Just heard on the Peter Anthony Holder show, CJAD 800am Montreal Canada click here to order books! or email me with questions at: llessat@aol.com

Listen Monday Morning at 8:45am to KBIZ AM1240 for Brad on Mid-Morning Magazine with Mike Buchanan

Did you Hear me on the Morning Mess with Scott Thompson? 1570AM Monroe, WI

Thurday morning March 1, listen to Brad in Brownwood, TX on NEWSTALK with Mike Cope 96.9fm News Talk radio KXYL

Friday morning March 2, the smartest radio show in the midwest, Brad live on JT in the morning on WSBT 960 AM South Bend, IN.  30 years and still the best in town!

 

 

Fighting back with laughter
Writer-comedian tells youngsters how to stay safe, avoid bullying

By JOANIE BAKER, The Daily News, jbaker@bgdailynews.com
Saturday, January 17, 2009 12:27 AM CST

As an adult, Brad Tassell was bullied - in an airport, when a man threatened to kill him for cutting in line.

The comedian, who performs on cruise ships, took his experience, added his desire to write a children’s detective novel, and created “Don’t Feed the Bully.”

On Friday, the Bowling Green author gave a serious presentation about bullying to a group of fifth-grade students at W.R. McNeill Elementary School - complete with silly songs and simple tactics on what to do when bullied.

“Bullying is not really that easy to pin down,” Tassell said. “The goal is to make someone feel bad. Bullying is trying to hurt someone physically or mentally over time, it’s not a one-time thing.”

In the novel, written for students between 10 and 14 years old, a sixth-grade detective named “Handy” moves to a new school, where he finds a class that’s put its bully in a cage in the middle of the classroom.

Upon further “investigation,” Handy discovers that another bully is keeping the gargoyle-like student caged while intimidating everyone around him. Eventually, Handy teaches the school to take back control while teaching the reader to identify problems and handle them without violence.

Tassell suggested students take away bullies’ joy by not giving them the reactions they are looking for in picking at a weakness - and that acting like the bullying bores them will eventually bore the bullies.

The author said he spent two years researching bullying studies, gradually adding his own experience of what works and what doesn’t. He now tours the country making comic presentations about the topic - using a ukulele and songs with an interesting twist that leaves students having to decide who the real bully is.

“It’s good to be entertaining, but there’s got to be something there,” he said. “You’ve got to change people in a positive way.”

- For more information about Tassell’s book, visit www.dontfeedthebully.com.

 

Students get tips on how to fight bullying

By RICHARD NILSEN/The Leader-Herald

POSTED: November 19, 2008

The Leader-Herald/Bill Trojan

Author and comedian Brad Tassell gestures as he speaks to seventh-graders about bullying Tuesday at the Broadalbin-Perth Middle School gymnasium.

 

 

PERTH - Comedian Brad Tassell used humor at Broadalbin-Perth Middle School Tuesday to address a serious problem.

The Broadalbin-Perth Central School District hosted Tassell, who also is an author, in presentations which served as a kickoff event for the district's anti-bullying campaign. Tassell, author of the book "Don't Feed the Bully," did presentations for B-P students in fifth through eighth grades.

Tassell said he used humor to get the youths' attention and also to show that "making fun" can be benign.

"You know if you are trying to hurt someone," he said to the seventh-graders in his first session Tuesday.

By using music and jokes, Tassell got the children to participate in his own experiences of being bullied as a child, which he said he hoped they could then use to combat bullying. He said how much laughter and how much serious speaking he does in any session depends on the type of group he is speaking to.

"With younger kids, I start by getting them laughing," he said. "With older kids, I expect they will take on more responsibility for their actions."

Middle School Principal Wayne Bell said seventh- and eighth-grade English teacher Zoe Thompson was responsible for getting Tassell's book for the students to read and for bringing Tassell to the school for the presentation.

"I found the book on the Internet and thought it would be fantastic for the kids," Thompson said. "I was looking for something on bullying and took what I had to Mr. Bell to get the conversation moving. He ordered 150 copies for the kids to read. I love the book."

Thompson said she would move on to have a teaching unit on the subject.

