Ramping up the (1Ton)Ramp

[ricky_ticky]

It probably includes some clearing of browser history in case wife or children happen upon it, and possibly some profuse apologizing to the headship if the wife discovered it :lol:

Apologies from headship to wife not necessary.

[salex]

I am sure that Sarah has no access to any of the money she earned from her books. I doubt Sarah has made enough money to live the rest of her life on or even for six months but I am sure she has made enough to buy a nice used car or have a nice emergency fund. It's unlikely she even knows how much she has made. I wouldn't be surprised if Sarah has never filed a tax return because all income goes to Steve or his company. She may not even own the rights to her own work. I can see her signing all rights away so that if she left, she can't even take her stories or characters with her. She will sign whatever Steve puts in front of her. I don't see Steve putting money in an account for Sarah if she were to get married. It's her husband's job to provide for the family, not her. I can she Steve thinking that any money Sarah made was Maxwell money in his mind and therefore she isn't entitled to it because she is no longer a Maxwell or part of the immediate family when she marries.

Ding Ding Ding on the bolded, we have a winner....

Summer with the Moodys is Copyright 2003 with Communication Concepts, Inc. The other books I checked by other authors listed the authors as owning the copyright.

The officers are Steve (President or equivalent

Christopher (Treasurer or Equivalent

Sarah (Secretary or Equivalent

Directors are

Nathan

Joseph

John

Edited to add, in 2001, although Sarah was Secretary, the stockholders who "own 5% or more of capital stock were Steve, Nathan and Christopher.

That remained the same until the form filed changed and no longer asked for that information.

[anjulibai]

Wow, that's really sad that Sarah wasn't even allowed the copyright to her own work.

Fuck you, Steve.

[linnea27]

Ding Ding Ding on the bolded, we have a winner....

Summer with the Moodys is Copyright 2003 with Communication Concepts, Inc. The other books I checked by other authors listed the authors as owning the copyright.

The officers are Steve (President or equivalent

Christopher (Treasurer or Equivalent

Sarah (Secretary or Equivalent

Directors are

Nathan

Joseph

John

Edited to add, in 2001, although Sarah was Secretary, the stockholders who "own 5% or more of capital stock were Steve, Nathan and Christopher.

That remained the same until the form filed changed and no longer asked for that information.

Holy shit.

[Sundaymorning]

OT, but I was wondering, if Sarah (or another Maxwell daughter) posts stuff on their blog, is she also able to read the comments?

And I don't mean only the nice ones from leghumpers they actually publish, but all?

[mango_fandango]

OT, but I was wondering, if Sarah (or another Maxwell daughter) posts stuff on their blog, is she also able to read the comments?

And I don't mean only the nice ones from leghumpers they actually publish, but all?

I don't think so. I think comments go through a Stevehovah screening process before she can see them. Sometimes she replies to comments, so she must be able to see a few.

[Handmaiden of Dog]

I wonder if Sarah were to die or run away or get married, if Steve would tell Anna that she is now in charge of writing the Moody books?

It really breaks my heart that Sarah gets no royalties from her books. She is more like an indentured servant than a daughter-- anything that she produces belongs to Steve and she can never leave without his consent. And Steve Maxwell is a fucking monster.

[mango_fandango]

I wonder if Sarah were to die or run away or get married, if Steve would tell Anna that she is now in charge of writing the Moody books?

It really breaks my heart that Sarah gets no royalties from her books. She is more like an indentured servant than a daughter-- anything that she produces belongs to Steve and she can never leave without his consent. And Steve Maxwell is a fucking monster.

But it's God who told Sarah to write the Moody books! Not Steve! :lol:

[thoughtful]

Would ITonRamp benefit a young woman or parents?

...It can be a struggle to productively stay busy as young women wait on the Lord for a marriage partner. It is not our goal to provide a career as such for young women, but to help them be productive with their time as the Lord Jesus directs. IT work can give excellent opportunities to earn significant self-employed income in a safe, non-corporate environment and have skills that will facilitate a future marriage, especially if the future husband is self-employed.

