How did you find Free Jinger?

[over-thinker]

I think initially FJ had been mentioned several times at another messageboard I go to. During our obsession with crazy Emily (under1000) I think there were links that I followed to here. I have visited on and off ever since.

[CallmeChaCha]

ONTD! That was my pick-me-up when I was having a bad day. I would go on there and read through ALL of the comments and would just die laughing. I always saw people mentioning FJ, so I finally came on here and checked it out.

[fedelm]

I heard about the Duggars and Emily on booju_newju and became totally fascinated, but tried to avoid the trainwreck. Then I saw a few mentions of it on a feminist blog, probably about a post discussing the Duggars and poked my nose in. I've been lurking off and on for awhile but the shelfbeds were what finally made me join. I couldn't not comment on that.

[StarrieEyedKat]

Look what I found when googling Carrie C

//calulu.blogspot.com.au/2012/07/apology-to-carri-chmielewski.html.

Btw, I thought I posted this earlier, but the post seems to have disappeared.

The blog post is gone now. :(

[VaSportsMom]

I read something about Emily on TWWS which lead me to her blog and then comments from her about her haters made me curious enough to try a few Google searches and here I am (the old board that is).

[luckystone]

Someone elsewhere I posted linked to Maidens of Worth (positively too! but it wasn't the tone of the board) and I used to follow it because it was just so bizarre. Then I clicked on some of the blogs they linked to and I saw a reference to Alaina Beasley, can't remember where. So I googled that because it was a very strange story but this was one of the only places that was talking about it. Eventually I realised the theme of the forum and joined.

[Sola]

I think I found it via the Emily and Dna debacle. I was already reading many fundies sites and thinking WTF at the time. Then suddenly I found this wonderful forum where I could snark on my favourite sites all in one handy place. I kept seeing references to it and thought I'd check it out. That was of course FJ on Yuku. I lurked for about a year before working up the courage to join and post. That was about three years ago I think.

[smores]

During the Michelle Duggar/Jubilee shit, another yuku snark board posted the link to the old yuku board, though it had since been closed. I followed it over to here. I jumped in because even though you're all very intimidating, I'm not new to snark boards. Glad I did!

And now I'm one month away from my one year anniversary here :dance: :dance:

[SomewhatFundy]

I haven't been balls-out fundie in a while, but I am still somewhat friendly with a couple of the bloggers who catch some snark on here. I had heard them mention FreeJinger before, and as I became less and less extreme in my beliefs I ended up very curious about the place. So I registered.

Then somehow I ended up agreeing with most of the things many of the posters had to say. Then I ended up staying. I've learned a lot in a very short period of time. It's been kind of overwhelming, but in a good way.

[Lynn18]

Is there a thread somewhere about the Candy and Brandy drama or Candy and her craziness in general? Somehow I missed all of that drama!

I don't know if there is something here. All the stuff I read was on their individual blogs that have been cleansed repeatedly. I suppose you could try the wayback machine. They are both nutbugers of the highest order. I also seem to recall some drama between Candy and a very nice Catholic lady...ummm, Elena? It got pretty nasty.

[Abby_B]

I found Free Jinger as a homeschool student who was completely creeped out by the Dugger TV specials and started looking them up online. (Before the show began.) Then, I found that Vision Forum snark was also included and started reading as a way to de-stress after homeschool conventions or spending time with fundie homeschoolers. I have some fundie royalty living near me so it's a way to vent when they try to take over homeschool events and do other stupid things.

[mpheels]

I used to read the TLC howevermany kids and counting boards, and someone mentioned FJ on there. I lurked for a while, a decided you all were much more fun.

[Sinister Rouge]

Emily (unintentionally) led me to Under1000BrainCells, which led me to FJ. Just in time, too, as I discovered Emily literally the day of her grand flounce from the internets, and a taste of fundie insanity is never enough.

[Spider Burps]

I honestly cannot remember! I want to say Razing Ruth (or maybe Googling about her)...?

[Coconut Flan]

I don't remember either. I lurked off and on for years though before joining.

[bellicosebroad]

I watched the Duggars' first couple of specials when I just thought they were nice but odd and before I knew they were nuts and enslaved their children; have only rarely watched since then. But I heard (on TWOP, I think? Can't quite remember and too lazy to check) that Josiah was blamed by his nutjob parents for J'chelle's miscarriage, wanted to know why, and googled it. Ended up here. :)

[Roycroft]

I used to read TWOP, mostly for the Sandra Lee snark, and discovered the Duggars in the process. Following posted links there led me to various fundie sites, and Googling for more Duggar snark led me here. FJ in turn led to the Maxwell blog, and they have replaced the Duggars as my primary object of horrified fascination. It's all part of the circle of revulsion! (Except for FJ, of course.)

[stacyf]

I got here through TWOP and the 19 Kids & Counting thread.

[brashchick]

Kathryn Joyce wrote an article on Salon about the Quiverfull movement (she was about to publish her book), and mentioned the blog No Longer Quivering, and I wanted to read more about it so I went to the blog, and I found FJ from there.

me too !

[wtylcf]

I was trying to find out what had happened to YLCF Natalie and discovered the yuku thread on it

Me too! I discovered the thread on yuku while it was still in progress and followed it over the course if several days while Mr. ference himself showed up, as did former ylcf editor Ashley, as did Natalie herself. I may snark on her beliefs held during her Ylcf days, but I'm so glad she's mellowed them out a bit and kicked that freeloading sociopath to the curb.