"At the age our students are at, they're often not sure how to handle situations and things can get out of hand," Bell said. "Many of them don't really understand what bullying is, or the effects of bullying. Our students are already receiving anti-bullying messages from our teachers, so we're hoping that Mr. Tassell's presentation will grab their attention. We want to get students and parents talking about this issue."

Intermediate school Principal Susan Casper agreed.

"Tassell's visit and his anti-bullying message will be an important part of our character education program," Casper said. "We already talk a lot about bullying in our classrooms and in our monthly morning program, and I do see that our efforts have made an impact. The teachers expect respectful behavior from all of our students in their interactions with adults as well as with their peers."

According to a news release from the district, Bell and Casper want this to be the first of many special events that the school hosts as part of its anti-bullying campaign. The middle school will next address the topic Tuesday at its Character/Discovery Day, while the intermediate school regularly discusses character education in its monthly morning program, which takes place the first Friday of each month.

For more information about Tassell and his book, see www.dontfeedthebully.com

Richard Nilsen is a general assignment reporter and can be reached by e-mail at ga@leaderherald.com

 

Bullies, Begone! Safe Schools Ambassadors Help Keep the Peace on Campus

Students can effectively discourage bad behavior among their peers.

by Annemarie Mannion

Earlier this year, when a Texas high school student started dancing by herself to background music during a student meeting, some classmates began to taunt her with whispers, jokes, and laughter. But the bullies quickly became silent when one of their peers joined the girl, who was enrolled in the school's special education program.

"Some snickering started," recalls Don Shigekawa, who coordinates safe and drug-free schools for the Clear Creek Independent School District, southeast of Houston. "One of our ambassadors got up and started dancing, and then another one did, and then some other students did. In that flash of a moment, it turned into an acceptable thing to do."

Bullying -- from verbal teasing to physical violence -- isn't a new plight among children, and it remains pervasive in the United States. According to an April 2007 study by Stanford University and the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, nine out of ten elementary school students had been bullied by peers and six out of ten had engaged in some type of bullying in the previous year. A former high school principal has come up with a proactive solution to this enormous problem, a fix that's remarkably effective in schools nationwide: Get kids involved in stopping the bullying.

The Texas incident is a shining example of this strategy. The students who stood up for the girl being taunted were members of Safe School Ambassadors, an eight-year-old program run by the California-based Community Matters. To date, 650 schools in thirty-one states have made use of Safe School Ambassadors, says the nonprofit organization's founder, Rick Phillips. The program identifies students in grades 4-12 who are leaders in their social circles and trains them in constructive ways to prevent cruelty and violence.

"There are a lot of bystanders who are afraid to open their mouths because the bullying could be turned against them," says Phillips, coauthor of the book Safe School Ambassadors: Harnessing Student Power to Stop Bullying and Violence. "There's a code of silence. You have to start with kids who aren't afraid to buck the trend. They are not always the 4.0-grade-point-average, student-council kids. They're diverse. They come from all the different cliques."

Schools choose their ambassadors based on recommendations from teachers, staff, and sometimes other students. After they've made the selections, trainers from Community Matters teach the kids to use nonviolent communication skills to curb bullying of all types, including taunting, insults, gossip, harassment, and fighting. Strategies may be as simple as changing the subject or distracting the bully. For example, a student might stop an argument in the bathroom just by giving combatants the helpful heads-up, "I think someone is coming," whether or not anyone of authority actually is on the way.

The initial two-day training, which schools can launch and support with federal Safe and Drug-Free Schools funding (Title IV of the No Child Left Behind Act), costs $4,300 for a group of thirty to forty students and six to eight educators. The fees include training materials and ongoing coaching and support after the seminar, Phillips says.

Research shows that incidents of bullying decrease by half when students intervene. Wendy Craig and Debra Pepler, in their paper "Making a Difference in Bullying," found that peers are present for 85 percent of bullying episodes on campus. Though these bystanders step in only 11 percent of the time, when they do confront the bully, their chances of stopping the incident are about 50/50. Students have an advantage over teachers because they are often on the spot when bullying starts and have the option to act immediately, Phillips says.

