(Repost) “Coming Undone” – Escape Chapter 10: Cathleen and Tammy Marry Merril

Merril Jessop now has two new wives. That means living arrangements have to be rearranged, but you know that’s not something Merril ever thought about.

CN: Mental illness, ableism, domestic violence, abuse and neglect.

Tammy has to personally turf one of his daughters out of a bedroom so that she has a room in the same house as her unlawfully-wedded husband. Cathleen, the gentle-natured one, is installed in the younger boys’ room, forcing them to squeeze in with other brothers. Lest you think Merril gave her a room because he actually likes her, note that he immediately skedaddles with his favorite wife, Barbara, leaving Cathleen to care for 28 children pretty much by herself. Ruth and Faunita are too consumed by psychosis and depression to help, Carolyn’s at college, and Tammy could give two shits about other people’s children.

So yeah, Merril married Cathleen for political power, and then moved her in because he needed a nanny. Proper Prince Charming, ain’t he just.

And when she finally confronts Merril about it, he tells her to learn how to do stuff from his elder daughters (who are completely MIA) and that she needs to take a nap.

Husband of the fucking Year material right here, yo.

Meanwhile, Tammy’s only concern is how she can get moved into the house and persuade her new hubby to fuck her rather than fuck her over. Yep. He married her, but he still hasn’t slept with her.

When Merril gets home from his post-wedding business trip, he chooses to deal with Ruth’s psychotic behavior by ignoring it. Cathleen about loses her shit, because the man of the family is falling down on his job:

In the FLDS culture, people believe that the mentally ill have invited evil spirits into themselves. Cathleen could not fathom why Merril would allow a wife who’d been taken over by an evil spirit to be running around his home and scaring his children with her bizarre behavior.

Such a healthy attitude towards mental illness. *fatal eyeroll* Continue reading “(Repost) “Coming Undone” – Escape Chapter 10: Cathleen and Tammy Marry Merril”

(Repost) “Coming Undone” – Escape Chapter 10: Cathleen and Tammy Marry Merril
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(Repost) Adventures in Christianist Earth Science Education IIIb: In Which BJU Goes Yellow-Green

After A Beka’s nonsense about humans being able to do anything they want to the earth’s atmosphere because God will save it, it’s a bit of a shock to open to the Earth’s Atmosphere chapter of our BJU Earth Science 4th Edition textbook and see, before anything else, a bit about “Killer Air.” Sure, they talk about how God wants to fill the earth right up with people. But they admit air pollution is a problem. They even admit it kills people. And they want their readers to join in fixing it. They don’t leave the whole thing up to God.

Image is a gray cat looking very shocked. Caption says, "I am not often shocked. Right now I am totally flabbergasted."

ZOMG. Is BJU full of environmentalists? (Answer’s “not really,” but we’ll get to that). Continue reading “(Repost) Adventures in Christianist Earth Science Education IIIb: In Which BJU Goes Yellow-Green”

(Repost) Adventures in Christianist Earth Science Education IIIb: In Which BJU Goes Yellow-Green

(Tier 1) Adventures in Christianist Earth Science Education XXXIV: Wherein Dog Whistles Abound

Oh, goody. We’re back to young earth creationists trying to tell us what we icky secular types think of geology. This time, the authors of Earth Science Fourth Edition are on about changes over the course of the earth’s existence. Let’s see how much fail they pack into the topic, eh?

Our section objectives tell us that we’ll be able to show how the earth has changed over time. Everybody agrees it has, so that’s lovely.

Then they’ll want us to “compare and contrast the old-earth and young-earth histories, emphasizing when changes happened and how long they took to occur.” Fabulous! We’ll be able to stick science and myth in two columns and see how badly the myth mangles reality.

Then we’re to “evaluate the scientific problems with the old-earth view of the earth’s history.” Ha ha ha no. No, because they won’t be addressing actual problems, like the bits in our theories that still need improving (fer instance: we really don’t quite understand hot spots yet, although we’ve got some good leads). What they’ll be doing is more like complaining that guides to King’s Cross Station are wrong because they don’t include Platform 9¾. Continue reading “(Tier 1) Adventures in Christianist Earth Science Education XXXIV: Wherein Dog Whistles Abound”

(Tier 1) Adventures in Christianist Earth Science Education XXXIV: Wherein Dog Whistles Abound

But Why Mud Mountain?

