Suda

Paw runs a wonderful cafe. Thanks for keeping the doors open 24/7. Suda

He makes beautiful babies! Suda

Awesome, wonderful, dynamic woman! Thanks for being you and sharing yourself with all of us at the Cafe. Always appreciate your directness and honesty. You are the best of the best! Suda

Belle, you're gonna outlast me, but only by a few months. My date, January 27, 2050, at the ripe age of 94. I'm still shooting for 120 years. So, on 01/27/50 I want to plan a big party to celebrate a wonderful life. And hopefully will live many more years to remember how much fun it was, and repeat it each year until I check out for good. Since it will be January, and could be chilly in these parts, could we have the party at your house, Belle. Is your part of Florida still pleasant in January? Pleasant enough for skinny dipping? Woo hoo! See y'all there! Suda

Groucho, I agree wholeheartedly that Guess we can agree that we disagree, and our perspectives are different, like in the following points: Reminiscing is not always romanticizing, although in can be Being thankful is very different from trying to convince oneself Greatly benefitting from an alliance is very different from wasting one’s life from an alliance. Suda

Greetings all you North Carolinans! The Sudo family will be in Greensboro for Thanksgiving and would love to get together with as many of you as possible. Here's our itererary: Arrive GSO Wednesday, Nov 22 at 4:22 pm Depart GSO Sunday, Nov 26 4:56 pm We will be staying at the Greensboro/High Point Marriott Airport My three sibilings and I rotate hosting honors for Thanksgiving, the one time every year my family always gets together. This year Greensboro, NC; next year Richmond, VA; then back to Memphis, TN; and lastly, Allentown, PA. Of course, our main focus while there will be family, and Thursday through Saturday are usually pretty busy during the day. But every evening we will be back at the motel. And most of Sunday is open. So if it works out that any of you are in the area, we'll certainly do all we can to arrange a rendezous! Hope to see many of you soon! Suda

So glad you are out and safe and getting rested. You continue to be in my thoughts and prayers. Keep us posted on all your progress! Suda

Indeed, you are "good folk" Pirate. You are an ECU Pirate, after all. Purple Power! We "met" in chat. Didn't know each other, but knew some of the same "good folks". I didn't get involved with twi until 1976, think you were gone by then. If I ever come back to Homecoming, I'll look you up. Would be so fun to meet you face to face. Suda

Tom, Yes, still lots of kudzo (sp?), especially as you're approaching town. Green spaces in town have been pruned a bit. Wonderful town! Glad she's there and it's so close we can visit. Go down for every home football game. I do the Grove, and then girly things with my daughters, while Sudo and our son do the game. It's Sudo's alma mater, so very special to him.

Thanks, Linda What a education we receive here in the forums as well as in chat! If it had said "I see she's a natural brunette" I would have gotten it, but it wouldn't have been as funny. Thanks again for taking the time to enlighten me. Suda

