Straight is it, the freest place we\'ve ever found

[Carmel]

On 2005-12-08 11:19:00, Anonymous wrote:

"carmel- i was just saying straight is it blah blah to make fun of the songs that we used to have to sing. it was the modified version of "coke is it" but straight is it. i thought it would be an eye getter but was only a reminder of the goofy songs."

No prb!

Id be interested in hearing some of the answers to Anons questions too by the way!

[Carmel]

On 2005-12-08 11:14:00, Anonymous wrote:

"Wow, that was a lot of questions for someone anonymous. I received sub-standard training in everthing you mentioned. part of the problem with how cop outs, mis behavers, and others was that there was no standard flow chart with how to deal with these issues. they were personally being driven by people unqualified....US. If you hated someone or it got personal than interaction was biased. I never did anything personally to anyone that i have feelings about but crunching people up was never my style. There wer some program counselors i had zero respect for, among them a Tim Kelleher. i think he was there around 87. and taking into account what someone else said, the reason i probably remember his name is that there was an incident i saw that i was uncomfortable with and di not speak up at the time. many others were there. it was not even as bad as some of the other things you have mentioned but thinking about it now makes me feel sad too. "

I can understand about the training, that was standard issue it seems in all of the branches.  I dont know that anyone that I saw needed written protocol in order to know it was wrong to break a kids arm or nose or rib.  And there was plenty of that going on for sure.  

In reality we were all contributing to what happened there whether we were staff or clients.  Just by the fact that I complied with having to hold people down because I would be considered dishonest otherwise makes me a culprit in some ways.

[Anonymous]

i am hapy to share what i know, but maybe a better way to ask is to start one topic of discussion at a time, and get a discussion going. I am glad to hear (carmel) that your life is going well and that you have family. I cannot believe this generated this much interest. It is very interseting to me, but it would be really fun to connect with any alumnae from springfield. When i googled myself, the stuff about me came up on this site a long time ago, and wondering who was still around.

[Anonymous]

i also in the last 5 min spoke with another old staff memeber from the 80's. maybe he will choose to "pipe up" on this site any minute now with an opinion or two. i am going to run an errand now but will be back. love to hear from springfield people.

[Anonymous]

Does anybody know of any other straight sites that actually have a live chat situation? I found the remarks posted on here today very interesting and i was in springfield.

[Anonymous]

Does anybody know if Brent Lewis is still associated with this site? He was in springfield.

[Anonymous]

On 2005-12-08 11:42:00, Anonymous wrote:

"i am hapy to share what i know, but maybe a better way to ask is to start one topic of discussion at a time, and get a discussion going."

Yeah that's a better way alright.  :roll:

Still on staff?

[Anonymous]

are you kidding? i am married to the person that paid most attention to my staff. i am in the northern va area, have two cool dogs, and just appreciated the dog-genome sequence in the post this morning.

[Anonymous]

On 2005-12-08 17:51:00, Anonymous wrote:

"are you kidding? i am married to the person that paid most attention to my staff. i am in the northern va area, have two cool dogs, and just appreciated the dog-genome sequence in the post this morning. "

thy rod and thy staff, they comfort her?

[Anonymous]

On 2005-12-08 09:06:00, Anonymous wrote:

"I was in Straight in the 80's and staff as well.

You were a child abuser, paid to mindfuck children, and you were as a matter of course responsible for physical, emotional, and psychological abuse.  Proud of that?  Or was it "no big deal"?  

I have found the way I view some things is different from others because of my experiences at straight(i.e. what do you mean you got laid at the prom? what's a prom?) but overall I say I am okay with what happened and how things have turned out.

You are "OK" with sytematic child abuse, mental torture, and brainwashing?  You are "OK" with lots of former inmates (including those that you abused during your time on staff) having PTSD, committing suicide, or having numerous psychological disorders due to the abuses they suffered?  You are "OK" with kids being deprived of food, sleep, use of sanitary facilities, education, and basic privacy?  You are "OK" with the numerous suicides amongst former inmates?

While I am not casting any bad karma at all to anybody who did not complete the program, I certainly think that the psychological effects of not doing so have been very damaging to some of these people.

And whose fault would that be?  The goddamn druggies that didn't "complete the program", or perhaps the program itself?  Do you think that maybe the program could have caused damaging psychological effects, whether the person completed it or not?

Having been a staff member, I do not feel i owe anybody an apology, but would love to hear more from people about life experiences that they feel are outside of the norm due to the common time we shared together at "the warehouse". We should all get together for beers and ping pong regularly."

Having been subjected to physical abuse and psychological torture techniques by Straight staff members just like you, I feel you do owe an apology---at least.  You seem to have the idea that Straight was some kind of summer camp with stricter-than-usual rules.  It wasn't.  It was a teen torture facility with no "treatment" whatsoever, only abuse and brainwashing.  For you to be "OK" with what went on there and what has become of many of the former inmates indicates both the depth of the brainwashing and indoctrination you were subjected to, and your callous disregard for the well-being of others, particularly your victims. If you were a staff member, YOU ABUSED CHILDREN.  Yeah, let's get together and swill some brewskis and talk about the "good ol' days".  Wake the fuck up.

[Anonymous]

alright.  :nworthy:

let's play ping pong!

[Anonymous]

ok, i am awake. i never abused anybody except myself for being there in the first place. i rspect your angry feelings but not my "segmented quotes". i think everybody on this site is talking about their lives and how to make do with what happened. me too! things that have sucked in life do not always need to keep sucking. the way to stop "sucking" for me has included tons of different remedies; excersize, friends, family, and interests. hobbies for me are probably the most important.

[Anonymous]

and i love ping pong, that is one of the hobbies. whoever said "allright, lets play ping pong"...love your style and your coping methods!

[Anonymous]

to the person who said all that shit.....no i am not okay with any of that..but the sad truth is ..the death certificate list is not full because i personally know of many people that have died that are not on the death lists..do you??? i feel awful, some of them were my best friends.....were any of them yours? you sound alive and angry enough.

[Anonymous]

On 2005-12-08 19:47:00, Anonymous wrote:

"ok, i am awake. i never abused anybody except myself for being there in the first place.

No, you are NOT awake if you believe that you never abused anybody.  By being on staff, it was your job to abuse kids and oversee the abuse of kids.  Did you ever give a phaser "consequences"?  Did you ever deny anyone use of the bathroom?  Did you ever instruct anyone to restrain anyone else?  The list goes on and on, and if you were a staff member, you abused kids as a matter of course during your day-to-day job activities.  That's what staff at Straight, Inc. did.  The fact that you don't see Straight as abusive (as opposed to 'merely unpleasant') tells me that you need to WAKE THE FUCK UP.