Girls, The Clementis Are At It Again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And a good thing they are, darlings!!!!!!!!!!!

Yesterday, Rutgers University held a Social Media discussion, complete with panel, audience, and two very special guests, Mr and Mrs. Joseph Clementi of Ridgewood, New Jersey, whose son, Tyler died tragically last year, the result of incidents accruing at the University in his early days, which led him to take that suicidal leap off the GWB.

You have to hand it to the Clementis for going back there; the first time they have been, since. Which means, I guess, that whatever Tyler left behind in his dorm room was sent to them.

Over the radio, I heard Mr. Clementi proclaiming, "We are the proud parents of Tyler Clementi!" Good for you! The ovational applause was thunderous, if blunted only by the absence of Tyler himself.

The timing of this is interesting. The court case is still pending, with a trial expected in February of 2012. Steven Altman and his scuzzy defense team now want to get their hands on Tyler's computer, using every letter on it to justify an agenda that his death was inevitable, anyway. I take issue with that; it is something that never can be known. What is known is there was exacerbating tension between Tyler and Ravi almost from the start, that it came from Ravi who had more issues with Tyler, than Tyler with he, and which led to the online streaming of a sexual intimacy between Tyler and the mysterious, but I am telling you, soon to be outed (at his disfavor), gentleman, still known as only "M.B.", and Tyler's suicide just days later. And you want to try and convince us that there is no connection between all this and Tyler's death????? Apparently, Altman must think a peer of jurors could be fooled, or bought, or bound by homophobia. The last is a concern of mine; one of those on the jury could tank things, but good!!!!!!!!!

Bur for right now, the Clementis are slowly and quietly coming forward, as I knew they would, speaking out, and establishing the Tyler Clementi Foundation, to see such things do not happen to other parents and their children.

Girls, I say this on behalf of myself and you--I hope the Foundation establishes a website, where contact can be made, not only for those who need help, but those who might wish to help, from stuffing envelopes, to manning phones, to even just sending $5 in the mail!!!!!!!!! I will keep you posted on this, darlings!!!!!!!!!!

As I said, the timing could not be more apt in terms of the discussion yesterday of the "Martin/Barton Pincus" story in the "J.Edgar" film, which proved such things have been happening long before this. The Clementis' appearance at Rutgers comes sandwiched between the movie scene and, just heard this morning, darlings, the recent, tragic, suicidal death of 10 year old Ashlynn Conner of Ridge Farm, Illinois!!!!!!!!!!

Ashlynn hanged herself in her room at home, using a scarf as a noose. She had for a time been bullied by children at school and in her neighborhood, who, according to sources, called her "fat" and "a slut"!!!!!! Honey, you have GOT to be kidding!!!! From the pics I have seen of Ashlynn, nothing suggests obesity, and as for being a slut--ten is far too early!!!!!! Not even I, darlings!!!!!!

I see nothing more in these pics than a sweet, innocent child who wanted to be received by her world at large, which in childhood is pretty much your school and neighborhood. Apparently, things had gotten to a point where she came home in tears, relating how the same trio of girls had been tormenting her every day, and requesting that she could be home schooled.

Let me step back and say something personal here, for, during my horrific school years, from 1967 to 1973 (with eighth grade being especially the worst) I begged, argued, pleaded with my parents to send me somewhere else. They did not listen, but fortunately, I had some coping mechanisms--books, literature, an inner bitch, and a small, but supportive group of friends--that got me through it all without so much as an attempt on my life. Whatever mechanisms Ashlynn had at hand, they weren't enough to stay hers.

Should Ashlynn have been home schooled??? Yes, and no. Home schooling can only work if the instructor in question is qualified, and as educated as some parents are, very few have the groundings in educational training to get their kids through these school years adequately. Hiring qualified teachers who can is one option, but this puts the financial honus on the parents, who need to save for college and beyond.

What I think needs to happen is that the definition of "Special Education" needs to be expanded beyond what it was in my day, which was that it was for "retards." Yes, the neurologically and cognitively impaired do need their own classes, but so do kids who are, in ways that can be defined early, cut off from others, by social, sexual or other differences that set them apart from a mainstream that peers and teachers go out of their way to court, and God forbid you should not fit it!!!!!!! By discriminating against such kids, as I was back then, you deprive the development of a resource who could eventually turn out to have more value than his or her so-called mainstream peers. So kids like Ashlynn should be put in classes with others like themselves, where individuality is fostered, and persecution is frowned upon.

I know what will be said--it takes money!!!!!! Well, duh, yeah!!!!! But isn't the extra value of this kind of specialized education that can save these kids from harm and turn them into productive individuals worth more than these tragic deaths that keep mounting?????? Educators need to stop thinking of fitting every peg into the same hole; it is clearly NOT working. Which is why I don't blame Ashlynn's mother a bit; she was probably weighing options and concerns; she probably grasped that she was not qualified to home school and may have been economically strapped to afford a private tutor. Had Ashlynn waited, I bet some investigation might have led to some options.

Not only do we have another suicidal statistic, but the ages are getting disturbingly younger!!!!!!! Thank God for the Clementis, and what they are doing, and thank Tyler and all the supporters out there for never forgetting.

You can't change the culture. But there are ways to create environments that are safe, for every child, regardless of how specialized their needs. If these needs are ignored, the exacting price of tragedy and grief will become higher than it already is.

Wake up, you Asshole Administrators!!!!!!!!! Or else the Raving Queen will say, "Off with your heads!!!!!!!!!!!!"