going to the military, so...
- Is that right?
- Yeah.
I'm trying to go
to the Marine Corps.
Aren't you worried, though,
like, if you join the Marines,
you'd go somewhere
like Afghanistan or Iraq?
No.
I'm not scared of war.
I wouldn't mind dying in war
because, you know --
People don't understand. This --
This -- This is a great country.
For real.
Like, people say,
"Yeah, you know,
America ain't shit, you know?
They doing all this shit
under --
under cover, you know?
They're doing all this stuff
that you can't see."
- Yeah.
- I guarantee you,
you go spend about like
three days over there,
overseas anywhere, like --
you know what I'm saying?
Zimbabwe or one of them
third-world countries,
you gonna wish you was
back here in America,
with America
and all its bullshit.
Yeah.
You know, I feel
like this country's worth
dying for -- hell, yeah --
'cause this country
done gave a lot to me
and you, you know?
♪♪
Despite the fact that school's
out and also it's the weekend,
all the Emerson kids still
have stuff to do for graduation.
Triston,
who's in the Emerson band,
has to play something,
and he's having a little,
like, weekend practice
with all the other band guys
in his mom's house.
- Hey.
- Hey.
- How you doing, man?
- Good.
What's up?
How are you guys?
[ Instruments tuning ]
Ooh, snacks.
[ Gasps ] SunnyD.
Triston: 25, 20, 20.
I think there's enough
I can snag one.
There's a -- No, no, there's
method to my junky madness,
and when it's moved
and disturbed,
you cannot find anything
anymore.
This is why you never clean,
never, ever clean anything.
Here.
She got you guys --
This is an announcement
for my graduation.
- She just...
- Oh, cool.
Oh, wow, properly invited.
- Are these yours, Triston?
- Yeah.
Yeah, those are
from the Dinner Dance
and Honor Roll and band.
Most Likely to be President?
That's a pretty good accolade,
good superlative.
Best Smile, Best Smile now.
Yeah.
Yeah. Aww.
Young Man: I'm gonna get
another ri-- I'm gonna get a--
Young Woman: I'm gonna
get a ring, too.
I'm gonna get another ring.
Thomas: Oh, yeah. You guys
talking about high-school rings?
- Mm-hmm.
- Are you guys gonna get those?
- I already have one.
- We got some, but...
- You're not wearing them?
- Mine is at home.
I'm gonna just wait till
I get out of college,
get that maroon ring. Yeah,
that's what I'm gonna get.
Yeah, I never got one
from my school.
You should have got one.
Yeah, I kind of guess
I should have.
One, two, three.
♪♪
Thomas:
We're back at the beach,
and understandably
since it is in proximity.
This is the place
where most people come to hang
whenever they can.
[ Laughter ]
Hey, this is our crumbled home.
- This is.
- This is incredible.
It is, isn't it?
It's just, like, beautiful.
Why isn't everybody
hanging out here right now?
You guys have this
to yourselves.
- Yeah.
- This is a spot.
It is, like, perfect view
and everything.
Oh, man.
Where you going to school?
Purdue Cal,
and then later on I'll go
to Point Park University
in Pennsylvania.
- So, yeah, just spread out.
- Everywhere.
Do they have good dance
programs?
- Yeah.
- Those are the good ones?
- Top-tier.
- Yeah.
Oh, okay. All right.
- Mm-hmm.
- We're trying to --
We're trying to make it
in life, you know?
ALL: One, two, three, four,
five, six, seven, eight,
one, two.
Doo, doo, boom, boom, yeah.
You go point, point,
up, and down.
And you do this,
and you do that thing. Yep.
Dance is definitely, like,
one of my biggest passions
'cause I just love dance.
Like, I can't see myself
not dancing.
Thomas: Did you like Emerson?
Are you gonna miss it?
I'm definitely
gonna miss Emerson,
especially because it's
a performing-arts school
and, like, we have
the dance and stuff.
And I've grown up
with these people
ever since I was in,
like, sixth grade.
- Yeah.
- So, I'm gonna miss it so much.
But then again I'm kind
of glad I'm leaving, too.
