by MarianBeaman | Oct 30, 2013 | Coming of Age, Family / Nostalgia, Mennonite Lore, Uncategorized
“Tick-uh-tick-uh-tick-uh-tick . . . ” The needle on my mom’s Singer sewing machine jabbed the orange crepe paper as her feet mumble on the treadle. Usually the material came from Mohr’s Fabrics in Lancaster or the Marian & Ruth Covering...
by MarianBeaman | Oct 19, 2013 | Coming of Age, Family / Nostalgia, Memory, Mennonite History, Nostalgia, Uncategorized
“Going Home, going home, I’m just going home . . . .” William Arms Fisher wrote a spiritual tune with nostalgic lyrics adapted from the famous largo in Dvorak’s 9th Symphony that hints of going home “through an open door.” Last Saturday I walked through the...
by MarianBeaman | Oct 12, 2013 | Coming of Age, Family / Nostalgia, meditation, Mennonite Lore, Purple Passage, Quotations, Uncategorized
Most plain girls are virtuous because of the scarcity of opportunity to be otherwise. Maya Angelou READING “Reading gives us someplace to go when we have to stay where we are.” Mason Cooley, aphorist (1927- __ ) “Reading is equivalent to thinking with...
by MarianBeaman | Oct 2, 2013 | Coming of Age, Conflict, Family / Nostalgia, Memory, Mennonite Lore, Uncategorized
On the ground floor again, we breathe a sigh of relief as we spot the bus two blocks away ready to pick us up to go back to the mission. On the way to our mobile haven, we pass pawn shops armed like fortresses, lurid adult bookstores with XXX ratings, filthy-looking...
by MarianBeaman | Sep 28, 2013 | Coming of Age, Conflict, Family / Nostalgia, Mennonite History, Mennonite Lore, Uncategorized
During our teens, my church friends–Miriam, Gladys, Hazel, and I congregate at each other’s houses after church on Sunday night for ice cream, chips, and stereo music: Songs from the West, anything by Mantovani, and The Singing Nun. We would rather have...
by MarianBeaman | Sep 25, 2013 | Coming of Age, Conflict, Family / Nostalgia, Mennonite History, Mennonite Lore, Uncategorized
My Review Shirley Hershey Showalter’s Blush: A Mennonite Girl Meets a Glittering World sings the song of her early life as a Mennonite girl in 250 pitch-perfect pages. Born into a family of Lancaster County Swiss Mennonite parents, the author recounts the story of the...
