#exjw — Public Fediverse posts

RE: https://troet.cafe/@JZ_Help/116827483206028800

Eine Organisation, welche heute wie keine Andere für Ausgrenzung steht. Menschen, welche vom Recht auf #Religionsfreiheit Gebrauch machen, verlieren jegliche sozialen Kontakte; auch Familie!
Bereits Kinder lernen, dass in den Gottesdiensten nicht aufzupassen den Tod bedeutet (https://www.jw.org/de/bibliothek/videos/#de/mediaitems/BJF/pub-pk_15_VIDEO).
Menschen können und dürfen nur "echte Freunde" sein, wenn sie "Jehova lieben" (https://www.jw.org/finder?srcid=share&wtlocale=X&lank=pub-pk_25_VIDEO).
Für #LGBTQ ist kein Platz in Gottes Paradies (https://www.jw.org/de/bibliothek/videos/#de/mediaitems/BJF/pub-pk_22_VIDEO).
Taschengeld für ein Eis? Nein, Spende alles an die #ZeugenJehovas (https://www.jw.org/de/bibliothek/videos/#de/mediaitems/BJF/pub-pk_19_VIDEO).

So wichtig, dass es @JZ_Help gibt.
Gerade die ÜberLebenswege dort zeugen von dem heute verursachten Leid dieser Organisation.
https://jz.help/ueberlebenswege/

#JehovasZeugen #JWorg #JZD #exJW #exJWorg #Menschenrechte #Grundrechte #Sekte

RE: https://troet.cafe/@JZ_Help/116827483206028800

Eine Organisation, welche heute wie keine Andere für Ausgrenzung steht. Menschen, welche vom Recht auf #Religionsfreiheit Gebrauch machen, verlieren jegliche sozialen Kontakte; auch Familie!
Bereits Kinder lernen, dass in den Gottesdiensten nicht aufzupassen den Tod bedeutet (https://www.jw.org/de/bibliothek/videos/#de/mediaitems/BJF/pub-pk_15_VIDEO).
Menschen können und dürfen nur "echte Freunde" sein, wenn sie "Jehova lieben" (https://www.jw.org/finder?srcid=share&wtlocale=X&lank=pub-pk_25_VIDEO).
Für #LGBTQ ist kein Platz in Gottes Paradies (https://www.jw.org/de/bibliothek/videos/#de/mediaitems/BJF/pub-pk_22_VIDEO).
Taschengeld für ein Eis? Nein, Spende alles an die #ZeugenJehovas (https://www.jw.org/de/bibliothek/videos/#de/mediaitems/BJF/pub-pk_19_VIDEO).

So wichtig, dass es @JZ_Help gibt.
Gerade die ÜberLebenswege dort zeugen von dem heute verursachten Leid dieser Organisation.
https://jz.help/ueberlebenswege/

#JehovasZeugen #JWorg #JZD #exJW #exJWorg #Menschenrechte #Grundrechte #Sekte

„Am 24. Juni wurde das Mahnmal für die im Nationalsozialismus verfolgten und ermordeten Zeugen Jehovas der Öffentlichkeit übergeben. Es stellt die Prinzipien der deutschen Gedenkpolitik auf die Probe“ (Quelle: FAZ 23.06.2026)

Ein Artikel der Frankfurter Allgemeinen vom 23.06.2026.
https://www.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/debatten/neues-denkmal-in-berlin-zeugen-jehovas-als-opfer-der-nationalsozialisten-accg-200952886.html

#JehovasZeugen #ZeugenJehovas #JWorg #JZhelp #exJW #exJWorg #Grundrechte #Menschenrechte #Erinnerung

„Am 24. Juni wurde das Mahnmal für die im Nationalsozialismus verfolgten und ermordeten Zeugen Jehovas der Öffentlichkeit übergeben. Es stellt die Prinzipien der deutschen Gedenkpolitik auf die Probe“ (Quelle: FAZ 23.06.2026)

