Accordion player Terri Conti performs on Church Street. / JOHN BRIGGS/FREE PRESS
Her travels have been extensive. She was born on Long Island, moved
early to Succasunna, N.J.,
and went to college in California at the
Worldwide Church of God’s Ambassador College.
(She has long since left
that group: “The paradigm stopped working for me.”)
Here is an interesting story about an ex-WCG member who left the church and is now a street musician who is in the process of memorizing 1,000 songs for the accordion.
Imagine living a life doing the things you want to do without a minister telling you what you SHOULD be doing. That is a truly unique concept missing from Armstrongism.
3 comments:
Things of this nature always remind me of the poem "The Road not Taken". It's not that I'm complaining, because the deprivations suffered at the hands of HWA, his disciples my parents, and the WCG gave me such a zest for life that I've probably packed about three normal lifetimes into my one, going about scratching an insatiable itch.
But, there are things I wish I had done, and busking is one of them. Venice Beach is an artistic paradise in Southern California. There are a lot of street performers, and there was a time back in the 1980s when my young high school age brother in law and I had contemplated taking our guitars to Venice, and seeing what we could do. Problem is, I never really was into acoustic (basically that's half or less of a guitar!), so we were looking at either dobros or some sort of portable amplification. Somehow, the idea gradually flared out, and we stuck to jamming either at my in-laws' house or mine.
Another thing that was very attractive was loft dwelling, and that's something I may do yet, if I could find a location in the manufacturing district with rooms upstairs that could be converted to living space.
This paradigm thing is an area where we could learn much from free thinkers, such as bohemians, beatniks, and hippies. There are so many non-mainstream activities that can really brighten up a person's life, like building motorcycles on your kitchen table and in the living room. It's heartwarming to learn that some ex-CoG people are getting into interesting stuff!
BB
Good for her!
I'm reminded of when I was in my teens and used to take the bus to NYC and wander around Manhattan, Greenwich Village, Chinatown, the Battery, Central Park, Washington Square Park, etc.
The street performers were always a highlight, and worked hard to bring smiles to the many faces passing by and enjoying the arts they shared.
I recently read about "Anti-Semitic Ranting Elmo" in NYC, but I never encountered that type in my wanderings. They were all quite nice.
Norm
Good for Terri. She was and is a good soul.
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