Feature Story

Bullying and Hate Crimes: What they Really Are

By: Emily Petry

Samantha Piatt was a second grader at Martin Luther King Junior elementary school. She was a good student, always turned her assignments in on time, and never talked back to the teacher. On the playground, a girl named Michelle would come up to her and kick her and pinch her, and even call her names. Samantha would get very mad, but she was also very sad. She didn’t know why they bullied her. “I didn’t tell anyone at first, just kept it to myself,” Piatt said.

Then one day, she found herself at an assembly, and decided she couldn’t keep it to herself anymore. She kicked Michelle, and they both got sent to the principal. The principal told them that they needed to stop, or they would have consequences. Michelle was supposed to stop bullying Samantha, but she continued to do so, and would lie to the teachers. “She would lie, and be rewarded, because the teachers gave her candy as a reward for not bullying.”

Samantha was too afraid to tell anyone, in case Michelle did something, so she just accepted it. When Samantha finally got the courage to tell the teacher the truth, the teacher told Michelle to stop, but she didn’t. She would aim spitballs at Samantha, and slap, pinch and kick her. Michelle also called her rude names and pushed her. Samantha told her mother, and she went to the principal, and they talked. “I don’t know what my mom said to the principal, but Michelle didn’t bother me again.”

Twenty Eight years later, Angela Schlensig still remembers her own bullying incident from when she was twelve. “I was at Christie Heights Park with my cousin and we were just messing around.The playground had a T swing, teeter totters, merry-go-rounds, a tall slide, and kids running around through the grass. This girl Sandy, who was much bigger than I, comes up to me,” Schlensig said. Sandy liked to pick on girls who were smaller than her. She came by and “pushed me to the ground, and I skinned my knee and elbow.” Angela’s cousin saw the incident and came to her rescue. “She went over to Sandy and flipped her over her shoulder. Sandy landed flat on her back,” Schlensig said. She went on to say that Sandy cried, and Angela’s cousin, Bobbie Jo, asked her [Sandy] how it felt to be bullied. “She [Sandy] never bullied me or anyone else.”

Angela said that if Bobbie Jo hadn’t said anything or did what she did, she would have just complained to her on the way home. “I wouldn’t have confronted Sandy,” Schlensig said. Sandy had bullied Angela before, and had “swung her bag and hit my face, which caused my mouth to bleed.” Sandy did this the day Angela found out she was adopted. A day she was very vulnerable. She had low-self esteem after both incidents.

Chief Deputy Patrick Condon of the Lancaster County District Attorney’s office says, “Nebraska deals with hate crimes and bullying in a certain way. If a person is bullying someone, it could be considered an enhanced penalty.” He went on to say that the penalties enhance by one step. Bullying for example would be considered “disturbing the peace or a third degree assault.” Condon also said that if a student picked on another student for a reason that you would find under the hate crime section, it could be considered as a class four felony. “All of this can be found and researched under the Nebraska Revised Statute, Section 28-111,” Condon said.

According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, a hate crime is motivated by the prejudice of any race, religion, sexual orientation, or other that usually leads to violence. That means that when people who are prejudice against another race act out violently, they are involved in a hate crime. Hate crimes are very serious, and very dangerous.

According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation(FBI) statistics reports for 2010, 47.3 percent of hate crimes reported are because of the race of the victim, 20 percent religion, 19.3 percent are because of the sexual orientation of the victim, and 12.8 percent are because of the victim’s nationality.

Their website also states that a victim of a hate crime doesn’t just have to be a single person. It can also be a business, an institution, or a whole community.

Tyler Richard, President of the Outlinc center in Lincoln says that “hate crimes do happen in Lincoln”, and that the Lincoln Police Department are “well trained” to react in those types of situations. “The recent case involving the Lincoln woman is the first of its magnitude here,” Richard said. The Lincoln woman, a lesbian, was attacked in July in her home by three masked men who cut anti-gay slurs into her skin, and then spray painted slurs on her walls, then finally tried to set her and the house on fire. She escaped and found refuge in her neighbor’s house until police could get there.

