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.
". . . 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."
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."
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.
"Why do I love everything that has to do with kitchens so much? It's strange. Perhaps because to me a kitchen represents some distant longing engraved on my soul."
June 5, 2025 at 3:57 PM
"Why do I love everything that has to do with kitchens so much? It's strange. Perhaps because to me a kitchen represents some distant longing engraved on my soul."
"Had they known at these moments to be quietly joyful? Most likely not. People mostly did not know enough when they were living life that they were living it"
June 4, 2025 at 1:07 AM
"Had they known at these moments to be quietly joyful? Most likely not. People mostly did not know enough when they were living life that they were living it"
Trilliums on a hike to Packwood Lake in Washington State. A girl's got to take a vacation now and then.
May 28, 2025 at 11:42 PM
Trilliums on a hike to Packwood Lake in Washington State. A girl's got to take a vacation now and then.
I loved reading how a friendship between C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien made a huge difference in their literary success as individuals—until it didn’t.
May 12, 2025 at 6:56 PM
I loved reading how a friendship between C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien made a huge difference in their literary success as individuals—until it didn’t.
“You will stop calling Fitzgerald the Great White American Male Novelist when people stop calling you a Vietnamese American writer. Adjectives for all, or adjectives for none.”
March 26, 2025 at 1:10 PM
“You will stop calling Fitzgerald the Great White American Male Novelist when people stop calling you a Vietnamese American writer. Adjectives for all, or adjectives for none.”
I had hoped to take a silent spiritual retreat over spring break, but it didn’t happen. The next best thing is drawing inspiration from Anabaptist poets by reading this new anthology.
March 7, 2025 at 3:43 PM
I had hoped to take a silent spiritual retreat over spring break, but it didn’t happen. The next best thing is drawing inspiration from Anabaptist poets by reading this new anthology.
Fresh snow outside and no obligations in the near future. A time for rest.
January 19, 2025 at 9:33 PM
Fresh snow outside and no obligations in the near future. A time for rest.
In her essay, “Why Italian?,”Jhumpa Lahira writes: …the many doors I’ve had to open in Italian have flung wide, giving onto a sweeping, splendid view….it gave me a second life, an extra life.”
January 18, 2025 at 2:01 PM
In her essay, “Why Italian?,”Jhumpa Lahira writes: …the many doors I’ve had to open in Italian have flung wide, giving onto a sweeping, splendid view….it gave me a second life, an extra life.”
“A love of books ensures that one always has something to look forward to.”
January 3, 2025 at 2:25 AM
“A love of books ensures that one always has something to look forward to.”
I enjoyed visiting the Planet Word museum in DC, which features languages, word play, and notable books. Pick a book off a shelf and it comes alive with video, images, and audio.
December 30, 2024 at 6:37 PM
I enjoyed visiting the Planet Word museum in DC, which features languages, word play, and notable books. Pick a book off a shelf and it comes alive with video, images, and audio.
When you buy a modest gift for a colleague and accept the offer of the store clerk for free gift wrapping and she goes all out with the “gold” option. . .
December 17, 2024 at 8:27 PM
When you buy a modest gift for a colleague and accept the offer of the store clerk for free gift wrapping and she goes all out with the “gold” option. . .
I was an English teacher in China in the 1980s. I loved reading all 401 pp. of this book about connections between Mennonites & Chinese people from 1901-2020. (Oh. And yes, I co-wrote a memoir—Doors Cracked Open—about my China experience but I have moved beyond publicizing it for the most part).
December 14, 2024 at 5:13 PM
I was an English teacher in China in the 1980s. I loved reading all 401 pp. of this book about connections between Mennonites & Chinese people from 1901-2020. (Oh. And yes, I co-wrote a memoir—Doors Cracked Open—about my China experience but I have moved beyond publicizing it for the most part).
Brought back memories of what I learned backpacking through Central America in 1984, and also updated me on immigration policy impact in the present.
December 14, 2024 at 3:10 PM
Brought back memories of what I learned backpacking through Central America in 1984, and also updated me on immigration policy impact in the present.
“Friend. What a word. Most use it about those they hardly know. When it is a wondrous thing.”
December 6, 2024 at 2:27 AM
“Friend. What a word. Most use it about those they hardly know. When it is a wondrous thing.”
Rudy Wiebe had nerve to publish this novel in 1962, the first novel about Mennonites in English by a Mennonite writer that went mainstream. My Dad told me he didn’t like it but probably never read it. Wish I could have a conversation with Dad about the novel now. I respect a writer’s truth.
November 26, 2024 at 11:06 PM
Rudy Wiebe had nerve to publish this novel in 1962, the first novel about Mennonites in English by a Mennonite writer that went mainstream. My Dad told me he didn’t like it but probably never read it. Wish I could have a conversation with Dad about the novel now. I respect a writer’s truth.
