morrisamb

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Posts by morrisamb

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  5

  Re: Colorado football coach Gary Barnett

  by morrisamb in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  i've written this column on university of colorado coach gary barnett:

  after listening to colorado football coach gary barnett's version of expressing support to an alleged rape victim and reporters asking, yet again, why another ?alleged victim waited so long to come forward,?

  i?m surprised anyone comes forward at all.

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  morrisamb

  I've written this column on University of Colorado coach Gary Barnett:

  After listening to Colorado football coach Gary Barnett's version of expressing support to an alleged rape victim and reporters asking, yet again, why another ?alleged victim waited so long to come forward,? I?m surprised anyone comes forward at all.

  During the decades since my disclosure, there are times when I wish I had never talked to a detective, the police, a living soul. In fact, the original investigating police in my case recently apologized for saying to me more than twenty years ago, ?Why did you wait so long to come forward.?

  I said, ?You?re right, you should have said, ?I can?t believe you had the guts to come forward.??

  At least he apologized.

  The only people I have no regrets about confiding in are my therapists. And even one of them warned me, ?you are going to be a guinea pig for an awful lot of victims.?

  That truth did not make me feel any better, but it proved to be an understatement for the role of ?trailblazer? is not a role I relish or really thought out.

  I have a female friend who was raped in her early 20s years ago. Only one other person besides myself knows. I told her recently, ?I?m jealous of your silence. Not one person has said an insensitive thing about your experience because of your silence. I couldn?t count how many times I?ve experienced insensitivity.?

  Some examples:

  ?It must have been easier for you to say no, ?cause you were a boy.?

  ?You think you?re special, don?t you.?

  ?I can?t say a bad thing about your molester?he?s always provided bread on the table and clothes on your back.?

  So why do we disclose?

  The truth is, there?s countless reasons:

  - to stop future incidents

  -to protect the innocent

  -to inform the public

  And personally, as much as people have kicked me for going public, I actually should thank them! To do it, I had to transform myself from a mouse to a mouse that roars!

  Much has been said about the co-conspiracy of silence. I suggest, people who treat victims who disclose shamefully, are equally culpable. Is it really any wonder why legions of victims remain silent?

  I really don?t care if Katie Hnida can kick a football. If her disclosure can prevent one other human from being sexually assaulted, her personal discomfort with giving up her silence will be worthwhile.

  Now that I would call a touchdown.
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  23

  I've been asked to read at a Carole Pope event!

  by morrisamb in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  (i don't know how to put posters on here, so my partner will place links here very soon: http://www.fatherstouch.com/ )

  speaking engagement:

  donald d'haene

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  morrisamb

  Awwh, shucks, Valis...you are too kind.

  Hey, Valis, one of the things that makes me keep on truckin is the fact that I want to show others, if you can go through the shit I have and hold your head up high, and feel normal, others can do.

  But a public life is a two-edged sword. In my last speech, I spoke of being jealous of others who choose silence. It is and should be a choice.

  I hope people don't follow my example - rather the point is, I hope others can learn from the journey and path that I took.

  So thanks again for the stars, but your generosity of spirit is really shining tremendous light on you.
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  23

  I've been asked to read at a Carole Pope event!

  by morrisamb in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  (i don't know how to put posters on here, so my partner will place links here very soon: http://www.fatherstouch.com/ )

  speaking engagement:

  donald d'haene

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  morrisamb

  Dammit Valis, your welcome! LOL All in a day's work...thanks for your support!
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  23

  I've been asked to read at a Carole Pope event!

  by morrisamb in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  (i don't know how to put posters on here, so my partner will place links here very soon: http://www.fatherstouch.com/ )

  speaking engagement:

  donald d'haene

  1. 
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  morrisamb

  in today's London Free Press:

  I'll be the last reader before Carole Pope.... Pope wants to get London all heated up JAMES REANEY, Free Press Arts & Entertainment Columnist 2004-02-19 03:25:34

  Gender-bending Canadian rock icon Carole Pope is willing and chilling to make her first London visit in years. Pope is leaving her Los Angeles home to perform at a benefit event here next week.

  "Let's do that, let's work on that," Pope commands in ordering more Californian temperatures to be in place when she arrives.