Okay. And go one,
one, one, one,
up, boom, boom, boom,
boom, around...
I'm on about move one,
and they've somehow
added 13 more moves.
If you turn your heel
out -- Yeah.
Yeah. Oh, oh.
In the end, point this heel out.
Yeah. Yeah! Huh?
All right?
Are these, like, standard moves
that you guys all know, or --
or are you just
making them up on the spot?
We just make it up on the spot.
That's insane.
♪♪
Oh, like a snap.
Okay. Ah.
Hey, buddy.
[ Dog barking ]
Ah, barking.
He's just gonna keep
going the whole time.
Morning.
We're outside Keith's.
Keith's been up
for a little bit.
I think he's getting a shower
right now.
I'm gonna wait.
This is the first day
since school let out
where he hasn't had
to go to Subway
and pull a shift,
so we'll see what he gets up
to with his newfound freedom.
It's interesting.
Like, the way I grew up --
and I feel like in most, like,
white suburbs -- like,
hitting 18 technically marks
your entry into adulthood,
but it's
like "adulthood," you know?
Like, there's a wink to it.
You know,
you're not really an adult.
You're like --
You're in your infancy
of adulthood.
You aren't really
taking on responsibilities,
and there's a very health
cushion of your parents' money
and being able to stay in
their house and shit like that.
That kind of gets you
if not through college,
at least through
the next few years.
But Keith and his buddies
treat the end of high school as,
like, the actual rite
of passage it kind of once was.
Like, they're --
they're psyched to be men.
They're psyched
to not only have jobs,
but they help
each other get jobs.
It must have something
to do with growing up
in kind of a --
such a resource-deprived area.
Keith: This shit been kind
of bringing down my mood lately,
- like, being on bando block.
- Yeah?
Yeah, 'cause I don't want
to be looking at bandos
when I'm trying
to think about my future.
Thomas: That's true.
That's rough.
You feel me?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
You know, that's what I been
thinking about lately.
I don't know about them, but I've
been really thinking about my future
'cause there's a lot of eyes
watching me out back.
How do you mean, a lot of eyes
watching you out back?
Oh, just expectations?
Yeah, yeah, you know,
everybody watching me.
You know, everybody
that know I graduated
is gonna looking --
be looking for my next step.
What was my next step, you know?
Yeah.
And there's a lot of people
that's, you know I'm saying,
- that's seeing me graduate.
- That's interesting.
Do you feel, like,
a responsibility to them?
Yeah, I feel --
I feel like I owe them that.
You know,
they say it take a village
to raise a child
and all of that.
All these folks --
they done helped raise me up
and shit, so I got
to make them proud.
Like, I was telling folks
in school, "I'm gonna come back.
I'm gonna make you proud."
How you doing?
Hey, Ms. Hogan.
HOGAN: Hey, baby.
- How you doing?
- Hey.
Hi. I'm Thomas.
I know, Thomas.
[ Chuckles ] Oh, yeah.
Yep, graduation next.
It's good, bro.
Yes. Tuesday.
Not 8:00 -- 9:00.
Don't be late.
I got an interview
at Monday at 12:00.
Okay. You're gonna have
to do something different,
because the picture's
at 12:00.
Yeah, I know.
Yeah, I know.
I got to reschedule
the interview.
And wear the shoes
that you're gonna wear.
- Okay.
- Yeah.
The nice shoes, right,
church shoes? Okay.
- Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm, and bring
your cap and gown,
'cause we're taking our picture.
I'm just trying to stay there
for this summer, though, I guess.
- And then I'm --
- 'Cause you're --
you're gonna go to school,
right? Okay.
You gave up on the Marines?
- For right now.
- Why?
- People keep --
- That's funny.
You ain't talked to me.
What happened?
People keep telling me not
to go, man, even my bro.
Who is people?
You get to go to school
for free.
You get to see the world
for free.
You get free clothing.
You get free room and board.
I mean...
What it is, is I just got
a lot of choices,
and I'm just trying to play --
I can go to Ivy Tech
for their automotive thing,
- or I can go to Ivy Tech for --
- Having a lot of choices
and not having looked
at the pros and cons
of each of them,
you're just out there.
