I picked this quote from Christian Cortez's blog.

 They mainly picked on me because I was standing up to them. They called me racist names and wanting to know what race I was. I fought back at them with making fun of them for thinking I was a certain race even though I was not. Yes, I used humor to get back at them. At the time I felt it was the best way to defuse the situation. By the end of the day many people knew I had stood up to this group of bullies.

When this happened, I felt a mix of many strong emotions, sadness, guilt, anger, and even happiness. When I stood up to these people, I felt strong, and powerful and in control. However, after the incident, I felt guilty for stooping to their level by calling them names. I really did not know what to think for the fact was I was very confused by the matter. I told my parents, and like me, they felt mixed emotions about the whole thing as well. 

It did lead to a whole discussion about bullying in our home and when it was appropriate to stand up for your self. 

This quote shows that even in tough situations, you have to speak up for yourself and others. In this situation, a group of people were bullying Christian and his friend. Christian did no like this so he stood up for himself and his friend. I think he made a good decision to stand up for himself because if he didn't, they might have kept bullying him. Also, he would've felt much worse if he just sat there and took their insults. I think he made a good  decision to defuse the situation with humor instead of insulting back. This shows that he is resolving conflict peacefully, which is a good thing to do. Instead of punching or getting someone else to, he chose to defuse the situation with humor.
The ASTI constitution consists of ten things:
1. Think before you speak or act
2. Include, don't exclude
3. Accept others for who they are
4. Build mutual trust or respect
5. Assume positive intent
6. Speak up for yourself and others
7. Strive to understand where other people are coming from/be empathetic
8. Take responsibility for your actions and words
9. Make a positive impact on the people and environment around you
10. Resolve conflict peacefully
These ten things are necessary for an accepting, tolerant, and diverse learning community. No one should be bullied because they are different. No one should be bullied at all. If everyone follows these rules, everyone should have a great learning experience at ASTI.