It's Bullying Prevention Awareness Month
Later in the fall I will be speaking in several Chicago schools about FOUR SECRETS and my thoughts about the social problem of bullying in schools. Tonight I am wondering if there is anything to be said about bullying that hasn't already been said.
Do students really need to hear another adult tell them how much pain is inflicted by the mundane cruelties of the modern high school?
Aren't the very terms--bully, bullying, bullied--starting to have the empty ring of cliche for many teenagers?
I want to use my book as an example of how an episode of bullying cracks the surface of a life and takes a child into a place of psychological trauma. It requires courage, stamina, will and resolve to just GO to school when you are being bullied. Standing up to bullies calls for heroism and self-awareness. The self-awareness is what can turn the experience into art--the response of the artist, writer, musician, dancer, athlete--some form of action and creation to counteract the helplessness that the victims of bullying feel.
Art is connection. Counteract bullying with ART. Words, colors, shapes, sounds, movement, spirit. Push back. Keep track. Guard your unique and precious souls by telling the truth of what is happening to you.
More thoughts to come.
THE BULLY PROJECT: A phenomenal site about bully prevention HERE
Do students really need to hear another adult tell them how much pain is inflicted by the mundane cruelties of the modern high school?
Aren't the very terms--bully, bullying, bullied--starting to have the empty ring of cliche for many teenagers?
I want to use my book as an example of how an episode of bullying cracks the surface of a life and takes a child into a place of psychological trauma. It requires courage, stamina, will and resolve to just GO to school when you are being bullied. Standing up to bullies calls for heroism and self-awareness. The self-awareness is what can turn the experience into art--the response of the artist, writer, musician, dancer, athlete--some form of action and creation to counteract the helplessness that the victims of bullying feel.
Art is connection. Counteract bullying with ART. Words, colors, shapes, sounds, movement, spirit. Push back. Keep track. Guard your unique and precious souls by telling the truth of what is happening to you.
More thoughts to come.
THE BULLY PROJECT: A phenomenal site about bully prevention HERE