Marlene Lehman on Amish Tourists and Plain & Simple (Video)

Some Amish have a neat thing they do when they need to move a structure like a pole barn. They marshall the community’s arms and legs and, deploying a bit of sweat and maybe a few tears, they simply pick up the structure in unison and carry it to wherever it needs to be. We’ve seen this in video versions on several occasions. Now, columnist…

This story at pennlive.com is a couple of weeks old, but since we’ve covered the Amish and exercise before, it’s worth circling back to. Leroy Stoltzfus is a 22-year-old Amish man who did something remarkable–ran a marathon in an impressive 3 hours and 5 minutes–dressed in full Amish garb. I am an amateur runner, and this sounds completely miserable to me. Running long distances is hard…

Wild youth behavior is a reality for some English adolescents, and for a segment of Amish youth as well. Jim Cates returns with a look at those youth–some of whom soon find themselves in quite different circumstances. Not Your Mama’s Amish Long before Wal-Mart discovered that “Back in Black” was a catchy musical backdrop for its television ads, the youngie in Topeka, Indiana were regularly blasting…

Rumspringa is often exaggerated in the media, to be a wilder time than it is in reality for most Amish youth. But the fact is, some adolescents test limits during this transitional period, in ways others do not. Acquiring and illicitly owning a television set may seem like a light offense from an English perspective, but for Amish families, this can be a great concern. Jim Cates…