[manekineko]

I lurked at TWOP, and I lurked for ages at yuku, then decided to join when the rapture took place. I still mostly lurk, but I come here almost daily for entertainment and education. It's a cool place!

[Buzzard]

The blog post is gone now. :(

Taken down, but not forgotten. God Bless Google Cache!

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Apology to Carri Chmielewski

This has been an insanely busy week. Vyckie is here and we've been out touring the local landmarks. I've even managed to take her around the Virginia Piedmont here to show her that a mere 60 miles outside of Washington DC is pure countryside with the Blue Ridge mountains clearly visible from just about everywhere.

Jim is in Michigan visiting his high school pals. It was awesome that Vyckie was here when he left because he kept his losing things and yelling about it to a bare minimum. It was the most drama-less leave taking I've ever experienced. He even folding all the laundry before leaving and packed! Will wonders never cease?

The weather is super sucky right now, temps in the 100s, so I'm getting wacked by having a hard time pulling enough oxygen out of the air to keep going. So today I'm home huddling up under the ac vents. No touring today for me, at least not til later. Extremely exhausted.

But for months now I've had Carri Chmielewski on my mind, what went down when she was pregnant with her last child, Benaniah Chmielewski. Let me recap for those who don't know what the heck I'm going on about.

Back in May 2009 I was a member of a BBS by the name of Free Jinger. It was set up by a few people I knew from the Duggar family thread at Television without Pity boards. It was frustrating at TwoP because if we ever started to veer from something that directly happened on a 14 Children and Pregnant or later specials we were warned, giving board spankings and told what was and wasn't subjects for discussion. So a board was set up for us to talk about all things Duggar related and having to do with Fundamentalist Christianity.

For a long time the discussions were great, I learned a great deal from others about Quiverfull that I didn't know even if my old church was QF. We just didn't discuss the whys at church. I'd started posting at FJ just about the time I left my old church, which was also the same time I discovered the Duggars and would watch, laugh and point. It was part of my recovery process from the spiritual abuse I received at my old church.

At some point several at FJ started following the blogs of professed Quiverfull and Fundamentalist women. At first it was gentle jibing at FJ about their ways. Sometimes admiration. I know the first time I saw the sewing projects of Carri Chmielewski I was impressed. Many of us started reading Carri's blog. Eventually Carri ended up pregnant again, with baby number 9 (I cannot recall for sure if it was 8 or 9). She blogged about her pregnancy, and towards the end started posting descriptions of her symptoms that seemed to point to something not entirely 'right'. Carri was entirely against any type of medical intervention, feeling that using doctors was just another type of idolatry that displeases God.

We all became seriously worried for Carri at FJ. One member that lived near her became so concerned by Carri's mounting complications and concerns that she stopped by Carri's house with supplies for home birth and talked to Carri.

Very long story short, Carri went into labor and was with a very unqualified midwife when things went haywire and the result was Carri in ICU and a dead baby.

Because of the involvement of FJ in armchair quarterbacking the birth, after Benaniah was born dead FJ took a turn towards the ugly, some of which I participated in. New members flooded in and it was a Carri-pile on. Ironic since poor Carri wasn't really the problem, the problem (besides rejecting medical care) was the midwife, Brandi Woods, who apparently never officially finished her midwife training and is rumored to have a long list of dead babies because of her 'care'. Brandi kept telling Carri things like she was having twins even as the sonogram Carri got only showed one baby. Carri's symptoms and troubles sounded much more like a bout of eclampsia, not twins. But Brandi kept telling her wrong information that ended up having catastrophic consequences.

In the aftermath Carri closed her blog, there was a chorus of voices demanding justice on behalf of Benaniah and lots of very ugly things were said. I stopped participating in Free Jinger right then because of the lynch mob mentality this started and how the board immediately started jumping on every conservative Christian blogger, picking apart every facet of the blogger's life. Made me very uncomfortable.

Now three years later I've run across the scattered internet postings of some of the Chmielewski kids and realized that our moral outrage wasn't what was needed in that time. I should have investigated what we could have done to help out, raise money to pay what had to be a huge hospital bill, surrounded Carri and family in an atmosphere of love. I'm beginning to believe that's going to be the only way we get through to the hyper-religious to affect change is with love.

Carri, I'm so sorry. I'm sorry for the way you were treated. I'm sorry that your own sorry tragedy became fodder for a scoffing world. I hope you and your family are healing from this.

I'd still like to see Brandi Woods banned from midwifery but mostly I'd like to think that this family is experiencing some healing from the tragedy.

Posted by Calulu at 2:31 PM No comments:

calulu.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2012-09-05T19:44:00-05:00

[Don'tlikekoolaid]

Wow this is an oldie.

About a year before the sex pest debacle I was in a line at my bank.  My friend was with me and for some unknown reason we were speaking about the Duggars, I happened to mention I liked them.

A woman standing behind me tapped me in the shoulder and asked. “DID I HEAR YOU SAY YOU LIKE THE DUGGARS “?!!!!!

me: well yeah I kinda like them.

woman: You need to look up Free Jinger right away.

ummmm OK ....so I did, later when the sex pest thing happened I wondered what those Free Jinger people think of this.

and now here I am. ❤️

[2sweet4me]

I started out on TWoP on the GH sub-board ages ago.  Someone on there was talking about different snarky forums and somehow I got led here.  Did watch 19K&C starting in 2015 but love the snark on here so much I finally took the plunge and registered.