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Coming to a Venue Near You…
A week after the film "The Amish: Shunned" premiered on American Experience, and also a week after Bonnet Strings was released, my new agent, Heidi Ihrig, and I are busily scheduling for the cross-country book tour that David and I would like to make to promote Bonnet Strings and its prequel Why I Left the Amish. There is…
Read MoreSticky Bun Recipe and More…
Welcome to my new blog! Two days after the premiering of the PBS documentary, "The Amish: Shunned," I am looking out my window at the slanted afternoon sunlight shining on the white buildings across the street, I am taking a deep breath. I must have been stressed leading up to the launching of my book on…
Read MoreLaunching “Bonnet Strings” and the PBS Documentary “The Amish: Shunned”
Tonight the PBS documentary "The Amish: Shunned" will be premiering on American Experience. I am one of seven people whose stories are followed in this film. I have written a blog post for American Experience, called To Obey or to Stray: That is the Question. Tonight I will be tweeting live during the show. (Dorothy is…
Read MoreAnnouncing the Winner and Updates
I would like to thank all of you who participated in the informal survey about maintaining a blog and Facebook account. Not only did you cast your vote, but most of you also gave reasons why you were voting the way you did. Many thanks — that was very helpful information. If I do need to…
Read MoreWhen Feeling Called to Write a Life Story
Stories bind us. Stories help is find our place in the world. ~ Mary Ann Kirkby, author of I Am Hutteritie I just responded to a LinkedIn Women's Memoir Writing group discussion and then realized this is a great blog post to end the year with. Kathleen Pooler asked a great question: "How do you handle…
Read MoreTo Stay or Leave?
I was doing some perusing of websites tonight that are administrated or written by former Amish people. Once I started reading “Letters to and from Former Amish” by the Mission to Amish People website, I could not stop reading. I was pulled into the intensity of the letters. First there is a letter from someone who…
Read MoreSnow and About Anna
Yesterday morning I awoke to what sounded like a convoy of trucks going across the bridge over the Connecticut River. It was the wind roaring all around the house. The snow had been coming down all night apparently, and from the sound of that wind, we were having the blizzard that had been predicted. At…
Read MoreThe Juncture of Three Cultures
Ever since I’ve gotten to know Anna Miller, the young woman who lives with us, I’ve said that the difference between her Swartzentruber community and the Amish community where I came from is about as great as the difference between my community and the outside world. In fact, Anna’s group called anyone who is not…
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 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…
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