Inspired by the award-winning poet and actor's acclaimed one-man play,
a powerful coming-of-age memoir that reimagines masculinity for the
twenty-first-century male.
Award-winning poet, actor, and writer Carlos Andrés Gómez is a supremely
gifted storyteller with a captivating voice whose power resonates
equally on the live stage and on the page. In one of his most moving
spoken-word poems, Gómez recounts a confrontation he once had after
accidentally bumping into another man at a club. Just as they were about
to fight, Gómez experienced an unexplainable surge of emotion that made
his eyes well up with tears. Everyone at the scene jumped back, as if
crying, or showing vulnerability, was the most insane thing that Gómez
could possibly have done.
Like many men in our society, Gómez grew up believing that he had to be
ready to fight at all times, treat women as objects, and close off his
emotional self. It wasn't until he discovered acting that he began to
see the true cost of squelching one's emotions--and how aggression
dominates everything that young males are taught.
Statistics on graduation rates, employment, and teen and young-adult
suicide make it clear that the young males in our society are at a
crisis point, but Gómez seeks to reverse these ominous trends by sharing
the lessons that he has learned. Like Hill Harper's Letters to a Young
Brother, Man Up will be an agent for positive change, galvanizing
men--but also mothers, girlfriends, wives, and sisters--to rethink and
reimagine the way all men interact with women, deal with violence,
handle fear, and express emotion.
