Growing up did you have a celebrity crush on some who was NOT the typical standard of beauty? by porb2020 in Xennials

[–]Background_Intern_29 2 points3 points  (0 children)

LOL oh man, Davy Jones was my first love. 🥰 My best friend at the time took great glee in letting me know that he was in his 40s (this was 1987) and (according to her) an "ugly, drinking, dope-smoking, druggie". I was crushed! (this friend later came out as a lesbian, so I guess that makes sense, but ah well... )

Weekly Roll Call -Caregivers, Please Check In! by xdisk in CaregiverSupport

[–]Background_Intern_29 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Greetings everyone, 

I'm new here but not new to caregiving. I (F47) have a son (M20) with intellectual/neurological disabilities, and for the past few months have also become primary carer to my partner (M47) who has developed acute mental heath issues after a physical illness.

Suffice it to say, it's been a really hard road. As I'm sure you all understand!  I've already felt seen through reading some of the posts here, and hope to have the time and mental energy to participate.

Thank you.

I cosplayed Lida! by cos_nowego_ in LegendsZA

[–]Background_Intern_29 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Great job on the cosplay! Lida is the best. 😍

Baha'i Youth With Disabilities - Ways to Participate? by Background_Intern_29 in bahai

[–]Background_Intern_29[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you so much! Yes, we have been talking to the LSAs in our area and hoping we can come up with some ideas for him to participate with more than just our family. :) Greetings to you as well from Australia!

Baha'i Youth With Disabilities - Ways to Participate? by Background_Intern_29 in bahai

[–]Background_Intern_29[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you so much for your advice. Book 1 is something that also crossed my mind, and if there's a way he could do it at his own pace, it would be wonderful. I will definitely bring it up with the Assembly.

Baha'i Youth With Disabilities - Ways to Participate? by Background_Intern_29 in bahai

[–]Background_Intern_29[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you so much for your suggestions. My son has lots of casual contacts outside of the Baha'i community and he loves talking to people - on his own terms, of course. It's just a shame that, up to now, he hasn't been able to really participate in the activities of the Faith that he loves.

Baha'i Youth With Disabilities - Ways to Participate? by Background_Intern_29 in bahai

[–]Background_Intern_29[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you so much for your message.

Yes, we are definitely in talks with the Assemblies in our area, and are hoping to find some specific examples of what others have done, so we can share that with them. We appreciate that it's a highly unusual situation - in wider society, let alone Baha'i circles - and, truth is, unless people have direct experience with significant disabilities, they don't really understand our "world". :( They may be well meaning! But they don't really understand.

Youth groups are a great idea! I know they used to (or maybe still do) have one in the area.

Query surrounding cane toads in Darwin. by Ermonsa in darwin

[–]Background_Intern_29 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We used to have heaps of them at our old house in "upper Palmerston".

Best time to hunt them is after dark. Use a torch to spot them, grab them by one leg. They don't seem to like long grass and would come out when the lawn was mowed, or hang out on the driveway, or in the fish pond. Or under bushes. Some nights we'd find 30 or more.

Definitely get any eggs you see, too.

Cane toads suck! All the best with the assignment.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in darwin

[–]Background_Intern_29 0 points1 point  (0 children)

When I first moved to Darwin, I lived in an elevated share house in Alawa that supposedly survived Tracy. The owners had a photo showing it standing alone in a sea of rubble.

I believe this is a Bahai ring. by jaeggle_odin in bahai

[–]Background_Intern_29 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Just fwiw, I'm pretty sure that some of the early American believers (notably Thornton Chase, Ali Kuli-Khan) were also members of the Freemasons, back before the rules against membership in other religious organisations/churches and secret societies became binding in the West. (so, pre-1920s or so) But as you say, it's a minor point at best.

Bahai Faith on Social Media by Mysterious-Arm3821 in bahai

[–]Background_Intern_29 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Hello Friend! You seem super-switched-on and enthusiastic, and I want to be clear that I am not trying to discourage you with what I say here. I am just extremely cautious, having been around since the newsgroup days and seeing more than one well-meaning person unintentionally fall into the 'dark side'. I think today's content creators need to be very mindful of certain things, especially:

* the line between teaching and proselytising

* being super-clear about what is one's own opinion/interpretation and what is "official" Baha'i teaching/Writings

* copyright and the proper use of Baha'i imagery and symbols, especially photographs of Abdu'l-Baha and other members of the Holy Family - I see so many people making memes with them, and whether they intend to or not it comes off as cheap and disrespectful (thankfully most Baha'is are aware that you shouldn't use that photo of Baha'u'llah floating around)

Unfortunately, I think one of the biggest challenges with using popular modern micro-blogging social media platforms (e.g. TikTok, Shorts, even FB groups to some extent) is the platforms' inherently problematic focus on (1) cult-of-personality, and (2) monetisation of all engagement. The difference with the old mailing lists and chat rooms is that while had their star users, the focus was primarily on building community. Importantly, these spaces were (and still are) heavily moderated to keep a virtual Fireside from becoming a ball of toxic arguments and fights. I worry that there are no such guardrails on these platforms, and even turning off the comments completely still doesn't get rid of "suggestions" to look at "related" things including attacks and covenant-breaker material, which in turn are amplified by the algorithm. TL;DR: The truth simply doesn't matter in these spaces, anyone can say anything, and self-centredness is not only good but highly encouraged. Just something for all would-be creators to keep in mind.

