by MarianBeaman | May 3, 2014 | Coming of Age, Conflict, Education, Family / Nostalgia, Mennonite Lore, Nostalgia, Uncategorized
My mother saved all my report cards. When I retrieved them from the attic, only grade 8 was missing. They are tall documents, sheathed in a coarse, brown envelope. And they speak for me as a student: mostly A’s with a smattering of Bs. Once I got a C- on a...
by MarianBeaman | Apr 26, 2014 | Coming of Age, Conflict, Education, Literature, Mennonite History, Quotations, Uncategorized
Is a family graduation on your calendar this year? As a faculty member at Florida State College at Jacksonville (then Florida Community College), I attended graduation every year in full regalia with hundreds of ecstatic grads, joyful families, and proud faculty and...
by MarianBeaman | Apr 7, 2014 | Amish, Amish fiction, Coming of Age, Conflict, Family / Nostalgia, Mennonite Lore, Nostalgia, Uncategorized
In the movie based on Beverly Lewis’ best-selling romance novel The Shunning, pretty Katie Lapp senses something is missing in her simple Amish life. Then a fancy woman comes to Lancaster County looking for the baby girl she gave up for adoption nearly 20 years...
by MarianBeaman | Mar 19, 2014 | Amish, book review, Coming of Age, Conflict, Education, Literature, Uncategorized
This evening my alma mater, Eastern Mennonite University, is hosting author Rachel Held Evans, one of the foremost thinkers and writers in evangelical circles today who has appeared on Oprah and The View and spotlighted by NPR, the BBC and The Washington Post. Her...
by MarianBeaman | Mar 15, 2014 | Conflict, Education, Family / Nostalgia, neighborhood, Neighborhood / Environment, tree surgery, Uncategorized
This post first appeared March 15, 2013 now published again to celebrate the wearing of the green! It’s a long way from Lancaster county, PA to Jacksonville, FL, but years ago our family moved into a neighborhood called Killarney Shores with street names...
by MarianBeaman | Mar 8, 2014 | Amish, Conflict, Education, Mennonite History, Uncategorized
When I bring 5-pound bags of Wenger’s famous ham-loaf frozen from Pennsylvania to Florida, the plastic-coated tubs of meat are wrapped in newspaper and then shrink-wrapped in plastic. The wrapping on one of the packages (we need two to feed the clan now!)...