According to the International Association of Chiefs of Police(IACP), hate crime perpetrators will also vandalize buildings of people that are different, or destroy the walls with racial slurs. Arson is also a very popular thing involved in hate crimes. Looking back to the Lincoln case, the perpetrators did all three.

They also state that these attacks are almost always brutal, and almost always cause injuries.

Hate crimes also cause many problems in the victim’s life. According to Diane Elmore’s article The Psychology of Hate Crimes, many victims will deal with depression, low self-esteem, and many more mental issues.

Elmore could not be reached for comment to discuss how bullying could potentially lead to hate crimes. Her article also states that in a community, when a hate crime happens, residents begin to feel unsafe in their own homes. They feel that they’ll be targeted next.

To remember so much about a day when you’re that young is remarkable. It goes along with what Elmore said about the impact hate crimes and even bullying in general imprints in your mind for the rest of your life. The fact that both Schlensig, who is in her forties, and Piatt, who is going to be a junior in high school still remember these days with such clear detail just goes to show you how serious these things are.

There is a difference between bullying and hate crimes, and they both have their personal impacts on the victims. Victims of both have experiences they’ll never forget, and communities that can’t always process what happened. Bullying isn’t as serious as hate crimes, although often just as hurtful. Whether that person was picked on because of who they are, or what they are, it could end up being punishable in the state of Nebraska.

Carrie Underwood- Blown Away

Carrie Underwood has been on the country music scene since she won American Idol in season four. She’s had her moments in the Country Music Awards, and she’s certainly developed a certain music style over the years. Her most recent album, Blown Away,which was released May 1, 2012, has a dark, sinister twist to a majority of the songs. Underwood co wrote eight of the fourteen songs on the album.

           Blown Away, produced by Mark Bright is a completely different album then her last album, Play On,produced by Mark Bright, Max Martin, and Shellback, which featured songs such as "Undo It", "Mama's Song", "Temporary Home", and "Cowboy Casanova". The writing styles are quite different in the two albums.

   
           Good Girl, the first track on the album is a song about a girl who’s in love with a man, but he’s no good for her. The message is strong and simple. Don’t settle for a man that doesn’t love you. It’s upbeat, and a great first track to hook the listener.
   
           Blown Away, the song that the album is named after, is very powerful. The song’s message really speaks to the listener and it’s just a great song to listen to when you want to get away. It’s got a catchy tune that makes you want to bob your head to the beat. It’s about a girl who’s father is a drunk, and her mother is dead, and she wants her life erased. She wants her father out of her life, because he beats her.
   
            Two Black Cadillacs, another amazing song by Underwood, is a great song with a dark message of secret and cheating. The song itself is quite stunning, but the lyrics make a great story.
   
             The album as a whole is a great new release by Carrie Underwood. She really makes up for the big gap in between releases, since her last album was released in 2009. The album is great for any occasion. Any country music lover will fall in love with this new album.

Click here to see Carrie Underwood Perform Blown Away Live at the Billboard Music Awards
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOyMbkXzKFc

Music video by Carrie Underwood performing Blown Away Live Billboard Music Awards. (C) 2012
Originally posted by Billboard Music Awards Vevo.

The Three Stooges Movie Review

The Three Stooges is perhaps one of the funniest twists on a hilarious classic. Directed by Bobby Farrelly and Peter Farrelly, the story takes place in an orphanage with three men who have lived there their whole lives, never getting adopted because of their crazy behaviors. Larry(played by Sean Hayes), and his witty humor and his stupidity is always aggravating Moe(Chris Diamantopoulos), the mean one who always has something negative to say to the other two. They then throw Curly(Will Sasso)and his lack of intelligence and great impersonations into the mix and they’ve created the old gang back together from the good old days.

