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Introduce Yourself- Part 3


samurai_sarah

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Hi all!  Yet another veteran lurker finally taking the plunge and joining :) I've been following the FJ community around casually since the TWoP days but when I lost my real life, feminist and atheist Duggar snark buddy to a fundie-lite marriage (still trying to figure that one out...) I started hanging out around here more often.  Quickly found PP and Zsu,  and the Rodrigues' and last year met the Nauglers (who live a very few miles from where I spent vacations visiting family as a kid and so are extra appaling), so I'm deep into those rabbit holes already.  Just starting into the Shraders now, I've got some Duggar fatigue after trying to live my life and keep up with the wedding and Joy's run from increased sister mom duties.

In my offline life I teach special ed (a mix of students with behaviour exceptionalities and students with learning disabilities) at an inner city middle school and am happily married to Mr Sequoia. I'm a very liberal interpretation of a Catholic and blame/thank my Catholic girls' high school for making me into a "nasty woman" (Samantha Bee is my countrywoman and who I want to be when I grow up).  Felt like it was time to make an account,  I probably won't be posting a whole  lot,  or so I say now anyway,  but I'm excited to have +1 powers to use on all the smart things being said around here :) 

 

Thanks for having me! 

Edited by Sequoia
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"Liberal interpretation of a Catholic." Is an awesome way to put it - stealing that phrase!   That's me, too.

and finding the Nauglers extra appealing for any reason cracked me up.  Welcome to FJ @Sequoia

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After lurking for quite some time, I finally caved and got myself a FJ account. I've posted a few times already as you can tell, but I never got around to introductions.

I'm a 22-year-old about to graduate from college despite having no idea what I'm doing; I'm an artist, mostly in illustration and fiber arts (sewing, crocheting/knitting, tapestry weaving...you know, women's work!); I don't wear pants because I wear tights instead; I have long fundie hair and am gay as a goose.

I don't really have a lot of knowledge on specific familes beyond the Duggars, although I really like doing research on fundamentalism, cults, and other related things. The Duggars in particular fascinate me because of they are an anomaly among the families that practice the Quiverfull lifestyle; they are in a glass pressure-cooker that is bound to bust under the right/wrong circumstances.

What I really like about FreeJinger is the general sense of empathy, at least in the circles I've encountered. While there's a lot of snark and criticism aimed at certain people wrapped up in this fundie lifestyle, I see a lot of credit being given where credit is due and how people seem to care about the overall well-being of most of these individuals. Particularly, there is empathy towards the offspring who have had no other choice but to be brought up like this. Even if the outcome doesn't line up perfectly with our political/religious ideals, there is this yearning that they might pursue happiness.

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Hi,

I didn't get to introduce myself :). I'm from Bucharest, Romania, I'm 32 and an economist.

Just got married this summer :my_rolleyes:

I'm not  religious, but neither an atheist. I don't even know how I got to find out about the Duggar clan, but I was really intrigued because also in Romania I started to meet or hear about fundy-lite people, some more fundy than others. It's still not a thing here, but I just got curious to see what the hell are they thinking :). So for me the Duggars & co are a weird group of people, and I started reading about them out of curiosity. Then I discovered this site, and I read some very interesting thoughts, opinions, ideas here so I kept reading. I learn a lot about many things beside the fundy people here, so thanks! And I really hope I won't make many grammar errors, as English is only a language I use from time to time.

Ah, and as the previous poster said, I love the general sense of empathy here. 

Have a great day!

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Hello to everyone! :)

@Georgia3112, have you ever heard of a Christian group called The Josiah Venture in Romania? (Their website.) I've heard some Americans talk about it, and I'm curious what people in Eastern Europe think of it/them. (Your written English is very good, by the way. :) )

In any case, it's nice to "meet" everyone!

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@Georgia3112--Thank you for answering. :) It's always interesting to hear about things from other countries from someone who is actually there!

To be clear, I didn't mean that I had heard bad things about Josiah Venture. I had just heard that they were working with Protestant churches in eastern European countries to help the youth leaders reach out to the young people in their communities. I did find a page about Romania on their website. It said that 86% of the population identifies as Orthodox and only 7.5%  identify as Protestant. (Like you said.) 

