The Joke Was On Me (Part 17)

I can say, definitively, that this will be the last installment in this series. I'm writing it for me. Entirely for me. I'm working through some things in my life, and I need this to spill out. It covers some beautiful times, including the last day in my life that I've been truly happy without qualification, April 23, 2008. It also covers the last aspects of "happy" in this story, as effed up and dysfunctional as most of this story has been. Nothing, and I mean nothing, good happens after the point where this piece ends, no matter how much I reached for the good or fought against the bad, and I'm just done with the bad and don't care a helluva lot about the good anymore. I'm very tired.

The Blind Creating More Blind People So They'll Have Someone To Lead

The Botkin Sisters are at it again.

I've Got A New Blog

Hey peoples...

I've got a new political blog, Palinitis, where I'll be putting my more political stuff. I feel like the Patriarchy and Fundamentalist subject matter here is too important to cloud it up with political and cultural rambling, so I've moved some of the more politically-driven stuff over there and will eventually be removing it from this page.

Check out the new page, and dive in if you please. I'll probably be writing there more than here, so come on over and have some Tang.

Peace and love.


ETA: I changed my new blog's title to something I liked a little better - and very fitting.

Dormancy

Obviously, I've written very little here over the past 3 years or so. I'm gonna write a little today about why.

Weaponized Grace

Just a few thoughts to follow-up on the post I wrote the about the Duggar situation the other day.

They Still Look At The Cover To Read The Book

I'm not the slightest bit surprised by the Duggar situation. Why should I be? I'd love for someone to give me a valid, rational reason why I should be surprised.

The Disease

In case you're wondering why I've yet to write anything in response to the sordid affairs of Doug Phillips and Bill Gothard, and their seeming falls from grace (irresistible as it is for Phillips and powerfully compelling as it is for Gothard), it's that I didn't think there was much I could say that I haven't already said.

A Christmas Card

Through a generous offer from C & L Entertainment, an Indie label based out of Charlotte, I began work on a Christmas album last year. Unable to finish the full record this year for various reasons, C & L and I have decided to put out a 4 song EP (the tracks that were/are finished) this year and (hopefully) the entire, finished project next Christmas.

My ENTIRE share of the proceeds will be going to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. I've made it a point to never turn this blog into a cottage industry, and just want to make it clear that's not what I'm doing here. I won't be making a dime off of this, and my hope is that a few dollars can be generated for a good cause. With no particular P/QF survivor entity in place right now, St. Jude is certainly a worthy destination.

These are fairly traditional arrangements of some Christmas standards. You can preview and purchase from ITunes here. Hope you enjoy them.

Merry Christmas to you all.

Some Rambles

I'm coming out of hibernation to offer a few blurbs. Buckle up.

Syndromed

Most of you have probably heard of Battered Person Syndrome, commonly called "Battered Wife Syndrome."  Here are some of the symptoms of the cyclical abuse...

Marriage Diminished

I came across this article today. SCCL had linked to it on its Facebook page. It's kinda hard to describe the reaction it created within me. Many emotions, nary a one "edifying".

Petition for Change

Many of you who read here have concerns and have expressed your concerns about HSLDA. You may be interested in reading and signing this petition. If you can and are willing, please share the petition on Facebook and whatever other social media sites you use.

I've long been of the opinion that HSLDA masquerades as an advocacy group for homeschooling families and rights when it's actually an advocacy group for dominionist ideals and milieu, and that whatever real "help" homeschooling families actually get from them is more accidental than intentional, more ancillary than primary. I've yet to encounter information that has moved the needle of my opinion on that.

Homeschoolers Anonymous - New Site By Homeschool Survivors

"Survivors" seems the most appropriate word.

If you're someone who thinks what I wrote here was rife with hyperbole, I encourage you to visit Homeschoolers Anonymous to hear first hand from young people who came in up the Christian homeschool movement...and now have to deal, as young adults, with the repercussions and emotional (and other) damage done by this cloistered (in nearly every way), paranoid, fearful cult movement. Bravo to these people for speaking out. A lot of people don't understand what they risk in doing so, but I do, and I have bushels full of love and respect for them.

Let Us Create God In Our Image, In Our Likeness

I don't think it's coincidental that America is pretty much the only free, advanced, civilized western society that still enforces capital punishment (in many states and MOST bible-belt states) and is also home to most of the fundamentalist Christians in the world. American fundamentalist Christianity has created God in their own image. As a friend says, "The practice of our belief and faith is the reflection of our God", and fundamentalists see God as vengeful, hateful, judgmental, and intolerant. The image on our side of the mirror is seen in our religious endeavors, personal interactions, and positions on social and political issues.

The Death of the Heart and Soul

With that title, what else could I be writing about but the Purity Movement?

Help Another Survivor

Take just a few seconds to click HERE and help another incredible person pursue higher education. She deserves the best. Costs you nothing, and requires nothing of you except to click on the "vote" tab.

To My Politically-Charged Readers

[Over the last few weeks and months, really going as far back as last spring with the marriage amendment issues, I've received some very passionate emails regarding political issues, as well as witnessed and engaged in some heated social media discussions (not to mention the real world stuff), from people who claim Christianity - and frankly would be fighting mad if you questioned their Christianity. The following isn't aimed at any single person, even if I've encountered many who fit every scenario within. It's a generic, yet serious, response to the entire animal of conservative cultural Christianity.]

Random Rambles As 2012 Closes

2012 has been a bizarre year. For me personally, a very up and down twelve months with a lot of blind corners and curveballs, with a sprinkling of pleasant surprises mixed in. Here's a few all-over-the-place rambles as we near the end of an all-over-the-place year...

Old and Empty Holes

Maybe the most frequent question I'm asked by spiritual abuse survivors is "How do I move forward?" I don't have a definitive, foolproof answer. I only have my own thoughts, observations, and experiences to offer, so here goes...

Hearing From God

This isn't so much a new piece as it is an opportunity to bring The Peace Game and God's Will Isn't Rocket Surgery back around to some newer readers while offering a few thoughts to serve as companions to the things discussed in those pieces.