Real Teens Speak Out

Do You Know Who I Am?

My name is Amaranthia Gittens-Jones. I was bullied since the day I moved back to America from Tokyo, Japan at age 7. I am now 14. I dealt with stress from bullying at school for this entire time period and became very sick because of it. In order to cope I used my artistic ability and created many original pieces of art. This year in 7th grade, I decided not to accept bullying in my life anymore. However, I was bullied throughout the year. It was a fight to continue getting good grades and to stay in school. My stress level was very high and I was traumatized and tested positive for an autoimmune disorder months later. In the last few months my life truly changed. Through it all, I continued to produce more art. I am no longer in Public School and am now home schooled. My Mom created a webpage telling my story and she has used it to help me recover and heal. I have donated my artwork to help other people. I’m doing 4-5 solo art shows with 20-25 art pieces in them including at the New Hampshire Technical Institute’s gallery, Concord, New Hampshire in January 2014. My goal was to have a solo art show at some point in my teenage life but now I have more than I expected. I am going to continue to help others by donating my art or money from my art sales. Bullying prevention is important to me because I became very sick from it. “Do You Know Who I Am?” is a project i created to heal as well as to share my story and raise awareness. I want to help other kids who are having problems or who are sick because of bullying. Kids can download my project as a PDF template from my website and use their talents to share their stories to fight back against bullying. I hope my story will inspire them. See my Youtube Anti-Bullying message and my website information here: http://youtu.be/hYRm1Mrbj-w

This photo shows the characters “Giro and Kazune” from my Comic/Manga work in progress “Kuboro.” Part of the story deals with bullying in a school in the year 2025. Giro helps Kazune, who is very shy, to come out of her shell. See KuboroDKode website here: http://kuboro.wordpress.com

My Bullying Story

My Bullying Story

Turning My Experience Into Song

“Her” is about a personal story during my junior year of high school. I was caught in between family conflict, abuse, seeing my sister delve into drugs, and seeing my eldest sister taken advantage by guys, and I was made fun a lot in school. I had no friends. There was one other peer that talked me out of it through Facebook messaging. Afterwards, I wanted to be her friend because I thought she was genuine and would listen. Unfortunately, she did not feel the same. She got caught in the high school mentality…It made me depressed but I want to be able to help other kids who are in despair.

Listen to Stephanie’s song, “Her.”

Define Yourself

As an educator in a middle school, I see the effects of bullying on a daily basis. My 11 year old son has been greatly affected by bullying. From having his glasses broken by another kid, to being poked fun of and pushed around. I was so proud of him for the insight he offered with this collaboration. He picked the quote to use from Firestone, and explained how he believed the photo represented breaking out of the cycle of bullying and no longer covering up who you really are. The two of us just hope that this poster can help raise awareness and give someone else the strength to believe in themselves.

UNITY

It seems
That everything is as worse as it can get.
It seems
That things will never get better.
It all seems
Hopeless and useless.
Nowhere to run,
Nowhere to hide.

But it’s not true.
You have people
All around you
Willing to help
And willing to lend an ear
To hear you out
And a shoulder
To let you cry it all out.

You never are alone,
Always remember,
There is someone there
To help you
No matter what.
United we stand
Forever
And always

STAND UP

This is a song by Joel, called “Stand Up.” He played his electric and acoustic guitar, wrote and sang this song. He wrote it to have an acoustic intro with an electric rock chorus in order to create a “call to action” to those who are being bullied and feel scared.

Joel was picked on because he is smaller than those in his class and has long hair and likes Rock n Roll and the arts. He came home telling his mom and dad about how this group was picking on him, making fun of him and making him feel bad about himself. His mom and dad said to him “why don’t you write a song about it and tell them.” He takes solace in being criticized by focusing on his music and acting, and believes that he can truly make a difference with his music and acting.

Listen to “Stand Up”

KEEP YOUR FAITH

Why is it
the smallest things
hurt us so much,
and tear us down?

Why
you cannot fight,
you cannot hide,
you cannot run?

Keep your faith,
there is no going back,
you never know,
how things will turn out.

If you have a dream,
go with your heart,
you are not what you seem,
you are strong and smart.

And one day,
that smallest thing,
that hurts you so much,
it will go away.

Keep your faith,
there is no going back,
you never know,
how things will turn out.

WRITE!!!

Starting in 3rd grade, my classmates often made fun of my weight, knowing that weight was one of my biggest insecurities. As the year went on, I began to believe what people were saying, and my insecurities kept growing. In 4th grade I had started a new school, and no one wanted to be friends with “The New Girl.” I was again teased for being “fat” and not wearing cool clothes. I was even cornered in a bathroom by three girls, threatening to stab me in the eye with the heels of their shoes. I was distraught and went to the principal, but nothing was done. “Oh, girls can be a little mean at this age” was his answer. My parents notified all of my teachers as to what was going on and their responses were, “Well, if it doesn’t happen in my class and I don’t see it, I can’t do anything about it!” At this point, I stopped sleeping, eating, and my grades started to fall because I was petrified as to what these kids would do next to me. I couldn’t even go to the bathroom when I needed because someone always followed me in.

