Journal of Other Forum Analysis (Volume II, Issue 2)

[JoeBoy101]

[Gamegirl Nostalgia]

You can spit in my mouth, cum on my face, and fuck me in the ass but you cannot call me a /pol/ user.

Y'all completely ignoring how I said the ICE video is unprofessional and stupid. I know you don't understand irony humor but I actually am not very fond of the current administration of the United States. Shocking, and dare I say even brave of me to say that in a post Charlie Kirk (PBUH) society. I know.

[Gamegirl Nostalgia]

I'm still going to like your post though.

[kaleidoscopium]

Forgot all about how the left tried to pretend Brianna Wu wasn’t trans for nearly a decade, and now it’s been memory binned.

[Gamegirl Nostalgia]

Forgot all about how the left tried to pretend Brianna Wu wasn’t trans for nearly a decade, and now it’s been memory binned.

maybe she shouldn't have sided with the enemy, chud.

[Jansen]

Aww man. I love Embiid. The way he talked shit to power was unmatched. Sad that he got sent to digital hell for some tired Roganisms...

 Imma pray for you cuh. Rest in Power.

Imma push you over the edge so you can get it

Your welcome 🤗

[Jansen]

Forgot all about how the left tried to pretend Brianna Wu wasn’t trans for nearly a decade, and now it’s been memory binned.

What happened to the kiwifarms defeater that fled the country

[Eric Cartman]

Is BCT gone?

must suck to LARP as a hoodrat from crack alley for years and then have someone very ginger, middle class, and british leap to the top of the oppression totem pole because they got funny looks using the toilet at their 14th cinema trip to see Avatar 2

[Eric Cartman]

No very clear source yet, but seeing it pop up from a lot of people across BSKY, threads, etc.

why are you constantly posting misinfo in threads like this?

many such cases

[Eric Cartman]

Forgot all about how the left tried to pretend Brianna Wu wasn’t trans for nearly a decade, and now it’s been memory binned.

uh, Wu? Cultural appropriation, much?

[Switters]

Aww man. I love Embiid. The way he talked shit to power was unmatched. Sad that he got sent to digital hell for some tired Roganisms...

 Imma pray for you cuh. Rest in Power.

Imma push you over the edge so you can get it

Your welcome 🤗

[Gamegirl Nostalgia]

Forgot all about how the left tried to pretend Brianna Wu wasn’t trans for nearly a decade, and now it’s been memory binned.

What happened to the kiwifarms defeater that fled the country

stole the money from the legal fund, said ableist and racist remarks, failed to actually take down the kiwifarms.

You know, the normal grift.

[Rendle]

...I don't expect you to understand, or care, and I especially don't expect you to respond to me (you never do) but when you read this I hope you can understand why...

God I fucking suck.

[HardcoreRetro]

Just so you know Blueballs, we can still be Team Tomodachi.



Congrats to the girls on 10 million views.

[JoeBoy101]

...I don't expect you to understand, or care, and I especially don't expect you to respond to me (you never do) but when you read this I hope you can understand why...

God I fucking suck.

[Taco Bell Tower]

Members only so log into the riotous account
https://www.resetera.com/threads/vent-ive-been-asked-to-resign-my-teaching-position-over-a-bullying-talk.1305621/

I'm still in complete shock right now, I don't really have a lot of friends, and my therapist is busy, so I need to get this out there to someone...

I teach (taught) at a fairly upper middle class suburban middle school in Kansas. This was my second year at this school, and I really liked the administration and the people I worked with. It was honestly the best teaching experience -- at least dealing with adults -- that I've had in eight years of teaching. Moving here from Oklahoma was such a breath of fresh air for me. While I was a high school teacher before, the transition to middle school was a bit rough, but I found my footing last year and was doing well. But I admit, I always had better tact with the high schoolers, and it took me a while to figure out how to...change how I approach certain subjects between the two age levels. But again, I found my footing.

This year, however, the students have been extremely tough to deal with. Anyone in education right now can probably guess why -- attitudes, lack of effort or care, straight disrespect and defiance, etc. And they've been absolutely HORRIBLE to each other. I've ALWAYS prided myself on being anti-bullying and staunchly, at that. I do not tolerate it for reasons I'll get into in a minute. I told my kids Day One I won't tolerate harassment and bullying because I have several students on my roster who have various physical or developmental issues. And I told my students they can always come to me and talk to me if they have problems or need someone to listen to them. I've always wanted to be a champion for students who are overlooked. The athletes have their champions. The smart kids have their champions. The popular kids have their champions. I'm always the champion of the kids who are overlooked, picked on, who don't fit in or don't want to fit in. And I've been VERY successful at it. I've forged relationships with students over the years that last until today. I've been to two weddings of former students, photographed another of another student, and am in contact with many since graduation.

About three weeks ago, a young girl who was born without a hand on one arm, came to me and told me she wanted to commit suicide because her classmates were so mean to her and wouldn't leave her alone about her hand. Another student a few days later came up to me and told me that another student had threatened her sexually. In my classroom, I've heard multiple students saying horrible things to each other. Each time, I would address it through our school's disciplinary policy, but it wasn't stopping it. Sure, they get a slap on the wrist punishment, maybe a day of ISS, and then they're back in the classroom doing the same damn shit again. And when you call them out on it, it's always, "What? I was just playing" or "What? They're just words" or some derivative. It was the same shit I heard from my bullies when I was in school. And when I would complain to my teachers, I was often told, "sticks and stones can break your bones, but words will never hurt you."

