About
the Book
Title:
Against the Grain
Author:
Phil Williams
Genre:
Contemporary / Coming of Age / Political
A
tyrannical high school principal.
A young anarchist with nothing left to lose.
One way or another, this place is goin’ down.
Matt Moyer is an orphaned teen growing up on a primitive farm in the Pennsylvania coal region. He’s homeschooled by his eccentric and philosophical great-uncle, who’s a stickler for logic, reason, and intellectual honesty. Despite his uncle’s reverence for veracity, inconsistencies arise regarding the old man’s shady past and the teen’s parents.
Through a harrowing sequence of events, Matt is forced to attend a public school. The feral teen finds it difficult to cope with the hypocrisy, propaganda, and misinformation that adults and children so readily accept. Faced with the possibility of expulsion, arrest, and ostracism, he must make a choice. Will he choose the easy lie or the hard truth?
Adult language and content.
A young anarchist with nothing left to lose.
One way or another, this place is goin’ down.
Matt Moyer is an orphaned teen growing up on a primitive farm in the Pennsylvania coal region. He’s homeschooled by his eccentric and philosophical great-uncle, who’s a stickler for logic, reason, and intellectual honesty. Despite his uncle’s reverence for veracity, inconsistencies arise regarding the old man’s shady past and the teen’s parents.
Through a harrowing sequence of events, Matt is forced to attend a public school. The feral teen finds it difficult to cope with the hypocrisy, propaganda, and misinformation that adults and children so readily accept. Faced with the possibility of expulsion, arrest, and ostracism, he must make a choice. Will he choose the easy lie or the hard truth?
Adult language and content.
Author
Bio
Phil
M. Williams is an author, activist, blogger, and consultant. He lives
in Central Pennsylvania with his wife, Denise, where he writes and
tends his permaculture farm. He is the author of Fire the Landscaper,
Against the Grain, Stone Lake, and co-author of Farmer Phil's
Permaculture. His new releases can be read for free at
PhilWBooks.com.
Links
Website:
http://www.philwbooks.com/
Emily grits her teeth and clenches her jaw.
“You can’t stop me from seeing him.”
“We’re your parents. We can do whatever is
best for you. You may not see that now, but we have the experience that you
don’t.”
“Your mother’s right,” Mr. Hansen says.
“She’s right, Emily,” Matt says. “She can force you not to see me, but I don’t
think force is a good option for creating loving relationships. Parents choose
force out of convenience or because that’s what their parents did. It’s easier
to force someone than to look at your own hypocrisy.”
Dr. Hansen drops her fork on her plate with
a clang. She glares at Matt. “Excuse me, young man? Do you have any idea how
unbelievably rude it is to call an adult a hypocrite? Especially when it is
completely erroneous.”
“I’m not trying to be rude. It’s just that
children live in involuntary relationships that are kind of like slavery, in
that kids have to obey their parents. They can’t simply trade them in for new
parents, if they don’t like how their parents are treating them—”
Emily reaches over and squeezes his hand
under the table. She turns and mouths Stop.
Matt smiles at Emily. “It’s fine. I’m just
explaining that I think, when you have involuntary relationships, it is easier
to act badly, because you know the other person isn’t going anywhere, no matter
how badly you act.”
“Who’s teaching you this nonsense?” Dr.
Hansen says.
Matt shrugs. “It’s common sense, don’t you
think?”
“No, I don’t.”
“Imagine if, instead of choosing to marry
Mr. Hansen, what if you were forced to marry someone else against your will,
and the guy knew that you could never leave. Do you think he would try really
hard to please you, to be a good husband?”
“This is a ridiculous argument.”
“This is how it is for kids. We’re slaves
to our parents. Hopefully our parents are nice, benevolent plantation owners
who allow us to grow up to be free independent people. But for a lot of kids,
that’s not the case.”
Dr. Hansen smirks. “I’ve worked with thousands
and thousands of children. I can tell you that the vast majority of their
parents would do anything for them, myself included.” She looks at Emily and
back to Matt. “This is where you really need experience and proper education. I don’t know how you could
possibly understand the parent-child dynamic when you have never been married,
had children, or even had much socialization. You should really be careful
about espousing these ideas you obviously know nothing about.”
Matt nods. “It just seems to me that a lot
of kids in the neighborhood enjoy sadistic, dysfunctional behavior. I can’t
imagine that the parents don’t have any blame for that.”
“Kids make mistakes,” Mr. Hansen says. “You
yourself admitted to a very big one tonight.”
“I am sorry for that,” Matt says.
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