Uncle John's Last Dance

Morning Everyone,

Hope your Thursday is off to a great start.

I’m trying something a little different today. Let me know what you think.

Here are today’s Wonderful Words:

The shot proved to be the game winner and life, as Uncle John and I knew it then, would be different moving forward. We just didn’t realize how different.

During ‘The Last Dance’, Justin Tinsley

Background

These sentences are from the beginning of an article about Michael Jordan and the relationship a boy and his uncle built while watching Jordan play ball.

[Spoiler Alert] You may want to read the article first then come back and read this email…

The article traces the defining moments from the end of Jordan’s career as they coincided with the defining moments from the end of Uncle John’s life. Justin Tinsley is John’s nephew, and the whole piece is a touching tribute to their relationship.

What makes it wonderful?

These sentences are wonderful because they are the first of several examples of foreshadowing that appear throughout the piece. This example comes at the end of the second paragraph, when the reader thinks he’s reading an article about basketball.

“Hmm,” I thought. “How would life be different? Maybe he thought Jordan would retire, and they wouldn’t get to watch him anymore.”

The article continues, talking about Jordan, the author’s family, his shared love of sports with his Uncle John, and the formative time they spent together. Then comes another bit of foreshadowing.

Most importantly, he peppered me with life lessons. I didn’t realize it then, but he was doing it with a purpose. A clock was counting down that only he could see.

By this point in the piece, we know Uncle John is going to die. Tinsley point blank tells the reader earlier. But after we learn that Uncle John is going to die, we’re thrust back into the story, experiencing it as Tinsley was when he was 12 years old, almost as if we don’t know the ending.

And this is our second clue that something isn’t right.

The article continues, talking about Tinsley’s obsession with Jordan and all the antics he pulled as a kid mimicking his role model. Then, more foreshadowing. After talking about a particularly memorable game he watched with Uncle John, he writes:

What I really remember from that night are the stomachaches.

Ah, another clue for the reader. This is our first hint that Uncle John might have cancer.

The article continues, talking about Tinsley and his Uncle playing video games, discussing the stomach aches, and telling the reader about Uncle John’s job as a bellman. Then, more foreshadowing.

Around that same time, one of the elders in our family died: Aunt Margaret, who lived to be almost 90 years old. Sitting in her Philadelphia living room shortly after her death, I remember Uncle John saying something that didn’t mean much to me then. But these words, like his laugh, are eternally carved in my memory. “Man,” he said, sighing. “I hope I get to see that age. That’s a blessing.”

This little snippet gives the reader a little more perspective. Another hint that Uncle John might know what’s going on. He might know he doesn’t have as much time as he’d like.

The article continues, talking about Uncle John’s progressing illness and the NBA playoffs, leading up to the game Tinsley talks about at the beginning of the article. Then, more foreshadowing. Shortly after Jordan nails “The Shot” and the Bulls win their sixth title, we see the line:

“If that’s the last image of Michael Jordan,” Costas immortalized, “how magnificent is it?”

I didn’t know it then, and maybe he didn’t either. But for my uncle, it was.

These powerful lines make certain what the reader was rooting against. Uncle John didn’t have much time left.

The article continues, talking about Uncle John’s decline and the final conversations Tinsley had with his beloved Uncle. And then, like Uncle John’s treasured life, the foreshadowing ends:

Uncle John died at 8:52 p.m. on Jan. 2, 1999, four months shy of his 43rd birthday.

The article ends with Tinsely describing the last time he saw Jordan—speaking at Kobe and Gianna Bryant’s memorial. Through Jordan’s speech—through the pain so apparent in his voice—Tinsley felt connected to Uncle John again. It’s a connection he was looking forward to revisiting as he watched the ESPN series, The Last Dance.

Let's get technical

I’ll keep this short since we’ve been here a while already. But the technique we covered today was foreshadowing.

Foreshadowing is when you leave hints, suggestions, or warnings, about events to come.

In this case, Tinsely used progressive foreshadowing, with each successive hint pulling back a little more of the curtain. His writing was masterful, and this use of the technique kept me glued to the screen, hanging on every word and searching for the next clue.

One of the best ways to elevate your writing is to think about where you’re going before you get there. Don’t give the reader the whole map, but leave them hints along the way. It makes for a riveting read—more of an interactive experience—that they won’t be able to put down.

Happy writing,

Joe