OliviaC

My name is Olivia Chisholm, or Libby. I am an 18 year old Maliseet aboriginal from Woodstock New Brunswick. All though I live in Woodstock right now, I am actually from Charlottetown. I live with my mother on a native reserve. I have four other siblings, three brothers and a sister. My oldest brother is 24, my younger brother is 16, and the other two are both ten months old. The babies live in Charlottetown with my father.

I'm in grade 12 at Woodstock High School. Nest year I'm going to St Thomas University in Fredericton. I'm going to study Native Studies, Human Rights and English.

I'm a [|writer] of [|short stories], and I [|love] to read as well. My favorite author is Stephen King and my favorite books are : Hearts In Atlantis by Stephen King; Ten Little Indians by Sherman Alexie; Twilight by Stephanie Meyer, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Animal Farm by George Orwell, The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger and many many more.

I love music. Mostly rock, but a lot of ambient and instrumental as well. My favorite bands are Oasis and Vast, but I have hundreds more that I love.

I also like to draw and paint, but my talents are lacking in both of those areas.

Journal Entry #1


 * I. General Bullying**: This article is about someone who was ostracized in her school by a group of girls. She was harassed and despite her complaints, the girls were never punished. IN high school you see incidents like these, and though my school does do it’s best to prevent such behavior a lot of times it goes unreported. I used to go on a bus, where one group of people was harassed by my friends. There was one girl in particular that they terrorized. I always stood up for her telling my friends to shut up. They in turn argued with me, but to me that just meant they were leaving her alone, and after we were finished arguing they were usually so annoyed with me that they had forgotten about her.


 * II. Homophobic Bullying**: This article is about a boy who was harassed in his town for dating another male. Last fall I was hanging out with a friend of mine, who had recently come out. We were standing at my locker, just talking when someone came up and called out his name. When he turned that person punched him in the face. Then he ran away. When the kid was tracked down he claimed that my friend had been sexually harassing him. What actually happened was that another student told the boy that my friend found him attractive, so he retaliated in disgust. My friend is a sweet, innocent caring person, and he didn’t deserve such treatment.


 * III. Religious Bullying**: This article is about a girl who was accused of being a terrorist because of her religion, and her clothing. I am a member of the Gay Straight Alliance (GSA) at my school, and I’m also a Christian. There was a point where I came into conflict with one other member who told me he didn’t like “religious people.” There have been other incidents from both religious and non-religious people who have both told me that I can’t be a Christian and want gay rights. Do such organizations like the GSA exist in Latvia?


 * IV. Cyber Bullying**: This article is about two girls who posted deaths treats on the internet. On website I go to often there are several groups, which are designed specifically to make fun of certain individuals in my school. People join these groups and basically badmouth the person whom the group was designed for. It’s needless and immature.


 * V. Bullying From the Perpetrator’s Point of View:** This article is about a girl who was harassed at school, and retaliated by becoming friends with a group of girls who were older and more intimidating, who took care of her problem for her. A few years ago a new girl transferred into my high school, and targeted me. She began to hang out with my friends to badmouth, flirted with my boyfriend, and started a few rumors. When I confronted her, she brushed it off, and then told some people that she was going to beat me up. So I went to a friend of mine to vent. My friend then confronted the girl, and there was a physical altercation. Afterwards the girl simply became the butt of our jokes, until a few months later she dropped out. Looking back on it I do feel guilty for sinking that low. If I had approached the administrators at my school, they would have handled it in a much better fashion, and I would have been left alone without, destroying the self esteem of another girl, by turning the tables and putting her in the vulnerable position that I myself had just been in.