I remember the car being a volvo. It was there in 1985. Joe took me out of the corner and walked me from the School House Trailer(s), next to E-3, down the dirt road to E-5.
The whole way Joe explained the concept of Elan, his days in Daytop, blah blah blah - and the ferris wheel ended when we came to the Volvo in front of E-5. That's when I got the "I came to Maine with $10 in my pocket and this car" story. The whole time I was thinking "this mother fuckas high". As I recall the car was rusted out and had weeds growing in it.
Ralph had so many f-ing stories about the "BING" as he called it. He told his prison stories to scare the shit out of us -- it worked. I particularly loved it when he reenacted the incident that gave him the razor blade cut from his ear to his mouth or his stories about having Prison bitches servicing him and washing his sox and underwear.
However, when Ralph spoke you could actually respect what he was telling you because he had honestly been in the shit and knew where we where heading and genuinely appeared to care. There were a handfull of other good peolpe as I can remember (Kate Barry, Dave McVetty, Sean Fogg, Maria, Jeff Gottlieb (at times))
Listening to the other assholes spew vomit and hollow words from the orifice they called a mouth, was pointless and you never sensed an ounce of compassion or caring from them just viciousness.
Having the people I remember in charge during my stay, who where only abusing children because of some sick sadomasochistic desire to control, demean and destroy young children, abusing their positions of power to fulfill their delusions of grandeur, robed from the program and what it may have been able to accomplish.
Ralph Maldonado was solid and is sadly missed
To everyone else it's all about Karma.