Ein Artikel der Frankfurter Allgemeinen vom 23.06.2026.
https://www.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/debatten/neues-denkmal-in-berlin-zeugen-jehovas-als-opfer-der-nationalsozialisten-accg-200952886.html

#JehovasZeugen #ZeugenJehovas #JWorg #JZhelp #exJW #exJWorg #Grundrechte #Menschenrechte #Erinnerung

We setup a Signal support group to go alongside our Jabber support channel. Anyone that has or is deconstructing from high-demand religions (mormonism, jehovah's witness, seventh-day adventist, etc) or anyone curious and understanding of trauma induced by those groups are welcome to join.

https://signal.group/#CjQKII6wiTj4Nuw1KjAzbjfhA0kj4BbYxB1q09uZEG25PGAXEhCLk9pmv6841AdpU2Vf_oPE

#exmormon #exjw #deconstruction #exseventhdayadventist

We setup a Signal support group to go alongside our Jabber support channel. Anyone that has or is deconstructing from high-demand religions (mormonism, jehovah's witness, seventh-day adventist, etc) or anyone curious and understanding of trauma induced by those groups are welcome to join.

https://signal.group/#CjQKII6wiTj4Nuw1KjAzbjfhA0kj4BbYxB1q09uZEG25PGAXEhCLk9pmv6841AdpU2Vf_oPE

#exmormon #exjw #deconstruction #exseventhdayadventist

I've been gradually replacing my Jehovah's Witness library. I use the books for research, as I'm writing religious horror based on JW beliefs. I lent my books to a prof over twenty years ago and he never returned them.

Here are some of my favourite illustrations from "Revelation Its Grand Climax at Hand!"

#ExJW #Surrealism #angels #Revelation #SurrealArt #ReligiousArt

I've been gradually replacing my Jehovah's Witness library. I use the books for research, as I'm writing religious horror based on JW beliefs. I lent my books to a prof over twenty years ago and he never returned them.

Here are some of my favourite illustrations from "Revelation Its Grand Climax at Hand!"

#ExJW #Surrealism #angels #Revelation #SurrealArt #ReligiousArt

I finished the first draft of my personal essay on being born into an apocalyptic cult. It was fun to write. It covers Armageddon, the Great Flood, and other happy stories of the end of the world. I hope the folks in my speculative nonfiction class enjoy reading it. #ExJW

I finished the first draft of my personal essay on being born into an apocalyptic cult. It was fun to write. It covers Armageddon, the Great Flood, and other happy stories of the end of the world. I hope the folks in my speculative nonfiction class enjoy reading it. #ExJW

My Jehovah's Witnesses mom has been inviting me to the Memorial every year for over thirty years. This year, I didn't go, but I did workshop a story that has a scene in a Kingdom Hall during the Memorial, and the workshop took place at the same time as the Memorial. Does that count? #ExJW #WritingCommunity

My Jehovah's Witnesses mom has been inviting me to the Memorial every year for over thirty years. This year, I didn't go, but I did workshop a story that has a scene in a Kingdom Hall during the Memorial, and the workshop took place at the same time as the Memorial. Does that count? #ExJW #WritingCommunity

I have just gotten word that Jehovah's Witnesses have made a major amendment to their doctrines. They are now allowed to accept blood transfusions as long as it's their own blood, i.e. blood they extracted/donated at an earlier date that they now use for reinfusion.

This is such a painful change. Decades of people dying from not allowing themselves to receive life-saving medical procedures because they believe it's a sin. And now, it was all man-made apparently.

#exjw #jehovahsWitnesses

I have just gotten word that Jehovah's Witnesses have made a major amendment to their doctrines. They are now allowed to accept blood transfusions as long as it's their own blood, i.e. blood they extracted/donated at an earlier date that they now use for reinfusion.

This is such a painful change. Decades of people dying from not allowing themselves to receive life-saving medical procedures because they believe it's a sin. And now, it was all man-made apparently.

