Paris: A Memoir for Young Women in the Age of Influencers

by Paris Hilton

Burly wasn’t lying. She really could have buried me there, and no one in any official capacity would have known or cared. The report goes on to cite one agonized example after another: May 1990—Female, 15—died while hiking after reporting symptoms of dehydration for two days; left on dirt road for eighteen hours September 2000—Male, 15—held facedown in the dirt for forty-five minutes; died of severed artery in the neck February 2001—Male, 14—attempted to commit suicide severing artery with camp-issued pocketknife (knife was not taken away); hanged himself in his tent the following day July 2002—Male, 14—died of heat stroke exertion while hiking; staff member hid behind a tree to observe if he was “faking it”; checked for pulse after child lay motionless for more than ten minutes November 2004—Male, 15—forced to wear twenty-pound sandbag around his neck as punishment for being “too weak”; collapsed and died; autopsy revealed bruises over entire body. This list goes on and on like a beatbox loop and doesn’t even address the thousands of kids who suffered these horrific conditions and survived. I’ve testified before House committees, so I know what it’s like presenting information like this in a cold conference hall, facing a sea of men in dark suits. Most of them are there because they sincerely want to make a difference, but after a while, they look numb. It’s impossible for them to see these statistics as children—but it’s impossible for me to see these children as statist...