I saw a post yesterday asking why Christians are so obsessed with sex trafficking, and I wanted to share a long-form reply, as I study the history of human sex and sex work.
TLDR - Christians’ interests in sex trafficking is a mere continuation of hundreds-years-old efforts to control women and sex while pretending that they are the true heroes. This post provides some historical context to explain the modern phenomenon.
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First, most instances of human trafficking are labor trafficking (farming, service work, etc.), not sex trafficking. Yet, in the U.S., we talk much more about sex trafficking, and we often spread misinformation about how it happens.
Second, in the US, we often conflate adult women who want to do sex work with victims of sex trafficking. For example, police will often do stings where they use a male officer to lure a bunch of adult sex workers to a hotel and then use a female officer to lure a bunch of male clients. When the women and men all gets to the hotel, the police arrest everyone, post their mugshots, and then go on the news calling it a massive prostitution bust or sex trafficking ring. There was even a case where a woman was arrested for “sex trafficking” herself in Alaska.
Regardless your opinion on decriminalizing sex work, you must admit that it is a shit use of resources to arrest random adults who don’t even know each other versus actually trying to free people who want to escape the life. Furthermore, this fear of arrest is what helps keep trafficking victims under the control of their abusers. Though it is often advertised that sex trafficking victims won’t be arrested, they absolutely CAN be arrested with their image plastered all over the news, depending on how they are perceived by law enforcement. Traffickers play on this fear to keep their victims from escaping.
Much of this conflation between sex work and sex trafficking is intentional anti-sex work propaganda that seeks to scare women out of doing sex work. This propaganda has a LONG history in the US, and it leads right back to - you guessed it - evangelical Christians.
In Philadelphia in the 1730s-1790s - the largest city in the newly founded United States - sex was more freely had and more openly discussed. In fact, Philly had a reputation as a big party town: media featured comedic images and short stories about sex, women were having children with men outside their race, and couples would have flings in bawdyhouses where they drank and danced with people across class and racial lines until the dawn. Evangelicals were horrified.
But more controversially, many women began divorcing husbands and quitting toxic jobs to do sex work instead. Compared to all other jobs, sex work was the only gig where a woman could employ herself, set her own hours, choose her exact clientele, and change her own rates at a moment’s notice. Sex work was simply a tool for women to quickly gain financial independence, and sex work happened out in the open. There are divorce records from the 1700’s where men detailed visiting whorehouses on a weekday afternoon in broad daylight - no sketchy alleyways, no madams, no one hiding or sneaking around.
The anarchy of women using their sexuality to get what they wanted threatened the social order of America’s big city, so evangelical leaders and politicians created plans to push women back into their “natural” place. They began sending police after sex workers and pushing propaganda that wrongly portrayed sex workers as victims of sexual exploitation. Evangelicals even began keeping track of data on children birthed outside of marriage and interracial sexual relations; in their eyes, all sex outside of race-segregated Christian marriage was wrong. Christians began to argue that women don’t really enjoy sex, but rather that women naturally want to be married and submissive to a man. To them, women should just be quiet, have babies, and pursue neither higher education nor personal ambitions, lest they become common whores who want to earn their own living. In the 1790s- early 1800s, the Christian tradwife fantasy was constructed.
By doing this, evangelicals and law enforcement pushed sex and sex work underground, thus (perhaps unintentionally) creating incentive for traffickers to begin exploiting women and children for financial gain. And, with each generation up until modern day, they double down on their anti-sex agenda and push harder and harder against sex work, thus worsening sex trafficking.
So yeah, Christians like to imagine themselves as heroes in a conflict that they are actually making worse.
Source on the Philadelphia history: * Sex Among the Rabble: An Intimate History of Gender & Power in the Age of Revolution by Clare Lyons
Additional context you may enjoy: * https://youtu.be/-gd8yUptg0Q?feature=shared

I was in a severely abusive marriage for 15 years. I became disabled due to my mental illness a couple years ago. My husband would constantly call me lazy for being depressed all the time. I have been in and out of the hospital with SI. Sometimes a few times a year.
Two years ago he convinced me to begin doing online sex work. I did it. Making close to $3k a month, giving him every cent of my disability check and all the SW proceeds. It made me feel like I was contributing and not being lazy for once.
Then he convinced me to take on a poly lifestyle and accept a gf that we both shared.
I eventually became more and more unstable due to the sex work and being sad that he needed another woman to feel sexually fulfilled.
I went into the hospital a few times for wanting to unalive myself because I was so sad all the time between him calling me lazy for being depressed, being treated like a prostitute being pimped, and the loss of my self esteem because of the other woman.
I eventually told him I didn't want to be a SW anymore and I wanted to break up with the girlfriend.
He didn't take kindly to that and it ended in a huge blowout where I yelled at him in the front lawn in front of our kids. I know that was a mistake. I also know that I suffer from severe PTSD because of his abuse. I snapped.
I left him, and he took the kids, telling them that I abandoned them. They believed him and now hate me. They are convinced that the abuse was done by me and not him even though there are extensive arrest records from several times he beat me when they were babies and don't remember.
It's been nearly a year since I left and I barely have seen my girls because they say they don't want to see me.
I reached a tipping point when this week they told me they didn't want me at their band and choir concerts.
I have cried almost every day for my girls. I miss them so much I want to unalive myself.
But I did some terrible things the past few days. His gf, the girl that we were both with, lives with him and my daughters. They have begun to call her Mom.
I wanted revenge. I emailed her job, which is a non profit that provides advocacy to disabled persons in bad situations, about her relationship with my abuser. I even sent them his mugshot and charges.
I wanted them to know that someone who is supposed to care for the abused and disabled is currently in a relationship with a proven abuser.
I am at a loss with my behavior and the level of depression I am suffering from.
I just want to go to sleep and never wake up.
She and him absolutely stole my entire life from me.

ALISSA LONGO Latest Arrest Grand Theft Auto March 2024

Below is a list of arrest dates and charges for Alissa Longo. This information on Alissa Longo's arrests and criminal charges is not necessarily complete. In other words, there is a strong possibility there are criminal charges that are missing and not listed.
At the time of this writing (July 2022) Alissa Longo currently has 2 active arrest warrants (arrest warrant #1) (arrest warrant #2) out of Waterbury CT, both for violation of probation, one of these arrest warrants for Alissa Longo has a quarter of a million dollars bond.
Once again, the worlds biggest loser, Alissa Longo or Alissa Lynn Longo to be more accurate, birthplace Waterbury CT, has been arrested AGAIN and this time more felony charges are at play.

Latest Mugshot of Alissa Longo shows What Drugs do to a Persons Appearance

This picture below of Alissa Longo shows that she is really beginning to show the damage long term drug use does to someone, and being a prostitute compounds the aging affect. Pretty soon, with the way she is looking, she is going to have to pay the men!

Alissa Longo Latest Arrest in Hillsborough County Florida

Here are the latest charges against Alissa Longo, now residing back in Tampa Florida, listed below. Alissa Longo still has the 2 pending warrants for arrest out of East Haven CT. Police in Hillsborough FL, where Alissa Longo is being held now, were notified of these outstanding warrants and the CT police were notified of Alissa Longo's current where-abouts so she can face these 2 Connecticut arrest warrants as well as what whe is going to have to deal with in Florida.
PERSON ARRESTED: Alissa Longo ALISSA LONGO DOB: 09/17/1985 ARREST DATE: 03/07/2024 ARREST LOCATION: Hillsborough Fl. CRIMINAL CHARGE: burglary of an unoccupied conveyance (burg0022)
PERSON ARRESTED: Alissa Longo ALISSA LONGO DOB: 09/17/1985 ARREST DATE: 03/07/2024 ARREST LOCATION: Hillsborough Fl. CRIMINAL CHARGE: grand theft motor vehicle (thef2201)
PERSON ARRESTED: Alissa Longo ALISSA LONGO DOB: 09/17/1985 ARREST DATE: 03/07/2024 ARREST LOCATION: Hillsborough Fl. CRIMINAL CHARGE: possession of heroin (drug3101)
Once again the good news, Alissa asshole Longo has been captured and is off our streets and with the pending grand theft auto charges and her lengthy criminal history, she is probably going to be facing at least a moderate amount of prison time, thank god.
ALISSA LONGO from TAMPA, Florida was arrested on 03/07/24. Booking Date: 03/07/24 City: TAMPA Age/YOB: 38
Charge TitleType Bond
BURGLARY OF AN UNOCCUPIED CONVEYANCE (BURG0022)F3 $0.00
GRAND THEFT MOTOR VEHICLE (THEF2201)F3 $2,500.00
POSSESSION OF HEROIN (DRUG3101)F3 $2,500.00
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https://alissalongotorringtonct.com/grand-theft-auto/

Hello, this is an extremely bizarre story so hang on for the ride. Short version: woman steals my phone, all identification, and card. Racks up over 1,000 in charges before I can shut my card off. My phones location shows on my iPad and I track her to a nice hotel. The next day the bank tells me she spent money at a specific store and the specific hotel. I call the hotel and they cannot give me any information. I ask if they even check ID to which they refuse to answer. I call the police and meet them at the hotel. They inform the front desk of what happened (I did not witness or hear what was said) They then give me a 2 minute description of what pressing charges means but are indicating that I shouldn’t. I decide to tell them that I guess I won’t press charges, I just want my stuff back. They confirm she’s in the hotel and four officers “search her”. I am told by one officer that she is a repeat offender and that she does this all the time. She is a local drug user and prostitute and is known to the police force. I am shown at least 5 of her mugshots. She is escorted off of hotel premises with multiple bags from the specific store she purchased from with my card- hundreds of dollars of merchandise she is carrying. (I have screenshots/ pics of all of this) then I tell police that I would now like to press charges since she probably still has my identification and phone and she is holding the evidence for me to have my charges disputed. They tell me no I can’t press charges now because I said “no” 15 minutes prior when I didn’t realize she was even in the building. I ask why and they state that they simply can’t because they’ve already “let them know” that I said no. I ask about what I’m supposed to do if she attempts to steal my identity. They suggest safety apps and repeat that they didn’t find my things anyways. I do some sleuthing myself. Not an hour after they let her go, she is at BEST BUY giving them my phone to wipe. It gets wiped and then she comes to pick it up. After she picks it up, my IPAD shows that she goes back and stays… at the same exact hotel that she used my card/ ID at and was escorted out of. This is just 25% of the information but does this not seem odd to anyone else?

