"Dreams Interrupted" is based on a true story. Ever wonder what life is like for big time college football players? You know, the guys who get all the girls in college and move on to make millions of bucks in the NFL? You ever question what it would be like to live out a day as an All American Athlete during one of those live nationally televised Saturday afternoons games on ESPN? Better yet, have you ever wondered what life would be like if for your entire life you planned on living out this dream until suddenly, you wake up four years later and the possibility is stripped from your finger tips without ever realizing your opportunity has expired? This is the story of the failures of childhood dreams, the struggle with masculinity and the limited experiences of life outside the walls of his hometown that leaves Glen (Mourning) stripped of his confidence, confused about his future and subsequently frustrated with what a life without football has to offer. In this psycho analytical journey of a young man who enters the world of the athletic elitism, the main character (Glen Mourning) realizes that college football and stardom isn't exactly what he imagined it would be. When the traditional route to the National Football League is no longer his path, time and the opportunity of going pro expires right before his eyes. During his four year journey in college as a full scholarship athlete, he is faced with the realization that college football, as much as it seemed like a dream come true, was actually a torturing and psychological nightmare of multiple experiences. Torn between fitting in with his peers and coaches, he makes a decision to stay true to the morals that he doesn't realize were embedded in his subconscious and set in stone by his single, uneducated but unconditionally loving mother. In this roller-coaster of a ride, a lost young boy becomes a man among "monsters". Glen is forced to choose between selling his soul to the terrors of an egotistical and degrading culture and struggle with coming to terms with knowing that doing the right thing only allows you to finish last. As the sport of football substitutes and takes place of a father figure, the abandonment of adults, the inability to trust those around him and the dreams that became nightmares, leave Glen stranded to use his intellectual capacity to make the most of what college and collegiate athletics may or may not have taught him. The failures of childhood dreams, is only the beginning of an internal conflict that he faces as a future without football doesn't seem worth living. What do you believe in when you can no longer dream without interruption?
About the Author: Glen Leroy Mourning was born on March 26th, 1987 in Danbury Connecticut. As the oldest of his mother's five children, Glen was blessed with the opportunity to lead by example where he would become the first of two generations to not only graduate from high school, but to complete a masters degree. In 2005 Glen earned a Full- Athletic Scholarship to attend the University of Connecticut where he would make the "All Big East Conference Academic Honor roll for two years in a row before graduating and attending Grad School at the University of Bridgeport. In 2010 Glen finished his masters degree in Elementary Ed. and was named the Student teacher of the year at the University of Bridgeport. Since then, Glen has worked along side of the Nationally renowned Educational contributor Dr. Steve Perry, Star of the CNN Special "Black in America II" and the host of TV One's "Save our Sons". As a 4th and 5th grade teacher at Capital Preparatory Magnet School in Hartford Connecticut, Glen managed to brilliantly inspire the lives of hundreds of students in his tenure as an educator. At the same time, he was the assistant Varsity football coach at Capital Prep Where the team posted an incredible record of 22-2, making back to back state play-off appearances, before stepping down from his role as defensive backs coach. For the past year, Glen has worked in South East Washington D.C as a 4th grade teacher at Democracy Prep Public Charter School. Next year, Glen will continue working in education in Washington, D.C. Glen's greatest accomplishments are not those that have occurred on the playing fields across America but rather with his promise to his family that he has kept for the last seven years which was to become the motivation for his students that have come from similar circumstances. His message to all of his readers is to, "keep dreaming, even when one comes to an end".