The 2x4 that broke the camel's back happened on a Wednesday when a student raised his hand to answer a question during class discussion and gave an absolutely amazing, insightful answer. But he stuttered. He has a medical stutter and he struggled for a few seconds to get his words together before he finished his statement. No big deal. Except a football player in the room shouts out loudly, "Bu...Bu...Bu...get it out already!" The kid was almost in tears. Again, I handled it through the school's disciplinary system, which involves signing a "conduct card" that does nothing except show them they're being bad. If they get enough signatures, they get lunch detention. Like that's going to deter a football player from being an ass in class and getting a laugh out of his classmates for it. My blood was boiling.

I talked it over with my teaching team and I decided I was going to sit down with each of my classes and share my story of how I was bullied in school. From third grade through 11th grade, I was severely bullied over how I talked because I moved to a different region of the country, over my weight, over the fact that my mom died in childbirth, over the fact that I didn't know my biological father, over how I was poor, etc. It was absolutely relentless. And the teachers did nothing. This was the 90s, so bullying was still seen as a rite of passage for kids to go through. I even had teachers tell me that. Being bullied builds character. It built character, alright.

I started therapy this past year and have been diagnosed with severe forms of depression and anxiety, severe childhood trauma resulting in a diagnosis of Dissociative Identity Disorder, and autism. My undiagnosed autism along with my undiagnosed ADHD (my grandfather didn't believe in mental health) was probably a big part of why I was bullied. I truly cannot remember the vast majority of my childhood and young adult years. My memories of my life up until 24ish are patchy, at best. My therapist told me it's because I've blocked so much of it out. And I manifest multiple personalities as a result. My wife has even seen it in me, she just never knew what was happening until my therapist diagnosed me.

The bullying got so bad in school that in 10th grade, I started snapping. I violently attacked two of my bullies in direct retaliation to physical assaults on me. One tried to do an illegal wrestling move on me during gym one day in an effort to severely hurt my already damaged ankle. I ended up banging his head into the gym floor multiple times while the gym coach -- a Vietnam veteran -- looked on and said nothing. A few months later, on the school bus, a bully kicked me in the back of the head and knocked my brand new hat into the red clay mud, ruining it. I jumped up on the bus, slammed his head into the window and threw him into the floorboard of the bus and and choked him out until I was physically thrown off the bus. At one point, I had a list of about 10 students I wanted to take out. And I knew where to get the guns. But I knew it was wrong, and so I told my grandfather, and we moved at the end of my junior year. I graduated high school in a different state and that was the end of the bullying. But it still stuck with me, and still does, as a nearly 40 year-old man now.

I've attempted suicide twice in my life -- once by taking a knife to my wrist and arm and another when I tried to hang myself -- both due to bullying and the trauma. I even have a tattoo of the house sigil of House Martel with the words, "Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken" to cover the scar on my arm as a reminder of how far I've come. I shared that with my students earlier in the year when they asked about my tattoos. I reminded them of that story when I shared my bullying experiences.

I concluded each class talk with a plea to them: it's perfectly fine not to like someone, or to be annoyed by someone, but there's no need to react to everything they say or do, or to have a comment. Just move on with your life and your day and ignore them. Respect each student in your class enough to just let them live their lives without interference from you. I shared this story with my students, telling them each and every step of the way, I was wrong to react violently, I was wrong to have these violent thoughts, I feel horrible about what I did -- even today. I still carry that guilt around with me today. But I've used that pain as a way to connect with disenfranchised students over the years. I've shared this story in every district I've worked in. I've never had any blowback...until now.

The talk played out on Sept. 11. I had to take a half-day of school on Friday because I wasn't feeling well. I came back last Monday and my principal came to speak with me about it. He said some students were made uncomfortable by the talk, a few parents reached out to him to inquire why I was having such a talk and sharing my suicide attempts or concerned I was going to shoot up the school. He understood the context and just told me that he appreciated what I was doing, but that I was an ELA teacher first and foremost and he wanted to ensure that this type of talk didn't interfere with that. That was the end of the discussion and it was dropped.

Tuesday, the students were behaving horribly and I ended up having to discipline about 10 students for behaviors and attitudes. All of a sudden, Wednesday, I get a call from HR telling me I'm indefinitely suspended pending an investigation that will lead to my termination if the things I had said in the classroom were true. My principal had no idea that had happened. No one from HR contacted him about it. He was blindsided as much as I was. I wasn't even allowed to get any of my personal stuff, including about $3,000 in personal camera equipment I was using as yearbook sponsor. Parents -- either in retaliation or due to not being satisfied with my principal -- went directly to the school board, demanding I be fired.

So I typed up a formal letter, explaining exactly everything I said, the context of why I said it, what prompted the discussion, and the positive impact that it's had on so many students. I've had literally dozens of students reach out to me via e-mail or in person to thank me for sharing my story because it made them feel seen and understood. A severely autistic girl in my class gave me a hug and said I was the first teacher who understood what she deals with every single day. The girl with the missing hand wrote me a letter thanking me as the only teacher who's ever spoken up and defended her. I made a difference in the lives of those kids in that moment. And since I've been on suspension, I've had many more e-mails asking where I'm at and concerned I'm not coming back.

