Sunday, November 07, 2010
it gets better.
I am a huge, huge fan of the It Gets Better Project. I was so, so lucky in school - I wasn't really bullied. I got through pretty easy. I really don't know how this happened - I was dorky and awkward and a drama geek - but somehow I got through with few scars. But I know people who were bullied badly - and it really leaves a mark, even 20+ years later.
With the rash of suicides by gay youth, there has been a strong public outcry against bullying. I can't imagine how hard it is to be young today - when I was in school, if you had a bad day, you could escape it when you came home. Now, between Twitter and Facebook and blogs and YouTube and texting and instant messaging, there is NO escape. I spend a lot of time thinking about this in regards to Jane, and hoping that I do everything right in letting her know that no matter how hard school may be for her (all the while crossing my fingers that it is relatively easy for her like it was for me) it DOES get better.
I'm sure you've seen all the It Gets Better videos that have been springing up everywhere, created by the likes of everyone from Barack Obama to Tim Gunn, and many many many others, encouraging young people and letting them know that the future truly is bright, and to get help if they need it. And because you know I'm a Broadway girl, this one is one of my favorites. One of the things I like about it is it doesn't just address people who may be enduring bullying because they are gay, but because they are poor, their religion, their ethnicity, etc. etc. It really applies to everyone.
One of my favorite parts of this is when Lin-Manuel Miranda (one of my Broadway boyfriends and creator and star of In the Heights) says this: "The very thing that makes you different in high school is the thing that makes you exceptional as an adult." Word to that.
Please watch (and like before, if the screen doesn't look right just click on the video to watch it on YouTube. But please watch. These people are all my heroes!).
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5 comments:
i agree, it DOES get better; unless, however, we all wake up tomorrow and find ourselves in a civilization-ending scenario involving a world overrun with the undead, reanimated corpses of all of our loved ones whose assault on civilian society exponentially grows until only isolated pockets of survivors remain to scavenge for food and supplies in a world reduced to a pre-industrial hostile wilderness--in other words, a zombie apocalypse. (some of the preceding words may or may not have been borrowed from wikipedia).
over the course of my studies of the impending zombie crisis, i have picked up a few must-dos for survival, and i want to share them with you:
1) do not, under any circumstances, leave you house or put down your shotgun.
2) if you believe your loved one is still alive, do not go looking for them. if you find your loved one, shoot him or her in the head first and ask questions later.
3) if you are forced to flee you house, do not flock to any supposed "safe zone." these zones are never, never safe.
4) only band together with a group of people for as long as there are no politics involved. as soon as someone mentions taking a vote to determine anything, get the eff out--things are going to go downhill very quickly.
5) finally, if a zombie does get the opportunity to sink its teeth into your delicious flesh, do yourself and the rest of us a favor and just shoot yourself in the head before you become part of the problem.
but seriously, in every other circumstance, it DOES get getter. (unless we want to talk about the hostile-occupation-by-an-unfriendly-alien-empire scenario.)
do you regret allowing me to do this yet?
6) Run, don't walk. Zombies are incapable of achieving speeds greater than about 2 miles per hour, so even a slow jog SHOULD be enough to allow you to reach freedom. And yet, somehow, they always get caught...
Dwayne - not even for a second do I regret your participation in this. I really do think you should have your own blog. I really admire the way you tied a public awareness effort against bullying to the zombie apocalypse. A less talented person would not have been able to do it.
eh-hem, whose Broadway boyfriend?
Sorry Beth! I thought you stopped reading my blog!
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