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Albany, you confound me.

At times, you act like you have inferiority issues. You treat Obama’s visit to announce an inconsequential PR “committee” to create jobs as if he’s moving the Capitol to Firstly, a big high-five to the other folks in the are who had today off because of our winter Hellstorm.

NXIVM founder Keith Rainere, aka "Vanguard," who clearly hasn't developed a Christ complex or anything. (photo: Patrick Dodson, Albany Student Press)

At times, you act like you have inferiority issues. You treat Obama’s visit to announce an inconsequential PR “committee” to create jobs as if he’s moving the Capitol to Schenectady. Parts of Lark Street and the Center Square neighborhood have so much Williamsburgh envy it’s embarrassing. You even get movies to shoot here on the precipice that parts of Albany kinda look like New York City.

Yet there are things that we can lay claim to that very few areas in this country can. We’re the capital of New York State. Our region boasts no shortage of things to do and great places to eat. The music scene is exploding. The mayor of Albany itself has a darker tan base than any other mayor in the world, including those municipalities that rest on the Equator.

I could go on and on, but there’s one thing that sets us apart and makes us special…

We have our own…well, some people allege it maintains a certain unfavorable status in the community.

The group is called NXIVM and its founder, Keith Rainere – who is known to walk amongst members in a robe and whose followers refer to him as Vanguard – boasts self-improvement through droning business jargon, amateur psychoanalysis, and pseudo science.

The latest round of news hit the Times Union in Sunday’s print edition, which reveals more of the…well, utter strangeness behind the organization.

Check out the article here.

The reporter, James M. Odato, has done other pieces on the “self-improvement organization” that have brought forth questions as to the legitimacy of its claims, its practices, and what it really gives its followers.

Here’s more reading on the organization to get you through your snow day:

• Ex-NXIVM trainer: Students are Prey – A former trainer and one of Rainere’s ex-girlfriends gave sworn testimony claiming that Rainere’s and his organizations motives are not quite as philanthropic as they seem.
• NXIVM Sues Former Officer – The organization filed a lawsuit against one of its former members, who also happens to be Rainere’s ex.
• NXIVM Seeks Gag Order - Another former NXIVM member, this time an Executive Board member, was sued when she spoke publicly about the organization. Months earlier she’d sought protection from the onslaught of legal filings against her from the organization.
• Ex-NXIVM Student: I Think It’s a Cult (with video) – A former student talks of her time in the organization, and how she thinks she narrowly escaped an all-encompassing, manipulative cult.
• Secret Mission: a Child – In July 2010, it was discovered that NXIVM had made a child one of Rainere’s projects, having Nannies come in and only speak to the child in foreign languages and engaging in other experiments that are part of a NXIVM program called “The Rainbow Cultural Garden.”
• Dalai Lama Cancels his Visit to Albany - In November 2009, the Dalai Lama cancelled a planned visit to the Capital Region due to controversy that erupted due to the talk’s sponsor, NXIVM. The bad publicity prompted NXIVM to sue Metroland, the first of many legal attacks against opponents and critics.