In response to George Aar, our resident curmudgeon (and one of my chat buddies), Your responses in this thread really made me pause and think, and for quite a while. I respect your right to your own opinion. After careful consideration, I find that mine remains quite different from yours. And, I am a bit uncomfortable with the “all encompassing” tone of your posts, as if the way you view twi and your experiences there is the true reality, and if other’s reality is different, then they are suffering from denial. I often wrestle with the idea that you pose, that, whether we knew it or not, we were all involved in a cult. Sorry, I can’t accept that. I do not know your background/involvement/position in twi, but from your posts I gather that it was quite different from mine. You may have been involved in the corps or working at a root locale. I never was. I always lived “in the field” and my highest level of service was as a twig coordinator. To me, twi was not the root locales, nor the leadership there, nor at the Region, nor Limb level. Twi was the fellowship I was involved in, first and foremost, and the Branch that we were associated with. That’s where I lived my day to day life. And our twigs still operated in a more or less autonomous fashion. We did send our abundant sharing to headquarters, but I was never told what to teach or what to study. No one dictated how I was to live my life, that was my decision. As for trying to squelch my individuality, I remember quite the opposite. I was encouraged to develop the Christ in me, which was taught to be unique because I was an individual. Things could have been rotten in the inner sanctum in New Knoxville, Ohio, but to me living in Greenville, NC and then Memphis, TN, the people were not rotten (save a few bad apples here and there) and their intentions were pure and honest. The inner sanctum may have been a cult, but that’s not where I lived and breathed. In my Twigs, we were not a cult, we were a loving group that desired to serve God and his people, with no ulterior motives other than for the blessings in their lives and our own. To me, that is not a cult. I looked up the definition of cult and found the following two part definition: a) A religion or religious sect generally considered to be extremist or false, b) with its followers often living in an unconventional manner under the guidance of an authoritarian, charismatic leader. I can go along with part a, as here in the Bible Belt, anything outside the norm of fundamentalist, protestant, Christianity is considered extremist or false, sadly, even including those that practice the Jewish, Jehovah Witnesses, or Mormon faiths, to name a few. (Please note, I do not consider these faiths as cults, but they are considered such by the norms of the self-professed Christians here.) But for me, personally, part b was never a reality. Prior to living in a Way Home, I had lived in a sorority house with 30 other girls, preferring to live in the 3rd floor attic with 11 others, versus living on the 2nd floor, sharing a room with between 1 and 5 other people. In the Way Home I had much more free time, and many fewer mandatory activities than in the sorority house. The Way Home had virtually no rules, compared to those in a sorority house. Both had leaders that I liked, and I thoroughly enjoyed the time I spent in both environments and have no regrets about my manner of living in either place. Actually, the majority of the time I was involved with twi, I lived alone in apartments, or after marrying, with my husband and children. In response to I do not see it that way at all. It brings to mind a local commercial about the daily newspaper here, “until you have read it, it is still news to you.” I may not have learned any “ special, secret "truths" - unknown for ages”, but I most certainly learned a lot more in twi than I had growing up in the Presbyterian church. Until I was taught the Bible, it was a “secret” to me. And it was through my involvement with twi that I finally was able to develop a close and intimate relationship with God, something I had searched for my entire life. True, I may have been able to do the same elsewhere through another group, but when I was searching, twi was the group I found (and I believe God led me to). Speak for yourself, I had a very "abundant life" compared to my contemporaries. In Greenville, I was a college student, but not struggling. In undergraduate school, I had the support of my parents, and a job at the Medical School. In graduate school, I was on a full fellowship and lived comfortably. Then I taught at ECU for a while. Federal Express moved me to Memphis, and I quickly rose to the management ranks. I was able to support myself in a nice lifestyle, able to give in the many ways I chose to twi and other organizations, and had a healthy investment portfolio and savings account. And I wasn’t the lone ranger, many of my twi contemporaries shared the same, or better, lifestyle than me. The following statements, in your “IMNSHO”, may attest to the reason you have earned the title of resident curmudgeon. I do not, and have never felt, that way. I do not view myself as a victim, but rather a victor - someone who learned a great deal, and grew and matured in all areas of my life during my tenure with twi. As for Again, the context of my experience was on the field, in the real world, with genuine, caring people. I can’t speak as to what your context may have been. And I do not feel that I wasted any part of my life with twi, in fact, I greatly benefitted from my alliance. Nor am I embarrassed, ashamed, or depressed by my involvement. I am thankful. And reading your posts, I must wonder about your statement, These sections I bolded in these two quotes seem to contradict one another.. So George, these goodhearted people, the candy and bait you refer to, were they not the real, basic goodness in the whole experience? Aren’t the “best of times” shared by these people what Danteh is asking to have posted here? It would seem that you are saying, that because these people were, in your opinion, being directly and consciously and calculatingly manipulated by vpw and his closest aids, were unknowing puppets in his show, having their strings pulled and not being aware of it, that they really didn’t have any good times, it was all a farce because of the behind-the-scenes actions. Sorry, I can’t buy that reasoning. That may be your reality, but it surely is not mine. It seems your point is, enjoy reminiscing about the good times as long as you are aware that you were nothing but a puppet in the hands of an evil puppeteer. As stated before, the inner sanctum of twi was not where I was involved. And though I chose to be influenced and guided by the teachings of twi, I was in control of my life , my thoughts, and my actions and I was not a puppet on a string. You seem to imply that the good times were only in the beginning, and once we were “trapped”, they ceased. Couldn’t disagree more. For me, the good times lasted until about the time of POP. In the aftermath, and the M&A teachings, it started smelling rotten in the field. So I left, as did a multitude of others. When twi started resembling a cult on the field, many on the field left. It may have been a cult in the minds of the organizer(s) from day one, I’ll never know. But on the field, it wasn’t for me until M&A. And this analogy seems way off base. There is no redeeming value associated with alcohol and drug abuse. There is great redeeming value in gaining knowledge of God, the Bible, and a spiritual lifestyle. George, not saying your reality is not true to you. Just different than mine. As are our views of the time we spent with twi. And Danteh, thanks for the thread. Many of us have wonderful memories, and this is a great place to post them.

