Horton's 'Hook: Dear Reader, Follow The North Star'

The patterns of dysfunctional relationships, drinking to get drunk, drunk driving, and black outs continued for Caroline until her parents died. First her father, a tragic death from a brain tumor, which at first led her to boozing to cope with the feelings, then a year later her

As reported in the client Interview, Helen Stonewall is a married, 32-year-old African American female and mother to her 5 year old daughter, Sonya. Helen night started at a bar where she progressed from a feel drinks with a couple of gentlemen that appeared to be friends where she then continued to become louder and more rowdy until she had to be forced out of the bar. Later, Helen was found dancing half naked in the middle of a busy intersection at 2 A.M by the police. Police stated that she appeared to be on drugs and was half naked when she was found and had to be placed in handcuffs when she refused to get out of the road. Helen explained to the police that she was not on drugs but was, “Just high on life”. Lab test later reported no evidence of excessive alcohol or other drug use. Helen reported to have been “racing” before she went to the bar. Helen describes herself to be up and down, going from periods of high energy and little sleep to then crash and feel periods of sadness with lack of energy or enthusiasm.

Lauren’s mother succumbed to the troubles of the world and was addicted to drugs while she was pregnant. Her mother’s addiction caused the severity of Lauren’s

For her, everyday acts seem much more enjoyable when on drugs. She goes out of their way to experience something new and exciting. She is a creative writer and uses drugs as a way to get back to her child-like imaginative state. Suddenly, with the drugs back in her life, she seems to have much more insight and a wilder imagination. "And the afternoon was absinthe yellow and almond, burnt orange and chrysanthemum. And in the abstract sky, a litany of kites"(93). She longs to feel this way all of the time, but she knows the consequences. She sees doing drugs like going to a carnival. It is an escape from the boring life she is leading now. Even though she has a daughter, she still feels like there is something she is missing out on. The idea of motherhood takes backseat to her lust for drugs.

When he had arrived in Buffalo, Lewis’s first reaction to when they had finally reached his Uncle Otis’s home. “When we reached my Uncle O.C’s home and Dink’s house, I couldn’t believe it, They had white people living next door to them...on BOTH sides.” (Lewis and Aydin March Book 1: 43) Segregation in the north wasn’t a big deal to people in the north than it was in the south and from that he experienced a lot during that visit in the north. Once he had returned back home, he knew what was different now, he understood what the problem and differences were while he was up in Buffalo and at home. It came to him when school time was coming back around in the fall. “ In the fall, I started right the bus to school ,which should’ve been fun. But it was just another sad reminder of how different our lives were from those of white children.” (Lewis and Aydin March Book 1: 47) Between the black and white community, Lewis saw how “degrading” it was when it had came to school. They didn’t have the nice playground, the nicest bus, roads, and the ugly, sad sight of the prison full of black men and only black men, but he had managed to get pass all of the gloominess with a positive outlook of reading. “ I realized how old it was when we finally climbed onto the paved highway, the main road running east from Troy, and passed the white children’s buses..We drove past prison work gangs almost every day the prisoner were always

A mentally ill teenage named Jessica Roger was born to Joan and Kevin Roger. As a young girl Roger’s mother was verbally abusive to her and her sister, she even went as far as trying to kill her husband. When little Roger was about eleven years old her mother left them with their alcoholic father. Roger ended up in prison for biting her sister and other acts because of her disorder, eventually she committed suicide while serving her time in a place where she just didn't belong. Although her mother showed remorse after her death and said, “she accepts blame, maybe too much, for what happened to her Jet”. On the other hand her father was unapologetic for his drinking “I still drink. It’s legal”. Roger sent her parents countless letter of how she was feeling but they didn’t do anything until after her death. Are you wonder how a mentally ill sixteen year old girl ends up on prison?

The book True Notebooks by Mark Salzman highlights what our youth behind bars are going through while waiting for decisions on their lives to be made. Two interesting characters that stood out the most to me happened to be Mr. Mark Salzman because he embarked on an incredible journey of finding himself while helping others at the same time and Kevin Jackson who grew as a person throughout the book. Mr. Salzman’s character grew a lot from a man who was afraid of entering the steps of juvenile hall into a role model for the incarnated youth. While on the other hand, Kevin Jackson’s character grew from a shyboy to somebody who became very expressive of himself and appreciative of things around him. An article that helped me better understand Mr. Salzman’s charcter and Jackson’s was Synthesized Macsunlties by Victor Rios from our unit two reading due to the fact I was given an insight on Salzman’s and Jackson’s character traits.

