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penworks

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Status Updates posted by penworks

  1. Sometimes people who have not yet read my memoir, Undertow, get the impression from articles I write about The Way, that I think everyone ever involved with The Way was "bad."

    Not true.

    What I think is that an array of people with a myriad of interests, needs, and talents, were caught in the high-control group of The Way just as I was. Some of the kindest people you'd ever meet showed me loving kindness and offered support in many ways. Often.

    The "people problem" I had with Way believers came about when it was discovered I no longer held Way beliefs as true, no longer clung to the belief that Wierwille was a great man of God. Then I was shunned.

    Sadly, when a person rejects the beliefs and practices of a group they'd been enmeshed in for years and years, they usually lose the friends who remain in the group. So, they must start over. They must make a new path in life and find new friends. That's what happened to me.

    The upside for me is that a couple of people I was friends with in The Way left the organization around the same time I did, and we've remained friends ever since. Our close ties have stood the test of time. Friendship for friendship's sake lives on for us. 

    For that, I'm deeply humbled.

    I'm grateful for all the good people I met at The Way.

     

  2. If you want a free copy of The Way: Living in Love by Elena Whiteside, send me a message through this website. I'll mail it to you. And I'll pay the media mail postage.

    FYI - I see copies on AbeBooks for more than $100!

    1. penworks

      penworks

      Someone has taken me up on this offer today, so sorry, no more free copy.

  3. This is a "private message on my own feed."

    My second book will be published in the Spring, 2022, in paperback and ebook, available from major booksellers.

    For updates on its progress and pub date details, visit https://charleneedge.com. What it's about:

    From the Porch to the Page: A Guidebook for the Writing Life is Charlene L. Edge’s most recent book—a delightful multi-genre collection with something for every reader and writer.

     Edge’s prose is crisp and to-the-point, her voice discerning yet collegial, speaking friend-to-friend, as she shares stories, realizations, and moments of beauty. At the heart of the collection are more than thirty short essays, containing insights into the writing craft, practical exercises, marketing tips, self-publishing advice, and recommendations of books on topics to nourish the emotional and intellectual lives of writers.

     As well as exploring beloved authors and poets, Edge includes her own work to illustrate and enrich her essays: short-short stories about a character, Melanie Craven, who falls into sticky but enlightening predicaments; poems on themes of growth, love, loss, nature, travel, and being a writer; and an article about Edge’s cult experience that preceded her award-winning, book-length memoir Undertow: My Escape from the Fundamentalism and Cult Control of The Way International.

     Beginning with “Readers Become Writers” and ending with “If You Want to Keep Writing,” Edge’s encouraging and gentle book guides us on a journey from porches to pages, as she highlights the vistas, detours, and delights on the writing path, along with truths we can all apply to poetry, prose, and life.

    1. Stephen J. Spencer

      Stephen J. Spencer

      Charlene,

      I very much look forward to your second book. The first was a classic!

    2. penworks

      penworks

      Thank you, Stephen! 

      Happy new year.

    3. Stephen J. Spencer

      Stephen J. Spencer

      You too, Charlene!

  4. Not sure why my status is "Newbie" since I've been posting here for 14 years, since 2007. Verrrry interesting.

  5. Dear Annio,

      Good heavens ... I just read your post about being sexually abused in TWI. I'm so sorry you suffered all that disgusting crap. Please know I'm sending loving thoughts your way and so admire your courage in speaking out. I only wish the guilty ones, especially VPW, had gone to jail. Perhaps in the future a group of those abused might be able to organize and file a lawsuit. But all that seems so difficult. Sigh.

    Best wishes for your continued healing, Annio. Cheers to you, brave woman.

    Charlene

  6. Hi JavaJane,

       I noticed you recently wrote:

    The first time I read a thread from Greasespot was when I saw a print out of it on Rosalie's desk while I was cleaning.  I wasn't prying, just dusting around things.  But I do remember that moment very well.  At that point I was already questioning the things I saw at HQ, and it struck me as odd that the woman in charge of the ministry was having someone print these things from a website that was so "devilish."

    My question: Do you happen to remember the subject of that printout or who wrote it? Just curious. I knew Rosalie, although not well. She was in charge of the Publications dept. when I was on the Research Team 1984-1986.

    Cheers,

    Penworks

    1. JavaJane

      JavaJane

      I wrote about it somewhere on here a long while back when the memory was fresher.  I will see if I can find it for you.

    2. JavaJane

      JavaJane

      I can't find it.  I will try again tomorrow.  Turns out I posted a LOT on here when I first got out. :)

       

    3. penworks

      penworks

      Oh, no worries, J.J. It's not really important. Just curious. I'm so glad (understatement) that you found your path out of TWI. 

      Your courage is a bright light.

      Peace,

      Charlene

  7. Hi, Longhunter.

    I'm looking for an audio tape on which VPW would have recounted the revelation he said God gave him, "He told me He would teach me the Word like it had not been known since the first century if I would teach it to others."  Following this, he says he asked for a sign that God had really spoken to him and when he looked out his office window, it was snowing … I have the book, The Way Living in Love where he tells this story, but I'm trying to find a tape recording of his saying it.

    I am pretty sure he told that story in the original PFAL class, which I took in 1970. You don't happen to know where I can get a copy of that particular session do you?

    Thanks for your time,

    Charlene Edge

    https://charleneedge.com

     

    1. Longhunter

      Longhunter

      I can look for it. However, I believe the account is also retold in “Born Again to Serve” by Dorothy Kipp Wierwille (his widow, though book was ghost written.   

    2. penworks

      penworks

      Thanks for trying.

      C.

  8. Hi Dana,

    I sent you a private message just now.

    Charlene

  9. Hi there.

    Just wondered where CG's class is so popular. You mentioned his class just ran in your area.

    I knew him long ago. He was from Rye, NY and so was my ex-husband, when TWI began fellowships there in 1970. CG is very strange, in my opinion. I'm glad you've found GSC. Let me know if I can be of any help to you.

    Cheers!

    Charlene

  10. wasn't expecting the Spanish Inquisition

  11. I see I was moved so thank you for the attention to the topic. Sure beats being deleted :-)

  12. Hi again. Look forward to reading your book this summer!

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