Video of this event HERE
Young adult author Fred Aceves’ award-winning novel, “The New David Espinosa,” examines body dysmorphia and steroid abuse. He says people often focus on real or supposed physical imperfections they see in the mirror. Merely an irritation for some, for others those flaws can create an obsession for perfection.
A victim of bullying, this junior in high school vows to bulk up and wow people after an embarrassing video goes viral. Frustrated by slow progress, his sole focus becomes finding shortcuts to produce quick muscle mass. He navigates the dark side of bodybuilding and soon realizes pursuing an ideal body at all costs might steal everything from him.
Aceves, who grew up in Glendale Heights and in Tampa, Florida during his teenage years, is on a mission to encourage a conversation about the destructive and often obsessive nature of body negativity.
Aceves will be in conversation with Shantelle Whitehead, Psy.D. Whitehead is an award winning Licensed Clinical Psychologist and founder of Dr. Shantelle and Associates, Ltd., a mental health group practice with offices in the western suburbs of Chicago.
