Tuesday, August 31, 2010

BULLIES DON'T DISAPPEAR... they just GROW UP and Become the "BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE"

Maybe you're one of those folks who had a carefree childhood where you never got your lunch money taken, your hair pulled, your glasses broken, or laughed at when you walked by a group of kids in the playground.... But I wasnt. I was a victim of Bullies on a DAILY basis, and led a "charlie brown like" existence throughout childhood. I had this hope that when I grew up, BULLIES would be a thing of the past. I thought Bullying was an immature childish behavior much like excessive whining and bed wetting. With maturity and training it would vanish along with other childish things.... at a recent party I was reminded once again how bullis just "grow up" to become "beautiful people". I was drawing caricature at a party where just about everyone looked like they were coming from, or going to a photo shoot. It was a blast. These folks were successful, rich, had great careers, AND were good looking. They appeared to have it all. Yeah, ALL but one thing...another opportunity to make someone "less beautiful" the butt of a joke. One woman asked me to draw the ugliest creepiest looking caricature face of a woman I could think of and give it to her. When I asked what it was for, she gleefully replied, , "Oh, there's this REALLY UGLY woman at our job who couldn't be here tonight, so wehn we hang the pictures in the office tomorrow we want to hang "HER" picture there too and say, "look you weren't at the party , but you were AT the party"
I felt a twinge of anger flare up, but kept my composure and quietly declined, stating it would be right or fair to make fun of someone who wasn't there.

Was it any wonder why she didn't come to the party? I bet she didn't feel welcome in the office either.
That night, catching bits and pieces of conversation I was struck how these folks were busy patting themselves on the back for a successful financial year while most New Yorkers were standing in unemployment lines and wondering where their next meal was coming from. I also thought about the poor "ugly woman" had been as MUCH of a contributor to the success of the company's financial stregth, and yet for what ever reason didnt feel comfortable enough to come to the party...
BULLIES.
They never really grow up do they?
Im glad I took a stand NOT to be part of this nonsense, and in some small way, by refusing to do a picture, I felt I did MY part in stopping the whole bullying cycle..

But before I pat MYSELF on the back TOO fast, there was a brief moment, im sorry to say when I wanted to draw the picture... where I wanted to be thought of as popular and "cool" for having done it. Im glad that I resisted the urge. Maybe that's the CURSE of the beautiful people. They ALL want to remain in the same club, and some are afraid to break out for fear of becoming one of the ugly ones...

THE KOOL KIDS a poem by Elgin Bolling aka El Prophet the Scribe

THE KOOL KIDS
By Elgin Bolling

...THE KOOL KIDS

The look at me, not at YOU kids,

THE KOOL KIDS

The RULE kids
The kids, the teacher thinks
Never Fibs, Never responsible for what he did..

THE KOOL KIDS

The Me Hit YOU kids.

The Spit on your Shoes, Kids
The Push you down the Stairs,
Pull out your Chair,
Make fun of the clothes you wear kids.

THE KOOL KIDS

The ones who make you look like a FOOL kids
The kids who always get the girl
Who laugh at you when you start to hurl
Who pretend to be your friend
Only to embarrasses you in the end
The kids who take your money for lunch
Who in your face, they like to punch

THE KOOL KIDS

The Kids who got
SHOT
Because the poor Nerd
Cant take a LOT
He KNOWS it aint right to HATE
But can’t eat another lousy Morsel

THE KOOL KIDS

Have put on his plate.

Now it’s too late…

The Nerd whose done
Nothing but Heard
His good name
DEFAMED
Who’s taken the
Blame
So

THE KOOL KIDS

Can have FAME.
All he wants to be is the SAME
To have a friend who won’t
Send him away
Who say’s I’m GLAD you CAME!
C’mon! Let’s Play!
Join the game!
But there’s pain in

Isolation.

THE KOOL KIDS

Done his work of mental and emotional devestation
So without hesitation
Things go terribly terribly wrong

RATTTA TAT TAT!!

Goes the semi automatics song that does not cease…

THE KOOL KIDS

Recoil in horror,
To the NERD
It’s just sweet release..

Finally, NOW the angry,
Taunting voices will cease…
Now, finally he’s the center of attention.
And no one in the playground even dares to mention…

His crew cut
His protruding butt
His high-water pants
His bowlegged stance
His coke bottle glasses
The gas he always passes
His hair that’s never neat
His braces, and bucked teeth
His clubbed feet
The way he weeps…

They all fall in a heap
Now silent and bleeding at his feet.

There’s a lesson in this, so do not sleep.

Next time you see a kid being
Picked on
Don’t just sit on
Your Butt
And Ignore
DO MORE
To raise his self esteem
Protect him from
THE KOOL KIDS
Who are mean

Do this and we will hopefully see
Less kids in a coffin
If you do nothing
This will happen more often…

Funny how this brings to mind
A little town called
Calinbine…

Copyright 2010 Elgin Bolling all rights reserved.

Assorted subway faces of diffeent people going places by subwaysurfer



Drew some GREAT faces today. One of the keys to doing great subway caricature is to not SO much "GET THE LIKENESS" in the objective literal sense, but to "GET THE EXPRESSION" I feel that if you go for THE EXPRESSION you will get the likeness as a bonus. Extreme life drawing gives me the opportunity to observe and record expressions in a way that would just never be possible with the live model. The teenager in the middle pic is my favorite. His face literally changed expression three or four times in a minute as he was deep in thought pondering something.
The businessman on top looked at is he was just hanging on waiting for the workday to end, and had that dull thousand mile, businessman's soulless stare.... the guy with the ponytail had this look on his face that said, "HI! ENGLISH ISNT MY FIRST LANGUAGE!"