In the coming weeks/months/years I hope to continue introducing these amazing rising young and not-so-young actors, singers, songwriters, models, musicians to you - to the world. You have already been introduced to the wonderful Meredith O'Connor and Kim Tillman. Most of these people have been bullied - have endured pure nightmares and are now using their brilliant talents to raise awareness about this awful act around the world, while also trying to reassure victims, internationally, that they are not alone. I have more of these people coming 'onboard', most of whom are rising stars both in the USA and Australia (at the moment), along with the occasional more established and better known celebrity/ies.
Today, please meet a lovely young actor, JACKEE MINELLI, who recently appeared in the independent anti-bullying film, 'Red Head Randy'. Jackee is yet another who has endured a nightmare throughout her education and has now emerged a positive and lovely young lady, gaining confidence every step of the way. Here is her story:
Jackee Minelli - another amazing young lady.
JACKEE’s STORY
‘My nightmare
started in grade K. My Mom and Dad take
care of mentally challenged and elderly people – and brought them along to a
fundraiser at my school. One of the men
had a problem with drooling, a reaction of the medication he took - and as
such, always carried a napkin. The kids
started making fun of him – the mother of one child said: ‘These
kinds of people shouldn’t be brought to this kind of fundraiser’. My Mom turned around and responded with: ‘They
belong here more than you ungodly people do’. That kid started to become distant from then
on – but then it got worse as time went on.
‘In grade K I was wearing an eye
patch and I had to keep switching eyes with the patch because I had a tracking
problem and a lazy eye – the kids would call me things like ‘Pirate Jack’, ‘One eyed Jack’ – it made
me feel very bad. Then I had to wear
glasses and they called me ‘Four eyes
Pirate Jack’. I used to wish and ask
my mother why I was made like this and it made me cry.
‘Then in first grade, due to my eyes
having a tracking problem, I was made to sit up front by the teacher because I
couldn’t get all the work in and the kids would call me names because of that
and for the same reason I had a reading problem and they had to take me out of
the class and get me help and the kids would call me: ‘Stupid
four eyed Jack’ and it made me feel like I wasn’t good enough and I didn’t
fit in.
‘Then I gained more weight. Everyone was going to birthday parties and
getting invitations in school in front of me and I was the only kid that
sometimes wouldn’t get one. They always left me out as if I wasn’t even there
and it always made me cry and not want to go to school and it left me unable to
concentrate on my work.
‘2nd through 3rd
grade I was tormented and teased to the stage I was crying every day. I did have one friend and she was heavy –
they made fun of her also and her mother blamed me for it and didn’t want her
to be friends with me. I had nothing to
do with it – they did it because she was heavy and liked dragons.
‘In 4th grade I thought
things would have been better. My Mom
came in and talked to the ladies in the office again and the teacher repeated
it to the class, making it even worse. I
would go to my room and cry – but tell my Mom everything was OK. I hated to come out – I used to stay in my
room all the time, but my Mom wanted me to come out and it was just so hard
trying to pretend that everything was OK.
‘5th grade I got on the
basketball team and I thought I would get friends but the kids were all just
mean, calling me names, wouldn’t sit by me and I would have to sit by myself,
waiting to play. Then I was asked to be
on the All Star basketball team because I was good at shooting 3 pointers and
the kids became even more angry with me.
At lunch time when I brought my food to the table they would get up and
go to another table, leaving me there to sit alone. I hated lunch time and didn’t want to go to
school because of it. Then I would hear
my Mom cry and pray and ask God to help me and for me to be happy and not feel
so bad all the time.
‘The start of 6th grade
when basketball practice started the team leader called all the kids for
practice and they never called me. The
practice started in July through September and then when school started we were
wondering when basketball would start and the coach said it started two months
ago – then the kids on the team told the coach they didn’t call me because I
had heart problems so the coach suspended the practice for the whole team. Then in the middle of the year my mother
asked the gym teacher and the art teacher to keep an eye out for kids picking
on me and making fun of me – because the office and the homeroom teachers tried
to just cover it up. So one day in the
hall the art teacher caught the kids with my book bag while I was waiting for
my Mom to come and she caught them saying they were going to do something to
me. So they stopped the games for a
month and said if it doesn’t stop they won’t let them play at all, or
graduate. Then I came home that night I
stood in my room crying and wishing I could be born like others and I didn’t
want to live that way anymore and my Mom woke me because I was running up and
down the hall looking like I was playing basketball and crying because the kids
were saying they were going to hurt me and do something to me. I was crying for my Mom to help me.
