And then, uh, you've kinda slow ghosted him since then, and he's trying to figure out what's going on here.

Yeah.

Um, I mean, I'm just gonna, gonna say it.

It, it...

He posted a picture kissing a baby on the lip, and that's, that's disgusting.

I just...

Adults, adults should not kiss babies on the mouth.

I just roll with it.

What is it about? Who is it for? Why did you write it? Why should people buy the book?

Oh, all the things.

Oh, right.

Okay.

Well, if you've ever been curious about me and Graham's, uh, love story, in a sense, this would be your opportunity.

[laughs] It is a tell-all.

It's a little spicy.

Keep going.

So, um, how was, I guess, the state of gaming at the library, Alyssa, when you came on? And what have y'all been doing to increase that? 'Cause I feel like it's been on the rise over the last few years.

I would certainly agree.

Um, when I started about seven and a half years ago, um, there was a board gaming program that had some attendance that was actually run by a teen volunteer who really loved board gaming.

Um, so we would do a weekly board gaming program, and he would bring in a bunch of games and teach them to any of the younger kids that wanted to come learn how to play.

Um, but then w- we didn't have really anything available just like in the library to play except for maybe like a chess board or something, which I mean, is also great.

Um, but during my time here, I've really started to try to add more games f- so that anyone in the library can play any of the games we have just somewhere else in the library.

Um, and in a moment, Ari, I'm sure, can add in 'cause she has been really helpful with helping to add in more games there.

... uh, [laughs] Alyssa, um, you know, what kinds of bonds have you been able to form? And then also because you're kind of running things from a higher level, um, do you miss some of the hands-on stuff?

And if you think this kind of discrimination against children might be an outlier scenario, I hate to break your heart, but you need to hear this story.

Hi, my name's Alyssa.

I live in Illinois, and I am in my early 20s.

And I have been secretly curly and struggled with my hair a lot in my teenage years due to the Department of Child Services, my caseworker, not allowing my hair out.

Like, I wasn't able to have it out at all.

So basically around, like, I had to be, like, eight or nine 'cause I was in, like, third grade, and I was born in 2004, so it had to be, like, 2010, 2011 maybe.

And basically, my mom struggled with some things, so I was put into the care of my aunt for, like, two years, and the entirety of those two years, I genuinely was not able to have my hair out, like, at all.

Her sister has looser curls and never went through any of this, but for Alyssa, the experience was stark.

Was there a point that you did stop engaging and you went to the police? What were your next steps?

Yeah.

So this all happened in the summer of 2022, and that's kinda when it started, and I think it was spring of 2023.

Yeah, it was spring of 2023 when she had messaged my school.

So eventually it got to the point where I would just ignore her posts about me, and I would just ignore the things, um, she would say about me, and whenever she would try to add my accounts, I would immediately block those new accounts.

'Cause at first, I also didn't block accounts at first, 'cause in my head I'm like, "I'm gonna block this one, she's gonna make another one.

There's no point to block it.

And, and what did the judge eventually tell you?

Can you give us sort of a step-by-step breakdown of exactly what happened and how you've been dealing with it?

Right.

So I think we recorded over the summer of twenty twenty-four.

So it was just the regular thing she was doing, still messaging my friends, family, following them, whatever, little things like that.

And I just wanna preface this by saying this is where I messed up, which I don't like to feel that way.

I don't wanna like victim blame myself, but people knew about this situation, but nobody knew the details.

Nobody knew what she looked like.

Match with a licensed therapist today at talkspace.com. Save eighty dollars with code SPACE80 at talkspace.com.

Warning: This series includes discussion of inhumane medical experimentation, including on children, violence, sexual assault, abuse of children, and cultural genocide.

I'm not saying that I forgive her for it, 'cause it's still here and in my body, and I remember it physically.

But at the same time, I understand, and I, I can't say I don't blame her, 'cause she was there, she was doing it, 'cause it's her.

But at the same time, you know, it's kind of, is she really fully responsible for this?

While researching coercive persuasion, she stumbled on a piece of Canadian history that is little known, even to Canadians like herself.

I have questions.

I wonder, does anybody else in Quebec allege that they were also abused by psychiatry? And so I did Google, and boop, up comes the Duplessis Orphans.

And 5,000 of these individuals were falsely diagnosed as mentally deficient and interned in psychiatric hospitals across the province.

I have several properties like that.

So I bought this property for maybe 125,000, which is about average for a starter home in the area that I was at that time.

It was in a bad part of town, and it needed a lot of work, but I saw some potential.

It had four bedrooms.

It had a completely unfinished basement.

It was not far from where I had my first home, and I had never had any issues with, you know, crime or anything.

So I was like, "You know, people keep telling me this is not the best neighborhood," but, you know, I lived less than a mile away, and I never had an issue.

why is it so challenging for everyone else?

Hey, Alyssa.

Hi.

Um, [sighs] okay.

I get really nervous r-right before speaking.

I'm just-- I like to say that, um, just because I like to say it.

Um, so, uh, I'm an alcoholic.

Um, my sobriety date is January fifth, two thousand and fourteen.

[laughing]