Author discusses mother’s heroin addiction
By Angie Landsverk
The first time Jarrett J. Krosoczka thought about writing his own story was when he wrote his first book.
That was in 2001, when “Good Night, Monkey Boy” was published.
Krosoczka was 23.
“I thought that was the happy ending for the boy,” he said.
The story is told from the perspective of the mother.
For Krosoczka, the most talented artist he knew was his mother.
The two of them shared drawings in the letters they wrote back and forth to each other.
They did so during the time she was incarcerated.
Krosoczka’s mother was addicted to heroin.
“The only time she didn’t use was when she was pregnant with me,” he said.
Her parents raised him, and he shares his story in “Hey, Kiddo.”
The subtitle of his young adult graphic memoir is “How I Lost My Mother, Found My Father and Dealt with Family Addiction.”
It was published last year, and Krosoczka talked about the book on Monday, Feb 4, during a presentation at the Waupaca Area Public Library.
The next day, he spoke to every student in the Waupaca School District during multiple presentations.
Sue Abrahamson, the children’s librarian at the public library, worked a year to bring Krosoczka here.
“We’re very excited to have this amazing event,” she said.
Community support not only brought him to Waupaca, but also some of his illustrations for an exhibit at the library.
The exhibit runs through Feb. 23.
Funding also resulted in books being given to the students.
Growing up with addiction
“It’s a very different kind of book for me,” he said of “Hey, Kiddo.”
Krosoczka said he was not ready emotionally to write his story when his first book was published.
“I continued writing and illustrating for children,” he said. “Everything really has been leading up to this moment for me.”
In 2012, he was asked to give a TED Talk.
It was on short notice.
Krosoczka paced his kitchen floor, wondering what he should say.
“Isn’t it obvious?” his wife Gina said.
She told him he should talk about what his life was like growing up.
When Krosoczka said he could talk about his mother’s drug addiction, she quickly told him to be honest and use the word “heroin.”
Krosoczka did, and the video soon went viral.
“It’s been viewed over 1 million times now,” he said.
As Krosoczka traveled throughout the country, students began approaching him to tell him they also had parents addicted to heroin.
It did not matter if he was at a private school or one where almost all the students were on free or reduced school lunches.
Krosoczka began pouring his memories onto post it notes, placing them on a bulletin board.
“As I started writing the book, my mother started getting arrested again,” he said.
On Monday evening, Krosoczka shared some of the process he used when he wrote the book.
He confronted the anger and confusion he had as a teen when he found his old sketch books.
Krosoczka looked at old photos, found an old Tonka truck on eBay for a visual element and smelled the perfume and cologne his grandmother and grandfather put on before they went out.
His mother died while he working on the book.
“She was in a very bad spot at the end,” Krosoczka said.
He had every letter she wrote to him while she was incarcerated and in those found the title of his book.
She always called him “Kiddo.”
Krosoczka did not want the hands of anyone else on his book and described how he did the illustrations for it.
He read from “Hey, Kiddo.” sharing how his grandparents sent him to art classes and later to art school.
His art saved him.
Krosoczka said he told his truth in the book.
“It’s the most decorated book I’ve ever done,” he said.
He shared with his audience the importance of self care.
His grandmother suffered from depression but never sought help, Krosoczka said.
He said his grandparents were from the generation that did not talk about their problems.
Haunted by the past
Krosoczka said the ghosts of the past cannot be ignored.
His own anger came and went.
“There was a great stretch with my mom,” he said. “Then when she started using again, I was very angry. When she died, I was sad.”
Krosoczka realized his mother was unable to stop using heroin.
The first time she used heroin, it was her choice, he said.
After that, it was no longer her choice.
“I’m 41 now,” Krosoczka said. “It was hard to live through and hard to not feel abandonment.”
He said he finally realized his mother wanted more than anything to be a mother and grandmother, but was not capable of it.
To those in similar situations today, Krosoczka’s message was self care, putting space between themselves and those using drugs and learning to love.
“She was never able to apologize. She never took ownership for it,” he said of his mother. “My mom loved me, and I could feel that.”
He and Gina have three children, and Krosoczka said he gives them unconditional love.
Falling in love with Gina and having a family with her brought him his true happy ending, he said.
Growing up, Krosoczka had the love of his grandparents, who “got to see me succeed. They got to see my books get published.”
His children share the same interest and ability in art Krosoczka got from his mother and that she got from her father.
Krosoczka said “Hey, Kiddo” was 20 years in the making.
Of all the books he has published thus far, it is his favorite.
“I’m the son of an addict, and I love to draw,” he said. “And that’s just a sliver of who I am.”