I had a formal interview with my principal yesterday morning and discussed the same things and he felt I did nothing wrong. He even told me he thought it would blow over once he had a chance to tell the board what happened. But, it didn't.

I received a call first thing this morning. The board "discussed" the situation yesterday and recommended I be fired because it was inappropriate to talk about those things in the classroom. It was "too intense" and made some students "feel uncomfortable." They're terminating me under what HR even admitted was a very "broad interpretation" of a clause that states that a teacher can be reprimanded for "immoral conduct that damages the teacher-student relationship in the classroom." It was such a broad interpretation that HR admitted to me they had to bring in their lawyers to review my contract language and the parent/student statements to make sure it'd stick. Notice, they did not review my statement in this -- only the parents. The same HR person told me on the phone this morning that there was truly nothing I could have said or done or any context I could have given to save my job because the statements were so severe, that discussing cutting my body and covering them with tattoos and shooting up a school was too much for students. But I didn't fucking say that, as you could read in my statement and my interview with my principal. And I wouldn't be able to talk to any board members about it, their decision had been made.

My contract gives me the right to request an arbitration hearing, where I can argue my case, but HR straight up threatened me, saying if I were to do that, they would rescind the offer to resign "with dignity" and that they would enforce a $20,000 contract liquidation fee if the arbitrator still found I could be terminated. And that if I were to go through with that, there's a "good chance I will never teach in Kansas again."

It truly feels that I've been straight up targeted. One of my students e-mailed me Monday asking if I was OK because they had heard other students in the bathroom bragging that they got me fired. And it's somewhat ironic because I made a statement on Facebook after the Charlie Kirk shooting and it was screenshotted by someone and shared with a place I haven't worked at in eight years, demanding I be fired from there. But when you search me online, that's the only place that was associated with my name. There's nothing that connects me even to the district here, unless you knew specifically where I worked. So I deactivated my Facebook profile literally that night, admittedly freaking out a little bit that something might get back to my school in an attempt to get me fired. And then this comes up.

I just feel like I've seen kids in need of help and they weren't receiving it, so I spoke up to at least hopefully generate some empathy in students and to show them there are consequences to their actions and words that can be felt for years after the fact. I think it's ironic as fuck that students who were "made to feel uncomfortable" by my talk are some of the very students making others feel uncomfortable every day in the classroom. I never threatened anyone, I never advocated for violence. If anything, I specifically said my violent actions were wrong and it should have never reached that point, and that's why I'm having this conversation with them. But students, either because they just chose to listen to what they wanted to hear, or intentionally misconstrued my statements, tell parents that I want to shoot up the school and I cut myself and cover them with tattoos, and that just freaks everyone out.

It makes me want to give up. I'm diabetic and I'm on multiple medications for my mental health. I'm losing my insurance and access to my meds. I'm scared for my wife, more than anything. I don't know what to do. I want to fight this, but I feel like the arbitration hearing will be as one-sided as this "investigation" was, and then I'd have to pay $20,000. I'm just supposed to shut up, sign an NDA, resign quietly, and let the whole community talk like I'm a psychopathic school shooter.

Sorry for the long rant, I just needed to get that out there.

[D3RANG3D]

Members only so log into the riotous account
https://www.resetera.com/threads/vent-ive-been-asked-to-resign-my-teaching-position-over-a-bullying-talk.1305621/

I'm still in complete shock right now, I don't really have a lot of friends, and my therapist is busy, so I need to get this out there to someone...

I teach (taught) at a fairly upper middle class suburban middle school in Kansas. This was my second year at this school, and I really liked the administration and the people I worked with. It was honestly the best teaching experience -- at least dealing with adults -- that I've had in eight years of teaching. Moving here from Oklahoma was such a breath of fresh air for me. While I was a high school teacher before, the transition to middle school was a bit rough, but I found my footing last year and was doing well. But I admit, I always had better tact with the high schoolers, and it took me a while to figure out how to...change how I approach certain subjects between the two age levels. But again, I found my footing.

This year, however, the students have been extremely tough to deal with. Anyone in education right now can probably guess why -- attitudes, lack of effort or care, straight disrespect and defiance, etc. And they've been absolutely HORRIBLE to each other. I've ALWAYS prided myself on being anti-bullying and staunchly, at that. I do not tolerate it for reasons I'll get into in a minute. I told my kids Day One I won't tolerate harassment and bullying because I have several students on my roster who have various physical or developmental issues. And I told my students they can always come to me and talk to me if they have problems or need someone to listen to them. I've always wanted to be a champion for students who are overlooked. The athletes have their champions. The smart kids have their champions. The popular kids have their champions. I'm always the champion of the kids who are overlooked, picked on, who don't fit in or don't want to fit in. And I've been VERY successful at it. I've forged relationships with students over the years that last until today. I've been to two weddings of former students, photographed another of another student, and am in contact with many since graduation.

