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Heroes

11-year-old hero helped save a kid from choking and a woman from a house fire—on the same day

Muskogee Public Schools/Facebook

Davyon Johnson was a hero twice in one day.

It's not every day that you get to save one life, much less two. And it's definitely not every day that a person who plays the lifesaving hero twice in the same day is only 11 years old.

Sixth-grader Davyon Johnson was having an ordinary day at the 6th & 7th Grade Academy in Muskogee, Oklahoma on December 9 when a student stumbled into his classroom. According to the Muskogee Phoenix, the student had been trying to get a lid off his water bottle, and when he pulled it with his teeth, it had gotten lodged in his throat. Fortunately, Davyon knew exactly what to do.

“Davyon immediately sprinted over and did the Heimlich maneuver,” school principal Latricia Dawkins told the Phoenix. “From the account of the witnesses, when he did it the bottle cap popped out.”

Davyon had taught himself the Heimlich maneuver from YouTube because he thought it was a valuable thing to learn. "Just in case you’re in the situation I was in," he said. "You can know what to do."

Impressive, especially for an 11-year-old. But that wasn't the only heroic act Davyon performed that day.

Davyon also helped an elderly woman escape a burning house later the same day. He told KOTV that he saw a woman with a walker leaving her burning house, but he was worried she was moving too slowly.

“It was a disabled lady and she was walking out of her house,” Davyon told the Phoenix. “She was on her porch. But I thought, being a good citizen, I would cross and help her get into her truck and leave.”

The fire was at the back of the house when he saw her leaving, but it eventually spread to the front of the house, he said.

Principal Dawkins said that Davyon has talked about wanting to be an EMT and Davyon's mother, LaToya Johnson, told the Phoenix that Davyon's uncle is an EMT.

"I'm just a proud mom," she said.

The Muskogee Police Department and Muskogee County Sheriff's Office presented Davyon with a certificate making him an honorary member of their force. The Muskogee school board also honored Davyon at one of its meetings.

Davyon said he felt "good" and "excited" about the honor.

“He is just a kind soul and well-liked by his peers and staff alike,” said Principal Dawkins.

Well done, Davyon.

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There were no superheroes with Down syndrome. So this dad invented one.

Chip Reece was always a huge fan of comic books. But when his son, Ollie, was born with Down syndrome, Reece wondered if that was something they'd ever be able to share.

Reece says Ollie, who was born in 2010, is a happy kid and that the two have a great relationship. "In the morning we have a routine where I get my breakfast and he sits right next to me until I'm finished," he writes in an email. "Given how busy he can be, that's a pretty sweet thing. I'd say we're buds."

Chip and Ollie. All images by Chip Reece (artwork by Kelly Williams) used with permission.

Like any dad, he worries about his son and his son's future. He wants Ollie to see that anything is possible for him, that he can dream just as big as any other kid.

When Reece was young, he looked up to the larger-than-life superheroes in his favorite comics. But there aren't a lot of stories out there that feature a hero with Down syndrome for Ollie to look up to. And that bothered him.

So Reece decided to write a comic book of his own.

"I wanted Ollie to see that people with Down syndrome could be superheroes too," he says.

Though not an artist or storyteller by trade, Reece dug deep into his love of comics, and his love for his son, and went about designing a story he pulled very much from Ollie's real life.

The comic, called "Metaphase," follows a young boy named Ollie whose dad has Superman-like powers.

Of course, comic book character Ollie wants to follow in his father's footsteps and get in on the whole saving the world thing. But Super Dad, for all his cosmic strength, is too afraid of what might happen to his son while fighting villains.

"As Ollie gets older he becomes tired of his dad's overprotection and unwillingness to include him in his superhero adventures," Reece wrote on a Kickstarter page for the project. "Ollie has lived his life listening to the world tell him he will be limited in what he can do, with the added frustration of comparing to a dad with unlimited ability."

Ollie begs a scientist to bestow super powers upon him.

Eventually, Ollie seeks out a mysterious corporation that promises to give anyone super powers via a little genetic tampering.

Unfazed by his disability, and the limits placed on him by his dad and the world around him, Ollie refuses to let anything stop him from becoming the world's next great hero.

Woohoo! Ollie celebrates on his journey to become a superhero.

With over 400,000 people in the United States living with Down syndrome, and very, very little representation in pop culture, "Metaphase" is a much needed addition to the superhero universe.

As for Ollie? He just recently realized that the book is actually about him, and he loves it. All the attention doesn't get Ollie too excited though, Reece says, and he's plenty happy to just sit and listen to music or toss a ball around.

"There is more to him than having Down syndrome," Reece told People. "He is his own person and has his own personality, and with everything he has been through, he really is a superhero."

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Grab the tissues: A Halloween PSA about gender nonconformity has all the feels.

A new PSA encouraging kids to dress up as they please for Halloween includes a twist in the final 30 seconds that's garnering praise.

Called "My Heroes," the two-minute video by Landwirth Legacy Productions features a family celebrating Halloween in typical fashion: buying costumes, carving pumpkins, getting excited for the candy in their near future. The kids, a boy and a girl, decide to go as Batman and Wonder Woman, but the parents — especially the dad — seem a bit anxious for some reason.

After a successful night of trick-or-treating, both children are tuckered out by the TV, having eaten their fair share of sweets. It's subtle, but eagle-eyed viewers will notice that the children's faces haven't been shown since they both got into costume.

In the final moments of the PSA, as the parents tuck in their kids, it's revealed that the boy is dressed as Wonder Woman, while the girl is Batman. The PSA ends as the dad — his earlier anxiety now revealed to be that his kids would be treated differently because of their costumes — whispers, "My heroes," before turning off the light. It's definitely a tearjerker.

People who've watched it are having  e m o t i o n s.

The PSA is clearly tugging on the heartstrings of many, and its message is an important one to keep in mind.

Brian Carufe, one of the PSA's co-writers, said the production team wanted to make something that nudges audiences in the right direction when it comes to breaking gender norms.

"Society is traditionally slow at accepting new status quos, and gender nonconformity is no different," he writes in an email. "While we made the film knowing it would resonate with the LGBT community, it carries a message that’s universal, namely being comfortable and confident in every life choice regardless of the opinions of others."

But Alexander Day, the PSA's executive producer and lead writer, hopes the video will have an especially big impact on the parents and kids who see it.

"This Halloween, little boys and girls all over the world will be unable to dress up as they want because of fear they will be teased [and] bullied, or because of unaccepting parents,” he writes in an email. "This video is for them, and I hope that that child out there sees this and realizes they are our greatest superheroes for being themselves."

Every kid deserves to celebrate Halloween in a costume they love — whether they're more of a Batman or a Wonder Woman.

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'Wonder Woman's' director tweeted the best thank-you note from a kindergarten teacher.

"Wonder Woman" is shattering box office records, but the effect the movie is having on one kindergarten class might be an even bigger victory.

Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images.

On Sunday, "Wonder Woman" director Patty Jenkins tweeted a note her producer received from an elementary school teacher detailing 11 ways the movie has already created a new culture in the classroom.

It. Is. Glorious.

Some of the highlights include:

  • "On Monday, a boy who was obsessed with Iron Man told me he had asked his parents for a new Wonder Woman lunchbox."
  • "A little girl said 'When I grow up I want to speak hundreds of languages like Diana.'"
  • "Seven girls playing together during recess ... [said] that since they all wanted to be Wonder Woman, they had agreed to be Amazons and not fight but work together to defeat evil."
  • "On Wednesday, a girl came with a printed list of every single female superhero and her powers, to avoid any trouble when deciding roles at recess."
  • "A boy threw his candy wrapping [on] the floor and a 5-year-old girl screamed, 'DON'T POLLUTE YOU IDIOT, THAT IS WHY THERE ARE NO MEN IN TEMYSCIRA.'"

And this is just from one kindergarten classroom.

Predictably, people on Twitter were pretty charmed and inspired by the kindergarten classroom's adoration of the movie.

The note put many in touch with their inner superhero-loving child.

Others confirmed that the movie has been a smash — with children of all genders.

"Wonder Woman" gave the kindergarten girls a crash course in collaborative leadership — and that's not an accident.

While some studies have shown that superhero movies increase aggression among children, other experts have found that creative superhero play can teach kids to handle adversity without resorting to violence as well as critical negotiation skills.

Meanwhile, the film teaches boys a critical lesson about empathy.

Various studies have shown that consuming media that encourages viewers to identify with members of groups unlike themselves can lead viewers to develop empathy for those groups.

The movie's incredible symbolic value is becoming clear — and not to just young children.

Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images.

Earlier this month, the Legion of Women Writers launched a fundraising campaign to send 70 high school-age girls to see the film.

In May, Austin's Alamo Drafthouse announced it would be holding women-only screenings of "Wonder Woman," and after backlash — and backlash to the backlash that was joined by Austin's mayor, among others — they decided to expand the screenings nationwide.

"Wonder Woman" is already changing the way American kids think about the types of heroes women can be and the spaces women can take up — and that's a good thing.

It might only be evident in one classroom for now, but there are classrooms just like it across the country and around the world.

And when the generation raised on Patty Jenkins' film grow up, what started out as a trickle could become a wave.

Like the Amazon warrior herself, there might be no stopping it.

A Brooklyn resident named Don Phelps added this lovely touch to the Fearless Girl of Wall Street.--via Alan Kistler https://twitter.com/SizzlerKistler

Posted by Heroic Girls on Sunday, June 11, 2017
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