YLCF => Kindred Grace: New or Same Old, Same Old?

[hoipolloi]

Looks like Gretchen is trying to rebrand YLCF into a more inclusive website called Kindred Grace (kindredgrace.com/):

stepping forward in grace

by Gretchen Louise on January 14, 2013

...

In the same way, this website is the growth chart of a group of young women. When YLCF first went online in 1998, there were few blogs or sites for Christian girls. We compiled every encouraging email forward or pithy quote; the blog posts were the length of Facebook statuses. As a team of writers gathered here, the posts became longer and more personal in nature; they told of love stories and journeys in contentment. It was a time of much personal growth for many of us, and our writing reflected our stages.

The Team has spent the last month praying over each page and post of YLCF. It seemed we could not step forward in grace without leaving part of the past behind.

We’ve tried to keep the milestones that stood out on our growth chart. We pray we’ve been able to eliminate the chaff, while keeping the grain.

Our archives are lighter now, as are our hearts. And we have taken a new name, for a new season.

Because we are kindred sisters in and because of His grace, the Young Ladies Christian Fellowship is now Kindred Grace.

Can't see much difference.

[Free2BeMe]

Nope, it sounds a lot like the same hokey-pokey they were bloviating about before.

Same cupcake, different holiday.

[Lostie]

It doesn't seem to have much to it yet.

Maybe it will be a less... Preachy and judgmental space than YLCF seemed to have been. I have a feeling I might be hoping for too much though.

[wtylcf]

Looks like Gretchen is trying to rebrand YLCF into a more inclusive website called Kindred Grace (kindredgrace.com/):

Can't see much difference.

Darn you, Gretchen! Now nobody will be able to make sense of my username! (shakes fist)

[erunerune]

Gretchen has quit using the C-word for her Marriage Hall 'o Fame previously known as "Courtship Stories"!!!!

They are now Luuuuuuv Stories. And I'm sure that the re-boot/re-name included expunging those that ended in divorce and/or disaster.

It also says that the archives have been winnowed down? Someone please explain this to me kthxbai.

[hoipolloi]

It also says that the archives have been winnowed down? Someone please explain this to me kthxbai.

Now you see it, now you don't. Easy peasy!

[bea]

I had no idea. Hmmm - I was wondering at a post by Gretchen on her blog about the things she used to write and winces over because she knows better now, or something along those lines.

But hey, I'm sure being open about the fact that people get older and real life changes them and sometimes we grow up would be too much to ask for - just switch the domain name, purge the archives, and ta-da! No one has ever said anything embarrassing!

Hopefully "Kindred Grace" will have something besides the insipid pap that's been passing for content on YLCF lately. But my hopes are not high.

[silvia]

Hmmm, I haven't had a chance yet to try to figure out which posts have been purged from the archives. I guess I'm on board with what Gretchen is trying to do here--promote a less rules-bound version of Christianity than she espoused in her younger years--but what still seems to be missing is a transparent acknowledgment of exactly what it was she got wrong back then. That would be a lot more helpful, counseling readers to avoid the judgmental mistakes she herself made. Instead we have this posts-disappearing-into-the-ether nonsense again, just like we did when Natalie was booted from the site. What is it about a fundamentalist upbringing that seems to make some people want to pretend their past missteps never existed, or at least to avoid naming them outright?

[silvia]

Also, I can't help but wonder whether past critical commentary from FJ helped spur this rebranding. I kind of suspect so.

[erunerune]

Is it just me, or when fundies ask for "grace" what they really mean is "I said something ignorant/catty/just plain st00pid on teh internetz & I'd appreciate it if y'alls would just ignore it like I intend to"?

[hoipolloi]

Also, I can't help but wonder whether past critical commentary from FJ helped spur this rebranding. I kind of suspect so.

To paraphrase an old saying, from our keyboards to Gretchen's ears... :whistle:

[Jencendiary]

It sounds more like an Orwellian purge than any actual new direction.

Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia.

[wtylcf]

Come to think of it, "Kindred Grace" is reminiscent of L.M. Montgomery's term in the Anne of Green Gables books, "Kindred Spirits," (which sounds much better, and is even sort of religious-sounding! ), but perhaps this was not used to avoid Montgomery foundation copyright infringement.

[erunerune]

"Kindred Grace" is a bit of a clunker as a name (I agree that "kindred spirits" is more commonly known & a better pairing, but not sure that LMM can lay sole claim to the phrase).

I think that piling onto the "grace" bandwagon is one of the latest "things" for fundies to say they are doing to try to be relatively less annoying and legalistic. Which, hey, cool.

[1CrazyMama]

Sounds like an opportunity to shrug off everything from people that have left or have changed their beliefs....normal fundy spin!

[silvia]

The design is not so bad overall--clean and simple, which is fine. But why in heaven's name are there blood drips coming off of the "G" in the logo? Is that to remind us of the Cross?

[silvia]

And, uh, yeah, the "values" page looks to be EXACTLY the same as that of YLCF, wifely submission and all: http://kindredgrace.com/values/. So I concur with those who are saying same horse, different name.

[bea]

I saw that too. Sigh. I was hoping for more.

What is WITH the dripping G? Is it dissolving? Crying? Bleeding?

[erunerune]

I think the "G" looks like it has barbed wire on it. Kindred Gretchen's personal hedge of thorns might be a stretch tho.

[clarinetpower]

The G drips with sweetness. :puke:

No, they are probably trying to make it look old fashionedy. (Sorry about the lack of hyphens. Spilled a beer on my keyboard last night and that was a casualty.)

[hoipolloi]

Maybe dripping capital letters is an Allume thing - you know, latest & greatest for lady gurus of the interwebs.

[darkplumaged]

Maybe the drips on the G are buds? Representing growth? But I doubt much actual intellectual growth will be in evidence on the site.

[silvia]

Come to think of it, "Kindred Grace" is reminiscent of L.M. Montgomery's term in the Anne of Green Gables books, "Kindred Spirits," (which sounds much better, and is even sort of religious-sounding! ), but perhaps this was not used to avoid Montgomery foundation copyright infringement.

Yeah, plus "spirits" sort of conjures up hobgoblins and demons and all that weejy-board stuff, and we can't have that coming from webmistresses who won't touch Halloween with a ten-foot pole.

[wtylcf]

The G drips with sweetness. :puke:

No, they are probably trying to make it look old fashionedy. (Sorry about the lack of hyphens. Spilled a beer on my keyboard last night and that was a casualty.)

In my alternate universe reading of the metaphoric content of the new logo, Gretchen is so hardcore she's tagging that G all up over that oldschool K. Her new shit is so fresh that the paint's dripping. So badass and breaking-the-rules that it's hanging below that stern legalistic border dividing the upper from the lower part of the page. As above, so below, bitches!

(seriously, that graphic is a mess. Also I may have been watching too many episodes of The Wire in the recent past.)

[wtylcf]

"Kindred Grace" is a bit of a clunker as a name (I agree that "kindred spirits" is more commonly known & a better pairing, but not sure that LMM can lay sole claim to the phrase).

I think that piling onto the "grace" bandwagon is one of the latest "things" for fundies to say they are doing to try to be relatively less annoying and legalistic. Which, hey, cool.

I agree with you re: the positive aspect of "grace" becoming a new manifesto. But, yes, Kindred Grace is somehow unsatisfying as a phrase (as well as clunky), because it's kind of ambiguous. If you're already kindred, is grace really so necessary between you since you already have that special bond? Perhaps I'm reading too much into this. It is a branding improvement over YLCF in terms of clarity though; I'll give her that.