Greetings! I too was in St. Pete. My experience lasted from Dec '78 - '80. We may even know each other? So. . . some of the stuff that you said about the abuse (or lack of it) I agree with. There was not that much physical abuse, although I was restrained and sat on when I tried to leave on my 18th birthday in 1978. I was on the receiving end and to me, what I received was physical abuse. The abuse that you and I received was much more subtle. The lack of water was a problem. I remember the liquid, unsweetened cool-aid, with no sweetner. Those dixie riddle cups are 4oz each. . . man that's 8 fucking ounces of water a day and in that building? The summer was unbelieveably hot. To me, that was abuse. I remember trying to load up on the water during my shower and my oldcomer telling me to quit. How about the exercise raps. Those really sucked; again in a metal building working my ass off. No, we got some "hot" food (if that is what you want to call it}, but it sure wasn't very nutritious. And I do remember eating pb adn also swimmers. Do you remember those fucking sandwiches? Yuck. Straight really went downhill when V.Miller Newton, aka satan, came on board. Ms. Pete, bless her bitchy heart (NOT), left and opened LIFE (Life is for Everyone), whatever the hell that means. I say good riddence. Unfortunately, that left Satan and that mutherfucker was out of control. It is good you left when you did. Take a close look at what you endured. From what I can tell by you post, you went thru some shit and I would label that shit as child abuse. I think you would too.
Anyway, welcome to the straightling sites. It is always great to hear from St. Pete folks, especially older ones. I am also 41, have a 21 year old son and yes, I made it despite of Straight. BTW - do you still live in the Tampa Bay area? I live in Tallahassee now. Are you coming to the conference? See
http://www.trebach.org/abuse for more information. Take care -
Mike, Straight Survivor '78 - '80