About three weeks ago, a young girl who was born without a hand on one arm, came to me and told me she wanted to commit suicide because her classmates were so mean to her and wouldn't leave her alone about her hand. Another student a few days later came up to me and told me that another student had threatened her sexually. In my classroom, I've heard multiple students saying horrible things to each other. Each time, I would address it through our school's disciplinary policy, but it wasn't stopping it. Sure, they get a slap on the wrist punishment, maybe a day of ISS, and then they're back in the classroom doing the same damn shit again. And when you call them out on it, it's always, "What? I was just playing" or "What? They're just words" or some derivative. It was the same shit I heard from my bullies when I was in school. And when I would complain to my teachers, I was often told, "sticks and stones can break your bones, but words will never hurt you."

The 2x4 that broke the camel's back happened on a Wednesday when a student raised his hand to answer a question during class discussion and gave an absolutely amazing, insightful answer. But he stuttered. He has a medical stutter and he struggled for a few seconds to get his words together before he finished his statement. No big deal. Except a football player in the room shouts out loudly, "Bu...Bu...Bu...get it out already!" The kid was almost in tears. Again, I handled it through the school's disciplinary system, which involves signing a "conduct card" that does nothing except show them they're being bad. If they get enough signatures, they get lunch detention. Like that's going to deter a football player from being an ass in class and getting a laugh out of his classmates for it. My blood was boiling.

I talked it over with my teaching team and I decided I was going to sit down with each of my classes and share my story of how I was bullied in school. From third grade through 11th grade, I was severely bullied over how I talked because I moved to a different region of the country, over my weight, over the fact that my mom died in childbirth, over the fact that I didn't know my biological father, over how I was poor, etc. It was absolutely relentless. And the teachers did nothing. This was the 90s, so bullying was still seen as a rite of passage for kids to go through. I even had teachers tell me that. Being bullied builds character. It built character, alright.

I started therapy this past year and have been diagnosed with severe forms of depression and anxiety, severe childhood trauma resulting in a diagnosis of Dissociative Identity Disorder, and autism. My undiagnosed autism along with my undiagnosed ADHD (my grandfather didn't believe in mental health) was probably a big part of why I was bullied. I truly cannot remember the vast majority of my childhood and young adult years. My memories of my life up until 24ish are patchy, at best. My therapist told me it's because I've blocked so much of it out. And I manifest multiple personalities as a result. My wife has even seen it in me, she just never knew what was happening until my therapist diagnosed me.

The bullying got so bad in school that in 10th grade, I started snapping. I violently attacked two of my bullies in direct retaliation to physical assaults on me. One tried to do an illegal wrestling move on me during gym one day in an effort to severely hurt my already damaged ankle. I ended up banging his head into the gym floor multiple times while the gym coach -- a Vietnam veteran -- looked on and said nothing. A few months later, on the school bus, a bully kicked me in the back of the head and knocked my brand new hat into the red clay mud, ruining it. I jumped up on the bus, slammed his head into the window and threw him into the floorboard of the bus and and choked him out until I was physically thrown off the bus. At one point, I had a list of about 10 students I wanted to take out. And I knew where to get the guns. But I knew it was wrong, and so I told my grandfather, and we moved at the end of my junior year. I graduated high school in a different state and that was the end of the bullying. But it still stuck with me, and still does, as a nearly 40 year-old man now.

I've attempted suicide twice in my life -- once by taking a knife to my wrist and arm and another when I tried to hang myself -- both due to bullying and the trauma. I even have a tattoo of the house sigil of House Martel with the words, "Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken" to cover the scar on my arm as a reminder of how far I've come. I shared that with my students earlier in the year when they asked about my tattoos. I reminded them of that story when I shared my bullying experiences.

I concluded each class talk with a plea to them: it's perfectly fine not to like someone, or to be annoyed by someone, but there's no need to react to everything they say or do, or to have a comment. Just move on with your life and your day and ignore them. Respect each student in your class enough to just let them live their lives without interference from you. I shared this story with my students, telling them each and every step of the way, I was wrong to react violently, I was wrong to have these violent thoughts, I feel horrible about what I did -- even today. I still carry that guilt around with me today. But I've used that pain as a way to connect with disenfranchised students over the years. I've shared this story in every district I've worked in. I've never had any blowback...until now.

The talk played out on Sept. 11. I had to take a half-day of school on Friday because I wasn't feeling well. I came back last Monday and my principal came to speak with me about it. He said some students were made uncomfortable by the talk, a few parents reached out to him to inquire why I was having such a talk and sharing my suicide attempts or concerned I was going to shoot up the school. He understood the context and just told me that he appreciated what I was doing, but that I was an ELA teacher first and foremost and he wanted to ensure that this type of talk didn't interfere with that. That was the end of the discussion and it was dropped.

Tuesday, the students were behaving horribly and I ended up having to discipline about 10 students for behaviors and attitudes. All of a sudden, Wednesday, I get a call from HR telling me I'm indefinitely suspended pending an investigation that will lead to my termination if the things I had said in the classroom were true. My principal had no idea that had happened. No one from HR contacted him about it. He was blindsided as much as I was. I wasn't even allowed to get any of my personal stuff, including about $3,000 in personal camera equipment I was using as yearbook sponsor. Parents -- either in retaliation or due to not being satisfied with my principal -- went directly to the school board, demanding I be fired.