Shigekawa reports that since his school district established the program in September 2007, he has seen significant reductions in these areas:

• assaults against students: 24 percent
• assaults against teachers: 60 percent
• weapons-related incidents: 28 percent
• drug- and alcohol-related incidents: 37 percent
• terroristic threats (threats that cause fear) to entire schools and individuals: 25 percent

Ambassadors meet regularly with one another, teachers, counselors, and program advisers to discuss incidents they have witnessed or prevented. To maintain their anonymity and effectiveness, students are encouraged not to discuss their efforts with the student body at large. "Students are not wearing a cap or hat or T-shirt that identifies them as ambassadors," Phillips says. "We feel it is important that they operate informally and in the moment. They see and hear things teachers do not."

Greg Lee, diversity coordinator at the William S. Hart Union High School District, in Santa Clarita, California, says some students are reluctant to take part because they fear being perceived as snitches. Lee explains, "At first, they think they're going to be asked to be hall monitors. But we're not asking them to leave their comfort zone or their social cliques. They're intervening within their comfort zones, with people they know. When they are informed they were selected because they are seen as natural leaders or people with influence within their peer group, they tend to rise to the occasion."

Lee concedes that operating in virtual anonymity can be difficult for some ambassadors, who do not receive extra credit or public recognition for their good deeds. "It's tough for some of them to work in the program without regular recognition. They don't get the kudos that some other student leaders get -- no yearbook picture, no bulletin board or PA announcements," Lee explains. "Some love the anonymous aspect of it, but I see it taking a toll on some others."

The student ambassadors have a lot to be proud of in the William S. Hart district, which enrolls 25,000 kids in grades 7-12. Lee credits the program, one component of a districtwide diversity initiative, with helping to reduce incidents related to cultural and racial insensitivity from fifty-three in 2006-07 to twenty in the school year that just ended. "But most of our bullying incidents are a result of poor social skills, not race," notes Lee. "It's socioeconomics and social cliques, and who fits in and who doesn't."

Melleny Hernandez, a senior in the district, says she became an ambassador four years ago because she wanted to help stop bullying. Since then, she's experienced the program's positive effects. "It's made all the students on campus more open with each other," adds Hernandez, who sometimes invites students outside her circle of friends to join their activities. "We have a lot of different races and groups, and they don't exclude each other as much."

Hernandez and her peers seem to reflect a larger trend among students to take antibullying efforts into their own hands. Although the examples are harder to cite, because they aren't affiliated with a national program, smaller-scale efforts are in place. After being asked to write a report about bullying, a student at Glenbard South High School, in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, organized a club called Genders Against Mean Experiences and Situations to promote healthy relationships and reduce behaviors related to bullying.

As one of the group's efforts, club members meet with incoming students to talk about bullying and to assure them it is unacceptable. "It lets those eighth graders know that there are people they can turn to for help," Assistant Principal Pam Petersen says.

Of course, student involvement of any kind does not abdicate teachers, administrators, support staff, or parents from their responsibilities. "Once a crisis is averted, it's incumbent on adults to make a long-term solution," Lee says, citing an incident on one high school campus in which a group of students were staking a claim to specific turf. Teachers and administrators halted the practice by holding activities in the same area. The students' "territory" was therefore appropriated for general use, which sent a message to everyone that they are welcome anywhere in the school.

Trudy Ludwig, author of My Secret Bully and several other books about the topic, says adults should also provide kids with literature that contains empathetic social messages. "We need to get them to notice bullying -- and to care," she adds. "We have to educate kids to see that they need to be part of the solution, not part of the problem. They have the power to step up and be heroes."

Whether that involves dancing, or starting a club, is entirely up to them.

Annemarie Mannion is a Chicago-based freelance writer.

