Hard to resist her utter joy as she takes in quaint MN. I’m happy for her honestly. She was married at 19 so all this hitting the road alone has to feel liberating. So many experiences others had as single women she missed. I even suspect that’s why she isn’t clueing in on Tyler’s down low ways. She hasn’t spent a decade plus dating all the interesting men who love Jesus but have serious issues not readily visible. She needs some women who married much later in life to guide her through the swampland. She’s a babe relative to many things most of us take for granted.

I gotta admit that while I find the idea of “me camp” totally self absorbed and annoying, I’m excited for what Jen’s probably doing for the tourism in Minnesota right now. Aspen doesn’t need her help obviously but Grand Marais and northern MN will no doubt benefit from her cheerleading. It makes me want to suggest she come to my (also cold) state next summer.

Anonymous wrote:She reminds me so much of Meghan Markle

Huh? How?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I stand corrected, thanks for the feedback. Then who are her followers? She has alienated the evangelicals, conservatives, Bible scholars, lovers of authenticity, haters of hypocrisy and those suspicious of snake oil saleswomen. Who does that leave?

It’s that coveted “Resisterhood” Exvangelical Sassy Housefraus With Purple Hair Who Love Monthly Wine Subscription Demographic.

Lonely divorcées waiting for their lives to be as DELIGHTFUL as Jen’s…..

Anonymous wrote:I stand corrected, thanks for the feedback. Then who are her followers? She has alienated the evangelicals, conservatives, Bible scholars, lovers of authenticity, haters of hypocrisy and those suspicious of snake oil saleswomen. Who does that leave?

It’s that coveted “Resisterhood” Exvangelical Sassy Housefraus With Purple Hair Who Love Monthly Wine Subscription Demographic.

I stand corrected, thanks for the feedback. Then who are her followers? She has alienated the evangelicals, conservatives, Bible scholars, lovers of authenticity, haters of hypocrisy and those suspicious of snake oil saleswomen. Who does that leave?

Anonymous wrote:It appears her market is primarily middle aged women who are deconstructing their faith and have a relationship to the lgbtqia+ world in some salient way.

Except that's me and...nope. Ditto for a lot of other women in the same space. Most of us place a pretty high value on authenticity. We're also skeptical of people who proclaim social justice and equity, but still want to put it in the same old package and slap a price tag on it. Congrats if your clothes are ethically made, I guess? Don't want to hear about them every 2 days.

I have been thinking about the recent post that very accurately described all the various identities that Jen has tinkered with, and I really feel sorry for her. There must be a passive agressive dislike of parenting there, and single parenting seems to have put her over the top. The posts about how she can't be bothered to wake her kids up vs all her kids coming to sleep in her bed seem weirdly incongruous. The endless posts about how bad our kids are, isn't that awful he he he are disturbing. She really hit home when she celebrated one of her kids walking out of his high school graduation. All I could think was..., "of all the rude little spoiled brats!" So the mom identify is over, the evangelical and to some extent the progressive Christianity is foregone, the SJW is pulled out occasionally but capitalism is alive and well for sure (Does anyone remember her trip to Cuba and all the gushing about how wonderful it was?) She can't replace Ree Drummond, who thankfully has the sense to stick to her lane and please God let her stay that way... So she is left with no real identity or integrity, and that is sad. I truly don't want to be mean here, but I have gone for a long time checking in with Jens fb page and only now have found out there are others who see these things. I think her followers include some incredibly illogical, unhappy and bigoted people. When she posted that time that she "hated" half of all Christians, that was the last straw. Or that a Trump voter couldn't go to heaven!! I am not an evangelical. I am conservative and attend a conservative liturgical church, but my problem with Jen and her entourage is not over positions, but over meanness, tribalism, and total wokeness. Her way of combining so many personas that are conflicting and inconsistent smacks of hypocrisy. I think sometimes the only healing for a toxic cult of personality is found in the dissembling of it. How can so many be so fiercely loyal and protective of an idol? They perpetuate the intolerance they rail against!

Nope, not very fierce or free. Pride goes before the fall.