I don't even know where to start. Yesterday morning I finally had him arrested and obtained an emergency OP as my state no longer does cash bonds, and I knew he would get released quickly. The physical and emotional abuse has occurred throughout our entire relationship (broken ankle, punched through a window requiring facial stitching, more bruises than I could even count), but has really ramped up in the 5 months since his brother passed away. He always took his anger out on me. I was his emotional and physical punching bag whenever ANYTHING went wrong. He did so good at convincing me I deserved these things.
Have you noticed that abusive men in particular all have similar agendas? risky cheating (prostitutes), mommy issues, no work ethic (lost 5+ jobs in the last 2 years)? Just something I've noticed from reading through here, and he checks all the boxes.
The camel's back has really been breaking for me since December when my graves' disease became active again. Graves' is an autoimmune thyroid disease that causes hyperthyroidism. It causes issues with thermoregulation (very sensitive to heat), wreaks havoc on the cardiovascular system via near constant tachycardia with resting HR in the 130's, that easily jumps to 150-170's from the slightest emotional or physical upset, and hypertension. Additionally it causes muscle weakness, muscle wasting, fatigue yet insomnia, among a plethora of other symptoms. It is dangerous when uncontrolled like mine has been, as it puts you at risk for a thyroid storm which is a highly fatal complication that would essentially cook you from the inside out while your heart races out of your chest and possibly starts spitting blood clots out of it. One trigger for a thyroid storm is physical or emotional trauma (this detail is important later).
Since my disease has relapsed, I mistakenly thought this would make me safe from his abuse, because he knew how serious it can be. Of course I was wrong. The physical and emotional abuse did not stop. Instead he started using it to his advantage. Kicking me as hard as he could in my thigh muscle because he knows I've had muscle pain and weakness. Choking me, squeezing the very gland that is currently poisoning me. Telling me he's glad im suffering with the disease and he hopes i have a thyroid storm and die. A few weeks ago, the disease sent me to the hospital, I was in SVT meaning my heart had been sustaining an irregular rhythm and HR of 170-190 for 3 hours. He watched as they stopped my heart 3 times with adenosine, a medication that had caused me to go into sustained cardiac arrest a few years prior when my heart did not restart like it should have. He watched me bridge life and death that day. I was terrified I was going to die and the only person with me was someone who regularly and casually wished it on me. It took not even a week before he started telling me he can't wait for me to die again. Throughout the following weeks things got worse and worse. Escalating to threatening text messages about waiting for me when I get home, how he's going to destroy me, beat my face in, rip my thyroid out of my neck, etc.
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Anyway the day before yesterday, he had started in on me via text while we were both at work. I had texted him to check in on him as he usually texts me himself by midday. I was met with short answers and what seemed to be attitude. I asked him what was wrong and he starts explaining to me that he hates his job and no longer desires a career or profession. I tried to disarm him by saying I often feel similar and understand feeling this way but most people don't have the luxury of doing something they truly enjoy while making a good living. He did not like this response and starts in on his usual banter. He hates me, he will never love or care about me, he's leaving me soon, he harbors nothing but rage and animosity toward me. He told me I don't deserve motherhood (i miscarried our twins and never tried again for obvious reasons) and that he hopes I have a thyroid storm and die (I have active graves' disease that has been hard to get under control and greatly affects my health). Later that day when I got home, I tried disarming him and trying to communicate. I know his anger at the world has nothing to do with me, and I am only the proxy target. This worked briefly but by the end of the evening he was back to his same crap cause he did not like my opinion on something that we spoke about. I went to bed that night in tears while he slept on the couch. All I could think about is how physically ill i feel and how alone I feel in it, and how all I need is his love and support.
yesterday morning we woke up at 5:30, and we were both supposed to start getting ready for work. I start my usual routine and noticed he was just sitting on the couch. I asked if he was going to get ready, he said no. I asked why? he told me to worry about myself. I plead with him to go to work, as he has been working this job for less than 2 weeks, as he got fired from his last job. He is notorious for just randomly quitting jobs for no reason, by just not showing up ever again. He immediately got up, went into the bedroom, ripped a drawer out of the dresser and threw it on the floor, punched the lamp destroying the shade and shattering the bulb. I could see in his eyes how bad this would be. I created distance and phoned my mother so she could hear what's going on and call the police for me, she did. The whole time he was throwing stuff around the house and shouting at me. I told him to get out. He started gathering his stuff, then threw me into a wall after walking past me. I left the apartment and went downstairs to the security door to wait. He started loading his stuff out, and locked himself out. This gave me the distance I needed from him. I started throwing his bags off the balcony while he screamed throughout the neiborhood that I was a C*nt and he wants me to die. When I passed him his bag with some of his more important things, he tried to pull me off the balcony with it. The cops finally showed up. They talked to us both separetely. I explained everything and told them I did not necesarrily want him to go to jail, but just to leave peacefully (apartment fully in my name, including all utilities). The cop explained that he feels a crime has been committed and he had to take him to jail regardless, and the state will decide whether to pick up or drop charges. I felt terrible. Why did I feel guilty when even the law sees that what he's doing is wrong? To see him in handcuffs and seeing his mugshot broke me. I never wanted this for him.
I DID pursue the emergency OP and got it granted, because I do know that keeping him away from me is in my best interest. I still feel so guilty.. and I don't understand why..

Using my throw away in case he's on reddit. Apologies for formatting, on mobile. Typos may occur because my phone is stupid.
So I'll preface this by saying that it's probably been the better part of a decade and a half since I spoke to him. Probably going to fudge a few details in case anyone happens to know him. I do very much hope he's grown up now that he has a kid. Strap in because even though I'm leaving out what I feel are private details, it's a very long read.
We're going to call him puppy. For reasons we will get into later. I met puppy at a card shop in the early 2000s. Freshly 21, still very immature and sheltered myself, lonely, and trying to find myself.
I was very big into Yu-Gi-Oh at the time and was basically hanging out there on the weekends to try to make friends. There was a good portion of people in their late teens early 20s so I wasn't quite that weird. It was fun. We had adult tournaments and I was actually interested in trying to go to finals in New York.
So it was one of these nights I matched with puppy on a tournament. At first everything was cool. He was 23, cute, and seemed nice. We had a lot in common and we ended up talking for hours after while we played. He even did this magic trick and had me pull out a card from his deck with his phone number on it. We met there a couple more times and talked on the phone before he asked if I wanted to go on a date with him.
Ahahahahaha this is where it starts going down hill. So like me, puppy didn't drive. So I asked my parents if they could take us to the mall to which they agreed. We had a nice time. We got dinner at the food court and walked around. Then he needed to go outside for a cigarette. That disappointed me a bit because I really didn't want a partner who smoked. So we went outside.
Let me paint you a picture. It's dark. It's kind of late. There's no one around. There's one singular dull light attached to the wall like 20 feet away that's doing zilch for the lighting. Romantic? Maybe. Except for what happened next. So this is a rough reconstruction of the conversation that I absolutely should have said fuck this to.
Puppy: So, are you a virgin?"
Me: uh...yeah?"
Puppy: because so am I. But I'm 23 and my friends are making fun of me because I should have had sex a long time ago.
Me internally face palming because here we are again another man that just wants to have sex. Highly disappointed, I suggest getting a prostitute.
Puppy: i don't want to just have sex with anyone, I want to be in a relationship and get married.
Me: I think I'd rather wait until I'm married to have sex.
I'm getting more and more uncomfortable. But I don't know how to say no. So then he pulls his cd player out of his backpack and opens up his cd case.
Puppy: i want you to listen to this song. Have you heard of ICP before? This song is so relatable to me. Me: no.
Puppy: puts the headphones on my head. The song is Hooker btw. I was SO uncomfortable after that. I SHOULD have said no thanks at this point but I've always been a pushover. And I had no friends. Clearly this guy was into me but I was not interested. So I was thinking we'd just be friends. Yeah. Friends.
So after that uncomfortable awkward as fuck date I started talking to him less. He'd call me pretty much weekly but this was back when texting was 10cents and calling was free after 9pm. I couldn't tell you much of what we talked about besides Yu-Gi-Oh for a good while which I was fine with.
To explain this next part I have to tell you 2 things. I was very much into anime and had just discovered forums and an anime called Yami No Matsuei, and I was still a Christian, though leaning more out by then. So on this forum I had a thread called "father Tsuzuki's confessional" where other people would come confess a "sin" and I'd make up some dumb shit for them to do around the forum as repentance. It was based on one of the stories in the manga.
I made the mistake of telling this to him in one of course conversations. Along with joking that I looked him up on a site called mugshots. To which he pretty much freaked out and started confessions that actually ended up happening literally every week for hours. Some of it was as mild as him stealing candy to sell at school to some darker things that would give away too much info about him.
I explicitly told puppy I only wanted to be friends which he said he was fine with. But tried multiple times to change my mind. Here is where he gets his name.
I was starting to consider my sexuality at that point. I had be taught mostly by the town that gay=bad/pedophile. So I was having a really hard time coming to terms with the idea that I might be a lesbian and THAT was why I was so disgusted by sex. But that's a post of it's own if anyone is interested.
So in one of his many attempts to get me to date and marry him he tells me that having sex with him would be great because when we're done I could lay my head on his chest and run my fingers through his chest hair like a puppy.
😨
I understand that this might be appealing to some people. But I had a joke at the time, I liked my men to be girly, and my girls to be manly. I was very uninterested with anyone with chest hair. Which I had just finished telling him. That did not deter him and there's way more in part two but this has already taken half an hour to type out.

Sonia

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Sonia Rescalvo Zafra was born in Cuenca, Castilla-La Mancha (central-eastern Spain) on October 12th, 1956 as Juan José Rescalvo Zafra, to her parents Leopoldo and Dolores.
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There's barely any information on the net about her early years of life. Cuenca is a town of just 54,000 inhabitants in one of the least populated regions of the country. Castilla-La Mancha (known worldwide for being the setting of Miguel de Cervantes' opera prima Don Quixote) is mostly small rural towns and villages in the middle of a semi-arid desert living off dry-land farming.
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In 1972, aged just 16, Sonia traveled the 500 kilometers (310 miles) from Cuenca all the way to Barcelona, Spain's second largest city and capital of Catalonia, fleeing her oppressive home life. Apparently by then she already identified as a woman, and became known in her new circle of friends as a regular politically active figure, protesting the Francoist dictatorship (Francisco Franco would pass away three years later and the Spanish Constitution would be implemented in 1978, bringing back democracy to the nation for the first time since 1936). She also participated in marches for LGBTQ rights, a topic that while still wasn't socially accepted in Spain, it had begun to come up in political discussions now with the Francoist regime coming to an end, along with other issues the 1960s and 1970s brought up to the Western World such as gender equality, sexual liberation and multiculturalism. In 1977, precisely in Barcelona, Spain saw its first large-scale demonstration for LGBTQ rights, attended by more than 5,000 people. The demonstration was heavily repressed by law enforcement, which made extensive use of police brutality.
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Sonia, before and after transitioning.
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Facing extreme difficulties to secure employment due to her gender identity, Sonia ended up becoming a showgirl and a stripper in many of Barcelona's cabaret clubs. She'd end up having some success and becoming into some sort of a small local celebrity, even performing at the Teatre Arnau de Paralel -one of the oldest theaters in Barcelona, now long closed and abandoned.
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In 1978 she appeared along three other transwomen in an article for Lib, an erotic magazine. The article in question, titled 'A prejudice-free conversation with four transvestites', did not have any sexually explicit content in it. Instead, it featured an interview with the four trans-women sitting around a table at a bar, over a few coffees and beers, to discuss what life was like for a transwoman in 1978 Spain and earlier. An important note: transgender individuals were one of the collectives that were still persecuted even in the last years of the Francoist Regime, under the 1970 Law on Dangerousness and Social Rehabilitation. One of the women in that interview is Bibiana Fernández, who would become a national celebrity in the 1980s as a singer and also for her film works under renowned and internationally acclaimed filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar.
The first pages of the article. Sonia, then aged 22, is the woman in the white jacket in the right side of the picture. Bibiana Fernández is the woman in the denim jacket.
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The four women spoke about their personal experiences, and make emphasis in the distinction between the words 'transgender' and 'travesti' (Spanish slang for 'crossdresser'). Back in 1978, and well into the 1990s, these two words were used interchangeably in Spain. "The word 'travesti' doesn't describe me accurately. I believe we (the four) qualify as transgender, with or without gender-affirming surgery. The word 'travesti' defines a man that dresses as a woman when he goes to work, but the rest of the day lives as a man. I live a woman's life 24-hours a day", explains Bibiana.
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Sonia is quoted agreeing with her; "Being trans is not a choice, it comes from within the person, it's natural", she added in the interview. Sonia also brought up her frustrations; "Sometimes I feel very self-conscious. Many people don't understand me. Others just make fun of me. It's a pain". When asked at the end of the interview about her plans for the future, Sonia told them, jokingly; "I think about two things. One is saving money and starting my own business. The other one is landing a millionaire so I won't have to work."
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Many years after Sonia's death, Silvia Reyes -one of the most important activists for transgender rights in Spain's history, and whose life story would be worth of a post of its own- spoke about the five years she shared a flat with her. Silvia remembers especially Sonia's low self-esteem issues, which made her reject the idea of moving to other more progressive European countries. Silvia, who often traveled to France, Belgium and Switzerland, tried to convince Sonia to leave with her. "I told her that I could cover her expenses if she didn't have money, but she wouldn't have it; she was very sensitive, and after two failed relationships she slipped into a depression, then began using drugs until the end of her life", she explained in a 2021 press article on the case.
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Picture of Sonia, sometime in the 1980s
Silvia lost track of Sonia's whereabouts during the 1980s. "I never met any transwoman in Barcelona that could dress better than Sonia did. She never got into trouble nor messed with anyone, unlike me. The two people she fell in love with treated her very badly and took her money. They left her as soon as she no longer had any money in her bank account."
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Murder

