Confronting Bullying

This Saturday, October 15th I'll be talking about how we can Confront Bullying. This talk is part of the San Antonio Writing Project's Super Saturdays. It will be held at the University of Texas at San Antonio's downtown campus in the Frio Street Auditorium, FS 1.406 from 9-noon. You don't have to register. Just show up and participate.

I feel like there is change in the air. People around the world are getting tired of the bullying our children are living through either as targets of the bullies or as bystanders. Cyberbullying has brought bullying into students' homes and leaves no place to escape the harassment. Too many children have committed suicide in part because of bullying. People are starting to pay attention to bullying in a way that I haven't seen over the last 15 years that I've been researching, writing and presenting about it. States are passing laws that are meant to protect the targets of bullies. CNN, national and local television and radio stations are presenting programing about it. There was even a Summit on Bullying at the White House last year.

Bullying is a complicated issue and attempts to come up with one size fits all solutions don't work very well. But there is a lot of good will toward this issue. Parents, teachers, students, administrators and other allies are coming together and working earnestly to confront bullying and to make schools safe places for all our children. October is bullying prevention month. May no more children end their lives because of bullying. The time to act is now. Change is in the air.