Go Ask Alice: Fake Anti-Drug Novel by Mormon Youth Counselor

[dianapavelovna]

8 hours ago, GeoBQn said:

As I recall, Nancy progresses from HIV to AIDS unusually quickly.  I think she's dead 3 years after getting infected.  The book even had a disclaimer about it, claiming that her "immune system was weak to begin with."

Yup. I remember thinking it didn't seem plausible that she died so quickly if she was healthy when she contracted HIV (I read the book in the late 90s/early 00s). I never read Go Ask Alice, but It Happened to Nancy really affected me. I remember thinking how sad it was and going back to it several times. I think the "boyfriend" was also in his 20s while Nancy was 14 or 15. I'm glad it's not true, but it's pretty egregious deception. As I recall, there was a note about how Nancy wanted her "diary" to be published as a cautionary tale for other young people.

[zee_four]

On 3/4/2017 at 3:52 PM, nastyhobbitses said:

I was born too late for Go Ask Alice, but I read plenty of Scared Straight stuff, smoked a whole lotta weed anyway, and then decided to stop when I moved overseas and liked not being deported way more than smoking weed. Now I'm back in the States permanently (and realized in November what a horrible decision this was) and still don't feel especially inclined to smoke, not because of any scare tactics, but because I just have too much shit to do and have other things to spend my money on. I honestly think that a better anti-drug message would be "listen, smoking pot is fun and all, but after a while, you're just going to be too busy to do it and it's going to be the last line item on your budget once you have to start making and spending your own money. Don't drive when you're high, have a serious conversation with your doctor if they want to give you opiates, and don't take Molly without testing it. Have fun, kids."

Except in Colorado where weed is a great money maker for business people and most people I know smoke weed more regularly than drinking. (I used to smoke weed but stopped because I disliked it but then got involved with other drugs and am currently working towards becoming a drug counselor)

On 3/5/2017 at 2:49 PM, dianapavelovna said:

Yup. I remember thinking it didn't seem plausible that she died so quickly if she was healthy when she contracted HIV (I read the book in the late 90s/early 00s). I never read Go Ask Alice, but It Happened to Nancy really affected me. I remember thinking how sad it was and going back to it several times. I think the "boyfriend" was also in his 20s while Nancy was 14 or 15. I'm glad it's not true, but it's pretty egregious deception. As I recall, there was a note about how Nancy wanted her "diary" to be published as a cautionary tale for other young people.

I remember all that too. Though in a past life I worked with at risk youth and actually there's a massively high percentage of teen mothers (age like 14-16)  having their babies fathers be at least 18 into their early 20s. Like more teen mothers than those with teenage baby daddies. It's unfortunate.

[send*the*ferrets]

Quote

“We never get tired and she and I are two of the most popular girls at school, I know I look great, I’m still down at 103 pounds, and every time I get hungry or tired I just pop a Benny. We’ve got energy and vitality to spare, and clothes, like man. My hair is the greatest. I wash it in mayonnaise and it’s shining and soft enough to make anyone turn on.”

The link with the books inaccuracies is hilarious. Clearly the author didn't take any "Benny's" for research purposes, because they don't do anything for energy- quite the opposite actually. Which is why they are used for anxiety treatment  

[Black Aliss]

46 minutes ago, zee_four said:

Except in Colorado where weed is a great money maker for business people and most people I know smoke weed more regularly than drinking.

And in Washington, where retailers strive to be the most "clean, well-lighted place for cannabis" and where every variety comes attractively packaged (in quantities ranging from 1 to 3.5 grams, more rarely 7 grams) with the exact THC and CBD analyses on the label. You want something to get you baked? They have that. You want to just relax a bit but you don't want to feel stoned? There are varieties for that, too. You don't want any kind of high, you just want to kill the pain? How does no THC, 23% CBD sound? The salespeople are all very well-versed in their products, but not at all like your stereotypical stoner. Most stores have sales, senior discounts, and some have frequent-buyer punchcards. I don't get high but I do suffer from the occasional bout of insomnia and/or anxiety and I'm going to be very sad if Jeff Sessions makes this all go away.

[PennySycamore]

@Black Aliss, weed retailers have senior discounts?  I need to get to Washington state!

[CyborgKin]

Remember, drugs kill!  Because they are walking test tubes holding guns!

 

 

[zee_four]

12 minutes ago, PennySycamore said:

@Black Aliss, weed retailers have senior discounts?  I need to get to Washington state!

Yep Colorado too. And locals discounts (you can also buy double what out of state people can buy). But that's more because all the tourists coming to ski want to buy weed now too.

[Granwych]

On ‎3‎/‎4‎/‎2017 at 7:08 PM, Cleopatra7 said:

Now I want to read some of Sparks' other works, just to see how implausible they are. Based on what I read on Goodreads, the one about Nancy, the girl who gets date-raped and dies of AIDS, sounds particularly awful in terms of providing accurate information on the social issue in question. I have no doubt that situations like that do happen, unfortunately, but if "Alice" is any indication, I think the real point of "Nancy's" story is to impress upon girls that going to concerts with strange boys will invariably lead to a downward spiral nightmare of date rape and AIDS, not to provide a sensitive and medically accurate portrayal of a young person struggling with HIV/AIDS.

