Magical Memoir Moments
On Being Not Quite Amish: A Mennonite Perspective
Last evening, as Stuart and I came into Union Station by train here in Chicago, we followed two young Amish families. They walked rapidly, carrying a matching powder blue luggage set without wheels, assorted other bags, and several babies. The men wore black hats. The women black bonnets, black hose, and long dresses. Everyone around…
Not Quite Amish: Photos of Simplicity Rooted in a Mennonite Childhood
I like the honesty of this website name: Not Quite Amish. Here’s the explanation of the name from the home page: Maybe you’d like to be Amish…but not quite. You want more peace in your life, in your home, in your family, and in your heart. You want to try a new recipe and pick…
Coverings and Bonnets, Amish, Quaker, and Mennonite Stories: Part Two
When BLUSH launched at Lititz Mennonite Church September 19, 2013, I, like any new author, was excited. But I was also a little worried, as any memoir writer with extended family in the room will be! My family’s response filled my heart with joy that night. I will always be grateful for their amazing support….
Amish and Mennonite: What's the Difference?
Small groups like the Mennonites and Amish, which only surface in most people’s awareness when the national media pay attention, can confuse people. Especially when both these small groups contain a myriad of varieties. So it’s not surprising that MennoMedia’s Third-Way Cafe has become the go-to place online for people who ask: What’s the difference…
Blush: A Mennonite Girl Meets a Glittering World
“I promise: you will be transported,” says Bill Moyers of this memoir. Part Mennonite in a Little Black Dress, part Growing Up Amish, and part Little House on the Prairie, this book evokes a lost time, in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, when a sheltered little girl with big dreams entered a family and church caught up…
Mennonite Bonnet and Covering Stories: Part One
All this week I’ve had coverings on my mind. Yesterday, as I was doing research about plain dress among the Eastern Pennsylvania Mennonites, I was joined at the library computer table by a Muslim woman in full head veiling. Yes, it’s true. There are more Muslim head veilings at Eastern Mennonite University these days than…
American Culture and Amish Fiction: Why Now and Why So Much? Part One.
When he heard that I finally earned my Ph.D., my grandpa told me those three letters meant “Piled High and Deep.” He didn’t have a lot of respect for speculation and abstraction. My field is an interdisciplinary one, called American Civilization, at the University of Texas at Austin, where I did my doctoral study. A…
Rhoda Janzen, First Lady and Hottest Chick of Mennonite Memoir
There’s news from Rhoda Janzen, author of Mennonite in a Little Black Dress. Her sequel memoir Does This Church Make Me Look Fat? is available for pre-order. Here’s a short blurb from USA Today to whet your appetite. Now is that a catchy title or what? The subtitle comes back to remind the reader of her…
Mennonite/s Writing: A Tweet-based Conference Review
Most of you know that my memoir-in-progress is about growing up Mennonite in Lancaster County, PA, in the ’50’s and ’60’s. So what a treat it was to attend a conference at Eastern Mennonite University called Mennonite/s Writing VI: Solos and Harmonies. The organizers Kirsten Beachy of Eastern Mennonite University and poet Julia Kasdorf of…