Posts by Saloma Furlong
Fracking in New Wilmington, Pennsylvania
A friend recently sent me a link to an article in On Earth Magazine called “Fracking the Amish” that reports the conflict in the Amish settlement in Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, near the Ohio border. I have been to this community on two occasions. My maternal grandmother grew up there. I wrote a story called “Sarah’s…
Read MoreThe Amish, Misunderstood Again
Many of the misconceptions of the Amish come about because someone misunderstands their ways and then imposes their values on the Amish. This is how the misconception of “rumspringa” became so widespread… the people making a documentary The Devil’s Playground misconstrued the idea of what “rumpspringa” is all about. Now the misunderstanding and misrepresentation of the…
Read MoreMemory Photos
I have no actual photos of me when I was a baby or a very young child. But I do have “Amish” photos or “memory” photos that were passed down to me from my mother. I treasure these, for they give me a snapshot in time that becomes vivid when I use my imagination. The…
Read MoreIn One Year…
A New Year’s resolution is something that goes in one year and out the other. ~ Author Unknown à 1979 1980à In the beginning of 1979, I made 9 (NINE!) New Year’s resolutions. Here is what I listed in my journal on January 2, 1979: 1. Pray and read the Bible regularly2. Go on a sensible diet3.…
Read MoreA Day of Rest
Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: […] For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore…
Read MoreCelebrating Light and Daring to Hope
Please visit the Amish Descendent Scholarship for a story of “An Irrepressible Spirit.” This is the story of Emma Gingerich’s educational journey. She left her Amish community when she was eighteen. Before she left, she did not know what a college is, yet she was enrolled in one less than a year after she entering…
Read MoreStories by and about Former Amish “Stars”
In a culture full of Amish novels and bogus reality television about Amish youth “breaking out,” it is often disheartening to those of us former Amish to see what “sells” in the media. Some of us have well-written stories to share with the world, yet we keep getting rejections from mainstream publishers. Meanwhile, writers of…
Read MoreLanguage and Thought
Does language influence thought or do thoughts influence language? Or both? These are questions I had debated in a linguistics class at Smith College several years ago. Now these questions come to mind again because of the young woman living with us who is adjusting to the English world. And in this case I mean…
Read MoreThanksgiving Memories
Before I write my post for today, I want to let those of you who read the first part of Henry Troyer’s story about his educational journey that the second part of his story has been posted to the Amish Descendent Scholarship Fund blog. It is worth the time to read this compelling story. What…
Read MoreFrom a Farm Boy to the Outer Limits of a University Education — Meet Henry Troyer
Because of the publicity that I’ve received for both my memoir and the PBS American Experience film “The Amish” that I was featured in, I occasionally receive emails from people who have read or heard my story and want to let me know how they’ve related to it. Very often these people have an Amish…
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