#mennonites in canada

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

“Will Avert Threat of Mennonite Migration,” Kingston Whig-Standard. February 13, 1933. Page 1. ---- Paraguay to Grant Concessions to Former Canadian Subjects in Order to Retain Them in the Chaco— Hoe and Plough More Important Than Armaments ---- ASUNCION, Paraguay, Feb. 13 — Threatened migration of 5,000 Canadian Mennonite from farms in the Chaco to new and warless fields in Uruguay or Brazil will be averted if any concessions which Paraguay can make will induce the sturdy colonists to remain.

Official sources deny that a commission sent to treat for land concessions in Northern Uruguay and the Brazilian State of Santa Catalina represents the majority of the Chaco Mennonites, but serious attention is being given to the matter because the Paraguayan program for development of the Chaco counts heavily upon the Mennonites.    In its war with Bolivia for possession of the Chaco, Paraguay has relied more upon hoe and plow than upon armaments for eventual victory. Colonlzsilon has been a Paraguayan weapon which Botivia could not match. 

Secession of the Mennonites would not only remove a sixth of the white population of the Chaco and leave  idle a fourth of its cultivated area, but would halt a colonization project which bad been counted upon to bring 60,000 members of the sect eventually onto farm wrested from the wilderness. When the first Mennonites   came from Canada in 1927, they acquired 120 square miles of land in the Central Chaco and made plans for an eventual 400 villages of twenty families each. The colony has grown steadily.

[federer7]

Lambton County, Ontario, Canada. 1990. From 'The Mennonites'

Photo: Larry Towell

[skiddo-xy]

Mennonite Toponymy - How do Mennonites Name Their Places?

Today begins Canada's Mennonite Heritage Week, which occurs anually during the second week of September. In light of this, I decided to analyze the names of Mennonite-founded (specifcally Russian Mennonite-founded) settlements to see what they have in common.

In short, they are quite simple. Mennonite-founded settlements are typically named and officially documented in High German (also known as Standard German) with two components: an adjective (sometimes geography-related) and a landform. Mennonite-founded settlements also often have Plautdietsch (the Mennonite Low German dialect) pronunciations, presumably used when speaking in Plautdietsch.

A few prominent examples are below:

Steinbach, Manitoba, Canada

Meaning: “stony brook”

“Stein” functions as both “stone” and “stony”

Bergthal, Bergthal Colony, Russian Empire (now Respublica, Ukraine)

Meaning: “mountain valley”

“Berg” in first position (rare)

“Thal” in second position

Grunthal, Manitoba, Canada

Meaning: “green valley”

Does not add “e” after “u” to replace “ü”

Also has Plautdietsch pronunciation: “Grientol” (/ˈ jrintol/)

“Thal” in second position

The rest of my examples are below (complete with annotations) and yes, they are all from either Ukraine and Canada - they have the best examples I could find that are Mennonite settlements specifically named by Mennonites - some Mennonite settlements in Latin America retain the Spanish names of the plots of land that they bought and others were named by/after non-Mennonite founders, such as Winkler, Manitoba, Canada. But anyways, here are the examples under the cut - but warning, it's rather long!

Blumenort, Manitoba, Canada

Meaning: “flower(s) place”

Dual usage of “ort” to be “garden” or “place”

Vegetation mention

Also has Plautdietsch pronunciation: “Bloomenuat” (/ˈblœmn̩ˌuɐ̯t/)

Friedensfeld, Manitoba, Canada

Meaning: “peaceful field”

“S” is unaccounted for

Friedrichsthal, Bergthal Colony, Russian Empire (now Fedorivka, Ukraine)

Meaning: “Friedrich’s valley”

Male personal name in first position

“Thal” in second position

Grossweide, Molotschna Colony, Russian Empire

Meaning: “big pasture”

Halbstadt, Molotschna Colony, Canada (now Molochansk, Ukraine)

Meaning: “half city” (etymology unclear)

Hochfeld, Manitoba, Canada

Meaning: “high field”

“Feld” in second position

Altitude adjective

Kleefeld, Manitoba, Canada

Meaning: “clover field”

Vegetation in first position

“Feld” in second position

Also has Plautdietsch pronunciation: “Kleefelt” (/ˈklɔɪ̯fɛlt/)

Originally named “Gruenfeld”

Uses “ue” to represent “ü”

Reinfeld, Manitoba, Canada

Meaning: “pure field”

“Feld” in second position

Beauty adjectives

Reinland, Manitoba, Canada

Meaning: “pure land”

Beauty adjectives

Rosenort, Manitoba, Canada

Meaning: “rose garden”

Dual usage of “ort” to be “garden” or “place”

Vegetation mention

Schanzenfeld, Manitoba, Canada

Named after Jacob Yost Shantz, who assisted Mennonites in Southern Manitoba

“Feld” in second position

Schoenfeld, Bergthal Colony, Russian Empire (now Ksenivka, Ukraine)

Meaning: “beautiful field”

“Feld” in second position

Beauty adjectives

“Ö” is replaced by “oe”

Schoenthal, Bergthal Colony, Russian Empire (now Novoromanivka, Ukraine)

Meaning: “beautiful valley”

“Thal” in second position

Beauty adjectives

“Ö” is replaced by “oe”

Waldheim, Saskatchewan, Canada

Meaning: “forest home”

[ticholasnesla]

the only Superwhite people that can handle spice are the Mennonites.

