Cyber-Bullied 12-Year-Old Girl's Suicide Is a Tragic Reminder

vrijdag 13 september 2013

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota
by Jacqueline Burt 9 hours ago

Heartbreaking news out of Florida: 12-year-old Rebecca Ann Sedwick committed suicide after being relentlessly bullied online by 15 girls, jumping to her death at a cement plant in her hometown of Lakeland.

As the mother of a 12-year-old girl, just imagining what this child's parents are going through makes me feel utterly ill -- her life had barely begun! But as a former 12-year-old girl, imagining what Rebecca went through makes me feel equally sick. Among the insults her bullies posted on the internet: "Go kill yourself" and "Why are you still alive?"

Just terrible. And here's the part that makes me want to spend 100% of my energy monitoring my daughter's presence online: Sedwick left a series of digital clues before her death. She messaged one friend saying "I'm jumping, I can't take it anymore," and changed her name on a messaging application to "That Dead Girl." 

If only someone had recognized the signs. Sadly, Sedwick isn't the only teen to leave such a trail in recent days ... 

Just weeks ago, on the first day of school in the town where I live (Greenwich, CT), high school sophomore Bart Palosz killed himself with his family's shotgun. In the days and weeks leading up to that tragic day, Palosz posted many suicidal thoughts on social media. Palosz, too, was bullied. 

The girls who drove Rebecca to suicide might be charged with felony cyber stalking, but of course that won't bring her back. We can only hope that other bullied kids are saved as a result of parents and friends hearing Rebecca's story.

If the words someone is using -- even online -- indicate they may be considering suicide, or if you yourself have wrestled with the idea, please reach out to a suicide hotline. There is ALWAYS someone there who wants to listen and who will take you seriously. You can call the Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255)

How do you think we can help bullied teens? 

Image via NatalieMaynor/Flickr

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Jacqueline Burt

has written for numerous magazines, newspapers, and websites. She is easily bored and often tired, so she requires constant entertainment to keep her awake. Dance, Monkey! Dance! 

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Country Musician Arrested for Disgusting Plans with 2 Young Girls Has Worst Excuse

zondag 8 september 2013

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por Kiri Blakeley hace 9 horas

Un músico del país ha sido condenado a 17 años de cárcel por organizar a tener relaciones sexuales con dos niñas, un niño de 7 años y un 9-year-old. ¿Qué jugador de banjo Abraham Spear no sabía era las niñas "la madre", quien hizo el grotesco "trato" con online--era en realidad un agente del FBI. Abraham, según informes, se reunió con la niñas "madre" en un restaurante en Dallas, esperando a ser capaz de conseguir juguetón con sus hijas. En cambio, tenía las esposas le pegó. Y no vas a creer la excusa que usó para intentar salir de problemas.

Lanza, ex miembro de la banda de pandilleros Twang, 30 años de edad había iniciado sesión en un sitio web y comenzó a comunicarse con alguien que le pareció la madre de dos niñas. Preguntó la mujer enviar las fotos de las chicas y a cambio, enviaron una foto de sí mismo en su ropa interior y se ofreció a ser el "maestro--niñas" y supongo que él no quiso decir enseñándoles cómo twang el banjo.

Luego al parecer dijo que quería "admirarlos y frotar sobre sus patas" y algunas otras sugerencias sexualmente explícitos. En lugar de encontrarlo horrible que la "mamá" de niñas estaría de acuerdo a esto, se las arregló para encontrarse con ella y los niños.

Tan pronto como llegó como el destino para el encuentro ilegal, fue arrestado.

Él presuntamente rompió en sollozos y dijo que "no en realidad iba a hacer nada." Ay chico. ¿Cuántas veces en tu vida te has esta excusa? Alguien está básicamente totalmente configurado para hacer algo inmoral o incorrecto y cuando, intenta reclamar era una broma, o una prueba, o que ellos no tenían planes para ir a través con él.

Sí, porque la policía llegó a él primera.

Lanza también al parecer admitió que tenía un "problema". Seguro que lo hace. Pero afortunadamente estas chicas no eran reales y su "problema" no se propagó a ellos. Ahora puede contemplar su "problema" en la cárcel.

¿Te sorprende su excusa?

Imagen a través del Departamento del Sheriff del Condado de Dallas

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Girls’ Chevron Shorties, Skirts & Bubble Rompers, Just $7.99—Hurry!

donderdag 5 september 2013

Girls’ Chevron Shorties, Skirts & Bubble Rompers, Just $7.99—Hurry!

Check out the Chevron Blowout Sale at Very Jane! Shop girls’ skirts, shorties and bubble rompers for just $7.99! Sizes available range from 0 to 12 years old. All items shown normally sell for $28.00–save 72%! Shipping is $3.49 for the first item and $0.99 for each additional item.

To get started, visit Very Jane and click on “Chevron BLOWOUT! Skirts, Shorties, & Bubble Rompers!” Shop now for the best selection! Once items sell out, they are gone!

Chevron Shorties, Skirt or Bubble Romper (reg $28.00) $7.99
Pay $7.99, plus $3.49 shipping
Final Price: $11.48

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Little Girl's Adorable Reaction to Skyping With Dad Is Priceless (VIDEO)

dinsdag 27 augustus 2013

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota
by Julie Ryan Evans 1 hour ago

There's cute, and then there's holy freaking adorable. This video of a toddler Skyping with her dad falls into the latter category. Her name is Yerin Park, and if Skype hasn't already contacted her to be their poster child, then they should.

She starts out with a telephone, trying to talk to her dad. She's not impressed at all, and gets bored with the whole thing after a few seconds. Then her mother puts her in front of a big screen TV with her dad on Skype, and her reaction is priceless. She giggles, squees, and runs back and forth with delight. 

The video was posted last year, but has just started to go viral. Watch and you'll see why people can't get enough of this little girl.

Even though her words are in Korean and I'm not sure exactly what she's saying, her joy is universally understandable. She sees her dad's face there and is simply overjoyed. It has to be all sorts of crazy for a toddler to see Elmo or her favorite cartoon character on the screen one moment and her dad talking to her from it the next. 

Though we grow immune to its novelty the longer it's around, it really is amazing how technology can help families keep in touch. From parents who travel to grandparents who live in other states, there are some incredible tools that can connect us. We may not get quite as excited about them as this girl, but it would be fun if we did.

Do you love this video? Do your kids use Skype or other technology with your children to keep in touch with relatives when they're away?

Image via YouTube

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Julie Ryan Evans

can be found writing from coffee houses wherever she may be. The quality of her days is largely influenced by the seat she nabs and whether a protein plate is available.

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High School Bans ‘Revealing’ Cheerleading Uniforms From Class But Makes Girls Wear Them to Games

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

Can we talk about high school sports uniforms for a second? Specifically the uniforms for teenage girls? A community in Florida is in a tizzy at the moment after the school banned cheerleaders from wearing their uniforms to class -- because they don't meet the dress code.

Turns out it's perfectly OK for the girls to shake their hind ends in the short skirts and sleeveless tops in front of fans at a Countryside High School football game, but the school has put the kibosh on actually letting them into class.

Are you thinking what I'm thinking?

If it ain't good enough for the classroom, why are you letting the kids wear it at a school function? More to the point, why is this the outfit you are providing?

For years I worked as a reporter on the sidelines of high school sporting events. The dichotomy between the uniforms for female athletes and male athletes was striking.

Girls' outfits were always form fitting, always revealing. Boys' outfits were sometimes form fitting (generally wrestling and cross country) but not always, and very rarely did they reveal much more than one would expect to see in a classroom.

Often as I set up my camera to take photos of teams, I would notice girls -- generally girls who weren't stick thin, although not necessarily obese by any means -- uncomfortably yanking down skimpy shorts to try to cover more thigh or trying to adjust impossibly short skirts.

It always bothered me, the photographer. Now it bothers me, the mom. My daughter is currently in youth soccer, where uniforms are unisex. Over-sized shorts and ballooning t-shirts are just the name of the game.

But my memory of my own awkwardness as a teenage girl, my discomfort with my body (and eventual plunge into the world of eating disorders), makes me fear the day she may decide to take on a high school sport and be forced to put her body on display because, well, she's a girl and that's how it works for female athletes in high school.

This is my own personal battle, I'll admit, but it dovetails with the case in Pinellas County, Florida quite well, doesn't it?

Here we have a school where the girls seem to be OK with their cheerleading uniforms, proud of them even. They want to wear them to class to show their school pride -- much as teen athletes do in many schools across the country. But the uniform isn't "appropriate," at least not according to this high school's dress code.

Hello, McFly!

Parents are calling for the school to give these girls a break on the dress code, but the answer seems to be the very opposite.

It isn't the dress code that's the problem. It's the uniform.

Do we really need cheerleading uniforms that can't pass muster with a basic school dress code? Do we really need to put girls who are already dealing with the myriad issues of puberty in outfits like this?

I recognize that athletic uniforms can only be so loose -- for safety's sake -- but if a skirt is so short that it isn't allowed in the classroom, then it is probably a little too revealing. And if it's a little too revealing, why are you forcing girls to wear it? What message are you sending those girls? And what about the girls you're keeping out of sports -- girls who could probably use a safe and positive means of weight control like exercise -- because of uniforms that are made only for the stick thin?

What do you make of this situation? Should teenage girls be wearing athletic uniforms that don't meet the dress code? Would you let YOUR daughter wear a uniform that she couldn't wear to class?

Image via Dunlap23/Flickr

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Anonymous Bully Threatens Little Girl's Life With Mangled Doll and Menacing Note (PHOTO)

dinsdag 20 augustus 2013

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AppId is over the quota
by Nicole Fabian-Weber 1 hour ago

An 11-year-old girl came home to find the throat of her Raggedy Ann doll slit, along with a note that read the following stuffed inside:

"Dear Bella
This is a warning that you should kill yourself before I do
p.s. my last name starts with a H.
Kill yourself!"

After making the disturbing discovery on her porch, Bella Mastracci immediately ran to her mother, Cami Amato, who, naturally, called the police. Since there are no fingerprints on the doll, no one has been named as a suspect just yet. But Amato believes that the harasser may be a boy her daughter had problems with in the past. "We followed up on the possible suspect that the mother believed [did it], and we didn't find any reason to believe that he was involved in the case, but we are still looking into everything," Powell Police Department spokesperson Megan Canavan said.

Bella, who only has a few more weeks until she has to go back to school, said that she's not going to let this god-awful note get her down. But she did have a message for whoever did it: "Stop bullying. Don't be mean. Don't bully anybody else, because it's hurting them."

Although Bella is looking on the bright side of things, I can't imagine her mother is. Although I by no means consider myself a "helicopter parent", I would be hovering over my child non-stop after something like this, until the person was found. There are way too many crazy people out there, and if, god forbid, anything ever happened, and I knew I could have prevented it, I would never be able to live with myself. This isn't something that ought to be taken lightly. Not in today's sick world. The note looks like it was written by a kid, but ... what if it wasn't?

Hopefully, the person who wrote this harassing note is found soon, and Bella and her family can go back to living in peace. And hopefully the person will heed Bella's message. Stop being mean. Stop being a bully.

What would you do if your child received a note like this?

Images via Powell Police Department

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‘Girls’ Season 3 Sneak Peak Reveals Skin and Lots of It ... Again! (VIDEO)

maandag 19 augustus 2013

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AppId is over the quota
by Ericka Sóuter 2 hours ago

Another season of HBO's Girls is coming up and you know what that means: whiny angst, boy troubles, and, of course, plenty of nudity. After so much criticism in the first two seasons, some may have wondered if creator/writer Lena Dunham might scale back on the skin. Not a chance. Take a look at the scantily clad cast in the new teaser trailer!

