Gee Whillickers
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Posts posted by Gee Whillickers
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The Canadian province that I currently reside in, Alberta (For US Residents, think Texas, and you'll have generally the right idea of the culture and politics here for the most part), has been undergoing a rather heated political battle for the past few years.
The political party that currently makes up the opposition and that was the previous governing party in the province has been adamant that parents should be informed each and every time their child dares to attend a GSA meeting at a school. This party, of course, is quite far to the right. Their reasoning for this, or so they claim, is that parents have the right to know what their minor children are doing in any and every circumstance. Period.
Naturally, the dissent on this issue was loud and strong. The current government of this province is quite far to the left, despite the overall right wing sentiment in general in the culture of this province. I won't go into the interesting and kind of complex events that led a left wing party (rather further to the left than the Democrats in the US) to form the government of perhaps the most right wing province in Canada, but nonetheless, needless to say, prior to forming the government they led the rally to ensure kids' privacy with regards to their choice to attend GSA's, and since forming the government they have continued to work on this. After forming the government they passed a law protecting kids from this very thing.
Needless to say, faith based groups and right wing groups and so-called 'parental rights' groups were not pleased.
Today, An Alberta judge dismissed an attempt by the folks saying kids' had no right to privacy on this issue to put a hold on the current law ensuring schools will *not* inform parents of their attendance in GSAs. A big win for students supporting GSAs, regardless of their sexuality.
Here's a link to the article:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/gsa-injunction-overturned-1.4724713
And another article:
https://globalnews.ca/news/4300217/alberta-gay-straight-alliance-judge-injunction-bill-10/
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Perhaps only single-person restrooms? That sounds expensive, since they'd have to build several to accommodate numbers. Or perhaps a common area with sinks and mirrors, but stalls that are more like little private rooms (full door and walls) than just the typical stalls.
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I agree with both colinian and Cole here. It always seems to come down to the school administration, and their mindset and approach. And that begins with the principal. They set the tone. What is their goal for their school, for their students, for their career? What do they want to achieve? Control? Discipline? Happy students? Highest test scores? Most sporting wins? The combination of goals and approach to achieving these makes all the difference in the world.
Sadly, some administration goals and methods foster a bullying environment. Others virtually eliminate it.
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A forum I frequent was discussing bullies and bullying, and the difficulty so many parents, and kids, seem to be having getting schools to do something, or even recognize, that the bullying is happening.
The user WE_Coyote, who identifies as someone who studied school administration in graduate school, offered the following insights, which I thought was very interesting:
QuoteMaybe I can offer a little insight. I studied school administration in graduate school. It comes down to issues of student rights, liability, lawsuits and optics.
Student Rights
Up until the early 90's it was relatively easy for school administrators to deal with bullies by means of suspensions and expulsion for continual behavior. Then the lawyers started getting involved and started suing school districts and principals. They argued, among other things, that even violent students still had a right to an education and that out-of-school suspension/expulsion deprived them of that right. They also argued that because they are public school students the rights to procedural due process applied to them. The courts agreed with these and other arguments. The result was that it became exponentially more difficult to suspend/expel a student. For instance, in most cases it can take up to a year or more to expel a student from an individual campus due to the various procedures and hearings that have to be held in order to comply with the right to procedural due process and if the district loses the case they are on the hook not only for their legal expenses but also the expenses of the student.
Liability & Lawsuits
If the administration punishes the bully then they are, in effect, saying that they are aware that this student is a problem and poses a risk to the student body. This can lead to lawsuits from victims of the bully against the school district for knowingly keeping a violent student on the campus. If the school doesn't punish the bully then they can play stupid if a victim ever decides to sue.
If the bully also happens to be of a racial minority, the district also opens themselves up to a whole slew of civil rights lawsuits by punishing the bully. One of the favorite charges in this case is that the district is targeting poor little Akeem just because he's black or Jose because he's hispanic. This leads to optics.
Optics
If a school decides to punish a bully, especially a racial minority bully, and the mother or some other involved person plasters their face all over the news talking about the racist school, racist principal, racist, racist, racist; the school doesn't have an opportunity to defend itself from the accusations because of student privacy laws. They are forced to deal with the onslaught of protestors, the accusations of racism and so forth.
If the bully is anyone else and the mother decides to raise a fuss then the school will still have to deal with the fall out without being able to tell the news "Hey, see this one-inch thick stack of complaints? Yea, this is the discipline record for this kid." It creates a public relations nightmare and pulls resources from education to deal with all the bullshit fall-out from people who are only getting one side of the story.
The whole system of dealing with trouble makers is broken and unfortunately a lot of it is the courts fault for creating legal precedents that schools are requires to abide by. This could easily be remedied with state level legislation but then that will end up being challenged in court by lawyers looking to protect whoever they think they are protecting and that's just more wasted money on dealing with a case that will likely be lost due to the previous court precedents, not to mention state legislatures tend to have more pressing issues to deal with, so something like school discipline reform is a very low priority.
