Serena

About Serena

https://www.serenabmiller.com

Posts by Serena Miller:

February 28, 2017

Inside an Amish Schoolhouse Part I

A few weeks ago, an Amish friend called from her family’s telephone shanty to invite me to the annual Christmas program that would be performed at their church’s one-room school house. Some of her own children would have speaking parts. She thought I might be interested in coming and had already checked with the two teachers before she called. They had given their permission for me to come. Few invitations have ever pleased me more. I’ve always longed to visit an Amish school house. As someone who writes about the Amish, I try to be as accurate in my portrayal of their culture as possible. I’ve been invited to their worship services, two weddings, several cookouts, and I often stay with Old Order Amish friends when I’m in the Holmes County area—the largest Amish settlement in the world. But I’ve never been invited inside an Amish school. Nor have I ever asked. Amish children are, as much as possible, sheltered from Englisch influences. An Amish person would be welcome to drop into a one-room schoolhouse uninvited and watch and they often do. I am not Amish and therefore I do not belong there. At least not without a direct invitation. […]

February 25, 2017

Q: I saw an Amish man get out of a truck the other day at Walmart. That surprised me. There was an Englisch man driving, but it still seemed hypocritical. I thought the Amish weren’t allowed to ride in cars.

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Asked by Dewey from OH Q: I saw an Amish man get out of a truck the other day at Walmart. That surprised me. There was an Englisch man driving, but it still seemed hypocritical. I thought the Amish weren’t allowed to ride in cars. A: Hi Dewey! Most Amish are allowed to ride in cars, but they are not allowed to own them. There is a big difference in the Amish viewpoint. Hiring an Englisch driver, or getting a neighbor to drive them to the store is not unusual nor frowned upon. They judge that a humane distance for a horse to pull a buggy is no more than ten miles. If the destination is further away than that, they nearly always hire a driver and leave their horse at home. Thanks for the question Dewey!

May 21, 2015

My Dad—Lyle Edgar Bonzo

SerenaJournal Entries 8

I recently discovered this old photo of my dad and me and I treasure it. The date on the back says December 15, 1952. I was one month shy of turning two-years-old. That’s my mom on the couch beside us wearing her bobby socks and Keds. Dad is dressed in his work clothes, so he had probably just come home from work. He was a sawyer and nearly always smelled of wind and sun and freshly sawn timber. Sitting on my dad’s lap while being read to was my absolute favorite thing as a little girl. I remember staring hard at the words—which he always pointed out to me one by one–and wishing I could make those magic letters talk to me so I wouldn’t have to wait for a big person to interpret them. I marveled at the fact that people could make those squiggles tell stories. I hungered so much for stories that I started making them up–sometimes in strange circumstances. I learned to count by attributing a personality and character trait to match each of the first ten numbers.( I remember the number six being a rascal and constantly in trouble. Five was a sweet little girl […]