Fornits
Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform => The Seed Discussion Forum => Topic started by: velvet2000 on April 26, 2002, 02:01:00 PM
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You may have noticed my post on The Straights board asking when group went from being called The Game at Synanon, to Rap's. Someone said they think The Seed changed that lingo. Is that true?
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My perception is that "the Seed" was first and Straight start from some members of the St Pete Seed that I was a part of.
When we were in group meetings at the Seed they were called "Rap" sessions.
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I'm not sure when The Seed was started but CEDU was founded in 1967 by Mel Wasserman and some ex-Synanon people. I know that at CEDU, group is referred to as Raps and I'm pretty sure it's been that way since day one. I'm not sure what the link is between The Seed and Cedu other than Synanon.
On 2002-04-26 11:01:00, velvet2000 wrote:
You may have noticed my post on The Straights board asking when group went from being called The Game at Synanon, to Rap's. Someone said they think The Seed changed that lingo. Is that true?
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Tell me more about CEDU, where is/was it located/ its purpose, etc. This is very interesting. Also, What is your involvement or interest. Thank you and welcome to the message board.
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Cedu is an emotional growth boarding school in California. It is often referred to as the "grand daddy" of such schools and programs. I'm attaching a link http://www.cedu.com/history/index.shtml (http://www.cedu.com/history/index.shtml)
to the school's website that talks a bit about it's history. But, of course, this is the side that they want parents to see. I believe it's actual origination is a bit more colorful with it's connection to Synanon. As for my connection. I attended an offspring of Cedu that was started by Cedu graduates.
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thanks, i had found the link after seeing your post and was surprised to see such a large boarding school that was synanon based. Tell us about your experience, if you would.
Greg
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Greg,
Cedu is pretty big and seems to keep growing. They've got quite a few campuses and have recently merged with The Brown Schools. The school I attended, Amity, was not a Cedu school but rather a school started by Cedu grads so it was pretty similar. Cascade, in no. california, falls under the same category and there are quite a few others.
As far as my experience at Amity. It was pretty much similar to what I've heard about Cedu. Straight was not a boarding school right? Amity was. So we basically never left the campus. The campus was an old Italian villa with a working vinyard, separate dining hall, basketball court, swimming pool, pond, lots of space and pretty secluded from town. We had immediate neighbors that you would only ever run into if you were on the very boarders of the campus. From what I know about The Seed and Straight, my school varies quite a bit. Am I correct? Amity was definately there to cater to parents with plenty of money who didn't want to feel that there child was being deprived of anything. I must admit that the school seemed to spare no expence. The grounds were beatiful (thanks to endless hours of student labor) and the main house was gorgeous. The students lived in small dorms, each dorm had it's own bathroom. The student body was small, maybe about 60 kids at a time, broken down into "families". Each kid was placed into a peer group with other students that had arrived within weeks of each other. This peer group progressed together through the different families (most programs call them phases).
Our day to day life never really varied. We woke six days a week by 7 (Sun we slept in), did the breakfast thing, went back to clean the already clean dorms and bathrooms, then meds and "first light". First light was a gathering of the entire school for some sort of activity or game. School was from 9 - 11:30. Lunch. After lunch was "dishes". Dishes were for students who had broken one of the many rules (also know as "agreements"). No talking, no whistling, no humming, no nothing except about two hours of cleaning. Those who didn't have dishes were back at the main house with a mandatory silent study hall. Mon, Weds, Fri. we had raps. Mon raps were Family raps whereas Weds and Fri raps were a mix of all the students with about 8-10 students per rap. I believe raps are pretty much similar to Games. Circle of chairs, lots of yelling and crying. Tues and Thurs rather than raps the time was spent with your family doing chores and cleaning. Dorm time from 5:30-6:00 to shower and change for dinner. After dinner and those dishes was what was referred to as "floor time". Students gathered in the four front living rooms and just kinda hung out. Lot's of smushy mushy crap, especially after raps. Last lite was at 10. Calm house meeting, story telling, lectures and the like. Then to dorms and lites out by 11.
Of course that was the basic daily life. Depending on the latest trauma drama in a student's life things varied. But I've already rambled enough. Thanks for listening. If you want more of the juicy details let me know.
