minicorpse

it is exactly this kind of attitude that enabled so much abuse (sexual child abuse in my case) to go unchecked in TWI for decades. i feel like i'm 5 years old again. barf

my parents who are still in say everything is just peachy! but for some reason i doubt it...

excuse me while i go barf now... oldies you make me sick.

when i was a youngin' in da werd, twigs basically consisted of the following: not wanting to hug people, getting in trouble for not hugging people, hoping not to get called upon to SIT, having to listen to other people FAKE SIT (and being totally creeped out by it), not being able to find bible verses quick enough, hoping i didn't get made an example of by unknowingly wearing the wrong shirt or having a less-than-blessed expression on my face, being totally bored out of my mind! and the constant fear of getting whacked by the spoon, er rod... so uhhh letsseee... twig sucked!

really? skunk? i always remember it smelling like cow poop... now there's an idea...

of course you don't. neither did TWI. wikipedia says: "In keeping with the Latin etymology of the word, religious believers have often seen other religions as superstition. Likewise, atheists, agnostics, deists, and skeptics regard religious belief as superstition... From the broadest perspective, all religion is a form of superstition. Religious practices are most likely to be labeled "superstitious" by outsiders when they include belief in extraordinary events (miracles), an afterlife, supernatural interventions, apparitions or the efficacy of prayer, charms, incantations, the meaningfulness of omens, and prognostications." i am reminded here of TWI's self-righteous (ie: cultish) habit of using terms like "religious" or even "christian" in a pejorative sense to apply to everyone but themselves. meanwhile they are just calling the kettle black. all belief systems are all just different means to the same ends...

remember LCM's comment that no one should ever need to see a shrink because they should just be able to pray and believe all their problems away? now i understand why TWI is so anti-psychotherapy! heaven forbid we ever talk about our problems! basically i grew-up with my parents telling me everyday that if i was feeling anxious or depressed it was because of my faulty believing. so not only did i feel like crap, but then i felt even crappier because i was such a crappy believer! meanwhile my mother is thanking god for every stupid little green light and the parking space closest to the mall, because she is such a great believer. what a crock.

first of all, loved it! second of all, does anyone know TWI's stance on potter? i mean, both my innie parents read the books and see the films... but when i was a kid i couldn't even watch care bears! WTF? i suppose this is more of a rhetorical question than anything else.. but WTF?

i got a BFA in painting and now i'm working on my MFA. i'm also teaching and having a wonderful time of it. thanks for asking!

so does that mean there's no 6 am yoga-for-the-lord? (or whatever the heck they call it). how strange. does this mean it's open to the public now?

ok, sorry, i just want resurrect this threat because i think it's so durn funny! i personally still have my old green F12 tag-- why? i have no idea because in every single photo of me in rez (or children's camp) i am never wearing it! not once! though curiously i did have a nametag for one of my favorite stuffed animals made at ROA one year... yes, i was a major dork. here's are great poll idea: what kind of name tag embellisher were you? -fabric rose stickers? -any lame stickers? -rounded corners? (who else tried to saw off the corners of their tags on the pavement while waiting for the rome city PS bus in the morning? i always got in caught... alas, i was never cool, even in FC. sigh). -plastic clip converter? -staffey wood panel tag? c'mon, we know who you are! (oh, man i was always in envy of those fake wood-paneled veneer staff tags! they were so 70's looking!!) ----uh...what else?

SHOCK! HORROR! lindyhopper, i am afraid for you...

whew, no kidding! i think most of us junior/mini c's are still having a really hard time even acknowledging that what went on every single freakin' day in the corps was indeed ABUSE. we were conditioned to accept it from the get-go, never mind what all the MOGs did to cover up after the fact. we were never allowed to question anything, ever, for fear of being "off the word" or worse... still trying to get my brain un-washed

i voted for the tomatoes! yay! but in (scary) reality, my parents still go to SNS quite often and would be more than happy to take me. or any of you, probably, if you're interested.

well, since no one has yet written from the kid's pov in this thread, i think i'll do it. i saw my mother degraded repeatedly by TWI. for one thing, she has always made more money than my dad and though this was never an issue for him initially, TWI made it an issue. they told him he wasn't being the proper head of his household (or something to that effect). as a result he started working crazy hours that left him almost zero time with us and almost destroyed my parent's marriage. (not to mention that it didn't leave him much time for corps meetings and various other TWI crap, so he got grief from leadership for that too). it also drove me crazy as a kid because since my dad was never home i could never get permission to do anything. i knew my mom was capable and intelligent enough to make decisions but she just couldn't say "yes" or "no" without my dad's ok. he was usually so tired when he got home at night that he just didn't care, so ultimately it was up to mom anyway. very confusing for a kid. TWI's dissatisfaction with our family even went so far that in the mid nineties some leadership jerk accused my dad of being a "homo." it was directly related to what they perceived as my dad's inability to force my mom to submit to him (ie: make less money, keep her mouth shut, etc). so he must be gay if he wants to be married to someone like my mom who can actually think for herself!? (okay, i won't even pretend to understand TWI logic here). in reality we never had so many problems before TWI butted its ugly head in and started trying to run every aspect of our lives with its legalism. i won't even get started on my own personal experiences as being a young girl growing up in TWI... but even as a youngster in the minicorps i had a very clear idea of who was superior-- and it wasn't us girls! fo sho!