You can't wait on things
because waiting
for somebody to tell you,
"This is what you need" --
it'll get you left in the dust.
♪♪
Keith: This is Triston's crib
right here.
- Oh, yeah.
- Ooh, let's see if he here.
- He got to be.
- Oh, that's him right there.
Yo.Thomas: Keith and Triston
used to be on
sort of the same academic track.
Keith actually went to
Wirt/Emerson for a little while,
but he got kicked out for
an infraction he describes
as "some bullshit,"
but which other kids describe
as Keith smoking weed
in the hallway.
Why you don't never fuck
with me on the car repairs?
'Cause
you just started car repair.
Nigga, I've been doing
this shit for three years.
I've been do--
I've been doing this before you.
- And I got --
- That's what I'm saying.
I got four certifications,
nigga.
Yeah, four certifications,
but I've been doing this
longer than you.
Why do they put those little
bars across them now?
That's called a battery
hold-down, you know.
- Yeah, but...
- It kind of --
You know,
it hold the battery down.
If it was just for that purpose,
- you wouldn't need that.
- Why not?
You could just set
the battery in there
like -- Pop the hood on
that thing and see if you got
a battery hold-down in there.
Everybody -- I can't --
You want to bet some money --
You do not have a battery --
You do not have a --
You want to bet some money that
that blue --
You want to bet some money
that that big, blue bus
- has a battery hold-down?
- That blue --
- You want to take--
- It might not be this style,
but there's something
with some bolts...
It ain't -- It ain't in there.
...that's holding
that battery down.
It ain't in --
You don't think I know my truck?
There's something
holding that battery down.
- No, no, no.
- I tell you what.
I can't see it.
So, what college you going to?
Morehouse, then Atlanta.
- You got a scholarship?
- Not too big of one.
- Yeah.
- I got to --
I got to get some more.
Yeah, he already
know when I'm leaving.
My manager -- tell him
I'm leaving in August and shit.
Mm.
So, what you gonna
do after that?
Oh, I'm gonna go to school
or something.
I'm gonna do something.
Hella options and shit.
I just got to pick one.
And I just don't want to make
the fucking wrong move.
Anyway -- oh, shit.
Hey, I'm gonna tell you.
You're gonna love Atlanta.
- Nice out there.
- Yeah.
Thomas: The history
of high schools in Gary
kind of mirrors the city itself.
From the early 1900s
up into the '50s,
Gary had one of the most robust
and kind of progressive
public-school systems
in the country.
But then, with the economic
downturn and white flight,
people took their kids away,
and now the Gary school board
has shuttered as many schools
as they have running.
Driving around, you see
way more abandoned schools
than you see active ones,
including the one behind me,
the Horace Mann School,
which is named for the father
of public education in America,
which is a tad ironic.
All right, this is the hallway.
We're gonna go right
to the dance studio.
Thomas: So, wait.
This is your guys' old school?
How long ago did you guys
leave it?
We left my seventh-grade year.
This is Mr. Brewer's room.
JAZZLYN:
I remember this.
- What?
- Whoa.
I've never been in here
or seen this or anything.
Oh. There used to be
the nicest mirrors right there.
Yeah. We can go --
You can go up there.
You can go up there.
We had dancing up there.
So, this was the performing-arts
school then?
- Yeah.
- Place had a lot of resources
- and amenities.
- Mm-hmm.
Is that a piano?
Yes. It's a whole piano.
- What do you guys think this is?
- I was just thinking that.
I just walked past it
'cause I don't want to touch --
- Man, look at that.
- I don't want to touch it.
Is that a -- What is that?
Is that a bomb?
[ Gasps ] Or a limb?
But, no, it's not haunted,
right?
This one --
This one person, like,
was going for prom or something.
And something about her day
or something,
so she went upstairs to the
third floor and hung herself.
And, like, the rope
is still there and --
Yeah. My sister said they ran up
there and touched the rope one time.
Like, they were dared to touch
the rope and --
Oh, my God.
It's actually there?
It wasn't just, like, a legend?
Yeah.
This place
looks like it was amazing
before it turned
into the scariest place
that I've been in the Midwest.