[sbahour]

A productive planning meeting in Ramallah today with visiting Mennonite Church friends Byron Rempel-Burkholder & Melita Rempel-Burkholder from Winnipeg, Canada 🇨🇦. On a follow-up trip to a delegation visit a few years ago, Byron & Melita are traveling Palestine to understand what are the key issues to advocate for in Canada. Byron organized what is now called Mennonite Church Canada PIN (Palestine/Israel Network). He is the National Coordinator of Mennonite Church Canada PIN.Thanks to our mutual friend, Kathy Bergen for making the connection.#Palestine #Israel #Canada Mennonite Church Canada @mennochurch

[insipid-drivel]

Read the horse fact post, with all the things that isn't actually true of horses and stuff and.

Yeah the weight limit is a time.

The most horse riding i have done is Sit on the back of a horse in kindergarten while an adult lead the horse around in a big circle pretty much.

However, my older sister used to do horseback riding, and spesifically like that one fancy sport where you have then jump over things and stuff.

But, she isn't that healthy, i Will be fully honest, she is overweight. And she had to stop because she became too heavy. Which sucks! Because i Know she loves horses and would love to do it again.

Unfortunately, a lot of equestrian sports can be limiting to heavier people depending upon what the sport in question is. It's pretty unusual to see anyone over about 200lbs doing impact-heavy sports on horseback (such as jumping fences) without a horse that's appropriately sized and trained to deal not only with the regular weight of their rider + tack, but also the shocks of jumping/jolting around with ANY kind of heavy weight directly over their spines. Even in professional horse racing (like the Kentucky Derby), the riders of the racehorses (jockeys) are specifically hired based upon how small and lightweight they are, which has negatively impacted how we see horseback riding + big people today in a serious way. Jockeys only need to be small and lightweight for racing because being smaller means the horse has less extra weight to carry while trying to outpace other horses, and since it's professional racing most of us get any knowledge of horse-related stuff from, it's very easy to fall into the trap of self-gatekeeping if you're not a tiny little jockey-sized person when you shouldn't feel that way!

It SUCKS telling someone they're too heavy to Do A Thing or, in some cases (especially if you're in spaces with very limited sizes of horses), too heavy to ride at all, but I would still recommend you and/or your sister look around for teaching ranches with horses or alternative riding techniques for accommodating larger bodies in a way that won't put the horse or rider in danger. Your sister should not have to go on an extreme diet to lose weight in order to have a great time with horses. That is a myth perpetuated by the racing industry.

If your sister and/or yourself would like to try to explore equestrianism in a much more weight-friendly setting, try looking into Carriage Racing. It looks like this:

Carriage racing is an awesome way for people who, due to mobility issues, weight restrictions, or outright disability, want to work with horses, ride, and even compete with a more accommodating setup to traditional saddle-and-bridle riding. It's a throwback to Roman and Egyptian chariot warfare, racing, and sportsmanship, and is still practiced casually and as competitive sports today:

Because the horse is pulling the rider rather than carrying the rider, you're likely to find much more accommodating forms of horsemanship for people with bigger bodies if you forego riding and instead try out something like a carriage setup. Without as much direct weight on their spines, a horse is likely to handle a heavier person much better, and carriage setups also give the option of more than one horse to share in pulling a carriage or cart.

Carriage racing is more commonly viewed as a sport in Britain and the former UK due to Prince Philip championing it during his later years when he wasn't healthy enough to play conventional games of polo or take part in more contact-heavy sports. Carriage racing is also practiced in North America, but it isn't nearly as popularized or discussed as traditional racing like the Kentucky Derby. You're more likely to find carriage racing and teaching schools wherever you can find Amish and Mennonite communities in the US and Canada, but looking into teaching ranches in and around your area may reveal places to go that you never knew were actually there! (Horse people are kind of notorious for sucking at networking outside of facebook and very niche community pages, ngl)

If horses really bring a great benefit to your sister's life and she's struggling to find accommodations so she can ride, let her take a look at single-person carriage riding and see if that's more of an attainable thing for her! "Racing" is the usual term applied to it, but carriage riding can be learned and practiced in very quiet, non-competitive, low-impact settings for fun rather than as a full-on professional sport, and can even be a marketable skill! There's very much a business industry around carriage horses and riders, especially in the wedding industry.

Please know that I am not, and will not, in any way pressure you or your sister to lose weight in order to ride again. There are accommodations out there, and nobody should feel hopeless that they'll never achieve their dream of spending time working with horses if that's what they want to do. What is a problem is how little these alternative and more weight-and-disability-friendly equestrian sports are publicized and shared so disabled and overweight people can feel welcome in equestrian spaces.

Horses and equestrianism is not, and never has, been limited to one particular body type or a person's physical ability. There have ALWAYS been weight- and disability- friendly forms of equestrianism, and horses are increasingly popular in therapeutic settings as therapy animals for helping people suffering from major issues like PTSD find confidence and a sense of comfort and non-judgment. No matter your weight or degree of mobility or ability, you shouldn't feel "too" anything about looking into horses, riding, and equestrianism as an outlet or passion.

