or should i say goodbye folks.
my posting days on xjw sites are over.. thanks to everybody for making this place so vibrant, informative and at times invigorating.
an special thanks of course to simon and angharad, of whom too many expected too much and who, despite our differing viewpoints at times, have been trustworthy friends to me.
Hillary,
I'm genuinely happy for you although your absence will mean fewer personal visits to this board. I assume real life is pressing in on the need to lament your/our "past JW life". Your comments, replies and posts have always been unique, giving us not just an "English" perspective, but a unique HS view of matters. It's difficult to single out one post, but your heart-wrenching treatment of JW suicide comes to mind as especially thought-provoking, revealing.
I wish you well.
tms
over the decades musicians rise and fall like a spring wind.
some stay where they should never be, some never are where they should be; such is the roulette of time.
this thread is dedicated to singer songwriters who influence the rest of the best, but are seldom known - 'gamblers in the neon, clinging to guitars...' .
Guy Clark
Jeff Buckley
Ray Lamontagne
over the decades musicians rise and fall like a spring wind.
some stay where they should never be, some never are where they should be; such is the roulette of time.
this thread is dedicated to singer songwriters who influence the rest of the best, but are seldom known - 'gamblers in the neon, clinging to guitars...' .
over the decades musicians rise and fall like a spring wind.
some stay where they should never be, some never are where they should be; such is the roulette of time.
this thread is dedicated to singer songwriters who influence the rest of the best, but are seldom known - 'gamblers in the neon, clinging to guitars...' .
Daniel Johnston
goodfellas is my favorite.
(i love gangster movies).
Ordinary People
A Slender Thread
The Great Santini
having problem pasting this...
Randy mentioned this: "Anyone else have an old-timer friend who was cueing in on '74? Not uncommon. Dating nonsense."
Didn't the original Aid to Bible Understanding, A-F mention 1974 in its article titled "Chronology"? I remember seeing this and wondering if things had changed since the c.1966 Life Everlasting In Freedom with the Sons of God" and its focus on 1975. Some of us read the "Aid" book cover to cover. Lol!
tms
having problem pasting this...
"Well, Minimus - as fas as Davis went, at least he did not put you to sleep like Al Schroeder did. We actually did look forward to the half a day we had him. My favorite quotation was his rant on "worldly JWs who pursue this system of things...he went on and on about swimming pools, good jobs, big houses, Cadillacs, fancy clothes, trophy wives with a "sport jitney sports car"...having kids, and still they came to the meetings and acted like real JWs."
On Schroeder - Can you believe it? Old Schroeder actually had his 10 or 12 year old boy Judah Ben come into the class and give us a little upbuilding testimony on how much he loved the door to door service. After he was gone, Al Sr. gave us a self-serving lecture on how to "raise up a boy in the way of Jehovah".
People privately talked afterward on how ordinary Bethelites were not allowed to marry and have kids, not even to date or talk to the single women around. Let alone have his own apartment off-site in Pittsburgh and the use of a big Buick that belonged to the WTS. He also made a big show about tossing a baseball back and forth with the poor kid before and after class - it was so obviously phony that I really felt sorry for the little guy."
James,
You have a good memory. I attended that KM School March 1970 in Pittsburgh. I wonder if Judah Ben Schroeder ever looks back and realizes that bit of "quality time" with daddy was staged for the benefit of the students. It was so obvious. Class had just ended and all the brothers were walking to their cars practically in the "line of fire" of Albert and Judah Ben Schroeder playing baseball catch already dressed in casual clothes. They could easily have gone to a park or waited ten minutes until all the KMS students had dispersed.
In our class, we had a class clown, an extremely self-assured congregation servant from California. Brother Obnoxious had his hand up on every question. Brother Schroeder took particular delight in telling him he was wrong, which he was most of the time. Brother California particularly annoyed Randall Davis, who was single, by repeatedly mentioning during every break period that Bro. Davis needed to "find himself a good woman and get hitched." Davis was in charge of recommending any of us for special privileges. I'm almost certain this brother was not earmarked for greatness.
