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reamSeekreamSeekerer MagazineMagazine DD Voices from the Soul Real Ballerina Kathy Nussbaum Life Passages: Our India Assignment Earl Zimmerman Monks and Amish Gene Stoltzfus Kingsview May You Tell Me Your Secret About Marriage Michael A. King Beneath the Skyline I Want to Live Like a Purple Martin in a Saguaro Deborah Good When I Was Eighteen Mary Alice Hostetter The Bible Tells Me So...Or Does It? Randy Klassen Ink Aria Putting My Best Foot Forward Renee Gehman and much more Summer 2008 Volume 8, Number 3; ISSN 1546-4172 Editor IN THIS ISSUE Editorial: A Ballet of Cultures Michael A. King Summer 2008, Volume 8, Number 3 Assistant Editor In telling us of being a “real” balle- standings. Some might choreograph Renee Gehman Editorial: A Ballet of Cultures rina, Kathy Nussbaum provides an the dance to favor one culture or the Editorial Council Letter 2 engaging image through which to other more than Klassen does, but David Graybill, Daniel Poetry view this issue of DreamSeeker Maga- whatever the ideal balance, Klassen Hertzler, Kristina M. King, Ted Grimsrud, Friendship • 19, Mary Alice zine. This is because many helps us enter a life-giving bal- Richard A. Kauffman, Hostetter, Harvest of Souls • 30, Alan Soffin, I of these articles in some Many of let. Paul M. Schrock Have Been Later On • 41, David Wright, Like way explore a ballet of cul- these arti- Renee Gehman zooms in Columnists or Trees Planted by Streams of Water • back cover tures, or occasionally, its cles in some on one aspect of the biblical Regular Contributors Real Ballerina 3 absence. versus contemporary cultures Renee Gehman, Deborah Kathy Nussbaum Earl Zimmerman tells way explore Good, David B. Greiser, ballet: foot washing. With both Life Passages: Our India Assignment 6 of his and wife Ruth’s en- a ballet of Daniel Hertzler, Michael A. humor and candor she takes us Earl Zimmerman gagement in the ballet of cultures. inside preparations for the ex- King, Nöel R. King, Mark R. their own and Indian cul- perience and helps us wonder Wenger Monks and Amish 10 ture. Gene Stoltzfus invites us to wit- how we experience the fullest mean- Publication, Gene Stoltzfus ness, of all things, a ballet of Amish ing and humility of this particular Printing, and Design Kingsview 13 and Buddhist cultural gifts. My col- dance between cultures. Cascadia Publishing House May You Tell Me Your Secret About Marriage umn on marriage is not primarily a Noël R. King sounds a cautionary Advertising Michael A. King ballet of cultures yet was set in motion note: What if the goal of the ballet is Michael A. King Beneath the Skyline 16 by a question from our African “son.” for a giant to plump us up for eating? I Want to Live Like a Purple Martin in a Saguaro Deborah Good is seeking to visu- Contact Might her fable invite us to ponder 126 Klingerman Road Deborah Good alize what more graceful ballet might how in fact cultural relations can be a Telford, PA 18969 When I Was Eighteen 21 emerge if U.S. views of land owner- ballet and not a dominance—even if 1-215-723-9125 Mary Alice Hostetter ship were less focused on private by seduction that at first feels good— [email protected] property and open to learnings even of one culture by another, as so often The Bible Tells Me So. Or Does It? 23 from the culture of a purple martin. Submissions Randy Klassen happens? Occasional unsolicited sub- Mary Alice Hostetter tells of that The books Daniel Hertzler re- missions accepted, 750-1500 Ink Aria 26 life-defining moment in which she views turn out to focus on the ballet words, returned only with Putting My Best Foot Forward leaves her Mennonite subculture. between Jesus’ culture and ours. Who SASE. Letters invited. Renee Gehman Where does she go? She doesn’t tell us, was Jesus to his people? Who is he to Subscriptions The Turquoise Pen 29 but her steering wheel seems pointed us? How do we dance with the real Je- Standard rates in U.S. My Giant toward the larger American culture. sus, not just our fantasy of who he $14.95/yr. in US, automatic Noël R. King Now, by the very act of looking back was? These are some of the matters Jan. renewals, cancel any time. Books, Faith, World & More 32 at the leaving, she implicitly weaves Hertzler explores. Single copy: $3.75 For the Record on Jesus: Reviews of Recovering for us a ballet of the subculture she left Finally, is it too much of a stretch Free online: Jesus and of Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes and whatever one she now writes to see Dave Greiser as plumbing www.CascadiaPublishingHouse.com/dsm Daniel Hertzler from within. learnings from a ballet between ordi- DreamSeeker Magazine is Reel Reflections 