Bully Blog

Palm Springs Nonprofit Organization Boo2Bullying Announces Collaboration with The Reunion Films and Indie Filmmaker Dave Rosenberg

To further Anti-bullying Mission

(Los Angeles, CA - April 7, 2022) Palm Springs-based nonprofit Boo2Bullying announces that they are collaborating with The Reunion Films and Los Angeles-based actor/filmmaker/producer Dave Rosenberg to further their mission of eradicating bullying, intolerance and discrimination in local schools and communities. Rosenberg suffered from bullying as a teenager, a trauma that haunted him through adulthood and inspired him to create the film, The Reunion, which premiered in LA earlier this year. Boo2Bullying and Rosenberg are joining forces to work with students in schools to educate them on how to recognize, prevent and stamp out all forms of bullying.

Boo2Bullying, started in 2011 by CEO/Founder Dimitri Halkidis, has been providing services in the Palm Springs and Los Angeles areas for children and parents to learn about ways to handle all forms of bullying, including intolerance, discrimination, alienation and violence. The organization frequently provides Ambassadors to speak about bullying at school assemblies, provides tools for children to interact in positive ways through effective communication or the arts, as well as support groups for mothers and mentoring for victims of bullying.

Halkidis says, “Boo2Bullying is proud to support the Anti-Bullying film, The Reunion and its message on the effects bullying can have throughout the different stages of one’s life. One single moment of hate or assault can haunt us for decades. It’s important to show our youth the aftermath bullying can cause and to teach them the proper tools to combat hate and intolerance and to choose kindness above all.”

Halkidis continues, “Our mission at Boo2Bullying is to empower our youth and start conversations to help end bullying and the negative, spiraling domino effect that comes with it. Suicide and mental health conditions are often tied to bullying. That being said, it is crucial that we educate our youth on the truth behind what bullying can result in and ultimately save lives while doing so.”

Rosenberg, who also teaches middle school in Los Angeles, saw the potential in his collaborating with B2B to help young people. “To me, this is a movie about healing childhood trauma. One of my visions with The Reunion was to link up with an anti-bullying organization, so that we could work with them to make some real-world changes and help prevent and/or heal kids that are dealing with trauma and/or bullying. I was excited when I was introduced to Dmitri Halkidis and Boo2Bullying, and I’m very much looking forward to this collaboration.”

As part of their collaboration, B2B and Rosenberg will cross-promote the nonprofit and the film, The Reunion, on social media and their websites. Rosenberg will speak as an Ambassador at upcoming school events to share his story of being bullied as a youth. B2B is also planning on a public screening of The Reunion in Palm Springs followed by a talk on anti-bullying.

For more information:

https://boo2bullying.org/

https://www.thereunionfilm.com/

More about Boo2Bullying

The mission of Boo2Bullying is to eradicate bullying, intolerance and discrimination by educating kids, schools and parents about accepting diversity and giving young people the tools to connect with and positively impact those around them.

More about Dave Rosenberg

Born in Brooklyn, Dave studied acting at HB Studio for seven years with Rose Arrick and Austin Pendleton. He founded Cyclone Theater Productions, producing Say Goodnight, Gracie and Hearts Beating Faster. Dave has appeared in films such as A Beautiful Mind, Made in Manhattan and Overnight Sensation and plays such as The American Clock (directed by Austin Pendleton), War in Paramus (by Barbara Dana) and The Chekhov Cycle (with Olympia Dukakis). He is also the recipient of the “Greatest New Comedian” at Broadway Comedy Club in New York City. Dave is the writer and co-creator of The Reunion.

More about The Reunion

At the encouragement of friends, Rosenberg wrote the screenplay for The Reunion, based on his own traumatic childhood experience. Rosenberg produced the film and also played the main character, Ricky Reilly, who decides to face his nemesis at his high school reunion. The film stars Dave Rosenberg, Andrea Modica, Dinh James Doan and Cara Ronzetti, with special appearances by Drama Desk Award-winning actor Austin Pendleton and Actor/Comedian Jim Norton.

For All Media Inquiries:

Beatrice Kimmel / EMPKT PR / Beatrice@empktpr.com

Bullying sucks. Don’t do it.

I mean, what can I say? I was a gay boy growing up in South Georgia. In the Bible Belt of the South. I was bullied and name called from 4th grade until I went to college. And that's not an exaggeration. I heard the typical 'faggot' 'sissy' 'gayboy'...you name it. I've probably been called that, no matter how many times I said 'No, my name is NATE.'

Speaking of names, when I was younger my name was Nathan. Nathan translated somehow to 'Gaythan' which I was called all through 5th grade. I guess people in the South didn't learn the difference between their N sounds and G sounds.

One afternoon in particular in 5th grade, I was riding the bus to my Mom's school where she was a teacher. The entire bus starting chanting 'NATHAN SUCKS! NATHAN SUCKS! NATHAN SUCKS!' over and over, which of course morphed into Gaythan. The entire busy full of kids--including the bus driver!--was chanting this. All I could do was laugh it off until I was able to get off the bus. I ran to my Mom and sobbed into her arms.

To this day, I never knew what I had done to deserve such treatment from my peers and fellow students. But I do know that I came out stronger for it. Bullying sucks. Don't do it.

