A happy Gaudenzia to all!
In the last two weeks I have made contact with five old Daytopians who I knew back in the day, four males and a female. The woman (I'll call her Lisa) found and contacted me via FB first. We have not seen one another in over 15 years, she and I. Through her friends list, I was able to find two others. The other two guys I found independent of my contact with Lisa. I'll tell you now what became of everyone:
1) One old buddy was in a cult called the Holy Order of Mans out in S. California for seven years, but left about a year and a half ago.
http://www.rickross.com/groups/hom.htmlPresently he is in the midst of a painful divorce from his wife of ten years (they were in the cult together), and battling with her over custody rights for their kids. He owns and operates his own A/V business, and teaches A/V stuff at a local community college.
The last time I saw him was at a Rainbow Gathering in '94, where he'd slashed his own throat and jumped into the fire during a drum circle, while in the grip of a bad trip on a large dose of magic mushrooms. He and I have been talking on the phone a bit lately, and I am glad that he is relatively OK and working to rebuild his life.
This person was probated to DAYTOP Richardson and left voluntarily once his probation was up, at the age of 17.
2) Another man (the one I have described here as Jeff) has been in the Navy for several years, is a corpman, and has been to Iraq twice. He is married to a Japanese woman and has a couple of girls. He and I found each other via FB (but have not spoken in person) and I know little of what has become of his life other than what I just described. I am not sure if he graduated or not.
3) The third fellow (this one is interesting to me and I'll call him Zane) is working as a hairdresser in a spa in Hawaii someplace, is an expert in the martial arts discipline called Jeet Kune Do, does Ultimate Fighting Championships, and spends his free time surfing, smoking weed, and otherwise partying. He is tattooed from head to toe, and bleaches his hair. He was in outreach and Pine Mountain too. Graduated from Pine Mountain in '96. This is the guy who I have written of before who we inherited from Straight once they closed down. Nowadays he is a semi-professional Ultimate Fighting contender. Talk about anger issues.
4) The fourth old Richardson Daytopian is still living in Dallas and fought a hard-core heroin addiction for many years, I mean twelve years or so. However, me tells me that he has been clean since February of '08. Now he "only" drinks and smokes pot, and lives off off SSI and Medicaid. Did not graduate, and never was sober, even when in the program. This guy I have known for over twenty years; we grew up in the same neighborhood, and his mom and mine were in the PTA together. We were in the same high school and used to get high together a lot. As a matter of fact, I am the one who told him about DAYTOP in the first place. This person checked himself in, WANTED to go there.
5) Lisa was involved with DAYTOP for longer than anybody else I've ever met, longer than Billy even. I am surprised that Lisa remembered and wrote to me. It took her approximately
five years to graduate, and she was in Dallas, Pine Mountain, and Millbrook too. That it took her so long to graduate is due to the fact that she split a couple of times and so was not in for a continuous five years. That, and they kept shipping her around. But she graduated with Zane at Dresser in '96. Lisa is doing well now, has a decent job, and is engaged. I do not know if she is sober or what.
I have not asked most of these people what they remember about DAYTOP or how they feel it influenced their lives, I've only asked them how their lives have gone in the last 15 years and where they are now. So we've got a guy who is a professional fighter, another who was in a cult, another was a junkie for many years, we've got an adrenaline-seeking war junkie who works with Marines, and Lisa seems to be doing well and is about the only halfway stable one in the bunch. She agreed with me when I told her that I think of DAYTOP as cult, though seems to have no hard feelings. Probably a lot about the DAYTOP experience has been repressed in all of these people, like it was in me for all those years, until I was in therapy four hours a week.