Growing up doesn't mean giving up! The quintessential guide to staying true to you in a fucked up world.

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 Center, Stay Solid! is for kids everywhere, and for anyone who considers themselves an ally—parents, teachers, neighbors, friends, relatives, and beyond.

Contributors include Noam Chomsky, Patricia Hill Collins, The Guerilla Girls, Derrick Jensen, Grace Llewellyn, Margaret Killjoy, Dan Savage, Astra Taylor, and more.

* Forward
* Introduction, by Matt Hern

*Section 1 *

1. Family (parenting)
Contributors include: Phillip Larkin, Ivan Coyote, Eldon Hay, Walker Banerd, Kelsey Savage, Laura Maybe, John Dewey

2. School
Contributors include: Carla Bergman, Gustavo Esteva, Grace Llewellyn

3. Community
Contributors include: Benito Wamburo, Chris Mercogliano, Fly, Liz Lichtman, Matt Hern

4. Money (careers, work etc.)
Contributors include: Aly de la Cruz, Starla, Geoff Mann, Astra Taylor, Hari Alluri, Anna Hunter

5. Things you are good at (skills)
Contributors include: Nigel Boeur, Wendell Berry, Lynda Berry, Dishwasher Pete

*Section 2*

6. Sex
Contributors include: Dan Savage, Maggie Hallowell, Leroy Wan, Meredith Lum,

7. Drugs
Contributors TBD

8. Pop culture
Contributors TBD

9. Relationships (friends, romance)
Contributors TBD

10. Travel
Contributors include: Cole Robertson, Gabe Martin, Mikeal, Elise Bouer, Bianca Bockman, Eylem Korkmaz, Dan Bushnell

*Section 3 *

11. Class
Contributors TBD

12. Race
Contributors TBD

13. Gender/sexuality
Contributors include: Sunera Thobani, Tania Willard, Cynthia Dewi Oka

14. Dis/ability = Cecily
Contributors include: Carmen Papalia, Sunaura Taylor, Marcus Youssef

15. Indigenous struggles
Contributors TBD

16. Eco disaster
Contributors include: Paul Watson, Derrick Jensen, Vandana Shiva, Ben West, Will Allen

* Section 4 *

17. Identity/Immigration
Contributors include: Alexandra Henao, Fara Mclaren, Raul Arboleda, Arman Zamani

18. Cops /courts
Contributors include: Jaggi Singh, Ashanti Alston, Arlin French, Harsha Walia

19. Mental health
Contributors TBD

20. Your body
Contributors include: Patricia Hill Collins, Karine Silverwoman

*OUTRO : Getting old/er*
Contributors include Noam Chomsky, Peter Prontzos, Tasnim Nathoo

Biographies