Showing posts with label ex-scientologist. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ex-scientologist. Show all posts
Thursday, February 07, 2013
Beyond Belief by Jenna Miscavige Hill
Beyond Belief: My Secret Life inside Scientology and my Harrowing Escape, Jenna Miscavige Hill with Lisa Pulitzer. New York: Harper Collins Publishers/William Morrow, 2013. e-book, 356 pps.
When I spied Beyond Belief, I immediately got on the list to buy it the first day it was available to the general public. I've read a bunch of books on Scientology, Mormonism, gurus, and thought-blocking in connection with some extended research that I've been doing. I was curious about this latest entry in ex-Scientologist memoirs and waited rather impatiently for the thing to load on my e-reader.
[To those who are against e-readers: I don't like the idea of them either. The problem is that I cannot read regular printed books for any length of time due to the brain damage and resultant perception problems].
Beyond Belief started out with Jenna as an infant and toddler living an average life until her dad impulsively decided to join up with Sea Org and signed a billion year contract. Her mother then had to join also. Couples could not remain married if one was in and one was out. Thus started apartments and nannies and then living and working at The Ranch for Jenna and her older brother. Jenna included very specific information about her relationships with her family, including her uncle David Miscavige, which served to underscore the difficulties that she had in untangling herself from the Sea Org and from Scientology itself. Although Jenna was not aware of the human rights violations carried out under her uncle's predecessor, she gradually woke up to the things that were happening under her uncle's reign. It is to her credit that she was able to get out at all.
Jenna addressed the role of Anonymous in her awakening and specifically thanked Anonymous for picketing and getting the word out about Scientology and its' history of human rights violations. None of the other memoirs that I read did this. I was surprised and happy that Jenna had thought to include Anonymous in her memoir.
I came away from Beyond Belief with a visceral sense of who Jenna Miscavige Hill is as a human being. I was delighted to discover that she is one of the co-founders of the most excellent website http://www.exscientologykids.com/
sapphoq reviews says: Although Beyond Belief didn't detail the abusive nature of Scientology in the same manner that other memoirs did, this book is a valuable addition to the library of anyone seeking information on the subject matter. Jenna was in a unique position as the niece of the current head of Scientology, and this position would of course reflect the differences in her experiences from those of other ex-Scientologists who also authored books. There were some familiar names in Jenna's book. Beyond Belief is a story of the coming of age of a sheltered Scientology kid. Worth a read for anyone struggling with the hold of any abusive religion as well as for those who enjoy unusual memoirs about experiences that are beyond the realm of "average." Highly recommended.
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Blown for Good by Marc Headley
Blown for Good: Behind the Iron Curtain of Scientology, by Marc Headley. Self-published, BFG Books Inc., at Smashwords, 823 pps. on e-reader.
It is because of this book that I recently refused to attend a talk by an inspirational speaker that some of my TOPS [Take Off Pounds Sensibly] pals were waxing enthusiastly over. I looked up the speaker's name on the Internet. When I found that he listed himself as having worked "in the film industry in Hollywood" for some years, I became suspicious. The clincher was the overflowing with happiness tone to his writing on his website. Is he a Scientology? I don't know. Blown for Good informed me that Scientologists who worked for the Headquarters were told to say they worked in film if asked by outsiders what they did for a living. I wasn't willing to take a chance that the speaker might be a sneaker stumper for Scientology who just might have worked at Golden Era Productions just as Marc Headley had.
Marc Headley grew up in a Scientology family. His parents got divorced and remained Scientologists. His mother's steady stream of new boyfriends were Scientologists. Marc attended Scientology schools as a kid-- with an occasional break of public school or no school at all if his mother couldn't afford the tuition at times-- and hung out with other kids also growing up in Scientology. After his living arrangements repeatedly fell apart, Headley signed up to work for Sea Org. He was sixteen years old. There were kids in Sea Org who were even younger than he was.
During his initial training in Sea Org, Headley first ran into a crew of folks who were being punished and were doing indeterminate stints on the Rehabilitation Project Force (R.P.F.). The folks assigned to R.P.F. got the nastiest foulest jobs, went everywhere at a run, slept in separate R.P.F. "dorms," and were threatened with being assigned to the R.P.F.'s R.P.F. which was even worse.
Headley passed his training and then spent fifteen years working at Scientology Headquarters in Gilman Hot Springs, California-- also called Gold, for Golden Era Productions. He had enough contact with Scientology's leader David Miscavige to recognize that Miscavige seemed to get pleasure out of humiliating and punishing people. Headley even had a punching session with Miscavige in which Headley's face served as Miscavige's punching bag.