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1 hour ago, Cole Parker said:
Aren't they looking for praise for their prowess?
C
I read they do this out of pity.
They think we're utterly useless at hunting and providing for ourselves, so they are feeling sorry for our complete lack of important life skills and are trying to provide for us.
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Me and Myles were sitting on the floor in front of the TV, game controllers in hand. We weren't focusing so much on the game as we were on teasing each other. Both verbally and with shoulder bumps, gentle pushes, shared looks, and gentle kicks on each other's legs.
Dad was sitting in his favorite chair just to the side and behind us. He was working on a crossword puzzle. As Myles and I engaged in our horseplay Dad kept looking up over the top of his crossword puzzle book before looking down again. His expression when he did so was inscrutable.
Now, I'm not a little kid anymore. I'm a teenager now. I have been for over a year. And I'm not stupid. And I know Dad. I knew there was far more to Dad's looks than just amusement at our horseplay, or questioning his son's and his son's best friend's sanity as our joking escalated to beyond weird as we attempted to one-up each other and find excuses for more horseplay and physical.....
Oh.
Oh, crap.
I mean, I knew, kinda, why I was doing it, even before the revelation seconds ago. Now I was forced to focus on it consciously. The teasing, the looks, the timing of the comments and pushing and shoving, the way I was pushing and shoving Myles.
I started to feel my stomach tighten into knots, my heart speed up, as I realized that if it was obvious enough to Dad for him to be giving me those weird looks, then it was probably obvious to Myles too.
What must he think? Why was he even still here?! His best friend was, apparently, hitting on him.
Geez, I'm an idiot. What am I doing?! He's gonna stop being my friend. He's gonna hate me.
Dad looked at me again. This time for longer than a second or two. I know that he noticed my sudden quiet, my sudden stillness, the furrowing of my forehead, the fear and consternation, the no doubt obvious blush as I felt the blood rush to my face.
Dad watched me think. I looked at him. He just raised his eyebrows in what no doubt was supposed to be a meaningful way, then he looked down as his crossword again.
I had no idea what Dad's look was supposed to convey to me. I felt Myles shove me again with his shoulder, and then his hand on my arm, before he said, "Helloooooo, Eddy? What happened? Give up? No wonder, you know I had you beat." He was grinning at me. His eyes were sparkling, drawing me into his so wonderful soul.
And his hand was still on my arm.
I just continued to stay silent, as I looked at Myles and his hand on my arm.
Myles seemed to notice it too as he followed my gaze. He blushed, quickly removed his hand, and then he too was silent, still, and stared straight ahead with a furrowed brow, still blushing.
I didn't know what to do. He'd obviously noticed what I'd been doing, and was now trying to figure out how to deal with me. Shit.
Somehow, despite our stillness, we managed to now be sitting a foot apart as we stared almost unmoving at the TV, pretending to be engaged in our video game, but both of us playing badly, distracted by heavy thoughts.
I felt, rather than saw, Dad's eyes on me again. I looked over at him. He sighed. And stood up.
Dad walked over to us, crouched down, and held out his crossword puzzle book. He looked at me for several seconds, meaning in his eyes, then he looked at Myles, almost as long, before looking back at the book and tapping a word, drawing our eyes to it.
"You boys might want to look this one up. Interesting word, this 'mamihlapinatapai.'
He left the crossword book between us, stood up with his knees creaking, and walked into the kitchen.
Myles looked at me. I looked at Myles.
We both pulled out our phones at the same moment, and both entered that weird word into the search box.
He read the definition at the same time as I did. I could feel it, his reaction, as I'm sure he could feel mine, as my eyes scanned the words on the phone's screen. It said, 'A look shared by two people, each wishing that the other would initiate something that they both desire but which neither wants to begin.'
I looked at Myles again. He looked at me again. Expressionless, silent, we just sat there, not knowing what else to do.
Dad walked into the room at the moment. He looked at us. Shook his head slightly, and said, "I think you guys might want to take a walk, looks like you might have a bit to chat about. My turn at the game console." Dad then grabbed a controller, changed to his favorite game, and, ignoring us, began playing.
With one more look at Myles I stood up and, at the door now, put my shoes on.
"Let's go," I said.
Myles smiled at me, this time a smile with encouragement and...something else.
He too put his shoes on, then he opened the door.
"Okay, let's go," he said, as he walked through it, taking my hand and pulling me behind him.
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That was wonderful, Pedro!!
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24 minutes ago, Cole Parker said:
I know someone else who has made something of that word. Hope he posts it here!
Ooh, I hope so!
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23 hours ago, Cole Parker said:
I know: put it in a story about a teenage spelling contest, and the ruckus it causes when they throw that one at the gay contestant, wanting him to lose.
