slklassen

A list of people who have the right to speak about Mennonites, ranked by degree of entitlement to speak.

May 10, 2019

Have you heard things about Mennonites from a possibly unreliable source? Maybe you’ve heard bits of information about us from different seemingly credible sources, people you thought ought to know what they were talking about. But those sources contradicted each other. You’re not looking for graduate-level disputations on the origins of Anabaptism or religion in … More A list of people who have the right to speak about Mennonites, ranked by degree of entitlement to speak.

A Mooss for all Seasons

April 20, 2019

A couple of weeks ago, my cousin, the host of this year’s family Easter gathering, sent out the dinner menu with a request for us to choose the items we wished to contribute. No problem there. The problem was this: there was no plumemooss on the menu. When I saw this, I paused, pursed my … More A Mooss for all Seasons

God Loves a Cheerful Quitter

March 16, 2019

Somewhere around two weeks ago, Canadian and Mennonite politics collided when Mennonite politician Jane Philpott resigned from her cabinet position. And Mennonites around the country stood up and cheered. Even The Canadian Mennonite, not known for its coverage of late-breaking national news, paused from its regular programming of pre-Lenten spiritual exhortations to hop on Twitter … More God Loves a Cheerful Quitter

Goodnight, Menno

January 24, 2019

My extended family has a new baby – not in the Mennonite side of the family but still, it has me thinking of baby books and nursery rhymes. And how sad it is that Mennonites don’t really have our own. Sure, Mennomedia has a small collection of Bible stories, modern parables and Mennonite history books … More Goodnight, Menno

Lo, How a Menno is Singing

December 22, 2018

Of all the Christmas hymns in all the hymn books in all the Mennonite homes and Churches, our favorite by far is that one about a rose. (When I say “our,” I do not, of course mean to speak for all Mennonites. There will be one or two Mennonites who dispute this generalization. In fact, … More Lo, How a Menno is Singing

Miriam Toews and #Mennotoo (2)

September 30, 2018

Read part 1 of Miriam Toews and #Mennotoo here. If you are a Mennonite who has read Miriam Toews’ Women Talking, then the big question on your mind will be same one that’s on mine: Will the Mennonite community forgive Miriam Toews for having committed the grievous sin of conflating two different groups of Mennonites … More Miriam Toews and #Mennotoo (2)

Miriam Toews and #Mennotoo (1)

September 30, 2018

In a note before the main text of Miriam Toews’ new novel,Women Talking, the author writes that the book is “a reaction through fiction of these true-life events, and an act of female imagination.” The events in question were a series of horrific rapes that occurred in a Bolivian Mennonite colony in the first decade … More Miriam Toews and #Mennotoo (1)

How to Toast like a Mennonite

August 27, 2018

There comes a time in every Mennonite drinker’s life when they will be called upon to offer a toast. Well – not every Mennonite drinker’s — I’m not counting all the closet drinkers out there. Those who drink alone are free from this requirement and should just scroll ahead to the cocktail recipe. But for … More How to Toast like a Mennonite

Oh, look. Another Disillusioned Mennonite

July 13, 2018

When I was a grad student studying history, stories used to go around about rich Americans who would pay people like us to dig up their family histories. Though it sounded like a cash cow, the stories usually ended with having to deal with the ire of people discovering that their ancestors were neither luminaries … More Oh, look. Another Disillusioned Mennonite

Griping over the Grape

June 11, 2018

My congregation has recently switched from wine to grape juice for communion. That’s right — something like 200 years after the temperance movement started urging Churches around North America to spurn the fermented grape, and 85 years after prohibition ended, the Church I attend finally decided to hop on that particular outmoded band wagon. To … More Griping over the Grape

Home of the Drunken Mennonite and other writings

Author: slklassen