#exjw #jehovahsWitnesses

zomg guys! I just received a second creation grant for my Jehovah's Witness speculative short story collection. Thanks to @augurmag for believing in my project. *hyperventilates* #WritingCommunity #Author #ExJW #AmWritingSFF

zomg guys! I just received a second creation grant for my Jehovah's Witness speculative short story collection. Thanks to @augurmag for believing in my project. *hyperventilates* #WritingCommunity #Author #ExJW #AmWritingSFF

Oh my gosh! Just found out today I got a creation grant to work on my speculative short story collection. The stories will be based on my interpretation of what the world would be like if Jehovah's Witness teachings were literally true. The answer: very fucking weird. Many thanks to the Ontario Arts Council for the grant, and to House of Anansi Press for recommending me.
https://www.arts.on.ca/home
https://houseofanansi.com
#WritingCommunity #ShortStories #AuthorsOfMastodon #bookstodon #ExJW #JehovahsWitnesses #horror #SpeculativeFiction

Oh my gosh! Just found out today I got a creation grant to work on my speculative short story collection. The stories will be based on my interpretation of what the world would be like if Jehovah's Witness teachings were literally true. The answer: very fucking weird. Many thanks to the Ontario Arts Council for the grant, and to House of Anansi Press for recommending me.
https://www.arts.on.ca/home
https://houseofanansi.com
#WritingCommunity #ShortStories #AuthorsOfMastodon #bookstodon #ExJW #JehovahsWitnesses #horror #SpeculativeFiction

Am Donnerstag, den 29.01., um 11 Uhr werde ich mal Zuschauer am VG Berlin sein. Hier möchten die #JehovasZeugen die #BRD verklagen.
Es geht um die #Aufarbeitungskommission zu #Kindesmissbrauch. Die #ZeugenJehovas wollen hier gegen Personen vorgehen, welche vor der #Kommission ausgesagt haben.
Dies ist immer wieder das Vorgehen der #ZeugenJehovas gegen Aufklärung vorzugehen, anstatt diese zu betreiben.
Z.B. klagte man auch gegen die Sendung #ReportMainz - ohne Erfolg. Der Beitrag ist weiterhin verfügbar.
https://www.ardmediathek.de/video/report-mainz/sexueller-missbrauch-bei-den-zeugen-jehovas/das-erste/Y3JpZDovL3N3ci5kZS9hZXgvbzEwNzQwOTE

Es ist erbärmlich wie diese Organisation mit Menschen umgeht und fundamentale #Menschenrechte missachtet!

Vielleicht interessiert es ja noch andere. Die Verhandlung ist öffentlich und jeder darf hin. Ausweis für den Einlass nicht vergessen.
Eingang:
Kirchstraße 6-7, 10557 Berlin

Ist auch #Presse dabei?
@tagesschau @rbb @tazgetroete @riffreporter #Tagesspiegel @janboehm @zdfheute @zdfmagazin

Infos bei @JZ_Help
https://jz.help/zeugen-jehovas-klagen-gegen-vereinsmitglieder-von-jz-help/

#JWorg #exJW #exJWorg #JZhelp #Grundrechte

Am Donnerstag, den 29.01., um 11 Uhr werde ich mal Zuschauer am VG Berlin sein. Hier möchten die #JehovasZeugen die #BRD verklagen.
Es geht um die #Aufarbeitungskommission zu #Kindesmissbrauch. Die #ZeugenJehovas wollen hier gegen Personen vorgehen, welche vor der #Kommission ausgesagt haben.
Dies ist immer wieder das Vorgehen der #ZeugenJehovas gegen Aufklärung vorzugehen, anstatt diese zu betreiben.
Z.B. klagte man auch gegen die Sendung #ReportMainz - ohne Erfolg. Der Beitrag ist weiterhin verfügbar.
https://www.ardmediathek.de/video/report-mainz/sexueller-missbrauch-bei-den-zeugen-jehovas/das-erste/Y3JpZDovL3N3ci5kZS9hZXgvbzEwNzQwOTE

Es ist erbärmlich wie diese Organisation mit Menschen umgeht und fundamentale #Menschenrechte missachtet!

