Stephen Hammer at Harvard

[nausicaa]

25 minutes ago, Fundiewonder said:

I see he spent his first law-school summer at a firm in DC. I wonder what Meredith and the kids did during that time, especially if he was in the office 80+ hours a week. Would they bother to go there?

Many law students get an offer from the place where they spend their second summer. So, Stephen's location this summer could determine where they end up after graduation. Or maybe he'll shoot for clerking for a Supreme Court justice and end up in DC. I think his goal is to be a Supreme Court nominee in 25 years.

What I don't get about Stephen, who clearly is a planner and a long range thinker, is why he married when he did. Why wouldn't he wait until after law school to shop fora wife via SAHD blogs, so that while he was at school he could focus on academics and internships and have as glowing a resume as possible? Four kids and a dependent wife really provide a lot of distractions, and he's competing against students who are able to have a laser sharp  single-minded focus on school.

If they are Quiverfull I get why the kids happened so fast, but to me that's all the more reason to delay getting married on his end. 

Also, I didn't follow the blog before Meredith got married. Did she always look so tired and checked out?

[anjulibai]

41 minutes ago, nausicaa said:

What I don't get about Stephen, who clearly is a planner and a long range thinker, is why he married when he did. Why wouldn't he wait until after law school to shop fora wife via SAHD blogs, so that while he was at school he could focus on academics and internships and have as glowing a resume as possible? Four kids and a dependent wife really provide a lot of distractions, and he's competing against students who are able to have a laser sharp  single-minded focus on school.

If they are Quiverfull I get why the kids happened so fast, but to me that's all the more reason to delay getting married on his end. 

Also, I didn't follow the blog before Meredith got married. Did she always look so tired and checked out?

It'll make a good story years down the road. He can talk about all his hard work while supporting a growing family at the same time. It's the kind of story the GOP base will eat up. 

I'm sure even that was planned. 

[Palimpsest]

@nausicaa, I would ask why he didn't wait until after Oxford, after his military stint and deployments, and after law school.

He was lonely and wanted to procreate legitimate children is all I've got.  And what @anjulibai, said.

54 minutes ago, nausicaa said:

Also, I didn't follow the blog before Meredith got married. Did she always look so tired and checked out?

No.  Four children in such a short time might do that though.  Her first pregnancy wasn't easy, I don't know about the rest.

Meredith was a very bright, energetic, hard-working, and outgoing SAHD.  I always had a soft spot for her because she got so peevish about waiting so long for Prince Charming.  Then she lost her marbles when he finally hove on to the horizon, turned all the decisions about the Hammer over to Daddy, got a touch of the Bridezillas, and turned into a submissive helpmeet.  Sad.

[anjulibai]

How old is Meredith now? And how long have they been married?

[Palimpsest]

@anjulibai, I think they got married in late fall or early winter, 2010.  Their wedding reception in the barn looked chilly.  I'd have to search yuku to be sure.  Meredith must be around 30 by now.

[anjulibai]

1 minute ago, Palimpsest said:

@anjulibai, I think they got married in late fall or early winter, 2010.  Their wedding reception in the barn looked chilly.  I'd have to search yuku to be sure.  Meredith must be around 30 by now.

Oh, so she's still pretty young. I don't know why, I thought she was "older" when they got married (older for fundies, like 28 or so). She still has a lot more babies ahead. 

[JemimaPuddle-Duck]

Ugh. I don't think she looks "checked out" and she doesn't look any more tired than every other mom-of-littles that I know. 

[Palimpsest]

 

1 minute ago, JemimaPuddle-Duck said:

 she doesn't look any more tired than every other mom-of-littles that I know

Well yes, I agree.  However, she's looked tired and her FB updates have sounded subdued to me for a while now. It may be the contrast with how vibrant she sounded on her original blog.  She's had a lot of changes and moves since she got married.  I hope she is happy.

For everyone's enjoyment (it was winter 2010) Meredith's wedding was the Dominion Wackiness Post of the Week!  Brilliant summary with photos.

https://www.datalounge.com/thread/10006793-dominion-wackiness-post-of-the-week-the-wedding-of-meredith-and-stephen

[nausicaa]

39 minutes ago, JemimaPuddle-Duck said:

Ugh. I don't think she looks "checked out" and she doesn't look any more tired than every other mom-of-littles that I know. 

True. I didn't realize she has four little kids when I typed that. Tiredness is understandable. It just makes me all the more annoyed that Stephen gets to run off to law school while I suspect she has to do all the boring adult things in the family. I just really can't stand Stephen Hammer. 