You know, there's a sense
in which Gary's actually kind of
like an ideal place
to be a teenager.
I mean, like, spots like this --
this would have been gold
when I was in high-school
as place to,
you know, hang out and do drugs
or to make out with people --
and it's haunted,
which is like bonus grade,
but you can never find
those places out in the suburbs.
I guess the real
difference is when,
you know, there's one or two of
those spots in town that are fun
to explore when the entire town
is the abandoned building
where people do drugs
and are afraid of ghosts.
Oh, Christ. Are they dancing
again? This never stops.
[ Laughter ]
Richard: You're gonna
have to think about it
and draw out a life plan, man.
That's -- That's exactly what
people keep telling me,
and I'm just trying to do that.
But it's like, everything is
kind of equal, you know?
Mm-hmm.
Join the Marines, okay?
You can take a semester,
take a semester of college
up here right now, all right,
and get something
under your belt, okay?
But let the Marine Corps
pay for it, right?
Let the Marine Corps do
the training and education
at the same time
for you, all right,
- so you don't have to --
- But, see, that's a lot to --
that's a lot to juggle, though.
Like, you know what I'm saying?
What if I go the Marine Corps,
and then -- then
I don't go to college?
Then I get out the Marine Corps,
and I ain't got nothing.
It really all depends on you
and your drive, man,
because you could say that
about the Marine Corps, too.
You could say,
"Hey, I'm gonna go to college.
I definitely want to be
a Marine,
but I'm gonna
go to college first."
You know what I'm saying?
That's -- Right.
And then completely back
out of the idea
- of being a Marine, you know?
- Get out of the Marine Corps.
And you had told me
you wanted to do this
for, like, the longest time,
you know?
Yeah, I have.
You know what I'm saying?
But...
I watched him go from, you know,
having all these plans
in high school,
you know, having as many options
as you do, you know,
to, "I didn't choose anything,
and I'm still sitting in mom's
basement doing nothing,"
- you know?
- Right.
How you making it seem is,
I'm not gonna
do anything in life.
But I am.
That's the crazy part.
I don't want it to seem
like that.
What I want it to seem like is,
it's not as easy
as what you're thinking.
It's just a lot to think about.
It's always a lot
to think about, man.
- Yeah.
- You know?
But like I said before,
when we first sat down,
just think about it for
too long, gone, all right?
- I know you got my number.
- Yeah.
So...
How you feel about that guy?
- Cool as shit, man.
- He's real nice.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
How many have you gone through?
Like... this -- This --
He's my third one.
Keith, I'll see you later.
All right, bro -- I mean, sir.
TRISTON: What kind of ball
should I get?
I got tiny little wrists,
though, man.
I'm not the best person to ask.
I'm really bad at bowling.
I am, too.
That's why --
Oh, okay, cool.
Watch me.
Oh, killed it right there.
That's a spare.
Yeah!
Unh-unh, y'all -- y'all both
can't get on my back.
Oh, here's --
here's the kids' balls.
Gutter.
Stop.
Well, I tried.
♪ How old are you?
♪ How old are you?
Yay!
[ Applause ]
[ Pins clatter ]
Ah.
Triston's not great at bowling,
but it is sweet of him
to come out
to his little cousin's
birthday party like this.
What I've noticed
about Triston is,
where, you know, most teens
have a very distinct way
of behaving around their group
of friends and their family,
Triston seems to act
the same around his mom
as he does around
his Wirt/Emerson friends.
Even his girlfriend,
China, he's kind of,
you know, reserved and maybe
a little uncertain of himself.
The only time I've seen
him really behave differently
since we've been hanging out
is when we ran into him with
Keith earlier.
And he immediately became
kind of like a lot more relaxed
and loose-seeming, kind
of like classically cool.
And I don't know
if that's something that,
like, he feels more
comfortable around Keith,
that Keith brings it out in him,
or if he's trying to,
like, keep up with Keith,
who is extremely cool
and confident.
Let me see it.
Let me see it.
Let it go.
Let it go.
Oh, my God.
It's too heavy.
It's too heavy.
What Keith's been doing
is working a closing shift
at the Subway again,
which feels like his third shift
in as many days.
