I am posting this from Straight. It's about Raps and written by a staff member, apparently. It covers the range or Raps and is entirely applicable to my Seed experience, minus the physical violence (which in my time at the Seed amounted to aggressive finger poking, a shove from behind to 'sit up straight,' threatening body language and being told 'you weren't shit.' Other than that, everyone was very nice!
Here it is:
"This was written by someone else, I don't know who. I really hope they don't mind if I post it here, if they do I can take it down. Read at your own risk.
Some more about rap structure and the process of rap's :
Types of Raps
Past/Present/Future- This was the most common of the therapeutic
raps. There would be a basic theme or concept. For instance, staff
might come in to the front of the group and ask someone to relate
about a time in their past when they failed to do what they had said
they would do. Everyone would start to motivate, a noisy proposition,
and staff would call on a oldcomer to set a good tone for the rap.
Then staff would relate a little to what they said,and then a couple
more oldcomers. Eventually once the idea was established
staff would start calling on newcomers. People who did not relate with
specific personal and heartfelt information would be confronted.
Staff would call on someone else in the group to carry out the
confrontation. Staff would lead the group into relating about the
present. This might provide them a window to ask a person who had
failed in a commitment the prior day-just why did it happened ? This
kind of planned confrontation was daily. The Rap would end on
positive note, with staff leading the group to discuss
goals or dreams about fulfilling commitments in the future.
Confrontation- The "volcano" was a favorite confrontation rap. There
were many similar concepts. The basic idea is to get one or two
people to describe exploding, or the things that a volcano does, then
start to call on the people targeted for confrontation. These were
people who were anything short of 100% compliant and enthusiastic
about the program. These raps often led to extensive verbal assault
and physical battery. Confrontation raps were almost always with a
couple of Sr. Staff or higher in the room, or possibly leading the
group. They might also participate from the back of the
group.
Review- There were only a couple of review raps as I remember it. One
was rules rap, a daily recitation of the entire litany of rules
including memorization of all the names and positions on the chain of
command. The other common review rap was after the open meetings on
Friday and Monday nights.
Off The Wall- If the group was in a good place we would at times be
treated to an off the wall rap. This might include breaking up into
groups and working on role playing projects.
Core Idea- This rap was "grown from a core statement or central
thought".Avoiding chronological development staff would lead the
group in the process of taking "the pearl" and add layer after layer
of insight and perception to it before the rap draws to a close.
Work Groups- Splitting into triads or larger groups to allow each
small group work as a team to build a project or skit. This is more
of a technique than a kind of rap as it can be integrated in many rap-
types.
Instructional- Some review raps are instructional, often morning rap
is instructional, the point of the rap is to educate. Virtually all
basics raps were instructional. RSC or RSA raps were instructional.
Kind of self-explanatory.
Introduction- Staff could choose to do their own introduction to the
group as the basis for a rap. They could answer questions about their
own lives and pasts as a way to build trust with the group.
Basics- A basics rap was about the seven steps and the other *tools*
of change that the program offered. They avoided confrontation and
personal issues. Staff would keep the pace fast and the relating
brief. However, it should be noted that any rap about "honesty" could
start off as basics and end up confrontational. It was the staff
members call, it could change directions in the time it took for a
fifth phaser to hand in a Chain of Command report.
Love Rap- Generally every night rap was some variety of love rap.
Confrontation was avoided; focus was on changes of the day, setting
goals and other positive concepts. Misbehavers were often carried out
to the intake rooms for these positive raps. Love raps were mushy
tear filled events where people who had been carving in their own
arms all day would stand up and cry from the stress. These
emotionally battered children would promise to change the following
day and start the whole process over again in the morning.
Daily Rap Structure Basics-The object is warming up the group &
getting them to start thinking about the steps again. Focus them, get
them started motivating, do an early assessment for the mood of the
group. Label trouble points and correct seating arrangements. Rap
solely focused on basics of the program. Avoid confrontation or
personal issues.
Morning Rap- A quick paced shallow rap about the past habits ties and
friends. A fast paced process of demonizing anything that was part of
the clients life prior to the program. Clothing, foods, behaviors,
thoughts and every other aspect of the "past" was demeaned
repeatedly. Morning rap was to set the mood for the day - compulsive
confession. On open meeting days this slot was filled with Homes Rap.
Guys & Girls Rap- Much more personal rap, with one staff member
typically of the same gender as the group. These raps involved
intense pressure to discuss sexual topics. Confession of the most
horrific sexual thoughts was encouraged. Guys talked about their
natural random homo-erotic thoughts as if they were demons that were
part of the druggie world coming to drag them into relapse. Girls
talked about how they were sluts in their pasts and confessed to
having sluttish desires towards the guys in the group, again,
as part of the drug problem. Guys talked about being "losers" in their
pasts, and "losers" in their current school/work environments outside
the program.. These raps were often highly confrontational, and
regularly degraded into physical violence for both sexes.
Exercise Rap- Staff Trainees typically led this rap, though at times
it was a fifth or fourth phaser. The exercises were always performed
with no warm up or cool down process. We were always on a hard floor.
We often did exercises that were really damaging to our bodies. The
worst were the forced leg lifts, often mixed with aggressive verbal
assault and physical battery. I remember people jogging in place
barefoot, or in otherwise poor footwear for such high-impact
exercise. I have li ttle doubt that this practice caused
physical damage to many of clients. If you think about it for a
minute,prisons can't do this to people, and schools have to have a
licensed instructor, and even then it has to be voluntary. This was
daily forced exercise without regard for the potential damage. The
objective was simple-get the group worked up before confrontation rap
of the day.
