Introduce Yourself

[stum_ble]

28, no kids, agnostic, living happily in sin. I heard of FJ on livejournal some years back, and promptly forgot until I got into a conversation with a friend of mine about the Duggars. I was not raised in a fundie family, but did work closely with a number of fundamentalists (some of whom I've seen mentioned here) for several years.

[Muriel]

Woman, 43, married, 3 kids (16/14/11), I have a master degree in Education and I'm an Educator for the French Juvenile Justice Council. I work in a prison filled with teen-aged delinquents :?

I live 20 miles south of Paris, don't have pets but a nice garden and I'm quite involved in my community.

I discovered the world of fundism years ago, while searching homemaking advice on the internet, I was quite overwhelmed at that time with a demanding job and 3 young children and found nothing on the French web about home organisation... I quickly found Candy and the wonderful world of Home Management Binder, the rest is history :lol:

[awmom]

Female, 31, married with a 14 month old son, live in the pacific northwest, my degree is in social work and I currently work part time as a therapist treating abused/traumatized children and teens. Religion-based child maltreatment is my not-so-secret obsession/fascination/source of unremitting rage. Got interested in it when my wacko fundie SIL posted on facebook about what a great book To Train Up a Child is :shock: . Started googling, ended up at No Longer Quivering and I was hooked. I love FJ because I just can't rage enough about people who treat their children like property and my husband can only listen to so much before he needs a break.

[mebeforee]

I'm 25 and female from Ohio, I have a college degree in English and I'm about to start a graduate program in creative writing. Unfortunately during the period between undergrad and grad school I have had to live at home with my parents because of financial reasons, and have been working for 2 years at a grocery store. Hoping that after I complete my MA I will have more options, but not really certain where I'm headed at the moment.

[BlackHawk]

I'm 41, I live in Central KY, where every one has a Bible in one hand and a gun in the other. And they'll beat you down with both. I am single, with one furry child, a beagadore I found on the side of the road. Never married. I have two masters in history and psychology and am using neither in my job, which is in computer forensics.

My religious views are from the church of apathy. I could argue for the existence of god, but I don't really care. The only gods I worship are those who play for the Detroit Red Wings.

I found FJ while trying to google who in the world LIKED the Duggars. I'm secretly trying to figure out which Dugglett will be gay, which one will fall into Heroin, which one will run away with gypsies and so on. I hope one of them learns how to construct a sentence in English and then writes a book called "Gothard Dearest".

woohoo another KYian! So excited that there are a few people now on the board from KY (where there used to be only me who admitted it!).

Welcome to all the newbies!

[constantgardener]

I've been here a few months now but don't think I've done the introduction bit yet! I am 36, married for 9 years and mum to two boys aged 6 and 8. I am also female headship to an assortment of creatures including cats, chickens and guinea pigs. I live in a village about 20 miles from Cambridge, England.

I have a degree in Fine Art but have retrained in horticulture and work part time running a plant sales centre for large heritage charity. I was raised a lop-sided sort of Catholic, then tried out various other churches before finally admitting to myself that I don't have a clue about God and probably never will. I have always been interested in lifestyles which are 'on the edge' both politically and spiritually, hence I ended up here!

[STLgirl]

Female, 30 living in St.Louis, Mo but I grew up on a farm in Southern Illinois. I'm married with a 2yr old. I'm also a social worker.

[Deleted07]

26 yr old Australian female, have traveled a bit and I read a lot. I went to ebil Catholik schools but am not one. I have always been very interested in all faiths and religions, as well as womens rights and the ways of the world and why people do what they do.

[Samantha]

I've never formally introduced my self here, so I'll go ahead and do so now....

I'm Sam. I'm currently 20 but I'll be 21 in August. Born and raised in rural Michigan. Currently in the process of transferring from a community college to a Big Ten University, which I'm really nervous about. I'm double majoring in Social Sciences and English, while working on teacher certification.

My mom introduced me to Free Jinger a couple years ago or so. My initial obsession (back in high school) was scientology and anything having to do with cults. Which led me to question my own beliefs and practices as a mormon. I was able to leave the cognitive dissonance behind and now consider myself an agnostic exmormon.

[Wandering]

18 year old female from the Southern US. Used to live in the St. Louis area. Currently attending college where I'm double majoring in Political Science and International Affairs.

[redcurls]

woohoo another KYian! So excited that there are a few people now on the board from KY (where there used to be only me who admitted it!).

Welcome to all the newbies!

Whoot! Fellow Kentuckians FJers make me so happy! Hi y'all.

