Stephen Hammer at Harvard

[JermajestyDuggar]

After reading their love story, the only thing that I can think about is how absolutely romantic it must have been to get engaged at a plantation built on the backs of slaves, run by a man that had 6 kids with his dead wife's slave teenage half sister through many years of slave rape. Stephen sure knows how to sweep a girl off her feet.

[Tangy Bee]

On 3/24/2017 at 7:38 AM, formergothardite said:

Most people would read that story and realize it sounds like the making of a horror film, but with a splash of Jesus mixed in and the Alexanders thought it was an answer to prayer.

Wait wait! Are you all saying that Stephen "admitted"  to lurking on the internet for a submissive virgin to marry!?! I use to read Meredith's blog. How did I miss this?? I bet all the veteren FJers remember Lina. She found her (crazy, trying to find the perfect religion) husband on the internet. Or maybe he found her. Can't remember plus I heard they are not together. Not dissing internet love. But when you are a sheltered SAHD, with no sense of reality of outside world...things can turn into a V.C  Andrews novel pretty fast!

[GenerationCedarchip]

29 minutes ago, Tangy Bee said:

Wait wait! Are you all saying that Stephen "admitted"  to lurking on the internet for a submissive virgin to marry!?! I use to read Meredith's blog. How did I miss this?? I bet all the veteren FJers remember Lina. She found her (crazy, trying to find the perfect religion) husband on the internet. Or maybe he found her. Can't remember plus I heard they are not together. Not dissing internet love. But when you are a sheltered SAHD, with no sense of reality of outside world...things can turn into a V.C  Andrews novel pretty fast!

I agree that for the over-sheltered, it can be easy to get into some crazy stuff. While Mer was a a SAHD, I'm not sure I'd describe her as being totally cut off from the outside world in the sense of someone like Sarah Maxwell. She handled a lot of the business side of her family's farm and from what I understand from mutual acquaintances, that included negotiating marketing agreements for their products all over central Virginia. I shop at a few businesses that sell Alexander products, and the owners run a wide range from fellow conservative Christians to very liberal "crunchy" types to a business run by someone I'd consider hardcore Maxwell or Anderson-esque fundie. So, she may not have been the most worldly woman out there but she definitely had some exposure to the world outside her family.

With regard to Stephen, correct me if I'm wrong, but I seem to remember from the blog that all Stephen and Meredith said directly was that he had found her blog while doing some random cruising around Google, and that he had been struck by how different Meredith's goals were from what he was more used to seeing in women his age. I think the "looking for a submissive virgin to marry" was extrapolated from that by all of us here speculating. I'll admit there have been times when I've wondered if Stephen had some kind of master plan to marry the "right" wife, have a family, burnish his credentials and run for high office. However, the more I see of them, the more I wonder if maybe he's just a conservative guy with an academic bent whose ambitions lean more toward the bench or academia,  and raising a family. Reading minds isn't my superpower, but I suppose time will tell.

[Tangy Bee]

 

1 hour ago, GenerationCedarchip said:

I agree that for the over-sheltered, it can be easy to get into some crazy stuff. While Mer was a a SAHD, I'm not sure I'd describe her as being totally cut off from the outside world in the sense of someone like Sarah Maxwell. She handled a lot of the business side of her family's farm and from what I understand from mutual acquaintances, that included negotiating marketing agreements for their products all over central Virginia. I shop at a few businesses that sell Alexander products, and the owners run a wide range from fellow conservative Christians to very liberal "crunchy" types to a business run by someone I'd consider hardcore Maxwell or Anderson-esque fundie. So, she may not have been the most worldly woman out there but she definitely had some exposure to the world outside her family.

With regard to Stephen, correct me if I'm wrong, but I seem to remember from the blog that all Stephen and Meredith said directly was that he had found her blog while doing some random cruising around Google, and that he had been struck by how different Meredith's goals were from what he was more used to seeing in women his age. I think the "looking for a submissive virgin to marry" was extrapolated from that by all of us here speculating. I'll admit there have been times when I've wondered if Stephen had some kind of master plan to marry the "right" wife, have a family, burnish his credentials and run for high office. However, the more I see of them, the more I wonder if maybe he's just a conservative guy with an academic bent whose ambitions lean more toward the bench or academia,  and raising a family. Reading minds isn't my superpower, but I suppose time will tell.

Ok this makes more sense to me now. I guess it's more like a fan marrying someone famous. Sorry for over reacting.

[gustava]

He 's a creep. 

[LurkerOverThePond]

Ah, the double standard. Remember when Meredith wrote a letter to a friend and fellow-SAHD who decided to go to college. She was so disappointed and sounded even jealous (she really is a bright woman who would have done well at college and beyond) when begging her friend to reconsider her decision. She wrote that the friend's GOATS were missing her! 

And then comes Stephen... he's a Rhodes scholar! He graduated from Princeton!! And now he's studying at Oxford!!! Such an educated brilliant man!!!!

[formergothardite]

5 hours ago, LurkerOverThePond said:

Ah, the double standard. Remember when Meredith wrote a letter to a friend and fellow-SAHD who decided to go to college. She was so disappointed and sounded even jealous (she really is a bright woman who would have done well at college and beyond) when begging her friend to reconsider her decision. She wrote that the friend's GOATS were missing her! 

And then comes Stephen... he's a Rhodes scholar! He graduated from Princeton!! And now he's studying at Oxford!!! Such an educated brilliant man!!!!

Exactly. Does anyone think Stephen would have seen Meredith as someone to pursue if she had the same educated he has?