It ain't easy being a kid these days. For the first time in generations, today's teens have worse prospects ahead of them than their parents did, and the pressure to toe the line and be a success is heavier than ever…and so is the temptation to just give up. But there are things in the world worth fighting for! This scrapbook-style collection of essays, excerpts, explanations, and images pushes back against a culture that relentlessly demands that kids give up their best ideals, abandon their hopes, forget their ethical objections to dominant life, soothe their rage, and accept their fates. From dealing with the cops to dealing with your peers, from school and community to drugs and sex, from race and class to money and mental health, Stay Solid! provides essential support for radically inclined teens who believe that it's possible for all of us to hang on to our values and build a life we believe in. Compiled and edited by radical urbanist and educator Matt Hern, with the assistance of the youth community at Vancouver's Purple Thistle Centre, Stay Solid! is for kids everywhere, and for anyone who considers themselves an ally—parents, teachers, neighbors, friends, relatives, and beyond. Contributors include Michelle Alexander, Michael Hardt, The Guerilla Girls, Dan Savage, Pete Jordan, Lisa Gray-Garcia, Shira Tarrant, Lee Naught, Mike Davis, Geoff Mann, Victoria Law, Dawn Paley, The Baltimore Algebra Project, CrimethInc, and many, many more.
What People Are Saying
“Stay Solid! is essential reading! A beacon of light for youth around the world. This unique collage of voices helps inform, inspire, and uplift the next generation.”— MK Asante, author of It’s Bigger Than Hip Hop and Buck “Get this book! Get it for your children, for your nephews and nieces, and for your friends. And get it for yourself, whether you are a kid or not. The radical wisdom contained inside transcends age and the ages.”—Astra Taylor, director of Examined Life “I wish this book had been written when I was in high school, and that I'd somehow gotten my hands on it. The world needs so much from us right now, but more than anything, it needs the recognition that we, each of us, all of us, have the power to change our surroundings for the better. Stay Solid is a celebration of the limitless possibilities in our everyday world.”—Dave Oswald Mitchell, co-editor of Beautiful Trouble: A toolbox for revolution
Full List of Contributors
Eirlys Rhiannon, Kelsey Savage, Eldon Hay , Miriam Ching Yoon Louie, Walker Banerd, Ivan Coyote, Julie Flett, Zora Moniz, Tomas Moniz, David Maduli, René Antrop-González, Daniel Grego, Anthony Meza-Wilson, Mathew Davis , Jay Gillen, Carla Bergman, Mike Jo, Benito Miller Deale, Chris Mercogliano, Liz Lichtman, Fly , Michael Hardt , Yotam Marom , Geoff Mann, Anita Olson , Seth Tobocman, Hari Alluri , Gabriel Teodros , Nadia Chaney, Anna Hunter, Starla Blue David Disaster, Strangers In A Tangled Wilderness, Stephanie Mcmillan, Marisela B. Gomez, Diana Pei Wu, Pete Jordan, Mark Douglas, John Holt , Shawna Murray, Sevé Torres, Lee Naught, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, Dan Savage, Rj Maccani, Leroy Wan, Shira Tarrant, Kenneth W. Tupper, Chrystal Smith , Peggy Millson, Mark Haden, Dawn Paley, Isaac K. Oomen, Andrea Schmidt, Chris Carlsson, Andalusia Knoll , Corin Browne , Guerrilla Girls , Sassafras Lowrey, Ivan Illich, Ching-In Chen, Tieraney Carter, Romi Chandra-Herbert , Cindy Crabb, Melia Dicker , Wendy-O-Matik , Wwoof Canada , Cole Robertson, Bianca Bockman, Elise Boeur , S. Brian Willson, Eylem Korkmaz, Beast Hero, Tiny, Aka Lisa Gray-Garcia, Dave Markland, Dana Putnam, Autumn Brown, Michelle Alexander, Yvonne Yen Liu, Luam Kidane, Antonio Te Maioha, Alan Goodman, Ijeoma Madubata, Imani Oliver, Janelle Kelly, Alex Mah , Jamie Heckert , Reg Johanson, Cynthia Dewi Oka, Marty Fink, Josiane Anthony-H , Sunaura Taylor, Bethany Stevens, Aj Ivings, Carmen Papalia, Eli Clare, Mia Mingus, Sylvia Mcfadden , Melanie Yergeau, Taiaiake Alfred, Glen Coulthard, Gord Hil, Ward Churchill, Joi T. Arcand, Andrea Lee Smith , Andrew Curley , Angela Sterritt, Richard J.F. Day, Hilary Moore, Derrick Jensen, Jo-Anne McArthur, Oliver Kellhammer, Ben West, Madhu Suri Prakash , Alexandra Henao-Castrillon, Sozan Savehilaghi, Guillermo Verdecchia, Bushra Rehman , No Borders, Carmen Aguirre, Victoria Law, Harsha Walia, Marla Renn, Arlin Ffrench, Pamela Cross, Test Their Logik, Testament , Adam Lewis, Vikki Reynolds , Sarah Quinter, Angela “El Dia” Martinez Dy, Dan Bushnell, Aaron Munro, Peter Morin, Sascha Altman Dubrul, Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Ben Holtzman, Kalamity Hildebrandt, Ana Ambroz, Buffie Irvine, Joe Biel, Fiona De Balasi Brown, Manisha Singh, Danny Mcguire, GaChing Kong, Gustavo Esteva, Tasnim Nathoo, Adrienne Maree Brown, Dan Chodorkoff, One Crimethinc Ex-Worker, Maia Ramnath, & Mike Davis