Ramblings, Incoherent Thought and Family

My name is Will Benson...who used to go by Billy Benson...and I am a Teenage Bully Victim. There's so much going on the TV, Papers and interwebs about bullying lately; I guess I felt like maybe it was time to say that out loud. I say it again...My name is Will Benson...who used to go by Billy and I am a teenage bully victim. AHH the freedom. I don't mean to poke light at this epidemic...but I guess I wanted to write because I think the media has this ALL WRONG. They're tackling it from the wrong angle. I don't think covering the stories on Today and Good Morning America...interviewing puffy eyed parents who are now living through every parents' worst nightmare and reporting in angry tones about how the schools have no bullying policies, and states are cracking down is the answer. This isn't going to be solved by the emotional detachment that journalists are SUPPOSED to engage in to do their job. This requires something more personal. We're dealing wi...

Let me start by saying I hope I don't offend anyone with this one...but some stuff has been coming down the pipe with dear friends and family around me...and I just had to write about it. Within the last 7 days...three married couples I know and care about (two I was related to (one on each side of my family actually) and one couple whom I knew from church) seperated. This isn't a condemnation blog upon any of them. Their reasons I'm sure are valid to them...they may be legitimate to others who form such opinions. I can't really say. I only know peripheral information and to be honest...I don't need to know the hairy details. The issues matter to them and only them...I'm just heartbroken. In two of the marriages children are involved...but I can't help thinking that in all three relationships...children may be partially to blame for the breakdown. At least as far as the maturity level of one or both the people involved. There's no big secret that our gen...

Ok...I've taken a few days to think about this...and to be honest I'm still pretty hopping mad. If you didn't know...read this article below: http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20006534-1.html?tag=mncol What the article says (in a very slanted way...but it is a blog/opinion piece) is that AT&T is moving to a 'tiered' service in regards to data use on their phone network. What gets me with this is how everyone is rallying to the 'it'll be cheaper' mindset. Yes...for some it will be. My wife has the motorola backflip...and looking at her usage...she never gets above 200 MB's a month...so she MAY be going on this plan...(however read below for why that's a bad idea...)...me after checking my usage I saw that I run around 500 megs with the last month or so going up to close to a gig (as I use Pandora more and more these days...mowing the lawn, at my colocation, even in the car)...so I'll be at the 2 GB model (as I'll be FORCED to switch ...

I know we're in an oil hurt right now...I KNOW it's not a great thing...but BP SCREWED up...and we're paying for it. I'm sorry to say this...but our environmental president isn't doing his job. I realize that I'm gonna anger BOTH republicans and democrats here (one by saying that a business investment should take a back seat to an environmental catastrophe like this, and the dems by saying Almighty Obama should have shut this down long ago)...but frankly we've given BP three weeks to clean up their mess. At some point when you're a kid...and your Mom insists you clean your room but you don't...and the smell starts wafting down the hall...and the bugs arrive to say hello and start seeking more filth in other rooms...eventually your Mom goes in (begrudgingly) and begins to clean up your mess. I don't know about you...but in those cases...when my Mom did that she would pick things I enjoyed but weren't necessary to 'throw out'...saying ...

Dear Will (Or whatever you're calling yourself these days); I'm writing this after writing a posthumous letter to myself 20 years ago...in anticipation of yet another letter I can write to myself in ten years addressing THIS one...it's like a virtual time capsule. Go with it. Anyway...I hope that this letter finds you well. I'm writing really to give you an idea and perspective on your life and where it's been since I have little doubt you'll be full bore into your (probably third) mid-life crisis. :) It's my hope that ministry has taken the place of everything else in your life as far as career and professional goals. Looking back from this point I can see where God has used the pain I endured to prepare me for that life. I'm hoping that I don't do something ridiculously stupid to screw it up for you. If you are in ministry...then I hope your heart is still strong. If not...then stop. Look around you and realize your life's work has TRULY begun....

I found an old book of poems I started back in HIGH SCHOOL. A lot of it is super-emo stuff...but it gives a good idea as to what was on my heart and mind back then...the below is the letter I would write to myself back then were he able to read it...I'm writing to myself at the age of 16 on May 7, 1990. I'm a sophomore in High School.: Dear Billy; By the time this is written...you'll have been gone for some time. I don't know when or how you went...but it was a slow and painful process. Sorry about that. Some say it might have started that first January day you stepped onto Oswego's campus...for others it was when you shared that first kiss with your first REAL love. For some they'll say it's when you had your first taste of a Sam Adam's Boston Lager. I think though...your demise started on a cold winter's night in Oswego. The fact is though...you're gone now...and I have been tasked with succeeding you. My name is Will...and I guess I came into ...

It's gonna be a weird weekend. I'm excited in some ways. Seeing old friends...making new ones (like I did last night)...being in the old school (that I was really only in 1 year being the first class to graduate from there) on that old stage. To look out on that crowd like I used to and in that moment...remember when it was all I wanted to do in the world. This weekend is a reunion show of the Academy Players. The drama team from my high school. They're doing it because it's the 20th year that Mr. Schaumann has directed there and...well that does deserve SOME sort of pomp. They decided to call any and all players back to be a part of this year's musical (Les Miz). It's a true honor to be there...and when I heard about it there was NO WAY I wasn't doing it. I've written before about how I feel about High School in here. How I see that time as sort of this awkward phase in my life. How I've gone to a few 'pseudo' reunions with various groups...