Support Steps: How Teachers Can Prevent Bullying

Encouraging students to take a stand against, or merely cope with, the bullies in their midst provides educators with a bit of a challenge, so Edutopia.org asked three experts -- Safe School Ambassadors founder Rick Phillips and antibullying authors Trudy Ludwig and Brad Tassell -- what teachers can do to support kids. Here's what they suggest:

Be observant. Bullying often occurs in covert ways. Keeping a written record of students' verbal and body language can help teachers recognize subtle cues. Describing and naming what you see enhances your ability to notice negativity and disrespect. Watch for behaviors such as eye rolling, sarcastic or hostile tones of voice, and body movements that threaten or harass others. These include unwanted touching and exclusionary tactics, such as moving chairs to make it impossible for someone to sit somewhere.

Teach tolerance. Incorporate tolerance themes into existing lesson plans. If you are teaching reading or history, you can use books with fictional characters or real community leaders who have diverse backgrounds, ethnicities, and cultures. For example, Tassell's novel for middle school kids, Don't Feed the Bully, tells the story of a child who challenges mean kids at his school. Role-playing activities based on this or other books give students a chance to process, prepare, and practice how to handle different situations.

Reward kindness. Acknowledge good behavior by giving students attention, approval, and formal recognition. For example, schools in the William S. Hart Union High School District, in Santa Clarita, California, have rewarded their Safe School Ambassadors participants with activities, such as a bowling party, planned just for them.

Talk to the bully. When an unpleasant incident occurs, ask bullies to consider their motives and how their behavior affects others. Questions such as "What was wrong with your behavior?" and "What problem are you trying to solve?" can help bullies recognize that their interaction with others was inappropriate. You can find a full list of helpful questions in the book Schools Where Everyone Belongs: Practical Strategies for Reducing Bullying, by Stan Davis with Julia Davis. -- AM

A bully of a time

Author-comedian Brad Tassel gives West Navarre students a lesson on being nice

Rachel Kyler

Thursday May 15th, 2008

NAVARRE — Hundreds of kids bobbed their heads and swayed their arms, chorusing “Dead Skunk in the Middle of the Road,” in the cafeteria at West Navarre Intermediate School.

      Author and comedian Brad Tassel was getting kids warmed up before launching into a full-on teasing attack.

      “Who knows what magic is?” Tassel asked the students.

      “Magic is on the inside,” one child piped up.

      “No, that’s medicine,” Tassel said.

      Tassel continued asking children a host of questions in relation to a song, and when they’d give a wrong answer, he’d chide them.

      “Now you’re offended, but four seconds ago you weren’t,” Tassel said when the students discovered the point of his exercise.

      Using humor, silly songs and teasing, Tassel addressed a very serious topic — bullying.

      His book “Don’t Feed the Bully,” released in November 2006, tackles the problem in an amusing way with a mystery angle.

      Tassel said he’s looking for a middle ground where students learn the difference between friendly teasing and hurtful, malicious bullying.

      Through dramatic, silly storytelling about his own youthful encounters as the bullied or bullier, he illustrates the difference between crimes, intimidation and teasing.

      “I think we can do that with a little sense of humor and a little common sense,” he said.

      When students are in a bullying situation, he told them to stay calm and assess the likelihood of violence. He added it was important to develop a thick skin and a sense of humor.

 

     But he advised that if something persists, write down the evidence and tell a teacher.

      Tassel also reminded students that not everyone is going to be friends.

      “You don’t have to like everybody, but it doesn’t have to be a fight,” he said.

      Tassel was in town after docking in Mobile, Ala., this week. He spends about 15 days a month doing stand-up comedy on a Carnival cruise ship. Carnival then pays for him to fly to about three or four school presentations a month.

      West Navarre’s principal caught Tassel’s act while on a cruise and invited him to the school.

      The students were engrossed in Tassel‘s presentation and surprised by some elements.

      “It’s not just people from here who get bullied,” said fifth–grader Shakeitha Warren.

      Fifth-grader Amanda Koger said it makes her more mindful of other people’s feelings.

      “You don’t want somebody being hurt,” she said.

      Daily News Staff Writer Rachel Kyler can be reached at 863-1111, Ext. 1440

 

CROWN POINT | Students at Taft and Wheeler Middle Schools are taking a stand against bullying and learning that the oppression can come in many different forms.

The students are participating in CASS, or Creating a Safe Social Climate -- a program used to combat bullying. The program began at Taft in January 2006 and spread to Wheeler when the school opened this fall.