So I typed up a formal letter, explaining exactly everything I said, the context of why I said it, what prompted the discussion, and the positive impact that it's had on so many students. I've had literally dozens of students reach out to me via e-mail or in person to thank me for sharing my story because it made them feel seen and understood. A severely autistic girl in my class gave me a hug and said I was the first teacher who understood what she deals with every single day. The girl with the missing hand wrote me a letter thanking me as the only teacher who's ever spoken up and defended her. I made a difference in the lives of those kids in that moment. And since I've been on suspension, I've had many more e-mails asking where I'm at and concerned I'm not coming back.

I had a formal interview with my principal yesterday morning and discussed the same things and he felt I did nothing wrong. He even told me he thought it would blow over once he had a chance to tell the board what happened. But, it didn't.

I received a call first thing this morning. The board "discussed" the situation yesterday and recommended I be fired because it was inappropriate to talk about those things in the classroom. It was "too intense" and made some students "feel uncomfortable." They're terminating me under what HR even admitted was a very "broad interpretation" of a clause that states that a teacher can be reprimanded for "immoral conduct that damages the teacher-student relationship in the classroom." It was such a broad interpretation that HR admitted to me they had to bring in their lawyers to review my contract language and the parent/student statements to make sure it'd stick. Notice, they did not review my statement in this -- only the parents. The same HR person told me on the phone this morning that there was truly nothing I could have said or done or any context I could have given to save my job because the statements were so severe, that discussing cutting my body and covering them with tattoos and shooting up a school was too much for students. But I didn't fucking say that, as you could read in my statement and my interview with my principal. And I wouldn't be able to talk to any board members about it, their decision had been made.

My contract gives me the right to request an arbitration hearing, where I can argue my case, but HR straight up threatened me, saying if I were to do that, they would rescind the offer to resign "with dignity" and that they would enforce a $20,000 contract liquidation fee if the arbitrator still found I could be terminated. And that if I were to go through with that, there's a "good chance I will never teach in Kansas again."

It truly feels that I've been straight up targeted. One of my students e-mailed me Monday asking if I was OK because they had heard other students in the bathroom bragging that they got me fired. And it's somewhat ironic because I made a statement on Facebook after the Charlie Kirk shooting and it was screenshotted by someone and shared with a place I haven't worked at in eight years, demanding I be fired from there. But when you search me online, that's the only place that was associated with my name. There's nothing that connects me even to the district here, unless you knew specifically where I worked. So I deactivated my Facebook profile literally that night, admittedly freaking out a little bit that something might get back to my school in an attempt to get me fired. And then this comes up.

I just feel like I've seen kids in need of help and they weren't receiving it, so I spoke up to at least hopefully generate some empathy in students and to show them there are consequences to their actions and words that can be felt for years after the fact. I think it's ironic as fuck that students who were "made to feel uncomfortable" by my talk are some of the very students making others feel uncomfortable every day in the classroom. I never threatened anyone, I never advocated for violence. If anything, I specifically said my violent actions were wrong and it should have never reached that point, and that's why I'm having this conversation with them. But students, either because they just chose to listen to what they wanted to hear, or intentionally misconstrued my statements, tell parents that I want to shoot up the school and I cut myself and cover them with tattoos, and that just freaks everyone out.

It makes me want to give up. I'm diabetic and I'm on multiple medications for my mental health. I'm losing my insurance and access to my meds. I'm scared for my wife, more than anything. I don't know what to do. I want to fight this, but I feel like the arbitration hearing will be as one-sided as this "investigation" was, and then I'd have to pay $20,000. I'm just supposed to shut up, sign an NDA, resign quietly, and let the whole community talk like I'm a psychopathic school shooter.

Sorry for the long rant, I just needed to get that out there.

Spoiler:  (click to show)(click to hide)

[Gamegirl Nostalgia]

Just so you know Blueballs, we can still be Team Tomodachi.



Congrats to the girls on 10 million views.

Approved streamers. 

[Potato]

Just so you know Blueballs, we can still be Team Tomodachi.



Congrats to the girls on 10 million views.

Approved streamers. 

Fuck streamers. Kill them all.

[Jansen]

Members only so log into the riotous account
https://www.resetera.com/threads/vent-ive-been-asked-to-resign-my-teaching-position-over-a-bullying-talk.1305621/

I'm still in complete shock right now, I don't really have a lot of friends, and my therapist is busy, so I need to get this out there to someone...

I teach (taught) at a fairly upper middle class suburban middle school in Kansas. This was my second year at this school, and I really liked the administration and the people I worked with. It was honestly the best teaching experience -- at least dealing with adults -- that I've had in eight years of teaching. Moving here from Oklahoma was such a breath of fresh air for me. While I was a high school teacher before, the transition to middle school was a bit rough, but I found my footing last year and was doing well. But I admit, I always had better tact with the high schoolers, and it took me a while to figure out how to...change how I approach certain subjects between the two age levels. But again, I found my footing.

