And Yet Another Slap in the Chops. . .

[Palehorse]

. . . for the city of Anderson. As if that dirty racing video wasn't bad enough, now this!

NDERSON, Ind. — A local Gothic family that enjoys picnics in local cemeteries and celebrates the "dark side" of life will soon make its television debut on the ABC show "Wife Swap."

Eric and Sheila Schroeder of Anderson said their alternative lifestyle and unique parenting styles were put to the test when they swapped lives with a fashion-conscious, fanatical hockey family from Long Island, N.Y., last summer.

The couple said they were first contacted by the show in 2006 after a family friend recommended them to one of the "Wife Swap" producers.

Over the years, Eric said, scheduling issues with other swap families got in the way of the Schroeders' television debut.

On Friday, the Schroeders' episode of the popular reality television series will finally air.
. . .

http://heraldbulletin.com/entertainment/x1612554219/Local-Goth-family-to-star-on-Wife-Swap

Sweet baby Jeebus hanging on the cross! Can anyone NORMAL get into the limelight and properly represent Andersonians? No wonder my relatives look at me funny when I tell them where I live! 

[pariann]

You know...I consider myself to be about as normal as you can get and I have spent MANY hours in the cemetary  and wearing weird hats.

Where you eat an outside meal, what you wear on your body, and how you decorate your home does not necessarily make you abnormal.  I would say to wait and see what the video shows.  Sounds to me like the dad here had more 'normal' sense than the visiting NY mom did when it comes to how you talk and act as a parent.  Don't you think that a family that places value on appropriateness, education and family IS a good representation of Anderson?  I think you might be surprised at what you see.   

[pariann]

I went back and read the comments on that article.   Here PH is something you should consider when you say it's another slap in the chops......

With regard to those who express concern about the way that Anderson is represented by the Schroeder Family, I have this to say: read your own posts to this board. Two threatened violence against a family with four children. Several offered judgments based not on knowledge of this family but rather based upon the clothes they wear. Few mentioned that this family, led by two college educated parents who work hard for their children, struggle with the economy in the same ways that one presumes you do and who have chosen to fully and actively participate in the Anderson community, are just another American family.

Anderson, I don't live in your town-- by the figuring of MapQuest I live nearly 600 miles away-- but based upon the pathetic comments of some of your close minded denizens, I am at risk of instinctively recognizing it as just another backwater rust belt failure of a town handicapped not so much by geography as by the idiocy and small mindedness of its sad, beaten residents. Luckily Eric, Sheila and their children, who have found acceptance by many of the residents of Anderson even as the few shower them with scorn, place your town in a different light, as a place of hope, peace, and interest. It is in the acceptance of those who are different that we recognize the commonality of humanity-- a lesson, Anderson, that those of you who have not yet understood it luckily can learn without ever leaving your home town.

I'll be watching Wife Swap with my 'normal' American family for the first (and presumably last) time this Friday night to see Eric, Sheila and their kids on the show. If their presence on that screen makes you feel shame for your town, know then that the shame you feel is generated by your own shortcomings rather than from this family's willingness to endure them.

Learn, Anderson.

[Palehorse]

I went back and read the comments on that article.   Here PH is something you should consider when you say it's another slap in the chops......

My "perception" is based upon that typically taken by those who watch such useless programming. . . I don't watch it and refuse to waste my time with it.

However, if you are saying they are representing you I'm fine with that. Just so we're clear, they are NOT representing this writer!

[pariann]

The point is judging by appearance.

I don't watch that garbage either, but that doesn't mean there aren't fine upstanding citizens on the program.

[Palehorse]

The point is judging by appearance.

I don't watch that garbage either, but that doesn't mean there aren't fine upstanding citizens on the program.

Point taken BUT. . . first impressions and perceptions are everything these days. . .

[Moonglow]

They always have been, that is why they have said for years that u should not judge a book by it's cover, however, beauty is only skin deep, but ugliness goes to the bone.

[Palehorse]

They always have been, that is why they have said for years that u should not judge a book by it's cover, however, beauty is only skin deep, but ugliness goes to the bone.

Lip service, pure and simple. When it comes to business and relationships, its all about perceptions. . .