Books

How do girls deal with the relentless pressure to look “good” all the time? A rainbow of girls told Helen Cordes about the weight of this pressure, which includes looking “hot” as well. Girl Power in the Mirror shares strategies for girls to discover and celebrate their unique inner beauty—the potent antidote to the tyranny of the mirror.

Why do girls talk so often about lacking self-confidence in the classroom? Girls told Helen Cordes about fears of raising their hands and having the wrong answer; about not trying new challenges because they might not do it well. Girl Power in the Classroom offers girls confidence-boosting tactics that get them pursuing any and all learning opportunities.

Singing together is a proven activist tool, writes Helen Cordes and co-author Eric Selbin in their Sonic Politics chapter, “Singing resistance, rebellion, and revolution into being: collective political action and song.” When people sing while “acting in concert,” the shared physical act and emotional bonding turbo-charges activist progress. That’s why singing together was and is a force in movements worldwide and stateside: A sampling includes the US civil rights movement to the Chilean overthrow of the military dictatorship to the Baltic battling of USSR control in their Singing Revolution to the songs fueling the Trump resistance and Black Lives Matter movement.

This college textbook focusing on writing and analysis skills featured Helen’s essay printed in Utne Reader magazine, written as a rebuttal to gadfly professor Camille Paglia’s essay arguing that the urge to rape for men is hardwired and inevitable, so women should simply use common sense to avoid rape. See Helen’s response here.

Utne Reader Essay

**Browse a sampling of tons of unboring kid stuff by Helen and others.**

**Helen, Eric Selbin, and daughters Jesse and Zoe collaborated for a chapter on how homeschooling can boost diversity, activism, and creativity in education.**

**Can Barbie dolls be okay for girls—or boys? In this essay from** ***Utne Reader*, Helen says yes, with the right messages.**

Helen’s look at fair paid maid ethics from *Utne Reader*

Slow is beautiful. What we owe each other. The secret of imagination. Discontentment robs you of your life. Grow your own politics. In Goodlife, Utne Reader magazine editors Helen Cordes and Jay Walljasper harvested the best wisdom on these topics and many more from the keen thinkers published over years of Utne Reader.