The Seed Indeed Is All You Need

[Anonymous]

It is incredible to me that all you guys on the Straight forum (except Antigen) talk about everything that happened at Straight as if it was so original when in fact The Seed had done this long before Straighth and had actually dome a much more refined, sophisticated, and professional job. Staight, Life, Growing Together were justg a bunch of copy cat programs and beleive me you guys really missed out on the real thing, in terms of true bonding with friends and real love. It is obvious that at Straight you were a bunch of kids that did not have professional leadership and real dedication, but it is amazing how you talk about that program without discussing the importance of The Seed. Also, it appears that at Straight, in the host homes and group, people did not even mention the name "Seed." Did any of you even know that the Seed existed. I guess it is a shame that you were part of a program and did not even know its origins, which as I said before, The Seed was much more authentic and real than all of the half-baked methods copied and implemented at Straight.

[Antigen]

Most people probably didn't know anything at all about The Seed because it was verboten to speak of it.

Early in my time on front row, Marney S (who's brother you may well have known) stood me up and instructed me never to speak of it. But it wasn't, as someone suggested, because they were afraid Art would sue them for trademark infringement. It was because The Seed in St. Pete was shut down for good cause and they didn't want to draw attention to the fact that Straight was operating on the same model w/ Seed graduates as staff and Seed parents forming the BOD.

"People think it must be fun to be a super genius, but they don't realize how hard it is to put up with all the idiots in the world."
"Isn't your pants' zipper supposed to be in the front?"
--Hobbs to Calvin

[90's Guy]

The following lingo was originated at The Seed:

Raps
Get out of your head!
You?re full of shit!
Do not forget where you came from.
Today is the first day of the rest of your life.
I got weird vibes from that.
You could cut the vibes with a knife.
Oldcommer, Newcommer. Oldtimmer, Trucker
Staff, Jr. Staff, Group Staff, Senior Staff
I can relate to what so-and-so said. . .
Get out of yourself
Honesty is the first and most important rule
Do the right thing, and the right thing will happen.
Be careful what you wish for.
If I had know you out there, I would have eaten you up alive.
Druggie friends are like crabs in a bucket.
It had not happened to you (me) YET.
Old-ties.
Images
I Love You
Life is not the journey; it is the destination.
The opposite of love is apathy.
Discipline is the proof of love.
Chicks.


(See you thought you were so original???
More later)

[Dr. Miller Newton]

On 2005-02-18 12:06:00, Anonymous wrote:

 The Seed was much more authentic and real than all of the half-baked methods copied and implemented at Straight."

The Seed, although an intriguing form of treatment, was imperfect in many ways, the most notable being the fact that I was not the Clinical Director.  Sure, Art had some good ideas, but it took my genius and creativity to perfect them and make Straight, Inc. the model therapeutic community that it was.  You didn't see Princess Di or Nancy Reagan fawning over Barker, now did you?  That's because I made Straight what it was--the greatest adolescent drug treatment facility in history.  The Seed was merely a prototype, which, through my inspired guidance and wisdom, evolved into Straight, Inc., which, as I mentioned, was the greatest teen drug rehab in history---until the opening of the new, improved, all-ages, faith-based Straight,Inc.-by-the-Sea (formerly Straight, Inc. v2.0)!  Love ya! Have a seat!

[Anonymous]

It is hard to beleive Antigen that you never mentioned The Seed in group or in the privacy of other Straightlings without Staff being around. Why didn't you, for example discuss The Seed wit h Peterman or Newton while you were at Straight. The fake untrained staff at Staright must have known about Seed and the early ones must have known in their hearts that they as Seed graduates could not have done this without Art's leadership. I can imagine they felt like big phoneys.

[Anonymous]

Once gain, you have totally ignored everything I posted about the authenticity of The Seed. As Antigen mentioned, you were all forbidden to talk about The Seed, and obciously you are still brainwashed to beleive that The Seed and Art Barker never existed when, in fact, he was the real thing (unlike Newton). It remains remarkable to me how closed minded many of you can be as you continue to talk about Straight like a program that had any legitimacy when, in reality, compared to The Seed it was in effective since you had no real authentic charasmatic leader. I guss you will never know, unless would have actually been a part of The Seed for all the years that I was. . .sad, sad, sad.

[RTP2003]

I guss you will never know, unless would have actually been a part of The Seed for all the years that I was. . .sad, sad, sad."

Yeah, I'm really bummed that I missed out on the Seed and had to settle for Straight.  Excuse me while I go cry about it.....

[Antigen]

On 2005-02-18 12:30:00, Anonymous wrote:

"It is hard to beleive Antigen that you never mentioned The Seed in group or in the privacy of other Straightlings without Staff being around. Why didn't you, for example discuss The Seed wit h Peterman or Newton while you were at Straight. The fake untrained staff at Staright must have known about Seed and the early ones must have known in their hearts that they as Seed graduates could not have done this without Art's leadership. I can imagine they felt like big phoneys."

