Spring Break
Breaking from the past
Casey Cheney
Issue date: 10/29/09 Section: News
Decades ago, Bruce Long, in his last year at Jackson Community College, took a sip from his drink and told his friends he needed to use the restroom.
As he stepped away from the group, a friend asked him, "Bruce, you like cartoons, don't you? I'll fix your drink. I'm gonna help you see animations."
And after another sip, Long did see animations, cartoons running around his head. What he didn't see was the life he knew crumbling away before him. His first taste of the narcotic phencyclidine, known on the street as "angel dust," was his last taste of freedom for about 30 years.
Within two years of receiving his high school diploma, less than a year shy of receiving an associates degree, Long began his stint of bouncing between living on the streets and psychiatric wards.
Dale Mason, owner of New Way Recovery House on Manning Street in Hillsdale, said it was common for Long to find himself in a psych ward. When not institutionalized, he lived on the street waiting for another disability check so he could get his next fix.
But now he's at New Way, and he's only made one trip to the psych ward to get his medication adjusted.
Long graduated from Jackson High School in 1976. As early as junior high, he was sending ideas for play productions and cartoons to Disney, Warner Brothers and Hanna-Barbera. He has kept the letters thanking him for his continued efforts, but telling him they have no place for his ideas at this time. His efforts continued through high school and as he began his community college education with his heart set on being a full-time teacher.
Those dreams, at least for now, are gone, though he's still obsessed with animation. His future, however, looks drug-free, more than he could have asked for before coming to New Way. The local non-profit organization offers a home for people with drug and alcohol problems.
Lisa Mason, Dale's wife, said she remembers the day Long arrived at New Way, a skinny black man, about 5 feet 6 inches tall.
As he stepped away from the group, a friend asked him, "Bruce, you like cartoons, don't you? I'll fix your drink. I'm gonna help you see animations."
And after another sip, Long did see animations, cartoons running around his head. What he didn't see was the life he knew crumbling away before him. His first taste of the narcotic phencyclidine, known on the street as "angel dust," was his last taste of freedom for about 30 years.
Within two years of receiving his high school diploma, less than a year shy of receiving an associates degree, Long began his stint of bouncing between living on the streets and psychiatric wards.
Dale Mason, owner of New Way Recovery House on Manning Street in Hillsdale, said it was common for Long to find himself in a psych ward. When not institutionalized, he lived on the street waiting for another disability check so he could get his next fix.
But now he's at New Way, and he's only made one trip to the psych ward to get his medication adjusted.
Long graduated from Jackson High School in 1976. As early as junior high, he was sending ideas for play productions and cartoons to Disney, Warner Brothers and Hanna-Barbera. He has kept the letters thanking him for his continued efforts, but telling him they have no place for his ideas at this time. His efforts continued through high school and as he began his community college education with his heart set on being a full-time teacher.
Those dreams, at least for now, are gone, though he's still obsessed with animation. His future, however, looks drug-free, more than he could have asked for before coming to New Way. The local non-profit organization offers a home for people with drug and alcohol problems.
Lisa Mason, Dale's wife, said she remembers the day Long arrived at New Way, a skinny black man, about 5 feet 6 inches tall.
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