Latest news with #Plautdietsch
Winnipeg Free Press
4 days ago
- General
- Winnipeg Free Press
Seeing the forest and the trees
Di Brandt was a 'barefoot girl from the Mennonite village' when she moved to Winnipeg at 17 years old for college. Unfamiliar, out of place, untethered. Assiniboine Forest, a short walk from Canadian Mennonite University, became her safe haven. 'This forest was a wonderful halfway place between the country where I had grown up and the city that was so confusing to me in every way. It's a very deeply cherished place for me, then and many years later,' says Winnipeg's inaugural poet laureate, seated on a shady park bench on a hot weekday afternoon. Cyclists, dog walkers and groundskeepers pass by at regular intervals. Ruth Bonneville / Free Press Poet Di Brandt at one of her favourite places, in the woods at Assiniboine Forest Brandt, 73, knew from a very young age she would eventually leave Reinland, the darpa, or village, where she was raised in southern Manitoba. It was the early 1970s and the community was at a crossroads, trying to preserve its traditional ways while modernity was creeping in around the edges. Growing up, Brandt herself felt pulled in contradictory directions: speaking Plautdietsch at home, where reading and questioning were frowned upon, and German at church, where women were barred from leadership roles. All while attending an English-speaking public school. 'We were getting educated in three completely different cultural paradigms and ways of being,' she says, adding the upbringing also provided an appreciation for language and cross-culturalism. After graduating high school, a student loan allowed for a swift exit. Her devastated parents drove her to the campus on Shaftesbury Boulevard, then called Canadian Mennonite Bible College. 'They felt like they had failed to protect the traditionalism of the culture,' Brandt says. 'They spent a lot of really creative energy and care trying to create a whole world for us so we didn't have to leave or want to leave.' She discovered the forest within days of moving into her dorm. The sprawling woods provided a reprieve from navigating the big city and conversations with strangers — something that was completely foreign coming from an insular village where everyone knew everyone and their family history. Between studying theology, experimenting with trending fashions and attending rock concerts, Brandt spent hours alone in Assiniboine Forest, roaming beyond the built pathways through swaths of birch, poplar and oak. She got to know the different groves and swampy places. She listened to the trees and shared space with deer, ducks and geese. Communing with nature has been a lifelong practice — private and spiritual. 'When I was a little kid, maybe five or six, I would say to myself, 'Oh, I haven't gone and appreciated nature yet today.' And I would go outside and lie in the grass and choose something to appreciate,' Brandt says. In the highly social darpa, the countryside offered treasured alone time. At school, she kept her woodsy wanderings to herself. On the occasion that a classmate found out she had spent an entire day in the forest, she would be met with a surprising reaction. 'They were like, 'What? That's really dangerous, you shouldn't be wandering around in a forest by yourself,'' says Brandt, who found the busy traffic and downtown crowds more scary. She acclimatized and found her calling, thanks to professors who supported her creative writing and encouraged her to pursue intellectual aspirations. Brandt has since gone on to become an internationally renowned poet and scholar. Her first collection of poetry — questions i asked my mother, published by Turnstone Press in 1987 — became a bestseller and was shortlisted for a Governor General's Award. She's travelled the world, held teaching positions at multiple Canadian universities and, in 2018, was named the city's first poet laureate by the Winnipeg Arts Council. Yet at the time, Brandt's feminist critique of her upbringing was met with strong backlash from local Mennonite religious leaders (including at her alma mater), leading her to be shunned by her home community and estranged from some family members. Every Second Friday The latest on food and drink in Winnipeg and beyond from arts writers Ben Sigurdson and Eva Wasney. Throughout her globetrotting career, Brandt — who now lives in North Point Douglas — has maintained her connection to Assiniboine Forest, visiting the woods often and exploring the trails with her late husky-Labrador mix, Maddie. Her return to CMU has been more recent. Last month, she presented at Mennonite/s Writing, an international literary conference hosted at the university for the first time and which Brandt has been involved in since its founding in 1990. Brandt is currently in a season of return — revisiting spaces she was previously ostracized from and having a dialogue with the people there. 'That has been a challenging but also creative conversation,' she says. 'I feel like I'm redoing the project that began my career, but with a lot more overview and resources now.' Eva WasneyReporter Eva Wasney has been a reporter with the Free Press Arts & Life department since 2019. Read more about Eva. Every piece of reporting Eva produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates. 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Hamilton Spectator
07-06-2025
- Health
- Hamilton Spectator
Spotty attendance for measles at Norfolk elementary school
Measles continues to be an unwelcome visitor to schools in Norfolk County, causing kids to miss class as the school year enters the home stretch. Staff and students at Houghton Public School — a rural elementary school in southwestern Norfolk — were potentially exposed to measles on two separate occasions in May, with each exposure lasting several days. The school of just over 300 students has made numerous appearances on Grand Erie Public Health's measles exposure list since Norfolk's measles outbreak was declared in January. 'The students getting measles are those who are unvaccinated or whose immunization status is incomplete,' Houghton principal Robert Weber told The Spectator. The health unit has legal authority to order unvaccinated students into a 21-day quarantine after a possible measles exposure at their school. Weber confirmed some unvaccinated Houghton students have been sent home. 'Children learn best at school,' Weber said. 'When this is not possible, we find ways to provide enriching experiences and make the most of the challenges we have been presented.' But spotty internet access in rural Norfolk creates a barrier to online learning, and studying at home can be difficult as many Houghton families speak Plautdietsch, also known as Mennonite Low German, as their first language. 'Our focus has been on maintaining continuity of learning and supporting the health and safety of all students and staff in close co-ordination with public health,' said Weber, who has been Houghton's principal for nearly seven years. Health units in Norfolk and bordering Elgin and Oxford counties have identified Low German-speaking Mennonites as communities at higher risk due to vaccine hesitancy. Health and school officials have tailored outreach efforts accordingly. That means translating memos about measles into Low German and bringing in a local non-profit, the Norfolk Community Help Centre, to connect with Houghton parents and caregivers in their first language. Most of the 273 measles cases reported in Grand Erie since the end of October can be traced to western Norfolk. In late May, a baby born with measles died in the neighbouring Southwestern health unit. Norfolk's health unit sent home memos after the most recent measles exposure at Houghton on May 20 and 21. Families and school staff got information about the risk of measles and how to get vaccinated to stop the spread of the highly contagious respiratory illness. 'Measles self-testing kits are also made available to impacted families to reduce further transmission,' health unit spokesperson Shawn Falcao told The Spectator. Public health also organized five vaccination clinics at the school and nearby sites to help students and families get the two doses of measles, mumps and rubella vaccine that provide virtually total lifetime protection. 'Many of our families took advantage of these clinics and received vaccinations,' Weber said. The health unit did not divulge the vaccination rate at Houghton, with Falcao saying data about individual schools is not publicly shared 'to respect the privacy of schools, communities and individuals.' The recurrence of measles at Houghton 'continues to be a reminder that vaccination is the best defence against the virus,' Falcao said. Students with measles symptoms should stay home until the fifth day after the telltale rash first appears to limit the potential spread, he added. Ideally, Weber said, every Houghton student would be healthy and in class every day. 'There is no alternative learning experience that comes close to the quality experience of attending school with teachers and peers,' he said. Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
