Essays/August 2026
The cartoon bully is a lie
Textbook definitions keep selling a kid, a lunchroom, a shove. Real bullying is more boring — and more durable — than that.
The evening news loves a cartoon: a mean kid, a backpack, a shove on the stairs. Parents recognize that picture. Teachers can write it up. Then everyone goes home thinking the problem has a face and a detention slip.
The bullying that lasts is quieter. A joke that is not a joke. A meeting where one person is never allowed to finish a sentence. A group chat that turns a kid into a punchline. Policy that protects the person with the title. You have already seen it. You may have left a room smaller than you walked in.
Bullies Among Us treats that as a challenge, not a slogan. A challenge asks something of you: name it, keep a record, get an ally, refuse the cartoon. I wrote it short on purpose. You can finish it on a Sunday and still have a plan for Monday.
If you run a school or a shop floor and you want the longer version in a room of people, that is the speaking work. The book is the thing you can put in a backpack tonight.