‘7th through 8th
grade I started to really worry about the high school that I was going to and
if I would have friends and I would have panic attacks worrying about it and
whether the other kids would go to the same school. I would also try to go to the bathroom all
the time and try to leave school during vocabulary class because we had to read
around the room and I didn’t know how to say some of the words or read very
well, like the other kids did. They
would always make fun of me and laugh at me when it was my turn.
‘9th grade was a great
year – God answered my prayers for Mom and me.
I used to pray every day and night that it would be different. I made lots of new friends – I even made two
best friends. We all used to hang out a
lot together.
‘In 10th grade – the
beginning of the year wasn’t like 9th – it changed a lot. Everything was getting different interests –
doing drugs, drinking, going out – and I never wanted to do any of that stuff
so I stopped being friends with most of the people – apart from three because I
believe in God’s ways and I try to be a good person and not hurt nor judge
anyone. As time went on I was in life
skills and a boy behind me was making fun of these kids that had mental
problems and I didn’t like it so I told him off about it. He tried going up my skirt and I tried to
tell the teacher – the teacher only told him to stop, then he did it again, so
I got up and walked out of the class as everyone was laughing. The teacher told me to get back in there or I
would get into a lot of trouble so my one best friend at the time and I walked
out to go to the principal. As time went
on, they didn’t do anything. I was at a
restaurant with my friends – the kids were texting me saying they were going to
jump me, calling my phone all night long – nothing was done about any of this
so I switched schools. I had one good
friend at the other school – we used to hang out all the time and everything
felt good again. I was happy. Then I got my first boyfriend – everyone gets
excited when they get their first boyfriend but at the end of the year I left
the school because I broke up with that boy and he had everyone after me and
everything started to get worse again.
‘For 11th grade I went
back to the school I was at before and people made me feel really uncomfortable
– like I didn’t belong there and I honestly didn’t want to go to English
class. I was in front of the class and
everyone was talking about me and staring at me like I was some kind of
monster. Everyone was calling me names,
whispering and it hurt very badly so I went to the guidance counsellor to see
if they could switch me back with one of my old friends that I was still close
to. They did but it still wasn’t the
best because in that class it happened again.
I couldn’t wait for everything to be over so I went back and asked the
counsellor to put me at the VO tech school because at the old school I went to
a VO tech also and that’s what I loved to do so they did. I met a lot of new friends and it was great –
I felt like I belonged there until one day, I walked into the café and I saw my
ex boyfriend. He was sitting there and had
the whole table calling me very bad names and it hurt because I wasn’t of the
names they were calling me. I was being
called ‘Fat’, ‘Whore’, ‘Ugly’, ‘Gross’,
‘Slut’ – everything in the book you can name – I was called. It hurt a lot – everywhere I turned everyone
was calling me names, looking at me like I was that monster again and it hurt a
lot – but I tried to stay positive and get on with school. He was sent out to rehab and after that
everything was better again. I had to be
in a class with 10th graders because in 10th grade I
wasn’t in a science class at the other school and they were all boys and they
were all making fun of me. They would
push me and take my stuff, steal my money and threaten me and I would tell the
teacher – she never did anything about it.
They tried to trip me, they always made comments and said things under
their breath. They would go into the
back and talk about me and while they did they would look and laugh in my face
and make fun of me because I was in their class and I was a junior.
Jackee and her equally amazing Mom
‘In 12th grade I stopped
going to my school because things got even worse than before there. Everyone seemed to hate me and it felt even
worse so I started to go to cyber school and also went to VO tech still. As time went on at the VO tech school I
stopped being friends with those that I had because they were doing bad things
and talking about me and causing trouble and one day I walked into the school
and everyone was looking at me and whispering about me and I had no idea why
and then one girl came up to me and told me people were saying I was doing bad
things with people I didn’t even know.
People were saying I was buying drugs from these two guys in school and
I never touched a drug in my life – so it made me very mad. I was very angry and the kid that was saying
it was friends with one of my old friends and I found out that she started the
rumor. As time went on he would torment
me in school – he would make comments about me, saying I was so fat and needed
to go to weight loss classes – he would say:
‘Thunder thighs are coming through
– WATCH OUT’ and I honestly, for once, didn’t think I was fat. I had confidence then lost it again and
everywhere I turned I heard it and I didn’t even know the kid. As time went on the girl in my VO tech class
started to not like me because my teacher would always have me do the hair when
people came in to get it done. But I
didn’t let it bother me. As time went on
more comments were made like they would say she shouldn’t even be here – she’s
horrible – she sucks – I can’t stand her – she’s a goody goody. I was a goody goody but I liked that because
I am very Godly and if it wasn’t for God and my daily prayers I would have
never made it through most of the time.