  "I just can't live in that any more. It's OK to visit for a minute, but I like summer."

  Pope and guitarist Tim Welch are part of a benefit for a gay-friendly London literary trust on Wednesday at the Bacchus Lounge.

  She'll sing some songs, including blasts from her past as the woman at the front of 1970s and 1980s Toronto band Rough Trade. She'll also read from Anti-Diva, her autobiography, published in 2000. That is the book Random House dragged out of Pope after she began the project, intending to write a series of essays on her life. The publisher wanted a more conventional read.

  "Random House wanted that and I had to go there," she says. "It was very cathartic and then I couldn't actually stop . . . in fact, I thought I would get another go at it. But then it was out."

  Critics and fans jumped on Anti-Diva's confirmations of long-rumoured Pope liaisons, including her affair with late British soul legend Dusty Springfield. Pope discussed her thoughts on AIDS, sexuality and sexual politics -- not a bad way to bare your inner self.

  Pope also reflected on partying with the Saturday Night Live crew, starring with the outrageous Divine in Restless Underwear and touring with David Bowie.

  Like many great divas, Pope regrets nothing.

  "You do expose yourself. But I just don't care. It was cathartic and kind of freeing and it's not necessarily something I would do again," she says.

  As a fan of Rough Trade's glory days at Toronto clubs in the 1970s, I already felt I knew Pope's secrets. There was an era when Rough Trade looked and sounded like the best rock band in the universe.

  Its songs -- Birds of a Feather, Surrender (Give Up), Butch, No Control -- were like an instant autobiography set to great dance music. Nobody wrote funkier or funnier songs about love and sex than Rough Trade. Maybe you had to be there. I know I was.

  This time out, Pope is in no mood to give it up for Rough Trade. The band will get together occasionally "for money," but she is much more likely to talk about having some songs on the cult TV hit, Queer as Folk, and about being a National Public Radio-loving Canadian in Los Angeles.

  "All the Canadians I know are just horrified by what's going on here. We try and do what we can. I'm pretty sure we'd all be Democrats if we were allowed to vote," she says.

  Still, the Bush administration has been good for the arts in one way, she says, because it's getting cultural types off their butts.

  "I'm not an anarchist. I do believe there should be some kind of control. There's not much that difference between the parties . . .

  "I don't think the Democrats are that much better. It's just an immoral person is running the country right now."

  IF YOU GO

  What: A reading and performance by Carole Pope; Londoner Carole Allison is also performing and the evening includes readings by Christie Corlett, Donald D'Haene and more; benefits to Matching Accessories Literary Trust

  When: Wednesday; doors open at 8 p.m., show starts at 9 p.m.

  Where: Bacchus Lounge, 545 1/2 Richmond St.

  Details: $15; call 438-3046 or e-mail [email protected]
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  23

  I've been asked to read at a Carole Pope event!

  by morrisamb in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  (i don't know how to put posters on here, so my partner will place links here very soon: http://www.fatherstouch.com/ )

  speaking engagement:

  donald d'haene

  1. 
  2. 
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  morrisamb

  Thanks Pettygrudger and Big Tex...I will break a leg!
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  What next? I'm with the victims in this case...

  by morrisamb in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  game | nominees gallery | list | special report

  abuse victims: don't reward 'friedmans' director says film is balanced

  wednesday, february 18, 2004 posted: 1538 gmt (11:38 pm hkt).

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  morrisamb

  

