I have come to the conclusion that in every minute of every day, there is someone, somewhere trying (and failing) to explain the difference between Mennonites and the Amish. These are people with a little bit of knowledge but not a lot. People who might have Mennonite (or Amish) ancestry. Maybe they lived once in … More Something Amish
The year 2020 did not begin well. We’d all barely finished our portzelky when we were forced to contend with rumours of war and visitations from pestilence. Throughout January, disaster was all around us. But none of that prepared us for the news that would rock the Mennonite world – the closure of Ten Thousand … More Ten Thousand Lamentations
One of the blessings of Mennonite life is living in the knowledge that one will never be too far from an admonition. “How empty the lives of non-Mennonites must feel,” I have often thought, when imagining what it must be like for people who do not experience rebukes on a regular basis. Oh, I know … More Admonitions for All Occasions I: Christmas
Writing the Drunken Menno blog has changed me as a writer. When I started the blog, I had a novel that was close to finished. I am now shopping the manuscript around for an agent and/or publisher. I’ve tinkered with it a bit over the last few years. It’s now called Sheltered. It’s still a … More Books
In just a few short weeks, Canadians will celebrate their first ever annual Mennonite Heritage Week. And I don’t think any of us are ready. We were all a little stunned and a lot embarrassed earlier this year to see Members of Parliament from across all party lines get up in the House of Commons … More How to Prepare for Mennonite Heritage Week
It’s been 15 days (or so) since the Walrus Magazine published a comic introducing readers across Canada to various Mennonite reactions to Miriam Toews’ work. Did they imagine we wouldn’t see it and start talking? Written and illustrated by Jonathan Dyck and Christine Kampen Robinson, who both identify as Manitoba Mennonites, this work features 37 … More Mennonites Talking about Mennonites Talking about Miriam Toews
I am old enough to remember a time when we Mennonites of North America did not divide ourselves by the bounds created by the nation-state. In those days of yore, Canadian Mennonites met with American Mennonites as if no border stood between us. It was kinda fun. We could imagine we were all transnational and … More Our American Cousins
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 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
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
