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[Re: scattered children of Menno (was: Re: new guy-& princess bride)]
>
> > Twila, I also grew up in Conservative Conference, and my brother Marcus
> > attended RBI, around '97, I think. I'm from a little Mennonite enclave in
> > upstate New York, where Zehr is the most common name in the phone book,
> > just ahead of the Widricks and Sterias and Youseys and Moshiers and
> > Jantzis and Yanceys and Nafzigers and Roggies, most of whom never left
> > Lewis County. I think it's precisely the rootedness of home communities
> > like these that make it possible (and rewarding) for those of us who have
> > left, to some degree, to find each other.
What great names! Oh to live in a place where Swartzendruber drew no more lame comments.
> > Nathan, you (or your parents) may be interested to know that in the new
> > Hymnal, 606 is now 118.
>
> I'm sure my folks now. I'll stick with calling it 606 and call it a part of my heritage, some good excuse like that.
>
> > I too was surprised to discover Linford's Mennonite background, but it was
> > a ready-made connecting point. The Story:
Great story! See, you all go way back.
> > I really don't know their current religious affiliation, or Karin's
> > background, but once a "church child" . . . Linford obviously values his
> > family heritage, and I think our having some of that in common is one
> > reason I resonate so deeply with his lyrics. Although the issues and
> > emotions certainly are not exclusive to Mennonites . . .
They aren't? Have to come up with some other reason why I like the stuff so much, then.
I'd say Linford writes about the non-empirical experience--that simple world of metaphor where things make sense for unknown reasons. That's the real work of poetry, IMHO. To find new compass bearings to places we know and can't find. Somehow it helps me triangulate my way to the in-between things, the spaces where the rest of me lives.
To use my big words,
Nathan
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