This year, however, the students have been extremely tough to deal with. Anyone in education right now can probably guess why -- attitudes, lack of effort or care, straight disrespect and defiance, etc. And they've been absolutely HORRIBLE to each other. I've ALWAYS prided myself on being anti-bullying and staunchly, at that. I do not tolerate it for reasons I'll get into in a minute. I told my kids Day One I won't tolerate harassment and bullying because I have several students on my roster who have various physical or developmental issues. And I told my students they can always come to me and talk to me if they have problems or need someone to listen to them. I've always wanted to be a champion for students who are overlooked. The athletes have their champions. The smart kids have their champions. The popular kids have their champions. I'm always the champion of the kids who are overlooked, picked on, who don't fit in or don't want to fit in. And I've been VERY successful at it. I've forged relationships with students over the years that last until today. I've been to two weddings of former students, photographed another of another student, and am in contact with many since graduation.

About three weeks ago, a young girl who was born without a hand on one arm, came to me and told me she wanted to commit suicide because her classmates were so mean to her and wouldn't leave her alone about her hand. Another student a few days later came up to me and told me that another student had threatened her sexually. In my classroom, I've heard multiple students saying horrible things to each other. Each time, I would address it through our school's disciplinary policy, but it wasn't stopping it. Sure, they get a slap on the wrist punishment, maybe a day of ISS, and then they're back in the classroom doing the same damn shit again. And when you call them out on it, it's always, "What? I was just playing" or "What? They're just words" or some derivative. It was the same shit I heard from my bullies when I was in school. And when I would complain to my teachers, I was often told, "sticks and stones can break your bones, but words will never hurt you."

The 2x4 that broke the camel's back happened on a Wednesday when a student raised his hand to answer a question during class discussion and gave an absolutely amazing, insightful answer. But he stuttered. He has a medical stutter and he struggled for a few seconds to get his words together before he finished his statement. No big deal. Except a football player in the room shouts out loudly, "Bu...Bu...Bu...get it out already!" The kid was almost in tears. Again, I handled it through the school's disciplinary system, which involves signing a "conduct card" that does nothing except show them they're being bad. If they get enough signatures, they get lunch detention. Like that's going to deter a football player from being an ass in class and getting a laugh out of his classmates for it. My blood was boiling.

I talked it over with my teaching team and I decided I was going to sit down with each of my classes and share my story of how I was bullied in school. From third grade through 11th grade, I was severely bullied over how I talked because I moved to a different region of the country, over my weight, over the fact that my mom died in childbirth, over the fact that I didn't know my biological father, over how I was poor, etc. It was absolutely relentless. And the teachers did nothing. This was the 90s, so bullying was still seen as a rite of passage for kids to go through. I even had teachers tell me that. Being bullied builds character. It built character, alright.

I started therapy this past year and have been diagnosed with severe forms of depression and anxiety, severe childhood trauma resulting in a diagnosis of Dissociative Identity Disorder, and autism. My undiagnosed autism along with my undiagnosed ADHD (my grandfather didn't believe in mental health) was probably a big part of why I was bullied. I truly cannot remember the vast majority of my childhood and young adult years. My memories of my life up until 24ish are patchy, at best. My therapist told me it's because I've blocked so much of it out. And I manifest multiple personalities as a result. My wife has even seen it in me, she just never knew what was happening until my therapist diagnosed me.

The bullying got so bad in school that in 10th grade, I started snapping. I violently attacked two of my bullies in direct retaliation to physical assaults on me. One tried to do an illegal wrestling move on me during gym one day in an effort to severely hurt my already damaged ankle. I ended up banging his head into the gym floor multiple times while the gym coach -- a Vietnam veteran -- looked on and said nothing. A few months later, on the school bus, a bully kicked me in the back of the head and knocked my brand new hat into the red clay mud, ruining it. I jumped up on the bus, slammed his head into the window and threw him into the floorboard of the bus and and choked him out until I was physically thrown off the bus. At one point, I had a list of about 10 students I wanted to take out. And I knew where to get the guns. But I knew it was wrong, and so I told my grandfather, and we moved at the end of my junior year. I graduated high school in a different state and that was the end of the bullying. But it still stuck with me, and still does, as a nearly 40 year-old man now.

I've attempted suicide twice in my life -- once by taking a knife to my wrist and arm and another when I tried to hang myself -- both due to bullying and the trauma. I even have a tattoo of the house sigil of House Martel with the words, "Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken" to cover the scar on my arm as a reminder of how far I've come. I shared that with my students earlier in the year when they asked about my tattoos. I reminded them of that story when I shared my bullying experiences.

I concluded each class talk with a plea to them: it's perfectly fine not to like someone, or to be annoyed by someone, but there's no need to react to everything they say or do, or to have a comment. Just move on with your life and your day and ignore them. Respect each student in your class enough to just let them live their lives without interference from you. I shared this story with my students, telling them each and every step of the way, I was wrong to react violently, I was wrong to have these violent thoughts, I feel horrible about what I did -- even today. I still carry that guilt around with me today. But I've used that pain as a way to connect with disenfranchised students over the years. I've shared this story in every district I've worked in. I've never had any blowback...until now.

The talk played out on Sept. 11. I had to take a half-day of school on Friday because I wasn't feeling well. I came back last Monday and my principal came to speak with me about it. He said some students were made uncomfortable by the talk, a few parents reached out to him to inquire why I was having such a talk and sharing my suicide attempts or concerned I was going to shoot up the school. He understood the context and just told me that he appreciated what I was doing, but that I was an ELA teacher first and foremost and he wanted to ensure that this type of talk didn't interfere with that. That was the end of the discussion and it was dropped.

