Hello, Cruel World: 121 Alternatives to Suicide for Teens, Freaks, and Other Outlaws

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This 20th anniversary edition of transsexual trailblazer Kate Bornstein's unconventional guide to staying alive for teens, freaks and gender outlaws features 20 NEW Alternatives and a new foreword by the author. "A don't-hurt guide for anyone who's been tempted to give in to despair." --Time Out New York "You'll want to keep extra copies of this one on the shelf to give away to friends in need." --Bitch magazine This 20th anniversary edition of transsexual trailblazer Kate Bornstein's unconventional guide to staying alive for teens, freaks and gender outlaws features 20 NEW Alternatives and a new foreword by the author. "A don't-hurt guide for anyone who's been tempted to give in to despair." --Time Out New York "You'll want to keep extra copies of this one on the shelf to give away to friends in need." --Bitch magazine Now updated and with new material Hello, Cruel World features a catalog of 121 alternatives to suicide that range from the playful (moisturize!), to the irreverent (shatter some family values), to the controversial, fun, challenging and easy. Encouraging readers to unleash their hearts' harmless desires, the book has only one directive- "Don't be mean." It is this guiding principle that brings the reader on a self-validating journey and toward a resounding decision to embrace life. Using graphics and checklists, and with great humor and gutsiness, Kate Bornstein dares readers to re-envision the gender system as we know it. She offers stories and insights that are tenderly intimate and unapologetically edgy. Hello, Cruel World also includes- an Introduction by Sara Quin of Tegan and Sara The Hello Cruel Scale of Feelings an Index of Alternatives with safety and effectiveness scales Suicide rates among lgbtq+ teens are much higher than for their cis peers; with love and humor and confession and insight, Bornstein hopes to keep every freak out there alive. She is a radical role model, an affectionate best friend, and a guiding mentor all in one. This one-of-a-kind guide to staying alive is a much-needed, sometimes unorthodox approach to life for those who want to stay on the edge, and alive. Finalist, LGBT Nonfiction Lambda Literary Award, 2009Honor Book, Stonewall Children's and Young Adult Literature Award, 2009

Reviews

"How lucky we are to have such a clear and intelligent writer who has had profoundly personal experiences with different identities, the subject of this first-rate book." --Kurt Vonnegut

"I realize Kate Bornstein is trying to save teenagers--the beautiful weirdos on whom the fate of our future rests--but if her book gets into the wrong hands, she might inadvertently save a whole lot of adults too." --San Francisco Chronicle

"Writer-activist-professional outcast Kate Bornstein takes an empathetic approach." --Carol Queen, co-editor of PoMoSexuals

Author Bio

A celebrated pioneer and advocate for the LGBTQ community, Kate Bornstein is the author of My Gender Workbook- How to Become a Real Man, a Real Woman, the Real You, or Something Else Entirely; Gender Outlaw- On Men, Women and The Rest of Us; and A Queer and Pleasant Danger- A Memoir. Her plays and performance pieces include Hidden- A Gender, The Opposite Sex Is Neither, and Too Tall Blondes In Love. Bornstein lives in New York City with her partner, Barbara Carrellas.