Churchhoney

Well, at least the people in the YouTube video aren't half-assing it, the way most of the Theater Derick group (including Derick) is doing. I didn't watch much of that performance, but it looks as if they mean it and as if they know what they're doing, and that certainly helps. Much much more expressive. It's partly the sloppiness and awkwardness of Derick and his crew that offends me. I realize that most people will be awkward when they're dancing. But if you're trying to communicate with people, you need to dance with conviction and convey something. If you can't do that, you probably ought to try another means of communicating because you won't do anything but embarrass and confuse the audience. Plus, it's one thing for people in the U.S. to be moved by a dance to a pop song they know. But why would you go to someone else's country and assume that they'll be moved by a dance to a pop song from your country that in all likelihood they've never heard before in their lives? The whole thoughtlessness of it is pretty appalling, to me. They're taking something that works in the United States because it taps into an audience's feelings attached to a song they know and assuming that that would translate to people completely unfamiliar with the song. Completely thoughtless, seems to me. On some thread the other day, someone described a Duggar business -- I think the towing company? -- as half-assed. And that adjective should probably be attached to everything they do.

Oh, thanks for figuring that out. I wondered if that was the song, after I saw what Jill wrote. I can barely hear it on my bad computer speakers. But I couldn't figure out how what they were doing expressed that lyric at all.

Looking at the comments, I learned that this same skit -- I assume some kind of now-standard movements interpreting whatever the song is??? -- has been performed on numerous other missions, at retreats, college meetings, in churches.... One woman mentions that she saw it at college and it really "spoke to my heart." So apparently we need to get with the program. It's happening all over. And it's great, people. It's even more horrifying to think that it wasn't made up in about 10 minutes by this particular gang of dweebs.

I'm sure there are many exceptions, but I have to say that among my acquaintance, marriages that begin with this kind of statement seldom end well.

I have a sinking feeling that this is as practical as it gets. Everybody over about age 12 who's standing there is probably a more accomplished and competent person than Jill. The only thing she has to offer is that she knows the correct Jesus. And Derick aka Pistol Pete probably isn't much in advance of her.

Well, according to the title (per Jill), "Everything."

Well, in my perception the middle market is sort of bifurcated, and Dillards is sort of the high end of the middle market, along with Macy's and Belk (don't know about the other regional ones). Dillards and those are definitely pricier and more designer-oriented than places like Sears and Penneys. And, yeah. The idea that that's a double-bylined "article." Amazing. (Didn't you used to have Daimaru? I remember being in one of those in Melbourne once...)

It's baffling all right. My best guess would be that it's a combo of reasons. They think everybody is hurting for church-nerd street theater -- I can see them putting on the exact same "show" at events in the States and thinking they're doing a good deed and fostering conversions -- and they can't actually communicate well at all with Spanish speakers, so they're relying on pantomime. It's so insulting to the intelligence of the people they're "ministering" to. And that wouldn't be such a problem if they were doing it in Arkansas. There it would just be idiocy. But to go into a place in which people already know that they're probably looked on as lesser and "perform" this two-bit crap as if it's somehow meaningful. Appalling. I still want to be happy that Jill and Derick look more relaxed and happy in their photos. But Derick just dropped another big notch in my estimation. A big notch.

The worst thing about this is that it really and blatantly infantilizes these folks. And from the postures of the locals standing around at the walls, I'd say that's exactly what they're thinking. Ugly Americans being mega-disrespectful, seems to me. And yet if they showed up in your area when it was suffering problems, you'd probably put up with it because their presence offered at least a few things that you needed. Just bad. And the "missionaries" are clueless about it.

Oh, you are hard core. I suppose next you'll suggest that the truly recalcitrant be shown some Duggar Studio videos. I think that at some point you just have to respect people's decision to remain Catholic. And this is the college-educated one.

I assume the other two will be at Kohl's and Belk?

On the plus side, this "drama" (???) answers some of the questions we were asking about prayer in the Religion topic the other day. Apparently. (Also answers my question about how well these missionaries communicate with locals. The guy and his mother that they reconverted probably assented just to keep from seeing a repeat performance.)

Well, that could be her version of the typical Duggar wedding menu ....

