by MarianBeaman | Dec 11, 2019 | blog, book review, Education, Family / Nostalgia, Mennonite History, Mennonite Lore, Quotations, Uncategorized
What do Fred Rogers, Ruth Graham, Eva Kor, and I have in common? Read on to find out! During the 2019 holiday season, “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” has played in theatres all across the nation. The movie is a tribute to Fred Rogers, the legend of children’s...
by MarianBeaman | Dec 4, 2019 | blog, Christmas, meditation, Mennonite History, Uncategorized
Dr. Benjamin Vogt, my instructor in a Family History course I took in 2015 via publishing entrepreneur Jane Friedman, is a poet, gardener, and author of creative non-fiction. With his permission, I am printing this poem from the collection entitled...
by MarianBeaman | Nov 27, 2019 | Family / Nostalgia, Gratitude, Memory, Nostalgia, Quotations, Uncategorized
This post first appeared on Nov 27, 2013, the year I began blogging. The grandchildren pictured near the end of this post are much older now, but the expression of gratitude remains the same. The First Thanksgiving at Plymouth by Jennie A. Brownscombe (1914) Courtesy...
by MarianBeaman | Nov 20, 2019 | blog, Cliff Beaman artist, Conflict, Family / Nostalgia, meditation, Mennonite History, Quotations, Tips, Uncategorized
Writing memoir is like “dis-robing in public,” says one author, but only if you are brave enough to include the hard parts, I say. After my memoir launch on September 14, many details of the first 24 years of my life became public. I voluntarily exposed my self...
by MarianBeaman | Nov 13, 2019 | Coming of Age, Family / Nostalgia, Memory, Mennonite History, Mennonite Lore
The blurb on the back cover of Mennonite Daughter begins: What if the Mennonite life young Marian Longenecker chafed against offered the chance for a new beginning? It continues: What if her two Lancaster County homes with three generations of family were...
by MarianBeaman | Nov 6, 2019 | blog, book review, Literature, Memory, Quotations, Uncategorized
This weekend some of us set our clocks back and hour, theoretically regaining the hour we lost last spring. It’s the spring-ahead/fall behind herky-jerky phenom we never quite get used to. Either way, the rhythms of our lives are temporarily interrupted until we...
by MarianBeaman | Oct 30, 2019 | blog, Family / Nostalgia, Mennonite History, Mennonite Lore, Nostalgia
I’ll go first: Now it’s your turn!
by MarianBeaman | Oct 23, 2019 | blog, Education, Family / Nostalgia, Memory, Mennonite History, Mennonite Lore, Uncategorized
Aunt Ruthie’s 1945 Diary tells stories of her daily life, but it also holds clippings of other things, like a bee swarm . . . Cartoonists of this era tried to cram lots of action into one scene. Here’s a detail: ...
by MarianBeaman | Oct 16, 2019 | blog, Family / Nostalgia, Mennonite History, Mennonite Lore, Nostalgia, Uncategorized
“Why is Glenn Longenecker buying so many antiques?” It was June 2017, and I noticed cousin Glenn was outbidding antique dealers at our Aunt Ruthie’s property sale. He was sitting under the sales tent with several items he already bought huddled...
by MarianBeaman | Oct 9, 2019 | blog, book review, Family / Nostalgia, Mennonite History, Mennonite Lore, Travel, Uncategorized
Hands down, meeting readers on tour has been the highlight of the entire memoir publishing and launching business. But first, the launch party in Jacksonville, Florida! Hosted by my trusty Southern Friends, Judy Davis and Carolyn Stoner at Deerwood Country Club, the...