Vielleicht interessiert es ja noch andere. Die Verhandlung ist öffentlich und jeder darf hin. Ausweis für den Einlass nicht vergessen.
Eingang:
Kirchstraße 6-7, 10557 Berlin

Ist auch #Presse dabei?
@tagesschau @rbb @tazgetroete @riffreporter #Tagesspiegel @janboehm @zdfheute @zdfmagazin

Infos bei @JZ_Help
https://jz.help/zeugen-jehovas-klagen-gegen-vereinsmitglieder-von-jz-help/

#JWorg #exJW #exJWorg #JZhelp #Grundrechte

#Satanism is too #exCatholic. We need #exJW Satanists with giant Yule trees with Baphomet on top. We need #exMormon Satanists outside the temple chanting "You can get anything I'm this world with money" with garment symbol pasties and tithing slips with the url to Widow's Mite report. We need #ExMuslim Shaytanists, idk, reading Salman Rushdie or something.

For ex-Jehovah's Witnesses of a certain age, I present to you what may be the ground zero of the Smurf in the Kingdom Hall urban legend. Even if you don't know anything about it, this is a hilarious read.

https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/219234/smurfy-tale-papa-smurf-meets-jehovahs-witnesses

#ExJW #Smurf #JehovahsWitnesses #UrbanLegend

For ex-Jehovah's Witnesses of a certain age, I present to you what may be the ground zero of the Smurf in the Kingdom Hall urban legend. Even if you don't know anything about it, this is a hilarious read.

https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/219234/smurfy-tale-papa-smurf-meets-jehovahs-witnesses

#ExJW #Smurf #JehovahsWitnesses #UrbanLegend

Zum Thema #Datenschutz bei #JehovasZeugen

Wie durch @artikel91 gemeldet, erkennen inzwischen (fast) alle Datenschutzbeauftragen das #Datenschutzgesetz der #JZ nicht an. Die Aufsicht liegt somit nicht mehr bei der Datenschutzaufsicht Jehovas Zeugen. Beschwerden können an die Datenschutzbeauftragen der Länder gesandt werden.

https://jz.help/landesdatenschutzaufsichten-erkennen-datenschutzrecht-der-zeugen-jehovas-nicht-an/

Eine Vertiefung zu dem Thema findet sich hier:
https://jz.help/problembereiche/datenschutzmaengel-dsgvo/

#JWorg #exJW #JZhelp #DSGVO #Artikel91

I left the Jehovah's Witnesses around '91, but kept all my JW books as reference materials & because I love the bizarre art. In the early 00s, I lent most of them to a prof, & never got them back. I wish I still had them. I'm writing stories based on that art. Seeing it online isn't the same. #ExJW

I left the Jehovah's Witnesses around '91, but kept all my JW books as reference materials & because I love the bizarre art. In the early 00s, I lent most of them to a prof, & never got them back. I wish I still had them. I'm writing stories based on that art. Seeing it online isn't the same. #ExJW

#exjw #deconstruction #exchristian #bible #jesus #ransom #resurrection #sin #christianity #pagan - YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/iA9EyF7U48g

#exjw #deconstruction #christian #jesus #leftist #socialist #bible #radical #agape #jesuschrist - YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/vFKAnsR49qo

Hey, it's publication day for an author friend! As an ex-Jehovah's Witness kid myself, I look forward to reading her memoir. https://bookhugpress.ca/shop/author/tamara-jong/worldly-girls-by-tamara-jong/ #memoir #ExJW #cult #bookstodon

Hey, it's publication day for an author friend! As an ex-Jehovah's Witness kid myself, I look forward to reading her memoir. https://bookhugpress.ca/shop/author/tamara-jong/worldly-girls-by-tamara-jong/ #memoir #ExJW #cult #bookstodon