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Sonia's severe depression and heroin addiction issues destroyed her ability to earn an income from the nightclubs she used to work at, and by 1990 she was essentially homeless and resorting to prostitution to survive.
Sonia, pictured around 1990
The night of October 5th, 1991 Sonia, along with her friend and fellow homeless transwoman Doris Romero, sneaked into the Parc de la Ciutadella. The park sits right in front of the Catalonian Parliament, and for that reason its gates are closed at night. Inside, Sonia and Doris went to the park's bandstand (located close to the north end) to sleep, sheltered by it's roof.
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The following morning (October 6th), at around 7 AM, the park's security guard opened the gates and came in to do his routine round around the park's facilities. Approaching the bandstand, he noticed from afar 'a pair of lumps laying on the floor'. The guard thought at first they were just a couple of homeless people sleeping, but upon coming close he saw they were covered in -and surrounded by- lots of blood. He thought these two people were dead, but then he heard one of them 'make a loud breathing sound' and he ran towards a patrol car he had seen near the park earlier to report the disturbing finding.
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The two people were found laying next to each other under bloodied duvet covers, 'embracing'. the person that was still breathing was unresponsive, the other person was dead. Both had been savagely beaten, their injuries and bruises evidenced how -kicked, punched and bludgeoned with rods or rod-like blunt objects. In fact, the body of the dead person was so badly swollen and bruised that at first one of the police officers mistook them for a black person. These injuries had been sustained predominantly in head and torso, with also a significant number of defensive injuries in their hands and forearms. The person still alive was rushed to a hospital in a comatose state with life-threatening head injuries. The dead one was taken to the Institut de Medicina Legal/@41.3634641,2.1340559,675m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m6!3m5!1s0x12a4a32528439907:0x19b9081cf6ce6134!8m2!3d41.3634089!4d2.1324876!16s%2Fg%2F1hc17k_bl?entry=ttu) for an autopsy. The officers from the Policía Nacional that initially took the case were able to retrieve ID's from the scene. The person in hospital was Doris Romero. The dead was Sonia Rescalvo. She had been murdered just a week shy of her 35th birthday.
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Doris would survive, but she remained in a coma for the following thirty-nine days, unable to tell the detectives who had attacked her and her friend. But very soon detectives learned of another person that had been admitted earlier that morning in hospital with very similar injuries; it was Miguel Pérez Barrieras, a homeless man suffering from alcoholism that had been sleeping under L'Hivernacle, a large glass greenhouse. Miguel, who sustained among other injuries a broken jaw and the loss of his only healthy eye (rendering him blind) couldn't tell much about his attackers; he was drunk that night and according to him he couldn't remember the beating even though he was conscious. Miguel had been sleeping next to other two homeless friends, who had managed to escape the beating and flee. At 5 AM a bloodied and blinded Miguel had managed to attract the attention of another homeless man that was jumping over the park's fence to sneak in. This man helped Miguel out of the park and took him to an emergency room.
Pictures of the crime scene (Sonia and Doris' + the scene of the attack to Miguel). Warning*; the B&W images are grainy, but some of them are graphic.*
Detectives found themselves with two survivors that couldn't give any valuable information about the culprits, so they looked more exhaustively for clues at the crime scene. The first one came up when taking a look at the blood in the bandstand's floor. The footprints on it indicated; a) at least three people involved in the assault and b) they all wore military boots. These two pieces of data, added to the victims' profile (homeless, drug addiction issues and also transgender) pointed detectives to look for the suspects among the neo-Nazi and skinhead communities.
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This was no easy task; at the time violent crime rates in Spain were much higher than nowadays are, and political violence was much more prevalent. Back in 1991 just Barcelona alone had a database with more than 400 far-right individuals that had a criminal record. Since the 1970s Spain had been dealing with the concerning rise of organized neo-Nazi movements like Báses Autónomas (the largest and best known), CEDADE, and Frente de la Juventud, among many others. This is without taking into account the myriad of sympathizing ultras across the entire country, like for example in Catalonia's case, the RCD Espanyol's 'Brigadas Blanquiazules' ('White and Blue Brigades') and Barcelona FC's 'Boixos Nois' (Catalonian for 'Crazy Boys').
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On November 4th, 1991 (twenty-eight days after the attack), and with the investigation stalling, the judge assigned to the case removed the National Police from it and put instead Catalonia's Mossos d'Esquadra to work on the investigation, after what he appeared to perceive as 'apathy'. At the time the city of Barcelona was preparing for the Olympic Games that would be held there the following year, and it seems some among the local authorities feared that the investigation on Sonia's murder could eventually become international news (and thus become bad publicity for the city in the eyes of the whole world). This speculation is supported by the fact that Barcelona's authorities engaged in a series of questionable actions in 1991, like forcefully displacing marginalized collectives such as drug addicts and sex-workers away from the more central areas of the city.
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On November 14th Doris woke up from her coma, and was interviewed by the newly assigned detectives as soon as she had recovered enough to make a statement. Because of her fuzzy recollection of the attack, Doris wasn't able to provide a thorough description of the attackers, but pretty much confirmed their skinhead appearances; "three or four men, very short hair, dressed normally but all wearing military boots". She explained the attack took place without any warning; she and Sonia were already laying down inside and tucked in their duvet covers ready to sleep, when these men began punching and kicking them. At no point, according to Doris, there had been any sort of previous interaction. Their injuries plus evidence at the scene showed they had been beaten with a broomstick too, and possibly also with similar objects like steel rods or baseball bats.
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Detectives decided that the best way to narrow their search down from these 400+ potential suspects to more manageable numbers was to look closely at the ultras in the upcoming football matches. Eventually they focused on a group of between 30 to 40 young men belonging from the aforementioned Boixos Nois they had singled out because of the especially radicalized behavior and violent tendencies (high even for the standards of an ultra group). An operation was launched, with undercover officers visiting the neo-Nazi bars these men frequented, hoping to eavesdrop some information that could lead them to the culprits -they explained in a documentary that they were looking to hear certain terms like "beating", "scum" or "baseball bat" and how often someone brought these terms up. The undercover officers also looked for those who displayed more aggressive behavior and were quicker to act on it.
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By Christmas of 1991 this strategy had helped narrow the circle even more. The detectives began following these new suspects, and took photographies of them (usually from their undercover police cars) whenever they went home or visited places the detectives thought could link them to other suspects. They took special interest in those who lived and/or frequented places not far from the Parc de la Ciutadella (where the murder had taken place). Finally, the detectives focused on two teenage brothers named Héctor and Isaac López Frutos, and one of their friends named Oliver Sánchez Riera. The evidence gathered so far was deemed solid enough to authorize a wiretap on their phones, and so the investigators began listening to and recording all the conversations held via their land-line phones.
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It wouldn't be until February of 1992 when the wiretaps would finally bring a breakthrough to the case. It happened during one phone conversation Isaac López had with a girl he was interested in;
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Isaac: "Hello".
Girl: "Hello".
Isaac: "¡Arriba España!" (literally "up with Spain", more accurately means "go Spain", it's historically linked to Spanish fascism).
Girl: "Yeah, whatever".
Isaac: "We can meet someday if you want, and I'll explain it to you".
Girl: "Okay".
Isaac: "At my place, for example".
Girl: (laughs) "Alright, we'll discuss that tomorrow..."
Isaac: "What's wrong? Why do you have to laugh whenever I suggest we meet at my place? I see; you're afraid of my place, that's it".
Girl: "No, of you".
Isaac: "It's not like I'm a thug... or a 'travesti'".
Girl: (laughs)
Isaac: "Do you know who did it? About the 'travesti'?"
Girl: "No."
Isaac: "Well, I do".
Girl: "Who was it? Do I know him?"
Isaac: "What?"
Girl: "Do I know him?"
Isaac: "Yes, you do. I can tell you everything. Everything that happened. I know about it. I'll tell you everything if you come to my place. Okay?"

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(Transcript extracted from a recent documentary on the case)
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On March 11th, 1992 the Mossos d'Esquadra arrested the brothers Héctor and Isaac López, along with Oliver Sánchez and four other young skinheads; Óscar Lozano, Pere Alsina Llinares, David Parladé Valdés and Andrés Pascual Prieto. Their ages ranged from 16 to 20-years old. Along with the arrests, the Mossos d'Esquadra performed searches on their residences, which yielded the confiscation of large quantities of diverse items of Nazi and Francoist memorabilia, along with innumerable weapons like different types of knives, brass knuckles, nunchakus, baseball bats (the practice of baseball is virtually inexistent in Spain) and even their steel-tipped Dr. Martens military boots were collected as potential pieces of evidence -and in fact, traces of Sonia and Doris' blood would later be found on them. They also found newspaper clippings about Sonia's murder.
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The mugshots of six of the seven arrested young men. Upper row, from left to right; Isaac López Frutos, Oliver Sánchez Riera and Héctor López Frutos. Lower row, from left to right; Pere Alsina Llinares (then, in unknown order, David Parladé Valdés and Andrés Pascual Prieto). Óscar Lozano would eventually be released because of lack of incriminating evidence against him, although he's be brought to trial later under charges of obstruction of justice for failing to report authorities about the identities of Sonia's killers.
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From left to right; Oliver Sánchez, Pere Alsina and Isaac López, pictured in 1991.
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One of the detectives involved in the investigation and subsequent arrest, Deputy Joan Carles Molinero (here pictured in the 2022 documentary of the case), would later during the trials make an observation regarding all the seven detainees' "absolute lack of remorse and the high level of arrogance and insolence, attitude that was shared by their immediate families upon arrest at their homes".
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Continues in Part 2
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LINKS
"Sonia" - A 49-minute long documentary on the case, it's an episode of a Catalonian true crime show named 'Crims'. Extremely well produced, and very high-quality content, however a few words of warning; it contains very graphic archive footage of Spain's 1990s far-right violence and transphobia, and it could be very distressing for some viewers. It also shows the crime scene pictures. It's mostly in Catalonian, which is a language anyone who speaks Spanish can get the gist of. Unfortunately no English subtitles.
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Wikipedia's English entry on Sonia's murder
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2021 Article (Spanish)
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Article about Sonia in English, from the city of Barcelona's official website
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Catalan News' article in English, includes videos in English as well
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It's kind of upsetting , my best friends girlfriend lied to him for years claiming she was a late night secretary for state farm. But it turns out she turned a office rental space into a brothel and ran it for a long time. Well she got raided one night in a sting operation and got charged with sex trafficking, prostitution and several other felonies. He found this out after seeing the story posted on the news with her mugshot on it. She's been calling him asking for bail and he doest know if he should. What should my best friend do? He's very upset

Disclaimer: I am not the landlord. He is my brother.
Landlord arrived to his home 2 days after his tenants moved out to find squatters inside who threatened him with guns. Landlord called police and returned when police arrived.
He explained the situation to the Dekalb County police, showed that he had the keys to the home, and showed where the fence and window were broken for the squatters to enter. However, the police decided to accept the squatters' story that they "paid another woman to move into the house" despite having no paperwork or ability to call this imaginary woman. The police then handcuffed the landlord before taking the keys out of his pocket and handing them to the squatters. LL was arrested for home invasion and taken to jail. His case was immediately thrown out in the morning by the judge.
Since this episode in February, my friend has been unable to remove the squatters. He has received fines from the county for garbage on the lot, noise violations, and dog fighting. 2 people have died in the home from Fentanyl overdoses. He finally received a court order to remove the squatters, but the local police seem so anti-LL that they are dragging their feet. The sheriff has yet to remove the squatters. And my friend is contemplating bankruptcy.
In my mind, the anti-LL sentiment and "protections" for tenants that make it impossible to recover your home have gone overboard. These policies clearly harm LLs but they also harm tenants. The police, who thought they were helping poor squatters stick it to the man, ended up causing the deaths of 2 people and forcing a blighted property on the surrounding neighborhood, along with ruining the LL.
Here is the story that just ran on WSBTV.