-A
ps. Amity has been closed since '94, but that's a whole different story.
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yecch. It sounds very similar to Elan, the infamous synanon based boarding school for the rich and famous and not so famous up north, where Skaskel was sent after he murdered his neighbor(allegedly).
This whole synanon based treatment thing has really gotten a lot of credibility that it didn't earn and never deserved.
My question, other than what is your first name, is other than the abuse of going thru theraputic community treatment as a youngster, which in itsealf is usually defined as abuse by the now adult survivor of it, is was there specific abuses?
Did you find certain aspects of it, such as the extreme hours unusual? This is a common Theme thruout synanon based "treatment", keep them tired, hungry, keep their mind busy and keep them scared of constant confrontation and verbal assualt and punish for every minor infraction.
As an example, in the seed, if you wouldn't fall in line, eventually they would bring your father in to beat you physically back in the staff room. This is well documented,and I witnessed several people whom it happened to. It also had a terrifying effect on everyone else.
What about at your boarding school? Finally, have you read Alicia Parks book American Gulag? If not, pick it up.
Welcome to our forum and thank you for contributing.
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Greg,
Can I find specific examples of abuse? Sure. What I find so frustrating is having to explain to those who have never been through what we have been through what abuse constitutes in my eyes. What some view as "controlled" I view as oppresive. These parents who continue to send their kids away after all the info now available from former students on the net need to have THEIR heads examined. No kid deserves what we have been through. In no way do the means justify the end. They have no idea what it is to live in constant fear. Never knowing when it would be your turn. Things could be going well and then bam!. Shit hit the fan because you weren't working hard enough. It was a no win situation. No matter how hard you tried they would eventually decide it was your turn. I remember this one time. A large group of students had gathered in the main living room. The headmaster was sitting like a king on his throne with all the girls lounging around him. This girl walks by, minding her own business, and bam! it's her turn. He started digging into her. Humiliating her for all kinds of little shit. Right there in front of all of us. And what sickens me the most is that we all went along with him. Too scared not too. We all laughed at his jokes aimed at her. But I remember it being nervous laughter. Everyone just hoping he stayed focused on this kid. Praying he wouldnt find you. I remember trying to just fade away and blend into the wall.
Ever heard of Propheets? I know they were at CEDU but I'm not sure how they came from Synanon. They were weekend long, intensive sessions. There were a series of propheets that students went throug, each having a theme. My first one started in the middle of the night. My dormhead woke me up in the middle of the night, told me I wasnt allowed to speak anymore and that I had to get dressed. I was going into a Propheet. We were told to gather in the dining hall. We all ate cereal in complete silence and then obediently followed the Propheet leaders into the Propheet Room. The windows were covered with plywood so that once we entered we were completely cut off from the outside. All watches and jewelry were taken away. We werent allowed to know the time during the next couple of days. We sat in a circle and the rules were explained. I remember lots of hand made posters on the walls. The room was bare except for chairs, a stereo and large writing board. I dont' remember specifics. That's probably for the best. But I remember that we weren't allowed to sleep, eat or drink until the specified time. There were lots of "therapeutic" activities. Things that looking back just seem freakish. I remember one excercise was about having to feel the weight of our troubles up us. We had to curl up in a tight ball and cry and the moderators would come around and sit on us and try to wrap us up tighter. There was always at least one rap but I seem to remember the entire Propheet felt like a rap. Being scared of what was coming up next. I remember being very tired. If you started to nod off they made you stand behind your chair to stay awake. And the music. They used specific music to get you into a feeling. We would have a couple of bathroom breaks and a snack break of cheese and crackers and water. But it was the feeling of complete euphoria once we were let out of the room that I remember. It was a crazy feeling. The entire student body would gather in the main room to greet the returning students. The music was all lined up to get everyone crying and mushy. Everyone hugged and smushed on the floor. I'm convinced that it was through these Propheets that they gained most of their control. I can't really explain it all that well. But when you emerged you were more programized and program loving than ever before. Does that make sense?
