Brave Nation Heroes

This email came from the progressive news magazine, The Nation, today regarding young people who have opened their eyes to the devastating things happening to our country, but have not allowed it to paralyze them. I hope you enjoy reading about the incredibly impressive, helpful and consious ways in which these young people are pushing back against the neo-con/neo-liberal movement. My intention is that you will nurture that spirit in the young people we have the privilege to mentor.



Meet Ashley Casale, a young woman who organized a peace march that started in May 2007 in San Francisco and ended four months later in Washington DC raising awareness and inspiring support coast to coast.

Or Chad Knutsen, a student who when the military recruiters came to his high school last year, stood beside them in the hall handing out information on what awaited them in Iraq to counter-balance the propaganda the recruiters were laying on his peers.

Or Whitney Prose, the founder and driver of Plan-It Earth: a student led movement to clean up the environment. She's introduced recycling and all manner of sustainabilty practices to her Otterbein College campus and the broader City of Westerville, Minnesota.

Ashley, Chad and Whitney are just three of the young people recently nominated for The Brave Nation Hero Award. This Brave Nation is a new video collaboration between The Nation and Brave New Films featuring produced conversations between historic figures discussing the issues and movements that have inspired and informed their work. Click here and watch the trailer to learn more about the project.

The project's public debut is this Sunday, June 1, with the release of a conversation between Van Jones and Carl Pope, after which a new video will be released each Sunday for four straight weeks leading up to a live event in Los Angeles on July 13.

Now we're hoping to identify as many deserving activists as possible for nominations for the Brave Nation Award, designed to celebrate the next generation of progressive activists. Submit your stories via videos, photo, essay, photo-essay, painting...whatever conveys the life changing work being done in your community. Include a link to your video, photo, etc. in the submission form here. The nominee needs to be thirty years old or younger. The deadline is June 22. Finally, please visit The Nation online to read new Nation blogs, to view newsfeed links updated each day, to see when Nation writers are appearing on TV and radio, and to read exclusive online reports and special weekly selections from The Nation magazine!

Best Regards,
Peter Rothberg,
The Nation