Headley had worked for Headquarters for fifteen years when he was falsely accused of embezzlement. He was sentenced to go to R.P.F. He decided to blow [leave]. Some folks tried to get him back and even ran his motorcycle off the road in the process. The upshot was when Headley began to make a scene in the road, they backed off and left. He was escorted to the town and made his break. His wife blew shortly thereafter.
sapphoq reviews says: Blown for Good is an excellent book for anyone interested in this subject matter. Most highly recommended. I wish Marc Headley, his wife Claire, and his children much happiness as they walk in true freedom.
It is because of this book that I recently refused to attend a talk by an inspirational speaker that some of my TOPS [Take Off Pounds Sensibly] pals were waxing enthusiastly over. I looked up the speaker's name on the Internet. When I found that he listed himself as having worked "in the film industry in Hollywood" for some years, I became suspicious. The clincher was the overflowing with happiness tone to his writing on his website. Is he a Scientology? I don't know. Blown for Good informed me that Scientologists who worked for the Headquarters were told to say they worked in film if asked by outsiders what they did for a living. I wasn't willing to take a chance that the speaker might be a sneaker stumper for Scientology who just might have worked at Golden Era Productions just as Marc Headley had.
Marc Headley grew up in a Scientology family. His parents got divorced and remained Scientologists. His mother's steady stream of new boyfriends were Scientologists. Marc attended Scientology schools as a kid-- with an occasional break of public school or no school at all if his mother couldn't afford the tuition at times-- and hung out with other kids also growing up in Scientology. After his living arrangements repeatedly fell apart, Headley signed up to work for Sea Org. He was sixteen years old. There were kids in Sea Org who were even younger than he was.
During his initial training in Sea Org, Headley first ran into a crew of folks who were being punished and were doing indeterminate stints on the Rehabilitation Project Force (R.P.F.). The folks assigned to R.P.F. got the nastiest foulest jobs, went everywhere at a run, slept in separate R.P.F. "dorms," and were threatened with being assigned to the R.P.F.'s R.P.F. which was even worse.
Headley passed his training and then spent fifteen years working at Scientology Headquarters in Gilman Hot Springs, California-- also called Gold, for Golden Era Productions. He had enough contact with Scientology's leader David Miscavige to recognize that Miscavige seemed to get pleasure out of humiliating and punishing people. Headley even had a punching session with Miscavige in which Headley's face served as Miscavige's punching bag.
Headley had worked for Headquarters for fifteen years when he was falsely accused of embezzlement. He was sentenced to go to R.P.F. He decided to blow [leave]. Some folks tried to get him back and even ran his motorcycle off the road in the process. The upshot was when Headley began to make a scene in the road, they backed off and left. He was escorted to the town and made his break. His wife blew shortly thereafter.
sapphoq reviews says: Blown for Good is an excellent book for anyone interested in this subject matter. Most highly recommended. I wish Marc Headley, his wife Claire, and his children much happiness as they walk in true freedom.
Saturday, September 22, 2012
A Queer and Pleasant Danger, Kate Bornstein
A Queer and Pleasant Danger, Kate Bornstein. Boston: Beacon Press, 2012. 247 pps on an e-reader
I first encountered Kate Bornstein via one of her other books called Gender Outlaw. I liked it a lot and was thus pleasantly surprised to find A Queer and Pleasant Danger. This latest book is a treasure. Kate addresses her life in Scientology's Sea Org as a male, her transgenderism, family relationships, her ongoing bout of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (C.L.L.) and her gender identity with equal aplomb.
Kate was born in a male body and Jewish. Kate found her way through childhood and adolescence in Jersey haphazardly. In Denver she encountered some young Scientologists who had a message and pizza. Being trans, Kate was sold on the idea that she was a thetan assuming a human identity. Since thetans were also purported to be genderless, that solved Kate's gender dilemma for a bit. She hung out at the Scientology org in Denver, took a few courses there, and then converted, went off to Sea Org where she lived on the large Scientology cruise ship, got promoted a few times and got married. Once her first wife Molly got pregnant, they were commissioned to start an org in New York City. The hotel where they had their offices was a dive and people kept flying past their offices on the way down to death on the sidewalk below. The baby came and life went on that way for a couple of years. Kate's first wife was ordered to the West Coast when their baby girl was two years old. When their baby was four, she boarded a plane to visit with her mum [Kate's first wife] and never returned. Mexican divorce papers came shortly after that.
