When There Is a ‘Fear of Falling,’ Jump!: Teens Wrestle with Prejudice, Take a Stand for ‘Outsiders’

BRISTOL, R.I., Oct. 7, 2009 — Maddie Hickman is 16 and fresh off the worst year of her life, which includes not one but two ex-boyfriends. Maddie swears off love and her once-beloved self-help books, and spends her after-school hours editing the school paper and banging out weepy poems – unti…