Fox New Article

Article from Fox News.
Female Teen Bullies Record Beating of 12-Year-Old Girl, Post on InternetMonday, January 15, 2007

NEW YORK — One 12-year-old girl in New York was verbally and physically attacked by a group of older girls, then was forced to endure the humiliation again after her assailants posted their attack on the Web.

The assault happened in North Babylon, Long Island, on Dec. 18. The attackers were three 14-year-old ninth graders at North Babylon High School. Some told FOX News the victim somehow disrespected her assailants, while others say she was picked at random.

Beaten in front of a neighborhood elementary school, the victim was verbally assaulted, her hair was pulled and she was repeatedly slapped and kicked in the head and body before the young gang ran away laughing. The kids were caught after school administrators learned other students were watching the video on the Internet.
"There's a lot of fights that people just tape now and then they'll stick it on YouTube or MySpace," one female student told FOX News. "It doesn't happen really in school, it happens like a lot, like somewhere else, and they just tape it and put it on the Web site."

In this case, the three assailants were suspended. The school district wouldn't give any more information because of the girls' ages.
Suffolk County police told FOX they were called after the video was discovered, and that they interviewed everyone involved. But the victim's parents didn't want to press charges and the girl had no lasting injuries, so the case was dropped.
But child psychologists warn it can be extremely difficult to recover emotionally from events like this.

"Can you imagine what it must be like for someone to actually see themselves being beaten in that way? To actually seeing those images?" asked clinical psychologist Jeff Gardere. "So you're outside of your body watching this happen. I think it makes it doubly or triply worse."

MySpace and Blogging

It amazes me the personal information that people put on the web. When I first started blogging in 2005 I was very careful not to post pictures or use descriptive language about where I live and work. I loosened up on the pictures, but I still don’t post my address or phone number. I also don’t post personal information about myself, family or friends.
I visit other Blogs and MySpace profiles and I can not believe the information that people share.

MySpace is especially surprising to me. There is a hide function on MySpace that allows only “friends” to view your site. Yet very few people use it. The police and other government agencies must have a field day with all of the stupid people who vocalize drug use and underage drinking. I am not advocating either; however I find it amazing when a 17 year old posts explicit pictures and tells the date and location of a party where there will be no parents and she and her friends will be there getting drunk and high.

What a world we live in.

The Importance of New Year’s Resolutions.

I have in the past made very broad New Year’s Resolutions. Resolutions like at the end of the year to be sad that the year is gone or to stop procrastinating, pretty lame and pretty common. If I were to throw in get in shape and make more money, I would cover most of America’s New Year’s Resolutions.

This year I wanted my resolutions to make a difference, to inspire action. It’s important to have goals that are attainable, defined and measurable. It is easy to let the small things pass by without taking action. Goals keep us grounded and serve as an anchor to what is important.

Best Books of 2006

These are my favorite fiction and non-fiction books from last year. I read a lot of books that were not very good, so it was easy to hit the high spots.

What Would Jackie Do, Shelly Branch
The beauty myth: how images of beauty are used against women, Naomi Wolf
Essentially Lilly: a guide to colorful entertaining, Lilly Pulitzer
Mama Gena's School of Woman of Womanly Arts, Regena Thomashauer
Eat mangoes naked: finding pleasure everywhere and dancing with the pits!, Sark
Japanese Women Don't Get Fat, Naomi Moriyama
Slander: Liberal Lies, Anne Coulter
Memoirs of a geisha: a novel, Arthur Golden – Beautiful book, bad movie
How Clean is Your House, Kim Woodburn
Citizen Girl, Emma McLaughlin
Sky Burial, Xinran
Night, Elie Wiesel
Gap Creek, Robert Morgan
Talk before sleep, Elizabeth Berg
First they Killed My Father, Loung Ung
The Constant Princess, Philippa Gregory
The Little House, Philippa Gregory
When Broken Glass Floats, Chanrithy Him
Queenmaker, India Edghill
Harley Brown's eternal truths for every artist, Harley Brown
Slammerkin, Emma Donoghue
Push not the river, James Conroyd

Books on CD
Talking Back, Andrea Mitchell
Burnt toast, Teri Hatcher
When Madeline was young, Jane Hamilton

New Blog

So I have taken some time off.

My old blog was uninspiring at best. I had a lot to say, but every time I opened it to write my enthusiasm was squashed by the bland color and flat graphics.

So I was on a mission.... a two and a half week mission. I found a new template and made some minor adjustments.

Cookie Exchange

The cookie exchange was last weekend. We had a great time, lots of people and lots of food. Unfortunately... again.... I forgot to take my camera out until the end.


Grandma Karen and me.

Jordan and Topher

Update

It's been awhile so I thought a picture update was the best way to sum up the last few weeks.




Bowling



Setting the Thanksgiving table

Carving the turkey

Ultimate Frisbee


An afternoon with the "kids"