[de-salva]

From the book:

THE MENNONITES / Larry Towell

Book Lives, Canada, 2020

[doctornerdington]

Did you know Mennonite clock-making was a thing? I didn’t, but there’s a temporary display on at the Manitoba Museum and it’s really interesting! Lots of clocks from the 1800s that have travelled from Ukraine to the US/Germany/Paraguay/Canada etc.

[alliluyevas]

only 1.3% of america is muslim?? thats insane. i learn so much about religion in america from your blog (i had assumed it was around 5%, same as canada... way off)

I'm assuming this other ask is also from you!

Yeah, this surprised me too. I do remember reading a study once that Americans tend to way overestimate the percentage of several minorities that are "controversial" and/or get talked about in the news a lot. (I believe the study specifically mentioned Muslims, black people, and trans people.) So that definitely might be at play here, combined with people's estimates being influenced by knowledge of other countries. For instance, I'm assuming you are from Canada and you are applying knowledge of your home country, while I may have been influenced by knowing that Islam is a very large religion worldwide, even if comparatively few of its adherents are living in the US.

Another thing that this is making me think of, especially comparing Islam to Mormonism, is that many Muslims, specifically Muslim women, wear distinctive religious clothing. This is, of course, true of many other people from other religious traditions, but a smaller percentage of them. Like some Jewish people especially Orthodox wear a kippah or other distinctive clothing on an everyday basis but most Conservative or Reform Jews don't. Amish and (some) Mennonites dress very distinctively but are a small minority of Christians overall, and obviously a cross necklace or "Jesus Is King" tshirt telegraphs Christianity as well but might not be everyday attire (and also isn't seen as a religious commandment in the way that wearing a kippah or hijab is). I do know Muslim women who don't cover their hair but most do, and personally I live in an area that has a high enough Muslim population that I pretty regularly see women wearing hijab out and about. Which visually telegraphs to me that there are Muslim members of my community in a way that might not be the case for religious groups who do not dress in a way that is visually distinctive.

Mormonism is also interesting in this line of analysis because it does have religiously commanded clothing that adherents are required to wear, but it's not a head covering or external garment, it's an undergarment. In my experience, you can sometimes tell if someone is wearing temple garments because their shape is visible under tighter or sheerer clothing, but 1) a lot of clothing wouldn't show visible garment lines 2) you kind of have to know to look for them. I know a lot of people who live in Utah will look out for Visible Garment Lines TM to ascertain whether someone is a member of the church or not (whether they are a member looking for other members or a non-member looking for non-members). I have also been in academic contexts where there was a large percentage of LDS people in attendance and have both done some garment-line-clocking and had people clock me for not wearing garments. So garment-checking is definitely A Whole Thing but again you have to be in the know. So your average American may well meet LDS people in their everyday life and not know their religious affiliation unless the person tells them.

[henk-heijmans]

"The Mennonites", Canada/Mexico, 1990s - by Larry Towell (1953), Canadian

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

“FARMER’S DEPORTATION TO DEATH IS COMBATED,” Montreal Star. October 25, 1932. Page 7. ---- Guthrie is Sent Appeal in Mennonite's Case ---- WINNIPEG Oct 25— (C T)— A plea to the Minister of Justice to atop the deportation of Isaac Braun, Saskatchewan Mennonite farmer to Russia, where he is almost "certain to meet death” has been dispatched to Ottawa. 

Dr. John MacKay, principal of Manitoba College, and head of the Manitoba Conference of the United Church in Canada, wired to Hon. Hugh Guthrie, Minister of Justice last night urging him to aid Braun and save “Canada from this descent to savagery." 

Ordered deported after serving a five-year perjury sentence in Prince Albert penitentiary, Braun fears death at the hands of the Bolsheviks because he smuggled money from Russia when he came to Canada in 1927. The money paid for the purchase of a Saskatchewan farm. 

Money smuggling is an offence punishable by death and the Mennonite farmer, during the trial at which ha was convicted of perjury, confessed that he had smuggled funds out of Russia. En route to Montreal today, he is scheduled to leave there aboard the S.S. Montrose on October 27.

[everlastinghistory]

The alarming path of the Canadian school system:

Over the course of the three and a (little over) half years I have spent in high school I’ve noticed quite a few alarming changes. This post covers most of them.

If you require a trigger warning for opinions that aren’t far left: This is your only warning. Don’t try to debate me. I’m not debating anyone. I’m stating my opinions. I will block you if you try to argue with me. I do not have the time to argue with people on Tumblr about common sense.

Grade 10 Canadian History

The first thing I want to talk about is what inspired this post. I once knew a guy who took Canadian History Since World War One and got a 95 in the class but did not know what the Holocaust or Nazi’s were. He was 16 when we had this conversation. And got a 95 in a class where an entire unit was about World War Two. The one thing he did remember? Japanese internment.

By sticking the word “Canadian” at the start of the course name they have created a course where you can learn about World War Two and never hear a single mention of the Holocaust or Nazi’s. Or even anything outside of Canada for that matter. Even stranger is they additionally failed to mention that the Japanese were not the only people in internment camps. Cause y’know it’s apparently not relevant that German’s, Italian’s, Jewish refugees and very strangely Mennonite’s were also put in them… And I don’t just mean German and Italian POW’s. I mean citizens of Canada who happened to have ancestry from either country.

