One of the most maddening things about being a product of the dysfunctional family with means complex is knowing that the abuse is still happening. That despite the Congressional reports, despite books like Julia Scheeres’ Jesus Land, or Maia Szalavitz’s Help at Any Cost: How the Troubled Teen Industry Cons Parents and Hurts Kids, or Kate Logan’s documentary…
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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…
Where American Teens Were Abused in the Name of God
This past week, Zoe Schlanger of Newsweek interviewed me about Escuela Caribe. The article, Where American Teens Were Abused in the Name of God, is here. This week, Kidnapped for Christ, an expose about Escuela Caribe, premiered on Showtime. I was interviewed for the documentary, though my interview did not make the final cut. An outtake of…
The Art of Losing
I walked out of my old life and started over after reform school. This is something I only realized about six months ago. I mean I understood that I left Mississippi after I graduated from Escuela Caribe, but I didn’t realize I’d severed all ties when I walked. I cut all ties and told half…
Kids For Cash
There’s lots of money to be made abusing kids, not just by operators of the teen “treatment” industries, but by those who funnel kids into the system. New documentary Kids for Cash tells the story of how two Pennsylvania judges earned millions of dollars for referring their charges into a privately operated teen treatment facility….
On Writing: Moonlit Mile
Last week I wrote this chapter about a friend of mine and he is dead now, but not while I was writing, because then we both lived. And in my mind we were fifteen sixteen and we were driving through the Delta, and where we were driving everything was deserted and dark. And we were…
Focus on the Fundamentalists: Mississippi Mary Miller Interviewed in the Nervous Breakdown
I met Mary Miller last fall at the Lost in the Letters Festival in Atlanta. I’d made a point of seeing her read* because my friend Alex Gallo-Brown had told me she was one of his favorite writers. When I’d heard Mary was from Mississippi like me, I’d been doubly intrigued. I interviewed Mary for the Nervous…
Pilgrimage (Yes, Look Back)
When I called my cousin to plan our trip he said “This isn’t like you. You’re homesick.” “You just think I hate Mississippi,” I teased before agreeing. He was right. Right then I wanted to be in the Delta more than anything in the world. We met up last week in Greenwood. We met up…
Kidnapped for Christ Premiered
Last Friday Kidnapped for Christ, a documentary exposing Escuela Caribe, premiered at Slamdance. I like this review by Film Threat.