Mad Dad, Fun Dad: Finding Hope that Things will Get Better

From an early age, Ben Baker knows that “when dad is mad, someone is going to get hurt.” He sees it when his father bashes his mother in the head with a shotgun and experiences it through frequent beatings with brooms, rakes or whatever tool is handy. The physical pain is matched by the emotional damage of his father repeatedly calling him “the stupidest and laziest boy in the world.” This mistreatment takes place while working on the family farm and at his father’s service station in a sma...