Why is there only education about it happening to the Japanese? Why don’t we talk about the German’s and Italian’s also imprisoned for no reason? Suddenly considered a national security threat because their ancestors lived in a country they’d in many cases never even stepped foot in… Or the Jewish refugees who got put in the same camps as German POW’s and it took a rather long time for them to be moved to their own camp to protect them from the violence they faced when put with the German’s.

We only learn about the Japanese interment and honestly I think it’s because they’re the “most important” group according to so called egalitarians. The German’s and Italian’s were European so “they can’t be oppressed” and when in history have you seen Jewish people get treated properly? They’re easy to let fall under the radar because when you think of Jewish people in World War Two nobody thinks of Canada.

Grade 12 English

My grade 12 English teacher started off the class by giving us a speech about racism. This was not the “black voices” English class available for grade 12 students. This was a regular English class. Which additionally I think dedicating an entire class to talking about a race is more racist than not but whatever floats their boat I guess. Anyway, the first day he went on a speech about racism. About how black mothers and their kids show love to each other differently. About how abusing your kids is okay if your black because “it’s in our culture”. THE FIRST DAY. Not even into the class with some form of context to make it make sense. That was how he started the class and introduced us to himself.

Additionally, when we talked about the feminist lens in literature we got told being nurturing is a negative thing. Not that it’s not okay to assume all women are made to be nurturers. That being nurturing is a bad thing.

This same teacher also spent the entire semester making fun of housewives. Consistently saying they’re lazy and taking the easy way out.

This man was 31. He’s on the lower end of teachers ages. This is what the new generation of teachers is going to be like and that terrifies me for my future kids if I ever have kids. Especially since many countries have made homeschooling illegal specifically so they can teach your kids how they want them to view the world. While it is legal in Canada (where I live now, obviously) I do intend to move somewhere it’s illegal eventually and that’s genuinely very concerning to see.

Grade 12 World History

My grade 12 World History teacher gave us an entire lesson about how the existence of world maps is racist.

“Why?” You may be wondering.

Because “Europe is bigger than the other continents to show superiority.”

May I now present to you… A map of the world. In which it is clear both the Northern and Southern hemispheres well beyond Europe are larger. Because the Earth is a sphere. And that is how you map out a sphere.

In fact I even think it’s arguable to say Europe looks kind of tiny on here aside from Russia. Which Russia is literally the biggest country in the world so it’s not shocking that they’re noticeable. Unless the problem with these maps is that they’re accurate to the world and it being a sphere?

Additionally, I was curious where my history teacher got nonsense like this. So I googled it. There is no mainstream sources saying this. It is all obscure websites online. Websites a history teacher should never touch when planning a lesson.

Also it was literally a question on the exam. Here’s some proof if you don’t believe me:

There was also multiple times she said white people should be sorry for existing. Please note now that this teacher herself is white. She’s genuinely been convinced her own existence is problematic.

She also once spent an entire class trying to convince us race doesn’t exist and humans made it up. I don’t even know where she got that one from but it uh… It does. You can argue that in most cases “race” refers to species but we all understand that in this context it doesn’t and she knew it didn’t. She genuinely tried to convince us different skin colours don’t exist and there’s no physical difference between different races. Which while it’s not inherently true that races have physical factors beyond skin colour ethnicity does. And more often than not someone’s race and ethnicity correlate and you can guess one based on the other to some extent even if it’s only narrowed down to a continent. Don’t nitpick with what words mean. We all know we use these words interchangeably and that they are interchangeable in real conversation even if they aren’t by their definition.

Another thing: We had an entire lesson on how the existence of European history is inherently wrong. Essentially getting told Europe should not exist. She completely glossed over the fact that every continent has had countries invade others. In fact when she did talk about other continents countries invading places she gave us a whole sob story about why it was okay that those people k*ll3d people but oh no it’s oh so different when a European country did it.

The biggest thing was when she completely skipped over the entire First World War because “it’s European”. A) WORLD war. B) ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT EVENTS IN HISTORY. But no you can’t teach that because it involves Europeans.

I also once got told to write an assignment about how to create a society where everyone in it is far left politically. I had to ask someone how to reword “show the children propaganda” in order to complete that assignment because that is genuinely the only way to create a society like that. Even the person I was explaining it to said it was insane. Because it was literally an assignment to write about how to create a dictatorship where we weren’t allowed to make it sound like that was what it was or we’d get in trouble for not agreeing with what we were being told to believe.

Morning Announcements

I don’t know if America does this but Canadian schools replaced the pledge to the flag with the land acknowledgment.

Don’t get me wrong I’m not denying that this land belongs to native people. No what I’m saying is that I don’t think they want to be reminded every single morning with a 5 minute speech about how their land was stolen.

Personally I’m more of a European’s moving back to Europe person. I don’t have anything against the indigenous peoples of North America. I want to leave specifically because this is not my land.

However, taking out the pledge to remind people their land was stolen feels more disrespectful than just saying the pledge and respecting the country??

