“Annie”: The Poster Child For Foster Care Abuse

Jay-Z’s “Hard Knock Life” is playing on the radio. I listen to the sweet, lulling voice of Annie singing merrily on the chorus, with an undertone of anger, as she bellows out her empowering lyrics.

“It’s a hard knock life for us.

It’s a hard knock life for us.

Instead of kisses we get kicked.

Instead of treated we get tricked.”

I find my thoughts sinking into the bowels of the media, which I am willingly a part, paving my own way by openly examining my own kind. Movies like “Annie” present mind investigators like me, a deep subject matter upon which to draw.

“Annie” coined the phrase, “It’s a hard knock life.”, which became the tag line for boomer American parental answers to each other and their children.

“Jimmy is beating me up at school!”

“Well, kid. It’s a hard knock life.”

“I’m really struggling financially.”

“Yeah, my friend. It’s a hard knock life.”

It became a phrase of dismissive, feigned empathy, as the media quickly gnawed its way through the heart of American parents surviving Regeanomics, The Iran Contra Affair and Judge Clarence Thomas’ infamous pubic hair incident, by sitting,  disheartened and hypnotized into fantasy lives being presented to them from an electric box.

While “Annie” had hit the theater stage with poor attempts, it would find instant success when it hit the Hollywood big screen in the year of 1982.

Generation X was around 12 years old. They were resisting against the fierce and extremist ideals of their baby boomer parents who were either hippies or adherently religiously extremist, and hypocritical.

The teenagers of the eighties were being labeled the problem children of society, scapegoats for parents who had failed them miserably and refused to bear the weight of their decisions.

Kids were being pulled into the foster care system by the droves, as drugs like crack became rampant on the streets. Children of color and Caucasian poor children took the hit, targeted by police and CPS.

Rich parents wiped their hands, paying alarming sums of money to boarding schools, also popping up in large numbers, promising to redirect their children into the model citizens the parents dreamed about. The boarding schools became wealthy. The children were damaged. The parents were swindled.

Still, “Annie” swept America, winning awards even today as it is performed by drama departments in schools across America, with little girls who vie for the chance to play the lead role.

What does Annie tell children?

Annie normalizes the abuses which we see so rampantly being exposed in foster homes and boarding houses.

Dissecting Annie’s story, shows a mentally and emotionally abused child in the foster care system. She is sleep deprived, belittled and overworked. Enter the dream come true named Daddy Warbucks, a rich, Caucasian male who saves Annie and grooms her for his elite society, by giving her a “good” life.

Yet, Annie is portrayed as the seductress. She is the charming child who is so naturally adorable, that Daddy Warbucks cannot resist her. It isn’t his fault that Annie is so cute. Ultimately, Annie is given the lead role of the child who wins the heart of a man with her innocence.

Annie’s abuse is covered by her romanticized savior and apparent ability to be an illusionary ray of sunlight, all while living in a foster care home where she endures less than humane treatment.

Given the many arrests and exposures involving CPS and the foster care system, which have surfaced over the past few years, the question could be posed if “Annie” was possibly a blatantly open message from the media, directly to pedophile rings, that foster homes were open for business.

As the child victims are now adults and telling their stories, one can only wonder how a government funded system committed so many heinous acts with zero monitoring from the institutions giving them the funds to run their operations.

As of 2016, around 400,000 children are in foster care in America. Are these children being trafficked in a sick and multi-layered society which has been growing beneath the surface of public awareness for the past thirty plus years?

As stories are being exposed, so are the media connections which have controlled and manipulated the minds of Americans for decades. The connections between politics, the media and pedophile/sex trafficking is a pyramid for which there is the worst of scams; the victims and their broken families.

Karen Donovan, freelance writer

Arrowhead Towne Mall and a Pedophile Logo?

Arrowhead Town Center is a mall in Glendale, AZ, proudly in business for over 20 years. Two stories high, Arrowhead has a variety of stores from Apple to Coach to Chipotle to JC Penny.

In light of recent events connected with convicted pedophile, Jeff Epstein to Anthony Weiner, John Podesta, the Clinton camp, and the sweeping of pedophile rings, the public is becoming more aware of the tactics and symbols used by pedophile rings.

So what does this have to do with Arrowhead Towne Center? Instead of telling you, I will show you.

Below are the FBI documented symbols that pedophiles use as one tool to communicate with one another. These symbols began to be documented in the late eighties and early nineties, approximately twenty plus years ago. Arrowhead chose one such symbol. Coincidence? Accident? Anything is as possible as displaying the impossible right in plain sight.

A scout in Glendale noticed an interesting connection with Arrowhead’s logo. In fact, it is plastered everywhere. Well, see for yourself.

I contacted Macerich, the company which owns Arrowhead Towne Center, by way of email, asking them if they would like to provide a statement regarding the use of this symbol as their logo.

Their VP of Corporate Communications offered this statement:

“Good afternoon, Karen. Thank you for reaching out to us.

Arrowhead Towne Center has used this logo for more than 20 years. Recently we were made aware of the similarity and, as we do not condone any association, are discussing next steps internally.”

Karen Maurer | AVP, Corporate Communications

I must admit I was expecting a different response. Expertly studied in the linguistics of innocence, I thought surely, Arrowhead would insist that the logo was a representation of the native culture of the area and insist that any similarity was merely coincidence. What would sunshine rays around an arrowhead represent?

Instead, they are seemingly willing and considering pouring a decent amount of money into possibly changing something they’ve displayed for twenty years, a convenient timeline. This would entail changing all of their signage, letterhead and so much more.

Furthermore, a search of registered sex offenders in the area is alarmingly high.

First, note the color code reference that is yellow and what offense it represents.

Now a map of how many sex offenders are residing in the vicinity of this mall and how many of them are convicted rapists (check the chart above for yellow). Another coincidence? Or a center for a pedophile ring?

There is Peoria Eighty Three’s odd collage advertisement.

And to top it off, there are the Montessori schools not too far away from Arrowhead:

Heritage Montessori School

Sunset Montessori School

Again, coincidence? Absolutely possible. There is no official, factual connection. To be objective, this is merely a look at a symbol that is questionable.

According to City Data research of Arizona and other state lists there were 188 registered sex offenders living in Glendale as of February 17, 2017.

I urge those of you who support this cause to look closely into your community. Do so with eyes of clarity and an awareness of your intuition, as opposed to paranoia or panic. If we stay educated and aware, we will stay on their toes.

As for Arrowhead, I accuse them of nothing except having an all too similar symbol as their logo. I also wonder if there are tunnels beneath the mall. Just a curiousity.

Karen Donovan

freelance writer