The Youth Performance Company of Minneapolis created and presented the play MEAN October 5 - 23.Josh Pavek, a high school junior and a member of the ensemble, is my neighbor, Lynne's, grandson. Josh has been coming from East Bethel to University Avenue in Minneapolis to practice and act in this play about bullying since August. That is what I call commitment!
We attended the final performance of MEAN Sunday, October 23. This musical powerfully tells the stories of youth being bullied because they are Muslim, defined as overweight or not pretty or too slow or they are assumed to be gay.
It also shows how difficult it often is to really see bulling when it is done in the bathroom or the hall when no one but the bully and the bullied are present and then it shows it occuring with bystanders seeing and staying silent or cheering on the bully. Examples of bullying by cell phone and facebook are also portrayed.
Ruben Rosario, Columnist, Pioneer Press covered MEAN in his October 5 column Minnesota group takes on bullying. He writes, "Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me. The old saying needs some reframing in this age. Verbal and online bullying, can linger far longer than fractures or black eyes."
MEAN is an amazing musical with very talented youth singers/actors and adult actors conveying the heart rending message of the bullied, the bully, the ones who stand by silently and the ones to say strongly "you don't have to take this." MEAN ends by members of the cast announcing the statistics that approximately 25 % of youth are bullied, 25% are bullies and a great many of the rest of us are silent observers. The conclusion urges all of us to STAND UP and put an end to bullying!
Posted by: Ginger K. Hedstrom, Justice Associate
