From war survivor/refugee to Mennonite administrator By Bonnie Price Lofton In her wildest dreams as a middle-class person in Yugoslavia, Amela Puljek-Shank never thought she would be in a war. Never thought she would be a penniless, hungry refugee. Never thought she would be married to an American. She crossed each of these thresholds, one at a time, before she turned 30. At last she came to Eastern Mennonite University where she earned undergraduate and graduate degrees to prepare herself for returning to her home region to work for peace and justice. Randy Puljek-Shank came from Ephrata, Pennsylvania.  After high […]

If you were caught up in the excitement of Sunday’s Emmy Awards—or overly excited about the Media Matters National Mid-year Music Day Awards in July—you may have blinked and missed the Streamy Awards last weekend. That’s pretty much the show: two dudes choosing a topic, talking about it, or in the show’s best episodes, experimenting with a topic. The lesser-known Streamys honor online entertainers, or basically the biggest stars streaming on YouTube. As with any entertainment medium, flash-in-the-pan Internet stars come and go, but then there are proven commodities out there, ones that have made a living by gaining subscribers, […]

When did you start learning to cook? Did boys and girls both have the opportunity to try their hand in your family? How does she get her homework done, cook, and manage a hectic schedule during her cross-country and musical seasons? Recently I’ve been blown away by interviewing and watching a 12-year-old kitchen foodie, Lizzy. In celebration of Family Day in the United States (the last Monday in September), I’m again writing about the value and importance of families eating together. In Canada, a similar emphasis comes the third Monday of February (or the second Monday in British Columbia). I […]

By guest writer Anna Vogt In Colombia, Mennonites demonstrate every day that being a peace church means taking concrete actions to stop violence. Colombia has been in armed conflict for over 50 years. Seven million people have been victims of the resulting violence. This violence has been supported in part by Plan Colombia, a multi-billion-dollar military aid package from the United States to Colombia. Three years ago, the Colombian state and the largest guerrilla group, the FARC, began a peace process. Colombian churches, while applauding the talks, urge the two parties to stop active fighting immediately, out of respect for life. […]

By Rebekah Sears, policy analyst for MCC Canada’s Ottawa Office. (originally posted on Ottawa Notebook, https://mccottawaoffice.wordpress.com ) Canada’s federal election takes place on October 19, 2015. As I was drafting this post, the global refugee/forced migration crisis – an issue very close to my heart – FINALLY captured the full attention of media outlets around the world. It also finally made its way into the Canadian federal election campaign. It’s incredible how one heart-breaking story can capture the attention of so many people, even though a full year ago the UNHCR reported that the scale of people forcefully displaced around the world […]

(Editor’s Note: Michelle Sinclair is the daughter of columnist Melodie Davis; she is married and works in Washington, D.C. She and her husband have a toddler son.) Three weeks of just you, your mother-in-law, and a toddler. Sound doable? Grandchildren really can be the great equalizer. There’s something connective about seeing your mother-in-law love your child too—even at 3 a.m., when the toddler has woken upset for the fourth time that night. My husband’s work took him away for part of this summer, and since I’m pregnant with our second child, I had the good fortune to have my retired […]

Perhaps it’s because baby boomers like to reshape every age demographic they enter, but there seem to be more and more movies featuring the 60+ set. Broadening Hollywood’s standards of who can carry a compelling story and make money at it can only be a good thing. A Walk in the Woods is the latest entry into that category, a “road trip” type film starring actors whose heydays coincided with the Nixon, Ford, Carter, and Reagan years. Even if some parts of this based-on-a-true-story film were rearranged, fictionalized or altered completely, this is a movie, not a documentary, and the […]

Mistress America is another quirky, witty, honest, and thought-provoking independent comedy drama from writer/director Noah Baumbach. His previous films include Greenberg, The Squid and the Whale, Frances Ha, and While We’re Young, all of which contain a lot of social commentary and all of which I enjoyed very much. Since I also have trouble enjoying films with unsympathetic characters, my appreciation for Baumbach’s films must be grounded in the strong element of hope that I find in his films. Baumbach grew up in New York City and had a difficult childhood, which is reflected in the dark edge that is […]