Afternoon Rap- The most confrontational rap slot of the day. This was
oftena period of two solid hours of loud aggressive verbal assaults
along with physical battery. Afternoon rap was a sweaty inferno in
the Georgia summer.These raps would attract senior staff and the
group staff supervisor. These were people who were highly skilled at
verbal assault and manipulation.Afternoon rap was the tear down point
of the day for the newcomers. They were faced with the waves of
oldcomers arriving from school and work,flaunting their freedom.
These so called examples would then spend the late afternoon and
evening hours relating to the group, confronting newcomers and
doing the grunt work of operating the program. Newcomers were brought
to understand over time that if they simply confessed to being a drug
addict,and learned to believe it, they too could be a part of this
elite group & free from the hell of being a newcomer. On open meeting
days this slot was filled with Executive Rap.
Night Rap- Almost always a love rap of some sort, the idea was to send
everyone home thinking about themselves and how lucky they were to be
alive and in straight. Night rap often included turning the lights
down low, staff members telling their own stories, lots of tears,
slow songs etc. Bring the kids down from being abused each night
before you send them home.What is a Rap ? For my own part a rap was a
period of two hours or longer, in a group of 100-300 people, getting
motivated and if called upon, standing up and trying to relate to the
rap topic in a way that would win me group approval. Once I got into
staff training I learned more about how the raps were structured
and what their purposes were as I have written above, but that still
does not seem to answer the question, what is a rap ?
It is nearly impossible to explain the level of emotional pressure
developed within the group. A rap was always focused on addiction and
recovery, even an off the wall rap would end with a serious note
about addiction and the risk of ending up dead or in jail. Raps are
about the entire group changing,not just individuals. An individual
revelation in a rap can be therapeutic or traumatic for everyone in
the room. Raps were a chance for staff and upper phasers to use
information they had about newcomers against them, with
the goal of changing these peoples minds.
Raps are very structured group conversations. Staff would pick and
choose who they called on in group based on knowledge of how that
person will relate to a rap topic. Trusted higher phasers, especially
fourth and fifth phasers were exected to set the example of relating
in a manner that obtained group approval. Group approval was only
offered for people who had come to accept themselves as insane, and
in need of God. The deceptive and generic term higher powers is often
put forth as a denial of the religious nature of the program. It is
merely smoke and mirrors. Newcomers are coerced through intense group
pressures into relating in the same way. Relating in anyway that is
off the topic or focus of the rap will result in prompt
verbal assault and potentially physical battery. The process of
confession and conformity was central to the program and raps were
planned to elicit as many confessions as possible from group
memebers. The ultimate goal was to elicit complete self disclosure,
the sharing of ones innermost thoughts,darkest ideas and deepest
fears. Revelation of these normally hidden but natural human emotions
and fears in such a traumatic and stressful manner left the kid in a
state best described as an emotional sponge. If you truly
want to find out how this feels, go to work tommorrow, stand up in the
middle of the cubicle farm, and profess loudly and tearfully your most
deeply hidden secret or fear, that one thing that you would really
rather no one ever knew - like having sex with a relative, touching
your dogs genitals when you were 8 years old etc. Everyone has them,
we all grew up on the same planet. Try it, see if you like it. To get
the full effect be sure there are at least 100 people around, and get
them all to yell "we love you" at you when you are done. Complete the
process by sitting down and flailing your arms and upper body around
wildly for the next 12 hours without speaking again all day. Please
let me know how it goes via E-mail.
Kids, don't try this at home and all standard disclaimers for this
kind of example apply Raps were the only way that a newcomer was
allowed to communicate for twelve hours a day. A newcomer who did not
get motivated would not be called on and could go the entire day
without being permitted to speak. A newcomer who spoke out in group,
without the permission of the staff, would quickly be battered, at
the hands of those around them, If the surrounding clients were
not agressive enough in enforcement, a staff member would incite them
to physically assault a newcomer who was not motivating and relating
appropiately in a rap. Someone would put their hand over the
newcomers mouth and try to gag the person. If there was any
resistance to this battery, the newcomer would then be further
battered, restrained, and perhaps thrown to the ground and sat upon-
all for the act of speaking. There was no avenue of recourse for the
newcomer. Most often in a few weeks or months the same
newcomer would be apologizing for "forcing the group to restrain me
for my own good, to protect me from my twisted drug habit of speaking
out without permission", or some such programmed lingo-drivel.
Raps were the core control feature, raps were the entire day, even
dinner and lunch were referred to as raps. During meals we would be
objects of ridicule if we did not put our food down to get motivated
to speak each time we had the chance. Raps were constant, they were
woven together with the Straight Inc. songs, they never seemed to
end. There was no "recess".
Rap Topics and Outlines I can Remember
The Cliche Rap - A particular Sr. Staff member did a really smoking
cliche rap that stands out in early 1984. The idea was to get people
into relating in really cliche based statements, leading the group
into the use of cliches by relating as a Sr. Staff in a pat short
shallow way. As the group gets into the cliches and people use more
and more of them, then you ask them what is a cliche ? then start
asking some problem oldcomers to explain cliches in their programs
etc...it turns into a raucous confrontational game, you see as people
talk in cliches trying to deny that they are doing so, Staff would
call on someone who is frantically trying to get the chance
to confront the first person. This second individual is waving their
hand in the air attempting to manipulate the staff in any way
possible to be the one to confront, and when called on starts to use
a new set of cliches to confront with, so the staff gets to call
them down with a third phaser standing up , and so on till you get
four or five people all standing. The last one up has to be the first
to finish, and ach one in turn has to eat their words and be publicly
humiliated and humbled."
