DedreannaD

Hi, my name is Dedreanna Dionne. I am seventeen years old and a senior here at Woodstock High School. I like to go to the movies, hockey games, concerts and I love to travel. My parents are divorced and I live with my mom and brother. My brother is 9 and his name is Ben. I love animals and I have a 2yr old dog named Chloe. After high school I plan to go to a local college for Journalism.

Friday, February 9th Today, we had a guest speaker. She was originally from England, but lives here in New Brunswick now. First, we sat in a discussion circle and talked about things that made us mad, or "Injustaces" that we have encountered. Everyone in the circle gave their imput, and most of them gave pretty good examples. When it came my turn to say something, I had no idea what to say. My example was that when I was in a store in New Hampshire, these guys got in trouble for something, but the girls who were with them did not. I dont know. It was a ramdom example and it wasnt very good. I wouldnt call it an injustace, but I froze and had nothing else to say.The talking circle was a really good idea but it made me uncomfortable because I felt like I was being put on the spot. Anyways, then she showed us a documentary about street kids in another country. I thought it was really good. I had no idea that "Street Kids" were such a huge issue. The video showed us how the street kids have to sell things for money, for food, and how they get hurt and killed all the time. It showed how the police over there have low tollerance for street kids and they ramdomly shoot them all the time. After the movie, we talked some more about injustace and she told us some more examples of it, and gave us a couple web sites to look at. Overall, I really enjoyed her visit.

Wednesday, February 14th We have just been told that we will soon be connected to a school in Latvia. There are many differences between Canada and Latvia.The population of latvia is 2,366,515, while the population of canada is about 30 000 000...

Tuesday February 20th Examples of injustace: Gay Bashing: The 21-year-old Santa Fe man who police say was savagely beaten in a gay-bashing incident last weekend is clinging to life in critical condition, a family spokeswoman said Wednesday. “We’re not out of the woods yet,” Rachel Rosen said. “The doctors say he will be getting worse before he gets better.” At least four young Santa Fe men beat James Maestas early Sunday morning in a Cerrillos Road motel parking lot, police said. An Albuquerque man with Maestas suffered minor injuries during the assault, in which police say the attackers repeatedly called the two men “faggots.” Maestas apparently was kicked so hard the food in his stomach came up his throat and went into his lungs, Rosen said. Stomach acid badly burned his lungs, she said, and he is breathing with the help of a respirator. He has been running a fever and must be monitored closely, because the risk of infection is high, Rosen said. Maestas’ face and mouth are bruised and swollen, she said. “They haven’t even been able to see if he has all his lower teeth because his lower lip is so mangled.” Transgendered Discrimination: 17-year-old Devon McCauley started dressing like a girl last year.Greensboro, NC -- High school can be hard for any teenager struggling with self-identity and trying to fit in. One Greensboro senior is facing a very unique challenge. "My gender is female. People think that gender and sex are the same thing, but sex is like your physical whatever and gender is like your mind," says Devon McCauley Devon started dressing like a girl last year, but always felt like one inside. "I wanted to be straight. I wanted to be normal. I didn't want all these weird feelings. I didn't want to go to hell." But the feelings didn't go away. "I tried to commit suicide three times because of my homosexuality. I did a lot of drugs to try to escape from those feelings." Devon is clean now and feeling better about being transgender. "Whenever I dress as a boy, I'm always really uncomfortable. I don't feel like I can express myself or move any way I want to. When I'm a girl I'm really powerful." But that doesn't change how others feel. "Some guy walks by me everyday in school and yells 'You should kill yourself.'" "If there was something I could do about it I would because I don't think anyone should have to go through this."

Bullying In School

When I read the article “Bullying in School”, I didn’t really understand why the teachers were accusing her of something that she clearly wasn’t doing. If the girls were “Stalking” her in the playground, then why didn’t she tell someone what was happening? I see that she got her parents to try to convince the headmaster that she was the victim, but the school didn’t believe that. It seems that the school was being naïve and favoring the girls who were bullying, instead of listening to the victim.

