All or none
While Jakob Rempel was being transferred by train from one Gulag camp to another, he jumped from the train in a snowstorm. Ultimately, he ended up in Uzbekistan, near the town of Ak Metchet, made famous in Sofia Samatar’s celebrated 2022 book, The White Mosque. Having escaped the Gulag, Rempel witnessed first-hand the grim end…
Facing death, rethinking life
I find myself in the middle of living and I am faced with death. Although it was expected, I was still surprised when a friend of mine died earlier this year. Another dear friend of more than 30 years was diagnosed with stomach cancer and four weeks later he had died. I had the privilege of helping…
Growing in the right direction: Grebel’s pollinator garden
On a bright morning in April, Eva Booker and a team of student volunteers rolled out a 25-foot-wide tarp across Grebel’s front lawn in preparation for the College’s recent green initiative: a pollinator garden. “The garden now contains fifteen different native flowering plants and grasses divided into eighteen sections of the round garden,” explained Eva…
A complicated centenary
The premise of the “Memories of Migration” Russlaender centenary train tour is a complicated one. The July tour commemorated the journey of the historic migration of 21,000 Mennonites from Russia to Canada by taking a train and various other forms of transportation from Montreal to Abbotsford. The tour made many stops along the way as…
Birding with Alvin
I don’t get out much. That’s true for my personal life. My wife and I are homebodies and we jokingly refer to ourselves as “indoor kids”—a nod to the kind of children who choose watching TV or reading a book over getting outside and running around. It’s also true for my work life. Since Canadian…
Consider the birders
When Gordon Janzen was searching for a way to unwind, he found it by looking up. Around 10 years ago, the Winnipegger realized he was working a lot and didn’t have many hobbies. Looking to develop his interests outside of work, Janzen got a pair of binoculars and started birding. Since then, birding (or birdwatching)—the…
Learning about waiting
I’ve been learning about waiting. After avoiding it for three years, I tested positive for COVID-19 at the beginning of July—just in time to disrupt the return of the Grand Wallace Road Trip. Each year we pile the kids into our vehicle and drive hard from Saskatchewan to Montana to Michigan and back to visit…
Vibrant, powerful book explores family violence
In his new book Shattered, Arthur Boers writes, “I realized that I never understood my father, our relationship, or even myself.” In this coming-of-age story, Boers explores his relationship with his father, trying to make sense of why he both feared and loved him. How did his father’s violence shape the person that Boers became?…
The gift of limited options
This past spring, Mennonite Church Alberta held its first in-person annual delegate sessions in four years. Representatives from across the province were in attendance. Who hosted this grand gathering? One of the smallest churches in the province: Springridge Mennonite. There are about 25 people in the pews at Springridge on a typical Sunday morning and…