Dunham isn't shy about showing off her curvy figure in a very teeny blue bikini in these fun photos taken from the season 3 set. She's not alone. We also get a sexy glimpse of costars Allison Williams and Jemima Kirke. There are a few more plot surprises too.

It looks like her on-off beau Adam Driver is back and a tender moment suggest that things are definitely back on. There is no doubt this round of episodes will be filled with just as much drama as the first two - floating around from job to job, dealing with loser love interests, and clinging to college friendships that may not work anymore. It's a lot like real life -- which is all apart of the show's charm. For those in their 20s, it can be a cautionary tale. For those of us well out of that age group, it makes us grateful those days are long gone.

Will you watch the next season of Girls?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Ericka Sóuter

is a veteran pop culture and celeb news writer. That experience boils down to two things: she knows way too much about the Kardashians and she dominates on Trivial Pursuit's arts and entertainment questions.

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Kristen Stewart Gets Major 'Mean Girls' Diss From Lindsay Lohan -- Who Is She to Talk?

dinsdag 6 augustus 2013

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota
by Adriana Velez 14 hours ago

Okay, Lindsay Lohan. We get it. You've been to hell and back at least half a dozen times, which means you've earned your crown as the most cynical woman in Hollywood. But come on, picking on Kristen Stewart? Stepping directly from rehab to a guest-hosting gig on Chelsea Lately, LiLo threw some serious shade on KStew -- even though she claims she's a fan.

First she brought up Kristen's recent dustup with a photographer. "I'm just excited that Kristen Stewart, you know, finally showed some emotion." Oh ha ha, she went there. That joke is so stale, I made it months ago. But come on, KStew has been through a lot since then. She just got dumped by her boyfriend. I thought we all loved it when she attacked the paparazzi.

Lindsay backtracked a little and gave us the "no really I love her I'm such a fan" line, which is actually what comedians say to set up the next roasting: "I will say this, of course she hates photographers -- they got a picture of her kissing a married man in a Mini Cooper." Aw, you had to bring that up again! (Although nice touch there, mentioning the Mini Cooper as there's just something especially comical about that car. Oh wait -- whose side am I on, anyway?)

I don't know, does it make anyone else cringe to see Lindsay knocking other stars when they're already down? It almost seems too easy. I know it's been a rough year for Lindsay, too, and who can blame her for cracking a few insults. But still ... aren't there some bigger fish Lindsay could go after? Maybe not. Maybe she doesn't feel like she can afford to make fun of anyone too powerful at the moment. Well anyway, I'm sure the KStew haters will eat it all up.

Ooh, know what would be so tedious? A LiLo/KStew feud. Sing with me! Wanna be starting something, wanna be starting something.

Who else would you like to see Lindsay Lohan make fun of?

Click the "Like" button below if you're a fan of Kristen Stewart. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Adriana Velez

is a staff writer who dabbles in food, parenting, news, entertainment, molecular biology, and anything else that that pops into her head. She lives with her elementary school-aged son in Brooklyn, land of urban farms and artisan everything.  

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Kristen Stewart Gets Major 'Mean Girls' Diss From Lindsay Lohan -- Who Is She to Talk?

maandag 5 augustus 2013

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota
by Adriana Velez 5 hours ago

Okay, Lindsay Lohan. We get it. You've been to hell and back at least half a dozen times, which means you've earned your crown as the most cynical woman in Hollywood. But come on, picking on Kristen Stewart? Stepping directly from rehab to a guest-hosting gig on Chelsea Lately, LiLo threw some serious shade on KStew -- even though she claims she's a fan.