Taft kicked off CASS programs Thursday with a presentation by author Brad Tassell, who wrote "Don't Feed the Bullies" and entertained youngsters by playing his ukulele and recounting personal experiences.

As an eighth-grader, Tassell said he was small -- about 70 pounds and 4 feet 7 inches tall. He said he decided not to run from bullies and to stand up to them. He also said he was willing to tell teachers, his parents or any other adults if he was being bullied.

"There was a case where some girls were beating up another girl on the bus, and do you know where those girls are at now? In prison, adult prison," he said.

Taft seventh-graders Adam Kahn and Chris Dietrich were impressed with the presentation.

"I liked the stories better than the songs," Dietrich said. "I've seen bullying, but sometimes they are just goofing around."

 

October 12 2007

BY CARMEN McCOLLUM
cmccollum@nwitimes.com

 

 

Comedian offers tips to elementary school students about how to deal with bullies

By Sue Loughlin
The Tribune-Star

Brad Tassell knows what it’s like to be bullied.

In middle school, he was small, had curly red hair and wore braces. He wasn’t much of a victim, though, because he didn’t let cruel comments get to him.

He also remembers being mean to others and still feels terrible about some of the hurtful things he said.

Now a professional comedian and author, Tassell, 42, uses humor and his life experiences to share with students some of his ideas on how to deal with bullies. He spoke to West Vigo Elementary students Monday afternoon.

He also talked about his book, “Don’t Feed the Bully,” written for 10- to 14-year-olds.

He told students they don’t have to like everybody, “But you do have to tolerate everybody.”

His advice to kids who are bullied is to stay calm and not give the bullies the reaction they are looking for. A strong reaction will only encourage the bullies to continue.

He also encouraged students to have a thick skin and a sense of humor, or to just ignore the bullies and walk away. “Let them know they can’t hurt you,” Tassell said. “You need to be strong enough to say, ‘I don’t like it and I’m not taking it.’”

But no violence can be tolerated, he said. “If you’re being hit or hurt, report it,” he said.

Tassell’s rapid-fire, Robin Williams style of comedy kept the kids laughing and listening. At times, he played a ukulele and sang funny songs with a message. Another time, he pretended to trip over a microphone stand.

At one point, he bent his head backward and performed a trick by “balancing” a ball on his nose. When he stood straight, the ball stayed in place — adhesive from a glue stick kept the ball on his nose.

Tassell, who also is an entertainer with Carnival Cruiselines, met with West Vigo’s No Bullying Club after school, where students asked questions and talked about their group. They also celebrated his birthday with a cookie cake; his birthday falls on Halloween.

Tassell told the No Bully Club members to be role models for younger children and to stand together as a group against bullying and “make it uncool” to be cruel to others.

One member of the club, fifth-grader Abby Presnell, found it inspiring to hear from an author who wrote a book about “such a bad yet good subject.” It’s good to talk about, but bad when bullying happens, she said.

If someone is bullied, that student should stay calm and stand tall, maybe even joke about it, she said.

“If they do try to hurt us, we can tell [a teacher or adult] … It’s OK to let people know what’s going on,” Presnell said.

Fourth-grader Kylie Cardinal also learned that if you unintentionally hurt someone’s feelings by teasing, “You should tell them you’re sorry,”

After Tassell left the school, members of the No Bully Club wrote announcements about what students should do if they are bullied. They’ll take turns throughout the year reading the announcements over the intercom.

Fifth-grader Sarah VanGilder offered the following advice to someone who is bullied. “Why should you take what they are saying? Just walk away.”

But if the bullying continues several times, “You should report what has been happening to a teacher or an adult,” VanGilder wrote.

Tyler Massutti, a fourth-grader, advises someone who’s been bullied to “ignore the bully” or to turn the comments around and “make a joke” of what the bully says.

If someone has a hard time facing a bully, Massutti wrote, “take a deep breath and take the pain and use power words then walk away.”

Sue Loughlin can be reached at (812) 231-4235 or sue.loughlin@tribstar.com.

