Open Thread: What the Heck is Happening in Jena? It seems like our neighbors up in Jena are having a difficult time with their teenagers (and with racism). Back in September, a group of white students were suspended (not expelled, as many parents had hoped) for putting a pair of hangman's nooses in a tree on the campus of Jena High School. Then, someone burns the school down. And now, four kids are being charged with attempted second degree murder in a bizarre story involving a stolen gun.