I didn’t even want to be alive – I hated my life because it hurt so
badly but I stayed positive and tried to be strong.
‘Then I entered a modelling contest
and won – they had me do a commercial - Phil and Raymond are great guys. I went to the house after they picked me to
be in the movie and I felt the kids hated me and were looking at me weirdly and
talking about me – I feel this way often, but Mom said that I should give it a
chance. So I went again and met a girl,
Christy – she was a very nice girl and made me feel comfortable and we had so
much fun. Phil and Raymond helped me in
so many ways – they made me laugh and have fun with other kids and it just made
me feel so good – and feel like I am a normal person and it helped me to feel
that other kids can like me and want to be around me. It’s funny but my Mom and I got to meet Mr
Henry Winkler, the Fonz from ‘Happy Days’,
an old show – my Mom loved him. I jumped
in and started talking to him – my Mom just dropped and she couldn’t stop
talking about how well I did at just jumping in and talking. She was so proud of me and it was all because
of how Phil and Raymond and the movie ‘Red
Head Randy’ have helped me – just in so many ways. Then I got to meet Ian Somerhalder from ‘Vampire Diaries’, my favourite TV
show. I wouldn’t have been able to speak
to him if it wasn’t for God and Phil and Raymond – he is my biggest inspiration
besides God. God will always be number
one to me – and of course my Mom and Dad and brothers. They have all been big supporters. My brother and his girlfriend and my boyfriend along with my Mom and Dad and a
worker started a fan club and to help raise money for the movie they got shirts
made up.
‘I try to be a good person and I
don’t understand what I did to these kids that they hate me so much. The movie ‘Red
Head Randy’ has helped me in so many ways.
I hope all this can help other kids to see how they hurt each other and
to help stop the bullying so other kids don’t have to go through it as much as
I did.’
Watch this space for Jackee's initial interview as we follow her and all these wonderful people along their roads to stardom.
In the coming weeks/months/years I hope to continue introducing these amazing rising young and not-so-young actors, singers, songwriters, models, musicians to you - to the world. You have already been introduced to the wonderful Meredith O'Connor and Kim Tillman. Most of these people have been bullied - have endured pure nightmares and are now using their brilliant talents to raise awareness about this awful act around the world, while also trying to reassure victims, internationally, that they are not alone. I have more of these people coming 'onboard', most of whom are rising stars both in the USA and Australia (at the moment), along with the occasional more established and better known celebrity/ies.
Today, please meet a lovely young actor, JACKEE MINELLI, who recently appeared in the independent anti-bullying film, 'Red Head Randy'. Jackee is yet another who has endured a nightmare throughout her education and has now emerged a positive and lovely young lady, gaining confidence every step of the way. Here is her story:
 |
| Jackee Minelli - another amazing young lady. |
‘My nightmare
started in grade K. My Mom and Dad take
care of mentally challenged and elderly people – and brought them along to a
fundraiser at my school. One of the men
had a problem with drooling, a reaction of the medication he took - and as
such, always carried a napkin. The kids
started making fun of him – the mother of one child said: ‘These
kinds of people shouldn’t be brought to this kind of fundraiser’. My Mom turned around and responded with: ‘They
belong here more than you ungodly people do’. That kid started to become distant from then
on – but then it got worse as time went on.
‘In grade K I was wearing an eye
patch and I had to keep switching eyes with the patch because I had a tracking
problem and a lazy eye – the kids would call me things like ‘Pirate Jack’, ‘One eyed Jack’ – it made
me feel very bad. Then I had to wear
glasses and they called me ‘Four eyes
Pirate Jack’. I used to wish and ask
my mother why I was made like this and it made me cry.
‘Then in first grade, due to my eyes
having a tracking problem, I was made to sit up front by the teacher because I
couldn’t get all the work in and the kids would call me names because of that
and for the same reason I had a reading problem and they had to take me out of
the class and get me help and the kids would call me: ‘Stupid
four eyed Jack’ and it made me feel like I wasn’t good enough and I didn’t
fit in.