The bullying continued through 5th and 6th grades. One of the most memorable comments was “Eww, she’s a fat pig, and I hope she dies in an abandoned alley!” I did make a few friends. At least that’s what I thought. When I was given the date of a birthday party, I called my “friend” and explained that I was singing at a charity event and couldn’t make the party. This prompted her and a bunch of other girls to spend three hours calling me names, cursing at me, threatening me, all because I couldn’t go to a birthday party! Finally, my mother closed the computer and handed me some paper and a pen. I was crying and she sternly told me to “WRITE”!!! She wanted me to get out all of my feelings, and in turn, I wrote my first original song called “Bully.” When everyone hears my song “Bully,” I hope they realize they’re not alone. I now have made 2 true friends and that’s all I could ask for. If you have one true friend you’re lucky, I have truly been blessed. I’d like to thank my bullies for making me the strong person I am today! 🙂

Sincerely,

Emma

Where’s My Freedom?

My name is Joelle. I am 15 years old and i’m from Hawaii. You would usually think that bullying only exists in big cities up in the mainland. Well you’re wrong.

Me and best friend have been friends forever. We did everything together. There was never a day that you would see us apart, until last week. Her and her boyfriend have been on and off for a while. He’s cheated on her multiple times, and lets just say i didn’t like the way he kept treating her. They broke up one day, and of course, as a best friend would… i was there for her, wiping every tear, giving her advice. Its been 3 weeks since then. Then one day she told me she had to tell me something. She was back with him. I instantly got irritated because i knew things that she didnt, but how could i possibly tell her without breaking her heart. He had hooked up with multiple girls while they weren’t together. I had to leave the room to cool down. I wasn’t mad at her, i was mad the situation. She deserved better. Someone who would treat her right. We didn’t talk for the rest of the day.

The next day, i built enough courage to talk to her and come clean, tell her how i felt. I told her everything, and that i supported her, but not the relationship. I knew he was just going to hurt her again. We hugged and from i thought….we had cleared everything up. I was wrong. At the end of the day, my other best friend comes up to me and tells me that the other girl was talking crap about me behind my back to her and spreading rumors about me and my boyfriend saying he was yelling and swearing at her and saying that i said things that were never said in reality. I went from thinking i had 5 best friends who would never leave my side, to only having 2 friends from that group and 1 from another….out of everyone. I feel so alone. You would think a good friend is someone who has your back no matter what…. well unfortuantly i got stabbed in my own while trying to protect a friend 🙁

One day, i walked in to breakfast, and she had a whole group of friends with her, so i sat by myself, and my friend was trying to defend me to her….and all they did was yell at her and tell her she was wrong. These were people from other cliques in school also. That girl i thought was my best friend told people in school things that weren’t true in school to make me look bad. I got home one night to see comments being made about me on twitter. Her cousin and herself were talking about me on twitter saying rude comments… calling me fake, telling me karma will bite me in the ass. I was hurt, betrayed.

The numbness takes over for a little… but then disappears while you’re distracting yourself and try to forget about it, but then reality hits you. Her boyfriend messaged me snapping and yelling at me, saying its my fault. its my fault even though i’m the one being victimized ! 🙁 People tell you that you have to be strong, and just ignore it, because you know the truth and that’s all that matters, but that’s where they’re wrong. Something like that can just push you over the edge and you never want to get back up. I thought many suicidal thoughts through out that time. Asking God, “Why am i still here? I don’t want to be here anymore.” Constantly crying, not wanting to move from my bed. Not wanting to do anything in general..just waiting. During one night, me and my boyfriend and couple friends went out the the County Fair. Turns our, her boyfriend was there. He was glaring at me. I tried to hold in all the tears, but while doing that, i ended up getting anxiety. I suddenly got nauseous and we had to leave. My boyfriend thought maybe if i ate something it would help. We tried, i ate one thing and didn’t want the rest. I had to sleep it off. But the truth is, depression doesn’t just leave you when you sleep…it comes back. It comes back during your darkest days and just drags you down to the center of the core of the earth. You don’t know how to act or feel. You can’t think straight, your emotions just take over you. You start to lose yourself.

Sadly, i haven’t overcome it yet. I’m still in that phase. Time will only tell. I know people say, stick with your true friends… but how can you tell if they’re true or not? Look at my situation… you really don’t have anyone but yourself to lean on, and that’s the hardest part of it all. For anyone who’s getting bullied, just know you’re not alone. Prove them all wrong. That’s what I’m trying to do.

And to those BULLIES out there, why does hurting someone make you feel so good? Why does seeing someone cry and bleed their soul out, make you feel like you’ve just won a lottery? It’s not right. Were all just human beings. Yeah sure, its freedom of speech, but to the person you’re affecting… its like you’re ripping their freedom right out of their own hands. They feel trapped, and it hurts. it really does.

Still figuring her path,
Joelle

MORE CONFIDENT

I have always been extremely shy, and I was bullied in elementary and middle school. The bullying encompassed cyber-bullying, physical bullying, verbal bullying, rude voicemails and hurtful text messages, and rumor-spreading. I discovered who were truly my friends and who were just “friend-collectors:” people who want to look good and popular by increasing their number of “friends” by hanging out with them and acting nice until they get tired of you. The bullying experiences have actually made me feel better and more confident about myself because I know that those people who bullied me were just trying to put me down to make themselves look better and that I am above those types of people.