So Menno Years Ago
The Drunken Menno Blog
by Sherri Klassen
5M ago
In October it will be My Church’s Anniversary With prayers for you and cake for me Happy once, Happy twice Lots of happy Mennonites*   *with apologies to Maurice Sendak The Church I attend turns 75 this year and we are having a party. Or at least a potluck on Sunday and a “sit-down dinner” on Saturday. Yes, this is the meal’s official title. “Sit-Down Dinner.” The organizers have been hard at work for months and I imagine that they discussed long and hard just what they should call the Church dinner that they were planning for this Mennopalooza. To call it a gala would raise expecta ..read more
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A Mennonite Heritage Moment
The Drunken Menno Blog
by Sherri Klassen
7M ago
 We have come to that time of year once again when we all pour ourselves a drink and reflect, again, on Mennonite heritage. That’s right – we are just days away from Mennonite Heritage Week. And while I am sure that you are all busy addressing and sending out your Mennonite Heritage Week cards and planning your Mennonite-themed cocktail party menus, we should also pause at this busy time of the year to think about the Mennonite Heritage moments we experienced over the last year. Perhaps you smiled fondly once when you saw the number 606. Maybe you squabbled with someone over wedding ..read more
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How to Throw a Mennonite-Themed Oscars Party
The Drunken Menno Blog
by Sherri Klassen
1y ago
The other day I googled “When are the Oscars?“ For the very first time in my life. Most years, I am barely even aware of the event until it hits the news the next day. This year, I’m wondering why no one has invited me to a Mennonite-themed Oscars party. After all, it isn’t every year that a movie based on a book based on an event in an obscure corner of the Menno-world is nominated for an Oscar. So there ought to be parties. But it has occurred to me now that there could be a good reason for my mailbox remaining devoid of an invitation to a Mennonite-themed Oscars party: no one actually ..read more
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Reports of our Extinction have been Grossly Exaggerated
The Drunken Menno Blog
by Sherri Klassen
2y ago
In the Nov 1 issue of the New Yorker, the humour section of the magazine included an “Extinct-Species Waiting List” by writer Bill Scheft in which we Mennonites make a surprising appearance. The article begins with the observation that the US Fish and Wildlife Service had recently proposed moving two species – the ivory-billed woodpecker and the Bachman’s warbler from the categories of “endangered” to “extinct.”   It then provides a list of 100 other so-called species that are also to be considered extinct. The list begins tamely enough with a dozen names that bear a resemblance to ..read more
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A Mennonite Heritage Week Drinking Guide
The Drunken Menno Blog
by slklassen
2y ago
Mennonite Heritage Week is upon us again. I can only assume that the planning committee has been busy for months now and the potlucks, quilt auctions and volleyball tournaments are all planned and prepared. The song leaders have all polished and tuned their pitch pipes, and the preachers have supplemented their prepared sermons with extra material to honour the week with some extra long homilies. Not only that. I imagine that the Thrift Stores will have pulled out their finer wares for display. The butchers, I expect, are nervously checking to see they have enough sausage put away, and ..read more
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Missing the boat
The Drunken Menno Blog
by Sherri Klassen
2y ago
I am sorry to report that I have recently learnt that the publication date of Menno-Nightcaps has been delayed. It appears that there were limited spots on the boat that was meant to take the box of books from the printer to the publisher. And being a Mennonite book, my unassuming little tome deferred its place and humbly let others take its spot in the shipping container. Or something like that. There are rumours that it slept in and was nursing a hangover after going on a bender the night before. But I call that malicious gossip. In an exercise of overthinking, I mulled over the possibi ..read more
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Mennonite Fellowship Meals Compared: Faspa vs Potlucks
The Drunken Menno Blog
by Sherri Klassen
2y ago
Having been without a Church fellowship meal for well over a year, I find myself wistful. I think it is possible that the Church potluck might become a pandemic casualty, never to rear its ugly jello-salad-eating head again. Some will think this loss a tragedy but I prefer to think of it as an opportunity. An opportunity for faspa. I have already made my opinions about Mennonite potlucks known and I can’t say that I will be terribly sad if I never see another long table laden with lentil casseroles. But I do have hopes that faspa will stay the course, replacing the decadent potluck that ..read more
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Going Once, Going Twice…
The Drunken Menno Blog
by Sherri Klassen
3y ago
For the last few years of his life, my father put his time up on the auction block. Not the time left in his life as in some kind of Mennonite dystopia where one’s lifespan is determined by the highest bidder at an auction. Just a half hour or so of his time. What happened was this: his Church had an annual auction sometime in the spring to raise funds to cover their budgetary shortfall. I don’t know if it was on the same day every year. In 2011, it happened a few weeks after Easter. Prior to the auction, Church members donated items and services of value. My father contributed “Coffee ..read more
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QUIZ: Learn your Mennonite Values/Personality Type
The Drunken Menno Blog
by Sherri Klassen
3y ago
You may already know both your Myers-Briggs Personality Type and your Enneagram number. You might already know which Harry Potter house you belong in. You may also have already used this information not only to gaze most deeply into your own navel but also to judge and analyze your friends, family and third cousins. But if you have no knowledge of your Mennonite Values Personality Type, all your personality type knowledge is but a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.   Because none of those personality quizzes will help you much if you were wondering what Mennonite cocktail to dri ..read more
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We’ve been Called Worse
The Drunken Menno Blog
by Sherri Klassen
3y ago
My apologies to those of you receiving duplicate posts by email — a few of my posts needed to be completely rebuilt when I switched platforms my new website redesign. There shouldn’t be too many more of these. Once upon a time when I was an adolescent, my mother told me that some of the other Mennonites in the area sometimes called the Church we attended the “Garbage Church” because we apparently accepted anyone. My mother thought those other Mennonites were not being very nice when they did this. She had a point. But being a pious and obnoxious teenager, I thought we should own the titl ..read more
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