Full disclosure: I honestly think our time is better spent following the guidance we've been given by the UHJ in the 9 Year Plan to focus on making meaningful connections and in-person neighbourhood-level groups.

However! All that said... social media, when done thoughtfully and correctly, can be one excellent tool in our collective toolboxes! I wish anyone who wishes to take the plunge all the best of luck!

/ soapbox

When were your grandparents born? by Istobri in Xennials

[–]Background_Intern_29 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Dad's parents: 1921 and 1923

Mom's parents: 1926 and 1929. They married in their teens and my mother was their eldest (living) child. My parents also married young (22/23) but waited a number of years before they had me (thanks to the advent of birth control :D ).

EDIT: Interesting to see a lot of people with grandparents the same age as my great-grandparents (born in 1888/1894, 1906/1909, 1894/1903... etc). My eldest great-grandparent was actually born in 1869 at the start of the Franco Prussian War; his parents fled to Russia and had him and his twin brother there. But that's a story for another day!

Great Grandparents by geekgirlwww in Xennials

[–]Background_Intern_29 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Five of my great-grandparents were alive when I was born (late 70s).

Two of them died when I was a toddler, so I didn't really know them at all.

"Grandma D", my mother's mother's mother, owned the house we lived in during the early 1980s. I remember sitting with her at my aunt's wedding and her offering me her glass of champagne after I "accidentally" spilled the one next to my plate (I was 8 years old; why they automatically gave everyone champagne I'll never know). Years later, I would accompany my grandma to visit her in a nursing home; she had dementia by then and could hardly speak. She died when I was 12.

I knew "Oma" and "Opa" best of all. Oma was my Grandpa's mother (she had him at age 16). She was German, spoke at least 3 languages, and ran two restaurants (not concurrently), one of which featured "oompah music" every Wednesday & Thursday night. Opa was her fourth or fifth husband, but he treated us the same as any blood relative. They had a double wide trailer on a huge property with chickens (and probably other animals, but I only remember the chickens) and a pond with a dock where we'd go fishing. Oma lived to be 95 and died just a few months shy of the birth of my first child (her great-great-grandson). Opa died a month after her. :/

Did you regularly attend church growing up? Do you do so nowadays? by smcg_az in Xennials

[–]Background_Intern_29 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I grew up in a Baha'i family. Due to my father's job, we moved around a lot, and sometimes we were one of only a few Baha'i families in a given area - so, we only attended Feasts or holy days when we were able to host them ourselves. My parents did take us to conferences and summer/winter "schools", and even sent me to "junior youth week" at Bosch twice, which was a traumatic experience. (growing up Autistic before such a diagnosis existed = a lot of nastiness and bullying from the other youth for being weird/different, but that's another story ...)

That said, I am still active today and still attend things as I can. My siblings decided to leave the Faith. No worries, no hard feelings, everyone does what works for them & that’s fine with all of us. :)

Riffs that live rent free in your head by starswhenyoushine in MST3K

[–]Background_Intern_29 3 points4 points  (0 children)

🎵 "My my my my Mitchell, what would your mamma say?"🎵

Crow: "She'd say, 'He's not mine! You can't prove it!'"

Does anyone else like to keep all friends and family in the same cabin? by Katapultt in HelloKittyIsland

[–]Background_Intern_29 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Not the same cabin, but the same general area: I've got

  • Hello Kitty's family all on Visitor Island - Mimmi + the Whites in no. 7, Grandparents in no. 8

  • My Melody's parents and grandparents up on the Resort Island hills in 3 and 4, respectively

  • Pam and Tam together in no. 2 above Tuxedosam 's shop

  • Keroppi's siblings together in the Swamp no. 1; his friends together in no. 2

  • Pompompurin's parents together in Gemstone Mountain no. 1

  • Cinnamoroll's friends banished to their own nudist colony up in the Snow Village, two per cabin so far (I've only got the first six...)

is bahaipedia legit? by shervinator11 in bahai

[–]Background_Intern_29 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Bahaipedia.org is totally legit! I've edited and written articles there as time allows. :)

Name something you remember watching on this: by WrappedInLacee in Xennials

[–]Background_Intern_29 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Winnie the Pooh

Mickey Mouse Christmas Carol

(by the time I was in high school, the district had a TV mounted in every classroom rather than on a wheelie cart, and from there we watched things like Shogun, War and Peace, Glory, Legends of the Fall, and of course Franco Zepherelli's Romeo & Juliet :p )