‘Then I gained more weight. Everyone was going to birthday parties and
getting invitations in school in front of me and I was the only kid that
sometimes wouldn’t get one. They always left me out as if I wasn’t even there
and it always made me cry and not want to go to school and it left me unable to
concentrate on my work.
‘2nd through 3rd
grade I was tormented and teased to the stage I was crying every day. I did have one friend and she was heavy –
they made fun of her also and her mother blamed me for it and didn’t want her
to be friends with me. I had nothing to
do with it – they did it because she was heavy and liked dragons.
‘In 4th grade I thought
things would have been better. My Mom
came in and talked to the ladies in the office again and the teacher repeated
it to the class, making it even worse. I
would go to my room and cry – but tell my Mom everything was OK. I hated to come out – I used to stay in my
room all the time, but my Mom wanted me to come out and it was just so hard
trying to pretend that everything was OK.
‘5th grade I got on the
basketball team and I thought I would get friends but the kids were all just
mean, calling me names, wouldn’t sit by me and I would have to sit by myself,
waiting to play. Then I was asked to be
on the All Star basketball team because I was good at shooting 3 pointers and
the kids became even more angry with me.
At lunch time when I brought my food to the table they would get up and
go to another table, leaving me there to sit alone. I hated lunch time and didn’t want to go to
school because of it. Then I would hear
my Mom cry and pray and ask God to help me and for me to be happy and not feel
so bad all the time.
‘The start of 6th grade
when basketball practice started the team leader called all the kids for
practice and they never called me. The
practice started in July through September and then when school started we were
wondering when basketball would start and the coach said it started two months
ago – then the kids on the team told the coach they didn’t call me because I
had heart problems so the coach suspended the practice for the whole team. Then in the middle of the year my mother
asked the gym teacher and the art teacher to keep an eye out for kids picking
on me and making fun of me – because the office and the homeroom teachers tried
to just cover it up. So one day in the
hall the art teacher caught the kids with my book bag while I was waiting for
my Mom to come and she caught them saying they were going to do something to
me. So they stopped the games for a
month and said if it doesn’t stop they won’t let them play at all, or
graduate. Then I came home that night I
stood in my room crying and wishing I could be born like others and I didn’t
want to live that way anymore and my Mom woke me because I was running up and
down the hall looking like I was playing basketball and crying because the kids
were saying they were going to hurt me and do something to me. I was crying for my Mom to help me.
‘7th through 8th
grade I started to really worry about the high school that I was going to and
if I would have friends and I would have panic attacks worrying about it and
whether the other kids would go to the same school. I would also try to go to the bathroom all
the time and try to leave school during vocabulary class because we had to read
around the room and I didn’t know how to say some of the words or read very
well, like the other kids did. They
would always make fun of me and laugh at me when it was my turn.
‘9th grade was a great
year – God answered my prayers for Mom and me.
I used to pray every day and night that it would be different. I made lots of new friends – I even made two
best friends. We all used to hang out a
lot together.
‘In 10th grade – the
beginning of the year wasn’t like 9th – it changed a lot. Everything was getting different interests –
doing drugs, drinking, going out – and I never wanted to do any of that stuff
so I stopped being friends with most of the people – apart from three because I
believe in God’s ways and I try to be a good person and not hurt nor judge
anyone. As time went on I was in life
skills and a boy behind me was making fun of these kids that had mental
problems and I didn’t like it so I told him off about it. He tried going up my skirt and I tried to
tell the teacher – the teacher only told him to stop, then he did it again, so
I got up and walked out of the class as everyone was laughing. The teacher told me to get back in there or I
would get into a lot of trouble so my one best friend at the time and I walked
out to go to the principal. As time went
on, they didn’t do anything. I was at a
restaurant with my friends – the kids were texting me saying they were going to
jump me, calling my phone all night long – nothing was done about any of this
so I switched schools. I had one good
friend at the other school – we used to hang out all the time and everything
felt good again. I was happy. Then I got my first boyfriend – everyone gets
excited when they get their first boyfriend but at the end of the year I left
the school because I broke up with that boy and he had everyone after me and
everything started to get worse again.
‘For 11th grade I went
back to the school I was at before and people made me feel really uncomfortable
– like I didn’t belong there and I honestly didn’t want to go to English
class. I was in front of the class and
everyone was talking about me and staring at me like I was some kind of
monster. Everyone was calling me names,
whispering and it hurt very badly so I went to the guidance counsellor to see
if they could switch me back with one of my old friends that I was still close
to. They did but it still wasn’t the
best because in that class it happened again.
