by MarianBeaman | Oct 9, 2013 | Family / Nostalgia, Memory, Mennonite Lore, Quilt, Reflection, Uncategorized
July 2013 phone conversation between Aunt Ruthie and me: M: Well, Ruthie, how are you doing? AR: Well, I’m puzzled! M: Puzzled? What about? AR: I’m doing puzzles, doing “word find”! Ha ha ha! (Still witty at 95) Teaching: Adoring teachers surround their retiring...
by MarianBeaman | Oct 5, 2013 | Family / Nostalgia, Memory, Mennonite Lore, Uncategorized
Announcing the WINNER of Blush: A Mennonite Girl Meets a Glittering World And the Winner is (drum roll, please!) Carolyn Stoner! Thank you one and all for participating so heartily by commenting on my review of Shirley Showalter’s memoir BLUSH. Carolyn, you will...
by MarianBeaman | Oct 3, 2013 | Family / Nostalgia, meditation, Memory, Mennonite Lore, Uncategorized
My sheets are pinned to the backyard clothes line now, flipping in the breeze. Today I’m celebrating the end of our torrid Florida summer by hanging our sheets outside in the fresh fall air. Very old-fashioned and very retro. I guess I’m an Urban Mama! We...
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...