i have been watching this thread for awhile and i have been wanting to write but i just feel too overwhelmed. there is just way too much i could say about this topic... i was 6/7 yrs old in rez, which means that although i may be fuzzy on some details i still remember A LOT... and most of what didn't involve just having fun with my minicorps friends is pretty creepy. in fact, i would say that about half of my memories of my time in rez are of something sexual or sex related. for years i kept older men in TWI at arms length and generally felt creeped out by all MOGs who ever tried to touch me in any way. i could go on, but i don't think anyone besides my shrink needs to hear all those gory details... and mostly i guess i just wanted to say "me too," just to get it out there and support everyone. you guys rock. ps: for anyone still in doubt: yes, GB was a major creep. with a capital C.

seesh i don't know how people can just sit there in the auditorium and watch that stuff without cracking up! or barfing. and what really sucks is that you can't just escape into the bathroom to get away from it because they pipe that crap all over the grounds! and believe me, as an early teen i tried to get out of services any way i could! gggaaagggg so glad i'm out!

yeah, "family camp" it was great! i hardly saw my family at all! i was an early teen at the time, and the other teens were pretty cool. all we wanted to do was flirt with the boys and escape into the woods to make-out. we hardly talked "da werd" at all. what a relief! unfortunately i do remember getting bossed around for a whole week by L.P. and co. he did try to connect with the teens, but mostly he was just a jerk. all those activities were totally lame-- except rafting. that was kinda cool. but that geriatric-type yoga crap we had to do every morning!? i was always getting in trouble for not being enthusiastic and "blessed" enough to being doing jumping jacks for the lord at 6am... almost felt like i was back in the corps... grrrr.

wow you're good! it is true, the faculty at rome city public schools totally hated our wayfer guts! and i am not exaggerating. they were mean mean mean. one day, in first grade, i sat down unknowingly in some gum on my chair which then promptly adhered itself to my dress. i was mortified, but guess who got in trouble for it? me! guess who had to go to time out? me! guess who got spanked when they got home? yup. me. some of the hatrid we somewhat earned though. i was a trouble maker, even at school. i think i was either very angry or very neglected (or both) because i was always getting into fights with other (non-way) kids. i would wreck their projects (even kids who were not even in my own class), mark on their homework, steal their homework, throw tantrums and refuse to do pretty much everything that didn't involve recess. once i got in a fight in the girl's bathroom and got sent to the principals office with one other girl-- and i swear to god that there was something that looked like a very large cricket bat hanging on the wall behind his desk. he never said a word about it, but we swore we would be good from that moment on... yeah right. i don't remember ever being spanked at school though. but i'm sure i lived in constant terror of all adults anyway.

wow, thanks so much for those links belle! now i have something to do for the next 5 hours... also, i just want to add: GIVEAWAY! OH THE AGONY! BARF!!!

man, that place sure was big, especially for us kids. i am still having a hard time just remembering all the grounds and buildings. when you mentioned the big wheels (i had a cabbage patch kids one) i suddenly remembered that there were horses there! horses! TWI sure had some dough back then... that place was a world all its own... what else? how about the snack shop? what i want to know is who ever had the money to buy snacks with? i sure didn't... my folks would just try to appease me with the carob chips in the trail mix, as if it were an acceptable substitute for a snickers bar. they were all such hippies, it was so obvious. there was freakin' powdered KELP on the tables. who ever used that? and what for? all i ever wanted as a kid was processed food. all the kids at school had pringles. i don't even remember what we ate... i just know it came in a brown bag and it was terrible... *sigh*

speaking of reciting bible verses... in residence during lunch they would hold this sort of contest (though no one actually won anything of course, except maybe brownie a** kissing points with the FC coordinator) to see who could say the books of the bible the fastest. (from memory and in order). so this one day this smart-azz kid gets up there and just goes "bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz" for about 45 seconds. it was hilarious! everyone laughed. then we all got yelled at. and the poor kid got creamed. i repeat: *finger wagging* "no fun should ever be had at the expense of the bible! PERIOD!" or something like that... i personally always get stumped somewhere around nayhumhabbukuckablahblahblah... guess jesus will be very dissapointed in me at the gathering together... or will it be king james? will he be there to quiz us? jerks.

doughboy! you know, as much as i like to wallow and mope about everything i endured a big reason why i come to this site is to read posts exactly like yours! i love remembering the good times we all had as kids at the IC, (even though some of the adults who ran the place were total a-holes). i love love loved children's camp! i thought it was even better than ROA, because it was just for kids (even though Gxxx B. jerk ran it). some of my happiest memories are of a million kids running around like crazy during "capture the flag" games. or when they would turn that whole hill into a gigantic slip-in-slide (and then sledding down it in the winter). getting totally creeped-out by all the cripts around uncle harry hill-- and who or what is buried in that big white thing anyway!? i could never get a straight answer... i loved sneaking into the gigantic walk-in freezer in the kitchens in the summer (and then getting chased out and/or spanked by staff and then dropping something totally disgusting into the already disgusting looking enormous tub of thousand island dressing. sorry all, but i still can't eat that stuff). getting lost in the sauer kraut tunnels... wait, what!!?? why why why, my god, was there so much sauer kraut? i was definitely a trouble maker. i was always somewhere i shouldn't have been, getting into something. i never did get to go up to the tower, though i heard many rumors... i am totally jealous!