This man says squatters took over his home – he got arrested when he called the police on them

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — A DeKalb County man says squatters broke into his home in February and are still there.
Backlogs with courts and the marshal’s office have left him legally unable to enter his own home.
Channel 2 consumer investigator Justin Gray has learned there’s finally an eviction order, but the homeowner is still waiting.
Now he’s waiting on the DeKalb marshals’ schedule to be able to actually evict the squatters.
Two people have died in this home from overdoses since this all started, and code enforcement has even cited the homeowner for not properly maintaining the house he legally can’t access.
Tim Arko said just days after his tenants moved out of his East Lake rental home, he showed up to find someone had broken in.
He said as soon as he pulled into the driveway, someone pointed a gun at him.
“I just jumped the fence and ran. I didn’t know what else to do,” Arko said.
That was all the way back in February. Six months later, the alleged squatters are still living in Arko’s DeKalb County home.
“I didn’t walk in on a family eating dinner. I walked in on weapons, a prostitute, a bunch of dogs in the back, my fence broken down,” Arko said.
But it was Arko police took into custody that day back in February after he called 911.
“They told the police that I was a home invader and that it was their home. And so I ended up being arrested and detained,” Arko said.
Since then, Arko has been fighting to evict the squatters in court. After months of court delays, the eviction order is finally signed but now he’s waiting on the marshals.
“No one likes, you know, being in the court system, but it becomes even worse when it seems broken down,” said John Ernst, Arko’s attorney.
Back in May, we were there as a squatter at another DeKalb County home was evicted and arrested.
In that case, after a Channel 2 Action News story, the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office bypassed the courts and served an intruder affidavit after Army Lt. Col. Dalia Dure’s home was taken over by squatters.
“I felt violated,” Dure told Gray at the time.
One of the alleged squatters at Arko’s home yelled at Gray while he was in front of the home shooting video, saying that he’s no squatter.
“You didn’t break into this house?” Gray asked the alleged squatter.
“Oh no sir,” the person said.
“Did someone break into the house?” Gray asked.
“No, nobody broke into the house,” the person said.
“I feel like it’s very heavily weighted towards these trespassers and criminals, not people that got duped,” Arko said.
Arko was never charged with a crime once he showed police that it was his property. But it’s now been six months of waiting on the courts.
Arko has been told by marshals that he should be able to evict in the beginning of September.

This might be kind of long and confusing but I’ll try to keep it short and simple, there’s a lot of other details I don’t really want to get into but I will if I have to. Someone I was friends with physically assaulted me for asking if he was messing around with my neighbor. She got him on drugs so he wasn’t (probably still isn’t) thinking right. So when he finally got arrested for it (and for stalking me) she tried to say I was ruining his life and all this other weird stuff that wasn’t true. She is doing a lot of illegal things like boosting and prostitution and probably selling drugs, she is definitely doing hard drugs. She said anything she can get in a needle she’s doing. I’m not sure what she got him on as I have left that whole situation. But during all this he called me from jail twice, I did not answer the first one it was at 4am when he was booked I’m assuming, and the second one was right after he got served the restraining order. I called the jail to tell them and I also made a report. He just got off house arrest at the beginning of April for a 4th degree felony (stolen guns I think). This time he got out after about 6 days and he was right back hanging out around the apartment complex the same night he got out which he was not allowed to do because of my restraining order. I was told to call the cops any time I see him over there so I called and I managed to get a picture. I was told to call his po about it also. So within 2 days of him being out he already got a probation violation and a restraining order violation. He is still out. He also put my address on all his court papers for his address. There is absolutely no proof he was in jail. There’s no records of him being booked or a mugshot or anything but he called me from jail so he was definitely there and I’ve been dealing with this thru courts for about 2 months. There is an informant that lives the apartments right beside where I use to live. Why would they let him out and let him stay out? Is he snitching on her? I’m honestly just so confused on how he could still be out after all the proof of him stalking me and being violent towards me. I have moved and I’m not close to them now, I just do not understand why he’s out and why there is no record of him ever being in jail for this.