 

Author cracks up students

Brad Tassell brings his humor, advice on dealing with bullies to sixth-graders.
KIM KILBRIDE
Tribune Staff Writer

At John Young Middle School, Brad Tassell was a small kid with curly red hair and braces -- an easy target for bullies.

These days, the 42-year-old author and comedian is busy promoting his latest book, "Don't Feed the Bully."

Tassell, who is originally from Mishawaka and now lives in Santa Claus, Ind., drew on some of his own experiences when he wrote the fictional book, which has an often-humorous message about dealing with bullies.

He chatted with sixth-graders at Discovery Middle School in Granger earlier this week.

Prior to Tassell's visit, every sixth-grader at the school read "Don't Feed the Bully."

Kathy Burnette, media specialist at Discovery, explained the middle school's anti-bullying committee had searched for a way to integrate anti-bullying-related fiction into the students' studies as a way to open a dialogue with them about bullying.

"Mr. Tassell's book is simple and direct," she said. "The students appreciate that."

Having the author actually visit the school, Burnette said, was a great way to put a face with a name and affirm what they're learning.

Tassell, meanwhile, addressed groups of sixth-graders in the school's large group instruction area on Tuesday.

First, he did a bit of magic and then played his ukulele and sang riddles and let the students fill in the blanks.

After 20 minutes or so of laughing and joking around, Tassell asked the kids what he'd just been doing.

"Teasing," one student finally answered correctly.

"You have to have fun," he told the kids, "but know where the line is."

If someone hurts your feelings, he said, tell them.

"They might be a jerk or they might apologize."

Tassell recalled his days at John Young and how he himself was bullied, but also took part in bullying another student, a kid with green teeth.

In response to the kids' teasing, Tassell said, "Green Teeth would give us four shows a day."

Those experiences taught Tassell three things about dealing with bullies.

First off, stay calm, he told the Discovery students. Don't give the bully the reaction he or she is looking for.

Secondly, assess the likelihood of violence.

Finally, he said, have a thick skin and a sense of humor.

Tassell told the students that though he'd been bullied himself throughout the years, he also regrets the bullying he dished out.

"You don't have to like everybody," he said. "But, you do have to tolerate everybody."

Tassell ended the talk with a question-and-answer session with the students.

And, he updated them on his next book, which is in the works and will be about Internet predators.

It's called "The Predator's Web" and will feature the characters from "Don't Feed the Bully."

Staff writer Kim Kilbride:
kkilbride@sbtinfo.com

 

Comedian hits bully pulpit

By Dan Craft
dcraft@pantagraph.com

 

Bully, bully for Brad. Comedian-author Brad Tassell, that is, whose life has been dominated in recent years by the brutish and the belligerent.

His award-winning book for teen and pre-teen boys, "Don't Feed the Bully," has become a hit with not only teen and pre-teen boys, but also teen and pre-teen girls, all of whom have been taken with his meditation on the wages of bully-dom.

His comedy act for grown-ups mines humor from the current state of American society, where our sense of entitlement has led to every adult's assumption that he or she is smart and everyone else on the planet is not.

They're raving idiots, in fact.

Both sides of the Tassell tussle will be on display this weekend in Bloomington.

At 3 p.m. Saturday, he takes over Barnes & Noble Booksellers' kids' corner for a 3 p.m. show, offering a mix of comedy, singing, magic and clowning, all of it keyed to themes explored in "Don't Feed the Bully."

That night, he heads over to the Tree House Comedy Lounge on Ireland Grove Road for two shows (8 and 10:30 p.m.), both geared to an older sensibility, but still addressing, with a spoonful of mirth, society's penchant for bullying its way through life.

"I wasn't a great target for bullies as a kid," Tassell admits. "But I was bullied some."

And, much to his own disappointment, he worked the other side of the fence, too.

That first-hand experience has found its way into the book, which won the Top Choice Award as Best Teen Novel. It's framed as a teen version of a hardboiled Raymond Chandler-style detective story targeting that tough-to-crack male readership beginning at around age 10 and peaking at about 14.

The hero is Hannibal Greatneck III, a sixth-grade student who becomes a private dick after he finds a cage in the middle of his classroom.