This brings to mind those ubiquitous stories of these semi-anonymous one-night stands where, non the morning after, one of the participants writes on the bathroom mirror "Welcome to the world of AIDS" in lipstick, etc.  Sensational and not a whit of truth.

4 hours ago, send*the*ferrets said:

My hair is the greatest. I wash it in mayonnaise and it’s shining and soft enough to make anyone turn on.”

And after a few hits, the guy also wants me to make him a sandwich--BLT with mayo.

[purjolok84]

8 hours ago, send*the*ferrets said:

The link with the books inaccuracies is hilarious. Clearly the author didn't take any "Benny's" for research purposes, because they don't do anything for energy- quite the opposite actually. Which is why they are used for anxiety treatment  

I read this book over and over as a teen and still have a beat up copy, even though I've been well aware for some time who 'Anonymous' really is. Over recent years I've had to take benzodiazepines for mental health problems and the above quote just made me laugh. Sparks had no bloody clue what she was on about. 

 

I'm also privately happy I never went ahead with my idea to try washing my hair in mayonnaise. Ugh.

 

Also forgot how homophobic the book was, because drugs = SLEEPING WITH GAY MEN WHO WILL CHEAT ON YOU WITH GAY MEN.

 

Oh and I'm sure there's casual mention of a cult and an orgy, but I may be mistaken? Please?

[cindyluvs24]

This and Judy Blume's "Forever" made the rounds.   i remember an after-school special with Helen Hunt as a girl who tries angel dust and jumps out a window.  Then there was "Little Ladies of the Night" which was supposed to scare you into not running away from home, lest you get pimped out by a black man and have to wear sequined tube tops.

[Hane]

14 hours ago, PennySycamore said:

@Black Aliss, weed retailers have senior discounts?  I need to get to Washington state!

Road trip!

[Cleopatra7]

3 hours ago, cindyluvs24 said:

This and Judy Blume's "Forever" made the rounds.   i remember an after-school special with Helen Hunt as a girl who tries angel dust and jumps out a window.  Then there was "Little Ladies of the Night" which was supposed to scare you into not running away from home, lest you get pimped out by a black man and have to wear sequined tube tops.

I wish that Judy Blume had written some books on troubled teens so we would be spared all of these "anonymous diaries" with their dubious information. As I recall, all of Blume's protagonists were angsty, but  good kids, except for one book (whose name escapes me) that had a boy getting involved with minor delinquency. However, Blume's intent was to write well-written books about "regular kids," not scared straight morality tales about worst case scenarios.

[Milly-Molly-Mandy]

I read go ask Alice when I was about 13, so 1995 & didnt even realise it was set in the 60s. 

I just thought that was what America was like being Australian myself. 

Oh my god I was so naiive! 

Also didnt put me off drugs and had a lovely 3 years while at uni recreationally taking ecstasy & cocaine. Occasionally took it until about 25 but feeling crap the next week stopped being worth it. 

[purjolok84]

I wish that Judy Blume had written some books on troubled teens so we would be spared all of these "anonymous diaries" with their dubious information. As I recall, all of Blume's protagonists were angsty, but  good kids, except for one book (whose name escapes me) that had a boy getting involved with minor delinquency. However, Blume's intent was to write well-written books about "regular kids," not scared straight morality tales about worst case scenarios.

Was that book 'Then Again, Maybe I Won't?' I loved that book when I was young - I could really connect with the main character and his feelings of anxiety and powerlessness because I grew up like that myself, not knowing how to deal with very strong feelings.

The main character Tony had a friend who looks like a clean-cut, boy-next-door type, but he turns out to be an entitled kleptomaniac and for most of the story Tony doesn't know what to do or say about the stealing.

I'd rather have Judy Blume's books any day - sometimes I still think of parts of meaningful dialogue from time to time. That 'scared straight' stuff is kind of like abstinence teaching - it won't work for long.

[December]

2 hours ago, Cleopatra7 said:

I wish that Judy Blume had written some books on troubled teens so we would be spared all of these "anonymous diaries" with their dubious information. As I recall, all of Blume's protagonists were angsty, but  good kids, except for one book (whose name escapes me) that had a boy getting involved with minor delinquency. However, Blume's intent was to write well-written books about "regular kids," not scared straight morality tales about worst case scenarios.

 

I agree, there weren't enough books that had a protagonist who was troubled without reaching the levels of ridiculousness seen in stories like Go Ask Alice. I can't speak for more recent young adult books as I'm not familiar enough, but hopefully there are some more interesting ones (without resorting to preposterous scenarios) now.

[Black Aliss]

On 3/6/2017 at 8:16 PM, PennySycamore said:

@Black Aliss, weed retailers have senior discounts?  I need to get to Washington state!

Many of them do; typically it's 10% but sometimes more on special days. One place calls it the "Experience Discount". With an additional 10% discount after you get 10 stamps on your punchcard (one stamp for each item purchased).

[Walking Cat Bed]

On 3/6/2017 at 9:29 PM, zee_four said:

Yep Colorado too. And locals discounts (you can also buy double what out of state people can buy). But that's more because all the tourists coming to ski want to buy weed now too.

