Cassie photo © Olga Ekaterincheva
School photo © Metalrose

When Cassie Kendall was first mentioned in a conversation between Tom and Katie during Nowhere Feels Like Home, I knew she was annoying and shallow … I didn’t know she was in the running for the Regina George award for meanness. I certainly didn’t expect Katie and Cassie to be friends—because Katie had managed in one day what Cassie never could—capture the attention and affection of Tom Pike.

Cassie is lacking moral responsibility; she’s never been made accountable for her actions. So if someone does her a wrong—real or imagined—she feels it is necessary to decimate the person in return. She will get her way, or someone is going to pay. But as far as Tom is concerned, she’d do better to take a tip from Katie, and put away the feminine wiles and practice on her right hook.

Mean Girl gave me an opportunity to show just how much of a bully Cassie can be, for so little cause. And she’s devious and manipulative—does Katie stand a chance?

Bullying is rampant and the internet has given a wider scope and range to it. The problem we as a community face, is not only against the acts themselves, but against the thought process which I have seen in many comments on incident articles they (meaning the victim of the attack) need to get a thicker skin. Or I survived bullying when I was a kid…. So because it was done to you, it’s okay to continue? Or the victim needs to get tougher, while the bully needs to keep making people tougher? Or how about the thought that the victim just needs to learn to stick up for themselves? Lawrence King is dead because he stood up to a bully. A victim is a person who suffers from a destructive or injurious action and nobody wants to be the victim. We need to learn to have compassion for our fellow human beings and accept them for who they are and until such time as that occurs, we will have a problem with bullies.

Teaser: Katie is conflicted when someone who bullied her is now the victim.

Diary of a Misfit is available now for Kindle. A portion of the proceeds from Diary of a Misfit will go to the Shaka Franklin Foundation for Youth.

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Lawrence "Larry" King

Bullying is a hot topic these days. As a nation, we’re grappling with how best to stop bullying and yet more cases are jumping into the public eye. Recently the case of Jamey Rodemeyer has been making headlines, because bullying drove this fourteen-year-old boy to take his own life. At the same time, the case of the Lawrence King shooting by then fourteen-year-old Brandon McInerney may be re-tried because the first trial ended in mistrial.

While I am not a member of the jury, nor did I sit in the courtroom to hear all of the testimony, I’m a little flummoxed by the results of this trial. There is no question as to whether Brandon McInerney shot Larry King. None. There was a roomful of witnesses. My understanding of the situation is that the defense pressed the point that King’s behavior pushed McInerney to the breaking point by wearing feminine attire and via means of sexual harassment with words such as “Love you baby!”. In other words, vilifying the victim.

Brandon McInerney

Wait! We’re leaning toward manslaughter on a charge where the perpetrator had enough forethought to bring the gun to school and shoot the victim execution style twice in the back of the head? It wasn’t his fault because the victim wore high heel boots and make-up to school? I hear echoes of “It wasn’t my fault, your honor. She was asking for it.” in rape cases. Or in this case… it’s not a hate crime because the victim was asking for it. We, as a nation, are running an extreme risk with this type of thought process. While Larry may not have handled the bullying by Brandon in the most appropriate manner, are we really saying that the alleged words “What’s up, baby?” are enough to incite murder?

Middle School and High School are tumultuous times at best. The campus is populated with kids trying to figure out who they are and how they want to express themselves. Larry chose to express himself by wearing make-up and high-heeled boots. This cannot be used as an excuse for deliberately taking his life. Larry dressed that way as an expression of who he was, and that Brandon didn’t like it was… tough — or should have been.

I currently have pink highlights in my hair. There are a few reasons I have done this… most of them personal, but the biggest reason is that it is fun. It is an expression of who I am. I’m sure that there are people who think that it is ridiculous or even worse, it is an expression of underlying deviancy which could lead to horrible things. Should someone be allowed to state as an excuse for shooting me that the pink in my hair incited them to do it? That somehow the pink was taunting them in some way? While this may seem an superfluous example, in my mind it is no different than saying the fact that Larry wore make-up and boots incited Brandon to take action, and therefore we must be lenient toward Brandon.

I do believe that Brandon perpetrated a hate crime. But I also believe that at fourteen-years-old, while he should have known better, there are some extenuating factors in his background which need to be kept in mind. This does not mean I believe the degree of murder should be mitigated down, but I don’t necessarily believe spending the rest of his life in prison is the right answer either. I would like to see Brandon receive intense therapy to help him overcome his past and if determined that he would be able to re-enter the “outside world” as a productive, contributing member of society, then I would like to see that happen. And I would like to see those who abused him dealt with as well.

We have to stop they bullying cycle!

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