Fornits

Fornits Home for Wayward Web Fora
An open discussion about the troubled parent industry

Thank you, Greg. I am glad your daughter is better.

I am so so so glad you started this site, even though it's become a pretty toxic site in the past few years. Before that happened, I connected with a lot of past members, made piece with my own past, and learned so much from posting and reading others' posts. It was an amazing experience for me some years ago, I was very active. Now I check it rarely, but I am glad this posting was right at the top.

I haven't posted on this site for over a year because every time I checked it out, it was full of ridiculous garbage posts. Glad you have a policy and I hope it helps.

Hey Greg, thanks for the message.

My brother is a busy guy these days, and in fact, we talk monthly, or so, but i will convey the message...

Are you enjoying being at dad at 50? Sometimes I feel guilt that i will be a decrepid old fart when my two girls, now 1 and 3, are adults...or maybe I will stay healthy well into later age. Who knows? Anyway, it's a blast, when it doesn't suck (lost sleep, freedom and downtime) but that is more than made up for in good stuff.

Yes, although I have mixed feelings about the Seed and understand the extremes of feelings on either side, I am cursed or blessed with empathy for both outlooks...good thing I am not in politics, what a flip-flopper!

I haven't posted on this site in ages, and I have visited only sporadically. Seems like sometimes it's up, sometimes down, and moving to various host locations. I don't know the details.

I had kind of had a 'been there, done that' attitude towards the site. I am turning 50, I have two children, I'm busy, and I work (ironically) about 1/2 mile from the old Cleveland Seed, so I pass it frequently and feel - nothing.

However, I have seen some of the recent posts by people who have just discovered this site, and it reminds me how powerful it is to reconnect. To have the chance to relive old memories and grievances, grind an ax or two and even realize where my original ideas were mistaken. So amazing.

The Seed remains for me a pivotal, formative, powerful experience. I still haven't decided whether it was all good or bad, and the fact is, it was both. No matter what, those memories will live with me forever, and I am sure I will still have dreams in which the Seed plays a role.

So, thanks again to Ginger and Greg and whoever else is helping them maintain this forum, in spite of whether you agree with their views or not - they are letting us air our views here, and, you know what, the truth will out.

Take care and happy discovery for any new Seed Kids that find this site.

yes, I recall a story about him waking up from a drunken stupor in his car, living with his dog as his only friend. rock bottom. then getting sober thru aa and working a bellevue helping other drunks. started the seed on his boat, turning his back on successful comedy career. first seed on andrews ave.

Funny, I don't know if it wasn't allowed but I didn't have a watch as a newcomer. I can imaginge being told not to look at it even if I had one.

As an oldcomer, it was one of the first things I bought myself too. I remember Hank had a diver's watch, and Jack had a nice Casio - I think I bought myself a gold dress watch, I also remember having a water-proof digital. It was about the only piece of status jewelry a guy could wear. Scott wore (and sold) gold neclaces, but even as an oldcomer I thought that was tacky, even though Art wore one, too.

Greg, you're using some of the language of the right wing, and the social darwinists, so...

Johnny G., right on! You are one fart smucker, as we used to say...

I am a former teacher so I can vouch for that. The ideal of universal public education was a one-room school house ideal in a mainly rural america, after WW I it became an idealogical training ground for assembly line workers. Now it's mainly a farce (although there are excellent teachers) the right wing would like to privitize it (and destroy it - Greg, you wouldn't want to pay for all those lazy f**kers to sit in study hall and take gym, would you?) and the left...go back to the good old days of small community school...

I don't know what scares me more, Ginger's daughter's sass or her mom's maniacal letter to the clueless school official. It's all a big waste of time in some ways.

Personally I am a left-winger so I gladly pay my taxes for universal public education, flawed as it is. I completely hated most of my first 13 years in school and was a college drop out, so I missed the good times. I then went on to teach for a decade - hardest thing I ever did - and happily left the world of school bells, study halls, cafeterias and enforced mindless routine and conformity, punctuated by meaningless rebellion.

And social security...I have worked hard all my life in mostly lower-paying 'do good' jobs and yup, Greg, I hope we can all support one-another when the day comes. Everyone is losing their health and pension benefits which used to come from the company, which they passed on to their customers anyway. It's called the Social Contract, and it is disappearing with a wimper. Oh, the times, they are a-changin'!

Here's my theory: let's all imagine that we are blameless, unborn souls waiting to be born. At birth, you are randomly assigned a family, race, intellegence, looks, athleticism, social class - your fate. Then you are to make the best of it with the other randomly-assigned souls. How will you treat each other, knowing you were just as likely to be a Calcutta begger as to be the son or daughter of a Fortune 500 magnate? Just as likely to be muslim, jew, christian or hindi? (Sidenote: great bumper sticker: "I'm a radical atheist: I will force you to not believe") What kind of social system? Greg's social darwinism? Liberal democracy? Dictatorship (hey, the trains run on time!) See, I am more of a philosopher than a policy wonk, I'll let the rest of you argue over percentages and rates.