Tuesday, September 7, 2021

Maxwellian Escape: Anna and Mary have escaped the family compound!

OMG, OMG, OMG!!!!!

Anna and Mary Maxwell have gotten multiple states away from the Maxwell compound.

Multiple freaking states!!!! *shrieks with triumph*

My twin sister cued me in that Free Jinger had noticed that the Maxwell girls were featured in beginning of the year pictures from Appalachian Bible College.    I'm a firm believer in verifying information myself so I found the pictures on Facebook.

I got them by searching "Appalachian Bible College" and choosing the post that seemed filled with pictures of college orientation.  The fourth picture in is of a tug-of-war game.  Mary and Anna are seated in the bleachers about six rows up on the right hand side.  Anna's wearing a bright blue top while Mary is dressed in a red t-shirt with shorts. 

Mary is located right above the head of the last tug-o-war guy on the right;   
Anna is is above her to the left.


Having glanced through the student handbooks for married and single students I can safely say that the college has been influenced heavily by ATI beliefs on proper dressing styles for men and music - but the Maxwell girls are multiple states away from their parents!

Reading about the musical restrictions placed on students made it clear I have done one thing right with my son: he's getting better and better at the lyrics of "Whup Jamboree", "Johnny Jump Up" and the presumably less offensive "Leaving of Liverpool" thanks to his love of what he calls "Mama's songs" and the rest of the world calls CDs by Gaelic Storm.   What can you expect from the son of a couple who told people that our song was "The Fields of Athenry"? 

I'm gleefully happy for both young women.  Living with 87 other unmarried young women is likely to expose them to differing worldviews - even if the overall culture of the college seems to be slightly more conservative and structured than most Catholic high schools.   

Really, anything is a good break from the Maxwell commune.   

Good luck to them both!

12 comments:

  1. I got my undergrad degrees at Pensacola Christian College and, despite its rampant conservatism, it was a huge factor in my eventual transition to a broader worldview than my insular family. Maybe this will do the same for them.

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    1. I hope so! Honestly, even if they decide to accept all of their family's beliefs, at least the two of them will have been honestly exposed to peers who have different beliefs while having legitimate Christian backgrounds.

      The total Maxwell rebellion has been pretty mild by general terms - but Joseph buying a house that likely has a mortgage, Jesse's sale of his house and living in an apartment, and Anna and Mary going to college are all huge statements of independent thinking for a family that really frowns on that.

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  2. Wow! That's awesome - wonder what led to the shift?

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    1. I have no idea! Mary and Anna appeared on the Dean's List last year when they were doing online classes. I suspect that was what caused a really random announcement in the middle of an otherwise mindless blog post that the Maxwells had decided to join a church family due to COVID-19 since ABC requires all students to be members of a public church.

      I'm happy for them - and that's weird because the degrees they are working on are pretty worthless. Like 9 out of 10 of the degrees are limited to interest to men who want to become pastors. The "nursing" degree is not a nursing degree; it's a way to make a very long college degree that is not a BSN out of a LN degree at most. The teaching elementary education degree might be worth something - but it has two tracks. The one that makes students eligible to teach at public schools would be solid (and probably transfer to KS) - but they also have a Christian school only track.

      With a lot of people, this would be bad - but Anna and Mary were on a fast-track to perpetual SAHDhood - and getting out more is the first step to deciding to pursue a career or get married.

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    2. Yeah, my guess is that this is not going to appear on the Maxwell blog. It's really great they got out!

      My guess is the potential spouses are more likely to come from students' older siblings or staff members than fellow students themselves. I am just about a month older than Anna Maxwell, and I teach undergrads, and that's a pretty substantial age gap. That said, both girls are very sheltered, so maybe they will fit right in.

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    3. Yeah, for most people the difference between 28 and 18 is huge - but until very recently the Maxwell girls were so isolated that I have no idea where they fit emotionally.

      Sarah's also jumped ship. That's kind of mind-blowing for me.

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    4. It's a bit ironic that their dad is always saying degrees are worthless and they are going to the kind of school where that's actually most true. But at least they are out of the house for a change.

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  3. Praise God! Who knows, they may even meet future mates on outings in a new place.

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    1. Honestly, if the senior Maxwells are on-board, it's presumably because one day Steven woke up, realized he's 70 and has three unmarried dependent daughters.

      If they aren't onboard, well, the girls woke up in their bunk beds one day, realized that their father is nearly 70 and has three dependent daughters living at home and decided to take some action.

      Either way, good luck!

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  4. Did you see that Sarah has also moved out? She has her own house now.

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    1. I saw that this morning when I checked my FB and my twin had notified me. Hell has literally frozen over!!!!

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  5. I've been following the Maxwells for years and I get Teri's newsletter (I share your fascination with the world of religious homeschooling, because their lives are so different from mine that they may as well live on Mars.) This morning Teri sent out a newsletter that announced that Sarah got married! Her husband's name is Kory, and now I wish they were still updating the blog because I HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS.

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