Anyway, thanks!

Edited to add--If you ever have a question about life in the northwest corner of the USA, I'll see if I can answer it. :my_biggrin:

Edited by WhatWouldJohnCrichtonDo?
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@WhatWouldJohnCrichtonDo? That's one of the reasons I like to read about different topics here, it's interesting to hear about stuff from people who live in other places/culture rather than the media.

I did read the part about Romania on their website, and the fact that I didn't find much else may be a good sign, usually the bad things get out on blogs/media faster than anything else :).

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Hello.  I've been lurking for years and recently joined/posted.  I have many families I have not explored as I only read here sporadically (or else I would never get anything done).

Raised Catholic, 12 years Catholic school.  Great education, not too preachy really.   Catholicism didn't take... Raise the kiddos to understand that religion is personal and that they need to make their own choices when they are adults.  We think all religions got some of it right and got some of it wrong so we prefer to do what we feel is right, thank a higher power and treat others the way we want to be treated.

Married  for 20 years, early 40's, Midwest, work (love work), could never survive as a sahm (no patience - hardest job ever - much respect for those that can do it), 2 teenagers, youngest of 5, enjoy getting caught in the rain but not so much on the piña colada...

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Hello and welcome new members.  @Stormy, as you are a fiber artist I'd love to know what you think of Hellena's work.  She's more Rainbow than Fundie but her anatomically correct muppets were quite astounding.  More about her here: 

@Georgia3112, I think you are our first member from Romania but we have quite a few Europeans here and your English is excellent.

@snarkysally, thanks for taking advantage of the SOTDRT.  I look forward to you posting in other areas too.

On 11/26/2016 at 9:47 AM, TheWayTheWorldWorks said:

could never survive as a sahm (no patience - hardest job ever - much respect for those that can do it),

I agree. :)

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Well, I guess I'll go ahead and do this! I've been lurking on and off here for a while (mostly when something came up about someone I follow), but finally decided to get an account.

I'm a nearly-twenty-year-old college student who was raised IFB but got shunned from the church when I was around 8 because my mother let us read Harry Potter, among other reasons. My mom is kind of a free thinker and I really think the only reason we ended up at that church was because it was the closest one to us! When I was in high school I became kind of fascinated by the lifestyle of fundies on the internet (I wonder if it's my brain's way of sorting through my childhood memories, hah) and have followed several blogs since then. Amusingly enough, I never realized until recently that there was an entire site dedicated to this - I was just off doing it on my own.

Excited to be here :) 

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Like most new members, I've been lurking for awhile. My roommates decided that I talk to them too much about fundies, so they "encouraged" me to sign up on FJ officially. :) 

You know how when the Duggar children want to prove to the public that they have direction in their lives they talk about taking Bible classes? I do that too. Except mine are part of my Ph.D. program in New Testament at a major research university. I'm a confessing Christian, currently Presbyterian, and sometimes I even preach in church (in a dress, usually). Just moved back to the U.S. from South Africa, where I was working at a church for a year.

Glad to be with you all!

 

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Hello Everyone! 

Seems to be a pattern, but long-time lurker, first-time poster. I got a membership on account of FOMO related to the "you won't be able to get a membership to give the admins a holiday respite". 

I joke about my "fundie days" with those close to me, but I know the church that I went to wasn't really quite fundie. It was fundie light in that insidious way that seems awfully cool and hip but responds to the call that I felt to be a pastor with "you're a woman. Nope." Though Ken Ham did show up at a friend's church (same denomination) so maybe it was just as fundie as I give it credit for. 

So, after some kicking and screaming, and someone pointing me to Leviticus 11:13-19 ("‘These are the birds you are to regard as unclean [...] the bat."[NIV]) in my face, I left Christianity because "bats aren't birds". It's a small and petty reason, but it was what I needed to get out of the fundie trap. I enjoyed some spiritual exploration for a while, and have settled somewhere between New Age and Progressive Christian. I wonder if my faith would be stronger if not for my time in a church that espoused literalism. I still struggle to mentally get over that gap, and it's been more than 5 years. 

