From the Editor's Desk

My dad taught me how to deal with bullies, because he was one

Bullying is a form of violence. It's intended to dominate a victim into submission. When we're under attack, our rational minds shut down, moving into their self-protective "fight-or-flight" modes. (We typically learn about this process in high school biology class, as I'd wind up discovering five years after passing the fourth grade, no thanks to my father.) When we can't fight or run away, we freeze or surrender. These are normal human responses to being in danger.

My dad was a bully. And experiences like learning my multiplication tables taught me a lot about bullying. His attacks drove away any possibility of remembering what four times anything was. It gave him absolute power over me. It still pains me to write this, to recall the deep well of absolute despair into which he'd plunge me. The whole exercise wasn't about learning; it was about him being "smarter" than I was, and proving it by emotional blunt force, shattering any hope of returning back into the world as a normal kid.

Continued here

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