My husband used to complain about what he called Buffy's "seasonal allergies": at the beginning of every season, she'd be a complete bitch, and eventually she'd calm down and become human again. He also had a problem with the way that characters would learn something really important -- like "share information" and "trust your friends" and "you can't solve everything on your own" -- and, two episodes later, be doing the same thing all over again.
Having said that, I've been a Buffy addict since just about the beginning and often use random quotes and references as part of our regular conversation. When I was getting out of a bad relationship, it was a lot easier to tell people "it was very 6th season Spike and Buffy" than to go into sordid details.
I was trying to find a specific site that I knew had mentioned both me and and friend of mine, and in the list of Google returns I found one that, sho'nuff, showed both our names as keywords -- and was a link to a porn site. That was unexpected.
Rachel, (or anyone else) what advice do you have for "ordinary folks" who would like to be part of the solution?
If you're a parent, I highly recommend becoming involved in your child's district: volunteering, becoming part of the booster club, etc. I know it's difficult in today's world to juggle working and home life, trying to pay bills, yet I find it sad how many parents don't realize how important it is to be involved. This also offers an opportunity to network with other parents and find out if they're experiencing or have heard of problems as well.
If your child is the victim of bullying and the school system seems to be trying to sweep it under the rug, keep taking it to higher levels in the district. Heck, for myself, if the situation warrants it, I always consider going to the media as a viable alternative. The down side of this is that, although you might win a battle this way, you might make an enemy of the district, which is why networking with other parents (and teachers) is helpful.
I don't know any other advice to offer. We're in the process of setting ourselves as a Model Program, meaning we're documenting what we do and how to do it with an eye to helping other groups develop similar programs throughout the nation. Fingers crossed....
It's stories like this that make me eternally grateful to have my job.
I work for Bear Valley Healthy Start, a rural cooperative funded by the local school district, California's Healthy Start and First 5 programs (via First 5 San Bernardino) and the San Bernardino County's Promoting Safe and Stable Families program. We provide pre-schoolers and elementary school kids with Family Advisors who provide counseling, socialization groups and sometimes just someone to talk to.
We work very closely with our in-school health aides, teachers and parents as well as other resources in the community, helping people deal with problems from divorce or death in the family to domestic abuse to homelessness to not having a warm jacket or a pair of shoes that fit.
One of our most beautiful success stories was an 8 year old boy who couldn't control his bowels in class. He was mocked and shunned by other students and disliked by teachers who thought he was just "acting out for attention." Word got to the school nurse who checked his medical file and found out he had spinal bifida -- he literally could NOT control his bodily functions.
We contacted his parents, helped them get low-cost medical insurance through a state program, and kept checking to make sure they followed up with doctor appointments. We set up routines with the health aide to help him work on control. On the social side, we invited the boy to join one our of lunch groups, where a half dozen kids of about the same age would have lunch with a Family Advisor.
Within six months, his "accidents" had dropped to nearly none. Within a year, he was a normal kid, playing on the playground with his new friends.
We hope to find out within the next few weeks whether or not we'll be awarded a grant to allow us to extend our services to the middle school and high school.
Just wanted to bring in a small ray of hope amidst the horror and dispair.
| Year | Number of comments posted |
|---|---|
| 2004 | 1 |
| 2003 | 27 |
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