The cage is there because the school has decided to deal with its bully problem by handing over all the power to another bully. Hannibal must find the clues, outwit the villains and put the school back in the hands of students and faculty.

Tassell's goal with the tale: To snare the short attention spans of notoriously book-phobic boys in the above-named age range via the catnip of an easily managed, funny, hip detective story.

In Brad's day as a fickle 12-year-old, it was the "Encyclopedia Brown" detective series that kept his eye glued to the printed page and craving more with each turn of the text.

"Don't Feed the Bully," he says, has been engineered to exert maximum of the literary equivalent of sex appeal.

Call it size appeal: The book was physically designed to be "taller and thinner" so that its chapter stops and 128 pages of text wouldn't seem so psychologically daunting.

"Boys, especially those in the 11-to-12 range, have trouble making the jump to good literature and chapter books, so we made this longer and thinner," Tassell says.

In addition to taller and thinner, the story also offers a hidden four-step agenda for beating (not beating up) bullies: 1. Staying calm; 2.) Assessing the likelihood of violence; 3.) Having a thick skin and sense of humor; 4.) Collecting evidence.

Along the way, Tassell seeks to raise the reader's sense of self-esteem.

Though he wasn't a poster child for bully victim as a kid, Tassell does point to two pivotal moments in his coming of anti-bully age.

The first was in junior high school, when the short, red-haired, freckled, big-nosed, braces-wearing Tassell decided to face the bully music. He did it by walking past a stretch of schoolyard where the bullies smoked and jeered. Instead of taking the detour, per usual, Tassell walked right by the group and endured "the dumbest insults I ever heard in my life."

Eventually a police car drove by, and "I think they (the bullies) were kind of glad it was over, too, because unless they started hitting me they had nothing."

After that, Tassell knew that confronting your worse fears, rather than fleeing them, was entirely feasible.

On the other hand, Tassell found himself playing devil's advocate when he found himself teasing a fellow student with the kind of wounding comments kids are known for.

"I learned I could be kind of a mean bully, even though I was 4-foot-8 and 97 pounds," he says. "I learned you can really hurt people with the things you need to say to be able to make fun of them."

Tassell didn't set out to become a best-selling, award-winning novelist for young people. He began his career in comedy, then dabbled in other forms of writing, eventually producing a half-dozen books in various genres, for both adults and kids.

These days, his stand-up comedy gigs have taken a back seat to his authorial pursuits, especially since the success of "Don't Feed the Bully."

But as a veteran of around 10 past appearances at the Treehouse Comedy Lounge, he decided to turn his Bloomington trip into a homecoming of sorts.

The grown-up shows, he assures, "aren't dirty," but they're keyed to adult matters like marriage, child-rearing (he has a 5-year-old daughter of his own working her way toward the "Don't Feed the Bully" demographic) and, yes, our society's prevailing sense of entitlement at all costs.

"My comedy show has kind of taken a turn toward talking about how, as adults, we've become bullies in society, where we go through the McDonald's drive-through and some kids leaves the pickle off the hamburger and we scream at them like they've murdered somebody because they forgot the pickle."

Tassell, of course, turns it into a joke: "By the way, if, as adults, you drive through a McDonald's and you think your order is going to be right, then you're the idiot!"

Still, he notes, "When we get older, suddenly everyone else becomes stupid, and it gives us the right to be as mean as we can be to them."

Whether via kids' books like "Don't Feed the Bully" or stand-up routines aimed at the kids' elders, Tassell's main goal in life is, first, to make everyone laugh, and, second, to make everyone realize that what they're laughing at is also serious business demanding a cure.

Laughter being the best medicine, "my concept is to be funny and to have fun and hope that some great lessons end up sticking, like a good bowl of oatmeal, to the ribs."

 

Comic/author slated, Indianapolis star April 8, 2007

Brad Tassell will put in an appearance for his book "Don't Feed the Bully" at 2 p.m. April 14 at the Wild bookstore in Noblesville.

"I'm a comedian, so I can't just do a book signing," says Tassell, who lives in Santa Claus, Ind. "I do songs, I do comedy, I get 'em laughing."