C
Cole looked out at the gym full of students and teachers. Only two contestants left now, Parker and Cole. Parker was just finishing his turn.
"R-U-C-K-U-S. Ruckus." Parker smiled at the English teacher running the spelling contest, and then out at the audience.
Cole's nervousness increased. He knew that the English teacher, Vice Principal Hanratty, had it in for him. He was peering at Cole now over his half-moon glasses, while perusing his list of words. Wasn't he just supposed to pick the next one on the list, wondered Cole.
Hanratty smiled. Cole thought the smile, more like a smirk really, was full of malice, as the Vice Principal's eyes locked on to him. His eyes were full of barely concealed glee. As Hanratty opened his mouth, Cole finally understood the meaning of the term 'stage fright.' He was standing on a stage, and he was frightened to death. It all made sense now.
Hanratty said, "Mamihlapinatapai." And then he just looked at Cole smugly. The audience mostly remained silent, except for a few mutters and barely heard snippets of confusion.
Cole looked out at the audience, his eyes darting everywhere until they lit upon his very best friend, and as of last night his brand new boyfriend, Rodney. He smiled at Cole, and Cole couldn't help smiling back as they both realized, at the same moment, the incredible stroke of serendipity.
It was just last night that Rodney and Cole were able to really talk, to tell each other how they were feeling. Afterwards, Rodney had remarked that there just had to be a word for that, for what they'd both been going through the last couple of weeks.
So they Googled. And, eventually, found it. And laughed. And worked at remembering the word, because it just might come in useful again.
Cole didn't realize quite how soon that would turn out to be true.
"M-A-M-I-H-L-A-P-I-N-A-T-A-P-A-I," Cole spelled out, followed by, "Mamihlapinatapai." He looked out at the audience again, not at all nervous now. "It means a look shared by two people, each wishing that the other would initiate something that they both desire but which neither wants to begin." He grinned once again at Rodney, and watched Rodney laugh in return. Interestingly, several of the kids in the audience were sneaking curious looks at certain other kids at this pronouncement. And so was Miss Hollansby towards Mr. Tuskan. Hmmm.
Parker flubbed his last word badly. Apparently he was distracted, thinking hard while he kept sneaking looks out into the audience towards Eric. And Cole wondered idly if he may have started something as he accepted his prize from Mr. Hanratty a few minutes later.
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The word stands out like a flashing beacon. For it to work in a story it can't be thrown in willy-nilly. It has to be a central point of focus. Perhaps a chapter name or the name of the story itself.
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Okay, someone *has* to work this word into a story.
Mamihlapinatapai: A look shared by two people, each wishing that the other would initiate something that they both desire but which neither wants to begin.
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Thanks for the comments. :)
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Sadly, add one more to the fatality list.
The trainer, a 24 year old athletic therapist, was traveling with the team, and succumbed to her injuries.
Dayna Brons graduated in 2016 with a bachelor of Kinesiology at the University of Regina. She also received an advanced certificate in athletic therapy from Mount Royal University.
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I just read that one of the first responders to the scene was the father of one of the kids.
I can't even imagine....
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3 hours ago, Merkin said:
A terrible, terrible tragedy, destined to rip this small town apart.
I grew up in a small town where school sports were one of the things that glued the town together. Along with the rest of the town’s youth I often rode to those distant 40-plus mile playdates in old decrepit school busses that were mobile tragedies waiting to unfold. I think it’s high time we looked hard at bus safety, driver training, and regulations affecting the ‘volunteer’ bus drivers so often found at the wheel of these sports buses.Agreed. In this case the accident is still under heavy investigation.
But it doesn't take an experienced traffic scene examiner to look at the pictures and at google maps and make some conclusions. The bus was traveling on main highway. The semi was traveling on a more secondary access highway. You can clearly see it was the semi that had the stop sign. One of the articles also mentioned that the semi driver was briefly detained after the accident. Now, there is not enough information to jump to conclusions. Perhaps the semi's brakes failed. Perhaps a thousand other things. But honestly it really looks like the semi ran the stop sign.
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Fun story. Spunky kid, I like him. Well done, Cole!
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A junior hockey team's bus and a semi hit each other at the intersection of two highways in Saskatchewan, Canada Friday night. There were 29 people on the team's bus. At the point of this writing, 15 of them have died. Many others are hurt, some critically, one has a broken back and cannot feel his lower extremeties and may never walk again, let alone ever skate or play hockey again.
These were kids.
Junior hockey means teenagers. The youngest was 16, and the oldest was 21.
Those of you that follow hockey at all, or any other sports where buses of kids travel to other towns to play can perhaps understand the level of tragedy here. The town, Humboldt Saskatchewan is like a lot of small towns. Their junior hockey team was a very important part of their community. They were in the middle of playoff series, and were about halfway between that town and their own when the accident happened. The entire town is absolutely devastated.
