FUburbia
Season 1
Episode 8 - Kill the Messenger
Episode 7 - The Rotten History
Episode 6 - A Peek Into the Past
Episode 5 - Ring-a-ding-ding
Episode 4 - Gleeful Cruelty
Episode 3 - WTF is Happening Here?
Episode 2 - No News Please
by Maggie Glynn
The w/b itch blame the messenger blows up on my blog. The intensity of denial and deflection and the it can’t happen here overwhelms. The shunning is unmistakable. What can I do?
Lawsuits begin dropping from high school locker room assaults from the past and bullying issues ignored. Former students are now stepping forward with their trauma. It appears there is a lot of rot in this suburban paradise.
A national news story on football hazing around the country airs and the little town is featured. Residents not yet aware react in shock. Past students come forward on the blog with stories of hazing and bullying throughout the district. The Mayor throws the School Board and School Superintendent right under the school bus.
The mayor calls me to inform me I am harming the little town by continuing to cover this alleged incident. Publicly the Mayor, the Town Council, the Board of Education, and the School Superintendent remain silent.
The focus on the harassment and sexual assaults in the high school locker room takes over the blog. An organized effort to silence attention and attack the messenger takes root. The county prosecutor gets involved. The attacks toward me are personal, mean, and cruel when I continue to keep a spotlight on the issue.
School is about to begin and the teacher handicapping takes over the play dates. Football season kicks off and I repost news articles of reported hazing. The screaming pushback begins, how dare I.
I quickly shift from an over reliance on mommy issues to real town issues. I had no idea the depth of soft corruption in my sweet little town. The subtle pushback begins or does it? Am I overreacting?
I start a mommy job, blogging about my bucolic suburban oasis. I quickly find out Nirvana it ain’t.