37 Randy Klassen wrestles with how nary and prison cultures, and Alan published quarterly in spring, Redemption Accomplished: A Review of contemporary culture treats God as Soffin between the consumerist cul- summer, fall, and winter. “The Shawshank Redemption” speaking (or not) through the Bible. ture and whatever culture transcends Copyright © 2008 David Greiser We might see him as seeking a ballet it? ISSN: 1546-4172 (paper) of biblical and current cultural under- —Michael A. King ISSN: 1548-1719 (online) Devotion Unspoken 40 Alan Soffin Dear Editors: Real Ballerina Please pass on my gratitude/admiration to your editors and the writer responsible for such strong poetry as “I think of Ohio, and the trains at night, / So long ago. / The Kathy Nussbaum long, dark, hollow call / Of other times,” by Alan Soffin (Spring 2008). Superb! —Jeremy Frey, Tucson, Arizona A couple of years ago, I drove my son to the Rich- mond Ballet School of Dance for a school activity. On my way out of the building, I passed a door with a win- dow, behind which I heard the muffled sound of a pi- ano playing classical music. I looked in and saw a group of little girls in pink tights and ballet slippers lined up at the ballet barre. I felt a wave of sadness that took me by surprise. By the time I reached my car, I was crying. Not until I saw that room full of little girls doing pliés did I remember how much I had longed as a child to become a balle- rina. I used to take the “B” volume of our World Book encyclopedia and find the ballet section. The well- worn, dog-eared pages showed the basic positions for ballet instruction complete with illustrations that I re- call vividly. I practiced them for hours pretending that I was a real ballerina. I pretended in the way that only a child is able to do . with unabashed and complete surrender to the power of my imagination . the kind that completely encompasses one’s being and makes time stand still. That was how I danced. Despite my unwavering belief that I was perform- ing graceful pirouettes and jetés, the average on- Letters to DreamSeeker Magazine are encouraged. We also welcome and when possi- looker no doubt saw an ordinary six-year-old girl with ble publish extended responses (max. 400 words). 3 4 / SUMMER 2008 DREAMSEEKER MAGAZINE / 5 arms and legs flailing about, spinning I was really a princess from a for- monsters, saving the good ones. I re- Ruth joined me in my imaginary and jumping all over an imaginary eign land temporarily staying at 305 flect back to him, “You are so brave world, and in doing so she mirrored stage—accompanied by vinyl record- West 25th Street, and Ruth and I were and strong! You saved everyone!” back the goodness that she saw in me. ings of classical ballet scores, bought frequent guests on the Mike Douglas Without directly talking about My very being was inextricably by my mother with Green Stamps and Show, filmed in my living room. being violated by an older step shaped by her amazing presence in played gloriously on our There we answered lots of brother, over time this little boy is ex- my early life. Despite her physical 1964 console stereo. I was lucky important questions very periencing reparation. Just as Ruth’s death seven years ago at age 85, she re- But I was lucky enough enough to have a intelligently, finishing off presence in my virtual experience of mains permanently part of the magic to have a Benefactress the appearance with me ballet is permanent, I hope that this of my childhood—and my memories Benefactress who, unlike the average singing the proverbial child and I are co-creating a lasting, of being a real ballerina. onlooker, believed fully in who, unlike the ballad into a hair brush. virtual memory of him as a knight: my imaginary world. Her average onlooker, I am now 47 and strong, brave, and full of goodness. —Kathleen Zehr Nussbaum is a Li- name was Ruth Hummel. believed fully in never actually took ballet The tears that came when I saw censed Clinical Social Worker, Inter- She was the equivalent of a my imaginary lessons (or appeared on those precious, little girls in the ballet nationally Certified Child and Play doting granny. Ruth was world. Mike Douglas). But class were tears of sentimental recol- Therapist, and clinical supervisor. In no blood relation and had sometimes I feel as if I re- lection. The were tears triggered by 2007, Kathy wrote, illustrated, and no children of her own, so she claimed ally know what it is like to be a balle- the adult, bittersweet “memories” of self published a short story for adult us (my brothers, sister, and me) as her rina, as if I have actually danced flying down the stairway of our row women that celebrates the Feminine own.