Tuesday, the students were behaving horribly and I ended up having to discipline about 10 students for behaviors and attitudes. All of a sudden, Wednesday, I get a call from HR telling me I'm indefinitely suspended pending an investigation that will lead to my termination if the things I had said in the classroom were true. My principal had no idea that had happened. No one from HR contacted him about it. He was blindsided as much as I was. I wasn't even allowed to get any of my personal stuff, including about $3,000 in personal camera equipment I was using as yearbook sponsor. Parents -- either in retaliation or due to not being satisfied with my principal -- went directly to the school board, demanding I be fired.

So I typed up a formal letter, explaining exactly everything I said, the context of why I said it, what prompted the discussion, and the positive impact that it's had on so many students. I've had literally dozens of students reach out to me via e-mail or in person to thank me for sharing my story because it made them feel seen and understood. A severely autistic girl in my class gave me a hug and said I was the first teacher who understood what she deals with every single day. The girl with the missing hand wrote me a letter thanking me as the only teacher who's ever spoken up and defended her. I made a difference in the lives of those kids in that moment. And since I've been on suspension, I've had many more e-mails asking where I'm at and concerned I'm not coming back.

I had a formal interview with my principal yesterday morning and discussed the same things and he felt I did nothing wrong. He even told me he thought it would blow over once he had a chance to tell the board what happened. But, it didn't.

I received a call first thing this morning. The board "discussed" the situation yesterday and recommended I be fired because it was inappropriate to talk about those things in the classroom. It was "too intense" and made some students "feel uncomfortable." They're terminating me under what HR even admitted was a very "broad interpretation" of a clause that states that a teacher can be reprimanded for "immoral conduct that damages the teacher-student relationship in the classroom." It was such a broad interpretation that HR admitted to me they had to bring in their lawyers to review my contract language and the parent/student statements to make sure it'd stick. Notice, they did not review my statement in this -- only the parents. The same HR person told me on the phone this morning that there was truly nothing I could have said or done or any context I could have given to save my job because the statements were so severe, that discussing cutting my body and covering them with tattoos and shooting up a school was too much for students. But I didn't fucking say that, as you could read in my statement and my interview with my principal. And I wouldn't be able to talk to any board members about it, their decision had been made.

My contract gives me the right to request an arbitration hearing, where I can argue my case, but HR straight up threatened me, saying if I were to do that, they would rescind the offer to resign "with dignity" and that they would enforce a $20,000 contract liquidation fee if the arbitrator still found I could be terminated. And that if I were to go through with that, there's a "good chance I will never teach in Kansas again."

It truly feels that I've been straight up targeted. One of my students e-mailed me Monday asking if I was OK because they had heard other students in the bathroom bragging that they got me fired. And it's somewhat ironic because I made a statement on Facebook after the Charlie Kirk shooting and it was screenshotted by someone and shared with a place I haven't worked at in eight years, demanding I be fired from there. But when you search me online, that's the only place that was associated with my name. There's nothing that connects me even to the district here, unless you knew specifically where I worked. So I deactivated my Facebook profile literally that night, admittedly freaking out a little bit that something might get back to my school in an attempt to get me fired. And then this comes up.

I just feel like I've seen kids in need of help and they weren't receiving it, so I spoke up to at least hopefully generate some empathy in students and to show them there are consequences to their actions and words that can be felt for years after the fact. I think it's ironic as fuck that students who were "made to feel uncomfortable" by my talk are some of the very students making others feel uncomfortable every day in the classroom. I never threatened anyone, I never advocated for violence. If anything, I specifically said my violent actions were wrong and it should have never reached that point, and that's why I'm having this conversation with them. But students, either because they just chose to listen to what they wanted to hear, or intentionally misconstrued my statements, tell parents that I want to shoot up the school and I cut myself and cover them with tattoos, and that just freaks everyone out.

It makes me want to give up. I'm diabetic and I'm on multiple medications for my mental health. I'm losing my insurance and access to my meds. I'm scared for my wife, more than anything. I don't know what to do. I want to fight this, but I feel like the arbitration hearing will be as one-sided as this "investigation" was, and then I'd have to pay $20,000. I'm just supposed to shut up, sign an NDA, resign quietly, and let the whole community talk like I'm a psychopathic school shooter.

Sorry for the long rant, I just needed to get that out there.

FAFO

[Uncle]

so now both Sinclair and Nexstar are refusing to budge on Kimmel which is like 70% of US broadcasting, so he will be airing to almost no one, in an already threatened genre/time slot

[Propagandhim]

https://www.resetera.com/threads/promises-made-promises-broken-black-unemployment-climbs-to-7-5-under-trump-the-highest-since-covid-in-2020.1304835/

edit: I can fathom any PoC that didn't read between the lines before this straight up Nazi-lite regime we are currently witnessing round up and rob communities of vital programs and lifelines.

Fuck those who voted for him in 2024 and enjoy your FellForItAgainAwards

Who fell for it?

Black people sure as hell didn't.

Sorry i should have clarified a bit more. Thats directed at Black and minority voters Trump gained ground on. (last i saw he doubled his support from 2020>24)

I can't fathom how Trump managed to gain ground when it was so blatantly disastrous and racist in the previous term.