When reading about cases here, I often deem the strangest cases as strange because of one overarching aspect - a specific person of interest, a weird sighting, one specific piece of evidence. This case is different. Instead of one aspect, this case is made strange by small individual pieces of inconsistent evidence. Alone, each of them may be red herrings, but together, even the smallest fish can come together in a swarm.Instead of presenting a cohesive timeline, I’ve chosen a slightly different format. I begin with a broad timeline of the leadup to, and then the disappearance itself. Then, I take a look at each of those little red herrings/evidence, before presenting theories.In this case, there’s also some conflicting information that’s been provided. Where relevant, I’ve included such discrepancies.
THE LEADUP
Born in 1991, Jenna Van Gelderen was the only daughter of Leon Van Gelderen and Roseanne Glick. She was raised Jewish in the Druid Hills neighborhood, an upper-class suburb of Atlanta. As a child, she was diagnosed with a nonverbal learning disability, but seemed to be back on track as an adult, attending Georgia Gwinnett College, and then later Gwinnett Technical College, where she earned a certificate in office administration in 2016.
That same year, Jenna was diagnosed with high-functioning autism, something that her parents claim made her overly trustful of others.
In 2016, out of a worry over her friendships, Jenna’s father decided to access her phone records, and confronted her over the nature of her relationship with her friends. She was quite angry at this argument, and moved out of her parents home, though continued to maintain contact with them, and still used the phone her parents paid for. Even still, she refused to tell her parents where she was living.
Six months before she vanished, in March 2017, Jenna was fired from her job at a pet shop - her first full-time job. Her firing was because she stole nearly $3,000 from the store, and was subsequently charged with misdemeanor theft. To her parents, this seemed wildly out of character for the generally mild-mannered Jenna, and they believed that she was coerced into stealing money for her friends, something which her autism made her more susceptible to.
During this time, she’d also begun dating a boyfriend, who’s name has not been released by the police. Reports differ on how long they’ve been together, from a few months to over a year.
THE DISAPPEARANCE
In early August, Jenna’s parents asked her if she would house-sit for them, while they went on a vacation to Canada. Their cat, who had been around Jenna since she was a toddler, was elderly, and needed medical care, which her parents believed that Jenna could do. She accepted, and for a few days, everything seemed fine while she stayed in their Druid Hill house.
The last time Jenna was seen was on the night of August 18th, 2017. The twenty-five year old was spotted by her neighbor, which was the last time she was confirmed to have been seen alive. That night, her boyfriend claimed that he came to the house, and broke up with her, though this has not been corroborated. The last time anyone spoke with Jenna was 2 AM on August 19th, when she sent a friend a text saying that she was going to go lie down, though this friend claimed the text didn’t sound like Jenna.
In the morning of August 19th, a family friend who was a vet tech (or veterinarian, sources vary), came to administer a shot to the cat. When Jenna didn’t answer, they called Jenna’s brother, Will, to come check up on her and the house. The front door was locked, the lights and television were on, but Jenna, her purse, her suitcase, and her keys were nowhere to be found.
Will immediately reported his sister missing, and during the police investigation, it was found that her phone pinged at around 7:15 (or 7:45, sources vary) in Fairburn, Georgia, a small town about 45 minutes outside of Atlanta. Interestingly, at almost the same time, her car, a dark blue 2010 Mazda 6, was seen in Atlanta on a traffic camera. The police determined that these two points could not have both been the same person, because of the distance.
Almost immediately, this case was stymied by a lack of police effort. There was, and still is, some substantial evidence that Jenna may have chosen to disappear on her own, and the police were hesitant to pursue an individual who may have left on their own accord.
On September 5th, Jenna’s car was found in the Defoor Place neighborhood, around 7 miles from her family’s home. The car was nearly out of gas, and the seat was pushed back that indicated someone much larger than 4'11 Jenna was driving it. Her purse, suitcase, and clothing was found in the car, as well as a cell phone charger that didn’t match Jenna’s phone.
THE RED HERRINGS, OR THE KEYS TO THE CASE
The Missing Tapestry
In addition to Jenna, her suitcase, purse, and keys, there was a large Egyptian tapestry missing from the Van Gelderen family home. The tapestry, purchased in the 40’s by Jenna’s grandfather, was large, nearly five feet by two feet. The frame was broken from the front, and the item had been pulled out as opposed to removed from the back.
Not only is stealing a large tapestry from a home strange, there’s a few pieces of additional information that make it particularly vexing. Firstly, it’s the only item missing from the home that didn’t belong to Jenna. Secondly, though large, the tapestry is not particularly valuable, and would not fetch much money on the resale market. Lastly, the family believes that, due to the size of the tapestry, it would have taken multiple people to remove it from the glass frame.
The Things Left Behind
In this case, it’s not just what’s missing that’s puzzling, but what’s been left behind. Though Jenna disappeared with some of her personal effects, and the tapestry, she left a pair of tennis shoes, a makeup bag, and her phone charger behind. These are items that, according to her parents, she wouldn’t go anywhere without.
The Second Phone
After her father confronted her over her new friends with the evidence he had obtained through their shared phone plan, Jenna got a second phone on a separate plan no one in her family knew about, most likely as a way to distance herself from her parents. It was this second phone that pinged off the cell tower in Fairburn the morning of her disappearance, though no records from this phone seem to have been accessed.
The Texts
Even though no records from Jenna’s second phone have been accessed, her brother, Will, was able to get into the phone on the plan that she shared with her parents. He discovered a series of google chats where someone was pressuring Jenna to return to her apartment, according to her father. This individual has never been identified, and they did not state a particular reason for why they wanted Jenna to return to her apartment.
Her New Apartment
Police were able to track down where Jenna had been living in an apartment in a nearby neighborhood of Atlanta that she shared with a male roommate. Though one source claims her roommate refused to let police search her room, other sources claim that they did, and noticed nothing out of the ordinary, except that Jenna had no bed. The roommate, who has never been identified publicly, or named a person of interest, claimed that Jenna commonly slept on the floor without pillows or blankets.Her parents claim this was not a common trait of Jenna’s, and suggested that her bedding may have also disappeared with her, but the police seemed to accept her roommate’s answer and never followed up on the missing/nonexistent bedding.
The Boyfriend
Jenna’s boyfriend is another individual who has neither been named publicly, nor a person of interest. Unsubstantiated by anyone else, he claimed that on the night of August 18th, either he went to Jenna’s parents’ house, or she went to his house (sources vary), and they broke up, though the reason for their breakup has never been published. In an interview with police, he also was said to have claimed that Jenna was a drug addict, and also a prostitute.
More than with other aspects of this case, her boyfriend’s actions seem to be shrouded in incorrect reporting. Sources vary widely on how long the pair had been together, where their breakup occurred, and whether or not her family knew about their relationship.
Western Union Transfers
After Jenna’s disappearance, when her family accessed her bank account records, they discovered that she’d been making regular payments to another account since 2015. It’s unclear exactly how much these payments were, but the other account has not been identified.
THEORIES
As always, I have no additional information than what I’ve already told here, this is just speculation.
Robbery Gone Wrong?
There have been some people who believe that Jenna’s disappearance was a classic case of wrong place, wrong time, and she was simply caught up in a robbery. Someone, knowing her parents were away, broke into the house to steal money, and when Jenna surprised them, they kidnapped and likely murdered her.
I have a few problems with this theory. Firstly, the tapestry stolen, though large, was not particularly uncommon or valuable - it had more in sentimental value then it did monetary. Of course, it is possible that the thieves may have simply assumed it was valuable, and were disappointed to find out it wasn’t, but tapestries aren’t common targets for regular thieves. Secondly, no other valuables in the house were missing, aside from her wallet, which would later be found in her car. To me, there’s just not enough valuables missing to suggest that the intent of this crime was a robbery for profit. Also,when the Van Gelderen house was inspected, there were no signs of any break-in, fight, or other scuffle that would have likely occurred had she surprised some robbers.
Blackmail-Turned-Missing?
This theory is the theory that Jenna’s parents, particularly her father, Leon, believe. Her family believes that her autism made it difficult for Jenna to make meaningful relationships, and she was often too trusting of others who may not have her best interest in mind. To break it down, her father believes she was pressured into stealing the money from the pet store because it was so out of character for her, and that the Western Union payments she had made were part of her being blackmailed by someone else, and when she ceased the payments, they made good on their threat to do something to her.
I also have a few problems with this theory. Now, in the interest of full disclosure, I am also female, diagnosed autistic, and of a similar age as Jenna was when she disappeared. Autism presents differently in every individual, and just because my experience suggests one thing does not mean that it would be the same for Jenna. But, I do believe her parents may have been overselling the vulnerability aspect of her autism. Frankly, I do not believe Jenna’s parents knew her very well. After her father confronted her about what he thought about her friends, she clearly went to great lengths to keep parts of her life hidden from her parents. She bought a second phone, and refused to tell them where she lived. Though her parents may claim that stealing money from her employer is wildly out of character for her, I’m not convinced that they knew her well enough to make that sort of judgment. Their assessment should be noted as especially in contrast with that of her boyfriend, who claimed she was not only a drug addict, but also a prostitute. In my mind, those Western Union payments and stealing money are just as likely to be Jenna paying a dealer as they are blackmail.
That being said, it’s impossible to rule this theory out completely. As I mentioned earlier, her boyfriend’s claims that she was a drug addict and prostitute are entirely unsubstantiated - would she really have been able to hide a drug addiction and prostitution from her parents, who she did remain in contact with, for multiple years? Her mother claims that they were still close, and that prior to her disappearance, she talked to Jenna daily. And, as it stands, the only crime that Jenna’s ever been convicted of is misdemeanor theft in relation to the pet store, nor were there any reports of prostitute or drug-related paraphernalia being found with her belongings.
Striking Out on Her Own?
The idea that someone has willingly run away from all their family and friends is something often bandied about when talking about missing persons cases, and just as often scoffed at. Though, in Jenna’s case, there’s several pieces of compelling evidence that make this more of a probability than in other cases. Firstly, it’s clear from her actions leading up to her disappearance that her relationship with her parents was on the rocks. She wouldn’t tell them where she was living, had a second phone she kept hidden from them, and took many of her personal belongings. Furthermore, if she really had just broken up with her boyfriend, that could have acted as the final straw in her decision to abandon her previous life.
Of course, there’s compelling evidence that suggests Jenna didn’t just decide to make a run of it on her own. The fact that her phone and her car were both used in different locations at nearly the same time suggests that there was at least one other individual involved. Her brother also claims that, had she decided to run away on her own, she would have kept her car with her, and the location where her car was found isn’t particularly close to any large transportation hubs, like the train station or airport that she could have used to strike out to a new life. Even though she did take some personal belongings, she also left many, like her sneakers, phone charger, and makeup bag at her parents’ home. Also, of the personal belongings she did take with her, the majority/all (sources vary) of them were later found in her car. Why would she choose to take some of her personal belongings, but not all of them, if she was running away? Why would she later abandon those same belongings in her car later?
It’s my personal belief that Jenna striking out on her own does hold at least some water. Pure conjecture on my part, but it is possible that she chose to take the tapestry with her as a memento for its sentimental value - to me, that makes more sense than someone taking the tapestry to steal it. Also, it’s possible that those Western Union transfers could have been Jenna sending money to another account that she had access to, in order to prepare for running away from her parents. That being said, this doesn’t explain why she would then leave the majority of her belongings in her car, or how her phone and car were both separately being used in two different locations.
Kidnapping? Murder? Gestures broadly in the direction of foul play?
Just as there’s a boatload of evidence to suggest that Jenna struck out on her own, there’s plenty that suggests that Jenna met with foul play, and was potentially kidnapped and then murdered. Proponents of this theory point to several key pieces of evidence. Firstly, they point to Jenna’s car. In addition to the caphone time discrepancy that indicates at least one other individual may have been involved in her disappearance, her car seat had been pushed all the way back - much further than Jenna, who was only 4’11, would have been able to drive with. Secondly, there are a number of shady characters involved in Jenna’s life that could be potential suspects. Her family frequently claims that the people she hung around took advantage of her, and though neither her boyfriend nor roommate have been either publicly identified or named as suspects, they have been noted as being less than cooperative with police. Furthermore, there’s the yet-to-be-identified individual who was trying to get her to come back to her apartment, and their reasons for trying to get her to return have never been specified. Also, if Jenna’s boyfriend was right, and she was a drug addict and prostitute, both of those lifestyles are typically associated with a higher risk of kidnapping.
On the other side of the coin, there’s plenty of evidence to suggest that Jenna wasn’t kidnapped and/or murdered. If someone was going to kidnap and/or murder her, why would they bring a suitcase full of her clothes? Why would they let her take her phones? Why would they steal a 5-by-2 Egyptian tapestry? Also, if Jenna’s phone was being used at a different location than her car, and she wasn’t there willingly, that would mean there has to be multiple people involved. Even if it’s established that Jenna was kidnapped and/or murdered, it still doesn’t explain who would have done this, and why.D) All of the Above?
This is a little bit more of my own personal theory as opposed to one that I’ve seen advanced in the sources, but I believe it’s plausible that Jenna decided to run away with help, and then met with foul play.Firstly, I feel like the theory that Jenna had help while running away ties up some of the loose ends in the theory that she decided to run away on her own. If she had someone helping her, that person could have been doing her a favor by getting rid of her car for her, and they also could have aided her in getting to a new location. Her choice to run away could also explain why she chose to take some of her belongings, the tapestry, etc.
Then, if she had met with foul play, likely at the hands of the person who helped her escape, this could also explain why all of those belongings she had taken were then in her abandoned car - the person who kidnapped/murdered her needed to get rid of them somehow. Potentially, they had also thrown away her phones to avoid themselves from being identified.
Of course, this is all conjecture, but the thought that Jenna may have gone willingly with someone that later murdered her seems to tie up the majority of the loose ends in both the runaway theory, and the foul play theory. However, this theory does still beg some other questions. Most obviously, even if we agree that she ran away and then became the victim of foul play, that still doesn’t answer who did it. Secondly, it also brings up the question of why some of the belongings that went missing with Jenna were found in her car, and others were never recovered, like the Egyptian tapestry?
In a case like Jenna’s, where there’s so many little pieces of oddness, it feels nearly impossible to tell what happened to Jenna. So many of the little intricacies seem like nothing more than red herrings, but there’s so many of them that they can’t all just be dismissed out of hand. What happened to Jenna still remains unsolved to this day, and her case has never been closed by the Georgia police.
SOURCES
https://www.atlantajewishtimes.com/family-decides-to-mourn-jenna-van-gelderen/
https://www.oxygen.com/searching-fowhat-happened-jenna-van-gelderen-things-know-case-atlanta
https://charleyproject.org/case/jenna-ruth-van-gelderen
https://disappearedblog.com/jenna-van-gelderen/
[https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/dekalb-county/missing-dekalb-county-woman-disappeared-while-housesitting/599493475/\\](https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/dekalb-county/missing-dekalb-county-woman-disappeared-while-housesitting/599493475/%5C)
https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/missing-in-america/missing-georgia-woman-jenna-van-gelderen-s-vehicle-found-she-n802306
https://truecrimesocietyblog.com/2021/05/31/jenna-van-gelderen-and-the-missing-egyptian-tapestry/
https://www.11alive.com/article/news/local/missing-in-georgia/one-year-later-where-is-jenna-van-gelderen/85-585107322
https://original.newsbreak.com/@fatim-hemraj-561392/2822276274609-5-years-ago-a-woman-with-autism-suspiciously-disappeared-while-cat-sitting-for-her-parents-what-happened-to-jenna
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11162324/ - links to the IMDB of an episode of “Searching For” on Jenna’s case.
https://www.ajc.com/lifestyles/oxygen-documentary-gbi-look-jenna-van-gelderen-disappearance/OIW7P0KV2nyr7JeUIWttjK/

The movie starts pretty much as real life has gone up to this point. Trump gets prosecuted, goes to court and then is found guilty for crimes. Trump goes to prison where he meets one prisoner in particular. This prisoner will be his cellmate and they will develop a friendship together throughout the film. At one point, Trump gets into an argument with a few prisoners and is about to get beat up, and so his cellmate comes to rescue him. Over time, the prisoners seem to like Trump as he starts giving rallies and dancing and singing with them. As the movie progresses, Trump gets to hear from the prisoners and their stories, and finds that their experience in prison has been worse than his simply because he's richer than them. His mugshot isn't even a conventional mugshot, he wasn't cuffed, etc. He also gets to hear about their stories. How they have families back at home and how some have committed very inoffensive crimes (posession of marijuana, prostitution, etc.) Eventually, Trump gets released from prison either through a retrial or his sentence expiring. Trump actually liked prison. He enjoyed giving mini rallies and receiving the attention he received, so he finds it hard to leave but he promises his cellmate that he will pardon him if he gets elected. We cut to a montage of Trump campaigning, debating, seeing surges and plunges in his poll numbers and also making radical policy changes that are more humanitarian. It is because of his experience in prison firsthand that has changed his view on prisoners and how they're treated. At the end of the film, Trump wins the election (also winning the prison population's vote massively) and pardons the prisoners he met in his time at jail.
TLDR: Trump goes to prison, meets a new friend that he becomes emotionally invested in, hears his story, leaves prison, wins the 2024 election and pardons his cellmate.

