Homecoming Queen

You hear so many stories of children being bullied that it was refreshing to read about Jessica Giddens. The high school senior from Augusta, Georgia was named homecoming queen. She isn’t the popular cheerleader or class president. Full disclosure: I was a cheerleader. A shitty one. I couldn’t do a Herkie to save my life and never made Varsity. It was like I had bricks in my sneakers. A girl from my school went on to become a cheerleader for a NFL team. There is something funny about grown women chanting “S-U-C-C, E-S-S, That’s the way we spell success.” First of all, that is how everyone spells success. NFL cheerleaders are basically exotic dancers with pom-poms instead of a stripper pole.

Jessica Giddens has down syndrome.
Her peers voted for homecoming queen. It was said that “everybody loves her.” It would be nice if other children would follow their lead. My children know it is unacceptable for them to mock someone’s appearance, speech, etc. Only Mom can do that. I am kidding. I still loathe the girl who bullied me in school. If you could see her now you would know I WIN. (Hello, this is 1993, we want our hairstyle back.)

Jessica’s father, an Army soldier, returned from Afghanistan to escort her to the homecoming game.
Here is Jessica when they announced she had won: