Pity the poor bullies: it is not easy being the cultural villain of the moment. (Just ask Mexicans, or Muslims!) The Google Trends spike over the last year for "bullying" is impressive, and it's all around us: the car ad that was recut to change a kid fleeing bullies into merely a friendly race between youngsters; the members of the Westboro Baptist Church being described as bullies (rather than, say, insane bigoted cultists, which would apparently be less damning!); and, of course, the Times Styles section on bullying in kindergarten. The government's Secretary of Education threw a "Bullying Prevention Summit"! There's a "Stop Bullying Now!" [...]

Parents in the third-largest school district in Colorado are being asked to lay out 50 cents per ride if they want their children to take the bus to and from their learning institutions. The program, which starts next year, will raise about $2 million for the cash-strapped Douglas County School District — which is looking to reduce its annual operating costs by some $31 million after cutting $80 million from its budget over the past four years.

Dear Joel,

Sorry for stinking.

You were seven years old at the time, which was December 19th, 1991. I remember because I had just turned 21. The day before, as a matter of fact. You were in the first grade at a school for emotionally disturbed children in New Jersey, where I worked, as an assistant to your teacher, Suzanne.

Sometimes before I poop out my column I write down some notes. Yeah, I know, right? Har! Also: in crayon. So, my notes for this episode are:

hate school – presdient addressing children about school support post office – get credit card company to mail you bill

Yeah, "presdient," it's fucking notes, OK?

"We thought she was just going this weird way to the high school." —Nourhan Heikel, a student from Little Falls, N.J., whose daily bus ride to school was very nearly a trip to Great Adventure thanks to a confused driver who thought she was picking up kids en route to an annual school outing to the New Jersey amusement park, and who ignored the kids' protests that they should be going to school, and not barreling down the New Jersey Turnpike. In the pre-cell-phone era, this would have been the opening scene in either a crazy Savage Steve Holland comedy or a slasher bloodbath; now, it's just the [...]