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Post by aln1982 on Nov 20, 2007 0:56:23 GMT -5
^ Sometimes friends sticking up for you isn't enough and it only lasts for so long before they start getting sick of doing it (not that the BSC would have. They were loyal friends, which is why I like reading about them. ;D) It's hard to explain the feelings that come from being bullied but you eventually just have enough and get sick of fighting back.
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Post by greer on Nov 20, 2007 13:29:16 GMT -5
^i know, i was bullied too. it just seemed to me that mal was too wrapped up in it/badly affected by it to see the forest for the trees. the bsc was there for her, but there was nothing that they could have done that would have been enough for her.
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Post by aln1982 on Nov 20, 2007 17:01:14 GMT -5
^ Agree. I really did like the BSC's support, though. Sorry you were bullied Greer. It's awful and I'm actually glad that they had this happen to Mal so kids who are bullied have someone to relate to (and maybe bullies can see how they affect others though this never seems to happen )
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macca
Sitting For The Newtons
Posts: 2,084
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Post by macca on Nov 20, 2007 17:30:46 GMT -5
^ Sometimes friends sticking up for you isn't enough and it only lasts for so long before they start getting sick of doing it (not that the BSC would have. They were loyal friends, which is why I like reading about them. ;D) It's hard to explain the feelings that come from being bullied but you eventually just have enough and get sick of fighting back. Oh absolutely, and if anyone knows about it, I do. Personally, I can relate to Mal not wanting to ask the BSC for help. When I was bullied, I was so ashamed, I would've rather died than admitted the bullies were "getting" to me. So I shrugged it off for years. It's only recently that I've finally acknowledged, even to myself, how it affected me. People in society are generally dismissive of bullied kids "suck it up, get over it, it's character building, etc" ... but being tormented, ridiculed, humiliated, threatened etc on a daily basis for nothing but daring to exist eventually has an impact.
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starrynight
Sitting For The Kuhns
The Royal Diner of Pizza Express
Posts: 4,004
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Post by starrynight on Nov 20, 2007 18:49:46 GMT -5
^ I was never teased (at least not to my face) but I understand how hard it gets to fight against ANYTHING negative in your life. Sometimes it DOES just get to be too much.
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Post by zoar3 on May 14, 2010 20:20:36 GMT -5
^What I don't understand is if Mrs. Simon (that was the teacher's name wasn't it?) was truly in attendance during the classes Mal "taught" why didn't she do more to stop the bullying? IIRC, at one point, Mrs. Simon leaves to possibly copy something but comes back or am I making that up? In any event, the punishment I remember her dishing out of long essays on whatever poet Mal was talking about, had nothing to do with the "crime!" Sort of like Kristy being confined to her bedroom after the Bart incident. I never, ever, understood that rationale. But then in BSC-Land, boyfriends are only talked about either in Stacey terms or if you're another character, only allowed in the house when a parent is home.
I also would have liked to see Mr. and Mrs. Pike gone to SMS to stand up for their daughter. I really would love to know what exactly Mr. Kingbridge and Mr. Taylor did? Not much of anything., imo.
ITA, that the sudden move to Riverbend was one more Ann hates Mal device. Apparently, SDS did not offer scholarships? I know Mal simply comments that their tuition is too high for her parents to afford.
I was both teased and cast aside by various peers, mainly in junior high. (Yep back then middle school was 7-9). By the time high school rolled around, I honestly didn't care much about school anymore. In that respect, a place like Riverbend does sound ideal. I ended up going to a Magnet School that was 4th-12th Grades.
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oldhickory
Sitting For The Arnolds
Heather Loves Boys and Gym
Posts: 3,251
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Post by oldhickory on May 17, 2010 1:14:03 GMT -5
i was never teased in school but the idea just horrifies me. i would be devastated if my kids were ever afraid to go to school. it would kill me that i couldn't make everything better. i think that in mallory's situation the best thing would be transfering to riverbend. i don't think of it as "running away." all of the trouble really came to a head when she broke a piece of chalk. seriously, all because of one piece of chalk. the kids at sms were so bloodthirsty that they pounced on the first vulnerable person they could find. just imagine what would happen if she did something more embarrassing, like dropping her lunch of something. they would have eaten her alive.
no, i don't have any kids. i do work at a clothing store for preteens though, and i've seen how devastating poor self-image can be. sometimes the girls won't let me pick out clothes for them because they are embarrassed by their size, or they won't talk to me because they don't like people even looking at them. one girl got upset and stormed off because her mom bought her a bra and she was humiliated that i was ringing it up. it sounds ridiculous that somebody would be embarrassed by something as trivial as a bra (and honestly sometimes i want to punch the kids) but for them that small amount of attention is way too intense.
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Post by zoar3 on May 17, 2010 15:24:07 GMT -5
^That is horribly sad, Oldhickory.
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Post by sparklymouse on Jun 1, 2010 17:14:53 GMT -5
I've been reading the Spaz Girl books for the first time recently. I don't like them because I like to make fun of Mallory and I can't make fun of a depressed person. But the thing that bugs me the most is that the most obvious solution isn't mentioned once. Why didn't the Pikes pay a small fee and transfer Mallory to Kelsey Middle School? It doesn't cost that much to go to an out of district public school, and we know it was possible because Kristy, Abby and Anna all paid to go to SMS.
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Post by anzuhana on Jun 1, 2010 18:41:35 GMT -5
^ Maybe the Pikes needed the money regardless of how small the fee was.
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Post by zoar3 on Jun 1, 2010 19:55:51 GMT -5
^In all the years, all my re-readings, I am embarrassed to say the Kelsey solution was never one I thought of. What an easy answer. Unless, Mal was truly feeling, as she might say, insufferable at home, there was no reason why they couldn't have tried that before Riverbend.
Sarcastic lol, at the sudden idea that Kristy and possibly others, assuming Mal fit onto Kelsey might have her advertise the BSC at her new school.
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oldhickory
Sitting For The Arnolds
Heather Loves Boys and Gym
Posts: 3,251
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Post by oldhickory on Aug 15, 2010 22:48:45 GMT -5
i just realized the other day that mallory has only one book after kristy in charge, the book where she leaves. in fact, her last book before that was don't give up, all the way back at #108. so we don't actually SEE the bullying from her side. we just hear about it from her friends who don't really help out that much. why would they do this? think how much better it would have been to actually hear her thoughts and go through the experience with her, instead of watching it from someone else's point of view. i think they dropped the ball on it.
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Post by booboobrewer on Aug 15, 2010 23:56:14 GMT -5
^Agreed. I always wanted to read about it more from her perspective, to be able to sympathize with her more. I had a "wait, Mal! don't go yet!" reaction when I first bought and read The All-New Mallory Pike.
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Post by psychoseal on Feb 7, 2011 15:33:16 GMT -5
I can see why Mal wanted to leave. I was bullied badly in middle school - I ended up with broken ribs and having to move schools, and t was awful. I never wanted to go to school even now I hate thinking about the school I went too.
Mal gives up trying and starts getting bad grades - I was the opposite I loved studying, it was my escape.
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u4me
Sitting For The Papadakis's
Posts: 1,655
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Post by u4me on Feb 8, 2011 20:44:59 GMT -5
^ Why are kids so mean??? I'll never understand that. It makes me nervous to have children. I don't want them to be bullied, but almost more than that, I don't want them to be bullies.
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