There were other ways they had to control the students as well. Bans. There were two kids of bans. Either on things, like music, movies etc. Or on people. If a student was placed on bans that student wasnt allowed to have any contact with the students they were on bans with. If I were placed on bans with X then I wouldn't be able to speak with X, sit next to X, be alone in a room with X, participate in a conversation with X or talk about X. Bans usually happened after a kid ran away. When the kid returned, which always happened because after all, how far could an american kid get in Italy with no passport or way to communicate, they were placed on bans with their peer group and any others deemed necessary by the staff. The kid would be put on indefinates, meaning no school or activities other than raps. All time was spent doing manual labor around the campus, dishes, etc. There was something dehumanizing about being segregated. It was like you had to live in your own world. Evenings for someone on bans were spent alone in a room next to the main room. All by yourself but still able to hear everyone out there having a good time. I guess it could best be described as a "time-out" that a parent gives to a child except on a much longer term.
God, there so much more but I know I'm rambling now.
-a
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I am sitting here after reading your post, and I don't know exactly what to say. You have provided me documentation that the synanon model was prevalent and rampant thru an entirely different mode that abused children prior to the seed. Up to now I believed that Art Barker was the first that took the synanon model to treat youthfull "drug offenders". I guess that the Boarding school model was much more of a broad brush stroke that took all types of kids.
You have also shown me that you experienced very similar things and suffered the abuse that originated from the hands of your parents.
The things you experienced,more or less, have all been experienced by all of us. I welcome you to this forum and feel a kinship with you. I hope that this message board relays to you that you are not alone and that others understand what you went thru. I personally felt that my left over anger from childhood was mine alone until I found Ginger, Wes, Ken, Scott, Thea,Kim and Kathy about two years ago. Since then, I would say that hundreds and hundreds of people have logged on and shared their stories, and with the exception of the rare few, everyone feels the same, feels like a portion of their childhood was stolen from them, feels a loss, feels alone and that they have a terrible secret. Well, the secret is out, and I for one feel better. I hope you do too.
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he never had any direct link to synanon, only through readings and such.
most of the model came from the service, and AA although I'm not really sure of the exact readings, but I remember being shown books @ andrews when in the office, not intake, the other side. If I were you I would look closer at a book called min kempf. He hated the author, but some of the consepts I remember intrigued him.
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I read Men kempf when I was a teenage post seed and it terrified me. Are you saying that Art was intrigued by the Hitler Youth?
Interesting.
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The people that created Amity were graduates of Cedu, and had co-founded Cascade. They left Cascade about two years into it's conception. The 'King' you made refrence to is dead. He was a 'King' of sorts at Cascade as well.
Did M. Golceker kill himself while still on staff at Amity?
M.
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i went to amity. i was one of the reasons they got shut down.
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I went to Amity from 89-90. I have always wondered why they closed. Do you know the whole story?
k
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dear greg i'm also glad you mentioned the anger and loss
i went from one indoctrination method to another, the seed was the second. post seed i was so angry and alienated, so mistrustful, that i just didn't fit in polite society.. and that has played out occupationally and relationally, such that i now have a great collecion of war stories, and not much else ( of course, larger social trends have also played a primary role in my weird life, as well) in fact, i didn't even begin to understand the experience until many years after the fact, when i chanced upon the 'physiology of brainwashing and conversion" and, to you mention the sense that one has a 'shameful secret' well that secrecy is a primary means of control for these birds. indeed the 'secret shame' is a primary means of control for ALL abusers, regardless of the form it takes..thus, i will "out" myself here and now. yea verily i smoked rope when i was a teenager.they, on the other hand, blackmailed, pejured, planted evidence, comitted fraud, unlawfully detained, subjected their charges to inhuman and degrading treatment, commited assault and battery, and on and on.. so i ask.. which of these sins is the greater?
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UH... probably smoking"rope"
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I will post my threads on raps here if that's ok.
I do remember the raps being referred to as The Game a few times in Idaho.
I firmly believe that Raps were the gel, and the most important part of what went on there. Both lovers and enemies of CEDU agree on that. The totality was...
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My first rap was in Walden West. Stacy Wasserman was to be the facilitator. I can?t remember who was supporting in that rap because the whole thing was so apocalyptic, anything besides it?s own happening would be unmemorable by comparison. I didn?t know what I was in store for at all. I was escorted from the house by Pxxx, who steered me down a path with a rock border, and past a few other buildings. We came to Walden and were directed into the room. This room has so much significance for me that just crossing it?s threshold in my imagination causes unspeakable feelings. All of my propheets and workshops were in Walden and it is fitting that my first step down forced behavior modification should happen in that room.
