I am spending this weekend in my home town. Not only did I grow up here, but I went to LGU here. I got my Bachelor's degree here, and my Ph.D. as well. There are ghosts on every corner.
We have been coming back in the fall for a festival this area is famous for. It's difficult to describe; think of a Renaissance Faire and a Civil War reenactment mixed together and you won't be far off the mark. There are lots of people in costume, muskets, cannon, bits of dead animals hanging from trees, wood smoke and cider. When I was a kid, I helped man the French onion soup tent.
It's fun, kind of, to come home. However, Jesus has taken over my town. We rode out to the festival in a bus covered with "Jesus." Just "Jesus," printed in every imaginable font. There were lots of Jesus tee-shirts at the festival. (My favorite was worn by a young man escorting a young woman. They had their hands stuffed into each other's back pockets and a neutron couldn't have broken between their bodies. His shirt said, "Abstain to Attain!") All the radio stations are playing Jesus music ("Christian rock"); most of the local stations have been taken over by Moody Radio. The highways into and out of town are flanked by large glossy billboards that say things like, "Where will you spend eternity?" and "Hell is a real place!"
The Angry Baker says it has always been this way. I don't remember it so.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
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12 comments:
Ugh Ugh Ugh, I hate this kind of religion. It is conformist, manipulative and shame based. There is no love, justice or any kind of organizing principle in it at all. It is all based on guilt and fear.
Sorry for the rant.
Is the festival held near where a former President came to fame?
If so, then I think I'm with the Angry Baker.
Assuming we're talking about the same festival: I lived in Home Town for a year, in the sixth grade. My father still lives there--he's an assistant dean at LGU. (Aside: being an assistant dean sounds nearly fraught as being faculty!) And I too, worked that very same French onion soup tent one year!
So: it's either a very small world, or towns in the heartland are very much alike.
This does help explain the Angry Mother.
I was once seated next to a pushy evangelical family at a "country" restaurant. By pushy I mean they gave me a tract while I was waiting for my coffee, the 6-year-old asked me if I was saved, the mother, who I swear was on meth, kept leaning over to tell me about the benefits of salvation. The dad was a difficult customer and, when their waiter left their table to fetch him something, made a derogatory reference to his perceived sexual preference.
When time came to pay the check, the dad handed the waiter the tab and some cash and said "Keep the change." The waiter looked at the tab and at the cash, and it was clear that "the change" was exactly that -- change. As he started to walk away, the mother stopped him and said, "I wish Jesus was here!"
To which he replied, "Why? Does he have my tip?"
The father started ranting at me after he had left, and all I could think of to say was, "Render unto Caesar..."
I never get to tell that story. Thank you for the opportunity! Hope the remainder of your visit is fun. I think, despite the overwhelming Jesus theme, I would enjoy anything that had a french oniln soup tent!
@ jkdbrown - Were you in French club?
The visit was fine. It made me appreciate home (Ellesiouville).
This could have been the Peckerwood Panhandle town I got one of my grad degrees in.
They're ALL like that.
"Were you in French Club?"
Nope. At the time my father was working for the non-profit that had volunteered to run the booth that year. So I went with him on the day it was his turn to work, and I schlepped soup for a few hours before wandering off to look at the wagons and muskets and to eat rabbit stew. I don't remember if I dressed in costume or not.
Though you're happy to be home, I hope you enjoyed your visit to Home Town.
hey now, abstinence doesn't mean innocence, just a form of birth control with a 100% success rate.
I am glad you had a good time.
Ohhh, BLEH. I too hate this kind of religion. I bet these jerk-offs wonder why nobody new ever joins their church.
Hahahahahahaha! Does he have my tip! I'm soooo telling that one to my husband. :)
All of that stuff just smacks of commercialism to me now. You can't just be a Christian--you have to be a Christian(tm). You have to listen to Christian music, drink Christian coffee out of a Christian coffee mug, wear only Christian clothing, and honestly, it makes me think of the money changers in the Temple. I just can't do it anymore.
At least the festival was still fun, right?
You had me at "French Onion Soup tent"..... That much "Christian" puts me off big-time, and I have a real problem with proselytizing by ANY group. As an (etnic) Jew I'm spared from having a "Christian Attitude" but being a lady prevents my telling that sort what I really think. Oh, but that featival sounds like fun!
"Abstain" always reminds me of Roy Zimmerman's "Abstain With Me". If you've never seen it before, you're in for a treat:
link
as a person who also lived in a certain midwest town with an LGU and a festival put on by the local historical association I am wondering I worked with you (or near you) in the rosette tent...
Been following along from your friends in Elsinore.
The town has always had the jesus fever.. it is at a higher pitch due to most of them being out of jobs lately...
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