Welcome to urbanmennonite.com, a look — with a particular point of view — at pop culture, politics, books, movies, faith, and anything else that catches my eye.
What the site is:
Don’t come here for serious, theological discussions about two-kingdom theology or simple living. Mennonites are supposed to be all about “in the world, not of the world” but frankly, “of the world” is a whole lot more interesting to me and pretty much where the living is at — messy, complicated, heartbreaking, hilarious, twisted and sometimes with no redeeming value whatsoever. So there will be celebrity gossip, political partisanship, snarkiness, swearing along with the fascinating and soul-warming (I heart LOLCATS).
Hopefully, the site will grow to become a place to share news, tidbits and experiences, no matter how funny, snarky, stupid or surreal. We will cover everything from the closest Ten Thousand Villages store to Amy Winehouse’s latest trip to rehab to Inauguration Day 2009 to movies we love.
From Bulltown to bullshit refers to what is probably a fairly typical journey for many of us. OK, maybe just my journey (but hey, it’s my blog so whatever). Bulltown is another name for the small, southeastern Iowa town near my small family farm (lots of Mennonites and Amish and everything between) which I left after high school. And bullshit? Well, I did end up in Washington, DC, after all. Who I am and what my interests are tend to be heavily influenced by those two (not necessarily opposed) poles of being.
Who is the site for:
This site isn’t just for me but for all of you. I’m particularly curious about the interests and experiences of urban Mennonites which I define broadly as those urban dwellers who:
- used to be Mennonite (I’ll call you post-Mennonites),
- are still Mennonites (for reasons we can’t always figure out),
- were, then weren’t, then were again (recovering Mennonites),
- were, then weren’t and are thinking about maybe being again (please stow your baggage carefully in the overhead bin — contents may shift during flight), and
- don’t know their shoofly pie from their happy cake but have found a home among urban Mennonites (we’re just going to call you crazy but in a “you like us, you really like us” kind of way).
Why the site exists:
I am taking classes in publishing at George Washington University and the project for my electronic publishing course is to set up a website and learn about e-publishing: audiences, advertising, search engine optimization, page traffic, the long tail, etc. Ideally, we were supposed to find a microtopic that we cared about and set the website up accordingly. My problem is that I know a little about lots of stuff and not a lot about anything in particular (except for the Larry Craig scandal and you can’t build a whole website off of that). So I went with an audience, rather than I topic, I know something about. And so here we are.
How can I contribute?
So many ways. Do you want to write a regular feature about life in the city, life as an urban Mennonite (see broad definition above), life in general? Are you an urban Mennonite and have a blog you’d like me to link to or feature occasionally? Is there some interesting piece of news or gossip that you want to share? Let me know.
So, first off, thanks for the link to Marking Time. I like your site also, and your voice. I’m probably in that “don’t know shoofly pie” category, though now I do (my Brethren buddy made it for me the first time).
I’m not a stickler on this, but is there a reason you’re keeping the site anonymous? Or is your name somewhere and I just missed it? It’s that whole “things done in the light” kind of mindset that makes me ask… though nowadays there’s always the threat of e-stalkers, or being misquoted at a later date. So I get it, but it doesn’t make me any less curious.
Do you have any face-to-face with others on the Y.A.R. site who are now in D.C.? My former churchmate Jeremy Yoder, for example?
Anyway, just dropping a line to say hi, and thanks for the vote of confidence. (Hanging chad, anyone?…)
Mark
It’s mostly because I don’t want Anderson Cooper to be able to send me a “cease and desist” letter”
It’s partly to avoid spam … although I could set up a gmail account for urbanmenno ( I’ve just been too lazy to do so) which wouldn’t be anonymous. Which as soon as I’m done with classes, I need to do some of that stuff (I need to bite the bullet and set up the freaking FaceBook page already).
I haven’t kept the site secret from people who know me. In fact, I may be a bit shameless about the self-promotion. And for some reason, I figure in the Mennonite world, it isn’t too hard to figure out who the southeast Iowa-raised, DC-living female is.
And I am trying really hard not to embarrass my mother too much.
I do actually know a couple of the DC Y.A.Rs. I don’t know how often they submit but maybe there should be a get-together (and confession: Katie went to my home church in Iowa)
I’m very excited to find this website! My partner and I were in DC for a summer (2006) and attended Hyattsville Menno when we could with our then-four-year-old son. We might have met you (?) but I wouldn’t know since we don’t know who you are (clues didn’t help me!). Either way, I do consider myself an urban Mennonite, partly by birth (father’s family) and partly by choice (member of SF Menno), raised in the Bay Area and now living in Phoenix. Out here we attend a great UCC, but I miss my roots sometimes. My big obsession is with Floyd Landis – I so wanted him to win! And I still refuse to believe he took any drugs…I haven’t searched your site yet to see if you’ve covered the topic, but if not, I really want to know where he is now and what’s happened with his case. Am I the only one who hasn’t forgotten him? Thanks for the site!
Hi–Love your blogsite. You linked to my article about Cliff Williams. I’ve now linked you at my site. Wonderful job–love your sense of humor. Keep writing!
MArty
Hi there–I’m just dashing off a quick note as I stumbled upon your site in the thick of a Mennonitey Memorial Day weekend in Virginia. I’m part of a group that launched MennoniteArtistProject.com a few weeks ago, and your site was one of the Google ads that came up in the margin. I’ll look at UrbanMennonite more later, and feel free to visit us if you’re interested.–Lowell
Glad I stumbled onto your site through Facebook. I’m a post-Mennonite living in Reston, working in DC (State Dept.) & worshipping in Fairfax Community Church. I get around
Looking forward to reading more about your adventures.
Peace!
Greetings, fellow bulltowner! Ok, technically I grew up closer to Wellman than Kalona which simply means that I am more suitably humble about my origins. Anyway, I stumbled onto your blog because I searched the term “recovering Mennonite.” I was thinking more in terms of recovering from being a Mennonite than your particular definition suggests, but perhaps we have a few things in common anyway…always teetering on the edge. I appreciate the fact that you don’t spend time bashing your roots. I am currently living in Lancaster County and one thing I will say is that Lancaster County Mennos are by far and away more arrogant and insufferably self-righteous than what I recall while growing up in Iowa. At least we knew we weren’t the center of the universe. That is a question that often needs pondering here.
Hey Brother,
I was born and raised in a independent church in Lancaster, Pennsylvania (but my family has 16+ generations of Anabaptists/Mennonites). I also interned under a Pastor in the Vineyard Church for four years and studied Church Planting in the Vineyard for three. Now I live below DC in Stafford, VA working for a Non-Profit and attending a Conservative Mennonite Church. I am personally a urban/missional Mennonite as well. I work with music, I chill at the bar and break all the Mennonite rules – but still classify my theology as Mennonite. I’d love to connect with you sometime.