Funny that she's dating a DJ, cause the word 'rumspringa' sounds like a refrain in a dancehall reggae song.

I remember reading something about this phenomenon a few years ago. Apparantly some Amish kid decided that Tupac Shakur was his hero. I remember wonder Tupac would have made of that. Anyway, he wound up a tweaker.

I never realized that rumspringa could pretty much go on indefinitely. This was a cool article.

I saw a documentary about this once, although I don't remember the name of it. Those amish kids can go pretty frickin' crazy. Probably crazier than any of my friends ever got at that age.

Almost certainly Devil's Playground. I think it's pretty good, but I'm a big fan of documentaries about religious folks.

Youngergirl, the documentary you saw was probably Devil's Playground. Pretty fascinating stuff.

CURSE YOU, BOX!!!

(And I'm a fan of documentaries about religious people too. Hell House was fascinating. I still haven't seen Jesus Camp, but it's on the list.

Jesus Camp is definitely worth seeing, fuzzbean. I keep meaning to invite a few pals over for a double feature of Jesus Camp and Marjoe. What kind of food and drinks would you serve at something like that?

I know rumspringa can be translated as "jumping around," but sounds more like Rum&cokespringa to me.

The good thing about Tina's rumspringa is she can wait until she is 30 or so to join the church if she chooses. Fascinating article mudpuppie, thanks.

Very interesting, thanks. I have a friend who's a devout Mennonite with Amish relatives in the States. I'd send her the article but it wouldn't be news to her.

Yes, Devil's Playground is the movie I saw. It was so strange. I think I'm going to have to check out these other movies mentioned...

I have Pennsylvania Dutch ancestors, but most of them were Quakers. The way they lived 200 years ago was pretty similar to the way Amish live today. No rumspringa, though, and slower to adapt but not reluctant.

I posted this because Thursday is New Times day for me. I spend much of my life looking for interesting stuff to read, and New Times papers tend to publish interesting stuff. (My apologies to my friends who work for non-corporate alt-weeklies. But it's true.)

Anyway, for the first few hundred words of this article, I was convinced it was a fake. Sort of like the recent Phoenix New Times piece about Anna Nicole Smith's native american love child. Once I looked up Rumspringa and the judge quoted in the article, though, I was convinced.

It's a fun read, and good reporting. And also, it opens our eyes to lives we may not be familiar with. And that's never a bad thing.

Thanks for the post, mudpuppie. I wasn't totally unfamiliar with the "Amish Girls Gone Wild" stuff but hearing ..er.. reading the word "pussy" coming out of an Amish woman's mouth is rather surprising.