From their point of view, this is probably a CYA statement, basically saying "don't sue us if your daughter gets a job and GOES TO HELL!"

[16strong]

Nathan and Steve look SO creepy in the ads on the blog. If I saw them in public, I would cross the street.

[mango_fandango]

From their point of view, this is probably a CYA statement, basically saying "don't sue us if your daughter gets a job and GOES TO HELL!"

But what if jeebus doesn't want me to gain IT skills? He certainly didn't want Erin Bates Paine to- she gave piano lessons. AND WENT TO COLLEGE. (Yeah, it's Clown College, but she was still out of the house and mixing with other people, even if they were all the same religion as her pretty much).

[DaffyDill]

From their point of view, this is probably a CYA statement, basically saying "don't sue us if your daughter gets a job and GOES TO HELL!"

Oh the hypocrisy! So other young women can earn some income while waiting for their future husbands to arrive and working from home, but not Sarah, who wasn't allowed to profit from own her own work, the Moody books.

[Foudeb]

That's downright abusive - if pigs start flying and Sarah escapes along with them she can't even take the characters she invented along with her. Heartbreaking.

That last post of hers was beyond sad too - it sounds a lot like the reversal five are her own children and she's having an empty nest moment seeing them all grown up.

Poor Sarah.

[Sundaymorning]

From their point of view, this is probably a CYA statement, basically saying "don't sue us if your daughter gets a job and GOES TO HELL!"

Well, it sounds to me like they are aiming at those unfortunate SAHDs who will never be allowed to get a husband, and who eventually will need to provide for themselves when Daddy is gone and their brothers don't have any cash left to give to them. And of course, to those who will get married as they can help their future husband with their awesome skills they learned from the Maxwells.

And yeah, they pretty much admit with the first scentence how screwed their daughters really are. Sarah had to endure that struggle for 15 years now, and it doesn't look like it's gonna end anytime soon.

[Jezebel]

From their point of view, this is probably a CYA statement, basically saying "don't sue us if your daughter gets a job and GOES TO HELL!

The bolded makes me think that basic business computer skills, and what little savings a 1TonRamp-trained SAHD might accumulate, could be considered part of a dowry of sorts, used to make a still-uncourted SAHD seem like a better deal on the fundie marriage market.

I guess being trained all her life to cook, clean, give her headship "back rubs" on schedule (or demand), birth a quiver full of kids, and be a homeschooling mom just isn't good enough--she's got to have office/business/home-based income-producing skills, too, all while cheerfully maintaining the illusion that she doesn't have a career and that her husband is the primary breadwinner and she just "helps out."

[blessalessi]

We do not *know* anything certain about Sarah's financial affairs. Speculation is entertaining but not gospel! :lol:

My speculation is that she probably has a nice nest egg and a decent amount in her checking account, given the spendy presents they all buy for each other.

I imagine the control is probably much more subtle and psychological in nature. She has weekly accountability sessions with Daddy and daily schedules agreed with Mommy. I doubt she would even think of making a major purchase without seeking approval and prayer confirmation first! :naughty:

[thoughtful]

The bolded makes me think that basic business computer skills, and what little savings a 1TonRamp-trained SAHD might accumulate, could be considered part of a dowry of sorts, used to make a still-uncourted SAHD seem like a better deal on the fundie marriage market.

And he'd better accept and appreciate it, or she'll "make" him drag her all over the Irish countryside . . .oh, wait -- wrong thread.

:D

[Jezebel]

That's downright abusive - if pigs start flying and Sarah escapes along with them she can't even take the characters she invented along with her. Heartbreaking.

To be honest, she wouldn't be able to get a new publisher for future Moody books--they're so poorly written, and appeal to a very small niche market. For fundie parents who do encourage their kids to read and aren't so stringent as the Maxwells, there are lots of other options.

