Mary Ann Zehr
@mazehr.bsky.social
College writing prof. Former EdWeek journalist. Former high school teacher. Memoirist. Got an English PhD at age 62. Rhet/Comp. NOT slow to speak up. Striving to be kind.
@bsky.app RIP, Diane Keaton. I watched you star with Warren Beatty in Reds in a downtown theater in Manhattan when I was 19 years old. It was one of the most memorable big-screen experiences of my life. Epic film.
October 11, 2025 at 8:36 PM
@bsky.app RIP, Diane Keaton. I watched you star with Warren Beatty in Reds in a downtown theater in Manhattan when I was 19 years old. It was one of the most memorable big-screen experiences of my life. Epic film.
Book Review by Lee Snyder, former president of Bluffton University: "These young women found themselves in a world they could scarcely imagine." anabaptistworld.org/sojourns-in-...
Sojourns in the Middle Kingdom | Anabaptist World
From early missionaries to teachers of English, from the creation of the China Educational Exchange to Mennonite Partners in China, Mennonites represent a tiny but important part of an evolving story.
anabaptistworld.org
October 7, 2025 at 12:18 PM
Book Review by Lee Snyder, former president of Bluffton University: "These young women found themselves in a world they could scarcely imagine." anabaptistworld.org/sojourns-in-...
Reposted by Mary Ann Zehr
“It actually doesn’t take much to be considered a difficult woman. That’s why there are so many of us.”
― Jane Goodall
💙 RIP to a real one. My childhood hero
― Jane Goodall
💙 RIP to a real one. My childhood hero
October 2, 2025 at 2:56 AM
“It actually doesn’t take much to be considered a difficult woman. That’s why there are so many of us.”
― Jane Goodall
💙 RIP to a real one. My childhood hero
― Jane Goodall
💙 RIP to a real one. My childhood hero
Yes. Mennonites can write art.
anabaptistworld.org/can-mennonit...
anabaptistworld.org/can-mennonit...
Can Mennonites write art? | Anabaptist World
The editor of a new anthology of Mennonite literary criticism penned over 150 years hopes a carefully curated resource about the past may inform the future of the field.
anabaptistworld.org
September 27, 2025 at 3:00 AM
Yes. Mennonites can write art.
anabaptistworld.org/can-mennonit...
anabaptistworld.org/can-mennonit...
Speculative fiction and real-life events in my community are trending toward each other.
tinyurl.com/y2tux6rp
tinyurl.com/y2tux6rp
Book Review: A Fairy Tale (with Startling Realism)
In reviewing a new work of speculative fiction by local author Keith Miller, The Citizen book critic Mary Ann Zehr finds uncomfortable real-life parallels
tinyurl.com
September 26, 2025 at 10:08 AM
Speculative fiction and real-life events in my community are trending toward each other.
tinyurl.com/y2tux6rp
tinyurl.com/y2tux6rp
If you are local, come out to Parentheses Books, Harrisonburg's independent bookstore, today, Saturday, at 4 pm to hear a reading by Kirsten Beachy from her new memoir. After the reading I'll be asking her a few questions. granolamennonite.com
Kirsten Eve Beachy
More reviews are in!
granolamennonite.com
September 6, 2025 at 1:09 PM
If you are local, come out to Parentheses Books, Harrisonburg's independent bookstore, today, Saturday, at 4 pm to hear a reading by Kirsten Beachy from her new memoir. After the reading I'll be asking her a few questions. granolamennonite.com
Thanks to the gift of papers by his granddaughter to James Madison University, Harrisonburg resident George A. Newman's novel written not long after the Civil War is now in the public eye. tinyurl.com/hhw83t9z
Book Review: An Unpublished (Until Now) 19th-Century Novel
The Citizen’s book critic explores a novel by a prominent Black resident of Harrisonburg written nearly 150 years ago but only recently published
tinyurl.com
September 6, 2025 at 12:43 PM
Thanks to the gift of papers by his granddaughter to James Madison University, Harrisonburg resident George A. Newman's novel written not long after the Civil War is now in the public eye. tinyurl.com/hhw83t9z
@bsky.app
I continue to be impressed with the creativity of local authors in Harrisonburg. I haven't run out of ideas for my monthly book column yet.
tinyurl.com/yc45u7p9
I continue to be impressed with the creativity of local authors in Harrisonburg. I haven't run out of ideas for my monthly book column yet.
tinyurl.com/yc45u7p9
Book Review: Representation | The Harrisonburg Citizen
Best Believe tells how three real-life Puerto Rican sisters worked to improve schools, higher education, and libraries in the Bronx.
tinyurl.com
August 16, 2025 at 12:43 PM
@bsky.app
I continue to be impressed with the creativity of local authors in Harrisonburg. I haven't run out of ideas for my monthly book column yet.
tinyurl.com/yc45u7p9
I continue to be impressed with the creativity of local authors in Harrisonburg. I haven't run out of ideas for my monthly book column yet.
tinyurl.com/yc45u7p9
Reposted by Mary Ann Zehr
"We should all keep in mind that the final judge of our actions is God...Some things are worth taking a principled stand for." #BishopBrennan #PrayForAmerica www.ncronline.org/news/west-vi...
West Virginia bishop warns on immigration: 'The final judge of our actions is God'
Bishop Mark E. Brennan urged people of his state to "affirm the humanity of all immigrants." He also called on every person to "pray for the courage to do the right thing," including those tasked with...
www.ncronline.org
August 7, 2025 at 1:25 PM
"We should all keep in mind that the final judge of our actions is God...Some things are worth taking a principled stand for." #BishopBrennan #PrayForAmerica www.ncronline.org/news/west-vi...
