Shane Koyzcan's To This Day

Society judges those who are different both physically and mentally and those that don’t fit in with the social norm but it is up to the individuals to look past that and rise against their judgement. Shane Koyczan’s ‘To This Day’, is a poem about those who have been bullied throughout their lives and its long term impact it leaves. The poem tells multiple stories of the victims of bullying due to their physical appearance or their mental state. The poem begins with a personal adecdote talking about how he earned his first nickname. The anecdote is used to allow the readers of the poem to relate as it doesn’t rely on the abstract logic as the anecdote provides proof. He tells his story about how he used to love pork chops, and didn’t know the difference between pork chops and karate chops, until he was called pork

Bullying is very common in most schools in the United States Around three million United States students miss class every month just because of bullying. When Alex Libby shared his story he gave a voice to millions of children who suffer from bullying, because he shared his story it changed the way most people think of the effects of bullying. An example of bullying is there was a girl named Kelby Johnson who was mocked by teachers and students because she was a lesbian, she had to stop playing basketball because her ignorant teammates didn’t want to be near her. Alex Libby is one of the 13 million school children in the United States that is being bullied. Alex’s mom said “ Kid’s back in the day, could go home and be safe you can’t do that a lot now, now you can get bullied online.”

Bullying is an epidemic right now. We area inundated with it. Some instances it seems that bullying is culturally appropriate. We see it everywhere. It is in the business world, Hollywood, schools, over the internet and on the playgrounds, to name a few. Bullying happens to people of all ages. The most heard about is in childhood and adolescence. Bullying comes in different forms. Physical bullying, such as hitting, pinching, shoving or kicking. Verbal bullying such as taunting, teasing or name-calling. Relational bullying is causing damage to someone’s social status or relationships. Lastly, Cyber bullying is the use of electronic communications to send threatening messages. Getting called a name once is not bullying however, to repeatedly

Have you ever been a target of an individual’s cruelty and hatred? It does not necessarily have to be physical, but more like being verbally degraded or publicly humiliated. The effects bullying can have on its victims is something that may last throughout their lives, or something that may end their life(Braithwaite, Hyde, Pope, 2010).We all are well aware of childhood bullying but as evidence shows bullying does not stop on the

Mattie Ross; a cunning, inventive fourteen year old stars as the protagonist in the movie True Grit, and proves that she’s worthy of being deemed a “hero” by following the classic, heroic archetype. Mattie Ross begins her journey with a Call to Action; the defining moment that will change her life forever. For our protagonist Mattie Ross, this call comes when her father is murdered by Tom Chaney, a man known by many names and by many crimes. In hopes of avenging her father’s death, Mattie sets out to murder Chaney with her own two hands, because “you must pay for everything in this world, one way or another. There is nothing free except the grace of God.”

'A person is being bullied when he or she is exposed, repeatedly and over time, to

Poetry is a form of an impactful and influential style of literature, purposely emphasizing and expressing an author’s voice and message. After experiencing firsthand bullying and witnessing others being bullied, Shane Koyczan has become a forceful advocate in spreading awareness about bullying. He writes emotion evoking poems that he will produce on stage or in videos in which he includes a visual background and music. Vancouver’s Olympics included a performance of one of Shane Koyczan’s famous poems that moved the world watching the opening ceremonies. Two of Shane’s most stunning poems are “To This Day” and “Troll.” “To This Day” was published February 19, 2013 as an introduction to his new anti-bullying project in hope that the, “message (will) have a far reaching and long lasting effect in confronting bullying” (2013). The later poem, “Troll,” was published September 14, 2014 as another poem to confront bullying. Both poems are brilliant and full of heart grabbing moments that spread an understanding of bullying and why it should be stopped. There are also many differences between the poems that make each unforgettable. Shane Koyczan is passionate about spreading awareness to stop bullying and he uses his talent of creating powerful poetry to make his message impactful and memorable.