And if she did fly the coop, would she really want to keep writing Moody books, or even write books at all? She writes kids' books because Steve told her to--they were something to expand their product line, as well as fill up Sarah's long, empty days of singlehood. I don't get the impression Sarah had any great desire to write, but she does what she's told and it gives her something to occupy her time that is useful to the family as a whole. I think she does enjoy her "fan mail," but does she truly enjoy writing itself? I kind of doubt it.

And if she actually does love writing, were she to "fly the coop" she'd find herself in a wider world full of books, and the realization that she's been cheated of the kind of education that makes a decent writer. She'd have to face the illusions her parents and her tiny niche audience have sold her. And if she had the courage to start over, learn what she should have been taught in the first place, and open herself to a broader range of people and experiences--would she even want to write Moody books? I doubt it. I think she'd want to write very different stories.

I do think it's crap that she doesn't own the copyright to her own books--not because I think they will be much of an income source for her, but simply because they are her labor and her (admittedly limited) imagination. They should, just on a simple moral level, be her sole property. But given that her crazy-ass parents have robbed her of a carefree childhood, of her ability to think for herself, of her right to an education, and of her ability to act independently, it's no shocker that they've taken the rights to her books, too.

That last post of hers was beyond sad too - it sounds a lot like the reversal five are her own children and she's having an empty nest moment seeing them all grown up.

Poor Sarah.

I suspect that one reason Sarah rejected suitors when she was younger was because marriage would have meant leaving her "kids" behind. When you consider how out of it Teri was back when the reversals were little, it's not a far stretch to imagine that the burden of caring for those kids fell most heavily on Sarah. If her depiction of Mrs. Moody in the books is indeed based on Teri, then Sarah is definitely the reversals' sister-mom. When she was 18, Mary was only 4 or 5, and Anna was 9 or 10--the reversals were all still kids, who no doubt depended upon her. I imagine it would have been very, very hard to contemplate leaving them behind.

Plus, given the whole family's bizarre level of grief over a married son moving across the street, she may also have felt that leaving with a husband to start her own family somewhere else would have hurt the whole family--and maybe sent Teri back into the deep depression Sarah most certainly remembers. Given how isolated and unhealthily enmeshed they all are, Sarah's normal rite of passage--marrying and moving away--would likely have been catastrophic.

So maybe she turned down suitors, thinking there would always be another one, and that there would be a better time--and then time just ticked along, and her 20s passed her by, and there was always another reason to stay, and now there are no more suitors come to court. Her "kids" are all adults now, and I can't help but worry about how she will take it when one of her sisters (probably Mary) marries and moves on to having a house and kids of her own.

I can't prove any of this, of course, but after years of Maxwell-watching it seems as likely a scenario as any.

[Mary C Doates]

But it's God who told Sarah to write the Moody books! Not Steve! :lol:

Wait, Steve and God are not the same entity?

[salex]

Wait, Steve and God are not the same entity?

I suspect their voices sound the same to the Maxwell offspring.

[nokidsmom]

I suspect that one reason Sarah rejected suitors when she was younger was because marriage would have meant leaving her "kids" behind. When you consider how out of it Teri was back when the reversals were little, it's not a far stretch to imagine that the burden of caring for those kids fell most heavily on Sarah. If her depiction of Mrs. Moody in the books is indeed based on Teri, then Sarah is definitely the reversals' sister-mom. When she was 18, Mary was only 4 or 5, and Anna was 9 or 10--the reversals were all still kids, who no doubt depended upon her. I imagine it would have been very, very hard to contemplate leaving them behind.

Plus, given the whole family's bizarre level of grief over a married son moving across the street, she may also have felt that leaving with a husband to start her own family somewhere else would have hurt the whole family--and maybe sent Teri back into the deep depression Sarah most certainly remembers. Given how isolated and unhealthily enmeshed they all are, Sarah's normal rite of passage--marrying and moving away--would likely have been catastrophic.