Kate and wife number two found each other as both continued to work for Scientology. Through a series of promotions, Kate found herself traveling all over. There was a problem at a Swiss bank. Kate was then ordered to return stateside where she faced officers from Scientology's financial police org in Clearwater Florida. After hours upon hours on the e-meter, she was informed that she could opt for three years of hard labor or leave Scientology. She had a neck problem by then which was painful so she chose to leave. She was excommunicated and packed out. Kate gave her second wife the car-- she was now considered an S.P., or suppressive person-- and went back to her childhood home with her parents.
Kate's dad who was a medical doctor promptly began treating Kate's neck problem Kate slept a lot and after a bit got up and began to do life again. Several months later, Kate was offered the opportunity to return to Scientology in good standing. She was told that the financial police org was corrupt and was now a goner. She declined and got on with life. Kate read some decent science fiction [that is to say not any sci fi by L. Ron Hubbard which some percentage of us sci fi freaks consider to be garbage or at least substandard], got into acting, went through gender reassignment, mourned her daughter who she is not allowed to speak to, became an activist, wrote books, fell in love a few times with various women, got in touch with the idea that she prefers to be the masochist in the S & M lifestyle. Today she identifies as a tranny rather than as male or female. This of course irks bunches of people such as some trangenderists as well as bunches of lesbians and Pope Benedict. Kate has decided to her credit that she is NOT inherently dangerous.
sapphoq reviews says: Anyone who does not care for reading about happy transgenderist folks probably should skip this book. Folks who enjoyed Kate Bornstein's other books and/or who are fans of Pat Califa [that's a big yes from me on both counts] will like this different and fascinating take on life as a Scientologist and life as an ex-Scientologist. Highly recommended.
I first encountered Kate Bornstein via one of her other books called Gender Outlaw. I liked it a lot and was thus pleasantly surprised to find A Queer and Pleasant Danger. This latest book is a treasure. Kate addresses her life in Scientology's Sea Org as a male, her transgenderism, family relationships, her ongoing bout of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (C.L.L.) and her gender identity with equal aplomb.
Kate was born in a male body and Jewish. Kate found her way through childhood and adolescence in Jersey haphazardly. In Denver she encountered some young Scientologists who had a message and pizza. Being trans, Kate was sold on the idea that she was a thetan assuming a human identity. Since thetans were also purported to be genderless, that solved Kate's gender dilemma for a bit. She hung out at the Scientology org in Denver, took a few courses there, and then converted, went off to Sea Org where she lived on the large Scientology cruise ship, got promoted a few times and got married. Once her first wife Molly got pregnant, they were commissioned to start an org in New York City. The hotel where they had their offices was a dive and people kept flying past their offices on the way down to death on the sidewalk below. The baby came and life went on that way for a couple of years. Kate's first wife was ordered to the West Coast when their baby girl was two years old. When their baby was four, she boarded a plane to visit with her mum [Kate's first wife] and never returned. Mexican divorce papers came shortly after that.
Kate and wife number two found each other as both continued to work for Scientology. Through a series of promotions, Kate found herself traveling all over. There was a problem at a Swiss bank. Kate was then ordered to return stateside where she faced officers from Scientology's financial police org in Clearwater Florida. After hours upon hours on the e-meter, she was informed that she could opt for three years of hard labor or leave Scientology. She had a neck problem by then which was painful so she chose to leave. She was excommunicated and packed out. Kate gave her second wife the car-- she was now considered an S.P., or suppressive person-- and went back to her childhood home with her parents.
Kate's dad who was a medical doctor promptly began treating Kate's neck problem Kate slept a lot and after a bit got up and began to do life again. Several months later, Kate was offered the opportunity to return to Scientology in good standing. She was told that the financial police org was corrupt and was now a goner. She declined and got on with life. Kate read some decent science fiction [that is to say not any sci fi by L. Ron Hubbard which some percentage of us sci fi freaks consider to be garbage or at least substandard], got into acting, went through gender reassignment, mourned her daughter who she is not allowed to speak to, became an activist, wrote books, fell in love a few times with various women, got in touch with the idea that she prefers to be the masochist in the S & M lifestyle. Today she identifies as a tranny rather than as male or female. This of course irks bunches of people such as some trangenderists as well as bunches of lesbians and Pope Benedict. Kate has decided to her credit that she is NOT inherently dangerous.
sapphoq reviews says: Anyone who does not care for reading about happy transgenderist folks probably should skip this book. Folks who enjoyed Kate Bornstein's other books and/or who are fans of Pat Califa [that's a big yes from me on both counts] will like this different and fascinating take on life as a Scientologist and life as an ex-Scientologist. Highly recommended.
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