First she brought up Kristen's recent dustup with a photographer. "I'm just excited that Kristen Stewart, you know, finally showed some emotion." Oh ha ha, she went there. That joke is so stale, I made it months ago. But come on, KStew has been through a lot since then. She just got dumped by her boyfriend. I thought we all loved it when she attacked the paparazzi.

Lindsay backtracked a little and gave us the "no really I love her I'm such a fan" line, which is actually what comedians say to set up the next roasting: "I will say this, of course she hates photographers -- they got a picture of her kissing a married man in a Mini Cooper." Aw, you had to bring that up again! (Although nice touch there, mentioning the Mini Cooper as there's just something especially comical about that car. Oh wait -- whose side am I on, anyway?)

I don't know, does it make anyone else cringe to see Lindsay knocking other stars when they're already down? It almost seems too easy. I know it's been a rough year for Lindsay, too, and who can blame her for cracking a few insults. But still ... aren't there some bigger fish Lindsay could go after? Maybe not. Maybe she doesn't feel like she can afford to make fun of anyone too powerful at the moment. Well anyway, I'm sure the KStew haters will eat it all up.

Ooh, know what would be so tedious? A LiLo/KStew feud. Sing with me! Wanna be starting something, wanna be starting something.

Who else would you like to see Lindsay Lohan make fun of?

Click the "Like" button below if you're a fan of Kristen Stewart. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Adriana Velez

is a staff writer who dabbles in food, parenting, news, entertainment, molecular biology, and anything else that that pops into her head. She lives with her elementary school-aged son in Brooklyn, land of urban farms and artisan everything.  

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8-Year-Old Girl's Dad Busted for Singing Happy Birthday to Her

vrijdag 19 juli 2013

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AppId is over the quota
by Julie Ryan Evans 14 hours ago

It was supposed to be a day of happiness and joy for Cara Doherty who was celebrating her 8th birthday. Then before she could even blow out her candles, it turned into a big old mess that ended up with police being called. All because her dad sang "Happy Birthday" to her.

It happened in London at a place called Clown Town. It's a kids' play place that sounds kind of a like our Chuck E. Cheese or something. According to Barnet and Whetsone Press, the problem was that her parents didn't buy the $450 birthday package. They had reportedly tried to get one previously but were told no more were available. So they showed up anyway with six parents and 18 kids, and since the place was virtually empty, they thought they were okay. 

A waitress told them that since they didn't have the package they couldn't have a cake there nor could they sing "Happy Birthday." But who is going to seriously believe that's actually a rule anyone would enforce?

Not Cara's dad, Colm Doherty.

He told the paper:

I thought this was ridiculous and we did have our cake and lit candles, and when this lady came striding over I went up to her and told her not to disrupt my daughter’s party and blocked her way. I understand she phoned the police afterwards.

Seriously. Clown Town refutes Doherty's account saying, "the female member of staff who spoke to Mr Doherty  felt threatened by his intimidating behaviour during the incident." Clown Town manager Ian Slazenger told the paper:

Had he been honest about the fact that he intended to bring his own food into the play area when he arrived that day, and had he chosen not to ignore our reasonable request not to do so, there would have been no need for our employees to become involved.

Well first off, it's not a reasonable request. Not letting someone bring in an outside cake is one thing, though it's pretty low. But trying to stop someone from singing "Happy Birthday" or any song really is just all sorts of wrong. And it should be noted that the Doherty's had already spent about $400 on food, drinks, and entry for the party guests. So it's not like they were just there to have cake and nothing else.

Fortunately, no charges were filed, but still what a power trip move by Clown Town. While Doherty clearly disobeyed the rules, you'd think a kid-friendly place like Clown Town could have done something a lot less disruptive than calling the police. It was only cake, and this was an 8-year-old's birthday at stake.

Do you think it was wrong for this play place to call the cops on this dad?

Image via Shardayyy/Flickr

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Julie Ryan Evans

can be found writing from coffee houses wherever she may be. The quality of her days is largely influenced by the seat she nabs and whether a protein plate is available.

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