„Ich bin es leid, mich zu verstecken“
Massimo Mantarro ist unter Zeugen Jehovas aufgewachsen. Nach 17 Jahren beschließt er, auszutreten – mit einem Video, in dem er seine Gründe erklärt. Freunde und Familie könnte er für immer verlieren.
Ein mutiger Beitrag mit Massimo ist in der Südwestumschau und der Bietigheimer-Zeitung zu lesen:
https://epaper.swp.de/hohenloher-tagblatt/sudwestumschau/12.08.2025/642A6A72749601FC40AD92C9644E5389

#JZhelp #JehovasZeugen #ZeugenJehovas #exjw #exzj #JehovasWitnessess #Sektenaussteiger #JWorg

„Ich bin es leid, mich zu verstecken“
Massimo Mantarro ist unter Zeugen Jehovas aufgewachsen. Nach 17 Jahren beschließt er, auszutreten – mit einem Video, in dem er seine Gründe erklärt. Freunde und Familie könnte er für immer verlieren.
Ein mutiger Beitrag mit Massimo ist in der Südwestumschau und der Bietigheimer-Zeitung zu lesen:
https://epaper.swp.de/hohenloher-tagblatt/sudwestumschau/12.08.2025/642A6A72749601FC40AD92C9644E5389

#JZhelp #JehovasZeugen #ZeugenJehovas #exjw #exzj #JehovasWitnessess #Sektenaussteiger #JWorg

Die Zeugen Jehovas feierten am Wochenende im Frankfurter Waldstadion ein Großevent mit Massentaufen. Sekten-Experte Matthias Pöhlmann sieht bei der Glaubensgemeinschaft einen problematischen Umgang mit Kritik und eine starke Kontrolle der Mitglieder.

https://www.hessenschau.de/gesellschaft/massentaufen-im-frankfurter-waldstadion-die-unbarmherzige-seite-der-zeugen-jehovas-v1,zeugen-jehovas-100.html

#JehovasZeugen #JWorg #ZeugenJehovas #JZhelp #exJW #JehovahsWitnessess

I'm agnostic. I have tons of religious trauma I'm still working on. But #TheChosen has captured me in such a way no other Christian media has. It's got everything a Bible nerd could ask for, does not forget that the story of Jesus exists in the context of the Old Testament, and emphasizes that this is a story of people not unlike us in anything but time period.

Read the full review here:
https://francisrub.io/writing/en/the-chosen/ #exjw #christian

I'm agnostic. I have tons of religious trauma I'm still working on. But #TheChosen has captured me in such a way no other Christian media has. It's got everything a Bible nerd could ask for, does not forget that the story of Jesus exists in the context of the Old Testament, and emphasizes that this is a story of people not unlike us in anything but time period.

Read the full review here:
https://francisrub.io/writing/en/the-chosen/ #exjw #christian

Hello Fediverse!

THRIVE Community Group hosts channels, support calls, and other resources to help people transitioning away from high-demand religions, or anyone who is experiencing a faith crisis, to connect, support, and find solidarity with each other.

We are on Discord, Jabber, and Matrix. We are hoping to get an index going to make it easier for those trying to transition out of high-demand religions to find resources and help.

#religion #highdemandreligions #exjw #exmormon #mormonism #thrivebeyondreligion #thrivecommunitygroup

Hello Fediverse!

THRIVE Community Group hosts channels, support calls, and other resources to help people transitioning away from high-demand religions, or anyone who is experiencing a faith crisis, to connect, support, and find solidarity with each other.

We are on Discord, Jabber, and Matrix. We are hoping to get an index going to make it easier for those trying to transition out of high-demand religions to find resources and help.

#religion #highdemandreligions #exjw #exmormon #mormonism #thrivebeyondreligion #thrivecommunitygroup

Only ex-JWs of a certain age will get this.

I remember being asked at the age of three if I was excited that my little brother or sister would be born in paradise.

Some great reward.
#ExJW #JehovahsWitness

Only ex-JWs of a certain age will get this.

