Amish Girls Gone Wild

Cleveland Scene ^ | March 14, 2007 | Denise Grollmus

[Dan Evans]

Behind the bonnet is a girl who just wants to have fun -- and another beer, please.

It's Friday night at Twister's. Tina launches the evening with a tallboy of Sparks. Customers eyeball her white bonnet and shin-grazing dress as she sips from her can of malt liquor and caffeine. She's used to the gawking. Impolite scrutiny comes with being Amish.

"Everyone stares at you," she says. "It's not very fun, but I just ignore it."

Besides, Tina's on a mission to get tanked. No amount of rubbernecking can stop her.

The DJ approaches. Rodger Locher, a clean-cut city boy, is what's known as a "Yank," the all-encompassing term for not being Amish. Since he became Twister's resident DJ, Tina's become a regular, obsessed with listening to Beyoncé, the Killers, and Korn over rounds of neon cocktails.

[Dan Evans]

As long as the horse is sober, what's the problem?

They can't give the horse a proper sobriety test. Horses aren't smart enough to blow into the Breathalyzer and when they pee into the cup it makes a horrible mess.

[JRochelle]

LOL.

Sorry thats not true. Just a rumor. Although some do get pregnant before they are married, its widely frowned upon.

[merry10]

Rumspringa

[derllak]

Those ho-downs ain't what they used to be.

[healy61]

I supervised a young man who passed out while driving a buggy. The horse responded when he tipped in the seat by going to the center of the road. A passing milk truck had to swerve, and crashed in the ditch to avoid an accident. The startled horse ran into the other ditch. The young man was barely responsive. There are a lot of Amish in southern Michigan, Indiana and Ohio. There is a good reason to be cautious.

[XEHRpa]

Your photo reminds me of the story of my elderly German aunt who was a young woman living in Germany during WWII, on a farm. She was working in the field one day after the war ended, and some Allied GIs come up and ask her if they can buy any eggs.

Of course, "eggs" in German is "Eier", and so she thought they were asking for an "ax", which sounds amazingly like "eggs." She motions for them to wait, runs into the barn and comes out with an ax, similar to your photo, no doubt.

The GI's turn tail and scoot out of there post haste. She didn't know what to make of it. It was over a decade before someone understanding English explained to her what had transpired. A good laugh, indeed, as she realized that the GI's must have concluded that she was defending her virtue against the Allies who were overpaid, oversexed, and over THERE.

[Slings and Arrows]

How could I forget?!

[incredulous joe]

There is a documentary about the Ahmish rite of passage, Rumspringa, the film is called "Devil's Playground". In it the 16 to 20 year olds basically go wild in full site of their parents; with the boys getting involved in, cell phones, video games, narcotic sales and pornography. The girls pretty much stick to illicit sex and beer. All the while the parents stand back and let the evil work it's way into their children so that they may return as full fledged members of the church. It's very disturbing the way that they give up their moral responsibility as parents and has really altered my view of "the quiet people".

One girl in the film actually left the church and she was shunned by her community, which for her entailed not ever being allowed to see her family, which included brothers and sisters which she had effectively helped to raise for her parents. Very sad.

I do keep in mind that what is presented in a documentary could be slanted by those making the film, but even if this were half true about Amish life it would be an indictment of their culture.

BTW, no mention of how the girls managed to come away from this rite of passage without many of them being knocked up - also no mention of contraception. abortion, or adoptions of unplanned results of getting wild?

[XEHRpa]

> The wildest party guy I ever met in college was a Shenandoah Valley Mennonite who turned his back on his faith and was shunned by his family/community.

Floyd Landis?? Just kidding...

[RunningWolf]

LOL

Back around 1998 to 2000 or so there was a Amish band that did parodies of rock n roll songs like 'sweet emotion', it was so funny I bought a few of their tapes.

[Emmett McCarthy]

Well, they could just have them stand on one foot, close their eyes and touch their nose. Or recite the alphabet backwards. I always thought that was just to see if you're drunk enough to even try something that stupid.

[incredulous joe]

"Devil's Playground" - 2002

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0293088/

[Slings and Arrows]

Do you remember the name of the band?

[fr_freak]

All the while the parents stand back and let the evil work it's way into their children so that they may return as full fledged members of the church. It's very disturbing the way that they give up their moral responsibility as parents and has really altered my view of "the quiet people".

Why is it disturbing? It makes perfect sense to me. Accepting the Amish religion and lifestyle is not easy and so must be the choice of the person doing it. When they are kids, they have no choice, but every member of the church has made the conscious choice to join as an adult. Given the severity of the punishment from the community when one breaks the rules, you would want your members to join with their eyes wide open.

[Rakkasan1]

I saw that program,too. Pretty interesting.
Wish I could have partied with those Amish chicks when I was a yute.

[RunningWolf]

I still have the tapes. I will dig them up.

[darkangel82]

Tina's become a regular, obsessed with listening to Beyoncé, the Killers, and Korn over rounds of neon cocktails.

Wow, what great taste in music. /sarc

[sgtbono2002]

We used to have a lot of that here,but lately the Amish dont mix much even before they join the church.

I remember when a bunch of them got motorcycles and stormed up and down the roads. I went to school with a couple of girls who had left the church, They graduated high school with ease .Both were really pretty girls.

[Frank Sheed]

Cat Ballou! Lee Marvin was incredible as Kid Shaleen. If only we could edit out Jane Fonda. The scene with him drunk on his horse leaning next to that building is a gem.

[William Terrell]

A good depth gage for how deep the erosion of our civilization has reached.