Produced by the I-Lab at W-B-U-R Boston.

Welcome to Kind World.

I'm Yasmin Ammer.

Today I'm revisiting one of the first stories I've produced on this show,

is still one of my favorites, because it's a powerful reminder of what it means to be seen.

It's our 2018 story called A Teacher's Aid and make sure to stay tuned after

the break for an update. 44 year old

old Jen Carson has an unusually good memory of her childhood, but then again her childhood was unusual by any standard.

It started off in a typical suburb in Phoenix, Arizona.

Mom was a teacher. Dad, she says Mom was a teacher.

Dad, she says, was a hippie stay-at-home father

who occasionally dealt pot, and he was incredibly attentive.

He'd brush my hair and feed me breakfast every morning. He'd read to me, take me to the

petting zoo. But you know there were always signs of problems. Her mother, Lynn Carson,

knew something was wrong when her husband James Carson began

violently threatening anyone who upset him, including her.

The first few times he said it, she didn't believe him. The second few times he said it she didn't believe him the second few times he said it and then he got a gun

In 1979 when Jen was five years old, her parents divorced after a decade of marriage.

Shortly after, James Carson remarried and changed his name to Michael Bear Carson. And then the problems got worse.

Jen's first visit to her father and stepmother's house

is etched in her memory.

There was no furniture and no lamps. It was dark and there were a hundred potted plants.

...