Okay, but most Black people overall didn't vote for Trump. That was whites.

You all don't have to point and laugh at a group of people every single time a negative report about the economics of Trump's administration come out. It's useless reactionary drivel.

O shit, there's a slight, molecule-scale trace of criticism directed specifically at the group of POC that voted for trump in more numbers than usual.  FLUSH THIS SHIT OUT NOW.  POC are magical beings that aren't ever fallible, redirect, redirect.



Ahhh that's better.  White people are natural bigots and subjugators as per their culture.  There we go.  Threat cleared.










The thread is about black unemployment, so naturally the "fell for it" thing would not be about other groups falling for something that isn't mentioned.  That was the point of the comment.  It's very simple, guys.

[Jansen]

Grab that bag Jimmy 

[kaleidoscopium]

Forgot all about how the left tried to pretend Brianna Wu wasn’t trans for nearly a decade, and now it’s been memory binned.

What happened to the kiwifarms defeater that fled the country

Keffals just posted about their retirement a few days ago surprisingly. 

Ran off with 100K to fuck around in Ireland and decided to stay lol

[Uncle]

FAFO

there are so many tactful ways to talk about this stuff without saying "yes children I wanted to put a bullet in my skull and let my life fluid splatter across all those who wronged me"

you could just say "sometimes I wondered if the world would be a better place without me in it" and leave it at that

or focus on yeah I was bullied that's why I'm here for you now

[clockwork5]

https://www.resetera.com/threads/ice-uses-pokemon-intro-in-insane-promotional-video.1304934/

I think ICE knows how to get millennial man children upset for social media engagement. They even made sure to keep the part listing the crimes of people they've arrested until the end because online leftists can't be bothered to watch something for more than 10 minutes unless it absolutely agrees with them.

What better way to have a group frothing at the mouth crying about these poor, poor undocumented people so that the right can then point and say "Oh so you WANT rapists and pedophiles in the country?"

And Era is, as always, quick to take the bait.

Stop letting y'allself get played like this.

Edit: Read a little in the thread and my point got made

Being fair, this shit also makes them look pathetic and assholish for the general public ambivalent about immigration.  

Is a federal agency, not a 4chan troll group. The left should not take the bait, sure, but ICE acts like Real Life is a social media flame war.!

You're LITERALLY talking ot a /pol/ user.

Shouldn’t you be arming up and taking action? How can you waste your time here on the Bire when your friend Clicky Cal is LITERALLY being thrown in a camp as we speak?

[Boredfrom]

so now both Sinclair and Nexstar are refusing to budge on Kimmel which is like 70% of US broadcasting, so he will be airing to almost no one, in an already threatened genre/time slot

Well, the genre and the show is dead. But good for him for not backing out.  

I can respect that.

[Jansen]

Didn't even have to apologize to get some more of that Disney money. 

Let's go back Jimmy, when it's over let's go back to The Man Show

[Jansen]

People were hating on it and hungry for it to fail even before Bungie hand-delivered them a lightning rod to galvanise around. I still think, even if they work a resolve with 4nt1r34l - which they need to do, that stain will prove to be hard to overcome. There's more than enough room within that hyper-graphic minimalist style for various artists, as we know from numerous people giving their take on it over the decades. To the casual observer though it's easy to take it all as one, and I don't see a way that they'll be able to stay within it at all without people saying it's plagiarised. We know they're not pivoting that hard from that overall style so it feels like plugged in people like on here will be resistant to it for that, while casual players may struggle to feel the hook for an extraction shooter without something more casual coming along first, being popular, and growing that familiarity. Perhaps ARC might help in that regard.



I really liked my time with the alpha, playing mostly solo, so if they do find a way forward past the issues I'd be happy to see it. I'm in the minority who thought taking the lore of the old game and making this from it was neat, not least with how well realised it seemed to be (or at least the foundations for it). It's tough to call though. Destiny was my home game for a decade and was a constant. The news of D3 not even being in development following the closure of Final Shape was a kill shot for me though, I was so disappointed and to date struggle to get the hook in me again even when I really want to. Which sucks, and the whole thing left me with a massive question mark over "why" they thought they could run Destiny 2 – a game not designed to have run as long as it has – for the next saga, rather than building something from the ground up that's intended to last that long again.



So, all in all, would genuinely love to see it do well as I think there's a ton of potential there. I just don't have the same complete faith in Bungie that I did before. I'd be happy for that to be restored though. As it is I've thought several times about dropping the OT for it. When I took it after the short film I was pumped to create something for it and give my own take on that style. Everything since has punctured that and I'm really just waiting to see if the hype builds again or fizzles out completely. One thing's for sure, they better take all the time they need before they show it off again. They can't afford for that to be met with a collective 'meh'.

Massive amounts of copium

[Boredfrom]

FAFO

there are so many tactful ways to talk about this stuff without saying "yes children I wanted to put a bullet in my skull and let my life fluid splatter across all those who wronged me"

you could just say "sometimes I wondered if the world would be a better place without me in it" and leave it at that

or focus on yeah I was bullied that's why I'm here for you now

Still shitty that he got fired for that, unless the dude really sounded unhinged and didn’t realize it.