People can argue that the flag has been used to disrespect indigenous people but the Canadian flag used by those types of people is the red ensign flag. They do not use the maple leaf flag to spread hate. They use the red ensign flag. Or they just walk into the capital with Nazi flags because that happened in 2022. Yet somehow there was more silence surrounding actual Nazi flags than our national flag. More people in this country hate our national flag than actual Nazi flags. You objectively have your priorities beyond fucked up if you think that way.

Why Is This Alarming

So, why do I find this so alarming?

Because it’s pushing the idea that we as a nation need to have one collective opinion and world view. Doesn’t that sound reminiscent of something?

…Maybe oh I dunno…

The beginning of a dictatorship?

Dictatorships start with propaganda in schools. What exactly does this all sound like? Propaganda in schools. Historically we hear about dictatorships and think of fascism. Fascists are not the only people capable of dictatorship. Left wing dictatorship is more than possible and is not a positive thing for anyone no matter what their opinions are.

By no means am I calling Canada a dictatorship. It’s not. I am incredibly grateful for the rights and freedoms this country gives me and I hate when American’s try to make it sound like a dictatorship. But this is objectively a very alarming path that Canadian schools have been taking and I do feel it’s necessary to address this.

This is the type of issue that people will hate anyone who calls it out right now but some day people will ask why nobody did anything about it.

Let me remind you of one thing: Nothing in history has happened overnight. It’s always been built over time. It’s always “oh just one tiny thing” “oh one more tiny thing” until it’s not one tiny thing. It’s a bunch of tiny things stacked up in a trench coat except the trench coat is made of tiny things.

I know to many people all these things sound good. But you need to realize they’re not. They’re harming this country far more than they will ever benefit it.

[skiddo-xy]

BoTW/TotK Hyrule Settlements - But With Mennonite Names

Today in Canada is the last day of Mennonite Heritage Week 2024 so I thought I'd bridge together a few of my interests together for this fun little project of mine!

Process (skip 2 paragraphs if you want to cut to the chase)

So basically, places (in the real world) settled by ethnic Russian Mennonites usually follow x rules in terms of naming. They: 1) have two components, where the second is almost always a geographical term, 2) have the first component of the names either an adjective, another geographical term or a personal name, and 3) are officially named in High German (AKA Standard German) and have a vernacular name in Plautdietsch (Mennonite Low German) which uses direct translation of the High German name. More on this, including the real-world cities I analyzed to come to this conclusion!

Disclaimer: the process of coming up with these involved visiting the location on my Switch, looking component candidates in my Plautdietsch-English-High German dictionary written by Jack Thiessen using his orthography system in the Bergthal dialect, after which I searched up the High German translation so apologies for any inconsitencies!

Without further ado, let's dive right in, formatted "[actual name]: [High German name] | [Plautdietsch name]!

1. Tarrey Town: Neuschlossstadt | Nieschlottstaudt

This one may be my most liberal interpretation of the city as it takes the name "New Castle Town," as this seems to be the most bustling city since the destruction of Hyrule Castle Town in the Calamity. This name is reminiscent of Neubergthal, Canada which was named after the Bergthal colony is present day Ukraine. This is basically the only exception to a Mennonite place name having more than 2 parts in it - when it is "new."

2. Kakariko Village: Gruenthal | Jreentol

This one, meaning "green valley" is also a place in real life! The only difference is that the German ü is written without the umlaut in real life while my version adds the e after the umlautless vowel. This practice is also occasionally done in real life (such as the former village of Schoenfeld in the Russian Empire,) and I prefer it better. Also, my definition of "valley" here is a little shaky, but you can't deny that it is quite Green!

3. Gerudo Town: Sandfeld | Saundfeld

Geographically, one of the most defining features Gerudo Town is that it is located in a desert. However, I could not find any sources of Mennonites settling deserts (could not find enough information about the names of Mennonite settlements in Mexico) so I opted to use the extremely common "feld," meaning "field," and "sand"/"saund," meaning "sand," because that is basically what this kind of desert is.

4. Goron City: Heissberg | Heetboajch

This one means "hot mountain." The "berg" part is super common in real-world Mennonite place names, while the "heiss" part, less so as it is an adjective. Still could've been possible though! However, I sort of had the same issue naming this as I did with Gerudo Town, Mennonites did not settle volcanoes. I initially wanted to name it the equivalent of "Lavariver," but then I remembered that the Lava turned into hot spring water in TotK (?!) or something to do with "volcano," but the Plautdietsch word for "volcano" is the already lengthy and compounded "fieaspieenda boajch." So I settled for Heissberg.

5. Hateno Village: Weidethal | Weidtol

Meaning: "pasture valley" - maybe this one is a little farfetched since you could argue for the little pastures being irrelevant/not pastures at all technically (admittedly did not think too hard about the definition of a pasture) but the "thal" (meaning "valley") component is super common!

6. Korok Forest: Waldheim | Woohldheim

Meaning: "forest home." Both are common components in place names, though I personally have never seen them together. There are many forests in Hyrule, though none are both a Forest and a settled home and thus the name was born!

7. Lurelin Village: Fischerdorf | Feschadarp

Kind of weird to use "dorf," which means "village" in a world where Ganondorf exists I know...but "Fischer" means "fisher" (don't any of you dare hit anyone with a "this post transcends language" real ones know what a cognate is) so I thought it could fit. I was also iffy about using the name of an occupation, but there are sometimes personal names used in place names (especially in former towns of Mennonite colonies in Ukraine) so maybe in another world, it could've happened.

