TresSugar

Amish Romance Novels Find Niche on Bestseller Lists

TresSugar — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 09:00:00 -0700

Vampires are no longer the only ones who can't have sex in romance novels, now the Amish can - or can't - too. Dubbed "bonnet books," Amish romances are a new subgenre in the ever-multiplying species of romance novels.

The G-rated love stories always contain the most essential ingredient of any romantic page-turner - forbidden love. Usually between a young Amish woman and an outsider, the romances are set against Pennsylvania's idyllic countryside. Mix in the allure of an insulated community, a la Big Love, and you've got a bestseller. Barnes & Noble book buyer Jane Love said Amish novels account for 15 of its top 100 religious fiction titles. She said, "It's almost like you put a person with a bonnet or an Amish field in the background and it automatically starts to sell well."

So who's reading these "bonnet books"? To find out, read more.

Fiction is viewed as "distracting and deceitful" by the church, yet the Amish are reading. Though they say the books dramatize life on the farm, complaining that buggy accidents, young romances with outsiders, and Rumspringa (the period when Amish teenagers experiment with the outside world) sound more like soap operas than reality. One woman told an author, "All the women in our church district are reading your books under the covers, literally."

But outsiders like us are still the main audience - would you read one?

Source: Flickr User Kat . . .

Voting Bloc: How Will the Amish Vote?

CitizenSugar — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 11:00:00 -0800

With only 13 percent of eligible Amish voters casting their votes in 2004, they are not the most coveted vote. But with large populations in states like Pennsylvania and Ohio, they are not to be ignored.

Actually, they are kind of being ignored this year - unless you count Obama’s sad attempt to court the electricity-shunning group with the Amish For Obama blog - but in 2004 Bush went all out to woo them with his Southern charm. Without the influence of the Internet or TV, they are some of the most issued-focused voters out there.

How will they vote this year? Will they? To find out, read more.

Since the Amish are largely a self-sufficient group, most think today’s outcome won't affect them. Those who do vote tend to be firm Republicans with ultratraditional values and an antigovernment stance. So what do they think about this election?

McCain lacks the religiosity and traditional values Bush championed, but Sarah Palin is bringing the ticket in the right direction.
Though women are regarded as men’s subordinates in Amish culture, many are OK with Sarah Palin running for VP. After all, some said, it’s not like she’s on the top of the ticket.
"The country isn’t ready for a black president." Well, that’s certainly one way of putting it! All-out racial attacks were common and often "he’s too inexperienced" segued into them.
Immigration, national security, and too many government handouts top their lists of concerns.
They don't think national healthcare would work, despite having their own health-care system, when the same values aren’t shared among everyone in the system.

Sounds like Amish Country will put McCain first!

Source

Are Amish Girls Are Expected to Forgive Rape?

CitizenSugar — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 15:45:29 -0700

Think the Amish are gentle, peace-loving folk? Or haven't you given the faith much thought since Amish in the City? If your experience with this quiet faith stops with Witness, here's another look.

Torah Bontrager escaped her Amish community at 15 after coming close to committing suicide. Now, at 27, the Columbia grad is speaking out about common misconceptions about the Amish and her escape.

In an interview with author Tim Ferriss, she lists the pros and cons of her Amish childhood. Here are some high- (and low-) lights:

Pros of Growing Up Amish

The emphasis on the solidarity of the extended family unit
The emphasis on being hospitable to strangers, helping those in need, whether Amish or “English” (anyone who’s not Amish is “English")
Building your own houses, growing your own food, sewing your own clothes

Cons of Growing Up Amish

The rape, incest, and other sexual abuse that run rampant in the community
Physical and verbal abuse in the name of discipline
Women (and children) have no rights

For people with a peaceful, forgive-and-forget creed, I wondered how so much violence could be possible. To find out how, read more.

Forgiveness is a virtue for the Amish - not forgiving is worse than the sin- so it's actually quite easy: you forgive and then you forget. You forget.

Mary Byler is all too familiar with Torah's story. She left her Amish family at 20 when her brother began molesting her 4-year-old sister. After enduring beatings, sexual abuse, and rape since age 6 herself, she called outside authorities and moved out of the community.

Growing up, she regularly told her mother that her brother and cousins were "being bad" to her (she didn't know what else to call it). Her mother responded unsympathetically, saying, "you don't fight hard enough and you don't pray hard enough." The boys had already confessed in church so complaining about it was just being unforgiving.

"If you don't forgive, you won't be forgiven" were Jesus's words but the Amish live by them. While they generally create a pacifist culture, the words can also be twisted to justify abuse. "It's like any other society. You have great families, very well-balanced, but you also have dysfunctional ones," Mary said, "Take the Amish off the pedestal. They're just like everybody else."

While the Amish are not exempt from the law, the government rarely interferes (although they did this week!) because they are peaceful, law-abiding people. Considering that it is not acceptable to take an accusation, like Mary did, outside the Amish community - it's a sign of resentment - should the government take them off their homemade pedestal so they can see in?

