A confused son trying to appease his angry father, like so many neglected children, Takuan was a stranger in his own home. This led to his search for a surrogate family in the street—mainly at the local basketball courts. A sanctuary for teens, the courts served as a personal mental-health facility. Amidst the laughter, fun, fights, and tension provided by his peers, not only did he get ‘schooled’ by playground legends, even more significant were the off-the-court tutorials by older playboys and pushers on the neighborhood value system: which was how to get over on society. After learning how to ‘make a dollar out of fifteen cents’ Tak was heading down a tried-and-true path for disaster. Part memoir, part historical treatise, and part survivor’s guide, the perspective of a ‘mixed-race’ child is articulated along with the slang-jargon, musical references, and pivotal news stories of the 1970s and ‘80s to paint a vivid landscape of the times that can be seen, heard, and almost touched.