I couldn’t wait for everything to be over so I went back and asked the
counsellor to put me at the VO tech school because at the old school I went to
a VO tech also and that’s what I loved to do so they did. I met a lot of new friends and it was great –
I felt like I belonged there until one day, I walked into the café and I saw my
ex boyfriend. He was sitting there and had
the whole table calling me very bad names and it hurt because I wasn’t of the
names they were calling me. I was being
called ‘Fat’, ‘Whore’, ‘Ugly’, ‘Gross’,
‘Slut’ – everything in the book you can name – I was called. It hurt a lot – everywhere I turned everyone
was calling me names, looking at me like I was that monster again and it hurt a
lot – but I tried to stay positive and get on with school. He was sent out to rehab and after that
everything was better again. I had to be
in a class with 10th graders because in 10th grade I
wasn’t in a science class at the other school and they were all boys and they
were all making fun of me. They would
push me and take my stuff, steal my money and threaten me and I would tell the
teacher – she never did anything about it.
They tried to trip me, they always made comments and said things under
their breath. They would go into the
back and talk about me and while they did they would look and laugh in my face
and make fun of me because I was in their class and I was a junior.
 |
| Jackee and her equally amazing Mom |
‘In 12th grade I stopped going to my school because things got even worse than before there. Everyone seemed to hate me and it felt even worse so I started to go to cyber school and also went to VO tech still. As time went on at the VO tech school I stopped being friends with those that I had because they were doing bad things and talking about me and causing trouble and one day I walked into the school and everyone was looking at me and whispering about me and I had no idea why and then one girl came up to me and told me people were saying I was doing bad things with people I didn’t even know. People were saying I was buying drugs from these two guys in school and I never touched a drug in my life – so it made me very mad. I was very angry and the kid that was saying it was friends with one of my old friends and I found out that she started the rumor. As time went on he would torment me in school – he would make comments about me, saying I was so fat and needed to go to weight loss classes – he would say: ‘Thunder thighs are coming through – WATCH OUT’ and I honestly, for once, didn’t think I was fat. I had confidence then lost it again and everywhere I turned I heard it and I didn’t even know the kid. As time went on the girl in my VO tech class started to not like me because my teacher would always have me do the hair when people came in to get it done. But I didn’t let it bother me. As time went on more comments were made like they would say she shouldn’t even be here – she’s horrible – she sucks – I can’t stand her – she’s a goody goody. I was a goody goody but I liked that because I am very Godly and if it wasn’t for God and my daily prayers I would have never made it through most of the time. I didn’t even want to be alive – I hated my life because it hurt so badly but I stayed positive and tried to be strong.
‘Then I entered a modelling contest
and won – they had me do a commercial - Phil and Raymond are great guys. I went to the house after they picked me to
be in the movie and I felt the kids hated me and were looking at me weirdly and
talking about me – I feel this way often, but Mom said that I should give it a
chance. So I went again and met a girl,
Christy – she was a very nice girl and made me feel comfortable and we had so
much fun. Phil and Raymond helped me in
so many ways – they made me laugh and have fun with other kids and it just made
me feel so good – and feel like I am a normal person and it helped me to feel
that other kids can like me and want to be around me. It’s funny but my Mom and I got to meet Mr
Henry Winkler, the Fonz from ‘Happy Days’,
an old show – my Mom loved him. I jumped
in and started talking to him – my Mom just dropped and she couldn’t stop
talking about how well I did at just jumping in and talking. She was so proud of me and it was all because
of how Phil and Raymond and the movie ‘Red
Head Randy’ have helped me – just in so many ways. Then I got to meet Ian Somerhalder from ‘Vampire Diaries’, my favourite TV
show. I wouldn’t have been able to speak
to him if it wasn’t for God and Phil and Raymond – he is my biggest inspiration
besides God. God will always be number
one to me – and of course my Mom and Dad and brothers. They have all been big supporters. My brother and his girlfriend and my boyfriend along with my Mom and Dad and a
worker started a fan club and to help raise money for the movie they got shirts
made up.
‘I try to be a good person and I
don’t understand what I did to these kids that they hate me so much. The movie ‘Red
Head Randy’ has helped me in so many ways.
I hope all this can help other kids to see how they hurt each other and
to help stop the bullying so other kids don’t have to go through it as much as
I did.’
Watch this space for Jackee's initial interview as we follow her and all these wonderful people along their roads to stardom.
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