What is Bully?

The Bully Project film Bully is documentary by Lee Hirsch that follows the stories of five young individuals who experience verbal and physical abuse at their schools and from their peers. Their stories tell of the cruel persecution most children face growing up. These are personal tales of bullying endured and how these five kids endured all, how it affected their lives and families, and what is being done against this cruelty.

Bully movie poster

Bully has been given an R rating by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) due to certain language used in the film, language which I may add that are spoken by children. Of course when filming a documentary about bullying it’s inevitable that language like that will be recorded. The reality is that kids nowadays know profanity and are not shy to use it against their peers.

There has been an appeal for MPAA to repeal the documentary’s current rating as it limits the audience it can reach, most especially the ones that I think needs to see it the most, the younger demographic of the viewing audience. So far, the MPAA has remains staunch in their decision to keep the R rating in lieu of the desired PG-13 rating the film producers are after.

With its R rating, the film becomes limited from what it was meant to do: serve as a call to action against student persecution at the very schools parents thought their children will be safe in, as well as opening society’s eyes to the gravity of school yard bullying among kids and what students can be capable of doing to fellow schoolmates and to themselves. The documentary, for whatever rating it may have, is meant to educate.

Bully opened in select theatres on the 30^th of March this year in the USA. Petitions are still going on to lower its current rating, an effort to help spread the message of The Bully Project.

Read more on Bully and The Bully Project:

The Bully Project website

The Weinstein Co. Appealing R Rating Given to 'Bully' for Language

Bully Documentary Loses Rating Appeal

Quiet

A Moment.

Noiseless.

Peaceful.

Brief.

So begins the buzzing,

followed by bustling,

Escalating.

Deafening.

Maddening.

I beg the Silence.

I beg the Indifference.

Quiet...

Quiet...

Quiet...

Quiet.

Panicked Thought #1

An eventful car ride (at least for me) as colleagues and I had lunch out of the office. It is definitive that I was on the car roof handles like hot glue for the duration of the trip from and to the office. I feared, people. I feared. 

Monologue #1

14 February 2012

As 2012 begins, I remember 2011. All the happy and all the crap, too.

The New Year…

From my little spot in the universe, it currently sounds like World War 3 but that’s just the fireworks, the pot-banging, and the home-made canons from the outside. Right now I would say that people all over the country are making merry, stuffing themselves and getting happily drunk. Our household, however, is pretty mellow. No big celebration, really. Just us together as a family, welcoming the New Year with prayer, though I mostly joined in to indulge the parents. What is important is that we are together as 2012 came and that’s all that matters.

As 2012 is a chapter in my life that has yet to be fully written, I’m taking this time to remember 2011. It’s highs and lows. The exemplary and the mundane.

2011 was the year I graduated, and I proudly say that graduated on time. However 2011 was also the year I realized that I may have chosen wrong for my collegiate career. I was an IT student and hating it. But also came the realization that I was not limited by what I chose to pursue in college, that I could make something different of myself, college be damned. And so I did. I stuck through the last months of college life and I came out determined to make the most of what I’ve experienced in the four years I was under my alma mater’s wing.

2011 was the year I let go of someone I should’ve long ago. In the end, you have to love yourself enough to know what’s best for you. I came out a little bit stronger and a little more wary of love. Yeah. 2011 was the year I said fuck off to him.

2011 was the year I took the 2009 Bar Exam. This was our Politics and Governance class. 6 hours of hell. Our professor’s way of fucking with us. My brain was just mush by the end of it all. Fuck that.

2011 was the year l lost a friend. He didn’t die. The friendship was just unmendable. Period.

2011 was the year that almost saw the end of a friendship. Almost. Thank God it didn’t.

2011 was the year I got back to writing. Actually writing creatively. You could say that 2011 was the year the inspiration came back.

2011 was the year I landed my first job. Granted I didn’t give much of an effort in job-hunting. The whole thing was sort of handed to me. One call and I started the very next day. But my job now has opened a door I want to pursue; a career I believe I can make something of myself. I’ll have to work hard but you always do when you want something bad enough.


2011 was the year I became obsessed with tea. And tea related stuff. Like having a teapot. Like having the right teapot for me. I still haven't found that teapot. 

2011 was the year I turned 21. I became a legal bitch. Can you see my shit-eating grin?


2011 was the year I got Farrelly, my camera. My constant companion in time-freezing the events of my life.

2011 was the year I came to understand my sexuality. :]

And finally…

2011 was the year I started The Purple Madhouse. Going strong with blogging. The Purple Madhouse has given me a creative outlet that I value so much. More to come for 2012. :]

Happy 2012