Anyway, you can probably guess what I look like from the username. I'm in my early 20's, about to start my final year of undergrad at a college in Central KY. However, I've lived my whole life in NKY, very close to the hopefully-dead-site-of-the-Noah's-Ark-theme-park. I found FreeJinger through googling certain fundie issues I was encountering in real life, which lead me to the wedding of Peter and Kelly BRADRICK!, which lead me here.

[heinz57]

I'm 34, female, grew up in Poland to a lukewarm Catholic and a reluctant Jew, moved to France at 21, divorced, no kids, currently no headship in sight. Brought up catholic, but I've never understood some of its basic tenants, have been flirting with judaism since my teenage years. I have an MA and live a life of sloth and frivolity.

English is not my mother tongue, so I apologize for any and all mistakes.

I discovered FJ thanks to Lina (whom I discovered through Crazy Jewish Convert's blog). I started reading Lina with morbid fascination, so when she took down her blog (the 1st time) I googled her and bam! I found FJ and fell in love

Edited because I can't spell.

[Stynjen]

Hi, I'm Stephanie. I live in Pennsylvania with my husband, two daughters, two dogs and two cats.

I was raised Catholic, but managed to weasel out of it before being confirmed. We recently began attending a UU church.

I found FJ when someone on my mommy message board posted about Emily!

[Naga Viper]

Yay, I feel like a played a small part in reviving this thread! Surely there's enough newbie traffic to keep it on the front page this time...

Male, just turned 41, look nothing like my sexless man-woman avatar, happily childless, originally from Northern California (the Central Coast) but have lived in Los Angeles for the past eighteen years. I'm actually only a recent convert to fundie-watching—the Duggars were off my radar entirely until the Jubilee announcement, at which point I started following their thread on TWoP. Then when it got shut down for a while, I drifted here and lurked for several months before finally deciding I couldn't not throw in some occasional color commentary and mocking of hose beasts.

As far as my own background goes, I was baptized Episcopalian but it simply never took; I was out of there by age 4 and have never looked back or felt any particular void. I'm open to the existence of God, but to me, religion's only interesting on a purely anthropological level ("This is why these people bow down to this figure, this is why these people dance around this thingie, this is why these people pray with this whatzit on their heads..."), so I would describe myself as a devout apatheist.

[Sumeri]

Never formally introduced myself either! I'm 45, originally from Chicago but have lived in the Dakotas (both North and South) for 14 years. Husband and I have three grown and nearly grown sons, and a little girl. Also two dogs, a cat and three rats.

I live between many, many, many Hutterite colonies, and am also often in the company of many less communal fundies. The first one I followed online was Pilgrim Hen, but she seems to have stopped blogging and in any case was seemingly a nice, plain dressing woman. No hint of the cray cray that I have come to love FJ for.

The Thinking Housewife brought me here, talking of cray cray.

[gimlet]

I started lurking last fall, but only registered recently to offer vacation advice.

Single, late 30s, 2 cats, atheist. Currently living in the methlab of democracy, Arizona! However, I grew up in New Jersey in an area where the predominant religions were Catholic and Jewish. Everyone was irish, Italian, or Jewish, and often two out of three. There was also a population of Muslim kids in my school, so I was pretty comfortable with that, but I honestly did not realize that Christians that were not Catholic were a big thing until college. I have a real fascination/hate for restrictive, culty, unintellectual groups that remove themselves from society.

I did find Emily and Dna a few years ago and was boggled by them.

[Loveday]

I looked for a thread like this when I first joined, but couldn't find it so I just kind of jumped in and started posting. I'm 54, married, with two grown kids who still live at home (well, daughter lives at home part-time, she's away at college most of the year), and two cats. Former Methodist turned Catholic who now sometimes wonders what she was thinking, collector of vintage Pyrex and books on England, occasional cross stitcher, and dabbler in the herb garden (used to do a lot more gardening, but bad back and arthritis in general have put paid to much of that). I'm mainly an online genealogist these days, when I'm not skulking around here getting my FJ fix.

Can't remember now what brought me here, but it was likely some post about the Duggars over on ONTD; someone probably mentioned FJ in a comment and it sounded so irresistible I had to check things out. I lurked for a long time, finally decided to join and participate. I'm not very good at snarking out loud--I can think good snark, but it never seems to come out quite right when I try to say it!-- but I appreciate good snark, and FJ has some of the best to be found anywhere. :clap:

Edited because I neglected to mention I live in Virginia. ;)

[hoipolloi]

Late to the party!

57, live in the western US, married 33+ years, one grown child (who's a great person, if I say so myself). Ph.D. in anthropology, work as an archaeologist.