- Nate Raven

Nemesis

Growing up in the Five Towns on Long Island, I had a group of friends in elementary school. We wore these navy blue jean jackets and called ourselves “The Studs”. There was “Prince Stud” and there was “King Stud” and I thought how can I top that…”God Stud”. I thought a lot of my 12 year old self. But I loved these guys. We were like the kids from “Stand By Me”.

            The summer between 6th and 7th grade, I went away to sleep-away camp and when I came back, nobody would talk to me. I called all my friends and they wouldn’t call back. It was like some kind of group amnesia. I started getting these “phony phone calls” where people would call and just hang up. 1st day of junior high I got off the bus, books in hand and walked towards this long line of kids up against the wall. I saw my friends in the middle and walked over to them. “Hey guys, what’s going on?” My nemesis stepped out front and knocked my books out of my hands: “I heard you were talking shit about me”. “What are you talking about?”, I said. Then another kid stepped out: “We don’t want to be friends with you anymore”. I took a long, sad walk to the back of the line and I felt like there was a huge sign on my back that said “LOSER”. Everyone in school said that I got “DISSED”.

            I spent the rest of the school year in the library during lunch. It would have been productive if I actually read a book, but all I could think about was "what did I do?" and "how can I get my friends back?". I thought if I was only cooler or nicer, things would get better, but things only got worse. They started calling my house more, saying things to my family, people would bump into me in the hallway on purpose, I got beat up, the whole 9 yards. But the most painful part wasn’t the physical stuff, it was the loss of these friends that I loved. I went from being one of the most popular kids in school to being a social leper. Shakespeare said, “Banishment is worse than death”. I think he was onto something!

But every negative experience has a silver lining, or 2 or 3. Years later, I met up with my nemesis at a bar downtown and I said everything that had been pent up in me for over a decade. And to his credit, he manned up and apologized. We’re now Facebook Friends. And silver lining of silver linings: In 2019, we made “The Reunion” and we’re currently taking it around to festivals.

And even more significantly, as God has quite the sense of humor, I now teach Middle School! And I get the opportunity to witness bullying from an adult’s perspective. It’s very upsetting when I see a kid being teased or picked on. I feel their pain and empathize with their isolation. And I do everything in my power to stop the bullying when I see it. I hope to be that teacher that kids can come and talk to when they feel that no one will listen or understand. And that includes the bullies. What I’ve come to learn is that HURT PEOPLE HURT PEOPLE. Often times, the bullies are in even more pain than the bullied, because they're getting it at home from mom or dad or brother or sister. We all need someone to talk to and we all need the chance to heal. Take a moment in your day to support someone in pain. #stopbullying 

Dave Rosenberg (Writer/Producer of "The Reunion")

Bully Boomerang

My eldest son (who is now 30) was attending University, and had to suddenly move apartments for numerous reasons. The university wasn't in our home town -- so while he had a few friends, there wasn't tons of people he knew, nor relatives. Certainly not when you add in that wherever he moved had to be within 20 minutes off Campus or so.

Anyway - he posted on Facebook a "hey, suddenly need to find a place to live - like now, like this weekend. Anyone know of a place?"

And 'Ben' answered "Hey Chris, Ben A. here. Howz it going? Um, I have a spare room - my sister moved out and my apparently has a space room, so I was going to look for a roommate, but if you're needing a place, this could work out for both of us?"

OK - so where is the bullying part? Well, in grades 7-11, Chris was bullied incessantly. Horribly.

Chris referred to them as "my bullies". Running and dodging and being tormented by these kids was so much of his daily routine - thought everyone had bullies. He referred to Kirk and Mitchell and that group as 'my friends', and he referred to Haden and Ben and that group, as 'my bullies'. Heartbreaking.

Anyway - here is Ben, one of his bullies for 5 years, messaging him and asking if he wants to move it. Ben and Chris talked - and Ben said "oh yeah, by the way... sorry about all the shit we put you though. That wasn't very nice. It's always bugged me, and I always wanted to find the right time to reach out and apologize, but never did. And when I saw your message looking for a place to live... I figured now was the time"

It turns out that Ben basically had a choice -- be part of the Haden click, or be one of it's targets. And Ben never 'participated' much back then.. basically just stood around and laughed while Haden was the bully asshole. We all know that's still not a good action for Ben to have taken, but my point is that Ben and Chris lived together as roommates for a few years, until jobs took them different directions - and Ben has officially moved from Chris' 'bullies' list, over to his 'friends list now'.

- Todd Chamberlain

Push The Walls

I have story about being bullied. I was not an average looking kid when I was growing up in Washington DC in early 70s. I am of native background. So in urban areas there were a few but not many native kids and families and there also where not as many Spanish speaking from South America. So I got picked on because I had longer wavy hair and olive skin. Besides that I was also a chubby kid or husky as we were called back them. I did not have an athletic body slender or muscular at a pre teen age. I full of baby fat. So I got humiliated and teased and pushed around. When I wanted to play sports with any of the local kids they would not let me play until I ran laps around the field. The only reason they probably never beat me up physically was because they might have been afraid of my dad. But this affected me emotionally and psychologically because I never felt like I fit in the puzzle or I could do enough because of my physical odd shape. I still deal some with this today in some aspects of my life. Acting has become a way to push the walls that sometimes we place on ourselves or society places in us. This why I push through those walls to challenge and share knowledge as a storyteller.

-JohnScott Richardson