I’ll be filling in for Suzanne Woods Fisher on the Amish Wisdom program again today. Very much looking forward to speaking with my guest, Karen Johnson-Weiner. Karen is professor of anthropology at SUNY-Potsdam, and author of numerous books and publications on the Amish including Train Up a Child: Old Order Amish and Mennonite Schools, and [...]
Continue reading Karen Johnson-Weiner on Amish Wisdom radio today
I recently read a book I’d been looking forward to for a long time. An Amish Paradox: Diversity and Change in the World’s Largest Amish Community is an in-depth look at the Amish settlement at Holmes County, Ohio, and one of the most interesting books on the Amish I have read. In Ohio last month [...]
Continue reading An interview with “An Amish Paradox” authors Charles Hurst and David McConnell
Interesting bit on the East Holmes school district, from the Wooster Daily Record (see: http://www.the-daily-record.com/news/article/4823850) What makes the East Holmes District unique is its two-thirds Amish population at each grade level, Treasurer Marsha Clark said. Because the Amish constituency prefers to keep its children closer to home, “we have more buildings, and we have smaller elementary [...]
Continue reading Holmes County schools
I sent a thank-you copy of my book to an Amish friend in PA. He received it yesterday. He thanked me and let me know that he would read it asap, but admitted that “reading in the summer is like swimming in the winter for us here”. Which cracked me up, but made sense. I [...]
Continue reading Odds and ends and another great photo
A lone snowman holds on for dear life outside an Amish schoolhouse in this photo from Rick. Today is the first day of March, and assuming things go to plan, that means Spring is not too far off. Amish will soon be planting (some already are) and in Lancaster County in particular, mud sales will [...]
Continue reading Turning the corner on winter?
A week back I wrote about how Amish celebrate Christmas, with a mention of the holiday program that takes place in many Amish schools. Rick shares a photo from a recent visit to the New Wilmington, PA Amish community, taken during the Christmas Eve program at a local one-room school.
Continue reading New Wilmington Amish Christmas school program
In the previous two posts, SUNY Potsdam Professor Karen Johnson-Weiner answered questions on the Swartzentruber Amish and Amish settlements in New York state. Today she shares her knowledge of Old Order schools. Amish America: Your book Train Up a Child: Old Order Amish and Mennonite Schools examines parochial schooling among these related groups. In a [...]
Continue reading An Amish America Q-and-A with Professor Karen Johnson-Weiner: Part Three
“It is very definitely a gray area, in fact it is nearly black.” An anonymous Amish friend from Lancaster County has offered candid answers to some questions on Amish life. In this first of two parts, he comments on topics such as the Amish presence in the media, Amish internet usage, friendships with non-Amish people, [...]
Continue reading An Amish America Q-and-A with a Lancaster County Amishman
