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Messages - infanalyst

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61
Straight, Inc. and Derivatives / An American Gulag
« on: May 20, 2002, 07:09:00 PM »
Thanks Greg. I think that's the kind of support I need! Can anyone relate? :smile:

And how ironic it is that I live as you so mildly put in the birthplace of The Seed. I had never heard of this place before, and I moved down here in 1994 thinking I was far from any of those criminals!
I just asked one of my good friends, who I've known since I moved down here 8 years ago, if he knew of The Seed. He immediately was like "Yeah! I can even show you where it is on State Rd. 84." He however, doesn't know anyone personally any longer who went through there, and I think any information he had about the place was second hand. I then told him, that the place I went to in DC was based on The Seed, and I had just found this info out for the first time thanks to Wes Fager's site http://www.thestraights.com
I must say trying to explain the program to someone who never has been exposed to anything like it before, is very difficult. I have since left him with the website address for Mr Fager's "A Clockwork Straight", and I hope he will read it since I think he, and many other lucky outsiders, will begin to comprehend the atrocities which have been and are still being committed to this day.
They cry it's tough love, I think it's tough abuse. I must agree with someone else's posting where they said whenever they hear someone say "Love You", you want to know why or what they really mean.

62
Straight, Inc. and Derivatives / An American Gulag
« on: May 20, 2002, 06:30:00 PM »
Hi Diane,

I just saw some of your other posts and was thinking the exact same thing, we must of just missed each other. I definitely remember alot of the names which you have mentioned. Most all of those were the staff members in place when I arrived. I liked Alana McDougal, and I remember the Tiptons. I remember Don Pearson, didn't care for him. I remember Laura Klisch, and I suddenly remembered one staff member I really liked, but I think it was because he always played guitar in group and he reminded me of a "druggie" version of Ron Howard, his name was Richard Mullinax, I believe that was his name.
I don't know if you've considered attending this conference coming up 6/8-6/9 in St. Pete or not. I'm still undecided at the moment, but the more and more I think about it, the more I want to go.
Love to chat more anytime.

63
Straight, Inc. and Derivatives / international abuse conf. if Fla. need video crew
« on: May 20, 2002, 06:21:00 PM »
Hello jrstraight,

I live in Ft. Lauderdale, and I just found this site a few days ago. Due to the rather close timimg of the event, I have been contemplating making the drive over to St. Pete for the conference.
Part of me is wondering if this is really a healthy thing or not. I think mostly because this is a wound which has been covered for 15 years and has just recently been uncovered again due to the postings I have just now recently seen. However, I think I am only now after 15 years beginning to "confront" what really happened to me in Straight.
I have neverbeen involved in a film production team, but would be very interested. I have been a good photographer for many years, and I was planning on bringing my digital camera to the conference to take any photos for people who want them. I have a very high quality digital camera for stills, but I do not have any type of video equipment. If you are interested in my assistance please e-mail me.

64
Straight, Inc. and Derivatives / An American Gulag
« on: May 19, 2002, 08:50:00 PM »
I've never read the book "An American Gulag", but I saw the movie "Not My Kid" about 6 months to a year prior to being dragged to 5515 Backlick without ever even smoking a joint!
I remember being in the lobby waiting for the "warden" to come and take me back to the intake roon. Right before I was walked back into the room, I saw the fresh picture on the wall regarding the arrival of Nancy Reagan and Princess Di only several weeks earlier. I remembered the incident in the news, along with the movie "Not My Kid", and suddenly started laughing at my parents for bringing me to a place for drug addicts, when I did not have a drug problem and was a regular Church going individual. Sure I had my rebellious attitudes, but I think this was more directly related toward my parents relationship with each other, and their consistent disagreement on how to raise me. Needless to say, I was "inducted" after a lengthy intake and forced confessional, totally fabricated mind you.
Within a year of my departure from Straight, right after I turned 18, my parents were divorced and I learned several things about their feelings towards me, which I never had known before. Needless to say I had been "converted" or knew I had to create this lie to move through the system, or start to think of a way to escape. I escaped four different times. I was dragged back three, and returned home after a lengthy departure on the fourth on an agreement I was not going back.
I've been out close to 15 years and only recently have begun to realize the impact of what happened to me, and how it affected the rest of my life. I certainly never saw myself as having been in a cult, but I know now the truth of what happened during this time. I find myself occasionaly thinking about another movie, "Mr. Destiny", and what would have happened if I could have changed that one incident in my life. Only now, 15 years later, after the rather recent postings I have seen regarding Straight Inc., have I begun to comprehend how deep and damaging this place has been. I know I have since moved on with my life and I am not one to linger on the past, but I have recently found myself very interested in this "chapter" in my life.