Kelly (Had Sex)
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My Email:
Mon, Nov 25, 2019, 1:00 PM
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I'm 32 years old but haven't had much sexual experience. I haven't had a girlfriend or meaningful socialization in YEARS until I met Kelly a few months ago at the Fountain House. She's 45 years old, but we started getting close, things began developing slowly, and last Sunday, I became intimate with Kelly. She performed oral sex on me.
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This Sunday (yesterday), we got sensual and romantic. We lit candles around my apartment, had a nice dinner, made coffee. We both performed oral sex on each other, and I had unprotected sex with her (since I didn't have a condom).
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At first, I wasn't able to get an erection due to the mega regimen of psych meds, but found the viagra in my medicine cabinet 100 mg (that Dr. Coplan prescribed a few months ago), and succeeded. Though, not much fluid came out. We still need to address this.
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It was magical, euphoric, but both had a great time. But I became concerned when she told me she's had over 10 partners, crazy exes and experiences.
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She showed me her HIV/AIDS test from a few years ago. It was negative. She said it was a few months after her last relationship, and she hasn't had sex since them. But I'm also concerned about hepatitis, and other STD's. She says she's clean.
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I was going to let it go. But I told my mom about what we did last night, and she's hysterical and freaking out. Telling me she needs to get tested, I need to get tested. But I love and trust Kelly. I want to take her at her word.
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Lastly, she bought Plan B this morning so she doesn't have a pregnancy (the pharmacy was closed last night). I have to give her money for that tomorrow. And we're gonna go ice skating and have a nice, romantic day
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Did I make a mistake? Should I get tested 3 months from now, then 3 months after?
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Dr. Garrett Reply:
Mon, Nov 25, 2019, 1:21 PM
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Andrew
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If Kelly is trustworthy, and it appears she is, I think there is little reason to worry. However, now that you have become sexually active, you need to direct your concerns and receive advice from your general practitioner, who can advise you about risk, preventive measures, lab test time frames, and so on.
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Dr G
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My Email:
Mon, Nov 25, 2019, 6:01 PM
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Thanks, Dr. Garrett.
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Kelly told me she's clean, and I believe Kelly's trustworthy. In fact, she sees I won't stop obsessing and even offered to get tested together to ease my mind. I probably won't do it because the subject seems to upset her. I'll get tested in a few months (alone) and will talk to a general practitioner.
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My Content
My Email:
Tue, Nov 26, 2019, 9:33 PM
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My content is loud, in your face, but most importantly complete gold. It's better than everything on TV, better than everything in Hollywood, and it's only a matter of time before I go viral. This is not a delusion of grandeur, and if you disagree I'll prove you wrong pretty soon.
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Dr. Garrett Reply:
Wed, Nov 27, 2019, 8:20 AM
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I look forward to the proof.
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Appointment and Kelly
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My Email:
Mon, Dec 2, 2019, 11:20 AM
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Dr. Garrett, we DON'T have an appointment tomorrow - December 3rd, right?
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We resume - December 10th - right?
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___
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I see Dr. Coplan this Wednesday, and I wanted to discuss reducing some medication due to the adverse side effects since I've been doing so well lately.
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___
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I had sex with Kelly again yesterday, struggled with erections even after taking Viagra 100mg.
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Since I couldn't stay hard with the condom, we had unprotected sex.
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Although she's had quite a few partners and wild experiences. She said she's clean, hasn't had sex in years. And I believed and trusted her.
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After sex, she started sharing horror stories about her ex-husband in another country. This triggered delusions.
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I start to think: why does she have these sexy clothes that she's wearing today?
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Why does she get so many blood tests?
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Why have I never been to her house? Why is her life a secret?
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Is she lying to me?
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Is she a prostitute?
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She told me this was a delusion/fantasy. But obviously now I'm afraid I have something like HIV/AIDS.
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Now I'm afraid that I was so desperate for a friend that I threw my life away. :(
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Dr. Garrett Reply:
Mon, Dec 2, 2019, 1:31 PM
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Unless the bus line I take cancels service tomorrow, which is unlikely, I expect to be at work, and see you at 12 noon as usual. The following week I think we are planning a family meeting.
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If I am NOT going to be able to make it, I will notify you by 7 am tomorrow.
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HIV/AIDS
My Email:
Tue, Dec 10, 2019, 11:22 PM
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I'm feeling sick, like I'm coming down with a virus, cold, or the flu - and I NEVER get sick. I read that's one of the early signs of acquiring HIV/AIDS.
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I'm becoming afraid did Kelly not know she had it? Or worse, did she lie to me?
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Then my imagination starts to run wild. Is Kelly a prostitute who is having wild sex on the sly - and I'm a naive, broken moron?
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Was I so desperate for a friend that I threw my life away and acquired it?
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Then I get angry at my parents and "friends" from the past for letting this happen.
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I need to STOP and not let my imagination run wild. They're bad people in the world, yes. And Kelly did have some crazy past experiences. But she showed me her results from a few years ago. And Kelly seems trustworthy and kind.
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Obviously, I can't mention this to her. Last time I brought this up (and imagined she was a prostitute), I really upset her.
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But now I'm feeling sick and I'm obsessing.
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Dr. Garrett Reply:
Wed, Dec 11, 2019, 6:17 AM
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Andrew
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As we discussed in our session, by your own account, your girlfriend seems a sensitive, truthful person who would not want to hurt you. Also as we discussed, your fantasies and fears have a way of seeming like reality, no matter how far fetched they are; e.g. your thought that she might actually be a man who had a sex-change operation, deceiving you that she is a woman. There is no evidence for this. The evidence is clearly otherwise. For example, her patterns of physiological arousal (lubrication) during sex are typical of female arousal, but not male arousal.
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As I did in a previous email, if your are concerned about HIV and other STDs, I would suggest you make an appointment with your general practitioner to discuss the medical aspects of your concerns - what should be done, if anything, in the way of lab tests, and so on.
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Dr G
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Dr. Coplan Reply:
Wed, Dec 11, 2019, 11:15 AM
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You are getting a regular virus. Your imagination is running wild.
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Dr. Coplan Reply:
Wed, Dec 11, 2019, 11:26 AM
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Agree with Dr G. Kelly has not shown any indication of deceiving you and is presenting herself with positive intentions. Your mistrust of her is is not unlike the mistrust of your parents, both of whom you believe have malevolent intent towards you which is conducted without your knowledge. That’s the sense I get. However, Kelly will be and has been very insulted by insinuations that she has had a checkered past.
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My Email:
Dec 11, 2019, 12:45 PM
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Thanks, Dr. Coplan and Dr. Garrett, your messages quelled my negative thoughts.
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schedule change
Dr. Garrett Reply:
Wed, Dec 18, 2019, 11:57 AM
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Andrew
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Looking at my schedule, and considering that much of the hospital will be at half-staffing, I have decided to take a vacation day next week on Tuesday, Dec 24. So, I will not be able to see you then.
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Try to have a nice Christmas. Try to recall the blessings you have rather than dwell on your frustrations.
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Dr G
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My Email:
Wed, Dec 18, 2019, 12:11 PM
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I'm actually glad you cancelled on me. It turns out my dad/Grandma is having Christmas Eve, so I was about to cancel on you. But now I can blame you (slightly joking).
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I hope you have a nice Christmas and holiday season as well. I'll see you after the holidays.
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Dr. Garrett Reply:
Thu, Dec 19, 2019, 11:16 AM
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Andrew
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Since I will not be at the hospital New Years Eve, I have had to rearrange my day schedule for Dec 31. I am hoping you can come at 10 am instead of noon. As I am sure you know, 10 am is a perfectly respectable morning appointment hour for a man out and about in the real world. I hope to see you Dec 31 at 10 am.
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Dr G
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My Email:
Dec 19, 2019, 11:39 AM
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Remember, my commute is over an hour - possibly two. I'd have to wake up very early. And I plan on staying out until midnight with friends from Fountain House. So let's cancel New Year's Eve. Have a great Christmas, new years, holiday season, and we'll resume in 2020.
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Hopefully, 2020 will be the year where my life turns around for the better. But it's not going to manically happen. I have to do it.
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My Email:
Dec 19, 2019, 11:40 AM
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Magically happen*
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Not manically lol
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jail?
My Email:
Tue, Dec 24, 2019, 9:41 PM
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Someone I used to know posted a photograph of themselves that looked like a mugshot, then someone else did too - I got predicate logic that it's about me. Are they saying I'm going to jail? Obviously, I'm terrified of that. Most likely I'm reading too much into nothing, right?
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Dr. Garrett Reply:
Wed, Dec 25, 2019, 1:03 PM
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Yes, definitely predicate logic. Good you thought of that possibility even when the illlusion started to grip you.
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Dr G
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Re: [EXTERNAL] Re:
Dr. Garrett Reply:
Tue, Dec 31, 2019, 9:06 AM
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Reminding you we are meeting at 10 am today.
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My Email:
Tue, Dec 31, 2019, 9:29 AM
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I won't be in at 10 am today. I cancelled in a prior email and I thought you were aware. Sorry.
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Cancelling today's appointment.
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I'm hoping to resume our sessions next Tuesday, January 7th at 12 pm.
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I'm going to be out late with Fountain House friends tonight for New Year's Eve.
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Dr. Garrett Reply:
Tue, Dec 31, 2019, 9:44 AM
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OK Got it. My mistake.
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(no subject)
My Email:
Tue, Dec 31, 2019, 9:20 PM
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I think Kelly's a psychopath who is trying to give me something like HIV to ruin my life
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My Email:
Tue, Dec 31, 2019, 9:31 PM
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I think she's two faced. Very smart. She's full of hate and wants to hurt me. I was desperately seeking a friend and she's Ruin my life by giving me HIV.
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My Email:
Tue, Dec 31, 2019, 9:42 PM
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I don't trust her. I think she is angry that I'm a clean, pretty, nice guy. She is evil and hates me because of my innocence. She wants to use and hurt me. But she's deceiving me. What should I do?
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My Email:
Tue, Dec 31, 2019, 9:51 PM
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It's like, why did no one help me?! I was so desperate for a friend that I trusted a psychopath who wants to give me something like HIV. I was weak and vulnerable, and no one protected me.
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My Email:
Tue, Dec 31, 2019, 10:00 PM
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Everything's ok. I'm just not feeling well
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Dr. Garrett Reply:
Wed, Jan 1, 2020, 10:13 AM
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Andrew
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Sadly, in the absence of any concrete evidence that K is HIV +, the thing that is ruining possibilities in your life is your own fearfulness. Your fear can destroy possibilities in life.
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Also, it will be a challenge for you to come to terms with two opposite trends in your mind. On the one hand you protest that your mother is too controlling, that you want more independence. Other the other hand, you are angry that she isn't controlling enough, as in why doesn't she dictate who you choose to spend time with to protect you. If she told you (which she did not and never will) that she wants to interview all people you express an interest in, including internet contacts, before you get involved with anyone, I don't see that going very well.
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Again, we are back to the growing pains and anxieties you feel as you try to move toward independence. The bullies took sadistic pleasure in frightening you. There is no hard evidence that K takes sadistic pleasure in harming you. Until proven otherwise, as you look out at the real world beyond your room you seem to see monsters hidden behind the face of every person you get serious attached to. Your mind turns frightening daydreams into what you think is reality. Your internal fear does that, not your mother orchestrating your life.
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Dr G
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My Email:
Wed, Jan 1, 2020, 1:42 PM
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Thank you, well put. Your replies are very helpful
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Dr. Garrett Reply:
Jan 1, 2020, 7:05 PM
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Andrew
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Regarding the sharp object you stepped on, are you saying that you pulled it out, looked at it, and you could not tell if it was a needle or not? And by needle, do you mean a hypodermic needle, used in medical situations, which has a hollow core, or a needle like a sewing needle that does not have a solid core?
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My Email:
Wed, Jan 1, 2020, 7:21 PM
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I was at a lounge and I stepped on a sharp object. It went through my shoe, into my foot. I pulled it out of my shoe and threw it away. It wasn't a screw or a nail. It may have come from the bathroom. It's only afterwards that I realized it might be drug paraphernalia - or maybe not?
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I wasn't thinking about how serious this was at the time. Is there a risk of contracting something life-threatening?
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My Email:
Wed, Jan 1, 2020, 7:31 PM
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It was not a hypodermic needle - it was more like a sewing needle. But the end was bent. I'm afraid it might have snapped off from a hypodermic needle. I honestly don't know what it was, though.
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My Email:
Wed, Jan 1, 2020, 7:58 PM
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Since I can't relax, I'm going over to urgent care or possibly the emergency room to get assessed.
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My Email:
Wed, Jan 1, 2020, 10:21 PM
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I'm leaving the emergency room now. They don't think it's anything to worry about. But I'm gonna be taking emtricitabine and raltegravir for a month. Better safe than sorry.
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Dr. Coplan Reply:
Jan 2, 2020, 10:55 PM
to me
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I really don’t think so...
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Panic Attacks - Kelly
My Email:
Sat, Jan 25, 2020, 1:49 PM
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I get these intense panic attacks about Kelly. We're best friends, having fun. Then I become afraid she's a sadistic bully behind an innocent mask - she's going to turn evil on me.
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For example, we'll be at dinner and I'll get a panic attack she's a sadist that's trying to infect me with HIV. I become horrified, sick to my stomach. It comes, passes, we go back to having fun.
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Then the next day something will trigger me. It comes, passes.
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The main delusion is she's secretly evil and is trying to give me HIV.
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Dr. Garrett Reply:
Sat, Jan 25, 2020, 2:35 PM
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Andrew
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As we have discussed, the chief barrier to your having independent adult relationships is not your mother restraining you, but the way your mind works. When you perceive a sadistic bully behind an innocent mask your mother is nowhere in the picture. It is your mind revisiting your fears of the world. You do a similar thing, but with a desired outcome when you imagine Taylor Swift or Disney is behind the mask of an internet avatar. I will continue to try to help you reign in this tendency to catastrophize and daydream, to help you see the world as it is.
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Dr G
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My Email:
Sun, Jan 26, 2020, 11:29 AM
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Thanks for the email. It was very helpful
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horrifying panic attacks
My Email:
Mon, Jan 27, 2020, 8:46 PM
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I saw Kelly today and we had sex. Most of the time we're having a nice time and have fun.
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But I also get horrifying panic attacks about her, that she's a sadist that's trying to infect me with HIV.
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I'm desperate and need a friend. I think she's pretending to be my friend but is really a monster. I'm afraid she's going to break me more than I already am. I'm afraid she's attempting to murder me with HIV.
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When she talks about her horrifying past - that triggers me.
She'll say things like, "psychopaths do evil things for no reason" - that triggers me.
OR will say something like "goodnight sweet baby" (through text to wish me goodnight) - is it like her kiss of death?
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She gets hurt when I bring it up for the millionth time. She says she's clean. But I can't rest.
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I guess it's hard for me getting close to someone, and it's even harder when someone has had a lot of life experiences.
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I need to remind myself she is my friend and loves me, it's just horrifying delusion.
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Dr. Garrett Reply:
Tue, Jan 28, 2020, 6:01 AM
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We can discuss this today.

