tonto

Mo, you're in our prayers. Keep us posted on your CT results. Love, Tonto & T-Bone

Let me just say this, as someone who has had to go through the things of some elderly relatives after they died: For gawd's sake, if you must take nudie pictures of your ancient selves...burn them before your niece has to find them tucked in the sock drawer!

Age 15...was paid $1 an hour to stand in an unheated warehouse stuffing little travel-size items in boxes for vending machines. From age 16 to 19 I worked at the counter at McDonald's. They had competitions with other stores in the area and region, and I won a couple of awards for my speed and accuracy but missed going to the Atlanta competition by a point...dang...so close yet so far. I worked my arse off for them but I refused to wear the stupid promotional hats...a three-cornered number for the Washington's birthday cherry shakes, and a boating hat for the filet-o-fish promo. What a rebel I was.

Hey bowtwi, it's good to know there's another Lyle fan around here! I agree that Julia lost out. krysilis I like that pretty butterfly. In fact, I really like the variety in everyone's choices.

You know, I know I'd heard of Plurality Palace and Acts Fifth Avenue but for some reason I think we called the one at Rome City something different. The mind...it's a terrible thing. Adam's Alley...the little kids used to ride their big wheels tricycles going ninety...crammed way close together, grinning like monkeys. I would stand there and watch them and get tears in my eyes thinking of how they were so blessed to be raised in the rightly divided word and how they would grow up to be great leaders. We thought we were giving our son the best by taking him in the corps with us. Somehow we were able to see our way out of twi before he turned 7 and before our daughter was born. For those of you kids who weren't so fortunate I'm so sorry for you and your families. You deserved better and I hope and pray you can overcome the heartache and the loss.

Around the time I joined the cafe, I was listening to Lyle Lovett's song "If I Had a Boat" and I identified with Tonto: The mystery masked man was smart (vpw & co.) He got himself a Tonto (corps) 'Cause Tonto did the dirty work for free (actually, we paid for this) But Tonto he was smarter (finally saw twi for what it was) And one day said kemo sabe Kiss my a$$ I bought a boat (or house, or education..etc) I'm going out to sea (freedom of thought) Dear Tom Strange was kind enough to find the picutre of Tonto for me. (Yeah, I know Tonto is a guy and I'm not, but at the time it didn't seem to matter) .

Since the new local radio station www.lonestar925.com came on the air, I've temporarily abandoned my cds. I listen on my drive to and from work and if we're not busy I listen here at my desk. Right now they're playing a Joe Ely song, but this morning they've played the Black Crowes, Tom Petty, Johnny Cash, John Mellencamp, and I forget who else. It's the only station around here who plays Eric Clapton and Lucinda Williams, Billy Joe Shaver and John Mayall. Somebody stop me...I am way too excited about this!

Hey thanks for the details Highway and Linda and all, and for the pictures, NoWayHozay. I had forgotten where some of that stuff was. That walkway over Adam's Alley...didn't you have to go through Mystery Hall to get to the walkway? I was in housekeeping my first block and I remember cleaning those floors. The clothing give-away...what was that called?? Nothing had normal names...always Divine Design or Devotion With Motion...oh geez...I just remembered they even changed the name of the dishwashing room from "Skullery" to "Son's Suds Shoppe". Oh gag! I hated that name!

Have you tried Cristalino or Frexinet (sp?) brut? Don't know if you have the World Market chain where you live, but I like them both and I've found them there for under $10 a bottle.

All this talk of the basement has my brain in a strain. Linda, when you said "wooden booths" I had a flash of being in there maybe once for something they were having for the teens. What part of the building was that under? Since our son was so young during our stay we didn't go there much but I do remember another room in the basement with mirrors and some kind of exercise equipment. There was also a sauna down there, no doubt another corps project. This was the early 80's, so us ladies would wear our Danskins and leg warmers while we exercised and did our best Olivia Newton John imitations. The only scary part of the basement I recall is under the kitchen. Dark dark dark down there, and there was a door or doors that led to the sauerkraut tunnels, which were rumored to go all the way to Uncle Harry Hill. (Where is Jardeniro? Do you remember any of this?) I have a love/hate relationship with most of my twi memories...Rome City campus included.

Rovers. They called them rovers, at least during our time there (84-86).