The video “To This Day” by Shane Koyczan based on the poem of which shares the same name, reveals the permanence of the emotional damage bullying causes to the victim. In addition, two interviews with this poet reveal his personal experiences with bullying. To begin with, Koyczan has had a lot of experience of bullying, and the poem shows that a small accident can lead to something that could be life changing. Koyczan reveals in his poem/video that he had fallen out of a tree at home, giving him bruises; and it ended with him being taken away from home for 3 days, the story going through the school, and his fellow classmates gave him the nickname around the story: “porkchop”. Because of that, he believed that he didn’t have a childhood; that his childhood was too sad and dark for him to call it a “childhood”. Also in an article Koyczan reveals that he became a bully himself at the ages of 14 to 15, because he saw a chance to reinvent himself. He also says in the poem that he wasn’t the only one to be bullied, that some classmates were bullied as well. His reason of making this poem being to say the bullies are wrong, and to share his story (and to possibly reach out to those who relate).

In the poem based on his own true life events, Shane Koyczan writes "To This Day". The poem shares his life experiences through poetry. To give a summary, the young boy is continually getting bullied in school. Within the poem, symbolism of the army tank resembles an enemy at war. To add, another symbol in the story is spit balls which represent bullets. These symbols are used to show the relationship between bullies and victims. The tank represents an enemy at war because the tank is large and out of place in the school halls. These out of place characteristics are what make the army tank an enemy. The other symbol of bullets represents the spit balls. The bullets are “shot” toward the enemy, or the victim. At school it is not safe for him

When children are pushed to commit foolish activities or suicide because of bullies, one can tell there is something wrong with the way situations are being handled in our society. The documentary, Bully, presents countless examples of the effects of bullying and how poorly circumstances are managed. Through instances resulting in juvenile detention or taking one’s own life, the documentary displays various ways kids deal with torment. As we follow the lives of five different youths suffering at the hands of their peers, we see just how much these kids go through with little to no support.

Many kids all around the world are abused by their parents, peers or even by complete strangers. One of these types of abuse is bullying. At a first glance, we might think that it is an older kid beating/teasing a younger classmate however; bullying consists of much more than this. The basic definition of bullying is when your behavior hurts or harms another person physically or emotionally. There are many different types of bullying, which may lead to a victim becoming violent later on. There is teasing and name calling, there is also picking and shoving the kid. However, the most extreme one would be beating up the child, hurting them physically and mainly, emotionally.

Bullies might not always be aware of the severe consequences of their actions but this cannot condone the sorrow and pain they inflict upon the victims. Bullying often evokes psychosomatic illnesses. Victims complain about headache, heart diseases, dizziness, nausea and sleep disorder. Bullying becomes the dominating part of their whole life; they cannot do anything without thinking of the horror of the next workday. Weakened as they are, victims become an even easier target for people who want to harm them. It is a vicious circle, hard to break out for those terrorized by bullying. Many of them think of committing suicide as the last way out.

Bullies in School Kathleen Berger 1 Bullying was once commonly thought to be an unpleasant but normal part of child's play, not to be encouraged, of course, but of little consequence in the long run. However, developmental researchers who have looked closely at the society of children consider bullying to be a very serious problem, one that harms both the victim and the aggressor, sometimes continuing to cause suffering years after the child has grown up. 2 One leading researcher in this area is Dan Olweus, who has studied bullying in his native country of Norway and elsewhere for twenty-five years. The cruelty, pain, and suffering that he has documented in that time are typified by the examples of Linda and Henry: Linda was systematically

When I was kid my friend called names towards my other friends, but I didn’t do anything because I thought they were joking. But then, things got worse. They kept doing it, until it become violent action. And then now when I grow up, I realize that those action is bullying. And I’m sure that most of you experiencing the same thing as me at least once, because this is really common in our society. Badriyah Fayumi, education chief for the National Child Protection Commission (KPAI), pretty much summed it up by saying, “Violence is still considered normal in many parts of society.” It’s a proof that the knowledge and comprehension about bullying is really low in our societies. That’s why first, we’re going to talk about the causes of bullying, and then

Thesis: Bullying in its many forms affects all people no matter age, gender, and class, but the effects can be very dangerous and very hurtful.