Volume 27 Issue 11

I’m not certain this is a good idea, but I’m going to tell you about four things in this issue of the magazine that don’t sit well with me. If that seems counterintuitive to you, it does to me too. Some intuitions are worth countering.

I’ll circle round at the end to dial back the tension.

During a Mennonite Church gathering in Charlotte, North Carolina, some years ago, I decided to go to a local restaurant for lunch. I left my name tag and swag bag behind so that I would look less vulnerable to thieves, but I was so successful at hiding my foreign identity that I attracted another kind of unwanted attention.

I recall sitting through church services as a child, being even more bored with the pastor’s long prayer than I was by the sermon. During the sermon I could look around at people and out the windows, but during the prayer I had to sit even more still, with my head down, looking only at the floor.

Sarah Hodges-Kolisnyk approaches art through the lens of storytelling.

“My journey as an artist and a curator has always been linked to exploring the world and sharing stories with others,” she says. “I approach everything with a questioning and a searching for the story, and hoping those stories bring people together.”

Nearly 100 years have passed since 21,000 Mennonites fled disease, starvation and violence in some of the same areas now experiencing war in Ukraine. Many came to Southern Manitoba, and their trauma quietly came with them.

When 19-year-old Anita Shevchuk found herself in the streets of downtown Toronto in the summer of 2022, she held onto her faith in God and her then-husband’s promise that everything would be okay.

A simple job creation project that started with two women’s concern for a young church member is now seeking new church partners to expand beyond its four current locations.