The checked out impression was more just how she isn't really smiling in any of the photos on her family's blog. She could just be tired, not like her photo being taken, or just have an awkward smile when being forced to do so. I don't know if she was camera shy during her pre-marriage blog days since I didn't follow her then.

[JemimaPuddle-Duck]

29 minutes ago, Palimpsest said:

 

Well yes, I agree.  However, she's looked tired and her FB updates have sounded subdued to me for a while now. It may be the contrast with how vibrant she sounded on her original blog.  She's had a lot of changes and moves since she got married.  I hope she is happy.

For everyone's enjoyment (it was winter 2010) Meredith's wedding was the Dominion Wackiness Post of the Week!  Brilliant summary with photos.

https://www.datalounge.com/thread/10006793-dominion-wackiness-post-of-the-week-the-wedding-of-meredith-and-stephen

I don't ever look at her Facebook, but she seems happy enough on IG. Seems being the operative word here. Anyway, it just burns my butter when people get on about moms looking tired or checked out. I look exhausted all the time (because I mostly am lol) and I've aged quite a bit in the last few years, but I'm quite happy. 

[nausicaa]

19 minutes ago, JemimaPuddle-Duck said:

I don't ever look at her Facebook, but she seems happy enough on IG. Seems being the operative word here. Anyway, it just burns my butter when people get on about moms looking tired or checked out. I look exhausted all the time (because I mostly am lol) and I've aged quite a bit in the last few years, but I'm quite happy. 

I should probably have reframed my comment as "it annoys me how clear it is that Meredith is (understandably) tired from taking care of four little kids and a household all day by herself because I suspect Stephen is too busy with his political dreams to treat his family as anything more than a prop."

(I really can't stand Stephen Hammer. Don't know if that's coming across...)

I will remember in the future to not comment on moms (especially new moms) being tired, since tiredness kind of comes with the territory. 

[DomWackTroll]

1 hour ago, Palimpsest said:

For everyone's enjoyment (it was winter 2010) Meredith's wedding was the Dominion Wackiness Post of the Week!

Hmm, I never noticed that the thread was closed by the administrator. Or at least I don't remember it happening. Maybe they got a complaint? 

[Palimpsest]

6 minutes ago, DomWackTroll said:

Maybe they got a complaint? 

Perhaps Stephen Hammered it? 

It took me the longest time to connect you to Data Lounge.  I felt really stupid when I finally connected the dots.  

[LurkerOverThePond]

Somehow, I've never thought Meredith is truly happy to live in a city as a trophy wife to an army officer/law student/an aspiring politician. I think she should have married some of her local farmer boys and continue living the industrious rural lifestyle she clearly loved. Pure speculation, of course.

[DomWackTroll]

38 minutes ago, Palimpsest said:

It took me the longest time to connect you to Data Lounge.

Well, that's just because I was so low-key here for years, back before a lot of VF people were discussed. I didn't post much. 

[Showtunesgirl]

1 hour ago, Palimpsest said:

 

For everyone's enjoyment (it was winter 2010) Meredith's wedding was the Dominion Wackiness Post of the Week!  Brilliant summary with photos.

https://www.datalounge.com/thread/10006793-dominion-wackiness-post-of-the-week-the-wedding-of-meredith-and-stephen

OMG, Sheridan's "flower girl" dress! That's like what every little girl dreams of to have for pretend weddings and dress-up...but as a flower girl dress at a real wedding?!

[Hisey]

Just a reminder, Stephen and/or Meredith have never said he has any political aspirations at all. For all we know, he wants to be a corporate lawyer at IBM, or start his own practice, or work for a government agency.

And for all we know, he didn't make law review because he spent his extra time helping and playing with his little kids. (though I tend to doubt this one)

And I don't think Meredith loved farm life at all. She moved 16 times in her childhood, because her parents flipped homes and never had any money. By the time they got to the farm, she hinted she was tired of the endless hard work. Imagine, moving 16 times (when you have five younger siblings). Helping her parents rehab houses. Homeschooling her younger sibs while being homeschooled herself (tho her mom said that for junior and senior year of high school ,she simply assigned Meredith some books to read). Bushwacking fields to earn her family some extra money. Cooking for her large family. Having a business making cakes and selling them to restaurants. Starting a brand-new farm in a broken down house that needs tons of work. That girl did more in her youth than some people do in a lifetime! I'll bet having four little kids in a small apartment is nothing to her.

I think Meredith would've loved a business life. She even said she hoped to have some "cottage" business as a young wife, so long as she didn't challenge her husband's "financial leadership." Whatever the hell that means.

