Anyone else an Ex Bethel "volunteer" (page 13)

You can self-publish the book. You won't make much, if anything. But you could always get it out there for people to have greater access to. Maybe offer it for a couple of bucks electronically? And give people a choice of a printed version (print on demand).

You could pay a professional to copy edit the book -- it would cost quite a bit but may be worth it (to find the small errors, like you said). Or have a couple of friends go through it with a fine tooth comb. It won't be error free, but that's ok. :)

I'd love a copy with a nice cover to keep in my library. This book is worth it.

TheListener

Backseat - ater reading everyone's posts I am really looking forward to reading your book.

It seems that we walked the halls of B Building and E Building at the same time.

TheListener

Backseat...you have a PM

BackseatDevil

@laverite Thank you! I have a couple of people looking at it now, giving me grammar and typo feedback. So I'm working on it.

@TheListener thanks and back at ya. Same to you @lrkr.

laverite

Backseat - Can you keep us updated? I want my own copy. Hugs to you for your amazing work.

laverite

Backseat - if it's ok, I'd like to share an experience with you. I have visited Bethel many times, as I am from a very zealous family. I've eaten at Bethel. I've visited the Farm. We've had close family friends at Bethel. Bethel was part of my childhood (or at least a portion of it, especially the teenage years). But here's my last experience:

After I came out as gay in college, I visited NYC with my college boyfriend. We were both "college age" and he wanted to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. I was like "oh man, I know what's on the other side!" Anyway, after we got across the bridge, and as we walked into WTBTS terriroty, he wanted to hold hands. I thought, "oh why the heck not?" There were so many Bethelites on the streets. SO many of them had not just disgusted looks on their faces, but also made fun of us and called us terrible names. At a certain point, I actually felt it was dangerous and we could be attacked by the "brothers." It wound up being a very scary experience. That was in the 90s.

BackseatDevil

Herd separatist mentality is herd separatist mentality, no matter what the group. It could be a group of whores trying to put up defenses in order to protect themselves against a society that judges them, or it could be a group of Jehovah's Witnesses putting up defenses against a 'wicked world' out to attack them. In this case, you were visually offensive and assaulting them.

In Bethel (and someone else chime in on this) being gay was a disease. You know how Witnesses like their “demon stories”? Bethel likes their AND THIS WILL TURN YOU GAY warnings. And (I wrote about this) you take a bunch of young men in their prime and sustain the sexual frustration of their normal development, and the straight ones are getting frustrated with suppression and the gay ones have a war raging on between their ears. Insecurity means that... in numbers... the group picks on the “weak”... in this case, that was you.

The sociology of the group is absolutely no different than that of any other. Just different colored ties.

I'm sorry you had to go through that. New Paltz had a little gay bookstore (it was so cute) and some other shops. The brothers at the Farm would comment when passing and such, but the HORRORS that Brookyln faced with the demons of NYC always circulating... as if the homoness would creep across the water from Manhattan Island and infiltrate through the windows AT ANY MOMENT.

I know I could be a little over sensitive due to the fact that I'm gay and I thought “geez there's a lot of DON'T BE GAY rules”, But seriously, I don't know a lot of straight dudes that hang out wrestling around in their underwear. Honestly...

Anyone else an Ex Bethel "volunteer"

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