Souce

California Parents Do Not Have Right to Homeschool

LibertySugar — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 15:01:08 -0700

This week, a California appeals court reaffirmed the state's compulsory education statute - which requires parents to send children to an accredited full-time day school, or have their children instructed at home by a credentialed tutor. The panel of three judges, rejected the notion that parents have a constitutional right to educate their children at home.

The parents in the lawsuit also argued that the state's law violated their freedom of religion. But the court rejected a parallel to US Supreme Court allowing for Amish families to withdraw their children from schools at age 13. The judges reasoned that the present case missed various common factors, including deep religious beliefs held by an organized group. Simply asserting a religious objection, would be too easy a loophole.

Do you think parents have a right to teach their children at home, or a legal duty to make sure they are being taught by accredited teachers?

Source

Flashback: Weird Al's "Amish Paradise"

GiggleSugar — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 09:00:00 -0700

Remember the Coolio song Gangsta's Paradise? I haven't seen Weird Al's spoof of it--where instead of singing about Compton he's singing about some tuff town in Pennsylvania--in a long time. The Amish are famously square, but I hear Rumspringa gets pretty wild...

Amish Paradise - The best free videos are right here

Introducing: Ask Two Guys About Guys

TresSugar — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 16:01:14 -0700

A few months ago, I stumbled upon the awesome book Don't Be That Guy, an illustrated book that delineated the myriad types of guys no guy should be.

There are the guys who verbally encourage themselves while working out at the gym, or guys who wear sunglasses at nonprofessional poker tournaments, or guys with Amish beards who aren't Amish (my personal fave). The list goes on.

In addition to being funny, Don't Be That Guy gave me a peek into the male psyche. It was refreshing to have a couple dudes honestly (and hilariously) list what bugs them about other guys. (I can't always be the one complaining about men!)

Well, lucky for us, writer Colin Nissan and illustrator Sean Farrell agreed to answer some nagging lady-questions for a few weeks (and maybe beyond?). So stay tuned for tomorrow's installment of Ask Two Guys About Guys, where the two guys explain the ancient mystery of why some men insist on masturbating even though they have regular sex partners. This should be fun!

Book Bag: Kingdom of Simplicity Explores Forgiveness

TresSugar — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 14:00:00 -0700

They say an accident happens by chance, with no planning or deliberate intent. And people who knew my sisters would have said just that. It was an accident. But I would like to tell them there are no accidents.There are only opportunities.

Kingdom of Simplicity, the story about an Amish boy who loses his family in a car accident, explores the simple power of forgiveness.

In 1994, author Holly Payne saw her life plans put on hold after she was struck by a drunk driver and left unable to walk for almost a year. A few months after the accident, the man who inflicted the hardship on Holly wrote her a letter asking for her forgiveness. Not ready to confront him, Holly put the letter away. She finally decided to respond to him with this book about forgiveness, which she recently sent to him along with a letter of her own.

Holly says that she wishes she would have gotten back to the driver earlier to free him from the burden of guilt he felt and free herself from her feelings of resentment.

Have you had the opportunity to forgive someone for something significant?

Heavy Metal Farmer

GiggleSugar — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 10:00:00 -0700

I like to think that this hottie hipster guy is really an Amish dude during Rumspringa, the "running around" time for Amish youth when they experiment with worldly pleasures in order to figure out whether or not they want to stay with the Amish way of life. In addition to possibly experimenting with alcohol, cigarettes and maybe even drugs, I imagine they listen to heavy metal. Here is what an Amish guy gone wild might sound like. . .

Giggle Links

GiggleSugar — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 12:00:00 -0700

This moose is givin' the camera all he's got. - I Can Has Cheezburger
Muppets or politicians? - eBaum's World
Make sure your parents aren't doin' it when you prank them. - Comedy.com
The University of Michigan has a message for showering onanists. - Holy Taco
The missing honeybees have a stern message for you. - Stupid Videos
Even the Amish have their limits. - College Humor
Eight animals with superpowers. I'm officially scared. - Cracked

Ever Wondered Why Jehovah's Witnesses Don't Vote?

CitizenSugar — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 10:00:55 -0700

I'm not so much a sportsy-follower and admit that I didn't know that Serena Williams is a Jehovah's Witness until she started talking about Barack Obama in this Slate piece, but I'm glad she did - this is fascinating stuff. Do you know why Jehovah's Witnesses tend not to vote? Passages like John 17:14 where Jesus says of those who follow him: "They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world." This other-worldliness is what Jehovah's Witnesses have interpreted as a directive to remain above terrestrial concerns like the election and neutral in all political matters.

Though voting isn't completely prohibited it's cautioned against - the Watchtower, the official publication of the Jehovah's Witnesses has suggested that whether to stop into the voting booth was one of personal conscience. Not limited to voting, Witnesses also don't serve in the military, pledge allegiance to the flag, or run for office.

The cautioning against politics does work - only 13 percent are registered to vote, and though they're the biggest religious group that opts out of voting, there are others, like the Amish and the Rastafarians (though even their attitudes have altered the last few years.) Is God a big reason to stay vote-free? In the US about 2 percent of people who don't register to vote cite religion as the reason.

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