There Are A Lot More of Us Than You Think
I know there's been a lot about bullying in the news and around the teen blogosphere lately. This is nothing new to me as bullying, gender issues and self-esteem are what my husband and I do for a living. (I write curricula and do public workshops and my husband teaches people how to defend themselves while wearing starchy pajama suits known as "gis" -- guess which one of us has more fun?) Honestly, I would write a ton of stuff and cite really incredible sites like The Ophelia Project, About-face.org, and Liz Swados' work including "The Hating Project" (one of my favorites!) but, really, it's about character; and for once I'm not talking about the ones on the page.
Respect: Treating other people the way they want to be treated. (My husband and I tweaked this a bit from the Golden Rule adage since the way YOU might want to be treated might not be the same way that someone ELSE wishes to be treated; that takes a little more effort, knowledge and research. Trust me, says the author who wrote some Latina paranormal fiction!)
So I was thrilled to join YA Authors Against Bullying created by Carrie Jones and Megan Kelly Hall who stood up to do something other than sympathize with what's been going on with teens "doing onto" other teens. Many of us submitted our essays to the non-profit site in order to share our own experiences in the hopes that we could add our voices to the fabulous "It Gets Better" vibe going on out there; to reach out and say that it's not you and it's not okay--we're listening. We're here.
What I *hadn't* anticipated was that our fearless leaders would take this one step further and I'm honored to be among such incredible talents as Jo Knowles, Heather Brewer, Ellen Hopkins, Cecil Castellucci, Eric Luper, Carolyn Mackler, R.L Stine, Lisa McMann, Lauren Oliver, Jon Scieszka, and Mo Willems in the anthology DEAR BULLY, coming soon.
So, bullies beware: there are lots of great stories in here from people who know. People who care. People who understand. People who will listen and stand up to do something about it. And there are a lot more of us than you think.
Respect: Treating other people the way they want to be treated. (My husband and I tweaked this a bit from the Golden Rule adage since the way YOU might want to be treated might not be the same way that someone ELSE wishes to be treated; that takes a little more effort, knowledge and research. Trust me, says the author who wrote some Latina paranormal fiction!)
So I was thrilled to join YA Authors Against Bullying created by Carrie Jones and Megan Kelly Hall who stood up to do something other than sympathize with what's been going on with teens "doing onto" other teens. Many of us submitted our essays to the non-profit site in order to share our own experiences in the hopes that we could add our voices to the fabulous "It Gets Better" vibe going on out there; to reach out and say that it's not you and it's not okay--we're listening. We're here.
What I *hadn't* anticipated was that our fearless leaders would take this one step further and I'm honored to be among such incredible talents as Jo Knowles, Heather Brewer, Ellen Hopkins, Cecil Castellucci, Eric Luper, Carolyn Mackler, R.L Stine, Lisa McMann, Lauren Oliver, Jon Scieszka, and Mo Willems in the anthology DEAR BULLY, coming soon.
So, bullies beware: there are lots of great stories in here from people who know. People who care. People who understand. People who will listen and stand up to do something about it. And there are a lot more of us than you think.
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