An Online Conversation with Lita about Her Perceived Level of Safety at School
Josh Stott
[Redactor's Note: Lita Nguyen (not her real last name) attends sixth grade in Fremont, California. She is often online, chatting with friends and family. This interview was conducted in September by White Shoe Correspondent Josh Stott, via AOL Instant Messenger. With minor exceptions, Lita's original spelling and capitalization have been retained.]
LITA: Today at lunch there was dis group hanging out near dis window.
(Pause)
JOSH: Is that the whole story?
LITA: Somebody pushed dis grl name lisa to dis guy name milton than milton pushed dis guy name roman to da window, and da window broke, and roman got lil pieces of glass in his head. Dass wat i heard
JOSH: Ouch.
LITA: My friends and i were in da corner.
JOSH: Did Roman have to get stiches?
LITA: i dunno. We didn't know wat happened cuz we came when we hear da crash.
JOSH: Are there a lot of fights at your school?
LITA: There was a fight like a couple of days ago.
JOSH: Usually boys? Or sometimes girls, too?
LITA: This dude shot Tony in da foot with a bb gun, and Tony pulled a knife on him.
JOSH: Is this the Tony that you like?
LITA: Yea. Da dude wit da gun got expelled.
JOSH: Why was Tony carrying a knife?
LITA: i dunno
JOSH: And why didn't he get expelled, too?
LITA: i think he got away wit it
JOSH: I don't know about this liking guys who carry knives, Lita…
LITA: Well, as long as he dunt pull it out on me
JOSH: Do a lot of boys carry them?
LITA: My friend, sarah, who's in his 4, 5, and 6 period class say dat he acts hella mean in class, but he's hellllllla nice in science or whenever i see him. i dunno.
JOSH: I wonder, though, how nice he is, if he's pulling knives on people.
LITA: He didn't use da knife though. He juss took it out and tucked it back in. But dat was a rumor. i heard it from dis dude who sits next to me in wrld hist.
JOSH: You never know.
LITA: i know. i dunt really care, as long as he didn't actually took out da knife and try to use it on da dude who shot him. Then i'd be like, "eff it, there's other guys out there!" LOL!
JOSH: Don't kids get booted out of school automatically if they have any kind of gun in school? Like a no-tolerance policy?
LITA: Yea. Dat was after skool, but da guy wit da gun got caught and expelled.
JOSH: At least it wasn't a real gun…
LITA: Yup yup.
JOSH: Still scary, though. Do you feel pretty safe at your school most of the time, or not?
LITA: Yea, i feel safe. i dunt really like it when u pass a group of 8th grade guys and all they do is stare at u da whole time. Its hella freaky.
JOSH: Are there any other times you're freaked out?
LITA: Naw, i get along wit alot of da ppls of my skoo. My friend got dogged by 8th graders like on da first day of skool.
JOSH: What do you mean by "dogged"?
LITA: she got threats by 8th graders, and they call her names to her face.
JOSH: By other 8th grade girls or by guys?
LITA: Grls. Dis one time, when she was walkin home, i think they drove by and said, "u're gonna get ur ass kicked tomorrow bitch!"
JOSH: Was she scared?
LITA: She was freaked out! She didn't want to go back to school
JOSH: Did the girls know her? Or were they just messing around?
LITA: Well, they know her, but my friend have no clu who they r cept for juss a couple of ppls. They said dat amanda (my homegrl) was talkin smack bout one of them, but she didn't say n e thing
JOSH: Yeah, that's what they always say when they want to start a fight…
LITA: Yuuuuuup. And today after school da grl i was talkin bout, amanda. Her ex-bf is going out wit dis grl name jannette, and jannette went up to my other friend, angel, and straight up pushed her.
JOSH: What does Angel have to do with Jannette and Amanda?
LITA: i dunno. Amanda juss ran up to me and my friends and was like,"jannette juss pushed angel," and we got like, hella pist i got hella pissed and wanted to go kick her ass, but then had to go home.
JOSH: Do you ever get in fights?
LITA: Not really. i'm a princess O:-) LoL. i'm wearing a princess shirt rite now.
JOSH: I never got in one fight in all of my school… Not that I'm really that nice… I just never fought.
LITA: sumtimes i lose my temper. But i juss said,"forget it." Aint worth my time.
JOSH: You're right… It's not worth your time, or anger.
LITA: Yup yup. There's dis grl who pisses me off though. She's hella annoying.
JOSH: All the time she pisses you off?
LITA: Whenever i see her, she pises me off.
JOSH: On purpose? Is she provoking you? Or she just generally annoys you?
LITA: i dunno, its how she acts dat makes me so mad. She acts like, she's, like, so good and stuff. And she acts like a lil bitch too…
JOSH: What does she do?
LITA: She stole my best friend's boy. Then she juss acts like shes so good
JOSH: She acts nice to you? Or like she's a good girl?
LITA: She acts snobby, like, she's soooo popular… U know those grls.
JOSH: Yeah, I know what you mean.
LITA: i said hi to her once, but she was juss ignoring me, like, looked past me, and i was like,"fine then."
JOSH: Does she have friends?
LITA: Yea. Her friends r nice, but not her.
JOSH: That's too bad… Hopefully she'll learn pretty soon that you can't be like that.