Silent, When I lived in Madison in the early 80s there was a congo fairly close in to the capitol on a street off East Wash going north. I didn't attend much so I don't recall the street name. The rest of the town has changed so much that I hardly recognize it. I wouldn't be at all surprised if the hall is gone, too.
adrift
JoinedPosts by adrift
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32
A question on the Central Wisconsin Apostate Hotbed Activity!
by TooOpinionated inwell, i have to take my primo apostate hat off to all of you that have done the fine work in marshfield and neillsville.
now....being in nearby wisconsin rapids, i have a question.
we da'd, and everyone shuns us.
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The Watchtower In Crisis: Why They Can't Raise Good Kids
by metatron inif there any single factor that i would rate as the highest priority in raising a child, it is this:.
teach them to be caring, loving adults who care about other people.. we've already noted, ad nauseum, how witnesses are largely impelled by motives other than love in their "ministry".
"pioneer stroll" and fantasies about who's-house-you-want-after-armageddon, there is a further problem in raising witness kids.
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adrift
Excellent Metatron, It is all so true! I especially liked this phrase, a cold religious extremism that bears a name usually associated with a prison camp: "Watchtower" I have never heard it put this way before. I will have to work it into a conversation with my Witness apologist father.....Thank you
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37
Do you feel you will always be "different" from the "world" ?
by LyinEyes inall of my life,, except for the last two years i was a jw, and i wonder if i will always feel like i am still so very different from the rest of most everyone i know.
i guess i still feel like i am on the "outside" looking in, in on the world of the people i was so alienated from for so long.. i celebrate birthdays, all the holidays, i stand for the national anthemn, but still it does not quiet feel second nature to me .
as i stand watching my son play high school football, my mind is always wandering on the marvel of what i am seeing.
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adrift
Dede, Perhaps it is similar to what an immigrant to a new country feels like. Everything is unfamiliar at first and even though you eventually learn the language and customs you are always going to feel that you are different from a native born citizen.
I still feel different after 19 years of being free of that religion. I'll never forget that I was a JW, its part of who I am, but with time its not an important part anymore. I sing Happy Birthday, the national anthem and Christmas carols totally without any feelings of guilt. Being a JW was my past, it is not my present or my future.
I think it would help you if you didn't try to hide the fact from others that you were a JW. They'll be able to understand why you're the wierdo that you are (smiley face is supposed to go here but don't know how to add one). You'll be on your way to accepting yourself and your wierdness "differentness".
Last year I finally bought a Christmas tree for the first time. I went into this really nice home decor store and declared to the clerk that I had once been a JW and this was my first tree. I had to ask her things that I am sure "normal" people know...Whether to put ornaments on first or string lights first or perhaps garlands. I didn't care that she probably thought I was strange. I had a good time laughing at myself and had fun picking out ornaments. -
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Theocratic Ministry School
by Nosferatu inthe tms had always somewhat intrigued me when i was a jw.
it was actually a fascinating part of the thursday night meeting.
you never graduated, your grades didn't range from a to f, and it was mandatory to applaud after a new "classmate" gives their first talk.
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adrift
I didn't mind giving talks but I hated preparing them. I always procrastinated until the day I was to give it and ended up editing right up till I went on stage.
I always wondered how JWs could say women were not allowed to teach in the congregation yet a sister, because she was sitting down and talking to another sister, was not teaching. Was there not another audience, besides the householder, being taught? Wasn't the TMS also about teaching the material to the congregation, not just learning how to make eye contact and pause to get a "G".
You weren't allowed to teach, unless it served their purposes and they told you when and how.
To this day, it pisses me off to think about it.
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what do you do when JWs call at your door now?
by franklin J ini have been away from jws for 20 years, after having grown up as one, a pioneer and ministerial servant.
i have rebuilt my life, am very happy and have a wife and three kids who never were part of jw.
i have moved back into the town i grew up in.
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adrift
One time a car group stopped on my block while I was working in the front yard. I told my neighbor who was in his yard that I was a former JW who had been kicked out so they would not talk to me. I told him to stay near by and they wouldn't stop to talk to him either. He got a kick out of hearing that. So he did...and they didn't.
