Amari Broadnax was born in Fontana, CA in 2006.  He has lived in Rialto, CA all of his life.  He is a six year old first grader at Lena M. Preston Elementary School.   Amari practices Tae Kwon Do at the Tiger Lee Karate Schools in Rialto.  He is the eldest of two boys to his mother, Keesha Cuthbert, who is a full time student at the University of Southern California and Assistant Branch Manager at JP Morgan Chase Bank, N.A.

Me:                        Amari, what games do you play at recess?

Informant:          (looks at me nervously, fidgets with clothes) Why? Did Mrs. Dietz call you?

M:                          What?  Why would she call me?

I:                             … I don’t know …

M:                          Okay, Amari, I don’t know what is going on.  I just want to know what you play at recess.

I:                             Am I going to get in trouble?

M:                          What? No. Why would you get in trouble? Amari, I promise you won’t get in trouble.

I:                             (hesitates) Mom, we are not supposed to play it though.  It’s called Call of Duty. Like the video game. You know?

M:                          Yes, I know.  Continue …

I:                             Okay, so, Mom, the boys umm are the zombies and umm we like try to get the girls.  So the girls umm run away from us so that they don’t umm become like us …like the zombies.  … and then, we  like turn the girls into umm the zombies and then the last human wins! (smiles) Mom, what’s wrong?

M:                          I don’t get it.  So, if you touch the girl she becomes a zombie?   How are there and humans left to win?

I:                             Mom, when I umm touch the girl I turn into a human and she is a zombie.  Do you get it now?

M:                          I think so … It sounds like Freeze Tag.

I:                             What’s that?

M:                          Nothing. Nevermind.

I:                             Mom …

M:                          Amari?

I:                             I’m not in trouble, right.  Cause that’s what you said …

M:                          No, you are not in trouble.

___

This sounds like a variation of Freeze Tag, that I used to play as a kid.  Basically, you transfer the “freezing” from one person to another until there is one person that remains unfrozen.  The thing that I remember about this game is that the more people that were playing, the longer the game lasted.  So, with a playground full of elementary school kids, it seems the perfect game for recess because it would never end.