8. Rito Village: Saeuleinsel | Stendainsel

Naming this one really threw me for a loop because it made me question..what the heck kind of landform is Rito Village? I later decided it was a "pillar island" though I have never seen either terms used in a place name so I suppose you could say I am the least proud of this one.

9. Zora's Domain: Zoraheim

This means "Zora home," which I basically decided was what they meant by naming the original Zora's Domain that in 1998. Technically this would be incorrect as "Zora" is not a proper German given name, but it will have to do. Again, this whole project is hypothetical...

And that's the end! I know the demographic that would probably enjoy this the most is incredibly niche but if you made it this far, great job! Here's another TotK screenshot from me as thanks 🫶💚

[dreamofhircine]

okay so here is the 2023 books year-in-review, this is going to be v. long because I ended up reading & re-reading a lot of my backlog after rebuilding the bookshelves in our house. This is going to be roughly sorted, and I'll try and say a little bit about each thing.

Hazel Jane Plante

Little Blue Encyclopedia (for Vivian) - I adored this! It's a slimmer book, closer to a novella, but it was maybe my favorite piece this whole year. The central premise of this is that in a haze of grief after the death of her bestie a woman gets way too into their shared fandom and writes a combination of TV show fandom zine, obituary & love letter. The two-part narrative structure is something that Plante would go on to play w/ more in

Any Other City - also a great book! This is written as the memoir of a trans punk rock star split between her journal style letters in the 90s as she navigated an art scene as a woman who doesn't realize it yet, and then picks up again in the 2020s after her own celebrity was cemented.

Casey Plett

Little Fish - Really rad slice of life about a mennonite trans woman in Canada who has a lot of feelings about that. This feels more than anything like a strong expansion upon several of Plett's short stories in A Dream of a Woman.

A Dream of a Woman - I got lost in so many of the stories in this anthology, Plett writes the lives of these women so vividly it feels like you know them. You probably *do* know them.

A Safe Girl to Love - Plett's first anthology, recently re-published. I was not *as big* a fan of this one, but it still holds up very well and is a good example of her style generally.

The Locked Tomb - I am gonna talk about all three of these in one go, actually. These were really sweet, really nice, I really like the approach to necromancy as just sort of another kind of science or physical force, worked through a process very close to magic. I've been seeing art of these characters around for a long time now and it is nice to finally put a personality to the faces. The pool scene in GtNth especially really hit.

Gideon the Ninth

Harrow the Ninth

Nona the Ninth

Peter Watts - This is also gonna get a block review because so many of the things here are interconnected to one another. Starfish to Behemoth are all in The Rifters Trilogy, and Blindsight & Echopraxia are a pair. Watts has a really great way of tearing down the human brain and playing with all the ways that trauma can influence it, how adaptational quirks can be weaponized. Starfish is probably the single best way to get into his work, but if 'vampires in space' sounds more your speed then Blindsight has it covered.

Starfish

Maelstrom

Behemoth

Blindsight

Echopraxia

qntm

There Is No Antimemetics Division - This is a republish of qntm's large body of work on the SCP wiki, sharing the same name. This is really solid, and the use of narrative negative space is interesting.

Valuable Humans in Transit and Other Stories - A slim collection of short stories and an overall much better showing from qntm, no longer tied up w/ SCP stuff. The things that delve into the implication of human mind based AI constructs especially is really strongly written and will leave you thinking for a while after.

The Division - Broken Dawn is the older entry and did not really capture my attention very strongly, it felt phoned in more than anything else. Recruited & Compromised by contrast could stand on their own w/o The Division branding though both are very well integrated into the game, w/ events going back and forth between the two now that the game is getting more narrative content to it.

The Division: Broken Dawn

The Division: Recruited

The Division: Compromised

D&D - You can probably guess why I jumped into these and what game got me to do it. Drizzt is something I avoided for a very long time because of the associations in the fandom and that was probably not unwarranted tbh. I probably won't continue w/ the series after Exile. It is competently written but these things are creaking w/ their own age and just don't have enough going on to stand on their own unfortunately.

Drizzt: Homeland

Drizzt: Exile

The Devil You Know - Another entry in the Brimstone Angels series, which is my favorite of any of the longer running D&D series. Centered around the misadventures of a Tiefling Warlock and how she gets pulled into the big-dick-swinging matches between various devils trying to make their weird little power plays.

40K

Horusian Wars: Incarnation - This was stellar. Great look at the Inquisition and how insular and back-stabby it can be, I hope more comes from this.

Kasrkin - A mostly by the numbers book that was written entirely to promote the 'kasrkin vs necrons' Kill Team box that came out a bit back. Competent but doesn't have anything new or interesting to say.

Pariah - Eh. This wasn't bad, but it wasn't that good either. Abnett has long been one of my favorite authors in general, not even just in 40k specifically, but I don't think it is controversial to say he has fallen off lately. Compared to his earlier stuff w/ the Inquisitors, hell even compared to stuff like that Horusian Wars book and Pariah just doesn't do enough and the whole Bequin sequence right now feels like it is mostly being done to shift things around in the meta-narrative rather than be good books that stand on their own feet.

