Last month Jesus Land author Julia Scheeres, forwarded me a link from ProPublica with a headline that made of us both infuriated. There Were Warning Signs Of Sexual Abuse At a Youth Center. Indiana Kept Sending Boys and Money Anyway. No one wants teenagers to be abused, especially at state-funded Christian facilities, but it was beyond maddening…
Escuela Caribe
A User’s Guide to Unreformed/ Moving to Substack
Thank you to everyone who read my Unreformed blog. I’m starting a substack which will occasionally focus on the troubled teen industry but also will include outtakes from my interviews (the next three are Darrin Bell, Emi Nietfield, and Myriam Gurba), what I’m reading, and what I’m researching— I’m currently working on a project exploring…
Conversion Therapy Is Abuse- Dame Magazine
Last month I published this essay over at Dame Magazine about undergoing conversion therapy as a teen at Escuela Caribe/ New Horizons Youth Ministries. Recently the 11th Circuit Court effectively legalized conversion therapy. It was important for me to illuminate what conversion therapy actually entails. It’s a term which sounds clinical but is in reality…
Reading Caste, Watching This Is Paris, and #BreakingCodeSilence
Monday night I watched the Paris Hilton documentary, This Is Paris, which in part deals with Paris Hilton’s time at the troubled teen facility Provo Canyon. I’m still kind of unsettled, which surprised me, mainly because I have spent so long writing about and researching these programs. A large part of my book, Unreformed, traces…
All about Escuela Caribe
List of previously published posts that are relevant to my experience with Escuela Caribe. Enjoy!
Hard Time in a Christian Boot Camp
Last week my interview with Mark Torrender of Talk Beliefs was published. We discussed what it was like to spend my teen years in
Religious Boot Camps Explored by the Talk Beliefs Channel
Recently I was contacted for an interview by Mark Torrender, the founder of the Talk Beliefs YouTube channel, which is dedicated to exploring the stories of survivors of religious sects and cults. The goal of Talk Beliefs is altruistic: by sharing one’s story, you can help other survivors and hopefully enact change. Which is basically…
Suffer the Little Children: Mike Pence’s Disturbing Connections to the Teen Treatment Industry
When I was fifteen, my parents sent me to Escuela Caribe, a fundamentalist Christian reform school in the Dominican Republic. At this school students were forced to exercise for punishment, sometimes until they vomited or collapsed from exhaustion. Students were beaten with a leather strap for minor infractions. Staff members would slam students into…
How I Write: Writing Process Blog Tour
You know that friend you have from far off who always attends the same summer camp as you? That’s my friend Tonya Canada. We’ve spent the past three summers in Portland at the Tin House Writer’s Workshop. Her work is funny, fearless, and concise. She tagged me in this blog tour, where you discuss your writing, as well as the process. Read…
Won’t Get Fooled Again # Crosswinds
I began this blog in 2008 because I wanted people to understand that teens sent to treatment facilities are often traumatized in the name of therapy. I know, because I was traumatized. It took me 10 years before I could discuss the abuse. I began this blog after I traveled to my teen treatment facility, Escuela Caribe. I traveled…