Seewalds 35: Silence is Golden

[allthegoodnamesrgone]

17 hours ago, Four is Enough said:

Here you go... a Texas homecoming mum. It's a little out of hand... but everything's bigger in Texas...

Just another reason to be glad I don't live in Texas.  How obnoxious, but I guess if this is what floats your boat, go big or go home!  I'm just glad I never had to make or wear one of these.

[Audrey2]

Add me to the 'would never make it in Texas" list. I don't have a crafty bone in my body, so having to make mum's sounds like one of the circles of hell to me. That said, I do acknowledge it is fun and cultural for some of you.

[cascarones]

2 hours ago, allthegoodnamesrgone said:

I'm just glad I never had to make or wear one of these.

It's also a popular seasonal business, so the non crafty have options to just buy and customize. Some people just really enjoy making them. This is one of the more popular shops with their "dazzle" options. One of my homecoming mums was a double from them with stuffed animals and a bunch of tulle I ended up accidentally ripping.  We had to cut the length so I could walk. https://www.mumsthewordsa.com/standard-length-mums.html

We were both on the shy side and weren't very close, so it was extra awkward. Even more awkward that his mom had a even more massive triple mum at the game, so I don't even want speculate on what she's like as a MIL.

[ihaveanexamintwodays]

37 minutes ago, cascarones said:

It's also a popular seasonal business, so the non crafty have options to just buy and customize. Some people just really enjoy making them. This is one of the more popular shops with their "dazzle" options. One of my homecoming mums was a double from them with stuffed animals and a bunch of tulle I ended up accidentally ripping.  We had to cut the length so I could walk. https://www.mumsthewordsa.com/standard-length-mums.html

We were both on the shy side and weren't very close, so it was extra awkward. Even more awkward that his mom had a even more massive triple mum at the game, so I don't even want speculate on what she's like as a MIL.

I'm normally quite the minimalist, but the weird tradition of mums was one of my FAVORITE things to do as a HSer in TX haha. Every October the countdown to hoco would start and I'd make my mum list - my junior year I made 4 mums, 1 garter, and 7 mini-mums. alllll the glitter and ribbons and it was magical lol.

[Carm_88]

Man I thought my prom dress was over the top. I would never make it in Texas, I would be miserable.

[Elvis Presby]

I love Texas.  Those mum things though, WTH?

 

[cascarones]

If it were a thing in Arkansas I could see Sierra selling them. Jeremy's church is pretty small and he may not know the tradition, but some churches youth groups would put on mum making nights the weekend before with supplies and you'd get a dose of purity and chastity with your glitter.  I still vaguely bad that we bailed on one halfway through because a friend lied and said I looked like I was about to have a migraine and needed to be taken home immediately. I did end up getting one later that night and someone else's Mom saw her sucking face at CiCi's instead of being at church so she got grounded, so I guess it evened out.

I'm ambivalent about my high school years, but I am glad I got to have them and experience it. A friend who homeschools is torn, she loved high school, best time of her life, and wants her kids to have that experience, but they more than likely won't ever go to private or public school.

Do we think since so many of the families are in Arkansas with children right around the same age they'll combine homeschooling? Their parenting styles seem different, so I assume education styles might be as well.

[Markie]

I wonder if Jessa has watched any of the Jane Austen films with Ben? My fav is the Colin Firth/ Jennifer Ehle version. 

[jozina]

Chrysanthemums are common enough here (Australia) and the supermarkets often have them for sale for Mother's Day, but I almost never hear them referred to as mums.  If someone said they were going shopping for mums I'd have no idea what they were on about, even if they said they were going to a plant shop.

Not touching the tinsel and ribbon things. Jesus.

[AprilQuilt]

10 hours ago, jozina said:

Chrysanthemums are common enough here (Australia) and the supermarkets often have them for sale for Mother's Day, but I almost never hear them referred to as mums.  If someone said they were going shopping for mums I'd have no idea what they were on about, even if they said they were going to a plant shop.

Not touching the tinsel and ribbon things. Jesus.

they're always called mums on flower stalls in the UK (probably bc 'chrysanthemum' is not the easiest thing to write out), but the ones in Jessa's car didn't look like chrysanthemums? so is it just a generic name for bedding plants there or something?

