I am really,really curious as to how other people back while in the Org viewed the GB. Even more curious as to if anyone got to meet any of them and what the impressions were.
Because my oldest brother (older than me by 14 years!) was first at the Watchtower Farms and then Brooklyn Bethel and my uncle is a member of the GB, my mother tended to flaunt these facts and look for every opportunity to go to either place with her Bible Studies (these terms are so weird to use after all these years lol).
Watchtower Farms always struck me as a really bizarre trip. Sometimes we would stay in the 'cottages' that WT Farms had on their property which was just...odd. It was a two hour drive from Queens (where we lived) and since my brother knew people there, he would arrange to have different people in different departments show us around. It was largely to impress my mother's Bible Studies and I always in a way found it impressive as well to see the level of organization and the upkeep of the place. Everyone seemed so devoid of real personality and over-the-top fresh faced and happy.
Whether going to Brooklyn Bethel or the Farms, we always got in for lunch there which was always signaled by a bell, enough food for an army (an army of JWs) and they always seemed to be serving chipped beef and mashed potatoes >. and milk. We would eat our food and then hob-knob with some of the pseudo-bethel celebs, everyone with super fake smiles often acting like they had such pressing things to get back to.
I think the art department was always my favorite.
Our Brooklyn Bethel tours were always a study in how much we could walk between the buildings and exclamations of how 'clean'! and 'orderly'! everything was. Every department down to the Printing Room seemed to have someone willing to talk about the fascinating work they were doing and sometimes even had little displays showing the history of the area (example : the Printing area always had that display with the colored see through pages showing the multi-color print machines...*rolls eyes*).
One thing I remember vidily was their own computer system which I would love more info on since it seemed odd then and seems even stranger now to recall. It was call MEPS or something like that. My brother worked in that department and was always quick to point out how it was unique to the WT.
We would often meet with my Uncle before or right after lunch.
I think I was always struck with the extreme disparity in the 'accomodations' of my Uncle as opposed to the small-bland hotel-esque rooms of the rest of the bethelites.
Not only was my Uncle's office quite large with a very swanky view of the Brooklyn Bridge but he had quite a large number of trinkets and sculptures from his 'travels' around the world (all on very important WT business of course I am sure :P...funny how everytime he got sent overseas , it was in the poshest of accomodations and funnier how he somehow had all this expensive memorabilia to show from it!). He also had paintings of his (he loved to replicate paintings of the old impressionists)...nice hobby which I am sure he had tons of time to devote to while everyone else in Bethel seemed on a strict work regimen.
His office was not the only thing swanky. He shared an enormous 'apartment' with my Aunt (a very eccentric lady much younger than him who spent some of her time doing watercolor painting...again, nice hobby making time). I was always slightly embarassed that we would see this and take my mother's Bible Studies with us RIGHT AFTER seeing how the other Bethelites lived in small studios with drab decorating and a housekeeper to come and pick through their stuff while they went off to their departments to work. It was such a GLARING difference. There was my Uncle's apartment with gorgeous carpet, nice paintings, painted a nice hue, with lush furniture and tons of space (they would even sometimes get food brought to them! so they didn't have to go down to the cafeteria). How the hell did that represent the whole vow of poverty motto?
He also was the voice of Jehovah for many convention dramas throughout the years which somehow added to his whole aura of 'importance' (he has quite a voice).
Whenever we would go to an Annual Meeting (at the Stanley Theater back then in NJ, talk about a swanky place to have your Annual Meeting!) and my Uncle was there, people seemed to talk to him with such reverence. It always made me so disgusted. Even at assemblies and conventions, there would be groups around him, almost like they were about to ask for his photograph.
Anyway, there is so much more, but I am drinking my morning cup of coffee here at work and my brain needs to catch up.
Anyone here ever go on tours of any of the Bethel facilities? or meet the GB? Share! So curious as to other's views who may not have been as 'connected' :P
Rubyvixen
JoinedPosts by Rubyvixen
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The GB as JW celebrities
by Rubyvixen ini am really,really curious as to how other people back while in the org viewed the gb.
because my oldest brother (older than me by 14 years!
) was first at the watchtower farms and then brooklyn bethel and my uncle is a member of the gb, my mother tended to flaunt these facts and look for every opportunity to go to either place with her bible studies (these terms are so weird to use after all these years lol).
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Rubyvixen
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It's 98 degrees, put on your suit and go to Yankee Stadium
by IronGland inanyone go to that convention in ny back in the 50's?
remember when they lasted until 8pm?
in the summer?
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Rubyvixen
1950's?
I remember that vividly from the late 1980's, early 1990's!
I remember those stupid little battery powered fans everyone had, warm shastas and those infernal breaded chicken sandwiches and danishes! ugh. I hear they did away with the food service though in recent times? Funny how the food and the battery powered fans and terrible feedback from the microphones in Yankee Stadium and awful sundresses and dramas are what I remember most.
Sometimes my family went away for the convention, Connecticut, Rhode Island and the only thing I remember about that was that I was so happy the convention centers were indoors and I could go swimming afterwards in the hotel pool (modestly and quietly of course so as to show everyone how fabulous we were...haha). -
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Ok...so then here is my 'proper' intro ;)
by Rubyvixen ini actually have been reading these forums for about two years now and just decided to finally register.
where does one go to make a proper intro post?
edit: alrighty then, i guess i will do my little intro here.
