by Marlena Fiol | Jul 20, 2020
Signage along the Camino de Santiago …but my path may help you find the one that’s right for you. I grew up in a good Mennonite home, where I was taught that the only true paths to healing emotional wounds lie…
by Marlena Fiol | Jul 16, 2020
In the Protective Arms of my Older Brother This week’s blogs have been about the trauma of physical, emotional and sexual abuse. Before all of that, there was innocence and trust. Can we ever return to that place? “It takes a very long time…
by Marlena Fiol | Jul 6, 2020
My Mennonite Missionary Father in front of his Home in Paraguay It’s the ‘in’ thing: Simplify. Unclutter. Less (smaller) is better. As I’ve written about elsewhere, my good Mennonite missionary father was anti-materialist and anti-consumerist to an extreme. He firmly believed that God only…
by Marlena Fiol | Jul 3, 2020
This week’s topic has been about what parents and their grown children owe each other. My conclusion was that the language of debt and obligation is inappropriate. Rather, we should be talking about love and appreciation. I feel like the biggest gifts my…
by Marlena Fiol | Jun 26, 2020
I am pleased to bring you the thinking of today’s guest, Harriet Brown. She is a writer, magazine editor and professor of magazine journalism at the Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. Harriet writes,…
by Marlena Fiol | Jun 25, 2020
My Dad Is the Pale Guy in the Middle This week’s blogs have been about “circles of inclusion.” I grew up on a leprosy compound in Paraguay, South America. My husband Ed and I are currently writing an historical novel about the lives and…