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Mysterious Ms. Retsuko

If I say "Happy belated 9/11" this will make even less sense to those outside the Anglophone cartoon community Si je dis «Joyeux 11 S» ceci va faire encore moins du sense pour ceux qui ne font pas partie de la communauté anglophone des dessins animés 「いい九月十一日を」と言ったら、英語圏カートゥーンのファンじゃない人は更にわかりにくくなってしまう

Content warnings for this part: pedophilia, drug abuse, child abuse, and bullying

Pictured: Keith Rauh and Jennifer Rozanski, c.1992

Sometime in 1991, then-18-year-old Keith Rauh was smoking marijuana with his friends in Chicopee Memorial State Park, enjoying the day's good weather, when they were approached by a group of girls from their high school. The group included a girl named Jennifer Rozanski, who was 15 at the time. Keith reciprocated her advances, and what followed was an unhealthy and illegal relationship.

Despite this, Keith would remember this relationship as a positive time in his life. Decades later, he would muse about it in Soul Bond, his autobiography and memoir:

We were young, and I remember her telling us, we had to be quiet, or her parents would hear, and they would get in trouble! (...) We had a whirl wind romance from the very start, and we both fell deeply in love. We were almost in separable at first. Little did I know then, this relationship, would effect me, my entire life. (...) I thought at the time, we were high school sweethearts, destined to be together forever. We had a lot of good times together! - Soul Bond (Life, Love, and the Paranormal), Keith Rauh

It was Keith who introduced Jennifer to addictions she would retain for the rest of her life, including alcohol, tobacco, and opiates. It was Keith who got Jennifer pregnant with her first child in late 1991. It was Keith who chose to leave the relationship soon after.

We were young, and she got pregnant. At this point, things had gotten rough, and we were arguing a lot, like a reaction, of two young star-crossed lovers, having to grow up, way too fast. (...) I don't know why, still to this day, but something inside me, said runaway, and run like hell. This was right before, my first son was born, and I was gone with the wind. - Soul Bond (Life, Love, and the Paranormal), Keith Rauh

Keith stayed in Chicopee until he graduated from high school in 1993, at age 20. He moved to another city soon after. Eventually, he was arrested for drug possession and spent several years in jail. It would be over a decade before Jennifer would hear from him again.

Pictured: Baystate Medical Center, Springfield, MA

Jonathan Joseph Rozanski was born at Baystate Medical Center on July 21, 1992. Because of Keith's abandonment, Jennifer decided to give the boy her own last name. Jennifer spent the next three years raising Jonathan with the aid of her parents. While Enter credits them as being a positive force in his childhood, they were insistent that Jennifer got married after she turned 18, because the family was Catholic.

That pressure might have been the catalyst for Jennifer's sudden engagement to Brian Plourde in 1995. The two met when Jennifer was 19 and Brian was 21, and Jennifer was soon pregnant with Brian's child. Because they were both Catholic, and because of pressure from Jennifer's parents, they married almost immediately.

Brian decided to keep his last name, while Jennifer decided to hyphenate, changing her name to Jennifer Rozanski-Plourde. Brandon Plourde, John's half-brother, was born in January 1996. Over the next 4 years, they had 2 more kids, girls named Ashley and Emily.

Pictured: Brian with either Jonathan or Brandon, c.1998-2002 (from a profile picture, highest quality available)

At 2 years old, John saw The Lion King at the movie theater - his first movie, and one of his earliest memories. He was spellbound by the experience, and it most likely played a significant role toward his developing interest in animation. Meanwhile at home, he would watch The Lion King and Aladdin on repeat for days at a time without getting tired of them.

This might have been an early sign of him being on the Autism spectrum, which he wouldn't discover until he was an adult. As a child, he also had several sensory and social issues, many of which persist into adulthood. Some of these included:

A sensitivity to the texture of scotch tape, receipts, and newspaper

A dislike for ketchup, describing it as spicy

A sensitivity to the taste of mint, to the extent that he refused to brush his teeth because of it

Difficulty engaging with other children, and inability to make eye contact.

Jennifer's parents soon bought a separate house for the family to live in. Enter would talk about Brian's role in the family years later.

I don't measure my success in money, most likely because my step-father always measured his success in money. And nothing about that man was successful. Literally pregnancy-trapped into a marriage with three kids he had no qualms with saying that he did not want in a house owned by his wife's parents. - Today I learned that Pluto is a Planet, John Enter

Pictured: Our Lady of Hope Catholic School

In 1997, John started school. He attended Our Lady of Hope, a K-8 Catholic school in Springfield, MA. Shy and focused on his own interests, he hated the time he spent there even as early as kindergarten.

Some subjects, like reading, he excelled at - later claiming that he learned to read before he even started school, and that he read dictionaries for fun. Others, like math, were such a struggle for his teachers that he was forced to teach himself. Enter later confessed he would cheat on, and rush through, assignments.

While attending kindergarten I learned that I got to go to the play area when I was finished with my work. I learned to cheat at the race, cutting corners hoping that I wouldn't be seen. - Today I learned that Pluto is a Planet, John Enter

John also faced what he believed was unfair treatment from his teachers. He also talked about this later in life.

Kindergarten teachers learn from Marx. The best way to teach sharing is not taking a toy away from someone who is content and give it to the other kid who just looked at longingly. - 30 Things I Learned in School, John Enter

That same year, John joined his school soccer team at the insistence of his parents, where he played goalie. He got a participation trophy at the end of the season, which he keeps to this day as a memento of the now-closed school.