Are you joking? I didn't discuss The Seed w/ Newton or Peterman because 1) lowly newcomers don't just walk up and talk to execs 2) for the same reason you would never try and tell Art what great fun you had at some rock concert or drunken weekend, even if it were true; I wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible w/ as little friction as possible.

You got it all wrong, I'm tellin' ya! They did not view what they were doing as a cheap knock off. They viewed it as a new and improved Seed. And, in many ways, from their point of view, it was. Once they got rid of Newton, they no longer had a cult of personality. No one was indispensible and Straight would go on no matter who came or went or why. The had over 20 branches over time and kept the public/private money train going for 17 years. They understood how to pacify the regulators and law enforcement by hiring people w/ the right titles, getting licenses and permits, altering varous controversial policies when the pressure was on, etc. They were a lot more savvy than Art. Art lost his in w/ NIDA because he didn't know when to shut the hell up and go along.

Now, all that said, just about everything else was the same. 90's guy listed some lingo. Some of that didn't carry over. Most of it did, and here's some more.

That's not important!
Dime therapy
GET OUT OF YOUR HEAD!
for all 'intensive purposes'
clicking (no, cliqueing)
No stopping off on the way to or from the building
Report any suspicious persons you see hanging around the building
What the hell do you mean you want to go home [group laughs asif on que] your parents don't want you home!
So, you want to put up a coc to withdraw? [more human laugh track]
You did the necessary things ...

But more telling than the words I can type was the style of speech and carriage. We'd shift from foot to foot while relating in group. We said "m'kay?" at least once per sentence. We were not permitted to use the word "you" in normal context, it always had to be "I".

And the number one mandatory infraction of the first and most impotent rule "When I was a druggie [sniff sniff, dabs at croccodile tears, pauses for effect]..."

I'm tellin' ya, I spent enough time in the buildings on Andrews Ave and SR-84 and hanging out w/ Seedlings to have been well familiar w/ the culture and styles. It wasn't a whole lot different.

The drug war places Leo in a round room and instructs him to piss in a corner.
--Antigen

[Anonymous]

Who cares? Yes, you are right, Straight was INEFFECTIVE! WTF do you think we all post here so much?

And get off Art's nuts will ya!

[Anonymous]

Wow Ginger I forgot all about that "I" stuff. We were always told to apply it to ourselves if we slipped up and said "you".

It never dawned on me until just now that "report all suspicious persons in and around the bldg" was probably there because there were disgruntled former phasers.

[Antigen]

On 2005-02-18 17:08:00, Anonymous wrote:

"Who cares? Yes, you are right, Straight was INEFFECTIVE! WTF do you think we all post here so much?



And get off Art's nuts will ya!"

And so was The Seed.

The last struggles of a great superstition are very frequently the worst.
--Andrew Dickson

[Anonymous]

Did anyone else's programs have the group continually define the difference between "truth" and "honesty" ? Truth was only some of the story, while honesty was being completly open.

[Antigen]

Yeah, did you guys do Rules Rap? I think I've heard that you did.

Can't remember whether it was once or twice a day. But we had to run through the rules, giving examples, starting w/ Honesty, the first and most impotent rule.

Total confession was part of it. But the other part was a total reversal of the more commonly accepted definitions. Honesty, as a componant of Progrm lingo, meant filtering everything according to Program views. If you had a really dear friend with whom you had gotten high, that was not "honest". Honesty was realizing that they were only using you for drugs or to bring you down because missery loves company or whatever. To speak, or even to think of this person in any other terms was "dishonest", according to the Program definition.

Moralizing, with the force of law or coercion, is a
far greater crime against the constitutional principles of our nation than unauthorized euphoria, regardless of the substance involved, be it chocolate or heroin.
--James

[Anonymous]

They understood how to pacify the regulators and law enforcement by hiring people w/ the right titles, getting licenses and permits, altering varous controversial policies when the pressure was on, etc. They were a lot more savvy than Art. Art lost his in w/ NIDA because he didn't know when to shut the hell up and go along.


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Antigen, all you have said is beleiveable, but I can assure you that Art did not accept the help because he did not want to cheapen the authenticity of The Seed by allowing the governemnt to spoil the oasis in time he had created. He publicly claimed many times that he  would rather have a smaller group than to destroy the love present in the group. After all, many of the atrocities that ocurred at The straight did not ocurr at The Seed in all the years that the group was around because he did notg allow the gov't to interfere. When Art  could no longer do it, it was over since no one could really do it like him. Since Straight did not have him, they obviously got themselves in all kinds of trouble with the law. The proof was in the pudding.

[`]

did all of the offshoot Seed/Straights have a group of kids already on their phases start things out by coming over from another one of the Straights? i wonder how anyone would start it up brand new.