by Van Stone
State Rep. Kenyatta J. Johnson (D-Phila.) 186th
Monster TEAM Values Produced by Rep. Kenyatta J. Johnson Creator Van Stone
“Kids and adults can experience bullying, in school, church, relationships, business associations, politics, and even courts. Where is a friendly monster to teach us skills on how to constructively fight back when you need one?”
These are the words from a value word poem by Van Stone, local rights activist and a pupil of former school teacher Mr. Herb Rogers, Jr.
After six years as an elementary school teacher at Alain Locke School in West Philadelphia from, 1964 through 1969, Rogers ascended to the position of principal by age 48. It was in 1980 that he became the young principal at Lehigh Elementary School located in the Strawberry Mansion section of North Philadelphia.
Rogers collected and presented information on the problems victims of bullying were confronted with, as well as steps to overcome the challenges such problems pose. He had seen more than his share of boys and girls wander out of elementary school and into trouble due to bullying. They were targeted, it seemed, because they were seen as different. Some would eventually break down after trying to cope with name calling - like being called “Monster” - day after day after day. To combat what he saw as a growing plague, Rogers decided to combine constructive value words and rhyming. he developed his own style of anti-bullying concepts to help combat what he saw as a "monster" - bullying - that was torturing kids.
In 1985, he decided to add a regular non-speaking raccoon character to his mix of constructive value words put to rhyming and made a poster of the creature, which he felt was a great visual aid to the auditory tools he had been using.
At the age of 53, Rogers was transferred and became principal of the Dr. Ethel D. Allen elementary School in Philly It was there that he would tape the raccoon character to his office door for all to see - a signal that he would help even the most bullied children. In his eyes, even the harshest bully might look at the cute raccoon and decide not to be a tormenting monster. Brought to life by artist Robert L. Jefferson, Rogers gave him the name Roger Robbie.
It would be ten years after the birth of Rogers’ Robbie and that Rogers and Van Stone - a local activist and former pupil - would reunite. It was 1995. Herb was a young 63. And Van was younger version of Rogers by exactly three decades.
For the next ten years Rogers and Stone kept in touch - partnering the raccoon with humans and taking him on the road, on the radio and wherever and however else they could use him to speak out against bullying, speaking out against bullying.
At 73, Rogers retired and left Roger Robbie with Stone to be a caretaker for the character and raise him - and bullying prevention - to new heights.
“My Animal characters are animals that have human intelligence-they talk,” says Stone. “And my Human characters are people that have superhuman transformation and animal instinct. They use super-science and energy and they fly.”
Stone is calling the strip Monster because he feels there is still plenty of evidence in the year 2010 that people who are different in size, looks, color, and partnerships are called hateful names just like he had to deal with being called "monster" back in 1968.
"Straights and gays trying to cope with bullying - it's on the rise", says Stone.” The situation has not changed much. We know what happened to Frankenstein. They got the torches. The question, who is the monster and who is the man is still very real in 2010.”
Most recently, the rights activist hopes to bring his strip format of Anti-Bullying to the attention of State Rep. Kenyatta J. Johnson, D-Phila. 186th District. Rep. Johnson’s tenure in dealing with the identification of world problems and bullying has been remarkable. Also, Rep. Johnson, a long resident of Philadelphia, is well known for his motivational strategies for involving children and parents in the educational process. Rep. Johnson has long seen bullying as problematic. Since Monster has caught his attention lawmaker Johnson supports the practice of positive value words and the possibility of linking individual values through a positive value form. Stone’s strip starring friendly creatures might be seen as opening a whole new approach to work on both problems and values. And for this reason and others Rep. Johnson has become producer of the strip.
"It is based on values such as respect, hard work, and caring," says Stone. "We are teaching positive values using rhymes, poetry, and artwork. Preventing bullying and recycling are two of the issues we will deal with in the strip."
Today, Deb Young, Michelle Young, youth, and Bill Lloyd are the illustrators for the comic strip
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