JillianR

My name is Jill, I'm seventeen and I live in the small town of Woodstock, New Brunswick, Canada. I've lived here my whole life but plan to move away as soon as i graduate from high school at the end of this semester. After graduation, I plan on going to St. Thomas University to study Political Science/Human Rights, then continuing on to get my Bachelor of Education, or going on to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Academy. In the past year, I've taken a strong interest in Canadian Politics and I've always been involved with human rights issues. I've been a strong part of the Woodstock High School Gay-Straight Alliance since it's formation in 2003. My parents have been divorced since I was 2 years old. I live part time with my mother and part time with my father. I have an older brother who attends university in Nova Scotia. In my spare time, I have a part time job at Greco Pizza. I listen to a lot of music, my favorite bands include: Bright Eyes, Social Distortion, Rise Against, Drop Dead Gorgeous, David Bowie, Dimmu Borgir, Meatloaf and Taking Back Sunday. I also love movies, from independent films to comedies and thrillers. My favorites include: Fight Club, Almost Famous, Little Miss Sunshine, American Psycho, and The Virgin Suicides.

"When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace." -- **Jimi hendrix**

Journal #1 On Friday, we had a guest speaker from England speak to our class about the Toybox Charity and the injustice street children are faced with on a day to day basis. Through the charity, they work to get children off the street and educate them on how to live safe, clean lives. We watched a short film and discussed acts of injustice that we have seen ourselves. We discussed things we can do to help from Canada, like send clothing and shoes. Also, accessing their website and using their search engine which directly donates money straight to the charity. I found this presentation very beneficial for our class, seeing the video and talking to someone who has seen these issues first hand has helped our class in understanding the problems that the world outside of Canada are faced with.

Journal #2 Dear Miss Menchu, Congratulations on winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992. I think it's great when deserving people are recognized for their good work. You've obviously lived a life much different from mine and I am very proud that you have come out on top. Instead of joining the wrong side, you hopped on board with the CUC and fought for what you believed in. After the deaths of your mother, father and brother, instead of giving in as many people probably would, you used it as motivation to lean Spanish and many other languages. Your work is motivational and lets others know that no matter how hard your life can get, there is light at the end of the tunnel. Your hard work has paid off and keep up the great work! Thank you, Jillian Robinson

Journal #3 Comparison Between Latvia and Canada __Canada__ -Established independence in 1867 -Total area: 9,984,670 sq km -Government uses 'first past the post' system -Agriculture consists mainly of wheats, tobacco, barley, fruits, vegetables, dairy products, and oilseed. - # of airports: 1,337 -Population:33,098,932 __Latvia__ -Established independence in 1941 -Total area: 64,589 sq km -Government uses 'proportional representation' system -Agriculture consists mainly of grain, sugarbeets, potatoes, vegetables, beef, pork and milk - # of airports: 46 -Population: 2,274,735 (all info taken from https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/lg.html and https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ca.html)

Journal #4 1. In October 1941, 30,000 Jews were imprisoned in a ghetto. The lives of 26,000 were ended suddenly in an unjustice and inhumane way. 2.In October 1942, small groups that had escaped from the ghetto were shot and killed. 3. In 1944, the prisoners were forced to reopen mass graves and burn the bodies in attempt to destroy the evidence of the mass killings. After finishing this task, they were also murdered.

Articles

Article 1-General Bullying This article is about a victim who had been picked on for four years throughout their secondary school years. The bully spread rumors, and stalked the victim. The Deputy Head at the school claims that they have no bullying at their school. Silent phone calls were made to their house, the bully was expelled, not for bullying but for stealing a handbag. The victim was threatened by teachers that they would be punished if the behavior continued. The victim experienced bullying until they left the school, never receiving an apology from the school. This type of bullying is the most common, I’d say. It is extremely easy to bully someone in a school environment, although there are many bystanders, no one ever seems to say anything to the bully. I believe we need to start finding a way to prevent this type of bullying, whether it’s through more intense assemblies or guest speakers who are more effective. The guest speakers should be reformed bullies, such as the one in the fifth article. People need to learn it doesn’t make you cooler to pick on people who you feel are ‘below’ you on the social scale and it doesn’t make people like you more, it actually makes people scared of you.

