People Tell Their Personal Stories to Benefit Others
By Rhea Wawrzyniak
Word Count: 1,160
Story #5
 By Rhea Wawrzyniak |
People were waiting in line at entrance to the American Indian Resource Center. |
In this society, alcohol is advertised everywhere. Commercials and billboards advertise alcohol as a good time, even though that is not always the case. Last Wednesday, a “straight-talk” panel comprising six people convened in the Great Room at the American Indian Resource Center. The main focus was alcohol and drug abuse, and the use of date-rape drugs.
Brett, Gabriel, Brittany, Erinn, Michael, and Dave all sat in the front of a full room with their name tags placed in front of them. Using just their first names they told their stories that all had the similar problem of alcohol and drugs.
Brittany and Erinn had similar stories, but also very different. Both of their stories involved alcohol and being rapped.
Brittany is a 19-year-old BSU freshman. She started drinking at a very young age. One
of the drinks she drank at a party had the rape drug PCP in it. She woke up nude, and was rapped.
BSU sophomore Rachel Brodin went to the straight talk for extra credit for her psychosocial nursing class. “It was very informative and personal,” said Brodin. “I enjoyed the openness and honesty that individuals on the panel had.” Brittany’s story affected Brodin the most, and putting extra credit aside, she was glad that she came.
Similar to Brittany’s story Erinn also got rapped. But, she got raped by someone she trusted, and was going to marry. She was not used to drinking, and he mixed her drinks strong. She went to counseling and got help, “Talking to other survivors was very helpful,” said Erinn.
To get help like Erinn did, the Health and Counseling Center is located in Birch Hall and is available to come over and make an appointment to talk to someone.
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Before walking into the Great Room there was a display about drunk driving that told a story about a kid named Andrew Todd Hammerlund. Hammerlund was born July 8th, 1985 and died Aug. 24th, 2004 in an accident where alcohol was involved. |
Dave told his story of how he had a great life, and lost it all due to alcohol. He also shared The Jellinek Curve on addiction and recovery. “I just think that it is amazing that it is so predictable what will happen if you continue to not deal with your problem,” said Dave.
Dave, Brett and Michael are all living example of The Jellinek curve, but, at some point in their life they dealt with their problems. “Currently I am just over four months clean and sober,” said Michael.
“I thought it was a really good,” said Hannah Bloom, sophomore at BSU. “Very sad but also eye opening.” Bloom also went to get extra credit for class, but was glad that she came. Next “straight-talk” she would certainly bring a friend to share the experience.
In Gabriel’s story, the marines had affect on him, and lead him to drinking. Gabriel stressed that there is no shame in asking for help. “You can make better choices right now and you don’t have to live the examples that we are sharing,” he said. “I encourage you if you have a problem, fix it now, it’s a heck of a lot easier addressing it now then it is down the road.”
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The straight talk panel talked in the great room where all the seats were filled. |
 By Rhea Wawrzyniak |
After everyone told their stories there was time to come up and talk to them and ask questions. |
Brett’s addiction started when he was seven or eight years old. He was given beer to put him to sleep. At age fourteen he stole his dad’s car and his grandmother’s homemade wine and drove drunk. That was when he realized he had an addiction problem. During the same year, he drove a motorcycle drunk and ended his career in sports when he got in an accident. When he was eighteen years old he relied on alcohol and was out of control. After his 19th birthday he started drinking every night for the next 3 years. He got his first DWI on his 22nd birthday. After that he went to treatment in Fergus Falls and was sober for six months and then went right back to drinking every night. He got his second DWI on his 24th birthday and resisted arrest and assaulted the police officer. He ended up back at Fergus Falls and was sober for a couple of years, and then went right back to the bottle. Starting in 1985 he stayed sober for three years with the help of his wife. Then problems started again and he went right back to the bottle. “Another wrong decision in my life,” said Brett. “I chose the bottle over my family.” He moved to Texas and had the same job for fifteen years. Then he broke his hip and became addicted to Oxycontin and was drinking 24-7. One night after drinking all day a friend came up to Brett to ask for a cigarette and was holding a butcher knife because he was cooking steaks. Brett thought his friend was coming at him and hit him over the head with a tequila bottle. It took one hundred and fifty three stitches to put his friend back together. “I asked god to take the alcohol and drugs away from me,” said Brett, and he has been sober ever since.
Brett’s addiction started when he was seven or eight years old. He was given beer to put him to sleep. At age fourteen he stole his dad’s car and his grandmother’s homemade wine and drove drunk. That was when he realized he had an addiction problem. During the same year, he drove a motorcycle drunk and ended his career in sports when he got in an accident. When he was eighteen years old he relied on alcohol and was out of control. After his 19th birthday he started drinking every night for the next 3 years. He got his first DWI on his 22nd birthday. After that he went to treatment in Fergus Falls and was sober for six months and then went right back to drinking every night. He got his second DWI on his 24th birthday and resisted arrest and assaulted the police officer. He ended up back at Fergus Falls and was sober for a couple of years, and then went right back to the bottle. Starting in 1985 he stayed sober for three years with the help of his wife. Then problems started again and he went right back to the bottle. “Another wrong decision in my life,” said Brett. “I chose the bottle over my family.” He moved to Texas and had the same job for fifteen years. Then he broke his hip and became addicted to Oxycontin and was drinking 24-7. One night after drinking all day a friend came up to Brett to ask for a cigarette and was holding a butcher knife because he was cooking steaks. Brett thought his friend was coming at him and hit him over the head with a tequila bottle. It took one hundred and fifty three stitches to put his friend back together. “I asked god to take the alcohol and drugs away from me,” said Brett, and he has been sober ever since. .JPG)
Brittany’s story:
Brittany was not getting the attention and love she needed at home and started drinking at age eleven. Her stepfather was a drunk and beat her mom, and she wanted to feel numb and high when drunk and just have fun. At age 14 she went to a party in a garage. At 2:00 a.m. she noticed all the girls were gone. She didn’t think anything of it, and took the drink handed to her by one of the young men. It contained the date-rape drug PCP. She started to feel dizzy and went to lie down on the back seat of a car in the garage. She blacked out, and woke up to a guy raping her and then blacked out again. She woke up nude and went home and told her mother. In the ER they did a rape kit on her and found eight different seamen deposits. She ended up with an STD, and thought she was pregnant. It took Brittany till she was 16 to actually get over it. “The guy that put PCP in my drink is still sitting in Crow Wing County to this day,” said Brittany. “He is going to be there for a long time.” To this day Brittany has not touched alcohol and won’t even go near it. “I will never trust alcohol again,” said Brittany.
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