This is why Sudo is the chief cook, and I am the chief bottle washer, in our home.

Pipes and Dancing, Beautiful poems. Thanks for sharing them. Suda

I'm with Jonny Lingo, I don't get it. Sure hope Sudo does, cause he can't ask Mrs. Sudo if he doesn't! In case he doesn't, will someone please explain it to me?

Friday Sudo and I moved our eldest daughter back to Ole Miss for her sophomore year. All of us were dreading move in day as last year had been he!!acious - extreme heat, traffic congestion, long lines, broken elevators (she lived on the 11th floor) . . . plus the angst of leaving your first born at school. This year was terrific despite the extreme heat. Move in was as smooth as silk, and so joyous as we were engulfed by “rebel yell” greetings from throngs of her friends, hugs galore, and a wonderful atmosphere of excitement. I had to make another trip down Saturday as she had left some important things behind (fortunately Oxford is only an hour and 15 minute drive from Memphis!). As I was leaving tonight after dinner, I really enjoyed the entire campus scene. There was such vibrancy and gaiety everywhere. Groups of students bustling about, heading out to party with their friends, and make new ones. The smiling faces and twinkling eyes reflected looks of great expectation, knowing that not only that evening, but their entire year ahead, had great things in store for them. I reveled in the joy and excitement. On the drive back I couldn’t help but reflect back on my college days and what a wonderful part of my life it had been. Especially all the great friendships I made during that time - in the dorm, classes, study groups, my social sorority, being a little sister in a social fraternity, Panhellenic, working in the Medical School, in the honor fraternities, in intramural sports, just milling around campus, and in twi. And it struck me, that of all the groups I had been involved with, the one that had the greatest impact on my life, and the one through whom I still have the closest and dearest friends, was twi. If I were to meet someone today, and learn that they had been at East Carolina University at the same time I was, my first thought would be “Wonder if I knew them?” and I would enjoy talking to them about our experiences while there. If I were to meet someone that was involved with twi during those same years (1973-1979 - undergrad and grad years), my first thought would be “Now this is someone I’d like to get to know better” because I would instantly feel a sense of camaraderie with them, and feel that they were what I refer to as “good folk”. They could prove me wrong, but that would be the exception, rather than the rule. Of all the organizations I have been involved with throughout my life, I have never met more wonderful, caring, and loving people than I have through twi and the groups (such as GSC) that “spun off” from them. (Not at all to say that GSC is a splinter group of twi, but that it is populated mainly with people that have at one time or another been involved with twi). Indeed, twi had some real rotten apples. Fortunately I only had one-on-one dealings with very few. But the vast majority were the finest folks I have ever had the privilege of knowing. It’s the only group in which I felt comfortable meeting others with a “phone call introduction”; i.e., if traveling with business or whatever, if I was going to a new town where I knew no one, if a fellow twi’er put me in contact with someone there, I had no hesitation meeting with them, going to their home, etc. And that holds true for GSC, also. That’s why I felt comfortable going to GGGW and the Weenie Roast this summer, having been a GSC’er for less than 6 months. Can’t think of another group through which I would travel miles to spend a weekend with a small group of people I had never met before. Just some musings I had while on my trip home that I wanted to share with y’all.

