J. B. Yoder, H2G2's Resident Mennonite

On Hiatus.
(Whilst working at camp for the summer.)

Since we are to be conformed to the image of Christ, how can we then fight our enemies with the sword? Spears and swords of iron we leave to those who, alas, consider human blood and swine's blood of well-nigh equal value.
--Menno Simons, founder of the Mennonite Church

Welcome!

Hallo, webfarer. This being my 'Personal Space,' I'll have to do some imaginative remodelling before it's truly personal. Right now it looks rather like that 'loading program' in The Matrix: blank white space as far as the mind's eye can see.

So imagine a room, clean and well-lighted, small but comfortable, with nice soft carpeting. One wall is nothing but nice, big windows looking out over the Shenandoah Valley in the State of Virginia, with an unrivalled view of the mountain Massanutten, which runs down the middle of the valley. It's a beautiful clear day in mid-fall, and you can see the shadows of the few cumulus clouds dappling the still-green mountainside.

Against another wall there's a wooden roll top desk for my computer and a cabinet for a high-quality sound system which, for the moment, is playing something by J. S. Bach. Possibly the sixth Brandenburg Concerto. Later I'll stick in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony and shake some windows over on AOL's homepage, and come Christmas the selection will naturally be Handel's Messiah. The other two walls are floor-to-ceiling oaken bookcases, containing only the finest works of the greatest authors: William Shakespeare, Mark Twain, Victor Hugo, J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, Annie Dillard, Terry Pratchett, Isaac Asimov, Vernor Vinge, Larry Niven, Arthur C. Clarke, Douglas Adams (of course), and others I can't think of at the moment.

In the middle of the room, facing the windows, there're a few overstuffed armchairs with footrests of just the right height, and a coffee table for tea (Earl Grey, hot)¹. This room's gotten rather full, actually. I might have to knock out a wall and build an extension; good thing there seems to be so much spare cyberspace. In the meantime, grab a book, have a seat, and make yourself at home.

Me

Here're the facts, then: I'm a nineteen-year-old junior at Eastern Mennonite University, originally from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, USA. I've attended Mennonite² churches all my life, and have been a member of the denomination since age 13. Here at EMU I keep more than adequately busy going to class (my major is Environmental Science), writing for the Weather Vane, performing my duties as a Ministry Assistant under Campus Ministries, and working on Doug Graber-Neufeld's research project. For fun I like to read, write, hike, and camp. Right now I'm working through C. S. Lewis's book Miracles and trying to teach myself Latin.³

I'm a member of PUDDING,⁴ which stands for everyone's right to feel however they wish.

Say it loud, I'm and I'm proud!

Links

• Thus far I've penned (keyboarded?) two edited guide entries, one on Mennonites and the other on the electrosensory system of weakly electric fish.
• For a sample of my less serious literary efforts, try this piece, a treatise on the virtues of self-absorption which I composed about a year ago.
• I'm now a member of the Academy of Wit and Eloquence and always on the lookout for Wilde Award nominees.
• The H2G2 Post is always worth a look.
• Smileys help to compensate for the inability of the Web to transmit facial expressions and body language. I'm trying to use more of them myself.
• Or, if you don't feel like , try a helping of PUDDING, the site that celebrates everyone's right to feel less than perky once in a while.

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