Brent Lewis
American P.O.W.
5/17/86-12/2/87
Straight - DC

65
Straight, Inc. and Derivatives / Anyone Attend Chesapeake, VA Straight?
« on: May 19, 2002, 07:49:00 PM »
Wow,
I remember all of those names mentioned, but I was in the good ole 5515 Backlick Road in Springfield, from May 17, 1986 - December 2, 1987. Thorpe Gregory was absolutely fucking crazy. I'm pretty sure I did his intake or was with the people who did his intake. I remember that 1982-85 Audi GT Coupe well! I believe it was Silver but it may have been Charcoal. I'm pretty sure I remember a few executive staff members, (I think it was Leslie Murden and Tony Kelleher) reaming him out for speeding and I think he got set back for speeding with "clients" (prisoners) in the car. I remember him living for quite some time with Mike Kilday in Fairfax. I vaguely remember Dave Edens, but I can't place his face at all. Billy Seal I think was a newcomer for a short time at my house! I know we had Andrew Peri there at one point as well, but he was only there for a short time. Of course I don't think I was ever his oldcomer. I was only an oldcomer at my own house for 3-4 months out of the 14-15 months there were people living at my house!
I think after 6 months on 1st phase the First time around, they only moved me to 2nd phase because either I was going to be terminated or more likely, they knew my parents had a good size house and lived within 10 minutes of HELL on Backlick Rd. and decided this would be a good fucking convenience for them to utilize my parents place as a another in the long lines of host homes. I really think when the end of the day came for them, the only thing those staff members cared about was whether or not there was going to be enough homes for everyone to sleep in. (TOP ONES, please don't be offended if you happened to be one of many good people who got sucked into furthering the mind torture of young and unsuspecting adolescents as a "Staff Member" after being a phaser, like a certain Glen Steepleton. RIP my friend. I'm sure most of you from Springfield from 1985-1989, and Va Beach as well remember him. After 13-14 years of his completion of Straight and being a "staff member" he mysteriously took his life on Sept. 18, 2000, after close to 10 years of being uninvolved with Straight, according to an excerpt from either http://www.thestraights.com or another Straight info site.)
Only 2 weeks after reaching 2nd phase, the first time, I was started over for being "Full of Shit". Meanwhile, since I had finally been an oldcomer, THEY were now able to continue to USE my parents house continuously. Until I eventually departed mid 4th phase for over 45 days, to ensure my termination. Even then I still didn't want to go back to my house, but I wound up having no choice. At least I was FINALLY out of HELL, and could at least go the AA route to appease them until I was old enough to move the hell out on my own.

Jenn, I know I had a host brother living at my house, who had a sister in the program as well. He lived at my house in Annandale while the VA Beach people were still in the Springfield campus. I think his name was Chris, but I can't remember. He was about 6'0", medium build, came from Va Beach, was heavy into Skateboarding and played electric bass very well! His hair was a cross between Red and Black, when he came in, but I can't for the life of me right now remember his name. I know he went down to the Va Beach program when it opened up finally, I believe as a staff member or 5th phaser. And if I'm not mistaken him and Thorpe were rather close.
Jenn, if you see this and this sounds like it could be your brother could you e-mail me so I can at least get a last name. Sometimes when you hear the last name it immediately triggers the person in your memory.
Speaking of Va Beach, There was a very good friend of mine who graduated from Springfield around May or June of 1988. Her name was Ann Libby. She actually wound up marrying Jason Levine, who had graduated from Springfield as well around the same time frame. I knew both of these people well, but after they moved down to Va Beach in early 1989 or 1990, I lost touch with them. If anyone knows any contact info for either please feel free to e-mail me. And PLEASE if anyone remebers me and would like to contact/touch base,please e-mail me at [email protected]

