Letter: 'Bullying' movie fits Walking the Talk of Welcome's 2012 focus

To the Editor:

The Walking the Talk of Welcome group has been busy since January planning its second community workshop to be held Saturday Oct. 6 at Minnesota State College-Southeaster Technical. After discussing various topics, all agreed that the focus this year should be on bullying.

We've been touched by the countless stories and news features on the consequences of bullying. We've read of two suicides related to bullying in the Rochester area recently and their impact on that community. We've followed closely the updates from the Governor's Task Force on Bullying as they travel around the state to gather information. Their report is due in August 2012. Our own state representative, Tim Kelly, serves on that task force.

When the highly acclaimed movie “Bully” was being shown in Rochester recently, we could only hope that the movie would come to Red Wing. We are gratified that the management of Red Wing Cinema 8 has seen fit to bring the film to our local theater.

The first showing was Friday June 8 and the movie will be shown in Red Wing for an undetermined run. “Bully” follows five families in four states over the course of a school year. In spite of its title, the film is really about the victims, their parents and the powerful grown-ups who let them down.

The film is unrated and, while it may shock parents, very little of it is likely to surprise their school-age children. We urge middle-school age students and all caring adults to see the movie and to thank the theater management for bringing it to Red Wing.

David Anderson

Lois Burnes

Katherine Cross

Don Featherstone

Lisa Hanson

Pam Horlitz

Marcia Jensen

Judy Kizer

Sharon Marty

Marilyn Nelson

Dane Petersen

Maggie Sprick

Matt Traynor

Burt Will

Judy Will

Red Wing

Walking the Talk of Welcome Committee: Devoted to making Red Wing a more welcoming community

Tags: opinion, letters