Red carpet hayloft
I prefer books and sky to screens and Hollywood, but the fact that kerchief-clad colony women will appear on-screen at Hollywood’s biggest event creates a moment of opportunity for our church. The film adaptation of Miriam Toews’ novel, Women Talking, is nominated for Best Picture at the March 12 Academy Awards. For me, the film…
Film review: sorrow, joy, anger and faith
What do we do when we are wronged: Nothing? Stay and fight? Or do we leave? These questions form the backbone of Women Talking, a 2022 film directed by Sarah Polley and adapted from Miriam Toews’s acclaimed novel of the same name. The plot is simple, though not easy: A group of women belonging to…
What about the women of Manitoba Colony?
After opening in select movie theatres before Christmas, Women Talking received a wide release last month. For Jean Friedman-Rudovsky, it marked 10 years since she interviewed some of the women who inspired Miram Toews’s novel the film is based on. In January 2013, Friedman-Rudovsky spent nearly two weeks living with the family of a community…
Barns and kerchiefs
Not many farmers walk out of a movie theatre and say, “It’s a lot of fun seeing our farm on the big screen.” But that’s what Chris Burkholder thought after he watched Women Talking at the Toronto International Film Festival last fall. Burkholder and his brothers Rich and Ryan own the farm site in Claremont,…
Readers write: February 27, 2023 issue
Complexities of pacifism Below are four responses to “Conscientious” (Jan. 30), which critiqued the Canadian government purchase of fighter jets. Horrors in Ukraine If countries do not stand up to dictators like Putin, Hitler, Mussolini and Napoleon, we would not have the freedoms we enjoy now. Yes, we need the pacifists as well to promote…
Camp really matters
The smell of pancakes on the griddle, the roar of laughter while trying new activities, and the joyful noise of campfire singing are forever etched in my heart. Summer camps and camp programming have long been a passion of mine. Although I didn’t grow up as a die-hard camper, camp-related experiences in my childhood, youth…
CMC Yearbooks
The Konferenz der Mennoniten in Canada—now Mennonite Church Canada—was formed in 1902. In 1928, the conference started publishing an official Jahrbuch (yearbook) which documented proceedings and decisions at the annual gatherings. Starting in 1946, an increasing an amount of Jahrbuch content appeared in English, rather than German. In 1965, the Jahrbuch become the Yearbook, though…
Dump truck affirmation
In this new-ish year, I find myself searching out new-ish challenges. My youngest brother and I have been trading off shifts driving a dump truck in Saskatoon, which is still cleaning up after the great Christmas Day 2022 snowfall. It has been a delight to re-insert myself into the truck-driving culture, a culture that communicates…
Beyond free speech
The fellows at the next table were running on and on about refugees. So many false statements! I gritted my teeth as I sipped my coffee that morning. “No!” I wanted to holler, millions of refugees were not going to overrun Canada. Then the fellows changed topics. It got worse. The new topic was climate…
