Savagery in Chicago Suburbs
Agata Bryla
Professor Stoicheva
EGL 101-020
April 4, 2012
Girl Fight: Savagery in The Chicago Suburbs
Summary of an Article and Reaction
The article “Girl Fight: Savagery in The Chicago Suburbs” written by Susannah Meadows and Dirk Johnson, and published in May of 2003 by Newsweek still arouses controversy and shivers, especially for parents who have children that sooner or later will be attending high school. Not only the privileged Glenbrook North in Chicago suburbs in particular, but what Newsweek called savagery, could happen anywhere if there is a mixture of teenage brain, alcohol, lack of supervision, revenge and unfortunately the pressure for social acceptance. So what exactly happened? According to the authors, what was supposed to be an innocent “tradition of the powder puff football game” arranged by the senior girls for the junior girls, turned to an out of control game of humiliation and revenge. Girls were being pushed and kicked, splattered with paint and human feces. Later in the text we find out that, pig parts which were supplied by one of the parents were thrown at the poor girls. Someone put bucket over one girl’s head and hid it with a baseball bat. Parents of one girl, who lost consciousness during that “game,” testified later that “the victims were threatened with more violence if they left the field.” After the beatings and humiliations ended, five girls were sent to the hospital, one with a broken ankle, and another with a concussion so serious it caused memory loss, another to receive 10 stitches in her scalp. Every rule and principle of that game was violated, and per Mike Green, Northbrook Police deputy chief “many of the students could face criminal charges.” Not everyone; however, was part of the vicious game. The tape of that horrible incident, that was released and examined by the school officials, and later used by lawyers including Rollin Suskin, who represented several of the victims, also
Professor Stoicheva
EGL 101-020
April 4, 2012
Girl Fight: Savagery in The Chicago Suburbs
Summary of an Article and Reaction
The article “Girl Fight: Savagery in The Chicago Suburbs” written by Susannah Meadows and Dirk Johnson, and published in May of 2003 by Newsweek still arouses controversy and shivers, especially for parents who have children that sooner or later will be attending high school. Not only the privileged Glenbrook North in Chicago suburbs in particular, but what Newsweek called savagery, could happen anywhere if there is a mixture of teenage brain, alcohol, lack of supervision, revenge and unfortunately the pressure for social acceptance. So what exactly happened? According to the authors, what was supposed to be an innocent “tradition of the powder puff football game” arranged by the senior girls for the junior girls, turned to an out of control game of humiliation and revenge. Girls were being pushed and kicked, splattered with paint and human feces. Later in the text we find out that, pig parts which were supplied by one of the parents were thrown at the poor girls. Someone put bucket over one girl’s head and hid it with a baseball bat. Parents of one girl, who lost consciousness during that “game,” testified later that “the victims were threatened with more violence if they left the field.” After the beatings and humiliations ended, five girls were sent to the hospital, one with a broken ankle, and another with a concussion so serious it caused memory loss, another to receive 10 stitches in her scalp. Every rule and principle of that game was violated, and per Mike Green, Northbrook Police deputy chief “many of the students could face criminal charges.” Not everyone; however, was part of the vicious game. The tape of that horrible incident, that was released and examined by the school officials, and later used by lawyers including Rollin Suskin, who represented several of the victims, also