For many high school students, maintaining an identity at an age when all you want to do is to fit in can be challenging. But what happens when conforming is not an option, and "being yourself" sets you dangerously far apart from everybody else?
Out in the Silence chronicles the journey of filmmaker Joe Wilson, who is drawn back to his conservative hometown of Oil City, PA, by the plea of a worried parent. After announcing his engagement to a man in the local newspaper, Wilson experiences a backlash of hate mail and angry reader comments. What he did not expect was a letter written by a desperate mother, describing the heartbreaking torments that her 16-year-old son is subjected to at school on a daily basis--begging Wilson for help.
The hour-long documentary follows Wilson as he meets C.J., a passionate basketball player and former jock whose life turned upside down after other students discover he is gay.
Blog
February 29, 2012 - 2:22pm
A Latina resident of Phoenix stepped up to the microphone, her voice cracking, nearly tearful.
“Why do they hate us?” she began. “That’s what my seven and eight-year-old niece and nephew—who have been in this country all their lives—ask me when they hear what people say about immigrants here in Arizona.”
The woman spoke to Patchogue, NY Mayor Paul Pontieri in a packed theater in February, following a screening of Not In Our Town: Light in the Darkness. Pontieri was sharing his experience during the aftermath of the hate crime killing of Marcelo Lucero and attacks on local immigrants in 2008. He spoke with compassion and conviction about the need to dampen dehumanizing rhetoric against immigrants, most especially because of its effects on children and young people. Pontieri was formerly a middle school assistant principal.
February 27, 2012 - 4:51pm
A diverse audience of 150 from the Greater Salk Lake City community gathered at the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art for the Feb. 8 screening of Not In Our Town: Class Actions.
KUED partnered with the Inclusion Center for Community and Justice and the Eunice Shrive Kennedy Community of Caring at the University of Utah to host the free public screening, reception, and a panel discussion of the film. Class Actions debuted on PBS on Feb. 13 and explores how students and educators in three American Communities joined together to address hate and bullying in their schools.
National Community of Caring Center Associate Director Dr. David Parker shares his perspective on the screening:
February 27, 2012 - 11:28am
Not In Our School Director Dr. Becki Cohn-Vargas was recently featured in an article on the EdBlog, where she discusses the NIOS model for creating inclusive environments at schools and putting an end to bullying. Dr. Cohn-Vargas, along with 10,000 other educators, will be attending the 2012 Celebration of Teaching & Learning in New York City on March 16. Not In Our Town will be leading a Featured Speakers session where we will discuss the NIOT/NIOS films, as well as tools to stop bullying in your school. To learn more about the conference and to register for this inspiring education experience, click here.
February 23, 2012 - 5:11pm
"We were at a football game where everyone is cheering and the spirits are fairly high and these words began to echo. So what's the meaning of those words? How do I interpret those words? How do I feel about those particular words, 'The South will rise again'?
I'm a Southerner, Daddy was a Southerner, my Granddaddy, etc. And of course, the South in its heyday had individuals likened to me in slavery type of conditions."
—Dr. Donald Cole, University of Mississippi
Watch Dr. Cole: Ole Miss Legacy