just wanted to say a quick hello.
this was a pic yesterday on nurses week at henry ford with one of izabella’s primaries.
the first pic was at her nicu graduation.
It seemed that you would know these things. And so you do! I just had to ask.
Things will go well . She will thrive.
This has been such a long hard go for you all. But that skin to skin—there is nothing like it. Everything becomes s comfort-even the smells.( One of my kids talked about it .. )
Take care.
Maeve
just wanted to say a quick hello.
this was a pic yesterday on nurses week at henry ford with one of izabella’s primaries.
the first pic was at her nicu graduation.
Darkknight: if you don’t mind me asking about the failure to thrive— have you had people recommend to you using a carry cloth? Of course there are a lot of things that are available to tie a baby on to yourself but I always had a simple light length of Cotton cloth which l used for five of my children. It was incredibly versatile. There was a lot of work that I had to do everywhere -inside and out of the house. And the babies did extraordinarily well in this arrangement. They have constant contact with your body and you with theirs. Forgive me if you already know about this real boon to baby’s security and your own freedom.. l just had to mention it.
tell us a little about yourself and your family.. born in 1952 second oldest of the family of nine children.
as you see, my family was thoroughly catholic.
dad was in the army.. were you a born in or a convert?.
Baldeagle— l missed your early post. I appreciate you saying hello. I be waiting to know you too.
Lois— you are always a wide open friend. Yes - we walked out. Best thing ever. I hope you are doing well out in the cooler part of the country. You know the hot summer has arrived here!
longhairgal-thanks for stopping by. Do you have a back story out? Yes there were such burdens. I had friends “in” who helped me and l in turn would help others as l was able. It was uneven and not easily attributed to the WTS. The individuals were kind and giving were driven from within -/not without But the press from “management” made everything so hard. So hard.
Sylvia- l read your story you know. The times we lived in —so much l share and yet l know that there were things l did not have to face because of my color. You seem to have a valve of some sort that lets certain stuff in and some things out have balance. You know l love you.
Dagney—thanks for reading my apostate interview lol.l had fun reading yours. This interval of sharing life stories has been a good thing, hasn’t it?
Writing Bethel finally just had to happen. As time goes on l suspect it was me having to process the incoherence of the literature. I wrote and researched as well as l could, stood ready to have the light shine on a better understanding but l knew l was standing on good ground by the time l sent my packet in.
Spoons? I make truly fine spoons. Message me if you’d like me to send pictures of some etc.
cofty- Thank you, dear Scotsman, for reading my spotty story. If you ever had done any such autobio, l missed it.
I recommend this format if you ever feel like stepping out into the uncertain world of subjectivity and personal revelation. We might feel it a risky exercise but the format does help limit the self-damage that arises from filling a blank page( though some of us are beyond saving)
At any rate, l have always valued your remarks from far away Scotland-even when they tick me off. l always wish you and yours the very best.
for what it's worth:.
tell us a little about yourself and your family.. i am one of 7 children in my family, three boys, three girls and me.
yes, i'm right in the middle, and i'm the pink sheep of the family (or at least the official one).
Thanks for doing the interview, Scratchme. Reading it, there was a lot that was so different from my life experience. But a lot that was resonant. How you could assess the bullshit of the religion at such a young age really amazes me. I never questioned my world until much much later.
I had a happier childhood but that wasn’t or isn’t what makes a child able to sense BS—I know people who had extraordinary abuse as a child and it’s simply confused them and made them neurotic.
There were anger issues, as well as the footprint of my family culture, things that got in the way. I learned that those things mattered and needed to be addressed.
The above statement struck a chord with me—it was realizing that l had “issues” that l needed help with that made the difference for me. I was barely functional at a point- and couldn’t understand why.
It interests me that as empowered as you were so early on that you saw the anger issues and family culture impaired you. Talking to your friends must have helped? I have discovered so much just in being free to talk without shame or concern to defend myself or others. Just getting to talk.
Some of my family do not realize how unhealthy “kinks” in a family culture and violent events that just “hang” without resolving can subvert our efforts to find happiness or satisfaction.
So thoughtful. I wish you and your spouse well.
Edit: you have a cat? What about “Scratchme” if you don’t mind me asking?
just wanted to say a quick hello.
this was a pic yesterday on nurses week at henry ford with one of izabella’s primaries.
the first pic was at her nicu graduation.
I found the back story, Darkknight.
So l join your crowd of well-wishers: after so much heartbreak so happy this day has come for you& wife & Izabella . Hurrah for love and joy and new life!
my experience in the kingdom hall was that racial discrimination and profiling was not typically practiced....that i know of.
i was in a diverse city with every type of skin color and nationality imaginable.. i’m wondering if the witnesses have changed due to the current affairs exposed by the media everyday.
are there discrimination issues in jw land??