[Meggo]

13 hours ago, Markie said:

I wonder if Jessa has watched any of the Jane Austen films with Ben? My fav is the Colin Firth/ Jennifer Ehle version. 

I think you mean the ONLY version!! I can't watch any of the others.

[SamiKatz]

22 minutes ago, Meggo said:

I think you mean the ONLY version!! I can't watch any of the others.

I've grown to like the Keira Knightly one.  I love the Colin Firth one, but find the actors are really too old for their roles (even older looking than the KK one). The age thing is also my only issue with Emma Thompson's Sense & Sensibility, which is one of my favourite movies.

 

[Meggo]

1 hour ago, SamiKatz said:

I've grown to like the Keira Knightly one.  I love the Colin Firth one, but find the actors are really too old for their roles (even older looking than the KK one). The age thing is also my only issue with Emma Thompson's Sense & Sensibility, which is one of my favourite movies.

 

I think the Darcy in the KK one - is a complete whimp. 
And KK herself just ... didn't seem suited. 

[sleepy_doggos]

they're always called mums on flower stalls in the UK (probably bc 'chrysanthemum' is not the easiest thing to write out), but the ones in Jessa's car didn't look like chrysanthemums? so is it just a generic name for bedding plants there or something?

Nope, mums are always chrysanthemums, not just bedding plants. They might be different variations of mums though! I didn't check the picture.
According to the facts from LM Montgomery, mums used to be tiny floral heads and they bred them to be huge in the early 1900s (loved the flora included in her fiction)! Maybe the countries usually sell different sizes?

[nickelodeon]

On 10/1/2018 at 7:10 PM, ihaveanexamintwodays said:

In the season finale (up online now so I watched....i love all weddings haha) Ben mentions how a formal tea is very Jane Austen esque.... do I dare have hope that the Seewald children will be allowed to read *real literature*? O.o

Ben's family was associated with Vision Forum, and VF lurved Jane Austen as an example of godly daughterhood, courtship, and, most importantly, COSPLAY. (See also: Lady Lydia.) I wouldn't be surprised if Ben was familiar with Austen through those VF connections.

[sleepy_doggos]

Ben's family was associated with Vision Forum, and VF lurved Jane Austen as an example of godly daughterhood, courtship, and, most importantly, COSPLAY. (See also: Lady Lydia.) I wouldn't be surprised if Ben was familiar with Austen through those VF connections.

Good point. I wasn't a part of VF in any way, but in reading on FJ those VF ideas referenced Jane Austen as the historian of an idyllic era. Many more intelligent people have pointed out they completely ignore the subversive social commentary about gender roles and power in her writing.

[Mama Mia]

On 10/2/2018 at 10:11 AM, cascarones said:

Went to HS in Texas, it's bananas. Usually your date (or his mother) makes the extra massive one with bears/football numbers and you make him a garter (mini mum with ribbons that he wears on his bicep) the Friday before the dance. You also exchange mums with friends, regular sized but still with ribbons, bells, trinkets. You might even have a mum making night of craft madness. Some people make ring mums, some make lei mums, but everyone (literally everyone including teachers and anti-social/ emo/goth kids) walks around covered in mass amounts of fake flowers, ribbons and bells, they get pinned to backpacks, you make spares in case someone makes you one that you didn't make one for. It's.....something and nothing gets done on homecoming day other than mum petting and pie eating contests.

You only wear your date's to the homecoming game and at my HS football players mom's had them too.

Like most girls I had a mum wall in my bedroom where they all lived pinned to ribbons. Similar to below, except mine ran on ribbons.

  Reveal hidden contents

ETA: The madness starts at the pep rallies, our was officially Friday morning, but there was always a Thursday night beater car smash and bonfire. High school football and traditions really, truly are a huge thing there.

That’s one of the coolest traditions I’ve ever heard of. 

 

[just_ordinary]

Can I ask- how old are you at homecoming in the USA? Because I thought you are about 16. No way I would have shown off a teddy from my boyfriend or worse- his mother at that age. We were all about being  „cool“ and acting „soooo adult“ at that age (which involved drinking, smoking (fortunately this is less popular now and most people stopped around 20), some weed and parties, first holidays with just friends etc.). 16 and 18 are such big transitions in my country. Going for A-levels or starting work training with 16 often also means a huge drop of parental control. And at 18 you get your drivers license/are allowed to drive along, you are a legal adult which means and you are working or on your way to university which means a lot of people are also moving out. But I digress. 

