‘Women Talking’ adaptation takes shape
Some big names are attached to the film adaptation of Miriam Toews’ most recent novel, Women Talking. Deadline.com reported in December 2020 that Frances McDormand, known for her Academy Award-winning work in the films Fargo and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, will produce and star in the adaptation. Canadian filmmaker Sarah Polley, an Oscar nominee…
COVID-19 outbreak in Bolivian colonies
Although precise data does not exist, Die Mennonitische Post reports numerous presumed COVID-19-related deaths on several Mennonite colonies in Bolivia. Kennert Giesbrecht, the Post’s editor, who is highly regarded among colony Mennonites in Latin America, is in regular contact with people on many colonies. One clinic reported having treated patients from more than a dozen…
Mennonites talking
Mennonites are talking about Women Talking, Miriam Toews’s latest novel. What are your thoughts? Feel free to comment below or send letters to letters@canadianmennonite.org. Though I am still trying to figure out why the book troubled me—despite my admiration of Toews—some of my thoughts on the book are contained in Part 4 of “Modern ghosts…
Modern ghosts of a horse-drawn scandal, Part 4
Eight men went to prison, the media gaze moved on, and colony life resumed. But the saga of mass rape in the Bolivian corner of our family of faith is far from over. It’s hard not to talk about something as sensational and consequential as a mass rape case on an intensely conservative colony in…
Online extras: Modern ghosts of a horse-drawn scandal, Part 4
Eight men went to prison, the media gaze moved on, and colony life resumed. But the saga of mass rape in the Bolivian corner of the Mennonite family of faith is far from over. This supplement accompanies Part 4 of “Modern ghosts of a horse-drawn scandal,” a four-part series on the ongoing legacy of the…
Modern ghosts of a horse-drawn scandal, Part 3
Eight men went to prison, the media gaze moved on, and colony life resumed. But the saga of mass rape in the Bolivian corner of our family of faith is far from over. When word of a serial rape crisis on the Manitoba Colony in Bolivia emerged in 2005, Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) faced pressure…
Modern ghosts of a horse-drawn scandal, Part 2
Eight men went to prison, the media gaze moved on, and colony life resumed. But the saga of mass rape in the Bolivian corner of our family of faith is far from over. According to the official version, seven Mennonite men drugged and raped more than 130 women and girls on the Manitoba Colony in…
Modern ghosts of a horse-drawn scandal, Part 1
Eight men went to prison, the media gaze moved on and colony life resumed. But the saga of mass rape in the Bolivian corner of our family of faith is far from over. The crime could not have been more salacious, nor the scandal more sensational. And the truth of it all could not trace…
Online extras: Modern ghosts of a horse-drawn scandal, Part 1
Eight men went to prison, the media gaze moved on, and colony life resumed. But the saga of mass rape in the Bolivian corner of the Mennonite family of faith is far from over. This supplement accompanies Part 1 of “Modern ghosts of a horse-drawn scandal,” a four-part series on the ongoing legacy of the…
Greetings from Bolivia
Bolivia, named after its first president, Bolivar, is about 4,500 miles south and one time zone east of Kitchener. It is a beautiful country with lots of tropical foliage, including 1,200 species of fern and 1,400 species of birds. This land-locked country is south of the equator, which means that we need to look north…
