Hello.

It just occurred to me that I should post links to my newsletters on this, my Shield Yourself site. Several articles are related to the shielding yourself theme, and my next one in late October most definitely will.

During the next two weeks, Alia Issa will prove that being bullied as a disabled child did not stop her from succeeding in her goal to become an athlete. She has arrived in Tokyo to compete in the Paralympics.

Although this is one of my flash fiction stories, it’s actually on the theme of neglect. The speaker in the story is not me, but it is voice of many, deserted by parents: the hurt that such treatment causes even years later.

If you're reading this, it's likely you're doing so because of childhood scars and because you were intrigued by the title.

I have scars too, and some of them are from experiences in both schoolyards and classrooms:

I was born in England. I grew up there, and as a child I heard many accounts of wartime Britain: severe rationing and air raids by the German Luftwaffe come to mind.

However, one thing I never heard about until more recently, due to decades-long censorship of the event, was the time in 1943 when White American soldiers stationed in the English town of Bamber Bridge attempted to force the locals to adopt the racial segregation common in the US. They soon found out the Brits were not going to stand for that.

Are you a parent with a child being bullied by others in school or in the neighbourhood? Or are you a teacher trying to curb cliques of mean kids? You see the hurt expression in the face of the young target of these bullies and you want to help.

It occurred to me recently that although bullying is universal, most of us never hear about it happening in, say, the Amazonian regions of South America. I wondered why that was. Here's what I discovered.

This week I searched online for teenage bullying issues. I wanted to think about another blog post, and came across a lot of

To me, bullying is present in many forms. This memorable song by Demi Lovato addresses the kind that has taken hold in Washington, inflicted by

Aye, she’s just a slut anyway.

I had the privilege of learning what defined a slut at the ripe old age of 12. Having just begun at an all-girls’ grammar school, the off-curriculum learning felt like a rite of passage, a golden gateway into womanhood.

Seven bullets from a police officer's gun

Australians are having problems, but not just with my website’s theme of bullying. It's COVID and lockdown issues that are causing depression, anxiety and stress.

I'm roaming around in my head, today.

That’s because I just watched a fascinating short documentary. It’s about an artistic

There are expectations about how to behave, what to wear,

Recently, a young woman in Vancouver was walking her dog. She was punched in the face and head and knocked to the ground by a tall, stocky man who hurled insults that included telling her she didn't belong in Canada and

Shane Koyczan is one of three co-founders of Vancouver's spoken word, "talk rock" trio, Tons of Fun University (T.O.F.U.).

Harry and Meghan, formerly working royals, recently announced they were quitting

Many of us have been the victims of gossip. When a previously friendly co-worker, school friend or neighbour suddenly starts treating us differently,

David Munroe learned violence from his parents. His father