My new book, Please Stop Laughing
at Us...One Survivor's Extraordinary Quest to Prevent School
Bullying was released in March 2008. This book is a
sequel that picks up where the first book left off and offers
solutions for parents, teachers, students and adult survivors.
It's set against the narrative back drop of my own personal
struggle, turning pain into purpose. If you want to see the
press kit for this new book you'll find it under the media
room tab on this website.
Welcome to our website - yes, yours and mine. Because chances
are, if you've landed here, you and I share something important
in common. Both of us have been deeply affected by school bullying
and peer abuse. Maybe you're a teen who's lonely and sad because
no matter how hard you try to fit in at school, your classmates
laugh at you behind your back and constantly pick on you. Maybe
you're the bully, or even the bystander, the person who sees
another student being hurt and humiliated but who does nothing
to help. Perhaps you're a parent who can't stand one more day
of watching your child suffer at the hands of his peers simply
for being different. You might even be the mom or dad of a bully,
and at your wit's end over what to do about it. Or, maybe you're
an educator or counselor, frustrated by the pain you witness,
yet feeling powerless to stop it. 
No matter who you identify with above, I can promise you from
my heart that you've come to the right place. Take a moment,
close your eyes and breathe. There are solutions. Someone does
understand. That someone is me.
Though you'd probably never know it if you met me now, during
my adolescence from 5th grade through senior year of high school,
I was tormented by my classmates, a total "outcast."
Remember the Stephen King movie Carrie? What I went through
in school makes that character's experiences seem like a Disney
movie. I couldn't do what you have to do to be "cool."
I wasn't good at all the things that makes someone popular in
school - I didn't want to make fun of the chubby girl with glasses,
the gay student, or the shy kid at the back of the class. If
I saw something going on I didn't like, I spoke up. These might
be great qualities to have when you're an adult, but they're
not so wonderful when you're a teenager.
I remember being so lonely in school that I would sometimes
wake up in the morning wishing myself to sickness so I wouldn't
have to face the teasing and rejection I knew was coming the
moment I walked through the school doors. And the harder I
tried to fit in, the worse it always got. My parents tried
everything to help, but nothing ever did. I wish that there
had been someone like me now back then, who had endured the
bullying and survived, who could have given us real advice
on how to get through it all. Not a psychiatrist or academic,
not a clergyman or counselor, but a real person who had been
there herself and could show us a way out.
 That's
why I'm here today, and I think why circumstances have led
you to this website. I'm forty five years old now and successful.
I turned my pain into purpose - that purpose being to help
you. If you've read my New York Times Best-Selling memoir
PLEASE STOP LAUGHING AT ME…, then you
know what happened to me. If you haven't, I don't want to
ruin the suprise except to say this: there's a happy ending
to my story and there can be for you too. Hopefully, you'll
find both information and comfort here.
I want you to know that I’m not just a face in cyberspace.
Since the release of my books, I’ve been touring the
nation’s schools sharing my story with students, teachers
and parents in an effort to motivate change. My day-long in
school program is called INJJA (It’s NOT Just Joking
Around!) and if you’re interested in bringing me to
your school, please go to the seminar
tab of this website
I also work with organizations such as police, judicial,
government, counseling, PTA’s, school boards, and youth
groups. I’ve developed an instructional program for
colleges and universities titled “The Desperate Freshman”
where I work with administration, faculty, parents, students,
and fraternities and sororities to help identify students
at risk for becoming hazing and bullying targets. I can come
to your school or town, too, and would be honored to be invited.
I want to help. Please let me.
Let's get through this together,
Jodee Blanco
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