Article 2-Homophobic Bullying This article is a man’s reflection of his high school experiences as a gay male in a small town. Most small towns, such as ours, tend to be more close minded and traditional. He was thrown out of the closet before he was ready by someone he had trusted and was faced with harassment on a daily basis. Not only was he subjected to these acts of homophobia, his family was also targeted by the bullies. I feel a strong connection to this article as a member of the Gay-Straight Alliance; I have heard a lot of stories very similar to these. People are often secluded and tormented for their sexual orientation, physically and mentally. This is extremely unfair to everyone involved, from the victim to their family and friends. The man in the article states that the administration and teachers were aware of the harassment but nothing was done to prevent it from continuing. Groups like ours at Woodstock High are working hard to stop things like this from happening. Being humiliated for things beyond your control is far past unacceptable and the first step towards creating safer school is educating about tolerance and acceptance. I have seen friends and family members become victims in situations such as this and as bystander, it is hard to stand up for what you believe is right, but I think that more should have been done by not only administration, but by the rest of the school population. It is difficult to stand up to a bully and tell them to stop because what they’re doing isn’t right but we have to start somewhere.

Article 3-Religious Bullying This article is about a young Muslin student named Rashida. While walking with friends, some wearing head scarves and some not, two girls spit on them and called them terrorists. One of the bullies pulls on Rashida’s head scarf, and this leads to pushing and shoving. Teachers had to break up the fight and Rashida no longer feels safe at school. This is absolutely ridiculous for racism like this to be happening in the 21st century. We have come so far in trying to eliminate racism but preconceived stereotypes have been feeding the fire for years and years. It upsets me that people are still this judgmental and ignorant. Judging people by the way they dress and look is wrong. School is a place where everyone should feel safe, but I know this is not the case for many groups of people. I can’t personally relate to this story because I have never been subjected to racism against myself, but surely I have seen it in movies, read about it in magazines, and talked about it in numerous classes. Racism is a terrible act of bullying and I think harsher punishments need to be given to the bullies who do things like this.

Article 4-Cyber Bullying This article is about cyber bullying with young teenagers. This is a huge problem that is becoming more and more common. With the popularization of instant messaging, bullying has become easier than ever. The bully no longer has to face their victims, it’s a lot easier to harass someone when you don’t have to look at the person. It’s just as hurtful and you can do it from the comfort of your own home. It’s not as obvious and harder to prove, anyone can hack into another’s person account and blame them for the things said. It’s much more private but just as humiliating. In the article, 2 girls and 1 boy between 13 and 14 were charged with numerous counts of threatening and conspiracy to commit murder. These are very serious crimes for people so young and it’s only getting worse. These kids being charged is a huge step forward in preventing this type of bullying. The problem will absolutely get worse before it gets better, but when the police step in it may scare other people out of committing these acts as well.

Article 5-Bullying from the perpetrator’s point of view This article is a woman’s telling of her high school days as a self-confessed bully. She says that in reaction to being bullied herself, she had retaliated and became a bully herself. Becoming a perpetrator made her feel safer, being in control is always better than being vulnerable. Although she was bullied herself, she did not think of the affects this would have on her victim. Girls are famous for verbal bullying, involving more feelings than when boys bully, often making it more hurtful. The bully chose someone who was weaker than her and continued for weeks until the victim’s parents intervened. I believe this is an awful situation, but it happens all the time. The parents did do the right thing by confronting the bully though. Showing the attacker the actual affects their bullying has on the individual often helps. Most bullies don’t understand the severity of their bullying, even though they were often bullied themselves. If more reformed bullies such as the girl in the article would speak out against bullying, I think it would be much more effective hearing from a bully that it is wrong, it will help put a stop to it.

Response to "Aggresive youth beat somalis" The part of this article that really upsets me is the fact that the policemen did nothing. It's their job to protect citizens and enforce laws, which they clearly aren't doing here. I understand that different countries are governed in different ways but this is unacceptable.