Hiddleswife— a thread you started @ 2 years ago. https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/5439999279366144/org-racist-towards-sisters-color-particular-imo
I read it—the first thing l noticed was how civil the whole thing was. And it went all around.
my experience in the kingdom hall was that racial discrimination and profiling was not typically practiced....that i know of.
i was in a diverse city with every type of skin color and nationality imaginable.. i’m wondering if the witnesses have changed due to the current affairs exposed by the media everyday.
are there discrimination issues in jw land??
The bus driver story is interesting but there is a lot of conjecture going on. Perhaps you were rude to him and others because you spoke with your phone speaker on. I hate that too and I’m white! lol 😆
that’s true, min. I completely get where you are coming from-and that is a difficulty in most these examples. I would have just been an embarrassed old lady except the young lady who felt so picked on mentioning it. You can see how these things work There certainly is plausible deny ability in this case. But that’s were cell phone video has made a difference. We have too many pictures of unarmed black man being shot not to believe something is going on. ( not to mention the monument to lynchings that was put up this spring down in Mississippi )
About plausible deniability, for instance Stillin’s examplesof white kids called down for behavior— lt is hard to know if it is really justified, right?because after all -they were not being well behaved. A lot of these things are difficult like when someone at work is on your case all the time it’s usually got some grain of truth to it. it’s just that after a while you start to notice patterns.
It was easy talking to the black woman in Hot Springs about it. The constant disrespect that would eat at you-
my experience in the kingdom hall was that racial discrimination and profiling was not typically practiced....that i know of.
i was in a diverse city with every type of skin color and nationality imaginable.. i’m wondering if the witnesses have changed due to the current affairs exposed by the media everyday.
are there discrimination issues in jw land??
Scratchme- there was racial and ethnic discrimination. However, there was a lot more discrimination based on social status. The haves and have-nots were completely segregated in the congregation.
Class/cash does seem to transcend all. My mother used to say (we were a lot Irish): “ There are two kinds of Irish. There are lace curtain Irish and there are pig-under-the-bed Irish”.
The haves and the have nots—It really bothered you.
in my psychology studies we've been examining the use of "labels" and how they influence peoples behaviour.
i sometimes wonder if the gb or their helpers know exactly what they're doing when it comes to psychological manipulation.. it's been observed that by labeling someone or something it changes your entire perception of that person or thing.
it colours it entirely, quite unfairly in some cases.
Doc- I had to accept that someone in the highest level of the ivory towers of the watchtower KNOW that they are lying, conniving, and serving up fraudulent “spiritual food”.
The GB makes the centerpiece of the Religion all about being the “Truth” , being meticulous, convincing the r&f that they had “accurate knowledge”.
I sent some research that they looked over and agreed in every aspect. In accordance with their professed standards, this would have required changes. But instead they silence people. Throw it off and tell you you have a problem being”stumbled”.
They had no connection with God. No interest in God. Only crude power and control. It was amazing.
A Corporation
my experience in the kingdom hall was that racial discrimination and profiling was not typically practiced....that i know of.
i was in a diverse city with every type of skin color and nationality imaginable.. i’m wondering if the witnesses have changed due to the current affairs exposed by the media everyday.
are there discrimination issues in jw land??
Still in-
what did you understand when you left? Did none of the brothers talk about the problems you described until the CO came? Was there friendships between different races at that hall? How do you feel now?
here is a story this reminds me of:
l am a white haired white woman. I rode a bus from Fayetteville to Little Rock, Arkansas to see my sister this winter. A massive young man in sunglasses and a marine-style haircut, was driving us. He was perhaps 12 feet from me when my phone rang. I am a little hard of hearing and to hear the call l put it on speaker. l didn’t think it was so loud but then again lol—l don’t hear that well.
But this l did hear:
”Whoever has their phone on speaker is unbelievably rude. “ it was the bus driver bellowing at me”I don’t know where you learned your manners but that is about the rudest thing anybody can do on s bus. Whoever it is you better get that phone shut off right this minute”
If I had believed he did not know who he was talking to it wouldn’t have stung that much. Of course it was humiliating to be call down in such a demeaniing tone and loud! But the thing that was patently obvious was this young fellow had me in his crosshairs. There was no one else in the front rows of seats.
It was a pretty remarkable dressing down. I believe there’s no one on that bus that missed the lesson. Later at a rest stop a young woman stepping out to complained to me about his rude treatment of her st an earlier stop“ l don’t know why.” She said it really bugged her.
When l arrived in Little rock and waited for my sister to retrieve me, I watched this tall young man who had treated me like a third grader speak kindly and familiary to many of the people in the bus depot-and l realized they were all black.
I studied him sideways and saw that though he had pale honey gold skin he was “black” and, likely, had been treated “black”and seen his dear granny treated with unwarranted rudeness...as he had treated me.
l realized then that the young fellow had given me and the other aggrieved young (white)woman the Rosa Parks treatment.
I told that story to a my sister’s friend, a black woman a little older than myself when we got to her home in Hot Springs and we just shared those stories back and forth for hours. I felt it so briefly and she and her husband Paul were dealing all along the time l was there...but that’s another story.
