two questions. Do you think there is any possibility that is Rose in the picture for the Synanon ad? There are certain parts of it that do resemble Rose, but it doesn't make sense that it would be her.HeartofTexas said:
Well first of all, many recent newcomers were in fact used as poster children and would appear in local newspapers and such promoting this wonderful place and how it had changed their life (and often split within weeks or months). We had some successes at Synanon but we had many failures. I know the woman and am trying to identify her. She was married to a man named Ruben and she woudl have been in her twenties in that picture.
And secondly, what would hve been the biggest adjustment arriving at Synanon in the summer of 1972 (as a 15 year old). Was it the rules, cruelty, punishment, loneliness, etc.
Children that came to the community probated by the courts felt abandoned. they were encouraged to write letters but we learned decades later (through the lists that I manage or moderate) that many of these letters were never received by the parents or family members whom they were intended for. Many left during the holidays because of their family memories. She got there before they started shaving heads but a few years later, she would have landed on our doorstep and had her head shaved as her first memory of this nice place. Chiristmas is a hard time for anyone away from home or going through deaths or recent anniversaries or lost memories and all that. True for Synanites and true for everyone else. She would have been thrust into a place with many rules that didn't make sense, felt abandoned, told she was an (insert all the swear words in the world)........I can tell you more....but that is what I';m going to write for now.
Thanks again, Julie. You really cannot imagine how helpful your input has been. And I'm sorry about your childhood spent at Synanon. And GOOD FOR YOU for getting the hell out!
My family left 2 years later. By then, I was 16, married, starting my sophomore year in college (graduated at 19) and received 2 grad degrees after that but I did indeed lose my childhood. I have a photographic memory or to some extent and I do help people who lived there remember things about their life there or timeline etc that they can't figure out. Many people blocked out traumatic things that happened there.
During the 1977-1978 timeframe, my name appeared in the press because I was a whistleblower about childabuse that was occuring in the community. It was my dad who hired (I helped pay the retainer out of money I earned at then age 15) to pay for an atty to try and get my younger sister out but it was deemed a domestic case. The lawyer soon after almost died after being intentionally bitten by a rattlesnack placed in his mailbox at his home by 2 synanon members.
