My bully story

I was bullied in fifth grade.

Every day for most of the school year, this group of 5 girls would surround me during recess and punch me, pull my hair, pinch me, and tell me what a horrible person I was. I was new to the school, so I felt alone, vulnerable, and afraid.

Finally, in tears, I gathered my courage and told my mom about it. I remember feeling embarrassed, thinking I must have done something horrible to bring this on myself.

My mother was great! She explained to me that I was not to blame, that the bullies were the ones in the wrong.

She told me to look in the mirror, and that what I saw there was a wonderful person who was strong. She said that the girls who were picking on me probably saw that strength and were intimidated, that that was why they were being bullies. They were afraid of me!

She then went on to say that those horrible girls, the ones who tortured me on a daily basis, probably really wanted to be my friends, but didn't know how.

That was a long time ago. I cannot remember exactly what I said, or what I did. What I do know is that my view of the girls changed and my attitude toward them changed right along with it.  They lost their power over me.

Since I no longer reacted like a victim they gradually lost interest in me and began to leave me alone. So my mom was right, I was a strong girl who could handle it. But she was wrong, the girls never became my friends.

Or so I thought until a couple of years later. We had a large group of new students move into our school, and for whatever reason several of them decided I was the perfect person to bully.

Before I had a chance to react to these new attacks I found myself surrounded by the very same girls who had once been my tormentors.

Only this time, they were there to protect me.

A bad script is read

Each week for class, we are required to post to a discussion board. What we post depends on what we are studying at the moment.

For this week, we were given a "bad" script to read and evaluate. In previous classes we've evaluated mini-scripts written by classmates, but never before have we been given a full length script, reminded that the writer of the script has no access to our comments, and told to rip it to shreds.

It sounds easy, doesn't it? After all, we humans are very critical beings, and we often enjoy finding the bad in things more than we like finding the good. Complaining is one of our common hobbies.

But this script was such a mess that it was difficult to know where to start. The formatting was all wrong, there were whole scenes that made no sense, and spelling and grammar errors abounded. What a horror to read!

But worst of all, it was hard to tell exactly who was supposed to be the main character! Can you imagine?

Amazingly, ladies and gentlemen, this script was made into a movie. I remember seeing it advertised in the theaters.

It did not get very good reviews.

Hmmm. I guess the old saying that the apple doesn't fall very far from the tree works for movies too!

Would they, could they, write a script?

The time to visit my husband's school to talk to the students about writing is just around the corner. As a matter of fact, I bet if I blink fast a few dozen times it will be here!

So I won't blink, not even slowly, because I'm not ready.

I want to really motivate the kids. I want them to understand why good writing is important, and how they can become better writers.

The problem is, how?

Right now I am totally fascinated with screenwriting (I wonder why?), and would like to teach a screenwriting lesson to the kids. It seems like it would be a wonderful way for them to get a grasp of the necessary parts of a story--character, plot, scene, etc.

But I don't think time is on my side. Whatever lesson I teach needs to be able to be completed in about 45 minutes. 45 minutes to explain the parts of a script (simplified for 5th graders, of course), to stress the importance of strong plot and characters, and to get them to write?

I don't know. I just don't know. It might be possible....

A present of sun

Today is a good day.

I cannot remember a single birthday when it wasn't rainy. That's not to say that it didn't happen, I just don't remember it.

I first began noticing the raininess of my birthday in my teen years, and I've been kinda keeping track ever since. I've had birthdays where the day before and the day after are sunny, but my actual birthday, well, it seems to bring the rain.

I suppose it is only to be expected, having a birthday that falls directly after Groundhog Day.

But today is a good day because this birthday is different. I look outside and I am amazed at the beauty I see there. So much sun! It could be Spring! On February 3rd!

I think I'll take it as a good omen.  And go outside.