For Jodee Blanco, vindication for the bullying she had endured in high school came at her 20-year class reunion, when her tormentors apologized for the cruel teasing.
Not all victims of bullying are so lucky to find redemption, though, she told about 800 students at Judge Memorial High School this week. Many carry memories of persecution with them for years.
"You are damaging each other for life," Blanco told the silent auditorium. "Being laughed at stinks. It's like being raped from the inside out."
Blanco, who grew up in a small suburb southwest of Chicago, related cringe-inducing incidents from her junior high and high school days that also are detailed in her book, "Please Stop Laughing at Me." A gang of popular kids knocked her to the ground and shoved snow down her shirt and throat, someone stole her favorite shoes from her locker and dumped them in a full toilet, and one boy scrawled profanities in her yearbook the last day of high school.
Additionally, she tolerated years of being ignored, having "hellos" go unreturned and being shunned by classmates.
"Abuse is not only about the mean things you do," she said. "Abuse is also the kind things you withhold."
Despite the composite characters and changed names in her book, many of her old taunters recognized their bad behavior and apologized. She has since worked with their children who suffer from bullying, she said.
Her message seemed to strike a chord with the high school students.
"She opens up your mind to the sorts of things kids go through," said Les Brown, 17, a junior at Judge. "I'll see if I can make a difference in someone's life."
Blanco, who worked as a publicist in Los Angeles, had a perfect Hollywood ending to her story. At her 20-year high school reunion she danced until 4 a.m. with the guy she had a crush on in high school. They were married approximately two weeks ago, she said to cheers and applause from the students, and she periodically has dinner with the high school bullies, whom she now counts as friends.
E-mail: kswinyard@desnews.com