Box, Princess, and Cool Waters, Glad you are home, safe and sound. Get a good night's rest! Doojable, Sudo's avatar is about 4 years old, before he wore glasses most of the time, and during the short period he was sporting a beard and mustache. It's in his office that's why he's dressed in scrubs. In the chef's hat, you see a more mature (well, at least an older), wiser (well, maybe!) version of him, sporting his casual look, complete with spectacular spectacles. But rest assured, both are my hubby! Suda

Bowtwi, Princess, and CoolWaters, Sure wish we were with you at Rascal's abode. Part 2 of the roast sounds like as much fun as part 1! We may have taken Suds, Jr. out of (home from) the weenie roast, but we can't take the weenie roast out of him! He fell in love with the Hawks and has adapted his own version of their "Ken-tuck hillbillie" accent. He loved that they were so honest, what he saw was what he got. He was so impressed that when it was dark, they didn't head inside to the bathroom, just found a place outside to whiz. He learned that trick, and practiced every night we were there. He also enjoyed bonding with the Princess and her precious pup. And he thought the ladies from Kansas were funny, and loved their choice in music, and dancing. He was surprised you didn't have accents like the Hawks, though. Sudo is back home from work and ferrying children while I've been doing the laundry. Hopefully he will get some pictures posted for us soon. Give our love to Rascal and the Rascalettes! Suda

Shellon, Am waiting for the pictures as they will tell the stories without words (or with just a few, anyway!). Don't know how to download the memory stick to the computer. And Sudo, well, he's still feeling a bit under the campfire. More the come Suda

Welcome to the Cafe, SFSailor! Suda

The Suds family has returned. We were the first to leave. Some are staying until tomorrow, others leaving late this afternoon. When we left the crew was headed out to the boat for a cruise up to the first damn built in Kentucky (circa 1920), swimming off the boat, skiing, fishing, and enjoying fun in the overcast skies. Was so nice to be where it was cool with a nice breeze blowing and no mosquitos! Sudo, Suds, Jr. and I arrived about 4 p.m. Friday afternoon. The next wave arrived around 9:30 p.m. that night, and the final wave about 6:00 p.m. on Saturday. Much fun was had by all, and we have pictures to prove it! They will be on display at next year's weenie roast, if not before. Friday night we enjoyed Sudo's famous "better than sex" stew. Saturday night was Littlehawk's "unlimited orgasms" venison soup. Tonight will be Kansas City steaks over the grill. Yes, the food was fabulous, but not nearly as good as the company! Gwinn Island was a perfect setting. Nice island, comfortable and simple cabins, nice campfire settings, and no park rangers to inhibit our fun. Yes, Sudo did dance with a tree, and he had company! But, what happens at the weenie roast, stays at the weenie roast, so I am not at liberty to discuss the hilarity! We are thinking about next year's weenie roast already. August seems good as most kids have not started school yet (especially the first weekend). Gwinn Island, or maybe Land Between the Lakes, seems like a good centralized location (private, not public, so no monitoring by officials). Hope many more Greasespotters can join the fun. Maybe we could plan to arrive Thursday night, and make a long weekend of it. Hope you all had a nice weekend at the cafe. We missed you and wish you could have been with us!

So glad you are okay, Rascal! Cars are replaceable, you are not! Looking forward to meeting you and your crew another time, hope sooner rather than later. Suda

Big Fish Nicole Kidman Moulin Rouge

Happiest of birthdays! Suda

Wonderful news! Keep us posted on B.A.T.E.S. law. My prayers are with you on that, as well. Suda

Wishing you the happiest birthday ever, and many more to come! Suda