Larry, Curly, and Moe go on an adventure to save their orphanage, which is going out of business because of all of the trouble they’ve gotten in because of Larry, Curly, and Moe. The orphanage needs a large amount of money by the end of the week, or they will be shut down. The boys decide to take the challenge and make their way to the Jersey Shore, where they end up on a reality television show. The movie features the cast of Jersey Shore. As they try to make the money they need, they find themselves caught up in a murder plot. A woman agrees to pay them the money they need to save the orphanage if they kill her husband so she can be with her lover. They agree without hesitation because they want to impress the nuns at the orphanage, and show that they’ve changed.

If you’ve every seen an original episode or movie of the Three Stooges, you’ll love the references the directors and screenplay writers stuck in there. This movie was very well written and the acting was very believable. If you enjoy funny movies that have cheesy jokes, then you’ll absolutely love The Three Stooges.

Second Day thoughts

Today's class was good. When I think about the discussion in the first session, it feels like yesterday, not today. I liked the discussion over The Umpire's Sons. I've really enjoyed learning about the research we've been doing, and all of the different sites that have information. I had never heard of half of these sites.

Assignment 2 continued

This is Allison Lee. Allison is a girl from the Midwest, who loves cross country and even dabbles in drama club, and sings outside of school.The way she talks to you makes you feel as if she’s your best friend. But friendly can only take you so far in life. It takes courage and determination to get what you really want in life.

The first thing that strikes you about Allison is her cheerful personality and her interest in writing. She seems like a likable character, and you want to talk to her more. You begin to realize that she’s probably one of the nicest girls you’ve met so far. Talking to her flips a switch inside of you that makes you talk like you only do with your closest friends, because that’s her personality. You sense that she is a caring person, and a friendly girl. She seems like the type of person who can become friends with anyone. It’s a nice feature for someone to have.

This is a story about how interests develop into careers and how time no longer goes by slowly. It is about how anyone can no longer say that they know exactly what they want. It is a story about how life comes at a crazy pace once high school starts, and the time people often lose themselves.

Who is Allison Lee? Allison is a girl in high school, but she’s much more than that. She’s a girl who will procrastinate until the last second with any kind of story she writes, unless it’s a sport story, because “no one wants to hear about an old game.” She’s the girl who doesn’t know what she’s going to do in the next few years. She’s the girl that really doesn’t know what she wants out of life right now, except to live life to the fullest. Allison takes matters into her own hands if she wants things done right. She’s the girl who would rather work in a group with people to bounce ideas off of them than work alone.

It is always hard to be the new person. The underdog, the new kid in the group, especially if they’ve been writing with each other for those middle school years. The feeling of loneliness those first few days. Alone. No one. Of course, with her bubbly personality, that wasn’t a problem after awhile. Allison learned that she was good at journalism, even liked to write the stories she was given. It wasn’t a chore, it was fun. The stories may have even been exciting to write.

Of course what makes Allison interesting is her unknown plans for the future. It shows that she’s not ready to map out her life because she’s too busy living in the moment. She plans to either major in Journalism or an English major, but she hasn’t ruled out the possibility of becoming a dietitian. Allison isn’t 100% sure of her plans right now, but in reality, who is in high school?

The First Day

Today was a pretty good day. I came to this camp not knowing what to expect, and so far, it's been pretty cool. This journalistic writing is definitely a good class. I've been enjoying the partner work so far. There are some pretty cool people in this class. I can't wait for tomorrow!

What You Should Know

I am interested in interviewing, because I'd like to get better at it. I love research, so getting research for interviews will be my new secret weapon for next year. Sometimes I struggle for ideas, so I like to look around and pull ideas from the people around me. I don't really know what I want to specialize in right now. I want to become a writer for the Omaha World Herald after I graduate from college. I've only been in journalism for a year now. This upcoming year will be my second. I have always loved to read, and write, so journalism just comes natural for me.
I also enjoy singing, dancing, and being a member of National Honors Society at my school, along with student council.