I’m an amateur doll collector. I say ‘amateur’ because I’ve seen how obsessive some professional collectors can be. You won’t find me breathlessly bidding on eBay, and I don’t have dolls perched on every spare surface of my house.

But I am proud of the little collection I have. They reflect the dreamer in me. The Victorian dolls are bedecked in miles of tulle and lace, with expressions so serious they could crack the very porcelain they’re made of. The vintage dolls from my youth that make me feel like a little girl again: The Sunshine Family dolls, Baby Thumbelina, and the little sunbonnet girl my parents gave me when I was 10. Bobby and Beth, the twin baby dolls, distinguished only by the colour of their tiny sailor suits.

My Martha used to sit on my dresser, perched in a little wooden rocking chair. Her plain, black bonnet and long, carefully pleated black dress reflect the simple Mennonite values this doll is supposed to represent. Her hands are gracefully drawn together on her lap. Between them she holds a tiny hymnal, secured by a small rubber band. She stares off into the distance, a mixture of longing and reverence in her eyes. Thanks to my silly kids, I now have mixed feelings about Martha.

When they were little, my youngest two rascals used to crawl into my bed at some point during the night. One night, as I was in the kitchen getting them some water, I heard both boys shrieking at the top of their lungs. I raced back to my room and there, huddled in the corner of my bed were two terrified boys, wide-eyed and pointing at the dresser.

It is almost 150 years ago that Mennonites started formally leaving Imperial Russia for Canada. As we celebrate this anniversary, we are beginning to look back at some of the important events and people who began the Mennonite settlement of Manitoba. Before these first emigrants left their home, they wrote a bold letter to the imperial representative asking for support in their emigration to the Americas and displaying their gratitude for the support they had received from the czar during their long habitation in Russia.

“Your highest Excellency, General-Adjutant Lord von Todtleben:

The Mennonites of the Kleine Gemeinde, of the Heuboden, and Gruenfelde (Blumenhof) Church Districts of the Nikolaithaler Woll-estbesirk, in the Ekatherinoslawschen Government District, express their thankfulness and petition.

Through the representation of your highest Excellency, we recognize the great goodwill and grace of his Majesty, our beloved Czar, and that it has never been the will of his Majesty, and is still not his wish, to rule against the conscience of a non-resistant Gemeinde, nor to want to enact laws on account of which they would be in conflict with their faith.

“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never harm me” is an age old saying that is proving to be incorrect. The more apt saying would be the one coined in 1839 by English author Edward Bulwer-Lytton, “the pen is mightier than the sword.”

I use these quotes as an introduction to a new book, The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness by Jonathan Haidt. Dr. Haidt is a social psychologist studying the effects of Smartphones and social media on our youth. Along with the rise in social media is a decline in unsupervised play. Dr. Haidt says, “Parents are over protective in the real world and under protective in the virtual world”.

Initially, concern about interactive social media was dismissed as the same problem as watching too much TV. Then, as mental illnesses became associated with a rise in social media use, professionals everywhere started to sound the alarm. Something about this trend was disturbing. TV is a one way device, social media is interactive and judgmental.

Dr. Haidt shows that diagnoses of mental illness, especially anxiety and depression, have risen from a long term stable 10 percent of girls and seven percent of boys to a doubling by 2010-2012 when smartphones, data plans and interactive social media became commonly available. By 2019, COVID exacerbated the problem and mental illness in girls rose to 30 percent and in boys to 17 percent.

A Grunthal man was sentenced in Steinbach court April 19 for a series of crimes from April to November 2023 that included theft of a vehicle full of wigs, breaking into a church with the help of someone hiding inside, waving a machete and getting shot in the face with a paintball gun, and more.

The agreed to facts read in court also involved what sounded like a pitbull living with a racoon.

Raymond Wolfred Delorme, 39, received a total sentence of 12 months plus 15 months of supervised probation after he is released. The crimes he pleaded guilty to were possessing a motor vehicle over $5,000 obtained by crime twice, breaking and entering into a church to steal TVs, assault with a weapon for waving around a machete, possessing a motor vehicle under $5,000, and breaking his release order curfew.

It was breaking the curfew on Nov. 19 that finally saw Delorme stay in custody after his first crime on April 17 of last year. He had 123 days to go after in-custody enhanced credit of time and a half was applied.

The Steinbach Arts Council is proud to present the Desautels Piano Trio in concert. Featuring local legend Judy Kehler Siebert on piano, Oleg Pohkanovski on violin, and Minna Rose Chung on cello, this all-star ensemble of internationally acclaimed musicians will knock your socks off with show-stopping virtuosity. Come experience an energetic, dance-inspired program by these powerhouse players – it will literally move you!

Join us at the Grace Mennonite Church, 430 Third St at 7:30 p.m. on May 9. For tickets, visit steinbacharts.ca or call Tara at 204-346-1077.

Thank you to our concert sponsor Main Bread & Butter.

Steinbach Arts Council Fundraising Gala

My son in Vancouver wants me to come for a visit.

For a mother with full-grown kids, such a request should be treated as a gift. Young adults are so busy with work and school and their active social lives. When one of them is actually willing to put all that aside, for a full week, just to spend time with me, I should jump on the chance like a hungry monkey.

I’d love to take him up on it. Truly. But there’s a big problem: I hate flying. Not just the “I can’t stand airports, and the fees are so high, and the seats are so uncomfortable” kind of hate.

It’s more of the “I’ll die in a fiery plane crash” kind of hate.

“’Value Village charges…”. That’s how they think they should charge for items? I’ve heard this so much that I leave the store because I’m not ready to fight with them.

The thrift stores here are a non-profit. Value Village is a for profit. Why are our thrift stores charging the same as a for profit organization?

I bought new from Giant Tiger for what Steinbach’s thrift stores charged for the same or similar items. I can return the item when I buy new compared to thrift store where I’m told I can re-donate the item I bought (because I can’t return or exchange).

I throw my purchases in the garbage instead of ‘re-donating’ because they already got their money. They are not getting it again. Not from me. Not the way they are now. I find them to be greedy, angry, entitled babies.