Raised UU in the midwest but accompanied Methodist grandma & family members to many church events & services. Those churches were normal. Never saw this wacked out fundie stuff until it began oozing into US politics & society in the 1980s. So glad to have FJ fighting the good fight against these jerks.

[darareaksmey]

I think I've introduced myself before, but I guess it never hurts to keep shaking hands all around. I'm 52, female, married, mother of two adopted, public-school-attending teens. I'm a lifelong ELCA Lutheran, and I don't play well with the fundies of the world. DH is a majorly lapsed Catholic who sorta forgot his promise to raise the kids Catholic, so they were baptized Lutheran and we all attend there. I'm a college grad (poli sci) with a JD, but I no longer practice law, and I'm a lot saner for having quit it.

ETA: Forgot that you asked where we live. I am in SC, having lived my whole life in the Carolinas.

[Mela99]

Melissa!

Born and raised in central Pennsylvania, two years ago transplanted to the capitol city of Michigan for some legal education.

Three fur babies [hoping for real ones eventually], one technological baby [my Keurig] recent homeowner, happily in love and waiting for an engagement ring from my other half.

Bleeding heart liberal, old-school Catholic [contemporary churches freak me out] and unapologetic feminist, and yeah, those three sides clash every now and then.

Obsessed with cooking, gardening, string cheese and sleeping.

[guidedbybobafett]

25, major Midwestern city. Currently finishing a much-prolonged BA. Unmarried, no kids.

[OkToBeTakei]

43 One child. Live in 'sin' with my headship. If I told him he was a headship he would think I wanted to go on a Cruise most likely.

Raised a catholic by 2 Irish catholics. But they are just amazing, and whilst bringing us all up to be good, sound, educated individuals. Always gave us choice.

I have no strong religious views. AT ALL.

I came here via the 'Duggar' route. Any type of extreme view perturbs me.

I love Scifi.

[MysteryHaggis]

I'm 23, I live in Glasgow,Scotland and am currently writing up my MPhil research degree while trying to find funding for my Doctorate. Rock and/or roll!

I found Freejinger through some DuggarSnark on another forum. I've always been fascinated by extreme religious views and the psychology behind them, so I feel right at home here :)

[notacleverpony]

27, New England, USA, former Navy brat, oldest of four. Raised fundamentalist/traditional Catholic in a cultic, far-right-wing home, homeschooled from 6th grade to end of high school, disowned/shunned. BA in English (what the hell do you do with it?), currently employed full-time. Out bisexual with female-sexed fiancee (thank Celestia we live up here!), no children/childfree. Liberal, atheist, skeptic, feminist, humongous geek. ^_^

This site has been better (and cheaper) than therapy for me. Thank you all for letting me know I'm not alone. *hugs!*

[divadivine]

I'm in my 30's and I live in the Crossroads of America- That would be Indianapolis. I was raised Baptist in a town that has one stoplight. I had known 99% of the kids I graduated high school with since Kindergarten. Not. Even. Joking. I went to a Baptist College (only by coincidence... it is a very good school and yes, it has accreditations out the ying-yang) where I earned a BA in Elementary Education. I need to add that my Baptist College is really just loosely affiliated with the Baptist Church. The school is very liberal. Very, very liberal.

I taught school for eleven years until I decided I really didn't love teaching. I loved the students. I loved learning. I loved to see students learning. I just hated everything else about teaching. So, I handed in my letter of resignation (effective at the end of that school year) and went about trying to decide what I really wanted to be when I grew up. I settled on the non-profit sector. I write educational curriculum and materials for a major international non-profit. I'm doing this until I hit the lottery, write a fabulous best selling novel or Taylor Swift makes me her back-up singer.

I was always very curious about the Catholic religion. I had friends who were Catholic and I would ask them tons of questions about their religion. When I was in second grade, I secretly wanted to be a Nun when I grew up. Yes, a Baptist Nun. That would have been a first. Excellent topic for my book, huh?

So, when I was teaching (early in my career) I was at a Catholic School. I went through RCIA and converted. I feel at home in the Catholic Church. It makes sense to me. Unlike Baptist Church where they just yelled at you from the pulpit and told you that you were a sinner and you were going to hell. Seriously, that would be enough to make any little kid run away!

I found FJ when I was looking up fundie stuff one night. I found some thread about Emily and her bat-shit cray-cray antics. I was hooked!!

I'm a big dork- I paint pottery, sing in the choir and as a cantor and read lots of books. I enjoy the beach (Panama City Beach, Florida is my favorite) and I traveled around Ireland for three weeks by myself about 8 years ago for fun. I paid for a majority of my trip by selling stuff on eBay and giving up pedicures and trips to Target.