confronting bullies
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How does this work? Each newsletter you’ll see one reader’s answer to the previous question. Then you’ll see the question they have for the list, which you can respond to if you’d like. Or you can just read and enjoy.
Previous ask:
What advice did you receive as a child that you would never pass along to your own child?
Michelle answers:
I got the classic advice to "Just ignore bullies, and they'll leave you alone." That's like telling someone to ignore a leaking faucet and it'll fix itself. I think we’ve all seen, in our lives and throughout our culture and politics, that bullies often just ramp up their behavior when they don't get a reaction. I'd tell my kid something different, like, "Let's talk about what's going on, maybe try to figure out a strategy together." I am still not a very confrontational person, and I don’t think you need to go full-on confrontational, but I think that there are lots of ways to call a bully out on their bullshit.
Michelle asks:
What would you do if you were the only person in the world for one day?
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Odds & Ends
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The epic tale of the quest to crack Tetris. I had no idea we were in the midst of a Tetris space race, and this video is brilliantly made.
Man, people were really digging this episode about parachuting beavers we did on This Day!