Aloha,
Brent Lewis

66
Straight, Inc. and Derivatives / anyone remember intake room herding?
« on: May 18, 2002, 04:54:00 PM »
Mung,

I don't know who you are but man oh man I KNOW we were there in HELL at the SAME TIME. Steve Turney, I remember WELL.
Steve and I didn't get along too well, that was until I almost took his nose off whilst 12 people restrained me. I had just been started over again, I think for the third time or so. Anyways, I was in the front row and it was during the day because all of the 4th phasers were in school, and they moved everyone's chair closer to the wall when they were gone. Some people were trying to sit me up, I even think one of them was misbehaving himself. You know that lovely clenched fist straight down your back to the bottom of your chair, well I guess I must have turned around and when I did, the people next to me started to grab my arms. Well, Steve got down from his stool and started to approach me but I didn't see him, this was happening at the same time someone was grabbing my arm, I think it may have been Rob Frye or Jason Theune, I'm not sure. So as Steve is approaching me my head is turned in the opposite direction, and as I struggled to relieve my arms from the grasp of these people, I swung my arm loose and clocked Steve right in the jaw! Well, needless to say this didn't make him to happy and he told them to restrain me. Well, NO WAY IN HELL I wasn't going down without a fight. So I stood up out of my chair and like Hercules chained to the Earth, I swear to you it took 12 PEOPLE to drag me down to the floor! People were jumping from 3 rows away! Funny how after that incident Steve steered clear of me. I don't know if he thought I'd clock him again or if he felt he just had enough. I'll never forget it because I believe there were 5 to 10 of us misbehaving at this time! I distinctly remember Brendan McCann and Sam Mirkin, and how we had our own Air Rock Band. I swear the stupid shit we did in that place it always sticks in my head. POO..BANG! SQWAUK, SQUAWK! CLICK, CLICK! Remember those stupid sounds we made for different things. It was like talking in code to other P.O.W.s so that we could operate as a team! Mung if you remember me please reply with your name or e-mail me.
I still think the most FUCKED up thing about this whole program, is that my parents were host parents for approximately 14-15 months and during that entire time I spent only about 3-4 of those months as an oldcomer in my own house. My house was used by the program and my parents thought they were helping conbtribute to a good cause. All of this recent information I have discovered after 15 years really makes me want to ask them again how much they really knew. I know my parents were supposedly like the President and Treasurer of the Parents Assn. or something like that, because everybody, especially other parents, knew who my parents were. Yet after all of that time in there, I still doubt my parents truly understand what went on in the rap sessions in Springfield.
My host brothers, when I was actually there, were Donny Parker from NC, and Dan Kennett, also from NC. After Donny and Dan had graduated, I remeber getting a host brother from Va Beach, but his name has since left me. My parents are Tom and Kay Lewis.
I definitely remeber the intake rooms, Mung you must have been living with an oldcomer who was able to come in close to 9:00AM. I lived with one in MD, practically in Columbia. We would leave every day at 6:00AM to make it to Springfield by 7:00AM, so we could sit in the intake room until 9:00AM. It normally didn't get bad until around 8:15AM or so. There were enough times I remember were we would actually be split up into several intake rooms, since there was no way you could fit a 100+ people in a room 8' X 10'. We had to sit in the intake rooms until the actual "opening" time for Straight, at which time we would be led in like cattle into the group rap area. I even remember mooing like cattle when we would come in and I was misbehaving. This is all too trippy! I actually can't believe how much I remember and how much I have blocked out over the years.
Please e-mail back if you want to chat.

