My absolute
worst childhood memory is a ritual on the school bus in elementary school. Our first
stops were through my rural neighborhood followed by a pickup at a trailer park
before we reached the school. I remember sitting there, wide-eyed and silent,
as a group of the rural kids carried out their daily tradition of yelling the
derogatory 90s slang “scrubs” at the trailer park students as the bus stood at
the stop sign where kids embarked. I don’t even recall them fighting back, they
just took the insults and sat down. The faces of these screaming, laughing white boys from nice families stay with me. This was 20 years ago and wasn’t about race, religion, national
origin, or sexual orientation. It was homeowners vs trailer park. It’s this
memory that pops up whenever I hear about bullying in the news.
This month,
I attended the opening reception for the “I’m Tired” project at the Center for
Creative Education in Beacon. The photography exhibit is a platform for the voices
of students at Rombout Middle School about bullying and the impact of our
everyday assumptions. Each of the over 600 students were invited to share what
they were “tired of” in an anonymous statement written on the palm of their
hands. I found this simple opportunity for expression an effective outlet for sharing,
while at the same time bringing us face to face with our own assumptions we may
not even realize are hurtful.
Center for Creative Education: www.cce4me.org