Magical Memoir Moments

A cornucopia of fall produce from the Farm at Willow Run.

The Harvest Comes For You and For Me

Here is a poem fragment I think of every fall. “Live as if you liked yourself, and it may happen: reach out, keep reaching out, keep bringing in. This is how we are going to live for a long time: not always, for every gardener knows that after the digging, after the planting, after the…

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I'm living in the cottage to the left of the larger building. Photo take from the bridge between the Arboretum and the campus of St. John's University.

Finding a Public Voice: At Homecoming

Seth Godin says that you can tell whether or not you have a tribe by discovering they miss you when you don’t show up. I didn’t post last Wednesday, and I didn’t send out a Magical Memoir Moment on Thursday. You probably thought I was just contemplating life beside the lake. Or watching the mist…

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About 1970. What happened to those coverings on our heads?

Continuing the Great Adventure: 1966 – 2015

Two Mennonite college students met as roommates in 1966 and have kept in touch. This year we celebrate our 45th college class reunion and then take up another adventure — to Cuba!

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Northlawn Residence Hall, Eastern Mennonite University

Do You Have a Landscape of Love? A Walk Down Memory Lane

This is Northlawn, my college dorm, 1966-1969. I fell in love with Stuart in the spring of 1967. He was a grand senior. I was a lowly “frosh.” Stuart pinned a red rose corsage on my lime green Spring Banquest dress while I stood on the porch of that dorm. Now, after 45 years of…

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Learning from Rachel Held Evans: A Book Tour Pro

Do you know Rachel Held Evans? If not, you should. She’s a barrel of laughs. She’s also a bestselling author and a courageous leader among Christian Feminists online. She’s helped many people bridge between faith and doubt. Read this blog post about World Vision and see how much energy (over 600 comments) she generates! My…

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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…

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Connecting Through the Power of Love and Forgiveness: Two Mennonites at Breakfast

I invited Jim Smucker to breakfast at Mr. J’s Bagels, within walking distance of both our houses, this morning. I wanted to say thanks to him for agreeing to sponsor the Sweet and Sour food collection as a prize to the person who wins the 100 Day Challenge. Jim has recently moved to Virginia and…

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Who Wants to Take a Memoir Class? Tantalizing Syllabi from Pro Teachers

I’ve been a teacher since the age of three. That’s when I became a big sister. Ready or not, poor Henry got to pitch me softballs while I learned to bat. He was the first pupil in my classroom and the Watson to my Sherlock. Next fall I will be teaching again, and I’m excited….

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Sailing Acts: A Memoir and an Inner Transformation

We’ve just returned. In so many ways I am home again. Back from Brooklyn, back from the world’s best job of being a Granny Nanny, back from living out of suitcases for three weeks and a studio apartment for ten months before that. Back from writing ten chapters of memoir on a dining room table….

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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…

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