I remember being asked at the age of three if I was excited that my little brother or sister would be born in paradise.

Some great reward.
#ExJW #JehovahsWitness

A writer who helped me get started in my career has a debut memoir coming out about growing up as a Jehovah's Witness. Won't you preorder the book and show her some support? #ExJW #exJehovahsWitness #memoir #CanLit #bookstodon https://bookhugpress.ca/shop/author/tamara-jong/worldly-girls-by-tamara-jong/

A writer who helped me get started in my career has a debut memoir coming out about growing up as a Jehovah's Witness. Won't you preorder the book and show her some support? #ExJW #exJehovahsWitness #memoir #CanLit #bookstodon https://bookhugpress.ca/shop/author/tamara-jong/worldly-girls-by-tamara-jong/

In 1982, when I was in grade six, my parents were (and still are) Jehovah's Witnesses (JWs). I was not allowed to celebrate holidays. If I was caught doing so, I'd get a beating. At that time, we were friends with a huge family of JWs. While the grownups were downstairs talking on NYE, all us kids desperately wanted to celebrate new years. We needed to figure out an innocuous way of doing so such that if we were caught, it wouldn't look remiss.

We finally decided that at the stroke of midnight, we would all flush the toilets. Flush away the old year and all. We didn't get caught. We didn't get a beating.

I wonder if any of those other kids continued the tradition?

I haven't missed a year since. Want to join me in flushing away the old year?

#toilet #ExJW #NewYear #tradition

In 1982, when I was in grade six, my parents were (and still are) Jehovah's Witnesses (JWs). I was not allowed to celebrate holidays. If I was caught doing so, I'd get a beating. At that time, we were friends with a huge family of JWs. While the grownups were downstairs talking on NYE, all us kids desperately wanted to celebrate new years. We needed to figure out an innocuous way of doing so such that if we were caught, it wouldn't look remiss.

We finally decided that at the stroke of midnight, we would all flush the toilets. Flush away the old year and all. We didn't get caught. We didn't get a beating.

I wonder if any of those other kids continued the tradition?

I haven't missed a year since. Want to join me in flushing away the old year?

#toilet #ExJW #NewYear #tradition

My parents are Jehovah's Witnesses, so I never grew up with holidays. But my parents would often give us gifts in the winter after everything had been marked down. When I was 10, my sister and I came down with chickenpox. I felt absolutely miserable. I remember thinking that my parents were going to give us our gifts while we were very sick, likely to try to cheer us up. But I wanted to celebrate when I was feeling better. It didn't matter. We got our gifts while feverish and covered with pus-filled blisters. I got a baby doll in a pink plastic cradle. I didn't like dolls, but I did like putting my cat Orangey in that cradle.

I went to pick him out of the cradle once by his arms and dislocated both of his shoulders doing so. He screamed, and I immediately shoved his arms back down where they should be. I guess I did it right because he was fine right away and walked around purring like nothing had happened. I never picked a cat up like that again. #cats #chickenpox #disease #ExJW

My parents are Jehovah's Witnesses, so I never grew up with holidays. But my parents would often give us gifts in the winter after everything had been marked down. When I was 10, my sister and I came down with chickenpox. I felt absolutely miserable. I remember thinking that my parents were going to give us our gifts while we were very sick, likely to try to cheer us up. But I wanted to celebrate when I was feeling better. It didn't matter. We got our gifts while feverish and covered with pus-filled blisters. I got a baby doll in a pink plastic cradle. I didn't like dolls, but I did like putting my cat Orangey in that cradle.

I went to pick him out of the cradle once by his arms and dislocated both of his shoulders doing so. He screamed, and I immediately shoved his arms back down where they should be. I guess I did it right because he was fine right away and walked around purring like nothing had happened. I never picked a cat up like that again. #cats #chickenpox #disease #ExJW

Years ago, I stopped by a supermarket after a gym session. I was wearing a tank top and my shoulder tattoo was visible. I was looking at something or another on a shelf when an elderly man got pretty close to me. I assumed I was blocking something he wanted to get at, so I shuffled out of the way. Then I realized he was looking at me, not the food.

