Unreformed

  We were celebrating Beth’s birthday at the Branded Butcher, but all I could think of was Compliance.  This weekend I’m interviewing the director, Craig Zobel, and I’d just finished watching the film.  Based on true events, Compliance is set in a fast food restaurant in suburban Ohio.  A stressed manager (Ann Dowd) gets a call during a…

In 2011, Escuela Caribe, the Christian reform school where I was incarcerated in the early ’90s, was taken over by Lifeline Family and Youth Services. The Escuela Caribe campus is now called Caribbean Mountain Academy.  (This is the fourth time this school’s name has been changed).  Many of the staff who were employed by Escuela Caribe now work…

New Horizons Youth Ministries’ first overseas academy, Caribe-Vista Youth Safari, was established in Haiti.  In 1974, they moved to the Dominican Republic. They changed their name to Caribe-Vista. (Five years later, after a 1979 Congressional Report alleging abuse, it would become Escuela Caribe…today it is known as Caribbean Mountain Academy).Various rumors were given for the…

On January 4, 1979, Congress began a hearing on the Abuse and Neglect of Children in Institutions.   Escuela Caribe, then called Caribe Vista, was condemned for its abuse of children.Children’s Advocate Kenneth Wooden delivered the following testimony: “I would like to share with you my 1976 observations of the facility that is currently charging…

Julia Scheeres, author of Jesus Land and A Thousand Lives, uploaded this 1988 Escuela Caribe* promotional video. I attended E.C. from 1990-91.  I knew many of the staff and a few of the students in this film.In it, founder Gordon Blossom speaks of “youngsters who come from nice neighborhoods and good families” who are negatively…

In December, I flew to Los Angeles.  I was interviewed by Kate Logan, the director of the forthcoming expose about Escuela Caribe, Kidnapped for Christ. Since I began writing UnReformed, I’ve had lots of people ask about Escuela Caribe. Kate knows more about the school than anyone I’ve met—alumni included.  Talking with her was very strange,…

Happy Day!  An excerpt from UnReformed was published in Marco Polo Arts Magazine.  I read this selection last Friday night at the Kids Are Alright.  Enjoy!

This Friday, May 25th, @ 7:00, join your favorite folks at the Kids Are Alright, a reading sponsored by the Marco Polo Arts Quarterly,* at Avid Bookshop on Prince Avenue in Athens. All your favorite local authors (plus me) are reading. Fun, fun, fun!!!Find more information here. *The piece I am reading, Danzas con Lobos en…

On January 4, 1990, I boarded a plane in New Orleans for the Dominican Republic. I was headed to Escuela Caribe, an evangelical Christian reform school (also the setting of Jesus Land by Julia Scheeres). The school had been referred to my parents by the influential religious organization, Focus on the Family. My life would…