If anyone has read my story 'Out of My League', or any of the other wonderful stories here and elsewhere about teens involved in sports teams you can perhaps understand the upcoming massive challenges for the survivors.
Among those killed were the team's coach--a family man with two young boys at home, the bus driver, the team captain, a 16 year old player, and many other players who's identities haven't been released yet.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/nipawin-humboldt-bus-crash-1.4609835
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I had no idea all of those characters were voiced by the same person. Sad to see her go.
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1 hour ago, Joe said:
Love Nanaimo bars. And Nanaimo too for that matter.
Nanaimo bars. Butter tarts. Poutine. Donairs. Montreal smoked meat. Ketchup chips. Saskatoon berries (and Saskatoon berry pie, more importantly). Bloody Ceasars. Beavertails. Canadian Pizza. Ginger Beef. French-Canadian Tortierre. Maple Bacon Peameal Roast.
I love traveling, and I love trying foods from all over the world. But that doesn't stop me from always holding a fond (read: gluttonous) place in my heart (read: stomach) for some of my favorites that can pretty much only be found in my homeland.
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Just to chime in with agreement to both Merkin and JamesSavik. I tend to write my flash fiction pieces quickly, on the spur of the moment, in one sitting, usually right when an idea springs to mind. I too sometimes use them as a bit of a sounding board for a possible longer story idea.
PeterSJC, I appreciate your thoughts on my latest, and acknowledge the issues with the ending.
Sometimes this is the goal of a short flash piece, and is intentional.
Sometimes a flash I write is a response to something that happened to me or something that's happening in the world at large and I feel a reason to write something in very short fiction format about it.
I'd be interested in seeing the flash fiction section as part of the regular site rather than the forums as well. I think readership might increase.
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That was an excellent followup chapter, James.
What's really interesting is how extraordinarily close it was to a plotline I was considering. Very well done.
Now, who's up for Chapter Three?
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2 hours ago, colinian said:
Gee,
Does the video mean you expect someone else to:
1. Finish the story?
2. Write the next chapter and you'll finish it from there?
3. You wrote chapter 1 and you want others to write each other chapter sequentially?
4. All of the above?
5. Guess what's going to happen to the story?
6. None of the above?Colin
This was one of those weird little things that popped into my head, virtually complete, for no discernible reason whatsoever. I liked the contrast to expectations and the vast possibilities. I thought about what to do with it and where I might be going with it, but I also decided to post it here as well while it was still so fresh in my head.
Since then I've put some time into wondering where I want to go with it, but you bring up some excellent thoughts there, and you're onto something I think. It sounds like fun.
If someone else thinks they want to follow this up with another chapter, etc, and post it in a collaborative effort, that could be awfully interesting. Go for it!
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And a lovely Canada Day it was. Big celebration this year on our 150th birthday.
Fireworks are still going off as I type this.
As for the list, pretty accurate, though some of those are fairly regional. Now I gotta slip on my bunny-hug and toque and get all decked out before I go fer a rip to pick up a two-four, gonna really give'r in my old Bennett Buggy, she's a real gong show. The RC's might pull me over and gimme a real chirpin' if I'm not careful. But that's the way she goes, boys, eh?
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Alberta judge dismisses bid to place gay-straight alliance law on hold
in News & Views
Posted
Well, the thing is Chris, the statistics for gay and questioning youth attempting or completing suicide are not really much different here than in many other places. And this data, and the broader social issues surrounding it, were part of the arguments that allowed this law and similar laws to be enacted and challenges like the one discussed in the article to not be successful.
Unfortunately, plenty of excellent evidence shows that many of these youth were driven to be suicidal *because* of their parents reaction to them possibly being lgbqt.
In fact, that is why legislation such as this tends to arise. In this case, of course, it was because certain groups (quite often religious, but not exclusively so) and political parties were beginning to demand that schools immediately inform parents every time their kid is seen wandering into a GSA meeting. This, of course, would be the exception to typical modus operandi, rather than the reverse. After all, schools don't typically press the alert button on the batphone to the parents when their kid wanders into Chess club.
And, of course, this led to the expected fallout. And it began at the grass roots highschool level. Timid kids, and kids with controlling and possibly abusive parents, began to avoid an important resource for them. Outspoken and politically active kids, noticing what was happening, and the direct negative consequences to those affected, often their friends, began to raise shit. Outspoken, confident, and politically active kids tend to have a higher incidence of happening to have outspoken and politically active parents, often well connected.
This is not, of course, the only legislation surrounding the rights of adolscents vs. the rights of parents. Also under this broad umbrella are access to medical services when these go against their parents' religious beliefs, such as blood transfusions and many other medical procedures, and access to birth control and pregnancy testing, and STD testing and treatment.