Reposted by Mary Ann Zehr
When I was little, the U.S. military came to our home at gunpoint and took me and my family away. We were imprisoned for years in barbed wire camps simply because we were Japanese American. I have spent my life telling that story, hoping it would never be repeated.
July 21, 2025 at 5:20 PM
When I was little, the U.S. military came to our home at gunpoint and took me and my family away. We were imprisoned for years in barbed wire camps simply because we were Japanese American. I have spent my life telling that story, hoping it would never be repeated.
Reposted by Mary Ann Zehr
Reposted by Mary Ann Zehr
July 13, 2025 at 11:54 AM
". . . Let me clearly plant my stake in the ground: humans need community. . .Isolation and loneliness are deadly, like actually [italics on actually] deadly."
July 13, 2025 at 12:29 PM
". . . Let me clearly plant my stake in the ground: humans need community. . .Isolation and loneliness are deadly, like actually [italics on actually] deadly."
". . . open lands inspire open minds. This is the open space of democracy." --Terry Tempest Williams
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/06/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/06/o...
Opinion | Americans Fought Off This Awful Idea in Trump’s Bill
www.nytimes.com
July 6, 2025 at 9:23 PM
". . . open lands inspire open minds. This is the open space of democracy." --Terry Tempest Williams
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/06/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/06/o...
In writing my book column for July, I learned a lot more about an important story from my region: the displacement of mountain families for the creation of Shenandoah National Park. tinyurl.com/22kn99sc
Book Review: Place and Displacement | The Harrisonburg Citizen
On one visit to the park, I came across stones from a chimney and the foundation of a dwelling. I didn’t give these ruins a second thought.
tinyurl.com
July 5, 2025 at 1:33 PM
In writing my book column for July, I learned a lot more about an important story from my region: the displacement of mountain families for the creation of Shenandoah National Park. tinyurl.com/22kn99sc
When I am planning to teach a book, I kind of go crazy with post-it notes. Braiding Sweetgrass is the Common Read for my university this coming academic year.
June 26, 2025 at 7:52 PM
When I am planning to teach a book, I kind of go crazy with post-it notes. Braiding Sweetgrass is the Common Read for my university this coming academic year.
"Books aren't meant to be hiding places, defenses against a dark world, excuses for detachment and engagement. I think they're meant to be flashlights, moving us forward, placing us in community with one another, giving us a reason to walk together."
June 26, 2025 at 12:18 PM
"Books aren't meant to be hiding places, defenses against a dark world, excuses for detachment and engagement. I think they're meant to be flashlights, moving us forward, placing us in community with one another, giving us a reason to walk together."
Reposted by Mary Ann Zehr
"Simplify, slow down, be kind. And don't forget to have art in your life - music, paintings, theater, dance, and sunsets." --children's author and illustrator Eric Carle, born on this day in 1929
Good advice for when the news is overwhelming.
Good advice for when the news is overwhelming.
June 25, 2025 at 11:51 AM
"Simplify, slow down, be kind. And don't forget to have art in your life - music, paintings, theater, dance, and sunsets." --children's author and illustrator Eric Carle, born on this day in 1929
Good advice for when the news is overwhelming.
Good advice for when the news is overwhelming.
This idea of a "fight for American memory" seems very relevant right now.
At long last, my full book manuscript is off to the publisher for the final time. 18 months of 5am wake-ups have resulted in 110,000 words about Americans long, contentious struggle to come to terms with George Washington and slavery. Forthcoming from @uncpress.bsky.social in 2026!
June 25, 2025 at 6:48 PM
This idea of a "fight for American memory" seems very relevant right now.
I was scheduled to attend and co-present at this conference in Winnipeg, Canada, with my memoir co-writer, Fran, but we both had to cancel. In my case, I had a pulled hamstring. But it's great to hear about the synergy among writers there. Maybe I'll go in three years?
Attended a Mennonite/s Writing conference this weekend. doradueck.com/2025/06/18/t...
Ten Sentences about Mennonite/s Writing Ten
On the flight home from Winnipeg to Vancouver, I scan my notes and discover they’re so pathetically cryptic, they’ll be useless for saying anything meaningful about the conference sessi…
doradueck.com
June 19, 2025 at 5:19 PM
I was scheduled to attend and co-present at this conference in Winnipeg, Canada, with my memoir co-writer, Fran, but we both had to cancel. In my case, I had a pulled hamstring. But it's great to hear about the synergy among writers there. Maybe I'll go in three years?
The author quotes Sarah Hamoud from Amnesty International as saying, "There is no country where the oppressed and the oppressor are so intertwined as Libya." The author's insights from his search for what happened to his father in Libya ring true of oppression in many other contexts.
June 19, 2025 at 1:17 PM
The author quotes Sarah Hamoud from Amnesty International as saying, "There is no country where the oppressed and the oppressor are so intertwined as Libya." The author's insights from his search for what happened to his father in Libya ring true of oppression in many other contexts.
"I am sometimes not sure which is more remarkable: that life lives up to great paintings, or that great paintings live up to life." I loved this book with ponderings from a security guard at the Met.
June 19, 2025 at 1:06 PM
"I am sometimes not sure which is more remarkable: that life lives up to great paintings, or that great paintings live up to life." I loved this book with ponderings from a security guard at the Met.
The NY Times has a very short obit about the death of Sly Stone at age 82. I'm surprised that the newspaper didn't have a long obit in the wings for Sly like it does for most famous elderly people. I recommend the 2021 film Summer of Soul, which features Sly and the Family Stone. Music that dazzles.
June 9, 2025 at 8:14 PM
The NY Times has a very short obit about the death of Sly Stone at age 82. I'm surprised that the newspaper didn't have a long obit in the wings for Sly like it does for most famous elderly people. I recommend the 2021 film Summer of Soul, which features Sly and the Family Stone. Music that dazzles.