The Armour of Contempt - I re-read this one recently and it was just as good as when I first picked it up in high school. Abnett is at some of his best here.

General Fiction (Unsorted)

The Archive Undying: The Downworld Sequence Book 1 - Homosexual activities in a sci-fi fantasy world once dominated by city-scale god-king AIs that went critically rampant a long time ago. This is a really great start to what I hope will be an excellent series.

The Darkness That Comes Before - Re-read after initially reading this when it was new and I was like a pre-teen. Definitely not a book a pre-teen should read and maybe some of that explains why I am like this now. Let's not look at that *too* closely, yeah? This still stands on its own after all these years, though I hear the series in general kind of flagged after a while. If you're into nihilist fantasy check it out.

Burning Chrome - Re-read and enjoyed yet again. Classic Gibson, lays the frame upon which the rest of his body of work would be built.

Pattern Recognition - Re-read this and it still holds up. Gibson is at his height here, calling shots that would start to land almost *immediately* after he published it. Reading this may re-orient your fashion sense entirely so be forewarned and have a bit of space in your wardrobe first I guess.

All You Need Is Kill - Another re-read! I got back into this after realizing that a lot of that traumatized mech pilot pornography I was writing drew so much inspiration for this. I still love the story, I still love the framing, I still love the short and brutal way it is written and the translation is very solid.

Wasteland: Stories of the Apocalypse - Yet another re-read. I originally read this in high school and I owe a great amount of creative debt to some of these stories, hugely influential works and I recommend picking this up.

This Shape We’re in - A tiny little novella by the author of Motherless Brooklyn (which is currently sitting in my 'to do' pile). There is no adequate way to describe this that wouldn't sound like a joke, it is Lethem's most unusual and maybe his best for that.

Poetry

In the Shape of a Human Body I Am Visiting the Earth - Mostly translated poetry, this was solidly collected and a great example of Global(tm) Poetry.

One Hundred Apocalypses and other Apocalypses - More microfic really but I liked this. The different ways the world can end, be it physically from bombs or emotionally in a bad text message.

Wound from the Mouth of a Wound - Simply beautiful collection of work by torrin a. greathouse, I *adored* this.

Non-Fiction

Underlands: A Deep Time Journey - This was beautiful, simply put. A deep dive (hehe) into places beneath the earth and the people that spend more time beneath the surface than above it. I especially loved the travelogue in the cordoned off sections of the Paris catacombs, you can really feel the claustrophobia and danger of it all.

Bitch: The Female of the Species - I picked this up solely because it had a picture of a hyena on the cover. I do not regret that, it was great and that is something I seldom stay about pop-academic gender books.

Emergence: Labeled Autistic - Temple Grandin's first autobiography. This has been heavily dated in how she talks about being autistic and she has changed her views on this several times, to the point where depending on the version you pick up there may be several introductions from the author in a sequence reflecting on this. It is rare to see autobiographies from notable autistic women, it is rare for there to *be* notable autistic women, so I am really happy that I read this.

Memento Mori: The Dead Among Us - Mostly a photo book that I picked up while on a trip to MFABoston w/ my girlfriend. This is a great little table book if nothing else.

Infrastructural Brutalism: Art and the Necropolitics of Infrastructure - A somewhat dry but well researched dive into massive infrastructure projects and the death cult attitude that empowers them.

Queering Mennonite Literature - A university press publication, you know the drill w/ these. Good base to start from if you want to get more into the intersection of queer & menno literature, which is why I picked it up after reading a lot of Casey Plett's books.

David Graeber

Bullshit Jobs - Maybe the best that Graeber has been, and also an example of him leaning really hard into the pop-science aspect of his public persona. If you've got an office job that feels completely fake please read this.

The Dawn of Everything - Graeber's last work before his death and... Well I think it is really good, well written, broadly researched, but much like Debt you're going to either agree w/ his premise or not. There are some rather radical takes here. I highly recommend it though.

Debt: The First 5000 Years - There has been a lot of back and forth on this and there will never be a solid answer. I think the arguments made here are fairly strong, pretty convincing, but if you're involved in this academically in any way you're liable to have a lot of strong opinions one way or another as you read it.

LitMags

Clarkesworld: Every sci-fi enjoying homosexual has a Clarkesworld subscription these days so I don't have a lot unique to say about this. Great year for work, I love the regular infusion of translated works as usual, and I hope that the recent business hits they've taken don't impact it too hard. Definitely re-subbing.

Alaska Quarterly Review: There were some good entries to this but for the most part it kind of felt like an 'eating your vegetables' situation. I probably won't renew for the next year, but I don't *regret* picking it up this year either.

McSweeney’s: Solid as ever, though I found the 'halloween' issue they did to be kind of boring overall. Everything else was primarily hits, and I'll be carrying this forward next year.