Tassell describes his book, a mystery with step-by-step lessons on how to deter bullies, as being in the vein of early "Lemony Snicket."

He'll be at the Wild, 884 Logan St., on the Noblesville town square. Call the store at (317) 773-0920 or see www.dontfeedthebully.com.

Comedy to come to the Wild

Thursday, 12 April 2007

Writer and comedian to sign book. By Amie Slevin National comedian Brad Tassell will appear at The Wild in Noblesville to promote his book “Don’t Feed the Bully.” Tassell will be at the Noblesville book store 2 p.m. Saturday. “Don’t Feed the Bully” has been critically acclaimed for helping kids become aware of bullying behavior and solve situations before they become violent. It has won the Top Choice Award for best teen novel from Flamingnet.com. The book is described as a fictional detective story, in which a male student solves the problem to why his school is taken over by a bully. It includes step by step lessons on how to prevent bullying situations. “I believe kids can overcome their problems in four steps,” said Tassell. “Staying calm, assessing the likelihood of violence, having a thick skin and a sense of humor, and collecting evidence.” A 19-year veteran of comedy, Tassell has appeared with widely known comedians such as Larry the Cable Guy, Jeff Foxworthy and Tim Allen. He still entertains at schools around the U.S. and presents at educational conferences. He resides in Santa Claus, Ind. For more information about his local appearance, contact The Wild at (317) 773-0920.

Comedian has last word about bullies
JEREMY D. BONFIGLIO
Tribune Staff Writer

Brad Tassell is a bit of an enigma. He plays the ukulele, once toured as a mime, and is a coveted stand-up comic for club gigs and Caribbean cruise ships.

So becoming a children's book author must have seemed like the next logical step.

"I always wanted to write a Sam Spade-type detective story," Tassell says by telephone from his home in Santa Claus, Ind. "I guess this is it."

The "it" Tassell refers to is his new book, "Don't Feed the Bully," which he'll discuss Saturday at the Barnes & Noble in Mishawaka.

The 128 pages of kid-friendly prose teaches kids how to "outwit the bullies" in everyday life -- a message that, at first glance, may seem a bit odd coming from a stand-up comic.

"I know what it's like to truly hurt someone through words," Tassell says. "I still feel terrible about the things I have said to people."

Those words, Tassell says, weren't part of his act but part of his own childhood experience growing up in Mishawaka.

"Ernie was the biggest kid in the sixth grade," Tassell says. "If you were alone, he would yell at you and push you, just frighten you to death. But, if we all stayed together, we would just destroy this kid. So I guess I've known both sides."

Geared toward preteen boys, "Don't Feed the Bully," illustrated by Logan Sibrel, follows Hannibal Greatneck III. Handy, as he is known to friends, is both a sixth-grade student and an amateur sleuth. When he walks into William B. Travis Elementary School, he discovers a cage in the middle of a classroom. The school has dealt with its bully problem by handing over all the power to, well, another bully. Handy must uncover clues and outwit the villains to give back control of William B. Travis to the students and faculty.

Tassell, perhaps best known as one-third of the stand-up comic troupe the Hoosier Dads alongside Kevin Burke and Dave Dugan, became interested in writing the book after reading more contemporary, adult solutions.

"I read something that said laughing is a form of bullying," Tassell says. "I'm a comedian. I don't want kids growing up thinking you're degrading someone by laughing. If you look at all the adult solutions, none of them even address what kids are scared about."

And that, according to Tassell, is getting "beaten to death."

"In most cases, kids aren't going to be physically hurt," Tassell says. "If they are, then there are other steps to take, but if we're talking about words, it's important that kids know there's nothing anyone can say that can change who they are."

"Don't Feed the Bully" is filled with lessons aimed at building self-esteem, while it teaches kids that remaining calm and having a sense a humor often can stop bullies in their tracks.

That doesn't mean, however, that you can't make fun of your friends from time to time.

"Remember when you were 12 and you'd get together with your buddies?" Tassell says. "Think about the things you would say to each other. You weren't trying to hurt each other, you were having fun."

And that, Tassell says, is ultimately what it's all about.