This is probably a stupid question because I'm completely ignorant about these things, but round about 2005 I was looking up the work of a somewhat prominent American children's book illustrator on Google when I saw a stark mugshot of him among the images (his expression was blank if rather raw-looking). The link took me to some sort of arrest database, and the page for the man in question — then in his sixties and long married to a woman — said he'd been arrested for prostitution (although at the time when I found this page he didn't have the red CONVICTED label many of the other arrested people on this database had next to their names). No other details were given.
I've tried searching the internet for any trace of this arrest in more recent years but haven't found any, and as far as I can tell the original database item doesn't seem to be online anymore. My probably stupid question is just whether the term 'prostitution' on a police database in the mid-naughts was used to refer only to those selling sexual services or if it was also used in reference to those buying them. If it's at all pertinent, the illustrator has lived for I believe several decades in Minnesota, and though I don't clearly remember any location information the database page may have given, that'd certainly be my best guess as to where he was arrested. I've just been very curious about this for a long time given how bizarre it seems. Thanks.

(WARNING!!! - ***OPINION)
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Chapter 0 - Disclaimer
I'm not kidding myself when I state that in this work I did not express myself the best 100%. But I've been wanting to write this for a while now, and even when I'm not expressing it properly or the way I wanted it to, at least I did and tried, so cut me some slack, will you? Anyways, the work.
Chapter 1 - Absurdism and Experimental Nihilism
When I was writing my book Bottled Milk, I wanted to write a character who was objectively sad. Not tragically, or emotionally or subjectively sad. The main character in the book, Alexander Noam, is a journalist-degree graduate businessman who runs "The Chapter" - a kind of sex office operating in Los Angeles, the hotspot of sexual deviance and experimentalism.
When I was writing Bottled Milk, I found myself in a kind of dreary mood, a personality that can only best be described as "nihilist" or "emo". In that state of mood, I felt that no matter how much people try to make the world a better place, no matter how much one does advocate or contribute to society in terms of civil rights, business ethics and the fight against wrongdoing in general, that it's hopeless. It's better to just let the world catch on fire if it so wishes to be, and sit back while the world kicks in to 3rd gear and speeds into oblivion, while you observe and are a passersby in the matter and watch the world unbecome in the process of misguided plan after misguided plan of making the world a better place as you drink hot chocolate and eat nachos, or perhaps work out and listen to your favorite music, indulge in alcohol and your favorite type of nicotine product, since "life doesn't matter as long as people think that it doesn't".
John Clyde, a character who reads Bottled Milk entirely in another book of mine - I'm being immodest, but proudly immodest - yet instead of me, it's authored by one "Hadrian Clarke". John writes a review on his physical paper-and-pen journal notebook, in which he describes the situation as something only the author could've only experienced. In which he described it as that the world Xander Noam lived in was a world on the brink of ruination, an America in self-destruction. And that the political statement on capitalism that which he was demonstrating in Bottled Milk was that in a world of shady shit, rife with crime and corrupt politics, that it's better to live in the world as how other people live it, than to try to be different, be rogue, be radically opposed and advocate for a better and fairer world. By using capitalism. The Chapter was such a statement, or John thought. In a world that is dark and dirty, be dark and dirty. In a bad situation, don't try to be a hero; exploit the situation for your own benefit. In a world such as where Xander and Hadrian lived, grew up or were born in, the Chapter seems like the perfect archetype of the Trumpist view of the world that Andrew Jackson also used: exploit the shit out of a bad situation. It's also Nixonian in a sense: don't make yourself look good, instead - make your opponents and rivals even Goddamn worse. Because the Chapter was pretty archetypal in a sense of its sex work and how a "sex office" should be, complete with stripper poles, sex rooms and even a ball room with large and loud speakers for partying directly connected to the office of the boss, or owner, of the whole establishment. Even the boss has a room, complete with his collection of drugs and alcohol and vape products. But unlike the archetypal sex workers' workplace, it was clean, presentable, smelled good, and it even was established legitimately. It was even built - at least in part - by Xander, known as "Whiteface", the owner, himself!
John also saw it and interpreted it as the government controlling the people like sheep: forget the bad things in the world, have a good time. Xander was the president; his sex workers, his cabinet and cronies; and the customers, the people themselves. And after having a good time, listening to what the president (Xander) wanted you to listen to (music), indulged in its freedoms that it guarantees and gives as a right (half-naked dancers; prostitutes; sexual entertainers) you leave with a lot of your money and time spent, and come back because "it's the greatest country (sex club) I've ever been to!". And most of the time, the people, the workers, even the boss, all of them are obligated to wear masks as policy. Xander maintained that this was because he wanted to protect the privacy of the workers and the people to prevent bullying and belittlement, but in so doing, they mask their identities, just like in politics: we don't know really who they are, not only as what they do for a living or perhaps in government, but also as people. Like Bill Clinton, who promised to not curtail basic democratic rights, yet raped 5 women. Or Trump, who bullied, threatened and dealed with his rivals to get his way, even his own wife due to jealousy of her popularity and the possibility that she could become more popular than him, but stylized himself and convinced the public that he is their "president of law and order" and that "I'll make America great again".
But the real reason is less political and conspiratorial and more personal. I gave my eyes to Xander Noam, so as to see as one the same things. What he was saying, suggesting, doing, believed in and thinking, that's my mindset from that time ago. Nihilist. Believing that the world didn't matter anymore. Believing that everything was irrational, and that the only way to live rationally was to rid yourself of emotion.
That was how I saw myself: someone who gave up on the world, knew a lot of things, indulged in nicotine to make the world feel like it was worth living in and to make myself feel better. Someone who thought it was best to accept the conditions of a catch-22 impossible situation with no visible solutions by understanding that the world is shit anyway, I might as well accept that. And why not enterprise on that situation?
It wasn't depression or isolation symptoms from being cut off from communication and people due to COVID-19, it was just nihilism.
In that time, I believed that if someone wanted to kill themselves because the world and their lives are a joke, that if they were going to be a bitch about it, that they should just kill themselves for being so pathetic, and to leave us out of that situation. In that time, I believed that if the world would not change, that it didn't matter that people advocate for anti-racism or anti-fascism, or that developments would be made for civil and gay rights, that disputes and conflicts would stop around the world due to political or religious reasons. That as long as there is someone racist, someone who is fascist, someone who wants to wage a civil war against minority or LGBTQ persons, someone who wants to annex Palestine because they believe that Jesus had declared that that land was the land of Jews - that the world is not going to change no matter what happens. These problems are a catch-22: they are impossible to solve. They're never going to be solved, and things will always get even worse, so you might as well capitalize or accept that situation as not fact merely, but gospel. By working in the conditions of your time, that your work matters because of the time you lived in, that was when my literary imagination thrived.
Of course, 1 or 2 years later, my sense of the world has gotten brighter of course. And that's because… so what if these problems are impossible to solve? Do I want to say to someone that their religious causes are impossible? That Christianity will never hit every part of the world because everyone has different beliefs? That someone will not go to heaven or hell because I think that they don't exist? No, of course not! And I never have during that period. I believe in a rational heaven, a deist heaven, where Christ was the Son of this deity. And if people are genuinely happy to fight for these causes, for the cause of civil and gay rights, for the cause of fairer wages, for the cause of the surceasing of conflicts, who am I to judge? That's what they want to experience, and for that, I have at them my sympathies. If they want to try to accomplish an impossible dream, I'm not one to judge, and I think it's great that these people are passionate about their dreams. And to see people transforming their impossible dreams into realities, that really matters. Even if people have impossible dreams, if they are passionate about circumventing their frustrations by the attempts at the fulfillment of that dream, that's amazing. That's what I call humanity. And if people are passionate about something, that proves that some people still have humanity inside of themselves, that's the core of cultural revolution in its max. It's the fascists and the racists and the horrible peoples' mit brennender sörge. It's what makes the humanities… human. It's nihilists' counterpart. Where the nihilists say "why", the absurdists say "why not".
Chapter 2 - Absurdism in Terraria Fishing
I've recently gotten back into Terraria, the hit sandbox game that came out almost 12 years ago, and for the past 3 days or so, I've clocked in 25 hours of progress.
I played like a madman professional on Master Mode: I was spelunking, I was exploring the world looking for things, I was fishing and all of that clocked in to about 25 hours and some odd minutes worth of playing the game itself, lots of sleeping late and staying up all night playing the game - and no, that was not a reference to Yellowcard's "Only One" - and 3 defeated bosses. Mainly the Eye of Cthulhu, King Slime, and the Eater of Worlds.
One time, I was fishing for a collective 7 hours straight in Terraria, spent a lot of bait gotten from exploration and fishing crates. And I've fished for so long, that not only did I get the full Angler's set of armor for fishing, one of the rarest - if not - the rarest armor in the game, period, but I also got 2 to 3 platinum coins from crates, missions and selling fish ALONE. Which amounts to about 100 to 300 gold coins, or 1,000,000 to 3,000,000 bronze coins, which effectively makes me as rich - relative to - as Zuckerberg, Gates, or Buffett.
One time I was researching on crates and what kind of crate I can get in what biome, and decided to try to farm Corruption crates in the Corrupt biome fishing lake I built myself to see if I can get the Vilethorn, a magic weapon that's usually gotten from breaking Corrupt orbs that grow naturally in the Corruption underground upon the formation of the world, at the expense of the chance of spawning the Eater of Worlds.
But by the time I arrived at the Corruption fishing lake, it was during a blood moon, where the night sky turns dark red as monstrous creatures of all manner of hellish means spawn before my eyes as the world turns dark and horrid, or the 1980's during Marcos Sr.'s tenure.
Not thinking much of it, I decided to get my fishing gear and armor, put it on, grab some fishing and crate potions I got from Angler missions and crates of all assortments.
Then something struck me, as if I turned scared from something so sudden as a monster attacking me that spawned from my fisher's rod. It killed me instantly.