[cordycepsfem]

Pageboy Readthrough, Part Five

Previously:

more Canadian history

EP's step-family is an absolute bucket of shit-heads

EP doesn't know the difference between a dab and a dollop, but I forgive her given the "step-family of shit-heads" thing

the subconscious message EP takes in from her family is Why aren't you like them? meaning Why aren't you normal? and your reviewer got maudlin and sad again

Now:

Chapter Six

we start off the chapter with EP and a friend at dinner

EP is living with this friend at the time

earlier in the day that we start into, EP had to call the police about a stalker

the stalker started off as a pen pal when EP was first on TV at the age of 11

EP diverges into telling us what she likes about acting, and surprise surprise, it's "being anyone but who I am"

EP has a music teacher who told her to "stop roughing up the boys at recess" which, you know, same

EP realizes that acting means she will have to wear "girl" costumes, which, you know, duh

EP there is a 900% chance that you did not know they were "cis" boys nor did you refer to them as "cis" boys because no one talked about people as "cis" when you were 11.

Also, "how is that not you"? They're wearing costumes! You are also wearing a costume for what sounds like some sort of historical drama? No one is wearing "suspenders, knickers" in modern-day Canada except in their Mennonite or Hutterite communities.

EP makes a website with basic HTML for school

a man contacts her through it

she likes it because she likes feeling "seen" - the man said he could understand her feelings

he probably could because he was like twenty-eight

we once again digress into the Canadian Part of the story, where I learn that the drive between Toronto (close to where I used to live) and Halifax (where I went on vacation once) is two days

EP and her mom would eat ketchup chips on vacation because, of course, Canadian

back to the pen pal

he is a Creepy Fuck who makes collages of her with angel wings

EP jumps headfirst into an eating disorder which starts by hearing a voice in her head

during what is going to be a very serious moment about a stalker, we take a header into Canadian Stuff because OF COURSE we do

Did you know Toronto is the Raccoon Capital of the World? OF THE WORLD? Jesus, I'm glad I moved... they could have definitely overrun my small town

apparently 100,000 raccoons live in Toronto

2.93 million people live in Toronto, just for a further demographic

anyway, back to the part that matters:

the Creepy Fuck emails all of EP's friends trying to find out where she is

he finds out

EP and her friend call the police

the police are worried and she gets a restraining order against him

we once again play All These People Are Shitheads

the Creepy Fuck FINDS HER, because of course he does

he tries to get her to take a walk with him

she runs

he gets arrested

he has schizophrenia

she does not press charges

things go from Bad to Worse because we are well and truly out of control at this point

EP decides that she will stop eating

she tells us that trans and gender-non-conforming youth are more likely to struggle with eating disorders

I did some research even though I feel like shit trying to correct her in her own sad book, but I am a very specific type of asshole

we know that female individuals are most likely to have eating disorders; I'm sure that now a lot of those female people are trans men and enbys

I had no idea that gay and bisexual men and boys made up almost half of male sufferers of eating disorders

anyway, EP starts doubling down on an eating disorder

I need a moment of levity so I will say that I would eat the fuck out of a Fear Sandwich if it was served at a cool restaurant or a nifty food truck

anyway, back into Hell

We've come to the end of the chapter which is good because I am so incredibly upset about all of this. I thought I was going to be able to do two chapters today since I didn't do much else, but Jesus fuck this book is so incredibly sad.

EP, you can have my dad. We can share dads. He is a very good dad. He would not come to Toronto to kick your ass... he would have come to Toronto to be comforting and to be very involved with everything. He was so concerned for my safety online that he told me that I had to give a fake name to the Christian women in my "Touched by an Angel" fanfic mail chain when I was fourteen, even though all we really did was tell each other we were praying for whatever causes they brought up and sending around new chapters of fic. I think I told them my name was Rachel.

My dad is funny but not at the expense of his children. He's been married to my mom for almost forty years and they love all three of us, let us be our own people throughout our childhoods. He is so incredibly proud of us, for wherever we are in our lives. He would have been proud of you and he would have fought for you the same way he fought for me when I got sick, the same way he fights for my disabled sister's care, the same way he stood up for my baby sister when she punched a kid in junior high because said kid was teasing her and the school wanted to suspend her.

(And this might just be me being selfish, but you are a few months older than I am and I would have loved an older sister. Again, we could have been weird together.)

My point is, you deserved better people around you. You still do. No matter what, you did not deserve this - from your father or from your stalker. You deserved to be a kid, and to be happy, and to eat.

And now I need to go eat, because reading this reminded me I haven't done that yet. Maybe I'll make a Fear Sandwich.

[beansnpeets]

I was tagged by @blueboyluca, @fluff-fibre-fun and @thebarkpaladin to share 3 random facts about myself. These tend to be tough for me since I already yap about everything on this blog so I have to try to figure out what you guys may not already know 😅 I also tend to be late to the game on these so not sure who hasn't been tagged already.

1) I've talked about it before, but I have a 1990 Dodge Dakota convertible. There were only just over 3,000 of them produced from 1989 to 1991. It needs a restoration very desperately, but it's a really cool little truck. I'm very into classic cars.

2) My family heritage is largely German Mennonite, but my grandparents on my mother's side are Mexican Mennonite, so that's a little more interesting I suppose. My one great grandfather is from Kansas, too. My dad's side we have more record of and I know they immigrated to Canada in the early/mid 1800's from Germany. My family were Prussian nobles and we have a coat of arms.

3) I took piano lessons for YEARS as a kid and cannot play the piano or read sheet music to save my life. I thoroughly feel that my teacher was just not very good. Also the only things she taught us was church music and I've always been pretty averse to that stuff. So that probably contributed.