Man Up

Inspired by the award-winning poet and actors 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 Andrs Gmez 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 Gmez recounts a confrontation he once had after accidentally bumping into another man at a club. Just as they were about to fight Gmez 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 Gmez could possibly have done.. Like many men in our society Gmez 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 wasnt until he discovered acting that he began to see the true cost of squelching ones emotionsand 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 Gmez seeks to reverse these ominous trends by sharing the lessons that he has learned. Like Hill Harpers Letters to a Young Brother Man Up will be an agent for positive change galvanizing menbut also mothers girlfriends wives and sistersto rethink and reimagine the way all men interact with women deal with violence handle fear and express emotion.