INTRODUCTION   What would you do if two large men, handcuffed you, dragged you out of your home, and threw you in the back of a van, tomorrow at the crack of dawn? What would you think as this van takes you hundreds of miles away from your neighborhood and drops you off in an institution of white walls, fluorescent lights, and cold linoleum floors? How would you respond to the people in this institution when they force you to stand in a corner for weeks on end, to lift your knees to your waistline when you walk, to be silent when you want to be loud, to be loud when you want to be silent, and to carry buckets of rocks back and forth for twelve hours each day? Would you resist, rebel, run away, kill yourself? What if they locked you in a tiny room that smelled like urine and blasted A.A. tapes until you submit? What if they took your food away? Had someone follow you around all the time, even watching you shit? What if you were completely stuck in a behavior modification program like this for two years without seeing your friends, your home, or anything that might remind you of the real world?

Youth hold all the creativity, curiosity, and vitality of human nature in a concentrated form. But from a very early age, we are forced into narrow, limiting ways of thinking and being. We sit in rows and later we march in rows, so that we can battle those whose way of life is out of line with ours. If kids attempt to step out of these formations, they are considered crazy or criminal and are dealt with using methods that are even more coercive and confining. These "solutions" are called juvenile detention facilities, mental hospitals, residential treatment facilities, group homes, and behavior modification programs like the one described above.

These institutions reflect our society's attitude towards youth, treating us as less than full human beings. Kids are treated with mistrust and thus don't learn to take responsibility for their actions, in a vicious cycle that is only perpetrated by this mentality of cages. Regardless of whether an institution is private or state funded, meant to reform a rebellious teenage, "cure" a mental disorder, or to remove a criminal from society, the mindset is the same: youth are not to be trusted, and that coercion and punishment are acceptable means of solving problems.

Why do adults feel the need to exert such rigid control over us? Perhaps it's because youth tend to be more idealistic and less willing to accept the world as it is. It takes years to teach someone to endure the monotony and superficiality that is so many peoples' lives. Behavior modification programs are part of this cycle of stagnation, so this reader was created to educate people about this little-known atrocity occurring in our own country, and to offer constructive ways to help youth without denying their freedom and individuality. It's a first step in the long struggle to shut these types of places down, and to encourage kids everywhere to take control over their own lives.

Teenage Lobotomy expands from the inside outwards, from presenting the rigid mentality of cages to opening up into some of the countless possibilities that are our future. It starts by using personal stories and news articles to portray how youth are institutionalized in many ways, from many points of view. It then provides some basic information on mental health and the mental health system including advice on taking care of ourselves and each other, and getting the right kind of help. There's a thick section on using various forms of creative expression as a way for kids to balance out their lives and figure out who they are. This transitions into a section about self-education as a means to explore the world and empower yourself. The reader ends with an in-depth discussion of youth organizing and activism, a way for us to use our experiences of injustice to make change outside of ourselves.

It may seem strange that Teenage Lobotomy touches on everything from school to schizophrenia to surrealism, but we think that it is this combination of seemingly disparate subjects that gives this reader its power. We're hoping that by juxtaposing stories of horror and degradation with methods of self-expression and discovery, the contents of this reader will squirm around and interact with each other in an alchemical process that will draw new connections. Like a mosaic made of thousands of different photographs, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Each page is carefully designed and richly illustrated not only to enhance the appearance of the reader, but also to display the talents and possibilities that we as youth hold and refuse to suppress.

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LOCKDOWN: America treats its “Troubled Youth” like prisoners, By Nick and Sarah, February 2005

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HOPE CONFETTI: A TEENAGE LOBOTOMY PROJECT, By Nick and Sarah, February 2005

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SUBMISSIONS INVITED     Submit to a new reader about abusive institutions for youth entitled Teenage Lobotomy: A Zine about the Institutionalization of Youth. The reader will consist of:

• An introduction to the abuses that take place at therapeutic boarding schools, residential treatment facilities, and wilderness programs
• Personal stories and interviews from students, parents, and ex-teachers
• News articles about behavior modification programs Information about mental health and the mental health system
• Discussion of alternative ways to help "troubled" teens (and ways for teens to help themselves), including art therapy and other forms of creative expression , various forms of counseling (such as utilizing AA outpatient programs or talking to mentors for help), and other programs that encourage healing in positive ways.
• Discussion of youth activism and organizing
• Discussion of youth taking control of their own education
• Tons of really good art (and a couple of poems) by young people
• Information about laws relating to youth
• A massive list of resources including books, organizations, and websites We need your stories! They may include:
• Where you (or your child, or your friend) were sent
• Specific disciplinary techniques used
• Reasons for being sent away
• What the staff was like
• How the experience affected you (or your child, or your friend)
• Approximate relapse rate
• Legal actions taken against the institution (if there ever were any)

We are also looking for writing on people's experiences with with various forms of treatment, traditional and alternative These are only guidelines. You may tell your story in words, pictures, or any form of communication that will bring your experience to life.

PLEASE SEND US YOUR WRITING AND ART BY MARCH 15th 2005, and keep it under three pages. Thank you.

This reader is being compiled by two teenage artists/writers -- Nick, who was locked up in the Family Foundation School in New York, Second Nature Wilderness Program in Utah, and Saint Paul's Prep School in Arizona, and his close friend Sarah.

Contact Nick at mindweller@yahoo.com and Sarah at mailto:orangescum@yahoo.com

Or write to

Nick & Sarah
3706 72nd Street # 5H
Jackson Heights, New York 11372

This section is under development.
New materials will be added here very soon.