![]() My visceral response to this scene jolted me. After she tugs her underwear back up, she’s forced to hug and thank Uncle Zephaniah for the discipline, as she and all the other kids have been trained to do. Because Young runs over to her mother, she’s punished with nine swats instead of three. Her mother, with no warmth in her eyes, barks, “Get back in line.”Īt this moment and in similar moments, Young’s mother isn’t her mom but an “auntie,” someone in charge of all the children just like her stepfather Uncle Zephaniah is a punishment uncle, not a stepfather. ![]() ![]() Suddenly Young spots her mother, Kristie, and speeds over to her, instantly relieved. The kids are arranged from oldest to youngest, and Young stands at the end of the line, anticipating her turn. Young is 5 years old, the youngest of 22 commune kids in a community of 100. This man is not her blood uncle, but what the kids in the Children of God cult call the men in the community. Daniella Mestyanek Young’s powerfully immersive and exceptionally honest debut memoir Uncultured opens with a scene of Young standing in line to get spanked by Uncle Zephaniah. ![]()
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