So maybe she turned down suitors, thinking there would always be another one, and that there would be a better time--and then time just ticked along, and her 20s passed her by, and there was always another reason to stay, and now there are no more suitors come to court. Her "kids" are all adults now, and I can't help but worry about how she will take it when one of her sisters (probably Mary) marries and moves on to having a house and kids of her own.

I can't prove any of this, of course, but after years of Maxwell-watching it seems as likely a scenario as any.

The above is a good point. I often thought of uber controlling Steve as the primary cause of Sarah's singleness, and while that may be the case, the scenario would be a very good possibility also. Until recently, I had no idea of the extent of Teri's depression but now based on blog posts and the Moody books being based on the Maxwells' lives and household, it sounds like her depression was pretty debilitating and it was up to Sarah to keep things going. Between Sarah bonding with her siblings like a parent, feeling the responsibility to look after them and thereby not send her mom back down into the depths, it makes sense that Sarah might have wanted to delay until there was a better time. Except that better time never came. It usually doesn't in these situations, there is always a reason. Plus the heavy guilt over "abandoning the family". Sarah didn't need to be told directly to never leave, the wailing and gnashing of teeth over Nathan's marriage and moving out would have sent the message.

[HerNameIsBuffy]

From their point of view, this is probably a CYA statement, basically saying "don't sue us if your daughter gets a job and GOES TO HELL!"

That's exactly what is it, a disclaimer. Although speaking as someone in IT I can safely say there is very little danger of anyone getting a job based on those 'courses' so they shouldn't worry.

That whole website was so full of face palm I sent bits of it to my friend with my own outraged commentary and her reply was "what's a fundy and who are these people?" Also "what does 1 Ton Ramp mean? Is that an IT thing?" Sometimes I forget how many people have no idea this subculture exists.

[DowntownAbbey]

That's exactly what is it, a disclaimer. Although speaking as someone in IT I can safely say there is very little danger of anyone getting a job based on those 'courses' so they shouldn't worry.

That whole website was so full of face palm I sent bits of it to my friend with my own outraged commentary and her reply was "what's a fundy and who are these people?" Also "what does 1 Ton Ramp mean? Is that an IT thing?" Sometimes I forget how many people have no idea this subculture exists.

The Maxwells mean it to be IT on Ramp:

Defined: i·t·on·ramp /ít, än ramp/

Noun: The idea of an interstate or highway on ramp, IT on Ramp is a Christian online learning program designed to bring you up to speed quickly and effectively in the information techology arena.

The 1 Ton Ramp is a joke on how it looks when typed out ITonRamp.

Also, they misspelled technology in their definition of IT on Ramp. :doh:

ETA: I reread your post and realized you weren't asking the question yourself. But I'll leave it for the misspelled technology's snarking benefit.

[salex]

I view their IT Onramp as another bit of proof they stopped moving forward when Steve left the business world

I remember building one set of marketing materials using the image of an information superhighway back when Gore was pushing the phrase, but-- only one set and we didn't use it much or long.

The information superhighway or infobahn was a popular term used through the 1990s to refer to digital communication systems and the Internet telecommunications network. It is associated with United States Senator and later Vice-President Al Gore.

Information superhighway - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Informati ... yWikipedia

[HerNameIsBuffy]

Yep, sad that as dated as that is its the most modern thing about them.

The about Nathan section is ridiculously telling by how vague it is. He "worked with servers" and answered "a myriad of questions" and that's certainly impressive :roll: but if he ever needs to put together a resume he might want to know that emphasizing desktop support skills over network admin doesn't make him look versatile...it makes him look like help desk support who has no idea what being a network admin entails.

Now I'm just a silly little woman who stole a job in IT which should rightfully have gone to some man, so what do I know?

Although to be fair my headship doesn't mind that I spend my time driving godly men out of the workplace (lest they need to speak with me about work in my defrauding business casual pants) rather than sitting home making wholesale batches of crappy burritos. :)

Although if they did manage to buy homes debt free solely with this snake oil by webinar scheme than I'm kind of in awe. Everyone else in The filed that I know did it the way I did. Long hours and a mortgage.