The essays in Danny Cruz's How Julia Kasdorf Changed My Life were hugely varying. While I loved the theme of the essays -- college students discussing their Mennonite identity or how they've been affected by the Mennonite church in some way -- I felt that there were certainly some that succeeded far more than others.
For example, the essay by Ted Houser, who wrote of his appreciation for being a privileged Mennonite growing up in "The County" (which, for all you who, like me, are NOT "insiders," means Lancaster County, PA), an area that was wealthified* by Hans Herr, one of the original Mennonite inhabitants of The County.
The essay's tone made the author seem completely unsympathetic, as he writes about the cars his friends received on turning 16, or the vacation houses of their parents that he and his friends would retreat to on breaks. As both a Mennonite and the daughter of a surgeon, people have always had a mistaken assumption of the wealth of my upbringing, which, while comfortable, couldn't be called anything other than simple in just the way I've been taught "real" Mennonites do it.
I've always found myself ultra-resistant to having an image of wealth. So Houser writing an essay that gives people the impression that Mennonites are wealthy, and proud of it, offends the sensibility of simplicity that I've grown up with and (though total simplicity is no longer something I really conscientiously go for due to its inconvenience) still value.
The essay I particularly enjoyed was Clarissa Gaff's. Gaff covers a wide range of "Mennonite things" while remaining entertaining, and while some are stereotypical, almost cliche Mennonite sentiments and images, Gaff's voice gave them new life. She was candid without being obnoxiously so and this made her essay quite relatable. Plus, Gaff and her siblings grew up in the same church as I did growing up, so maybe I've got a little bias.
*Yes, I know this is not an actual word, but sometimes I feel like the vocabularial* shortcomings of English can be made amends for by employing all those suffixes we so handily borrowed from other languages.
Hi Annie. Enjoyed your responses to these two essays in "How Julia Kasdorf Saved My Life." I'm particularly intrigued by your adverse reaction to "wealth" in Ted Houser's essay. (Editorial: note correct spelling of Ted Houser's name.)Throughout the readings we've done there have been references to Mennonite frugality--Mennonites are the ones who save twist-ties and rewash plastic bags, etc.--but it's not been clearly explained how or why this is a Mennonite value. So, why is this reluctance to embrace wealth a"real" Mennonite value, as you suggest? (And why is it considered Mennonite bad taste for wealthy Mennonites--and there are many--to overtly discuss their prosperity?) Some ethnic groups see wealth as a sign of God's favor, for example. How would you explain this value to them? In your example from your own life--growing up as a surgeon's daughter--it seems that you had to "defend" yourself from charges of "affluence," something most Americans would embrace. This might offer an area for more examination. I'd say Ted Houser's essay is quite valuable in its provocative nature, helping us probe unarticulated assumptions.
ReplyDeleteAnd then there's your wonderful phrase about Clarissa's essay: "candid without being obnoxiously so." That's an evaluative criteria that sounds like it comes right out of Mennonite life! We should talk about this in class, in relation to personal essay and memoir and narrative.
I remember one of my fiction professors telling me that my narrators were too well-behaved. (Wondering if this was a legacy of my Mennonite training in how to be a member of the community?)
You say that Hans Herr has, according to Houser, "wealthified" Lancaster County. But in what sense? There's no evidence that the original ancestor was wealthy in any way, except for his genetic success and the historical luck of living on through his preserved house. Perhaps Herr is a symbol here, but of what? Why would Lancaster "Countians"--Mennonites, anyway--be so interested in historic preservation of the tiny home of an original settler?
Editorial note: I enjoy your play with "coinages"formed by employing suffixes to English words--a blog is a good place to use them. English is a vocabulary-rich language, but sometimes it's our grammar that's limiting, as "evidenced"(a coinage that has now become an accepted word)by your transformation of nouns and verbs into adverbs and adjectives. However, any print editor today is going to flag these in formal writing. You will enjoy taking "The English Language" and learning more about this process of language change.
Now that I've thought about the wealth/Mennonites thing a bit more (especially in relation to some things that were raised in class today), I've realized that maybe the reason overt wealth in Mennonites is so grating to me is that it was the wealth of my Russian-Mennonite ancestors that caused them the great hardships they endured in being forced out of Russia/Ukraine.
ReplyDeleteI recently typed up some of my Grandmother's old letters, many of them detailing my ancestors' exodus from that region, and the realization that my ancestors were once prosperous farmers/landowners and that this is the reason they came to be so hated/run out of the country is a very striking one. PErhaps this is the reason I have such an aversion to wealthiness in Mennonites -- it's a harbinger of negative things, whether or not those things actually will come, or even have the potential to in this day and age.