I was just astonished because of the teddy and trinket decoration. We probably would have used condoms and had a good laugh about it, feeling so cool and casual.

US Highschool culture is so interesting to me because it is so so different. What I do love is the wide range schools offer for extra curricular activities. Our own education system could definitely benefit from this.

[cascarones]

@just_ordinary Homecoming is every year in HS so I was 14 at my first one. Prom (at least where I was) was only for the two upper years. I think mums are just a thing that gets a free pass, because even the cool kids who sneak smoked/ wore only black still wound up with them, but would sometimes use halloween trinkets so along with the little footballs on chains you'd see little skulls for their interests. My date one year was in math competitions so I put one of those tiny calculators along with little baseball bats for his sport, he got a huge crack out of it until everyone kept touching him to play with the calculator. Self expression by fake flower decoration.

Since it was very gender divided I wonder how it works now with more acceptance and the rules that now allow dates to be whoever (couples tickets were a few bucks cheaper, but had to be boy/girl).

[HermioneSparrow]

17 hours ago, Meggo said:

I think the Darcy in the KK one - is a complete whimp. 
And KK herself just ... didn't seem suited. 

To each their own. I think Jennifer Ehle is soooo wrong as Lizzie, not as free spirit and youthful as I think Lizzie should be. KK is the personification of Elizabeth to me.

Colin Firth is just perfect in everything he does, best Mr. Darcy EVER.

[Meggo]

1 hour ago, HermioneSparrow said:

To each their own. I think Jennifer Ehle is soooo wrong as Lizzie, not as free spirit and youthful as I think Lizzie should be. KK is the personification of Elizabeth to me.

Colin Firth is just perfect in everything he does, best Mr. Darcy EVER.

We can agree on Colin Firth - definitely. I'm going to have to watch it - I think I have a dvd of it somewhere - wonder if it even still works?

[Mama Mia]

5 hours ago, just_ordinary said:

Can I ask- how old are you at homecoming in the USA? Because I thought you are about 16. No way I would have shown off a teddy from my boyfriend or worse- his mother at that age. We were all about being  „cool“ and acting „soooo adult“ at that age (which involved drinking, smoking (fortunately this is less popular now and most people stopped around 20), some weed and parties, first holidays with just friends etc.). 16 and 18 are such big transitions in my country. Going for A-levels or starting work training with 16 often also means a huge drop of parental control. And at 18 you get your drivers license/are allowed to drive along, you are a legal adult which means and you are working or on your way to university which means a lot of people are also moving out. But I digress. 

I was just astonished because of the teddy and trinket decoration. We probably would have used condoms and had a good laugh about it, feeling so cool and casual.

US Highschool culture is so interesting to me because it is so so different. What I do love is the wide range schools offer for extra curricular activities. Our own education system could definitely benefit from this.

That’s exactly what made me think it was a really cool tradition.  My (and my kids) high school experience was much more similar to yours. I’m in the US, but in a different area. This is very region specific.

Something that makes crafts, family, going all-out, over the top, as a community - even if you’re usually off partying and confined to your different cliques, seems like a really good idea. 

[Four is Enough]

For those of you who live outside the US, you should also know that football, high school, college, or whatever, even the local PeeWee leagues, is more like RELIGION in Texas. So the entire community of parents, grandparents, students and friends is at every football game. So they tell me, anyway.

[KeepingChrysanthemum]

....I didn't foresee this day ever coming.  But I believe the mum/chrysanthemum thread drift has summoned me. .

I only ever heard chrysanthemums called "mums" and I'm from the US Midwest. I knew what it was short for and it inspired my username. 

So "keeping mum" is a phrase meaning to keep something secret, or to conceal or repress. 

Chrysanthemums symbolize joy/optimism. So the username is intended to symbolize being happy by overcoming repression. 

[just_ordinary]

@cascarones, @Mama MiaThanks for your explanations.

Different topic:

I absolutely adore Jennifer Ehle as Lizzy. She might be a bit old/portraits the character a bit more mature but she also beautifuly worked out all the character traits. The KK one is a tad too modern for my taste- but I do prefer Brain McFadden as Mr. Darcy. But my biggest Jane Austen love will ever be the BBC four part series of Emma with Romola Garai. Husband and I watch it every couple of months together (he likes it too).