R. Kevin Kline was done talking about his troubled past until a friend helped him write down his experiences in a book. Now, Kline is traveling throughout the Upper Midwest discussing his involvement in sex trafficking, not only to promote his book, but to help others.
Kline and co-author Dan Maurer will be at Barnes and Noble at Apache Mall in Rochester at 2 p.m. Sunday to read from and answer questions about their book, "Faraway: A Suburban Boy's Story as a Victim of Sex Trafficking."
The two men have been touring Minnesota, including a previous stop in Winona, this month. Most people ask Kline about the summer of 1975 when he was 14 and a male prostitute.
"I honestly don't like talking about it, but I know it's part of the process," Kevin said. "Thankfully, the more I do it, the better I feel."
Kline said working on the book was a difficult process, one he could only finish with help from his longtime friend, Maurer. For the longest time, Kline said, he didn't think about his time as a prostitute or the effects that summer had on him. It wasn't until he got help that he started writing a journal and the memories became clearer.
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Maurer convinced him to share his experiences in the hopes that it could help others. He referenced a 2008 study by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York found that underage males remain a largely invisible population within the dialogue on sex trafficking. In fact, boys comprised about 50 percent of sexually exploited children in a sample study done in New York, with most being domestic victims.
"The fact that half of all underage prostitutes are boys does not fit the narrative we normally hear in society, the news," Maurer said. "Normally we think of a young girl who gets drawn into it, who is addicted to drugs. That does exist, but it's not the entire story."
Today, Kline is an ordained parish pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Maurer is a former ELCA pastor and now a freelance writer and author of "Sobriety: A Graphic Novel." He creates curricula for Sparkhouse, the ecumenical division of Augsburg Fortress, the official publishing house of the ELCA.
The book is in stock at Barnes & Noble and is available in hardcover and digital formats through online booksellers.
"The Accidental Wife"
CJ Fosdick and Laurel Winter will be signing copies of time-traveling novel "The Accidental Wife" from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday at the Rochester Athletic Club, 3100 19th St. NW, Rochester.
The event will include wine and cheese and chocolate chip cookies made from an 1886 recipe.
"The Accidental Wife" is available in hardcover and ebook through online booksellers.
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