Marc McGinnes

Rise Up Marc McGinnes

"Rise Up" offers a lighthearted and celebratory overview of stilting and the benefit of raising one's perspective. Longtime stilter Marc McGinnes, who perfected his art over 40 years in Santa Barbara's Solstice Parade, explains how a small investment in a pair of stilts can translate into a lifetime of fun and joy. Beginning with the basics, McGinnes gives the lowdown on falling, equipment, accessories, and how to begin and continue stilting at any age. Looking back at his own remarkable experiences, Marc expresses the shift in consciousness that occurs while gliding above the fray, recounting his view from the head of the parade since it began. As a well-known environmental lawyer and UCSB lecturer, he also describes how stilts took him to new heights in the classroom, the courtroom, and on the streets, inviting readers to imagine how to use stilt-walking to raise the stakes-or simply elevate the mood-in everyday life. Personal photographs selected from over four decades of Marc's stilting career and drawings by his son Zach McGinnes (an artist and fellow stilter) clarify advice for rookies and express a stilt-walker's heightened sense of fantasy and wonder.