So I'm guessing Dillards wants to offer this to customers as a side service but not to groups of 20 (including Howlers with video equipment) so they asked Amy to give the stupid magazine the low-end number for how many people she had imagined would attend? Or else she just counted everybody in the mall that day as having attended.

I'm confused by the low attendance generally. Makes me think this has to be just one among multiple showers. But if that's the case, who was this shower supposed to include? Didn't seem to be a family-run shower or a church-run shower or a we're-friends-of-Amy-from-school-and-jobs shower. It kind of seemed to be an Amy-run shower. What did I miss? Who announces their own shower? Or was someone else actually in the forefront? Was this actually intended to be a leghumper-heavy event that fizzled? Or what? ...And were there any chairs at this shower or were you just supposed to stand up next to the bathmat display during the festivities? ETA: And what the heck are all those hanging rags? It looks like somebody started to make those little floaty ghosts for an outdoor Halloween tree but stopped when they realized that pink, green and gold are not Halloween colors. ... And I guess we now know what A's wedding colors will be?

I think one reason for this is that the people who are defining these words are stupid, ignorant, and absolutely unwilling to think. .... That's just a guess, of course. Great post, by the way.

Such a very apt little rant. This could be the cover photo for a book on what's wrong with the selfie era. The look on the baby vs. the look on Jessa (who clearly spent a good 20 minutes getting her hair into just the right configuration). Your photo is inadvertently heartbreaking, Jessa.

In her case, "bubble" may just be another word for "airhead." I'm sorry, but Amy's phony-baloney ain't-I-the-adorablest smile in that photo makes me want to kick her teeth in. ..... And actually, I'm not sorry. : ) Do they not have enough bathrooms at Dillard's? Shoulda waited to take the photo until the ladies room line cleared.

I spent a lot of years thinking that it must be Joseph of Arimathea. He's the guy who supposedly gave up the tomb he owned to be Christ's tomb, and I figured it'd be him because his claim to fame was a transfer of real estate. I was surprised when I finally learned that it was the original St. Joseph. The dumbest things sometimes turn into traditions.

Thanks. Wow. So it's an all-occasion outfit for which one possible occasion is actual swimming. Well, that's really kind of impressive, I guess. And I suppose if you're going to wear a dress to swim, you probably don't want to bring an extra dress along with you. .... Can't quite picture these women going for a post-swimming night on the town, but if they say so.... And anti-cling mesh! Sounds like something you'd find on the Space Shuttle.

Oh, good thought. I have always puzzled about whether he'd have had the self-discipline to save up that chunk of cash given the circumstances they were living in at the time, especially since the idea to run for the Senate at that time really couldn't have come up too terribly far in advance.

I wonder what makes them swimdresses rather than regular dresses? I'd assume it's something about the material they're made from -- like that it won't ride up or become transparent or something -- but it actually looks like just your average dress material in those pictures. You'd think she'd publish some kind of explanation of why you should buy her fairly pricey swimdresses rather than just swim in some dress or skirt and top you already have around the house or can pick up cheaply at WalMart. Interesting. But if I were just going to splash and I wanted to do this, I'd just layer a regular pair of shorts that I already owned with a skirt and top that I already owned. Doesn't seem to be a lot of point to do anything else. And if I were going to swim, I'd wear something in which I wasn't likely to be dragged to the bottom and drowned.

What an interesting answer, though. Thanks, and thanks for mentioning the Frances Farmer thing. I'll look it up. She was a woman who lived considerably before her time, I think.

Indeed. And how ironic.

Great question. I'll be interested to see how the Lord Google answers your petition..... : ) I think it's all around, though. Jesus prays. And I don't know how much that exact word comes in according to Old Testament translations, but praising God and talking to God and so on happen a lot in their, don't they? Seems like most religions have some way of getting in touch with their gods. The Greeks and Romans sought out prophecy, so I suppose if you went to the Sibyl and asked her something then you were praying, but sort of through an intermediary? And in any religion that has shrines people stop by and speak with the god/spirit of the shrine -- like Shinto, for example. A lot of prayers are ritual prayers, though, rather than specific stuff like "Help me find my keys!" "Please help me win X-Factor!" or "Thanks for the touchdown, God!" But Christianity has ritual prayers, too, like the Lord's Prayer.