Elijah Bennedict Brown

The Spirit Initiative Elijah Bennedict Brown

Derriere Maryland is labeled the black hole of the county - a small stretch off the side of the highway near Baltimore known for its gangs, drugs, and violence. As Dr. Charles Harris Ray, an ambitious young teacher, sets out to make a difference in the lives of his students he finds his hopes dashed against a reality of poverty and apathy. This all changes, however, when his brilliant though misanthropic student Damon Freeman invents the Spirit Initiative movement. Beginning in the classroom as a strategy to help Dr. Ray with discipline, it soon explodes behind the scenes into a full blown cult that begins to leak through the student body to the community, building its roots with local organized crime and growing to a point that threatens to change the face of Derriere forever.