<Is the loopiness you have to deal with a particularly East-coast type of thing? What's the deal? Where do people get this odd sort of Christian fundamentalist streak, which seems to look at the world in a different (more paranoid) way from the Midwestern, common-sense, pot-luck, Lake Wobegon kind of Christianity?

Beats me. What are your theories on this? Anyone else have a take on it?



you might be onto the east coast thing. . . One of my best friends as a child was raised in just such a household where his parents were adamant that halloween was a satanic holiday, where I woudl go on road trips and have to listen to thier brainwashing religious propaganda, which (and htis is comming from a a propaganda conniseur) hillarious! (thankgoodness I am laughin in hindsight though). They were just the type to go aroudn looking for the number of 'witch' books in the library, and just the type to beleive that D&D was a satanic mind control game. . . .oh, and the mother claimed to have conversations with jesus every night, and the children were forced to listen ONLY to 'christian pop music', which at the time, unlike now awas just melodies of popular secular songs with alternate 'jesus' lyrics. . . .and of course MTV was blocked out. . . (she demanded the cable company come out and block HBO too, as for some strange reason our neborhood, as well as my current new one, got it for free).

Never have I met a household at each others throught more than these people. To this day I am amazed I never woke up to find in the news that the whole family murdered each other.

I remember other families like it too. . similar story, this one family who used to babby sit me as a todler, upon learning their childrens bikes were stollen, responded 'well if they had to steal them then they must have needed it more than you'. . . those kids grew up to be crack fiends and went in and out of prison. . .

another family I remember rivaled any in pleasantvile or 'leave it to beaver'. . . . I remember they were very, very 'Christian', in one of those sparkling subdivisions with bright shiney housese where each one around 150-200k with tiny yard, large house, and exactly each the same as the next exept the bay window or chimney or some other feature would be in a different location. It was amazing. . . one morning I woke up to hear the mother killed herself by carbon monoxide poisoning.

I had cousins too who I was very worried about, they lived in a conservative Catholic mecca in Northern Virginia. . . though thankfully they are turning out OK.

very strange lot. . .
-Justin Kelly