Former Staff, please respond, question on the Dead, Insane,

[Anonymous]

Okay, so my parents got this story, that I was going to run away to California. First of all, yeah right. Second of all, I think they got this story directly from me, although it is possible that Staff told them something I talked about in a rap or whatever. What I'm trying to figure out is, didn't they get some kind of story like this from a lot of the prisoners on purpose: we had to incorporate into our repertoire of gut wrenching "past incidents" a story that told how we were about to die, go insane, or go to jail if we had not luckily ended up in Straight instead. Was there some checklist in our file that made sure we had "confessed" such a story?

Or, was it just a cultural tradition played out at the host home/newcomer level?

I'm trying to figure out how "on purpose" this was.

Also, I think I have heard that each prisoner was assigned a particular Staff member, and that Staff person was supposed to make sure to call on them in a rap or something. Is that true? Were you supposed to keep observations of individuals? Were you supposed to specifically look at prisoners to see the expression on their face, their demeanor, their grooming or whatever? Was this something Executive Staff was doing in those raps?

Thanks for any answers or discussion.

[linchpin]

On 2005-08-19 23:00:00, Anonymous wrote:

"Okay, so my parents got this story, that I was going to run away to California. First of all, yeah right. Second of all, I think they got this story directly from me, although it is possible that Staff told them something I talked about in a rap or whatever. What I'm trying to figure out is, didn't they get some kind of story like this from a lot of the prisoners on purpose: we had to incorporate into our repertoire of gut wrenching "past incidents" a story that told how we were about to die, go insane, or go to jail if we had not luckily ended up in Straight instead. Was there some checklist in our file that made sure we had "confessed" such a story?



Or, was it just a cultural tradition played out at the host home/newcomer level?



I'm trying to figure out how "on purpose" this was.



Also, I think I have heard that each prisoner was assigned a particular Staff member, and that Staff person was supposed to make sure to call on them in a rap or something. Is that true? Were you supposed to keep observations of individuals? Were you supposed to specifically look at prisoners to see the expression on their face, their demeanor, their grooming or whatever? Was this something Executive Staff was doing in those raps?



Thanks for any answers or discussion."

Yes , this much is true. I am in contact with an ex staffer, whom is a good friend, that has confirmed that each staffer had serveral prisoners
they were to call on ...etc. IIRC each prisoner had a staff trainee and that trainee had a Jr Staffer asssigned.
 So the whole " The one who motivates hardest gets called on" thing was a rouse.
 By the way...the joints in my shoulders and wrists to this day are fucked up (hurt, make clcicking/popping sounds) from motivating.

_________________
Zieg Heil, Beeeeatch!
[ This Message was edited by: linchpin on 2005-08-20 07:50 ]

[dragonfly]

[Anonymous]

I once worked on a friend's arm and wrist who had painful carpal tunnel using a thing called myofascial massage, and she felt a lot of relief from this. I can try to describe it -- i put enough weight into my fingers to engage the myofascia, which if I have it right is the connective tissue that encapsulates muscles and connects them to bone, it's that thin skin you find on a piece of raw chicken. The idea is to engage and then very gently stretch the myofascia, maybe you can imagine how stretching something that was bound or injured could bring some relief. I think there are other people here who will have more specific knowledge on this. Didn't Carmel and someone else say they were massage therapists?

For joints, well I know many domesticated animals are experiencing good results from glucosamine & chondroitin supplements. Also, I think fatty acids and probably other nutritional stuff too is good for joints.

[Anonymous]

I must add that I don't know if myofascial massage is recommended for tendonitis or the other things mentioned, you know, get a professional recommendation and all that.

[GregFL]

"dead Insane or Injail"

This was a direct lift from the seed, which lifted it from... drumroll....you guessed it folks, AA.

The AA dogma is that when you hit rock bottom, your only choices are death, insanity, jail or AA.  Art Barker dropped the rock bottom qualifer and changed it to the seed, claiming that all "druggies" were headed for death, insanity or jail and the savior of the youth, 70s, was the seed.


 "If the Seed doesn't become a model program in this country in five years, you can forget about the nation. The YOuth will crawl off and die, and it'll be a whimpering kind of death."

Art Barker, describing what would happen if the Seed didn't become the standard of treatment thruout the nation.

And there you have it....tainted history lessons.

 :grin:

[Sophie]

The group was broken up into sub groups.  Certain jr/sr staff was assigned to observe and call on particular phasers. They could tell whoever was leading a rap to call on "their" phaser to see how they were doing so they could intentionally observe them.

 There were definately exec. staff assigned to phasers as they were the ones responsible for the "treatment" plans.  This was compulsory as it was in the jhaco regulations.  Clearly executive rap was staged in that everyone who put in for phase changes were the ones called on.  One on ones were usually done by a staff member who had that kid in their "group".

[starry-eyed pirate]

God what a tease... Tell me more about the way staff worked.

[Sophie]

My memory is seriously injured.. I would be better able to answer specific questions.

[starry-eyed pirate]

i am so clueless about the workings of staff i don' know what questions to ask.

[Antigen]

Hmm, leme think a minute.

Sophie, why did you go on staff? I imagine everyone else's thinking was at least a little bit similar to mine. Before I decided to bail, I was staring down a plan involving getting my HS diploma by the spring after my 18th bday (would mean making up almost two lost years of school over the course of one semester) then finding or faking an avid interest in some oportunity as far away from any Straight location as I could get. I suppose sometimes, those words that flowed automatically from my mouth about giving back to Group and all that horse shit made an impression on the way. But I was thinking more about how to navigate this last, unexpected stretch of the gauntlet w/o getting set back or started over.

What were you thinking?