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Rubyvixen
Why would I take it personally Honesty? From a young age, being exposed to my uncle and seeing how corrupt and ridiculous the Governing Body was (is) in its operations, that was part of the multitude of things that sent my on the path to question everything and ultimately realize what a cult it truly is and get myself out of there for good. If anything, I love reading those types of posts. It is not only interesting to read what other people who were once in the organization thought about the inner workings of the GB but great to read that people are finally exposing them. Bring it on :)
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Ok...so then here is my 'proper' intro ;)
by Rubyvixen ini actually have been reading these forums for about two years now and just decided to finally register.
where does one go to make a proper intro post?
edit: alrighty then, i guess i will do my little intro here.
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Rubyvixen
I don't even think the fish would fall for it!! :P
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Ok...so then here is my 'proper' intro ;)
by Rubyvixen ini actually have been reading these forums for about two years now and just decided to finally register.
where does one go to make a proper intro post?
edit: alrighty then, i guess i will do my little intro here.
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Rubyvixen
Haha! Ok, found that thread. and to answer the topic question.......hell no!! not even if my life stranded there depended on it, especially after you have seen them in person as I have! *shudders* :D
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Ok...so then here is my 'proper' intro ;)
by Rubyvixen ini actually have been reading these forums for about two years now and just decided to finally register.
where does one go to make a proper intro post?
edit: alrighty then, i guess i will do my little intro here.
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Rubyvixen
*scurries to find it after that response* ;)
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Ok...so then here is my 'proper' intro ;)
by Rubyvixen ini actually have been reading these forums for about two years now and just decided to finally register.
where does one go to make a proper intro post?
edit: alrighty then, i guess i will do my little intro here.
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Rubyvixen
Hmmm....Getbusyliving...no I did not see that one...where is it?
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Ok...so then here is my 'proper' intro ;)
by Rubyvixen ini actually have been reading these forums for about two years now and just decided to finally register.
where does one go to make a proper intro post?
edit: alrighty then, i guess i will do my little intro here.
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Rubyvixen
Awww...thanks everyone :::hugs:::: and yes, I feel like I know everyone here already and it is nice to finally connect :)
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Rubyvixen
LMAO Seriously.the .best.thread.ever. *My mother, when I was in 6th grade used to help me write all my school reports and we would use the Awake as a resource and I kept my old school reports, still have them and reading them now, I realize that my mother totally had me writing in the same style haha! 'Our Friend the Fruit Bat' etc... I feel in a word.....resplendent!
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59
Ok...so then here is my 'proper' intro ;)
by Rubyvixen ini actually have been reading these forums for about two years now and just decided to finally register.
where does one go to make a proper intro post?
edit: alrighty then, i guess i will do my little intro here.
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Rubyvixen
Hi!
I actually have been reading these forums for about two years now and just decided to finally register. Where does one go to make a proper intro post?
Edit: Alrighty then, I guess I will do my little intro here. I posted in this particular area because this is where I usually go to read posts first :D
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I was raised as a Jehovah's Witness to a family that comprised of an elder father (Presiding Overseer at that!), several older brothers who were super active, one was a Pioneer for years, one served at Watchtower Farms and then Brooklyn Bethel (and currently is *gag* part of the whole Bloodless Surgery board now...I haven't spoken to him in years), a mother who was (and still is) super brainwashed and the 'perfect' elder's wife (guffaw) and the kicker....my uncle who was (and still is) an active member of the Governing Body.
Thing is, I always questioned everything even at an early age and being around Bethel so much and seeing all the ways that my uncle got very special treatment and even what I consider celebrity status made me do my own research and that coupled with my extremely stubborn and headstrong personality as a teen got me (very dramatically) booted from the Org.
I made the mistake at 12 years of age of getting dunked ;) largely to stop my parents from pressuring me...great reasoning huh? Little did I know that it was cause so much drama and insanity years later.
br>Anyway, it is a long story that left me 'disowned' by my family and living on my own at the age of 18 in NYC (my mother is the only famly member who I keep in contact with, she started talking to me finally after my father passed away 6 years ago and while she is still EXTREMELY brainwashed we have some communication...my other brothers claim that it would go against their conscience to have contact with me. I don't really consider them family. They don't even really know me at all to be frank since they haven't spoken with me since I was 17.)
I don't like to dwell too much on the negatives of that time period since I turned out to be an ok adult (still in NYC at the age of 27 and I put myself through school and always had a roof over my head) but I would like to say that up until 2 years ago when I started reading these forums I had these nagging feelings of being sort of the odd man out all the time.
I would regale my friends with stories of growing up in such a bizarre, cultish and absolutely insane atmostphere but I never knew anyone else who had come out on the other side and actually did the research and could call the dubs out for what they are which is a cult.
You guys are great :)
I have no idea why I haven't registered and introduced myself properly until now but I am having a slow week at work and it seemed like a great time *and* I just read through all the misquotes from the Creation Book which got me all riled up heh.