You Need Courage to Face Bullies

"I'm sooo bored," I groaned to my friend, Gabby, one recess. "There's nothing to do." Gabby shrugged. "There's lots of things we can do. Like..." she didn't finish her sentence, though, because she became interested in something near the basketball court. I waited for her to continue, but when her eyes widened in exaggerated surprise, I had to see what she was looking at.

A tall girl with short black hair was the first thing I saw. Then I noticed the petite girl with dark skin trying to avoid her speculating gaze. Four girls stood behind the tall one, smiling but not looking very happy. I turned back to Gabby.

"Um... you were saying?" I said, wanting to hear what we could do for recess that was not look at intimidating people. Gabby looked at me questioningly. "Do you know who that girl is?" I thought for a while, then answered, "No. Why?" Gabby looked worried. "That's May, she's really mean. She likes taking stuff from people that look different from her. She took my sister's sweater last month." Now she was looking at the small dark-skinned girl. "We should go help."

I laughed. "May doesn't seem mean," I lied. Then I tried to change the subject. "Hey, didn't Emily say she needed to finish her painting? Maybe we could help her," referring to a lone girl standing by the window of our classroom. Gabby was still looking at May. "No, I want to see what she's doing," she declared, and stood up, using me to support her. I started to protest, but she wasn't listening. I followed her reluctantly because I didn't want to sit alone.

As we got closer to the group, I heard May say, "I know where she got it. If you give it to me I'll buy you another one." The small girl kept shaking her head while looking at the ground or some space far away. She was clutching something around her neck...

Gabby gasped, "That's really pretty!" I looked again and I could see a green stone peeking through her fingers. She was wearing a necklace, and apparently, May wanted it.

The girl kept shaking her head while her grip on the necklace became tighter. I could see her face getting red while water was forming in her eyes. I knew I should tell May to stop bothering her, but the mischievous glint in her narrowed eyes made me hesitate, and my confidence was waning. I didn't want to make an enemy of such a tall, tough-looking girl.

"Let's go," I whispered to Gabby, pulling her arm. She turned toward me, "But-" she started to protest, but then followed me back to where we were sitting while I heard a soft cry. Gabby turned around but I didn't want to see look like I knew what was going on. I could hear Gabby starting to say something, but she seemed to realize I didn't want to interfere. Hearing the bell ring, we started walking to our classroom. I saw May's victim walk to her room, with a bare neck, and I was shocked to see droplets of water fall from her face to the ground, leaving a small trail of dark spots on the pavement. I looked at them, thinking if I stared hard enough they'd disappear, not wanting to believe they were there. I hadn't realized the girl's feelings had been hurt so badly.

If I could re-do the scene, I would change the part where I ignored May bullying an innocent girl. I would walk up to May and tell her what she was doing was not nice, that she should think about what she was doing and would she be proud of it later on? I would also ask if the bullied girl was all right and try to comfort her. That's all in the past now, and I wish I had reacted differently.

This year, I will stand up to bullies, and not just walk away because I don't want to humiliate myself. If anyone is getting bullied and not able to stand up for themselves, I will try to help in any way I can. If anyone is in a hint of danger, I will make sure they get out of harm's way. This will help make ISKL a safer and happier place, which is something I think everyone wishes they could have.



http://www.state.me.us/education/bullyingprevention/schools.htm
http://blogs.tampabay.com/.a/6a00d83451b05569e201156ff771c5970c-popup
http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;_ylt=A0S020tYUptMphYA54aJzbkF?p=girl+bullies&fr=yfp-t-701&ei=utf-8&x=wrt&y=Search

I Don't Know Myself As Well As I Think

I walked up to Mrs. Ferguson, the music teacher, and pointed on the list of students' names where my name was. She put a check mark next to it and I walked out of line, looking around the room for familiar faces. I saw my friend, Abigail, and walked over to her.

"So...", I began, smiling nervously. "You're auditioning for the play?"

"Pretty much," said Abigail. "I'm trying out for the evil stepsister. How 'bout you?" I shrugged, heart pounding as I realized I didn't know who I wanted to try out for.

Mrs. Ferguson clapped her hands and started calling out names. When they walked up to the front of the room, they had to sing the 'Happy Birthday' song. When she said my name, my friends whispered encouragingly while I walked up to Mrs. Ferguson. I looked at her and she stared back expectantly. Then realizing I was supposed to sing, I turned toward my classmates and other people, and I tried to imagine myself on a stage, where making a mistake was the worst thing that could happen. I opened my mouth and my voice was shaky. I cleared my throat and tried again. I don't remember how I sounded, just that everyone clapped politely afterward. I sat down again, cheeks burning.

As other people sang the simple song, I started to think. If I get in the play... children in other grades would look at me in the lights, singing and smiling. They wouldn't know who I am, won't hold any grudges against me if I make a mistake. I imagined myself, beaming confidently at the crowd, acting.

Mrs. Ferguson handed out scripts to us all. Again she called out names and asked whoever came up to say a specific phrase out of the script. When it was my turn, I tried to sound more confident, but all I could think about was me saying another person's line, or knocking over all the props on the stage. I realized that there was something worse than making a mistake; thinking about it! Maybe I didn't sound so well to everybody else, but to my ears I sounded a lot better.

When the auditions were over, I had learned so much. Before, I only wanted to be in the play because "everyone" was talking about it. Now, I was fantasizing about playing a big part like... the evil stepsister! I could be Abigail's sister in the play, if we made it in. I told Mrs Ferguson what my decision was.

As I walked toward the school gate the next morning, a group of girls called my name and dragged me toward the music room, where two pieces of paper were hung up. I gasped and looked for my name. There it was, next to... "Evil Stepsister #1!" The third emotion I felt was fear and nerves, which surprised me, because the first two were pride and happiness. I was looking forward to the play.

How Did Early Humans Use Art to Express Their Prehistoric Culture?

     Early humans probably didn't have a sophisticated language in the past, maybe some hand gestures and few words for simple meanings.  When they wanted to express themselves and their culture, they had to draw.
     
     Their drawing included many things: hunts gone well and gone bad, running animals, people, fire, and so on.  Modern humans, if given a piece of paper and asked to draw something, they would probably draw people, houses, dogs and cats, modern things you see everyday that people understand.  Not so different with early humans.          
    
      They wouldn't draw something they know absolutely nothing about.  They'll draw something they see everyday, like animals.  They didn't cut down trees to make way for buildings, they lived with the trees, with the bugs and the animals.  When they draw, they're sharing something with you because it's one of their ways of communicating.  When a group of early humans get together for a meeting, the leader or whoever it is sharing what they want to, they do it in drawings, and maybe some of the simple language that they have.  Him drawing a group of animals running might be him explaining something he saw that day.  Or maybe it is a warning of animals coming near where they live.
     
     Seeing these drawing let us know what the early humans did and saw.  It lets us know how much we've evolved.  It lets us know how different our lives and their lives really are.  And they are definitely different.