Gone to the Crazies by Alison Weaver

Gone to the Crazies: A Memoir, Alison Weaver. New York: HarperCollins e-books, 2007, 2008.  241 pps.


     Alison Weaver is an only child. She came from an affluent family that lived in Manhattan and also spent time at their second home in Connecticut. She went to an expensive private school.

     Things changed and the Weavers arranged to have their daughter escorted to Cascade School in Whitmore, California.

     Weaver has mixed emotions about that time in her life. Cascade School [now closed] was founded by a former "counselor" of Cedu in Florida. Once Cedu became official, Mel Wasserman had to dump some of the original staffers. They went out into the world, spreading the philosophy and methods employed at Cedu. Some of the methods were borrowed directly from Synanon-- a cultish long-term residential drug "treatment" program. The rest of the methods appear to have been cobbled together from sources which included primal scream therapy. The result at Cascade School was rather bad education but substantial group "therapy" conducted by people who were not qualified to do so.

     Cascade used the vocabulary that Cedu facilities used [http://wiki.fornits.com/index.php/CEDU_lingo] along with nine special forums called "profeets" [shades of K. Gibran, EST, The Forum, and Life Spring] which the kids were required to attend and participate in before "graduation." In other "rap" or group sessions, the kids were required to scream, yell, and cry on demand.

     Although the Cedu facilities officially went bankrupt in 2004 or 2005, indications are that a few of them may be back in operation and are being watched by folks who monitor troubled teen torture industries and cult-like programs.

     Alison Weaver had some hard times after getting out of Cascade School. She did not join any twelve step program but reports that she no longer takes street drugs and that having a singular glass of wine is no cause for her to panic these days.

sapphoq reviews says: Alison Weaver's memoir was an easy and engrossing read. I found her recollection of her feelings as a child and pre-teen to be entirely believable. [Some reviewers found them to be canned]. Although towards the end of the book, the author reveals Cascade School's connection with Cedu it was apparent that she did not know the history behind the crap she endured at the time that she was going through it. I'm glad that she got out alive. Although she is not fond of the internet survivor boards, Alison Weaver has managed to survive and even thrive in spite of her experiences at Cascade School. Recommended as a cautionary tale to parents who are considering "educational consultant services" for their "troubled teen." Old hippies and those who are involved with protesting against such institutional abuse may also like this one.

p.s. I too believe that Alison's word should have been power.

Straightling by Cyndy Drew Etler

Straightling: A Memoir, Cyndy Drew Etler.  North Charleston S.C.: Lucky 17 Publishing, 2012.  e-book, 545 pps.

Cyndy was a teen from Bridgeport, Connecticut.  She had a family and a bestie and she wanted to be in with the cool kids.  She hung out in Monroe with her bestie and a few characters for a coupla weekends.  Her step-dad was an evil dude.  Cyndy hardly got to drink at all and never mastered smoking pot when she got sent to Straight, Inc.

Straight, Inc. was a program started by Mel Sembler.  It was supposed to be a drug rehab.  It was the ancestor of The Seed and a predecessor of Teen Challenge.  It was related to Cedu and Brown schools and therefore the great auntie-- so to speak-- of WWASPS facilities.

But Straight, Inc. had some problems.  In order to avoid state oversight from various states, the kids were transported to host houses to sleep at night.  These houses were usually some distance away, and sometimes across state lines.  These were not nice houses.  There was a "mom" and a "dad."  The kids rarely got eight hours of down time.  So sleep deprivation was the rule rather than the exception.  And the "room" that the kids shared were equipped with basic mattresses on the floor and little else.

During the day, the kids were literally warehoused.  They were brainwashed, forced to testify to drugs they hadn't taken and to things they hadn't done.  The food was crap.  Humiliation was the standard.  New arrivals were forced to undergo an anal probe.  And yet, at least one person I know who was a "graduate" of Straight, Inc. to this day denies that the techniques used there were abusive.

Cyndy endured Straight, Inc. hell.  When she finally got up the nerve to rat out her evil step-dad, she was told to keep the focus on her own stuff and not to blame anyone else for her problems.  Unfortunately, this is a familiar trend in twelve step groups today.  So she continued to be "treated" for her non-existent drug problem.  Her mom played the part of suffering martyr well.  Step-dad remained evil.  To her credit, Cyndy kept it real under impossible circumstances.

sapphoq reviews says: Straightling is an excellent book with an honest and straightforward style.  Anyone involved in fighting the troubled teen industry and its' culture of abuse ought to read this book.  Highly recommended.

More info on Straight, Inc.:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straight%2C_Incorporated

http://www.survivingstraightinc.com/

http://www.survivingstraightincthemovie.com/

http://straightinc.us/Home_Page.php

http://www.heal-online.org/StraightandTeenChallenge.htm

http://www.cannabisculture.com/articles/2072.html

http://www.nunya.com/index.php/2011/04/26/straight-inc-legacy-of-torture-as-treatment/

http://articles.latimes.com/keyword/straight-inc

http://drugfreeamericafoundation.blogspot.com/2005/03/overview-of-straights-abuses.html

https://twitter.com/straightinc

http://www.thefix.com/content/romney-sembler-drug-advisor-teen-rehab-abuse8515

http://stinkin-thinkin.com/2011/06/24/slate-on-surviving-straight-inc/

http://www.alternet.org/story/27725/ambassador_de_sade

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/medicalwhistleblower/2010/12/22/straight-inc--legacy-of-abuse-continues-1

http://melvinsembler.blogspot.com/2009/01/gov-jeb-bush-declares-betty-sembler-day.html