Young Anabaptist Radicals

Tag Archive: Biographical

Introducing Ben_jammin

Greetings, my fellow YARs!

As I am the newest and probably youngest contributor to this community blog, I thought before posting stuff here I should introduce myself.

I am seventeen (thus I think I have proven to be young) and I am a Kraut, as American G.I.s came to call Germans, when they occupied Germany after liberating us from fascism, although I rarely eat kraut at all. I was born into a Mennonite intentional community in a small town, which is why I always somehow found it funny when people are so amazed by community living – for me that’s everyday life.

The Anabaptist tradition has been passed along to me by my parents and still I think I can still call myself radical, because I chose it myself in my baptism and everyday life.

My hobbies are rather nerdy: reading, playing chess, Pen&Paper games (I am still working on an Anabaptist P&P set in the 16th century…) and peace.

What more is there to say: Oh yes, the military just sent me a letter, that my examination will be next summer and that I would have very good career options if I became a sergeant (in Germany we have a draft).

Hello, I am glad to be here.

December 6, 2009 Biographical Read more >

Introducing Rusty…

Greetings everyone,

I am the newest contributor to the YAR blog, and as is the custom here, I was asked to introduced myself. I won’t bore you with my life story. I’ll keep it short and relevant.

My life is a complex journey, as all of ours tend to be in this day and age. I am a suburban southern kid who was raised during the corporate take over my once rural town. I watched the wild playground of my youth become paved and replaced with shopping malls. All the tree forts and hideouts we built as kids were replaced one-by-one with ‘real’ shelters, housing wealthy neighbors with well-manicured lawns. The whole infrastructure of my town shifted, and slowly, so did the income level and mindset of my family. The innocence of my youth was not only interrupted by all the normal challenges of adolescence, but also the rising consciousness of suburbia, consumerism, wealth, competition… capitalism.

For years I have been trying to forget what I know and remember what life was like before the corporate takeover of my town and my mind. Isn’t this the journey we are all on, trying to reconnect with our primal selves, our young innocence, our wide-eyed hope? This search has brought me so many places, literally and figuratively. I am currently living in Chicago, the third largest city in the country. I hate it. It’s a big concrete jungle, devoid of anything wild or natural. What keeps me here is the community house that I live in. But as the winter moves in, I will be moving out and navigating back to Florida, where I grew up.  I thrive in wild spaces, under stars, below trees. Though, I will say that as a student of herbal medicine, I love seeing tough healing plants rising between the cracks of abandoned factories. It gives me a glimpse of the coming kingdom of god. “A tree shall sprout in the middle of the city, and it’s leaves shall bring healing.” Revelation 22:2 (more…)

October 1, 2009 Biographical, Read more >