Hi mini c and welcome. We were in the 11th family corps and our son must be a couple of years younger than you. He also says he has good memories of his time in residence. We left twi at the end of '86 when we realized "the ministry" was unsalvageable. I am so sorry for you and your parents that they stayed in and I hope some day they can see their way out.

I had been in twi for six years before we had a child and we left when our son was 6 1/2 so he was spared a lot of turmoil, but those are formative years. He has said his family corps time was fun, probably because he's such a social person. Except for one interim corps beyotch, the people around him in children's activities and our other family corps were cool. The times I regret are the times before we went in residence when I rushed through bedtime stories so I could get the house ready for the class/fellowship/leader's meeting/time-sucker of your choice. I wish I could have those nights back, that I could have savored his early years without always being in such a dam n ed rush. He's a grown man now and a wonderful person with a big heart, but I have to tell you every time he hit a rough spot growing up I agonized if it was because of all the twi garbage.

We left soon after we heard what happened at the clergy meeting in Nov. '86. I never was much of a study bug but my hubs sure was and with all that free time he examined every "jot and tittle" of what we had been taught. He bulldozed his wall of beliefs but I could only handle one brick at a time. I would argue with him every step of the way not because I was so sure twi's version of Christianity was right, but because I wasn't about to jump on someone else's bandwagon. After Twi I was all bandwagoned out. T-Bone was never one of those "I'm the head, dam n it!" husbands anyway and never tried to force me into changing my beliefs. There's alot of doctrine we don't agree on...he's pretty much a trinitarian and I'm pretty much not...but we agree on the things that matter, like salvation and no adultry or stealing...ten commandments-type stuff. I spent more time than I ever cared to doing word studies and underlining things in the bible during my twi tenure. I was a Christian long before I got into twi and I always had a strong prayer life, so those things didn't change. When something didn't make sense to me in twi I just figured it was because I wasn't spiritual enough. When we left I turned my brain back on and decided if something didn't make sense to me, I'd either throw it on the turd pile or in the "farther along we'll know all about it" room. Thanks for listening. Back to poodles...

Yep, I think JN played at the Lincoln Memorial but the thing that's throwing me is I know JN played at the "America Awakes" concert too, and that was an inside job...it was held at an auditorium . Maybe those were both in the same weekend. I don't think VP was there. He came in the wintertime to Baltimore, I believe, but I know the Lincoln Memorial thing was in May or June. If you still have that Way Mag, you could probably scan and post those pictures. That is, unless there's some kind of copyright thing involved. TWI did a wow brochure that year and used a picture of me and a couple of the other wows in our branch on the cover...I thought it was so cool...my little brush with cult-fame! Huh...it all gets so fuzzy, but it seems like a couple of people I knew from Colorado were sent to VA. And Metairie...I think there was a woman in our corps named Nelda from there. It's late and my brain is tired...I'll see if I can remember any more details in the next few days.

Hey w&w, thanks for resurrecting this thread...I had forgotten about it. Yep I was there at the Joyful Noise concert and also at the big meeting by the Lincoln memorial. I can't remember now if those took place during the same weekend or not. Richmond? It seems like I knew someone who got sent to Richmond that year. Where were you living before going wow? And punkelf...did your mom ever find her handbook? Where were you guys sent? Gee...I can't imagine what it would have been like to be a little kid and go wow. All those extra people to boss you around...

But Preacher, Greasespotters are doing something positive. We're warning others on the highway of life of the TWI wreck ahead. Or behind. I think of the "negatives" here as those flares the emergency responders use around collisions.

Cowgirl, I'm with act2...Aramis by a mile.

Well, T-Bone and I met when we were sent WOW back in 1975 and we didn't start to date until near the end of our year, so we got to know each other as friends before there was any romantic interest. We've been married a little over 30 years now, and it hasn't all been sweetness and light, but what marriage is? We're still best friends and there's just something so cool about having thirty-one years of shared experiences. I thank God that we left twi when we did (1986) and that we never got involved in any offshoots...I doubt our marriage would have survived if we had spent any more time in a cult.

Hope it has been a happy day!

Hey dmiller, thanks for the link! I love, love, love that song and it was great hearing it done by those amazing talents.

Have a happy birthday Chatty! I enjoy your posts.