Season Four, Episode 010

Season Four, Episode 010

The Disorientation of Survival – Part III

The Disorientation of Survival – Part III

A Story of hidden, stolen, and reclaimed identity.

As a closeted teenager in the 70s, Mark Olmsted had always been a good liar. But when the AIDS crisis hit and claimed his brother, Mark’s talents took on new life. After testing HIV positive, Mark became determined to live comfortably for the short time he had left, by whatever means necessary. Swiping credit cards and stiffing insurance companies soon spun into larger frauds: forging documents, and even using his late brother’s ID to fake his own death. But what was the harm? He’d soon be dead anyway. 

In our previous two episodes Mark Olmsted spoke on his upbringing and the complicated history with his brother–and how an unexpected transformation in their relationship would eventually lead to a life of debauchery, all culminating in a dramatic encounter with law enforcement.

For our third and final part of the story, Mark describes the chaotic months he would spend being shuffled throughout the California detention system. As a gay inmate concerned for his safety, lying would initially become a means for survival as he struggled to gain footing in a tense environment. Eventually finding common ground as an outsider with a small group of inmates, Mark would slowly begin to re-examine his life–ironically reclaiming his sanity in a place most would consider insane. With the burden of lying lifted after his release and a certain memory about his mother re-surfacing, would the need to live a life of deception remain? Or will reckoning with a shocking childhood secret and his closeted childhood open the door for contemplation and a new way of life?

Produced by Mike Martinez, Tyler Wray, and Grace Heerman. Music by Mike Etten. Sound design by George Drake, Jr.

Photos by Clarke Tolton

For more about Mark, you can purchase his book Ink From The Pen: A Prison Memoir HERE.

*This episode contains strong descriptions of sexual situations and abuse, listener discretion is advised.