History does not record anywhere or at any time a religion that has any rational basis. Religion is a crutch for people not strong enough to stand up to the unkonwn without help. But, like dandruff, most people do have a religion and spend time and money on it and seem to derive considerable pleasure from fiddling with it.
--Robert A. Heinlen, American science-ficiton author

[Sophie]

What was I thinking.. hmmm.

Well, I was on fifth phase for about 40 days and was asked if I was interested in being a fifth phase staff in training.  This meant..no newcomers,which was very appealing, no sitting in or standing beside group (I think).  It meant getting to hang out with some cool people, Jim WH*** and Shane W***h.

I remember my mom stating that if you are ready to not be in group etc.. then why don't they just graduate you.  I had no answer for her.

 I was terrified of screwing it up and not getting to graduate.  As I had heard of staff in training females being started over for allowing a male staff member to touch them or something like that.  I remember sitting in the back of group watching Craig St***** lead a rap and Brady M****k smacked the bottom of my shoe..I FREAKED OUT.... I whipped my head around and said DO NOT TOUCH ME so everyone could hear..it was insane...

I graduated on the last day of the minimum amount of days you could be on 5th phase..which I think was 62. I went on staff and made my 4 or 5 dollars an hour.

My whole life I was a "joiner", and a leader. President of this and that in high school. I was always looking for a tribe, a community.  Going on staff seemed like a way to join another tribe, be around people that I had spent the last 13 months around. I seriously had no idea what I would have done instead.  All I knew how to do before I signed myself in was, being on tour with the dead and doing drugs.  I had been doing that sort of thing for years.  The only other job I knew was working in health food stores. I felt scared to do that because I always used drugs and met other users in that situation.  So, I figured I should just hang around and be around other clean people.  

My situation was unique in that I really do have addiction, I knew I needed help and I was scared to go back to the way I was.  

After a while,(I really have no idea how long I was on staff) the fog lifted and I was better able to see the contridictions and atrocities.  I started to date a "cop-out" and then all hell broke loose. I remember hugging my old host sister in the parking lot after getting in trouble with execs. and telling her how fucked up the place was.  She copped out a week later and never went back. I told her parents about how fucked up stuff was and she got to stay home. Additionally, I saw that the staff knew that some kids in there didn't have drug problems...well, jr/sr staff knew and couldn't really do anything about it as the executive staff was relying on those families money in spite of whether or not their kids needed "rehabilitating".

I don't know if I answered your question.  I haven't thought about this for a long time.

[Nonconformistlaw]

Sophie said-----"Additionally, I saw that the staff knew that some kids in there didn't have drug problems...well, jr/sr staff knew and couldn't really do anything about it as the executive staff was relying on those families money in spite of whether or not their kids needed "rehabilitating"."-------------

I realize this is off the original topic, but I just want to to say thanks for saying that....I was one that never did drugs before straight....As horrible is it is to hear confirmation that those morans knew exactly what they were doing to me (and many others) for profit....in an odd way it helps to hear that from a former staffer....its almost like staff just said to me "I know you didnt belong there." As fucked up as this is...and I dont know why I really needed to hear it from someone like you...so thanks.

BTW you mentioned how staff could get started over for allowing member of opposite sex to touch them....over 4 months after I graduated I was caught 'holding hands.' I wasnt started over but they tried to get me to check myself back in and start over...(I was 18) and when I refused they kidnapped me instead.....god those people were fucked up!

[Antigen]

Yeah you did. And that's sort of astonishing. You really, really believed that was the safe bet at the time? Wow!

Leme see if I can think of another good one. How much did you really know at various levels of the laviathan? I remember working the phones one day and realizing that it had been the first time in many months that I was austensibly alone. And there was a phone. I could, technically, pick it up and call somebody. Or just walk out the door and keep on walking. But I just figured it was safest to assume that the room was bugged or somehow monitored. What was likely true? Was there really very likely a staffer lurking around the corner listening? Or a mic piping sound back to staff offices? Or did you rely more on the conditioning and our self monitoring/self disclosure?

668: The Neighbor of the Beast
--Anonymous Postman

[Sophie]

Let me clear something up.  The whole touch me and I get started over thing was when I was a fifth phase staff in training..essentially, still on my phases but separated from group.

When I graduated, I got in trouble for dating a cop out..not the whole touching thing.  Sorry if that wasn't clear.


Antigen, It never occurred to me to sneak out or sneak a call.. I knew I was there of my "choice" and that I could go if I wanted. By the time was I alone doing things I was committed to graduating.

 There was one point after I had been started over that I went to the trouble of putting in a formal withdrawal.  I was craving my drug of choice intensely, trying to squeeze old phone numbers out of my brain, I was miserable. Instead of getting stood up etc.. several exec's pulled me aside as had one on ones with me. One a young lady... can't remember her name and one with a guy who used to be a phaser and became an exec.. can't remember his name.. Dave Hubbard? I decided to stay. I was supremely convinced that I would immediately continue my self destruction the moment my feet hit the pavement. And for a brief and effective moment those people helped me see how dangerous that would be.  

After that day I zoomed through the phases, on each the minimum amount of days.  

 Anyway,  It never occurred to me that the place was bugged etc.  I became very close friends later in my life with a former and very briefly tenured executive staff member.  He confirmed to me how fucked up everything was and never mentioned bugging or cameras anywhere..at least not in springfield. He most frequently referred to the twisted financial situation and the keeping kids who weren't addicts thing.  I don't think he was aware of the physical abuse or totally understood the emotinal abuse. He mostly did the marketing stuff, and was never in group except to pick people to go on speaking engagements.  He was there about 45 days and got the hell out...just quit and didn't go back with a wife and baby on the way.. he rocks!

So, long story short...it was the conditioning and self monitoring disguised as a sincere desire to graduate the program that kept me in line. (and graduating represented a commitment to changing my life and a false sense of security in my future happiness and success.)