Although Brown spent most of his life far from the notorious deep south, the horrific conditions and legal abuse that slaves endured were not lost on him. Beaten, abused, separated from his family, and forced to do things he would never choose to do, Brown went on to become a free man, an author, historian, and an abolitionist, and his writings on the life of a slave provide an insight into the darker side of what many Americans consider to be a happy period in American

In Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass, Douglass employs several literary themes and techniques through which he appeals to people’s emotions and basic humanity rather than using cold and convoluted logic to prove that slavery was an immoral practice. Douglass provides vivid first hand examples of abuse that he and other slaves have endured. He describes various instances, in compelling detail, in which slaves were tortured physically and psychologically. He conveys to his reader the fear and caution that slaves had to deal with in order to get by every day. In his memoir, Douglass reflects on his life, and details his journey of being born into slavery, what his life was like as a slave, how he escaped from his grim reality and how he eventually became one of the most gripping orators and thinkers of his time, enlightening the rest of the world on the horrors of what was occurring in the United States in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Aileen was engaging in prostitution, forgery, theft, and armed robbery. During this time Aileen attempted suicide. Aileen was a wreck emotionally and physically. This was due to her doping, drinking, and self-destructive lifestyle. In 1986, Aileen met twenty-four year old Tyria Moore at a gay bar in Daytona, Florida. Aileen was lonely, angry, and ready for a change, something new. Tyria and Aileen hit it off. Things were great for the couple for a while. Tyria loved Aileen so much she quit her job as a motel maid and let Aileen support them with her prostitution income. Due to Aileen’s income, the couple didn’t make it long before they started having money issues. Even with these problems, Tyria did not leave Aileen. Tyria would move with Aileen from one cheap motel to another. It wasn’t long before Aileen decided she would have to rob her John’s and then kill them to make ends meet.

(2) Her history of drank heavily, hitchhiked, worked as a prostitute and ever had several violated relationship, supported an excessive need for stimulation.

At 11 years old she saw her mother deceased in a casket. She gave birth to her first baby at the age of 16 and had five more children to relieve issues of feeling empty and alone. As the pressures of teen pregnancy, poverty and motherhood mount Diane turns to crack cocaine and neglect her then young children. Her eldest daughter reports her drug use to her teachers which results in the removal of all six of Diane’s children into foster care for a period of 10 years. During that time Diane turns to her community drug rehabilitation center, Child welfare services, her religion and her therapist for help in recovering from her addictions and for help in reuniting with her children.

"Mitchell's patients lost much of themselves as people" (53).  Gilman herself, after sinking into a deep depression, was sent to Mitchell in Philadelphia for his rest cure.  After a month of treatment Mitchell concluded that there was nothing wrong with her and sent her home with these instructions: "Live as domestic a life as possible.  Have your child with you at all times.  Lie down an hour after each meal.  Have but two hours of intellectual life a day.  And never touch pen, brush or pencil as long as you live." (Gilman, Autobiography 62).  Gilman followed these instructions for several months until she came extremely close to losing her mind.  Says Gilman of this time: "I made a rag baby, hung it on the doorknob and played with it.  I would crawl into remote closets and under beds to hide from the grinding pressure of that profound distress." (63).  It is exactly this situation that lead Charlotte Perkins Gilman to write her eerily accurate tale of one woman's forced regression into insanity.

Once this girl started with the drugs, she could not stop. As soon as she tried the first drug, it lead to all of the other drugs and things that she did. Her first time doing the drug was an accident, and she did not know, but she made the wrong choice in continuing to do them. She said it gave her a feeling of belonging and love that she had never felt before. If her parents or her close friends had paid more attention to her, then some of the events that happened would not have happened. Her heavy drug use lead to her runaway from home to the streets, involvement in crime, her prostitution, and her visit to the insane asylum. She found a "best friend" (Chris) - one that would give her drugs - and they decided to runaway and leave their family and friends to start their own shop in San Francisco. They thought they could not handle their parents telling them what is right and what is wrong, but that is what they needed to hear. They were naive in thinking they could live their lives alone without any rules or any authority.

If Tom heard, he made no acknowledgment. His eyes remained dull, his expression vacant. Somewhere, in the midst of the chaos that was the harshness of reality, he had managed to build a protective wall, a refuge in his mind where he was no longer a victim, no longer a weak, pathetic excuse for a man. He was Tom Hanson the cop, the loving son, the loyal friend; he was a man free