A powerful collection of essays from actors, activists, athletes, politicians, musicians, writers, and teens, each writing about a time in their youth when they were held back because of their race, gender, or sexual identity-- but persisted. Among others: actress Alia Shawkat was told she was too "ethnic" for parts. Former NFL player Wade Davis bullied other gay classmates in an attempt to hide his own sexuality. Holocaust survivor Fanny Starr tells of her harrowing time in Auschwitz, where she watched her family disappear, one by one. They tell how they rose through the hate, overcoming the obstacles of their childhood to the hard-won lives they live today.

Somewhere over the rainbow / Sally Kohn -- For brown girls who blossom on their own time / Prisca Dorcas Mojica Rodriguez -- Own world / Alia Shawkat -- Your golden thread / Matthew Burgess -- As is / Alysia Reiner -- Everyone plays / Amy Chu, with illustrations by Loui Chin -- From high-jumping to life support to wheelchair basketball in Afghanistan / Jess Markt -- Nevertheless, love persisted / Danielle Vabner -- (Young) man in the mirror / Nate Smith -- A woman's place is in the kitchen / Maneet Chauhan -- Be bigger than your story / a conversation with Tay Anderson and Leland Melvin -- Twisted-mouth / Jeff Gomez -- The unfinished Maulik Pancholy pilot / Maulik Pancholy -- You, sailor / Erin McKeown -- Triple threat / a conversation with Tamika, Tauja, and Kenyon Catchings -- Making it better / James Lecesne -- They didn't succeed, I survived / Fanny Starr -- Learning about empathy / Imran Siddiquee -- The roots of embodied education / Liz Wolfson -- Not a doll / Jadaida Glover -- The quietly relentless / Soraya Chemaly -- More than my womb / Melissa Marr -- Just the beginning / Jesselyn Silva -- #Nofilter / Azure Antoinette -- I didn't fit in, what a gift / Vicki Saunders -- Window seat / Representative Leslie Herod -- Reflections of a younger Silvercloud / Johnny Silvercloud -- Sometimes you are better off not knowing / Binta Niambi Brown -- How writing a college essay taught me more about myself than life / Patricia Valoy -- Nevertheless, I write / Amy Fox -- The new kid / Josè Antonio Tijerino -- Brown boy, white suburbia / Pej Vahdat -- The practice of self-love / Wade Davis -- Guts / J.W. Cortés -- Black ancestry and artistry wielded against the police state / Patrisse Khan-Cullors -- I am not Susanne, I am Soulaima / Soulaima Gourani -- We rise / Xiuhtezcatl Martinez -- Rewriting the rules / Dr. Gail Schoettler -- Beyond the baseline / a conversation with Jason and Jarron Collins -- My growth through drought / Kiara Nirghin -- L'amour, maybe not / Shruti Ganguly -- Writing my own story / Jillian Mercado -- The accidental activist / Gavin Grimm.