As for the "coinages" -- taking the English Language is raising a lot of questions and ire in me about why certain words get to have suffixes attached and still bear "true," "editorially correct" meaning, but others don't. Isn't it just because of how the evolution of the language worked out, and are we not helping the language to continue to evolve and be flexible by exercising it to the extent of its abilities -- if we have these suffixes available that can enhance meaning, why shouldn't we use them?
I feel flouted by the availability of words and morphemes that are "off-limits." But, of course, I do realize that in academic work, coining my own words is definitely not going to fly.
Wow, Annie. What a rich vein you mined here in response to the "hot button" of wealth. I think you are going to find the novel Katya really engaging, as it tells this traumatic Russian exodus from a woman's point of view. Would you consider doing a project with those letters from your grandmother for this class? That sounds like an amazing connection.
ReplyDeleteSince you shared your family's Russian Mennonite heritage, it becomes clear to me how different that story is from Ted Houser's 12-generation Swiss Mennonite immigrant story. However, I've also been in Russian Mennonite communities where other Mennonite perspectives have been totally absent or silent or ignored. That's why I love having a class in which we can invite in ALL the perspectives--reality is so much more intriguing and complex than generalizations.
So you are taking the English language. You're in the midst of language controversy, then. Feel free to invent, as long as you invite your audience with you and the context is appropriate. However, as an author of academic prose as well as poetry, I'm all too familiar with the structure of the editorial situation--very different for different kinds of discourse. As an editor, I impose style conventions, too. But I use a very different part of my brain to do that. As a teacher, I want to leave room for creativity in student writing, but also make sure my students know the rules--so they can choose when to use what and understand the effects or consequences.
Many of the conventions seem random, I agree. Some of your coinages may show up in dictionaries before too long. If you take the position of interested observer, it can all be rather entertaining.
I had the same initial reaction to Ted Houser's essay. I think because being wealthy is so admirable in mainstream American culture, I feel an immediate impulse to argue the opposite whenever I encounter anyone boasting about their wealth. Wealth seems like an emblem of materialism, especially in the way that Ted Houser describes it, in terms of the expensive cars and second homes that his parents have bought. In most of American culture, these are physical signs of success, and I guess my objection to wealth is mainly rooted in a rejection of that idea that money can rate a person.
ReplyDeleteWhen I re-read this essay just now, I felt a little more sympathetic to Ted Houser for having the guts to talk about his prosperity in a community that generally disapproves of wealth. I'm thinking of one Mennonite I know who is fairly well-off financially and indulges in a lot of material comforts, but pretends to other Mennonites to be really frugal. If Mennonites are going to be rich, they should really just own up to it, I think.
Ha. This is an interesting discussion thread. I appreciated your post, Annie and agree that the topic of Mennonites and wealth is an uncomfortable one.
ReplyDeleteI haven't read my essay in years, nor do I have it in front of me now. But I can tell you that I remain fascinated by the sacred Mennonite values of simplicity and frugality in the context of the curious reality that Mennonites as a whole have banked some serious coin over the years.
I used the illustration of cars and second homes in my essay, but the story of students who afford education at schools like Goshen College could be an equally effective illustration of Mennonite affluence.
I think another great point is being made here - Mennonites are not a homogeneous group. The traditions and experiences of Russian Mennonites and Swiss German Mennonites are quite different. I remember waking up to this reality during my years at Goshen. It sort of caught me off guard that all Mennonites were not the same.
Thanks to Ann, Annie and Sarah for keeping this conversation alive. And thanks to Google Alerts for letting me know you were talking about me!
BTW: I now live in an 800 square foot house and no longer own a car.
You may enjoy this article too: http://www.themennonite.org/issues/13-12/articles/One_hundred_things_lighter
ReplyDeleteAnd here we see the hazards of a blog, making me glad my choice words weren't so "choice." :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for responding, Ted, it's interesting (and unexpected -- thanks, Ann!) to hear your response to my response. What a small world it is when you're a Mennonite, eh?
Your essay has made me think a lot about simplicity and other values that I assume are intrinsically Mennonite, but maybe aren't. Perhaps some of these values are just intrinsically Russian-Mennonite or belonged to my upbringing. Though, of course, I ought to realize that the source of the value doesn't make it more or less "valuable." As ever, there's an endless supply of things that the Mennonite ethnicity offers for thought.
Funnily enough, Ted, I remember reading that article from The Mennonite a couple of months ago, but didn't make the connection after reading your essay recently. It's fascinating to read your essay and this article in conjunction with each other.
Small world indeed! Glad we made the connection. Another fun twist on these conversations is to examine Mennonite culture and belief as a parallel to Jewish culture. I've found many similarities between my own sense of identity as a Mennonite and the identity of Jewish friends that I have made since college.
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