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MY CONSULTING TRIP TO BETHEL (starting over) PART 6
by seven006 inwithin a few weeks i leased a condo on the banks of the willamette river just out side the city of portland.
as she got into her car she looked at me funny again, laughed and just shook her head.. .
i told him that if i said i was sorry, i knew that is what they wanted to hear but it was not the truth.
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adrift
OO6, That was really good, just had to reply. I, too can so relate. Different life but many of the same thoughts and feelings as I exited the borg. I also said to the elders that wanted to grill me, "Do what you have to do...I've only stayed as long as I have because of my dad."
I was also equally naive, if not more so. I thought if a guy from a meat market invited me to his place he had in mind playing cards and making popcorn. Surely nothing else, with a stranger. It's amazing I was not raped or killed.
When you were saying how you danced like you were milking cows, the milk I was drinking started coming outa my nose. Too funny!!
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Any men out there like spiders?
by ballistic inthe temperature in the uk tonight has dropped to 7 degrees celcius making it the coldest night in a long time, and what happens???
arachnoids head indoors.
boy, do i hate them.
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adrift
I'm not a guy but I loath spiders too. I guess as a kid I woke up with them in between the sheets with me too often and I remember them crawling up my legs as I would be doing dishes. Give me a millipede or snake anytime.
But this is my spider story. Once my sister and I were making such a fuss about a spider on the kitchen wall that my dad, in his discust with us, picked the spider off the wall.... gave it a little pinch....put it in his coffee....and drank it. I'll never forget that for as long as I live.
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Disabled kids
by smack inin response to sheras post on the 3 things thread.
who here looks after a disabled child.
my son chris is 14 soon, he has trisomy 21, down syndrome.
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adrift
Steve, After finding out I didn't think I'd ever be able to be happy and have reason to smile again. It was really like suffering the death of the child you were supposed to have, and yet you had the overwhelming job of raising this other child that would never be normal......But as it turns out, you make your own normal.
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Look what I get to see!
by WildHorses ini am a really big fan of history and the titanic has always been of great interest to me.
i was listening to the radio on my way to work this morning and heard about the exhibit here in raleigh.
i asked my son, manuel, if he would like to go and he said sure.
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adrift
WildHorses, I saw the exhibit a few years ago when it was in Chicago and no, you can't take pictures or video of it. Less than a week after I saw it someone managed to steal a diary. When I was there some guy was trying to use his video camera and I always wondered after that if he could have been casing the exhibit for this theft.
I'm a big history buff too. You're going to love it!!
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Disabled kids
by smack inin response to sheras post on the 3 things thread.
who here looks after a disabled child.
my son chris is 14 soon, he has trisomy 21, down syndrome.
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adrift
Smack, I also have a child with Down Syndrome. Her name is Emily and she is 10. She is the youngest of my 3 kids and when she was born it was a total surprise when the Dr. told us of her condition. Most of her physical problems are relatively minor. She has had numerous problems with her ears, very mild heart defect and the most significant problem was a stenosis of the duedenam which required surgery when she was 2.
Emily also has speech problems. It's very hard for strangers to understand her. She does, however, have very good receptive language skills. She understands everything!
I'm sorry to hear that your son has had such a rough time of it. Will they ever be able to help him so he can eat solid foods? I feel really lucky with Emily. There are so many other things that are so much worse than Down Syndrome. I don't dwell on what might have been and am in fact surprised when some stranger makes a point of commenting on the DS. as she looks just like any other kid to me. She's been a real joy.
I ran across this the other day, I have read it before and I think it is very good. Hope it copies.
A Trip To Holland By Emily Perl Kingsley
I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability -- to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this...
When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans... the Coliseum, the Sistine Chapel, Gondolas. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting. After several months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland!" "Holland?" you say. "What do you mean, Holland? I signed up for Italy. I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy." But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay. The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place full of pestilence, famine, and disease. It's just a different place. So, you must go out and buy new guidebooks. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met. It's just a different place. It's slower paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around. You begin to notice that Holland has windmills. Holland has tulips. And Holland even has Rembrandts. But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy, and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life you will say, " Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned." And the pain of that experience will never, ever, ever, go away. The loss of that dream is a very significant loss. But if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things about Holland.
I haven't posted much as I haven't made an introduction and feel like something of a sneak. Will have to psych myself up to do that one of these days.
Take care, Adrift