SPILLING THE MEADOW TEA
Plain People are nosey.
They say gossip is a sin, but they’re the first to know when you’ve visited your old church—before the sweat has dried off your palms. Quick on the draw to recognize the pearliest of pins, and somehow, they always know what car you’re driving—even if it’s new and you haven’t been a member in 20-plus years.
The Mennonite game? You mean who is married to whom, who went to Bible school with whom, and definitely who is having meetings in the basement after church because of “moral failings.”
There are church directories listing out every member and their children with birthdates— bold font if they're members in good standing—who died, who is sick, and who is riding the line of church discipline with the size of the elastic-cased ruffle on their sleeves.
With a salacious appetite to be in the know, I can’t remember a time in my life when I wasn’t curious about people’s stories. Described as a perpetually inquisitive—and therefore rebellious—girl, I devoured THE BUDGET weekly until I was bestowed my very own column takeover as a Mennonite teen. I then became the girl who knew “everything about everyone” all of the time. With the power of the fax machine invested in me every Monday at deadline in my deacon’s office, I became the pen and voice of our church to the other Plain homes around the U.S.
Over the past decade, I’ve managed to return to my roots and once again inform people of the goings-on in the church by sharing stories in various forms, to varying degrees. First, with a podcast called The Plain People's Podcast I started in 2018 as a creative outlet to highlight the struggles and triumphs of leaving high-control, high-demand religion. And more recently, with abuse and corruption deep dives unfolding in Instagram story slides—putting to use all those years I spent collecting the details of our own church news and juicy Plain People canning-day gossip.
Storytelling is offering me new fulfillment these days, as I’ve gone back into the communities to uncover and expose the barriers women face when reporting abuse. I’ve rattled along for the last few years without a true home for these stories, as the podcast space seems increasingly oversaturated and unable to hold the variety of my investigative work.
In an era of growing interest in cults—and a limited number of investigative journalists writing pieces on a culture they didn’t grow up in (and, in my opinion, should not be the voice of my people)—I hope this space offers anyone looking for the real stories of the Plain People, and our culture, a spark for their curiosity.
Expect the return of uncut personal stories, conspiracy theories and quilting gossip, biting sarcasm, and people talking like real people again.
Allow me to put the U in CULT, and the CULT in CULTURE.
Jasper
