Class

A science fiction horror story about the buying and selling of race in America, the simultaneous worship and degradation of African Americans in popular culture, and the bloody terror of boundaries being torn down.

"Eugene Perkins has written a profound and deeply disturbing book which should be read by every person in this troubled land… Because he has a primary relationship with oppressed black children and because his subject with compassion and an arsenal of new and the social commentator, he reveals nuances and subtleties which are beyond the range of the traditional social scientists."- Lerone Bennet, Jr. Abstract found on the back cover of book.

H. Melt curates this collection of essays (mostly originally online), documenting a critical queer, nonfiction literary voice that is strongly rooted in Chicago. Themes include the need to talk more openly about race, class, and privilege, the power of community support, and the experience of living in Chicago. Builds on the work of Chicago-based queer publications like Chicago IRL, In Our Words, and others. (Adapted from Melt's introduction to the collection.)

In These Times is a monthly political magazine based in Chicago

In These Times is a political magazine, focusing on leftist ideals, activism, and the socially disenfranchised.

"These stories are written by everyday people who want to share their experiences with you, to let everyone know what it's like to grow up in our shoes. We're hoping we can reach somebody with these stories, that somehow, some way you will listen to us. Many of the guys in this book are between the ages of 15-25, and we have it hard out there. Many of us have been incarcerated or have lost someone real close to us. We've been attending a class called Reflection for a couple of years now. Thanks to the help of Father Bruce Wellems at Holy Cross Church, most of us now have a chance to realize that everyone is valuable in this world."

&quot;For some months now, I have been engaged in the process of teaching youth-- who have a natural inclination for such things anyway-- that everything they have ever been told is wrong. Under the belief that it is not too late for the best and brightest of old dogs to learn new tricks, I wish to impart some of the same basic information that I have been giving them. My aim is to give activists and other critical thinkers new tools for dismantling the master's house.&quot;<br />

"The stories presented here tell tales of a new Chicago, a Chicago that, like the Scott Mutter montage that fronts this book, is made up of diverse images that suggest new ways of seeing. They provide alternative interpretations of life in the city. What you will find in this collection is a a multi-cultural neighborhood in print, a neighborhood which has yet to surface on Chicago streets, one which is perhaps still years away in a city that touts its culturally plural make-up while still enforcing rigid boundaries between segregated neighborhoods. Murder by industrial pollution (often masked by self-abuse), racism, homophobia, the disintegration of family life, the struggle for control of one's own body and mind, the troubles facing a growing elderly population, the subjugation of minority cultures to the rich, the white, the male, are all issues confronted by the writers of these stories. They speak through a range of voices, creating a new, urgent sense of Chicago Realism. These storytellers provide testimony to a new Chicago, a Chicago that while steeped in American tradition challenges the narrow boundaries of its stereotype. They speak to a changing America, an America that has awakened from decades of a false, prosperity-driven revelry with a reality hangover. They speak of an America that must now begin to turn its attention to the social and environmental problems it has too long ignored." - From the back cover