Pictured: Jonathan's participation trophy, in 2018

The trophy also serves as a memento of Jonathan's birth name. Soon after, his name was changed to Johnathan with an 'h'. This might have been John's decision, since he took pride in his name going forward, believing that it was clearly the correct way to spell a name which shortened to John.

John spent his early years of school socially isolated, in part because of his shyness and social difficulties caused by ASD. This led to him developing some odd habits, including talking to himself in class and singing on the bus. This might have played a role in the bullying his faced as he went into second and third grade.

John was verbally abused for his odd behavior. That included a time when he blurted out the Kim Possible theme song on the bus, and another time when, though the exact details aren't clear, he was mocked for having a crush on an imaginary friend. The verbal bullying slowly escalated to physical abuse, like an incident when he was stuck with a "kick me" sign. When he complained to his parents, they told him to ignore the bullies, and that they would stop if he did.

One day during recess, a frequent bully approached John and started making fun of him. When he refused to respond, the bully assaulted John with pepper spray he brought from home. John cried and ran to tell a recess monitor, but because of either misunderstanding or disbelief, she ignored him.

He never told his parents what happened, and when his school found out about it days later, their solution was making John repeat third grade to separate him from his bullies. He was left with trauma he'd keep for years, pointing to that day as the start of his disillusionment.

I repeated the third grade to get away from the bullies that had plagued me from the start after an incident where my bully decided to pepper spray me in the face. My eyes were watering and I told the teacher watching the schoolyard, and I was ignored. And I saw how the world worked. - Today I learned that Pluto is a Planet, John Enter

Pictured: John, Brandon, and one of his sisters, c.2002-2004 (from a profile picture, highest quality available)

While John's school life didn't improve much after that, he found comfort in his siblings, and in entertainment like cartoons, books, and video games. John loved the Wayside series of books by Louis Sachar, and read them to his brother and sisters. They quickly became comfort books for the four. John was also a fan of the Goosebumps series.

John and Brandon played video games together, with some of their favorites being Spyro The Dragon, Sonic The Hedgehog, Goof Troop, Twisted Metal 4, and Halo: Combat Evolved. John also played the game My Little Pony: Friendship Gardens - his first experience with the franchise. The four also watched cartoons together, like Courage The Cowardly Dog, KaBlam!, and SpongeBob SquarePants.

It was around this time that John's interest in writing and video game design started. He wrote out narratives and ideas based on video games he played, including Spyro The Dragon and Baldur's Gate, and eventually decided he wanted to be a video game designer. When he told his school and parents about it, they told him it was unrealistic as a job, and encouraged him to go to college for something more sustainable.

John's relationship with his parents was strained to say the least. Jennifer struggled with addiction during this time, and sometimes fell asleep with a cigarette in her hand while under the effects of Oxycodone, relying on John to wake her up. In one specific incident, she left the gas stove on, and John only noticed because he got up to use the bathroom.

Jennifer allegedly made John work a paper route only to pocket his money for her habits, claiming she was saving it for college or his birthday. The amount stolen added up to hundreds of dollars. John developed a habit of spending money immediately because of that.

Brian, meanwhile, was abusive toward John and unappreciative of his other kids, talking openly about how he didn't want them. He sometimes gave John tasks he didn't know how to do, then mocked him when he did something wrong. Whether he did it intentionally or candidly is unclear.

Brian allegedly beat John with a leather belt when his grades were low or when he refused to do his homework, to the extent that John became traumatized by the sight of them. But it was a verbal incident that traumatized John the most.

The regret was pierced into my soul and my psyche one hapless day. I remember a lot about it, and I don't remember much at all. I remember it started at five in the evening with dinner. I was asked why my grades were terrible. I was asked again and again, and no answer would suffice. My step-father, a well-built man with an intimidating stature. He slammed on the table until this boy was lost in buckets of tears. This boy who was so socially insecure he couldn't tell his family that the house was on fire. This boy who was recently bullied by children and still bullied by adults. They took the food and drink sooner or later, and the boy gave many answers—from "I don't understand the material" (which was an unsatisfactory answer) to "I don't care." The only satisfactory answer was "because I'm lazy." That answer came about at 8 PM and the food was returned, cold and salvaged by flies. - Today I learned that Pluto is a Planet, John Enter

Pictured: Various photos of Patrick, 2000s

In early 2004, John had a pivotal experience when he and his family visited an animal shelter to adopt a dog he could call his own. The family already had a lot of pets crowded in a fairly small house, which included at least three Chihuahuas, two rabbits, a ferret, and a dog that belonged to Brandon. The care they could provide for them in those conditions was questionable. But the Newfoundland mix John chose quickly developed a bond with the boy, and he cared for the dog the best he could.

John's puppy was energetic from the start. His favorite treats were apples, and he loved roughhousing with John. Almost immediately, the family noticed his tendency for stupid habits, like how he'd run in circles until he accidentally bumped into a wall. That's why John and his family eventually decided to name him Patrick, in reference to Patrick Star from SpongeBob SquarePants. Patrick soon became John's best friend, and one of the most important pieces of his life.

Even from this early age, Johnathan was heavily influenced by the media he consumed, which gave him a strong creative drive that he would spend much of the future exploring. His retreat into fiction, though, might have been more of an escape from his difficulties at home and in school. What happened in the next few years would prove to be equally reflective of the man John would grow up to be.

Mrenter: