NM
Someone’s poaching my gig.
Fanfic has taken the Brokeback sequel to some dark places.
A half-hour after carefully reading Corruptionkiller’s post, I found myself at The Nature Store with a shopping cart full of Dr. Bronner’s Castile Soap.
This thread is old and I may’ve mentioned her, EMPHASIS HER, but I had a boss who tried to lure me into the Masons.
“Are you attempting to take over the world?”
“No.”
“So what do you have for me, that hot Israeli girl in your department?”
“No.”
“Sorry, you’ve mistaken me for my Scottish Rite grandfather.”
For washing or drinking?
Wasn’t that all the John Girsham novels?
Girsham? I’m not familiar with that writer…
:rolleyes:
Girsham, the well-known Dutch author. He wrote "The Ferm"and “The Klient”. I thought everybody knew him.
Not to mention "Der Pelikkn Brïëff. "
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Oh geez. Sorry, sorry, sorry.
I can’t believe I introduced misinformation into this thread. So ashamed.
I’ve seen this thread for a few years…was a link to it for a while on another message board I visited…and finally decided to add my two cents about my experience.
I was a member in the 1980s for about 5ish years. I became a member around 13 or 14, and stayed until I went to university.
So, the more mundane stuff first.
I can’t speak to what Masons do, but I can say the ones I met in DeMolay and most of the ones who were involved in our chapter were, uh, the whitest people who ever lived. Wonderbread white. I don’t necessarily mean in a Nazi sort of way (though black members were nowhere to be found in our chapters). More like…people for whom Kenny G was a bit too risque.
Eastern Star women, regardless of age, always seemed to be 100 years old, all named Pearl or Opal, all of them looked incredibly sour and dour. There were Rainbow Girls and Job’s Daughters. Jobies, as they were often referred to, were ‘special’ because one’s father had to be a Mason in order to join. All that meant is that the “Jobies” often were riskier with their behavior (drinking, drugs, sex) because they knew that essentially, they could not be kicked out. I seem to remember a few of my DeMolay brothers sweating a pregnancy test with a Jobie.
As with all closed organizations, it’s who you know and who you…well, yeah, that’s gross. But accountability and transparency? Non-existent.
I’m betraying my brotherly promise by revealing a bit about the Demolay rituals here, but I think it’s important to explain to provide a wider understanding. There are two, and both are specifically to initiate new members.
One is very similar to what you’d probably go through in a church setting. Inductees walk from station to station and the importance of various stations and duties are very solemnly explained. This is not radical stuff: Love mom and dad, don’t do bad stuff, etc etc etc.
The second is a bit more interesting when considering our topic. It is an allegorical play about the man for whom DeMolay is named after, Jacques de Molay. I say “interesting” because while there isn’t anything truly radical, strange or inappropriate in this ritual, it does drive home the point that one should protect one’s brother to the death, if need be…even if it means keeping a secret.
So…my experience…
In general, I had a fair to positive experience. I was a very socially awkward kid, and ended up joining because a friend’s father was a Mason, and my friend joined. I didn’t have a great time in high school for a number of reasons, one of which was that I’d eventually realize that I was gay, but many of the fellow members were nice enough.
I was a bit of an oddball, but they were surprisingly nice and accepting of various members. I am still in communication with a handful of them today.
We had a few senior members that were really cool, and anything they organized or led seemed to be fun. We had some older “dads” who were not as fun, but for the most part, the people involved were nice and friendly.
Our chapter traveled to other regions several times a year, and there would be large conferences in which the rituals I mentioned above were performed for a panel of judges. We won that competition several times, and as a result we started to travel to other states and neighboring chapters more often.
One of those trips was to a chapter outside of DC, and that was the first time I’d heard about anything sexual. I heard about a few members fooling with each other.
One of the “dads” of the other chapter referred to it as “boys will be boys” and kind of winked, and something about that weirded me out…even though I knew at that time I was gay. It was more of a, something does not compute here, kind of moment, that this adult man would say that.
I found out a few years later that the “winking” dad, and another one in that chapter - were actively seeking out DeMolay members for sex.
I thought it was just that chapter, but in years since, I’ve heard new revelations every so often about others, including the head of our own chapter. He always skeeved me out, but I assumed it was because he looked like a giant chipmunk.
I will acknowledge here that the incidents I mention above have all been relayed to be second hand. But these are pretty reliable sources, in my eyes.
I’ve really struggled with this, because I respected some of these men a great deal. And there was a “boys will be boys” element. There was definitely a “don’t tell anyone” element, this is our secret, etc.
This all happened in a pretty blue collar, conservative area where you just didn’t question authority, or institutions, at least not back in the 80s. Just a few years ago, the same area had a huge revelation about hundreds of boys who were molested by Catholic priests. It was horrible, but in a way, not shocking. It was in some ways a closed society, and our rituals made for a second layer of closedness.
It makes me terribly uneasy to remember my time as a DeMolay now. I know it had good points, and while I’m uneasy with a lot of what Masonry stands for as an adult - that sort of worship of sameness and assigning of arbitrary class distinctions - I can appreciate the good the organization does. But there were rotten apples around us, for sure, and we were just one little corner of the world.
Welcome to the SDMB, Argybargy.
I am afraid I didn’t read your message closely enough. All I could glean is that Demolay rituals involve sex with a giant chipmunk. This will prepare you for your experience on the SDMB, except it’s a squid. So you will fit right in.
Regards,
Shodan
Squid? What happened to the goat?
Don’t ask. Nobody speaks of the goat anymore <finger on side of nose>
Ah, that’s why we all got rabies shots.
I knew it.
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Wow. Talk about selective reading!
Sort of like one swastika scrawled on the railing of an out-of-the-way bridge proved that modern-day Germany is crawling with nazis?
I’m still gonna join the Masons. If it was good enough for Mozart, Jefferson, and FDR…