http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32545640

Breaking news from Texas. Mollie Olgin, 19, and Mary Chapa, 18, were found with gunshot wounds to the head. Olgin died from her wound, and Chapa is in stable, but serious condition.

First we saw the viral video of school bus monitor Karen Klein being bullied on the bus by middle school boys, and it rang a few bells with people.

Next we heard of generous donations pouring in to help give poor Karen Klein a vacation. The original goal was $5,000 – a respectable amount for a public school employee whose yearly salary is $15,000.

Then the donations poured in and the next day the total was a whopping $30,000! And the latest I hear put the final figure at $540,000!! Eleven times the original goal, and a cool half million dollars. I’m sure the poor bus monitor couldn’t have imagined such an outpouring of support that humiliating day on the bus.

The bullies have since apologized for their shocking behavior, and rightfully so. They should also have to do some kind of community service, but that’s just my opinion.

Now the conversation is turning to the plight of teachers and principals in this day of cyber bullying. And about time, too!

I’m very happy things worked out so well for Mrs. Klein. I wish her only good things in her future.

And I wish the same sort of successful outcome for all bullying victims – whether their torment becomes a viral video, or not.

I don’t know where this was filmed. I don’t know the ethnicity of the people on the train. I don’t know what they’re saying to each other.

But the message is clear:

Watch out American bullies. If it can happen there, it can happen here – AND go up on YouTube.

Praise for 

THE BOXER REBELLION:

“If you breathe, this book is for you! If you have children this book is an eye-opener to their everyday world! If you are a child in school, this book will show you that you are not alone!”

NOW AVAILABLE IN PRINT!

 

It’s June – the gayest month of the year! Pride events are already springing up across our great nation with rainbows flying proudly. Families are bringing picnics, musicians are performing in the open air. Booths, displays and giveaways give free information and entertainment to the LGBT community. Children have their faces painted, pretty beads and balloons are everywhere. People stroll in public parks and down public streets holding hands or even kissing. And nobody has to hide. There is no shame allowed. That’s why it’s called PRIDE, by the way.

I have always loved books that stir stuff up, either socially or solely within me. So today I thought I’d pass along two of my favorite American political shock waving titles – AND I found them for free on Amazon.com!

All you need is an Amazon account and an e-reader or app. If you don’t own a Kindle you can still read these two history changing novels by downloading a FREE Kindle app for other devices, such as PC’s, phones, pads, and others. See the link just to the right of this article. And yes, it really is free, and so are these books:

When I first read Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle I became increasingly supportive of federal regulations with regard to preparation and packaging of meats. Poor Sinclair said something like this once, “I aimed for their hearts but hit their stomachs.” Read this book before you eat your next can of spam.

I love Uncle Tom’s Cabin, not because of the story or the style of prose, although it’s a fun read, but because it started a war.  Harriet Beecher Stowe was a middle aged female author who was passionate about an issue, and through her dramatization captured the hearts and imaginations of not only her own country, but the world. President Lincoln said at the time that there would have been no Civil War without Uncle Tom’s Cabin, and he was right.  I’ve linked here to a free Kindle version for those who haven’t had the pleasure of reading this yet.

YES. YES. YES!

     This morning I was scanning the news headlines and discovered an article by The New Civil Rights Movement website that reports Alan Scott, aka The Green Lantern (yes, the way cool super hero first introduced in DC comics 72 years ago in 1940), is not only gay – he’s now championing the fight against bullying! Perhaps not literally on the page, but by being an inspiring role model. 
     I followed The New Civil Rights Movement link to another article also published June 1, 2012, but by Dareh Gregorian of the New York Post titled DC Comics Green Lantern relaunched as gay superhero I quote from that article:

     [James] Robinson, a British writer who lives in San Francisco with his wife, is no stranger to gay characters – he wrote DC’s “Starman” comic in the 1990s, a groundbreaking title that starred a homosexual superhero. He said the only agenda he’s pushing is reality.
     “It’s a realistic depiction of society,” he said. “You have to move with the times.”
     He said he did hope the character – who’s the most powerful member of DC’s superteam, the Justice Society – would be an inspiration.
     “He’s a type-A personality who doesn’t hide in the shadows,” Robinson said.
     “I hope he’s a positive figure. If there’s some kind of kid out there who’s reading the comic and who’s worried about the person he is, maybe it will give him a positive sense of who he is. Or maybe a different kid will read it and decide I don’t need to bully some kind of kid in school,” Robinson said.

     A Rolling Stone article, written on (yes, you guessed it) June 1, 2012  titled Green Lantern Comes Out As Gay in ‘Earth Two’ continues:

Robinson and [Nicola] Scott are planning on portraying an idealized world in which Alan Scott is judged only by the quality of his character. “He doesn’t come out in issue two; he is already a gay man,” Robinson says. “Alan Scott is super-heroic, he’s super gallant, he’ll die for the earth, he’ll die for its people, he’s everything you want in a hero. I imagine he’s such a Type A character that when he realized he was gay, he was like, ‘Okay, I’m gay, now I’m just gonna go on with my life.’ He’s so accepting of it himself and he’s such a compelling person that the world knows Alan Scott’s gay. He’s such a leader, he’s such a good man, that the Justice League don’t care. And that’s a healthy depiction of a team and how it should be.”

Scott says her instructions from Robinson were to make this version of the Green Lantern as heroic as possible. “With Alan, the brief was very clear,” she says. “He needed to be a big, strapping, handsome man that everyone would instinctively follow and love. Alan strikes me as an incredibly open, honest and warm man, a natural leader and absolutely the right choice to be Guardian of the Earth. His sexuality is incidental.”

YES. YES. YES!

     It’s true Green Lantern isn’t the first comic book/superhero to come out gay – but he’s the most powerful, and longest respected comic book character to do so to date. He’s been a symbol of honorable integrity for over seventy years. Well done, D.C. Comics! Well done.