Do any of you local people who were around Brandon remember if his journey into progressive Christianity seemed forced? It seemed like he was on a run away train with Jen at the helm. I’ve often wondered if some of his “medicatiing” was being driven by his ambivalence for his new version of Christianity and on some level he knew something was wrong with rewriting the Bible to fit your needs. It took him a few days to post after Jens bombshell pro lgbtqia+ post. He said, I totally agree with what Jen said. It felt forced and insincere.

Jen wrote Fierce, Free, and Full of Fire: The Guide To Being Glorious You in 2020. Her “manifesto”. She had it all figured out. Had all the answers and life hacks for the perfect and most glorious everything, right?

Why is she now begging her “tribe” to but a $200 MeCamp course on parenting (when Jen hates parenting - let’s ge honest) so they can get a dumb mug?

Is that fierce? Is that free?

It appears her market is primarily middle aged women who are deconstructing their faith and have a relationship to the lgbtqia+ world in some salient way.

I tried to read one of her last books a couple years ago. It was like she had a certain word count to reach for her book contract so she used the maximum number of words to make her points. It was neither enlightened nor well written, just laborious. I had to put it down because I refuse to work that hard digging through her excess of language for a little morsel of value. Her posts are often the same, endless words without any real significance.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
But since she doesn’t have any education and anything new and concrete to offer - she’s flailing in these new worlds and isn’t up to par and experiencing the same kind of success she did in the small conservative evangelical bubble/ targetmarket.

I believe this is a real fatal flaw from a business management perspective. Can she actually compete in the secular market? As an author, is she even close to being comparable to Glennon and Brene? Nope. Is her social justice activism really backed up by anything? Legacy Collective seems too…… shady. She’s given up on the HGTV lane, but she was never on par with Joanna. Her cookbook is probably funny, but there’s no way it’s an actual contender with Ree, or even Trisha Yearwood. She’s shilling skincare - but it’s an MLM that EVERYONE ELSE sells. Who’s going to buy from Jen when they have 10 Facebook friends selling it too? And don’t even get me started on Able. Who is paying over $100 for I’ll-fitting dresses made from some sort of polyester mixed fabric that makes me itch just by looking at it?!

Someone asked above “What is Jen?”. I’m also curious as to “Who are Jen’s fans/customer?!”.

I don't think she can compete in the secular market. Last night I was transferring some quotes over from an old planner into a new journal I'm keeping of quotes I like (because I'm weird) and I was looking at quotes by the likes of Madeleine L'Engle (SO many quotes from her) and thinking that the reason her quotes stick with me is that she had a maturity that Jen lacks. Okay, yes, she was also a damn brilliant writer. But I think that maybe Jen thinks that Jen is more brilliant than she really is. Like the video that she made on 'choosing delight.' Like...this is not a huge revelation, Jen. We find what we look for. And we can get that insight worded with skill and poetry, or we can get it with hair twirling and that breathy little girl voice. I know which I prefer.

Anonymous wrote:“She’s trying to figure out who her audience is”

And therein lies the problem. Instead of figuring out who SHE is - which million of women do around turning 50 and/or kids are just about grown and life is changing, plus throw in a divorce - she’s all about how to play to and get an audience. How many followers can she get, how many ways can she make money off of them, how can she convince them to see her as the strong and fierce, injured and heartbroken, ecstatic living life to the fullest, inspirational foodie leader she wants them to see her as. And it’s all fake which is why it isn’t working.

Yes, this. Instead of saying “this is what I believe in” she asking “what do you believe in? I’ll cater to that”.

“She’s trying to figure out who her audience is”

And therein lies the problem. Instead of figuring out who SHE is - which million of women do around turning 50 and/or kids are just about grown and life is changing, plus throw in a divorce - she’s all about how to play to and get an audience. How many followers can she get, how many ways can she make money off of them, how can she convince them to see her as the strong and fierce, injured and heartbroken, ecstatic living life to the fullest, inspirational foodie leader she wants them to see her as. And it’s all fake which is why it isn’t working.