ALOHA,
Brent Lewis

[ This Message was edited by: infanalyst on 2002-05-18 14:33 ]

67
Straight, Inc. and Derivatives / any good days that you can recall?
« on: May 18, 2002, 04:01:00 PM »
Thanks for responding Diane. Well, I guess my memory is really starting to come back to me now, I think I've somehow repressed a lot of these incidents and I am a bit shocked to be here 31 years old and thinking about some shit that happened to me 15 years ago! Anyways, the Sr Staff Member had actually been my oldcomer after I copped out the second or third time, so we actually had kind of a cool relationship already. I actually miss him. He was one of the few who I felt tried to be fair and treat me with respect. His name was Brady Minnick and the graduate who I didn't know, but I had heard she had quite a reputation for fucking around with people, I believe her name was Shannon. She lived over near Brady Minnick in either Vienna or Falls Church, I really don't remember. The only thing I really remember about her place was this 6 person hot tub which was in her 1st floor living room of her house. I guess it was her Mom's place, I think her parents were divorced. Well, after this incident, I thought for sure I was fucked and would be started over or setback again for the umpteenth time, for some trumped up bullshit, so I started planning my escape shortly thereafter. This incident happpened around early November 1987, and I copped out for the last time on December 2, 1987. I spent over 45 days run away to ensure my termination, and actually ran into another Sr. Staff Member, either Brendan McNamara or Chris Scoggins, in Springfield Mall and asked them to confirm whether or not I had been terminated yet before attempting to return home. Is that fucked up or what?
Please e-mail if you want to chat more.

68
Straight, Inc. and Derivatives / any good days that you can recall?
« on: May 18, 2002, 06:31:00 AM »
Oops, I messed up. I thought I was at eh end of the previous page.
Anyways, my best memory of Straight (other than the day I got out), was right before the end of my stay in Straight. I think I had done enough time after 20 months and I had only reached day 60 or so of 4th phase when I finally split. Having received either 4 or 5 startovers and over 6 months on my first phase, the first time around, I was dying to end my time there as soon as possible.
As I was saying I was on 4th phase and since I had been out of school for so long I decided I would try and work instead. I wound up actually working for a Senior Staff Member in his side business which was cleaning houses. We would clean approximately 2-4 houses daily and this would occupy our time for quite a while. Well, one day while cleaning this one house of a graduate of the program, she comes walking out in this towel and she looks right at me and my boss and she knows she's not supposed to be doing this but she just starts to let the towel drop. Well, of course I freaked and my boss, just starts cracking up hard core. I thought it rather funny later on when some female staff members got wind of what happened later on and started confronting me later on, and I just told them to stick it, cause I was right there next to a Senior Staff Member the whole time. That was a memorable experience.

69
Straight, Inc. and Derivatives / any good days that you can recall?
« on: May 18, 2002, 06:08:00 AM »
If I remember correctly it stood for OBServation Book.

70
Straight, Inc. and Derivatives / 16 years ago today I was inducted into HELL!
« on: May 18, 2002, 03:38:00 AM »
Wow,

I can't believe 16 years ago, May 17, 1986 sitting in a room at 5515 Backlick Road, being beraded by two oldcomers Mike Riddle and Kenny Washington. This day would be a day that would live in infamy. My following 20 months of Hell which followed along with the four escapes (cop-outs), and three succesful returns, without a doubt forever changed my life. I think I was most saddened to learn yet the fate of another good man, Glen Steepleton. I read on this other site that he took his own life on Sept 18, 2000. Glen was someone I always liked and I definitely had my fair share of run-ins with him both during my incarceration and for years after as well. I must say the most unbelievable part of this whole thing is that my Father-in-law took his own life on the EXACT same day as Glen. Both men had good hearts and weren't afraid to give of themselves. My thoughts will be with the Steepleton's tonight as I have learned of this most uynfortunate incident. I am sure many of you who experienced a stay at 5515 Backlick Road, will definitely remember me. Please feel free to e-mail if you'd like to catch up on times gone past.

Thinking of you all,
Brent Lewis

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