Surviving Bullies Project Blog
Thursday, June 01, 2006
Farewells and Kickoffs
Hello all!
New and exciting things are happening here at the SBP.
We dedicate this blog to the lovely and talented Ms. Rebecca Cohen. After her four months term at the SBP, she has decided to actualize her dreams of living out in sunny California. She heads to Oakland, California, tomorrow. In the splendor of northern California, Rebecca will be helping to save the environment via presenting companies and government agencies with energy efficient solutions to their daily operations. We want to thank her for valiantly propelling the content development of this website, and for tackling the challenge of marketing. Best of luck, Rebecca! We will miss you!
In other news, we have kicked off conversation with the administration of the middle school that Rebecca and I both attended. After the positive feedback from our pilot program in the Manhattan high school, we would like to synthesize the feedback into a comprehensive curriculum complemented by a set of teacher’s manual over the next two months. Then, we hope to give back to our community by making the curriculum available to the students and the teachers there and working with them implement the curriculum in the fall.
Stay tuned for new updates.
-Shan Shan
Posted by Dickon on 06/01 at 10:03 AM
(22) Comments •
(0) Trackbacks •
Permalink
Thursday, October 05, 2006
Get Ready for Some Animating!
As summer moves into fall, we proudly present to you: The Surviving Bullies Project Animation Competition, sponsored in conjunction with Willoughby and Lamont Productions! It is a competition open to all students in animation and interactive media design programs across the country. The goal is to see who can take an emotionally charged concept from the Surviving Bullies Workbook and bring it alive using a combination of the narrative, moving images, color or lack there of if one chooses to do it in black and white, and music. The animations will be incorporated into the electronic version of the Surviving Bullies Workbook and future curriculum materials that will be distributed nationwide. We are experimenting with the latest technology that allows a marriage of text and video/animation in a PDF file, as we speak.
What is at stake with the animations is helping students gain a deeper understanding of key issues that are integral in bullying and growing up (i.e. self-awareness, coping with stress, avoiding social faux pas, etc), which are crucial to achieving better personal and academic life.
It is also important for us to make the Animation Competition a worthwhile experience for the participating students. In addition to the immense learning for everyone who tackles the challenge of animating an emotional charged issue for a teen audience ranging from 7th to 9th grade, the winners will receive a monetary prize of up to $1000 (no matter who you are, a little cash doesn’t hurt) and a contract offer (gives you a little sense of security for the first few years out of school, and ladies and gents, it will make you feel like America’s Next Top Model or a VIP in professional sports, and vice versa). Also, competing in this challenge will give you major bragging rights to people ranging from your closest friends to the most formidable job interviewer. Think: Profolio!
So if you’re animation savvy, click HERE to learn more about the competition and submit your entry!
And…pass the word on. It’s for a very important cause.
Posted by Dickon on 10/05 at 09:36 AM
(3) Comments •
(1) Trackbacks •
Permalink
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
A New Perspective
Hi! My name is Jocelyn Schur. I have just graduated from Staples High School in Westport, CT. I am working with both Dickon Pownall-Gray and Shan Shan Jiang every day for about a month.
Yesterday was my first day and Dickon and Shan Shan raved about their recent production in New Haven. I wish I had seen it because it sounds like it was spectacular. The production took a long time but in the end it sounds like a wonderful experience for everyone including the audience. The students in the production were from ECA (Educational Center for the Arts). In the beginning much of Dickon and Shan Shan’s time was spent discussing bullying. To their surprise the kids were eager to share their own stories of bullying, some with very serious repercussions. I watched footage of raps and sketches that the students wrote and choreographed themselves- it was so impressive! Dickon and Shan Shan described how attached they grew to many of the students and how much they miss them.
I was also impressed with how open the students were during their interviews, which were often understandably accompanied with tears. It is upsetting to me that any child should be made to feel so badly about him or herself. I wish there was more I personally could do for I sometimes feel helpless with this universal problem.
We also sat down to brainstorm and discuss ideas for the Surviving Bullies Workbook online edition. An important point we agreed on was that anyone can identify bulling as a problem but the solutions are what make our mission so crucial.
For the past few years I have been very involved with the Gay Straight Alliance at my high school. I have close relationships with many of the members in the club and I think some of the kids have their own stories that need to be heard. This Thursday which is when the club meets after school each week the three of us will be trekking to Staples to introduce the Surviving Bullies Project. It is our hope that the topics that are mentioned will get everyone thinking about bullying (we will be educating while creating awareness). After the presentation the kids will sit in a circle and Shan Shan and Dickon will share their personal stories. I am sure after this many kids will want to share their own stories. The following week it is our hope to have many of the kids interviewed by me (with their parents permission).