There was a circle of black chairs interrupted by one upholstered blue one with arm rests. No one went near that one. The black chairs had different vintages and it quickly became clear that some were actually more comfortable than others. I sat down and listened to my heart throb in my ears. I didn?t know what to be nervous about, but after numerous kids asking me during lunch if this was my first rap and then their replies of ?holy shit, who?s running it?? or ?Ha Ha, won?t that be nice? I started to become a little nervous. On the walk over with Pxxx there were many other people moving to their assigned rooms and it was quiet. There was a definite sense of forboding. And I didn?t know how to identify it yet?there was something else I got a strong whiff of as we sat down in our black chairs that afternoon in Walden West: fear.
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Carmen?s raps were deep. Even deeper than the average rap and as I walked out of my first rap with her, I was resolved that this was NOT the place for me. I had never been a junkie and I had never been to jail. I was fourteen and this place was insane! Carmen had almost every person in the circle crying at the same time. I don?t know how to explain it.
I do, but it?s hard to get across.
I can only explain it from the point of view of an older student even though I wasn?t one in this particular rap. Carmen had the power to tell your family head how you were doing. Therefore, she could have you on work assignments for weeks on end, or she could tell your family head that you did whatever it was that was expected of you. You might get to get off campus for a milkshake or a basketball game at the gym in Bonners Ferry. Of course leaving campus was almost an impossiblity for the first year, though. Let?s say the rap started and there was an indictment about someones bathroom habits, or they are not clean enough, this degrades into an embarrasing commentary on the persons acne. Carmen insists that there is more to it than sanitary measures and claims to know that this person is ?holding on to something?. She calls the girl dirty and a liar. Another student jumps on the Carmen?s bandwagon and takes another pot shot at the girl from Carmen?s half of the circle. Carmen springs out of her seat and switches to the other side to take the seat next to the sobbing girl who has already at this point told us all the slutty things she has done in her life and that?s why she has acne. Carmen lays a hand on her back and blasts back at the guy who tried to get a point at the girls expense. Carmen rails him. She really lets him have it telling him he?s so full of shit. A tremendous kissass and a waste of resources in the community. He?s terrified, he?s not sure what he?s going to do. Neither are we. Noting the lull, Carmen demands of the older students in the rap to get honest and tell this kid what they think of him. Three people, like synchronized machines stand up and switch sides of the room and begin to yell. When one stops to breathe, the other two take up the slack. The whole time, Carmen is multitasking. She?s like an executive with three phones in front of her, and each one is blinking and bleeping with high end client on the other end shelling out thousands to get a few minutes on the phone with the woman. She was comforting the girl who is sobbing about her confidence issues; she has just had everything she?s ever done exposed by people who hardly know her. At the same time, as facilitator, she?s encouraging a full- scale attack on a kid who seemingly allied himself with her just a few moments before.
It was confusing. The kid who was trying score a point is now in tears and Carmen is asking other parties if they feel like doing some work. The older students see a double opportunity in this: Firstly, they can skip any of the humiliation of being indicted in front of all the kids, but they have to put on a convincing show of being upset and empathizing with either the bawling boy or girl. If they play the cards just right, they too can have the comforting hand of Carmen laid upon them. They too can know that they have escaped ?having another asshole ripped? for that day.
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...whoever was monitoring my call would simply place their finger on the handset cradle and disconnect me. It was a time of resistance, and the place had weird rituals in dealing with the recalcitrant.
Getting indicted in raps always surprised me for the first year. When it began it was always a real shocker, because there was no logic that I could see behind the purpose. My journal entries clearly reinforce my feeling that the place was ?freaky? and cultish. The work details were nothing but excuses at having routine labor accomplished and excluding people who acted out of agreement. And in these raps I tried to defend myself calmly most of the time but occasionally I would let people get inside of me. Once you broke a seal, it took a lot of energy to retain. I knew my number was going to be up soon, and it scared me the way they could and would REALLY yell. I knew the only reason no one had done that to me yet was because I was still new. I started getting paranoid to walk into raps whenever they occured... and I worried before my truth propheet. It was scheduled for the following week.