This is the last night
of school, so kind of grim.
Keith: Yeah, man,
it's the last day of school,
and I'm at work tonight,
4:00 to close.
You know, I know a lot
of stuff gonna change.
A lot of people I was used
to seeing every day --
I might never
see them again, you know?
But I was --
I-I already prepared my mind
for that, you know?
It's all a mental thing.
I'm ready to go.
It's all set up.
I just got to pick something,
you know,
and that's -- that's -- that's
what's really holding me back,
- all these choices.
- Yeah.
I'm just waiting till
the right one comes to me --
you feel me? -- till
the Lord send me the right --
the right message or something
'cause I got too many choices,
and if I pick the wrong one
and fuck up... Thomas: Yeah.
...that'll get me
into something, so...
[ Mouthpiece buzzes ]Young Man: Yeah.
Keep going. It works.
Thomas: It's already just got twisted.
Triston: One, two, three.
♪♪
These them ol' trusty boys.
[ Chuckles ]
- Good?
- Yeah.
This is really the last day
of school. You feel me?
Yeah.
'Cause day after this,
ain't gonna see nobody no more.
- Don't do it.
- You might as well.
[ Laughter ]
- I gotcha.
- All right.
- You guys have fun.
- Yep.
[ Engine starts ]
♪♪
MAN:
Mr. Triston Tyler Walls.
[ Cheers and applause ]
Miss China Marie Powell.
[ Cheers and applause ]
Miss Jazzlyn C. Brokemond.
[ Cheers and applause ]
♪♪
[ Indistinct conversations ]
- How you feeling?
- I'm good.
- On the left side now.
- Yeah.
Welcome to the left-hand pack.
I'm an alumni.
An old man and all this stuff.
MAN:
How you feeling, my man?
Good, man.
I just graduated.
Check it out.
Oh, man.
[ Cheers and applause ]
Keith:
Oh, that's a cool card.
Elizabeth:
What does it say?
"Graduate, step into your future
with a prayer in your heart
and a song in your soul.
Step into your future
with faith in the Lord
and the abilities
he's given you.
You actually did it.
Yeah. Mm-hmm.
[ Whispering ]
[ Muffled speaking ]
♪♪
Thomas: So, we're walking up
on the bonfire now.
I'm rolling in here
with Triston and China.
I think Keith's supposed
to come a little later.
He was rounding up girls.
I'm getting kind
of psyched, actually.
I don't harbor much nostalgia
for high school,
but this is definitely
one of the few, like,
American coming-of-age rituals
that's infectious.
[ Indistinct conversations ]
♪♪
What's that? Oh, no.
Oh, my God.
The fucking cops are here.
[ Indistinct shouting ]
Whoa.
Shit. So,
just as the party
was getting going,
two, I guess, beach cops -- they
didn't look like real cops --
just came out with flashlights
and busted everybody up.
Oh, man.
Fuck. I am stoned.
Well, that party was nuts.
I am completely shot
this morning.
I imagine the kids
are doing a lot better than me
on account
of their young livers,
also because they've got
their entire summer
ahead of them
and their futures past that,
which are remarkably bright,
considering
where they were coming from.
Everybody made the paper today.
It's -- Here's Emerson.
There's Paxton, DeSean,
Triston, Herschel.
Jazzlyn's dance performance
is in the write-up.
And then down here is New Tech
with Keith and his crew --
first to graduate.
Kind of making me a little
bit choked up.
Losing my boys.
100 years ago,
W.E.B. Du Bois said,
"Work, culture, and liberty --
these we need
in order to foster the traits
and talents of young black men,
not in opposite to other races,
but in larger conformity with
the greater ideals of America."
But the Gary kids did it.
If you Photoshopped out all
the bandos and vacant lots,
this would just look like the
last week of school anywhere.
It's really impressive.
I always thought high-school
graduation
was such a corny,
hand-me-down tradition,
but these kids attack it
with such sincerity and brio,
kind of make it their own.
I guess it's a case of,
when all you have
are hand-me-downs,
you take really good care
of them and make them count.
But what would I know
about that other than thrifting?