His lips were pressed tightly together, and he was shaking his head in a tsk-tsk sort of way. "You're a woman, you have a tattoo, and that is not--"

I interrupted him cheerily. "Not your body. Not your business. Bye!"

I left him there all judgy-faced without a target. I guess he had the sanctimonious equivalent of blue balls. Boo hoo.

Later on, I told someone about this, and they chided me for not taking a tongue-lashing from that old man. "Fuck that," I said. "That's how I spent my first twenty years. I don't owe that to anyone."
#judgmental #OldFart #MyBody #tattoos #GenderRoles #ExJW

Years ago, I stopped by a supermarket after a gym session. I was wearing a tank top and my shoulder tattoo was visible. I was looking at something or another on a shelf when an elderly man got pretty close to me. I assumed I was blocking something he wanted to get at, so I shuffled out of the way. Then I realized he was looking at me, not the food.

His lips were pressed tightly together, and he was shaking his head in a tsk-tsk sort of way. "You're a woman, you have a tattoo, and that is not--"

I interrupted him cheerily. "Not your body. Not your business. Bye!"

I left him there all judgy-faced without a target. I guess he had the sanctimonious equivalent of blue balls. Boo hoo.

Later on, I told someone about this, and they chided me for not taking a tongue-lashing from that old man. "Fuck that," I said. "That's how I spent my first twenty years. I don't owe that to anyone."
#judgmental #OldFart #MyBody #tattoos #GenderRoles #ExJW

I didn't grow up with holidays. I was about 24 before I had my first birthday party. I was 20 the first time I went trick or treating. And my first Christmas party was when I was 20, as well. #ExJW #Holidays

This was my favourite Jehovah's Witness song when I was a little kid. I used to sing it all the time. Listening to it now, it feels very creepy. It is explicitly about religious colonization. https://youtu.be/h3S6PQ1Dpkg #ExJW #hymns #ReligiousMusic #preaching #Colonization

I got caught up on a bunch of my reading and then went for a 7km walk. I'm glad I was feeling up to working AND moving today. These days happen less frequently than I'd like.

Then I needed to take a break and use my brain in a different way. I ended up writing a flash memoir piece for a themed call for submissions. My story "Demons Demons Everywhere" is a look at how being a Jehovah's Witness kid set me up to become a horror fan. https://brigidsgatepress.com/submissions
#CallForSubmissions #anthology #AmWriting #memoir #ExJW #Horror

I should be doing homework, but instead I am working on a memoir piece about how, despite being a Jehovah's Witness kid, I was obsessed by witchcraft and the occult. #ExJw #AmWriting #Memoir #occult #witchcraft

The first time I ever got to go trick or treating was when I was 21 years old. My roommate Viki went as a vampire and I went as her victim in a long white nightgown and a bloody neck. The only place we went to, the woman said, "Aren't you too old for this?" It crushed all my joy. I didn't get to go as a kid because I grew up in a Jehovah's Witness family.

In downtown Fredericton there's an old cemetery that everyone uses as a shortcut. That Halloween night, the gates were open, so Viki and I walked in. We passed a watchman who said hi. But when we got to the other side, the gate was locked.

We turned around to exit the way we came in, only to find that gate was locked, too. The watchman had shut us in!

We wandered around looking for a way out, and then city workers saw us and started yelling at us for breaking into the cemetery. We explained what had happened and asked for them to let us out. They didn't have keys. So they pulled their truck up to the cast iron fence and helped pull us over the fence.

Who else gets locked into an old cemetery on their first Hallowe'en? My nightgown got ripped, but it was totally worth it. It brought back all the joy that had been sucked away by the mean woman telling me I was too old for trick or treating.

FWIW, the last time I went trick or treating was when I was in my forties. If mummering were a thing here, I'd do that, too.
#halloween #TrickorTreat #ageism #mummers #cemetery #ExJW