I've got a huge interest in religion and culture. I minored in Anthropology in college and absolutely love looking into the cultural side of religion. I also disproportionately enjoy listening to conservative Christian radio in the car and arguing against what the hosts say. My bestie and I have watched and critiqued varying incarnations of Duggar television, and I enjoy sites and blogs that examine fundamentalism and help me reframe things I used to view as positive. 

Other interests include reading (especially historical trashy romance novels), crochet, video games (easy ones; I enjoy them but I'm not good at them), and binge watching shows on Netflix. I also adore running and am learning to adore yoga. 

I am sure I left something out, but that's my FJ intro post. I'm glad to officially be a part of the community and not just a lurker. 

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:hello: Welcome everyone! Always good to have new voices in the discussions and debates. So, pull up a chair and get comfy!

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Hello, Free Jinger!

Yet another lurker, funny that I had a bunch of things to add to topics and now my account is activated I can't remember any of them. :5624795033223_They-see-me-rollinroll:

I currently live in the UK with my little dog and I work from home as a nail tech. 

I have no religious beliefs one way or the other but like many others here, I am weirdly fascinated by fundies. TFDW and Priscilla are especially bizarre to me. I used to follow the Sister Wives insanity until it got too sad and confusing. I read the Bates and Duggar threads until my inner rage begins to boil up (looking at you, Sierra) but randomly browse the other families. Except the Rodrigueses; they creep even out to the max.

Well that's all for now, hello to everybody!

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Hello everyone! 

I had been reading Free Jinger for about 6 months and made an account in October 2015, finally feeling ready to engage more.

 I am a 25 yr old "lapsed Catholic" and stumbled upon this site after reading/experimenting with some different branches of Christianity and learning about the Duggars.  You can say they were my gateway fundies, but I have been sucked down the rabbit hole of Zsu Zsu and read almost her entire blog this summer. 

I thought  I would introduce myself here and get a feel for posting, before adding my bits to some of the ongoing discussions. It has been a fascinating journey thus far! 

Cheers! 

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Hi everyone!

I mostly enjoy lurking (the Duggars, Maxwells, Andersons, and Alexanders); I'm a mostly atheist (there could be something, I don't know enough to dispute that) who used to be Catholic and really enjoy all the conversations here.

Looking forward to contributing more in the future! :)

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Long time lurker, but first time poster. I'm a Yankee transplant living in the mid-south. Married for an eternity, 2 human kiddos & 1 doggie daughter. I'm fascinated with the freak circus that's the Duggar family, but in a bad wreck I can't look away way. [emoji23]


 

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Hello All and Happy New Year,

Like many here I'm a long time lurker for about 2 years and joined back in June but haven't posted. I'm almost 34, live in California, single with no kids (gasp!). I'm currently on hiatus on finishing my Master's degree (in teaching) and certificate (in Project Management) and work part time with kids and massage therapy. 

I've watched the Duggars since their 1st special with just 14 kids. I started hearing about the Bates family because of the Duggars and have watched them since United Bates of America. I'm slowly being introduced to other families like the Rodrigues'. (BTW that wedding. Wow!)

I'm not affiliated with any religion. My mom is Catholic and my dad was raised Baptist but neither go to church. I have always been interested in religion. I took a World Religion class in college and was so confused. Lol. I always found it interesting how people are so invested in what a book says and use that to live their lives. I'm not trying to be offensive but I don't get it.  

 

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Hello Everyone! I'm new to posting, but like any overachiever I have spent months (years) watching and taking notes 

My interest in fundamentalism started when a Mormon Tabernacle was built in a neighboring city, and my pastor spent months speaking out about Mormons and how they are "fake" Christians. I spent time researching Mormonism, and found it very interesting. My family and I even toured the Tabernacle before it was consecrated. It was beautiful. 

Like most of you I watched the Duggars on TLC, and was hypnotized. I don't watch the show anymore, but I love reading anything I can about this family. Because of this amazing website I have fallen into many rabbit holes, and I am working on keeping everyone straight. (I think I did 5 days straight in the S'Mortons page. It was a blur.)

 

Faith-wise I am happy if you have a religion that works for you. I cannot find one. I stopped attending church in my 20s, and I have not found my way back. (Don't worry, my dad still prays for me.)

 

I am looking forward to joining this community. I am tired of being on the outside and looking in. 

 

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