  » Game | Nominees Gallery | List | Special Report Abuse victims: Don't reward 'Friedmans' Director says film is balanced Wednesday, February 18, 2004 Posted: 1538 GMT (11:38 PM HKT) Story Tools RELATED ? Director talks 'Capturing the Friedmans' YOUR E-MAIL ALERTS Follow the news that matters to you. Create your own alert to be notified on topics you're interested in. Or, visit Popular Alerts for suggestions. Manage alerts | What is this? NEW YORK (AP) -- Two men whom Jesse Friedman pleaded guilty to sexually abusing as boys have written an open letter to Academy Awards voters, speaking out against the Oscar-nominated documentary about the Friedman family. "Capturing the Friedmans," by director Andrew Jarecki, is among the favorites to win best documentary at the February 29 Oscar ceremony. It examines the cases against Arnold and Jesse Friedman, a Long Island father and son imprisoned in the late 1980s for sexually abusing dozens of children. The victims, now in their 20s, wrote that Jesse Friedman was "being paraded like a celebrity." "If this film does win an Oscar, it will be won at the expense of silencing the plaintive voices of abused children once again, just as our own voices were silenced 16 years ago by the threats and intimidation of our tormentors, Arnold and Jesse Friedman," said the letter. Jarecki said his film was a balanced piece, and that he had reached out to every child involved. He pointed out that the film's longest interview is with someone who has recollections of being abused. "The film doesn't exclude that perspective in the slightest," he said Tuesday. "I didn't set out to make an advocacy film for the Friedmans, and I didn't make one." However, Jesse Friedman, now 34, is seeking a new trial to overturn his conviction based on information revealed in the documentary. And in an earlier interview, Jarecki told The Associated Press that he was "very supportive" of Friedman's quest for a new trial, and that people "come away from the film thinking that Jesse was railroaded." The men who wrote the letter list their ages as 24 and 27 and their occupations as graduate student and businessman, respectively. They did not reveal their names. The judge who dealt with their case, Abbey Boklan, who is now retired from her Nassau County court, confirmed that the two men had been among the 13 children Jesse Friedman pleaded guilty to abusing. A copy of the letter was provided to The Associated Press by Joyanna Silberg, a child psychologist and member of the Leadership Council on Child Abuse and Interpersonal Violence, which is conducting a campaign against the movie. "Whether it was on purpose or whether Jarecki was misled, he presented a documentary that coveys an impression of the case that is erroneous," Silberg said. "Capturing the Friedmans" won the documentary grand prize at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival and was named best nonfiction film by the New York Film Critics Circle. Jesse was 19 when he pleaded guilty to the sex abuse charges in 1988. Authorities said he and Arnold Friedman molested dozens of children during computer classes in their home. Jesse was sentenced to 6 to 18 years and was paroled after 13 years in prison; he is now a registered sex offender who lives in Manhattan. His father, an admitted pedophile who was also convicted of sending child pornography through the mail, died in prison in 1995.
• 
  23

  I've been asked to read at a Carole Pope event!

  by morrisamb in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  (i don't know how to put posters on here, so my partner will place links here very soon: http://www.fatherstouch.com/ )

  speaking engagement:

  donald d'haene

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
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  morrisamb

  Thanks Sargon & Valis..it's pretty amazing!
• 
  23

  I've been asked to read at a Carole Pope event!

  by morrisamb in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  (i don't know how to put posters on here, so my partner will place links here very soon: http://www.fatherstouch.com/ )

  speaking engagement:

  donald d'haene

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
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  morrisamb

  Thanks Talesin...yes, very excited. Look forward to meeting you mortons68
• 
  23

  I've been asked to read at a Carole Pope event!

  by morrisamb in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  (i don't know how to put posters on here, so my partner will place links here very soon: http://www.fatherstouch.com/ )

  speaking engagement:

  donald d'haene

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  morrisamb

  That's great....call this number, ask for Joan Brennan. 519-438-3046 she is organizing the event
• 
  23

  I've been asked to read at a Carole Pope event!

  by morrisamb in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  (i don't know how to put posters on here, so my partner will place links here very soon: http://www.fatherstouch.com/ )

  speaking engagement:

  donald d'haene

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  morrisamb

  mortons68...that's fantastic...here is how you can get tickets: (also available at the door, but since you're driving that far, maybe you should get them in advance..you'll also meet my sister!) any questions, just ask!

  Tickets ($15.00) available at Girlcult Productions 519-438-3046 ; Wortley Corner Book Store; Speed City Records

  Visa, Mastercard, American Express accepted!

  Wednesday,
  Feb. 25, 2004
  London, Ontario

  Carole Pope, formerly of Rough Trade, will be reading from her book 'Anti Diva', playing her music and messing with the audience.
  
  The Bacchus Lounge
  545 1/2 Richmond Street,
  London, Ontario.