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In the community where I grew up, there was a hierarchy of people who were "gut oh tzene" (well-regarded) and those who were not and everyone in between. It was nearly impossible to move up in the hierarchy, but that did not keep people from trying. In their attempts at having themselves look better, people…

For the first ten years after I left the Amish, I didn't want to go into my home community or any other Amish community. Since then, my inner struggle to come to terms with my Amish past has brought me more peace with the culture. Now, thirty-one years after my final exodus out of the…

I’ve always loved autumn. Perhaps some of that comes from my childhood memories of the time when summer would change into autumn. I still notice the shift: the days are shorter, the nights cooler, the air gets that fresh and nutty smell, and I change what I cook to accommodate the autumn harvests of apples,…

It was several years after I left the Amish that I first heard about Hutterites through a magazine article. At the time I was astonished that there could be a third branch of Anabaptists that I had never heard about during my 23 years of living in an Amish community. (The other two are Amish…

Life is full right now… David and I are heading to Cape Cod tomorrow. I am delivering five books talks on the Cape, plus one on Martha’s Vineyard to make six in five days. More than a little to do… I appreciate all your good wishes about mending from my bike accident. I am happy…

Last night after dinner, I had plans… I was going to take a quick spin on my bike with David before it got dark, and then post on my blog. Those plans were suddenly changed. I was just ahead of David coming down over a steep hill when I saw that the pavement was gone…

This morning I was interviewed on MassAppeal for WWLP, Channel 22 in Springfield, Mass. You can watch the video of it here. This was in preparation for a talk at the Forbes Library this Wednesday evening at 7:30 PM. This was my television debut, so I was really nervous, which comes through in the video.…

Susan J. Reinhardt wrote: I've been researching the Amish Communion Service. As part of the preparation, do they go to each other and mend broken relationships? I found references to reading the Ordnung and going over the rules, but nothing about making things right with each other. Is the footwashing part of this? Susan, very good questions.…