Undeterred, I tried again and brought another fishing potion and went back to the Corrupt lake. Surprise-surprise, I died again. But not out in vain. For I realized a mechanic that I had not tried yet, for before my sudden re-interest in Terraria, I was left out of the conversation of Terraria in or regarding updates and features. And the last time I played the damn game was 3 months ago prior to Halloween. So using my brain, I conducted a small experiment. I went back to the lake, and conducted a defense outpost where I would fish the monster from one side, and then trap and ensnare him and kill him on another side. It worked out better than I could possibly hope for. And due to that experiment going right, not only did I get items I had never even heard of, such as a summoning weapon that summons a cute and adorable little vampire shark that attacks its enemies in defense of me with its little Yoshi tongue, as well as an item that increases fishing power once put in the water, but I also got enough curiosity due to the items it granted me as fruit for my experimental labor.
So I did the experiment again. It yielded the same amount of stuff, as well as another Money Trough, of which I already had in hand. And then I did it again, and this time, it yielded one item, a curious fishing rod covered in musty flesh, decaying leather and rusted fishing line, that proved effective regardless of its inherent… technical flaws.
Not to sound overly gregarious, but the reason - and I didn't know it then until now - why I fished for 7 hours, farmed and opened up crates that yielded resources and valuables, weapons and accessories, potions and tools, why I conducted that weird experiment, as well as why I even took the trouble to even explore places such as the dangerous Master Mode jungle underground in order to find and catch bait for fishing with, as well as the underground desert where I farmed fossils in order to put them to an extractinator in order to get amber gems to use for crate potions to drink and then get so many crates from fishing, as well as why I even bother going down to excavate, mine and spelunk for chests, ores and items in order to assuage this resource crisis I thought I had when in reality I was just being paranoid and insecure: the reason why wasn't because of a nihilist reason such as "why"; it was because of an absurdist reason such as "why… why not?". I wanted to mine, I wanted to get items, I wanted to fish. Not because I had to want to, but because I wanted to. The same reason as to why people want to fight for civil rights. Not necessarily or purely because the had to want to, otherwise they might be deemed as racist or xenophobic. But because they genuinely, as human creatures, as fellow creatures, they wanted to. As Benjamin Franklin stated "the Scriptures assure me that we will not be judged in our entrance into heaven on what we believed, but on what we did". And that goes for not just what we did, but what we wanted to do. Even for people that think that they had to want to do something for the sake of other fellow creatures.
Chapter 3 - Absurdism in Lies, Politics, and Cynical Fascism
For 3 days starting at around maybe January 10 of 2023, I've been consuming documentaries on history and world affairs, as well as video essays on art and philosophy, like they were water. I was obsessed and documented my thoughts on a journal. Thoughts - with sources from PBS to other independent sources - ranged from how Trump's campaign was already riddles with scandal that still wasn't enough to get him out of the race and how he won; how the United States was slow to respond to the Coronavirus Pandemic; how Trump emboldened and legitimized white supremacists and how that they were "very fine people, on both sides", and that "both sides were responsible for this horrible day"; how Duterte was a populist extrajudicial killer; how Alex Jones fueled Trump's mania; how art was a bullshit tax dodge with no meaning; how British Healthcare is inherently transphobic; how witches were Marxists; how Dali was fascist and Picasso was misogynist; how allegations of fatphobia against a Russian doctor correlates and aligns perfectly with how Socrates viewed the Democratic process concomitant to each other; how Civil War era black folk tried to fight against the Democratic party's Ku Klux Klan and the Jim Crow era of disadvantage. Amongst other opinions, et cetera et cetera.
What interested me the most, though, was the fact that Trump used lies propogate and foment domestic resentment against the Democratic process.
And you're very well informed of this story, but what transpired after Trump lied to the American public was the infamous January 6 Capitol Riot, where dozens upon dozens of Trump supporters raided the Capitol in order to try to stop the certification of an election process, which they thought was illegitimate due to Trump saying that it was falsified and a fraud election. And that it was "an embarrassment to our nation". They broke through Capitol police; they threatened members of the House of Representatives - to get their way - of treason.
I can't help but draw a parallel to Salvador Dali here. Salvador Dali was a surrealist painter who was close to Picasso and was, at a time, good friends, until Picasso died.
Salvador Dali was accused of being a fascist in his group, whom the members were mostly socialists and communists, and this was due to his artistic obsession with Hitler, who saw him, and I quote "as a woman, whose skin whiter than white".
Later on, Dali and Andre Breton, the leader of the surrealist group he was a part of, reconciled, and Dali made efforts to denounce Hitler.
But then come the Civil War of Spain, whom Dali and Picasso were disgusted by. And this really set the tone of who Dali is politically speaking, not personally. Picasso disavowed the war with his fresco, Guernica, giving themes of how the right wing people of Spain are instigating a war on Spain, that this is wrong, and that it must stop by us the communists and democrats defeating the nationalists and falangists. However, Dali expressed resentment for the war but in a different way. His painting, Autumn Cannibalism, depicted the war as he saw it: a vestige of natural history that should be condemned by all. Meaning, that he was pinning the blame of the destruction of the Spanish Republic on both sides.
Sound familiar?
In 2017, Trump would announce his denouncing of the Charlottesville riot, which was incited by racist white supremacists who declared "White Lives Matter!", and that he condemned the riot and pinned the blame on both the leftists and the racists, on both sides.
When both Dali and Trump condemned the conflicts of their time by pinning the blame on both sides, they became unpopular and hated, so much so that their contemporaries denounced their opinions, stating that bigotry and racism have no place in their respective nations.
But let's be honest. They don't really believe in what they're saying. Trump is a shameless liar and Dali, a quirky weird hack painter genius in his absurdness, and I believe that the reason that they stated their opinions controversial in their own right was not because they couldn't, but because they could. Not why, but why not.
This is a pattern of polemicism that exists in both the left and the right. Their use of free speech leads them spur ridiculous opinions such as "Kanye West is white", or how mugshots are racist. This is the formula of right wing polemicists, who see white discrimination and try to talk about or argue about white discrimination and show places where there is none. The same thing with leftist polemicists who try to make a great deal of attention towards black discrimination, that they see black discrimination and talk and argue about or show places where there is none. Not because they believe in it, but because they can, as well as give people the chance and opportunity to talk about it with other people who believe that it is such. And in that way, the polemicist is free of blame, they're not culpable in inculcating a lesson they don't believe in, because people believe in it but not the polemicist. This is political absurdism. And it might change the world for the better or for the worse.
To cap off the work, I'll show a poem I wrote on the story of Red Cloud, not because I don't want to because why? Or because I feel like I have to want to, but because I want to. Or, why not?
Thanks for reading. People like you, make a difference. Really. Cheers…!
“As blood dripped down his dirtied face And darkness covers him, Red, our hero, has been placed In a grave raven-dim And still alive was he when He was buried; grim
Was he when he realized that He was breathing still Yet imprisoned was he at The soil of village till. With a shard of father's pick He had dug his way out
No gimmicks or trumps or tricks He used; incite rout He never did, or thrown the bricks Taken from his house. Withered from that amber spring That's born from fired coal,
His house stands shameful, that to bring Red to howl and howl, But never did and only did Inside his own heart, When Attraidies killed and rid Dear Asha, to depart.
For the Mindflayer to rob The one thing he loved most, Vengeance bubbled, cracked and throbbed Inside his heart foremost. Hurt and bruised yet still alive He walked from his own home, His parents house, all ashy ice And all the dirt and roamed - And so he did, from his ghastly ruined Village where he's from And then thought of his own brother; His house is too in ruins, gone and impugned - The sound of bass and drums Fill him when he says "where are you, mother?"
Thinking that his Asha's gone, Mother and father, too, And that Attraidies did this, That day he will rue. Knowing Bodhi's agileness, Red thinks his brother lives,
"I'll settle:" Red did say: "this mess I’ll clean up. If he didst Kill them all, I’ll kill him too, To bring us square-to square. If I kill his baby son, I wouldn’t fucking care.”
Dashing, full of competence, And knowing of the arts, Of fighting, does he venture forth With sword and shield and darts, To bring revenge to family gone, He’ll kill Attraidies, for what he’s done.”

There is this guy from my neighborhood in South Phoenix who has been a menace and a predator to all of Phoenix.
Some years ago he was in trouble for kidnapping a person that I was close with, and she has been forever scarred from the situation. Later that year he was booked on a Robbery charge and finally sent to prison.
I thought this was the end of ever having to see Trelance Holden aka "Tre" again but I was wrong. Years later, and I moved on with my life, friends and family healing and the wound lessened, but then he was released from Prison.
He is back in our neighborhood, but now he has a new trade which is Pimping women and human trafficking. The reason I'm posting this is because since his release almost 4 years ago I've tried avoiding him.
Everyone in our neighborhood knows what he does and fears him and his gang. A few years go by and my younger sister who was 15 starts getting notice from Tre and he is aggressive with pursuing her. I warn her to stay away and he is no good but she does not listen. She's enticed by the fake rapper lifestyle that he uses women he pimps to fund.
2 years later, and my sister is 18 and Tre has my sister. I'm not sure where we went wrong but he has my sister. I spoke to her and it doesn't seem like it's her choice. She doesn't seem like herself and she seems scared.
I went looking for my sister and Tre had her on this Prostitution street called Figueroa in California working. When I saw my sister she burst out crying for help. She had two black eyes that she was covering up and she hugged me so hard that I almost lost breath. She wanted to come home but Tre was around the corner and pulled his pistol out and we drove away in fear for our lives.
I ended up reporting this to the police but no progress. I submitted this to the FBI but made no progress. I've asked around and we're not the only family to have our young girls taken by him and his gang. Some lady had her underage daughter who she hasn't seen since she was 14yrs old, she was last spotted with Tre and his gang.
I found his social handles and I want to put pressure on him and the police to send him back to prison.
https://www.facebook.com/YoungTre100
https://www.instagram.com/tregang20/
Also his mugshot for people who think this story is made up:
https://imgur.com/a/cGgDqAA
This man is a predator to young girls and women, and should not be on the streets. Please if anyone can assist to get him off the streets.