Usually, when I go to Mount Rainier, there’s no time for diversions. Which is sad, because I’ve wanted to see Mud Mountain Dam ever since I found out about it a few years ago. Every time, I plan to swing by, and every time, it just never works out. Until now.

Behold!

Image shows the upstream side of an earthen dam in a forested canyon. The dam actually looks like a small, triangular hill with the base at the top. A dirt road zig-zags up the middle. There is a concrete tower visible on the right.
Mud Mountain Dam

This trip to Mount Rainier hadn’t looked promising. After scorching heat all week, the weather took a turn for the Pacific Northwest. We’d intended to go down on Sunday, but the forecast changed to snow showers. Snow. I’m not doing snow on a volcano in a Honda Civic. So Merideth and I switched our plans, moved the trip up to Saturday, and decided we’d play it by ear. We didn’t think we’d see any volcano, but there are plenty of things to do around the base of Mount Rainier. And hey, since the National Park Service was celebrating its centennial, we were going to get in free anyway, so if the trip turned out to be a bust, no big deal.

I had Mud Mountain Dam on the wish list again, but since we got a leisurely start and stopped for a proper lunch, I’d changed my mind. I wanted to get Merideth to Longmire for some hawt hot springs action, and since we were coming in from the north, it was going to take quite some time. But as we passed the sign for Mud Mountain Dam, I decided to hell with it. We’d try for it. I couldn’t remember how far off the highway it was, but figured we’d turn around if it was too far. Continue reading “But Why Mud Mountain?”

But Why Mud Mountain?

Lenticular Extravaganza at Mount Rainier!

So, my friend Merideth and I went down to Mount Rainier on Saturday. The weather didn’t start out promising, but it put on such a fantastic show for us once we got there! Look at this lenticular cloud the mountain is wearing!

Image shows Mount Rainier's summit, with a forest of firs in the foreground. On the left of the picture, there's nothing but frothy white and gray clouds. Behind those clouds, half of the summit is visible, capped by a lenticular cloud that is sitting right on top of the mountain. It looks like the brim of a haute couture newsboy cap. Behind it is pure blue sky.
Mount Rainier from Sunrise parking lot. Look at that jaunty lenticular cap!

There’s a whole lot more where that came from. To get a sneak peak at trip highlights and unedited photos, hop on over to my Facebook feed. Everything’s set to public, so everyone can enjoy!

Continue reading “Lenticular Extravaganza at Mount Rainier!”

Lenticular Extravaganza at Mount Rainier!

SPN Analysis – S1E12 – “Faith” – Long Term Investments

Zeroth has once again hit the ball out of the park and across the interstate. He sees a pattern, and he breaks your heart exploring it. Well, he’ll break it if your heart’s invested in these characters at all.

So I’ll break with tradition a little bit here. I’m going to write assuming you’ve seen to at least the end of season five of Supernatural. If you haven’t, this will likely spoil you on a lot of things.

Yep, spoilers! I will kindly cut them out for those who are watching along for the first time. Here’s your take-away from this episode, courtesy of Zeroth, who sees all. Well, lots.

Continue reading “SPN Analysis – S1E12 – “Faith” – Long Term Investments”

SPN Analysis – S1E12 – “Faith” – Long Term Investments

(Repost) “Demolished by Sadness” – Escape Chapter 10: Cathleen and Tammy Marry Merril

It’s December, and Carolyn is back at Merril’s house after completing her fall semester at college. Merril, Barbara, and Ruth took off for Salt Lake City shortly after she arrived, leaving her virtually alone with the 14 kids still at home. Faunita, the only other adult, doesn’t leave her room very often. So Carolyn is free to do chores on her own. There are so many clothes to wash that, although they have to be rinsed by hand and hung to dry, it’s faster to do laundry in the old industrial-sized washer than try to use the more modern automatic washer and dryer. I can’t even bloody imagine the drudgery.

Content note for: Forced marriage, coerced sex

The FLDS has a new prophet, Rulon Jeffs, who took over after Uncle Roy died a few weeks before. While Carolyn cleans and looks forward to cooking for her gaggle of stepkids, Jeffs is busy arranging a wedding for Merril, who’s marrying Cathleen, a young widow of the former prophet. Merril lies to Carolyn and tells her Jeffs had just sprung this match on him with no warning. Continue reading “(Repost) “Demolished by Sadness” – Escape Chapter 10: Cathleen and Tammy Marry Merril”

(Repost) “Demolished by Sadness” – Escape Chapter 10: Cathleen and Tammy Marry Merril