James, did you go on the tour of Pittsburgh by any chance? One of the local brothers had an old city bus he used to take us to Russell's grave, the old Bible house and all the local sights. I recall one self-righteous brother who stayed on the bus, reading his Bible. He said he wasn't there to "sight-see". When we went into a former Watchtower building that was now a church, Brother California yelled real loud: "God damn this church!". Our tour guide quickly got us out of the building. Later Brother California again, spotted Muhammad Ali with a small entourage walking the streets of Pittsburgh. He lowered his window and shouted: "Hey Cassius!" Ali waved at all of us with a big smile.
tms
i was speaking to my mom on the phone yesterday, and despite my trying to avoid it, we got to talking about wacky jw topics -- again.
actually, it was nearly unavoidable, since she had just returned from her summer convention.
aside: nice way to celebrate your wedding anniversary, mom & dad; at an assembly!
I might add that the circuit overseer would usually ask if these calls had been made. The BOA would always assure him that they had followed through on the program.
tms
i was speaking to my mom on the phone yesterday, and despite my trying to avoid it, we got to talking about wacky jw topics -- again.
actually, it was nearly unavoidable, since she had just returned from her summer convention.
aside: nice way to celebrate your wedding anniversary, mom & dad; at an assembly!
As an elder, I thought this was a brilliant and merciful provision. Although on a rather large body of elders, I usually ended up making most of the calls. Usually, another elder would say he'd tried to make the call but couldn't reach the person and hand me the slip. Sometimes JW parents would call the congregation saying their DF'd adult son or daughter had moved into our territory.
Responses varied. Some, who had been out many years, seemed shocked to be targeted for a specific call. They usually had no intention of "returning to Jehovah." I let them know that the proverbial door was still open. I made it a point to speak kindly.
One young woman said if her "circumstances" every changed she would let us know.
It just seemed odd to me that brothers were willing to make all these cold canvasses in regular field service and not want to contact those who had once been JW's.
tms
i think i heard the word "intellectual" for the first time when i was less than ten years old.. my grandmother said to me that the presidential candidate for the democratic party (adalai stevenson) was an "intellectual".. the way she said the word...the timbre of her voice...the look of admiration on her face...led me to believe this was a good thing indeed!.
i think i may have asked her what the word meant, but, i don't recall exactly what she told me.
perhaps enough to confirm that this fellow stevenson was a "thinker" of admirable stature.. fast forward.. by the time my teen years came along there was a kind of dichotomy in society between so-called "eggheads" and common folk.
"Narkissos, Alan F, Hillary_Step are three examples of people who never fail to stop me dead in my tracks. I love it---and I love them for that.
They are each--in their own way--dazzling minds! I don't fault them for it.
I'd love to be in that rarefied category of thinker--but--alas, I'm not. I never got farther than High School."
Terry,
Self-deprecation aside, you're not intellectually inferior to the three you mention. I'm certain you've visited other forums and held your own with individuals holding advanced degrees. JWD is atypical, with a greater sampling of machismo and comeuppance. Do you remember JW pickup basketball games,how competitive they were? Knock down, drag out! All those frustrated JW's trying to prove what they could have been if restrictions and limitations of "serving Jehovah" hadn't stifled, squashed and squelched them? Unused or undisplayed intellectual muscles have to be flexed too.
I'm certain that if you ever had the opportunity to eat lunch in Cowtown with your ex-wife at the teacher's table, you quickly realized you were not overmatched intellectually despite working at a book store. Honesty, Terry, weren't some of those teachers and administrators pretty dim bulbs?
"Never getting farther than high school" can be worn like a badge, like an athlete who has never taken steroids. Imagine what I could have done with performance enhancers! I could have been a contender!
tms