She mentioned once that she had been mentored by a very successful real estate woman, who was apparently single and childless and offered to let Meredith move in with her and learn the business from her. Meredith clearly wanted to take her up on this offer, she seemed to love buying real estate, but I think her parents thought it was a bad idea and convinced her of the same.

Meredith is a sad case to me. Unlike most of the fundies we discuss, she is not stupid. She is bright and attractive and hardworking. There've been people here who knew her in RL, who said she was sweet and very shy. I think she was just indoctrinated by her (crazy) mom. I remember her mom once told a story about how she and her husband were out and saw some pumpkins on sale and she wanted to buy some and her husband said, "not now." A few days later, she came back alone and noticed that the pumpkins had been marked down some more. She felt that God was rewarding her for having submitted to her husband and agreeing not to buy the pumpkins that first time. 

[faraway]

Meredith's mom seems so different to me than Meredith herself. It's hard to describe but she does not strike me as subservient at all, more like someone who enjoys the worldly pleasures. Maybe they are making decent money now and now she's really digging the cruises and trips to Disney and wearing strapless dresses.

Meredith seems to visit them often, I can't imagine how she travels by herself with 4 small children by herself. 

[adidas]

13 hours ago, Palimpsest said:

Chances are that she and the kids visited her family in Virginia.  They don't often update their blog but there's a photo of Meredith, Sheridan (my, how she's grown) and Margaret at the American Doll store in DC.   http://alexanderadventuresfamilyblog.blogspot.com/

One of Stephen's stated ambitions was to become a judge.  

Sheridan has grown so much! Meredith is very pretty but I'm surprised she was wearing a strapless swimsuit! or is it one shouldered? Either way, good for her.

[acheronbeach]

15 hours ago, Palimpsest said:

Stephen hasn't been on the Board of Editors of the Harvard Law Review (and I went back a couple of years).  He's apparently been too busy with the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy and the Harvard Federalist Society - "Conservative, Moderate and Libertarian Students at Harvard Law School."  

On the Harvard Fed Soc's Facebook page there is this strange quote:

Well, perhaps Dean Minow meant that they clean up litter and that was the most positive thing she had to say about them.  It's an odd thing to highlight.  

He's an Officer. https://orgs.law.harvard.edu/fedsoc/about/officers/

And he is a Student Fellow here: http://blogs.harvard.edu/privatelaw/people/

I wouldn't say he was letting the grass grow under his feet.

Ew, ew, ew, he looks like a creepier Chris Maxwell clone.  He needs to spend a little more than $15 on a haircut.

[Hisey]

Well, it sounds like he did make a journal, even it wasn't the law review. That shows he hasn't completely lost his over-achieving ways. I don't know anything about the law firm he worked at last summer, does anyone know anything about it? 

[ophelia]

16 hours ago, nausicaa said:

What I don't get about Stephen, who clearly is a planner and a long range thinker, is why he married when he did. Why wouldn't he wait until after law school to shop fora wife via SAHD blogs, so that while he was at school he could focus on academics and internships and have as glowing a resume as possible? Four kids and a dependent wife really provide a lot of distractions, and he's competing against students who are able to have a laser sharp  single-minded focus on school.

Well maybe he just REALLY wanted to dance the vertical tango!

 

[Whydon'ttheyspeakintongues]

10 hours ago, Hisey said:

Meredith is a sad case to me. Unlike most of the fundies we discuss, she is not stupid. She is bright and attractive and hardworking. There've been people here who knew her in RL, who said she was sweet and very shy. I think she was just indoctrinated by her (crazy) mom. I remember her mom once told a story about how she and her husband were out and saw some pumpkins on sale and she wanted to buy some and her husband said, "not now." A few days later, she came back alone and noticed that the pumpkins had been marked down some more. She felt that God was rewarding her for having submitted to her husband and agreeing not to buy the pumpkins that first time. 

There is no doubt in my mind that Meredith, given more education and less indoctrination, could well be studying at Harvard herself had this been something she could choose. 

[Whydon'ttheyspeakintongues]

3 hours ago, adidas said:

Sheridan has grown so much! Meredith is very pretty but I'm surprised she was wearing a strapless swimsuit! or is it one shouldered? Either way, good for her.

They have actually addressed this as a family that they reject the whole "women where only skirts and cover their shoulders" crap.  Mind you, that is because jesus looks at your heart and not your your clothing (I'm paraphrasing btw).  

And before anyone thinks this family is starting to sound progessive by fundie standards - their son started a blog where he said that slavery was a good thing (before his evil porn addiction took over and he nearly burnt the house down from all that rubbing apparently).

[nickelodeon]

Yeah, what happened to the various and sundry Alexander siblings?