When it says that the girl who was bullying got arrested for stealing a mobile phone, I don’t understand why the victim was given dirty looks from the teachers if she wasn’t the one who was arrested.

Also, when the girl was being cornered by the others in the hallway, the teacher got mad at her again and told her to not continue her behavior. It seems like the authority at that school needs to pay more attention to what’s really going on. The victim says that she wants an apology, and I think that she should get one, but maybe she needs to talk to her old school, and ask for one.

Homophobic bullying

Reading this, I felt sorry for the guy that was being harassed because of being gay. I think that if people disagree with homosexual lifestyles, then they should keep it to themselves, and not bother people about it.

Many people have problems with homosexuals because of religious reasons, and I think that religious beliefs should be respected, but God wouldn’t want people to be harassed because of their differences.

Religious Bullying

I think that the girls who bullied the muslim girls should be embarressed for what they did. It was none of their business what the muslim girls were wearing, and they shouldnt have called them terrorists. The muslims wear the head scarfs for religious reasons and they shouldnt be bothered for it. I hope that the bullies were suspended for what they did.

Cyber Bullying

I think that their are definately some aspects of the internet that should be monitered more closely. You should never threaten someone, but if your going to, then why would you put it on the internet for everyone to see? Its like proof of your threat. The girl who posted the threats online should be charged, and so should anyone who posts similar threats. Im sure when she posted them, she didnt think that she would be taken seriously, but any kind of threat is a serious matter. The parents of the victim were right to contact the police about it. I was in a class once where a student was threatened with a knife by another student. I was right beside them when it happened. The student with the knife, took it from his pocket and flipped it open, then he walked towards the other student with it. I know that the student with the knife got suspended, and the police were contacted. I had to give the police a written statement about it because I was right there when it happened. Luckily, no one was injured and the student with the knife is being investegated.

Bullying from the perpitrators point of view

Clare was bullied, and I think that she had the right to confront the bullies who were bothering her. I dont think that she should have continued to bully after that though. Im surprised that she treated her old friends badly after she was treated badly herself. You would think that she wouldnt want anyone to feel like she did. It says that she was "Shocked" when that girls parents came round because she couldnt believe that she had the power to influence someones life. Maybe now she will try to influence peoples lives in a good way.

March 26, 2007

I personally wish that we could do something in the community, like hold a fund raiser or something for the womans shelter, or for people in a different country or something. I mean really....how many articles can you read?? Its great to read about different situations and respond on them, but how is that helping anyone? Its easy to understand how these wrong-doings are injustaces, but, what can you say? Most of these situations are simalar, and all you can really say is : "I feel bad for what happened. It was wrong......". Id like to see our group be more active in the community.Sitting at the computer everyday gets tireing.

April 20th, 2007

I think that it is not reasonable to suspend him for that long, considering the fact that he just brought it as a toy to show to his class. Its not like he was hiding behind corners, shooting people with it. I know that kids will be kids, and most boys do play with toy guns. My brother is 9, and he has ALOT of toy guns and water guns and pretend weapons like that, but he's not pretending to hurt random people for fun, and most kids who play with toy guns do not grow up to be murderers. Just yesterday at Tim Hortons, there was a kid there with his mother, and he had a toy gun. He was running around the store shooting things with the darts that came out of them, and no one thought anything of it. Most people just laughed, and played with him. It would have been different if the kid in the article had a toy gun that was black, and looked like a gun, but it was just a water gun and he shouldnt be punished.

May 8th, 2007

Blood Diamonds Ten Points: There are children soilders Children being drugged Lots of people being killed brutal military campaigns People in north america are buying the diamonds unknowingly Rebels selling diamonds

How Coffee and Blood diamonds are similar: The people are not being paid enough to make the coffee