I am very excited for this. I think many people have stories they want to share but lack an audience to share with. This will give these spectacular kids the opportunity that I am sure will be a great experience and unintentionally therapeutic as well!
Check back for more updates soon!
-Jocelyn Eve Schur
Posted by Dickon on 01/23 at 04:24 PM
(39) Comments •
(0) Trackbacks •
Permalink
Friday, January 26, 2007
To Be or Not To Be A Wannabee
Yesterday was a success! Dickon, Shan Shan and I presented in front of Staples High School in Westport CT to the Gay Straight Alliance as well as the principal, dean, and a few other faculty. The kids didn’t blink and I felt everyone in the room was moved by the presentation. Many were interested in being interviewed to help transform the Surviving Bullying Workbook into an electronic version. The principal enjoyed the presentation so much in an email he told me he has already spoken to the head of curriculum in Westport about the project and both are very interested. This is great news!
I watched more of Dickon & Shan Shan’s footage today from their production, ”Hear My Laughter, Hear My Cry.” I jotted some notes down as I watched, just some questions or points that moved me:
How does it feel to be different?
Ingrid, the director, introduced the show and made it clear to the audience how sensitive this topic is by describing the actors as naked and vulnerable for even though they may wear a costume, have a new name and role these stories are true and often painful. This exposition really set the mood for me because i couldn’t help but admire these kids for getting up on stage in front of their peers and revealing such painful memories. The acting could not have been difficult when these kids have evidently BEEN there. In one monologue a girl described how she sat in the front row because the popular kids basically owned the back. The final line was, “Maybe one day I will get to sit in the back row.”
This reminded me of middle school. How did the popular kids get to own areas? The girls in my grade even had bracelets that were “theirs.” If anyone else wore them, which happened a lot since they were trendy bracelets, these girls were WANNABEES. In the cafeteria these popular kids had tables that only their group could sit at. Sometimes they would be so kind to invite people they felt sorry for OR felt deserving to sit with them. I remember calling them out on it once. All my memories are of me being right on the line of in the group and out. But I didn’t want to be them. In retrospect, I didn’t think it was right that these kids could own bracelets or areas and I ignored the rules and boundaries. As a result I think they thought I was a wannabee. Sometimes I think they convinced me that was all I was, but I don’t think that was it. I’m not really sure because when you are told something so much it gets confusing.
In another sketch a girl questioned whether it was better to talk behind someones back or to their face. I think that is a great question that I struggle with even today. At what point are you being too confrontational? My friends always talk about each other but I think we get along well. This actress, this 9th grader’s question was very powerful, “Would you rather someone talk behind your back or to your face?”
- Jocelyn Eve Schur
Posted by Dickon on 01/26 at 04:14 PM
(5) Comments •
(0) Trackbacks •
Permalink
Friday, February 16, 2007
Notes from the Editing Room
Hi all! Just taking a break from logging and capturing hours and hours of amazing interview footage with students from Jocelyn’s high school. Within a matter of two weeks, we managed to score 18 interviews, ranging from freshman to the principal! Next step, presenting this wealth of first-hand insights, plus entertaining tidbits into bullying in the e-version of the Surviving Bullies Workbook, available (hopefully) by July 1, 2007!
Rest assured, you won’t see any of this footage on the cutting room floor!
Back to work… Stay tuned for more updates.
-shan shan
Posted by Dickon on 02/16 at 04:35 PM
(19) Comments •
(0) Trackbacks •
Permalink
Re-evaluating Valentine’s Day
I check the traffic statistics of our website from time to time. While I’m very excited to see a steady growth in the number of unique visitors to the website each month since we first launched, I was ASTONISHED by the stats reported for February 14, 2007. Apparently, on Valentine’s Day, we had only 8, (yes, not 800, not 80, not even 18), but EIGHT unique visitors. That’s even less than when we first launched. Where was everybody?!! I can’t help but conclude: nobody thinks about bullying on Valentine’s Day. Maybe this also means: nobody gets bullied because it’s Valentine’s Day?
Posted by Dickon on 02/16 at 04:58 PM
(29) Comments •
(2) Trackbacks •
Permalink
