Pay it Forward (against bullying)

6/2/2012

 
_ Here’s my first post from an article I read in Teen Voices.com (see previous post for more info on that site and magazine). Bullying is all over the news now, which is good, because Kathy tells me that although there was lots of bullying when she was a kid, nobody did anything about it or even talked about it. What’s different now is that people also bully online. That’s harder to deal with, because the bullies can be anonymous and/or they can gang up on victims. You’d think people would have better things to do, but whatever. It’s annoying, evil and wrong, and there are lots of kids trying to fight back.

Lior Solaimani is one of those Real World f.g.s fighting the online bullying thing. She’s a high school student in New York, who took a stand after a classmate who had been bullied committed suicide. She raises money and spreads awareness by selling bracelets that protest bullying, and she works with her school’s Pay It Forward club.

The Teen Voices article, by Claribel Baez, Valdwin Etienne and Shaquaria Wallace) listed a bunch of websites for more information on cyberbullying. Here are two:

Stopbullying.gov
Beyondbullies.org

Teen Voices

4/25/2012

 
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So I joined this group, teen voices.com. They have a website/blog and they also send out a magazine a few times a year that’s written by teen girls, about really interesting subjects that all fit pretty nicely into the Real World f.g. concept.

The Fall 2011/Winter 2012 issue had pieces about using social media safely, profiles of female chefs, the problem with using underweight/underage models in fashion shows and magazines and cyberbullying. There are also book and music reviews, and original fiction by teens. Check it out at Teen Voices.

Expect some of my upcoming blog posts to be inspired by articles from the fall issue.

A Basketball-playing Real World F.G.

11/17/2011

 
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yourblackworld.com
This is Allan Guei, a player for the Compton High School basketball team and Real World f.g.

Allan entered a Free Throw Contest, which had a prize of $40,000 -- and won. Because he was given a full scholarship to Cal State Northridge in addition to the prize money, he donated the $40,000 to the seven runners-up in the contest!

He said he felt like his competitors "were all smart and wanted to pursue their dreams, but were having financial difficulties...it was the right move to help the others, especially when everything else was taking off for me."

Keep Reading Foundation

10/11/2011

 
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keepreading.org


How can you not love an organization called "Keep Reading!"

I mean, come ON!
The Keep Reading Foundation was created by Sarasi Jayaratne, a student at Cornell University (where Kathy, my "creator" as she calls herself, went to college).

Sarasi is not technically a teen, but she was a teen only a couple of years ago, so she's "teen-adjacent." Plus, she sort of started her foundation when she was a sophomore in high school, when she raised money to help schools in Sri Lanka (where her parents are from) after a tidal wave hit it.

Eventually, she started the foundation and she's visited the country a lot since then, to distribute the books that the foundation's money buys for kids there. Sometimes the books come with reading glasses for people in poorer areas, so they can -- yes, you guessed it-- Keep Reading!