...I need to get a CO state ID. For many reasons, but also for local discounts.

 

I'm edibles-only (can't smoke anything), and they have chocolate bars that are just amazing. Tasty chocolate, doesn't taste like weed, good for a buzz that will lead to a nap.

[Black Aliss]

On 3/7/2017 at 4:24 AM, purjolok84 said:

 

   On 3/6/2017 at 8:05 PM,  send*the*ferrets said: 

Quote

The link with the books inaccuracies is hilarious. Clearly the author didn't take any "Benny's" for research purposes, because they don't do anything for energy- quite the opposite actually. Which is why they are used for anxiety treatment  

Over recent years I've had to take benzodiazepines for mental health problems and the above quote just made me laugh. Sparks had no bloody clue what she was on about.

 Ah, but "popping bennies" refers to Benzedrine, not benzodiazepines. What, you never read On the Road? Benzedrine used to be the active ingredient in a nasal inhaler used to treat congestion. The drug was contained in a cardboard strip inside this plastic tube. People would crack open the container, roll the cardboard strip up into a little ball and swallow it to get an amphetamine high. Benzedrine hasn't been available without a prescription since the 1950's, though, and it sounds like the book in question is a lot more recent, so the author is still full of it.

[purjolok84]

 Ah, but "popping bennies" refers to Benzedrine, not benzodiazepines. What, you never read On the Road? Benzedrine used to be the active ingredient in a nasal inhaler used to treat congestion. The drug was contained in a cardboard strip inside this plastic tube. People would crack open the container, roll the cardboard strip up into a little ball and swallow it to get an amphetamine high. Benzedrine hasn't been available without a prescription since the 1950's, though, and it sounds like the book in question is a lot more recent, so the author is still full of it.

That makes far more sense ... but the way she talks about it, it's like the kid is taking heaps of pills every day and bouncing around everywhere with her bouncy mayonnaise hair. Sparks is definitely full of something.

[Black Aliss]

12 hours ago, purjolok84 said:

That makes far more sense ... but the way she talks about it, it's like the kid is taking heaps of pills every day and bouncing around everywhere with her bouncy mayonnaise hair. Sparks is definitely full of something.

 

I'm not familiar with the book because I was a little too old and perhaps too stoned to have read it when it was published. Likewise, my pharmacological knowledge WRT amphetamines is not terribly deep. Fortunately, google is a good teacher. It turns out Benzedrine was (might still be?) also available in pill form. In fact, during WWII the pills were supplied to combat troops to keep them alert, and in the 50's the drug was widely prescribed to housewives as an appetite suppressant. "Mother's little helpers", they were called.

If Sparks had known what she was talking about, she would have had Alice taking Ritalin or Dexedrine (aka "green and clears" by the handful.

Reading that article from the-toast reminded me of how much I miss that site, especially Mallory Ortberg's contributions. Like many of us here, Mallory is a recovering fundie; her father is a evangelical minister. Also, I don't know if this is still the case, but she used to read here, and I think she posted here as well.

[Lurky]

Oh interesting re Ortberg's father, because he gave advice with her on one of the Dear Prudence podcasts recently.  If anyone doesn't know, Mallory Ortberg is Slate's current Dear Prudence agony aunt

http://www.slate.com/articles/life/dear_prudence.html

 

[HarleyQuinn]

This came up in another thread and I had no idea we had an entire thread devoted to Beatrice "Anonymous Teenager" Sparks!

I actually still have my copy of Go Ask Alice as I'm terrible about getting rid of books.

I read it when I was in 7th grade, which was early 2000's and I believed every word. I wrote off a lot of the red flags as "people just talked different in that time." I didn't know until after high school that Sparks was a fraud. Now I feel daft for not questioning how these grade school kids had enough money to buy LSD.

The one thing my memory fails me on is how I came across it. I want to say I got it from my school's library, but it's always on lists of banned books so I don't know how that would be possible. The copy I have is in really rough shape, like it once belonged to a library. I wish I could remember. 

[Hmmm_idolatry]

There is an unintentionally hilarious film version of Go Ask Alice on youtube.  It reminds me of that also unintentionally hilarious After School Special where Helen Hunt tries angel dust and then freaks out and flies out the window.  

Go Ask Alice

Helen Hunt on angel dust  (note that the teacher/counselor is none other than the woman who played the daughter in Mommie Dearest)

[katilac]

4 hours ago, Hmmm_idolatry said:

 It reminds me of that also unintentionally hilarious After School Special where Helen Hunt tries angel dust and then freaks out and flies out the window.  

And absolutely no one calls for help, lol. 

[socalrules]

Oh, I loved Go Ask Alice, which is weird I know. I read that book so many times. I completely believed it when I was a teenager and it wasn't until years later I read something about it not being true but possibly a compilation of different teenagers'  stories. I did think it was strange that she started doing better and then was suddenly dead. I remember thinking her parents removed portions of her diary to protect their identity. Wow, I was naive. I remember reading another book in the same style about a teenage boy but I have no idea what it was about but remember I did not enjoy it as much.