pondering words with dear friend over why i chose to tell my story without being "anonymous"

the following is taken from a recent email to a dear friend who has asked me why i present my story using actual names and places.  this was my response:

i've been talking about what happened to me, when i was adopted by the atkinson family ever since 1959, when they had me illegally dis-owned and i was made a ward of the state of wisconsin and the judge assigned me a parole officer (even though i'd never been arrested for anything) and i was sentanced (as the only pregnant one) to a girls "reform home" in onalaska, wisconsin in june of 1959, for duration of my pregnancy.  the charges according to court records were that my grade point average had fallen from 3.8 to 3.4 in the previous semester, as the judge couldn't use pregnancy as reason for punishment or dismissing an adoption.  afather had influence in this town as he was editor/publisher of 2 daily newspapers there.  the judge (conner t. hanson) may have owed marshall atkinson a favor because court proceeding was 100% illegal.  i didn't find this out until 1982, when i sued marshall atkinson estate for unlawfully disowning me in 1959.  the court records reflect that i was sentanced to parole until age 21, and parole officer was told 2 weeks before trial that i was to be taken into custody at end of court session.  i didn't read this report until i am 40 years old and my attorneys found the file.  the lawyers took case all the way to wi. supreme court,

when over and over case was denied hearing because statute of limitations had expired.  what 16 year old would be aware of the legality of a court proceeding?  i was in school on day police officer took me to court, where proceedings had already begun, and notice of hearing was never given out.

the reform home was real hard to acclimate to, the girls there were hard to know.  my friends were  different  from the girls in this "home."  after my son tony was born, i didn't report to parole officer as required but instead moved with tony to chicago to work.  a week or so after arriving, i had notice of "non-compliance"posted on door signed by a parole officer.  that night tony and i left for ontario canada knowing if we made it we were safe from u.s. authorities.

sooooo...  i've talked about, written about, presented speeches about my experiences with the atkinson family since 1959.  if i hadn't told the story, who would have heard it???  i'm not ashamed of what happened to me, as if it were my fault, nor do i feel compelled to protect their identity does it "empower" me to say their names?  i don't think it does, mostly because their "names" mean so little to me~ i see them as sewer rats disguised as human beings, that's all...

i talk with abused kids every day of my life since at least 1965~every day i either work with them in my business (www.jstonecards.com) they are my artists here~ or i visit with these kids through different organizations across the country, because i am one of them just as surely as they are each one of me~ these precious "tossed out" kids are my kids, and our love is spot on with each other

because we know how it feels, and i know i will do all i can for as long as i live to protect these kids in any way i can.  so, without telling my story, who would have known?  thank you from my heart to each of you who reads these words i write~ what empowers me is the kids, everything else is just my old raggedy personal history, but none of it belongs to the atkinsons.  they were just the ones who gave me courage to do my life...after living with them for 13 1/2 years, getting to know them~nothing has ever scared me again.