Advertise on podcast: Just Plain Wrong

This week, the MennoBrarians kick off Season 8! We celebrate the season start with a breakfast foods snake draft, some quick life updates, and chatting about some recent book and media favorites.  We always love hearing from listeners! You can reach us at plainwrongpod at gmail.com, or on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. If you want to help support the podcast financially, please consider joining our Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/plainwrongpod or buying merch at TeePublic Follow us: Twitter: https://twitter.com/plainwrongpod Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/plainwrongpod/ Website: http://plainwrongpod.com/ “Just Plain Wrong” is produced, written and edited by Erin Milanese, Abby Nafziger and Matilda Yoder. Our intro music is played by Erin, and the outro by Miriam Augsburger. Both are "arrangements" of the Doxology from the Mennonite Hymnal. Logo design by Ida Yoder Short. Canva design (used for Social Media posts in Season 4 -6) by Abigail Adams.

In this week's episode, the MennoBrarians look back on 2025 and chat about some of our favorite books and media from this past year.  Mentioned in this episode:  Erin’s 2025 Favorites The collected works of Ali HazelwoodBasketball, particularly the Iowa Hawkeyes and the WNBAAtmosphere by Taylor Jenkins ReidThe music of Taylor Swift, Dua Lipa, and Chappel RoanTillie’s 2025 Favorites Murderbot TV series on Apple TV - Everything is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection by John Green DC universe comics and moviesIn a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson Abby’s 2025 Favorites Holes by Louis Sachar (1998)Leaving Church: A Memoir of Faith by Barbara Brown Taylor (2006)KPop Demon Hunters & My Neighbor TotoroThe Everlasting by Alix Harrow We always love hearing from listeners! You can reach us at plainwrongpod at gmail.com, or on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. If you want to help support the podcast financially, please consider joining our Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/plainwrongpod or buying merch at TeePublic Follow us: Twitter: https://twitter.com/plainwrongpod Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/plainwrongpod/ Website: http://plainwrongpod.com/ “Just Plain Wrong” is produced, written and edited by Erin Milanese, Abby Nafziger and Matilda Yoder. Our intro music is played by Erin, and the outro by Miriam Augsburger. Both are "arrangements" of the Doxology from the Mennonite Hymnal. Logo design by Ida Yoder Short. Canva design (used for Social Media posts in Season 4 -6) by Abigail Adams.

The MennoBrarians return for the first of our two holiday episodes, with a recap and discussion on the recently released movie, Christmas in Amish Country. You can find this movie streaming on Frndly, Philo, or live on the UpTV cable channel. In the movie, we follow Claire/Clara Stoll through her new restaurant's disastrous opening night, after which she decides to return home to Missouri and stay with her Amish family for the holidays. She's driven there by fake Lyft driver Jack who is really a reporter.  Tune in for a full recap of the movie, along with many sidebars on weird set designs, random plot lines, and much much more.  We always love hearing from listeners! You can reach us at plainwrongpod at gmail.com, or on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. If you want to help support the podcast financially, please consider joining our Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/plainwrongpod or buying merch at TeePublic Follow us: Twitter: https://twitter.com/plainwrongpod Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/plainwrongpod/ Website: http://plainwrongpod.com/ “Just Plain Wrong” is produced, written and edited by Erin Milanese, Abby Nafziger and Matilda Yoder. Our intro music is played by Erin, and the outro by Miriam Augsburger. Both are "arrangements" of the Doxology from the Mennonite Hymnal. Logo design by Ida Yoder Short. Canva design (used for Social Media posts in Season 4 -6) by Abigail Adams.

In this episode we discuss the highlights of season 7, share some stats and also stories and corrections from our listeners. Highlights include the story of how the More with Less cookbook got into trouble with a chain of restaurants, the rise of ebikes in Mount Hope, OH, and more. Additionally, here are some of the resources shared by Steve Nolt about the Old Order River Brethren including: A number of very informative books in the MHL, about Amish and other Plain groups, were written by an Old Order River Brethren author, Steve Scott.  The occasional medical column in Pathway’s Family Life magazine that the MHL gets sometimes has a health Q&A with Dr. Michael Sauder, who is Old Order River Brethren.Another OORB of note is poet G. C. Waldrep, about to retire from Bucknell University. He is a convert to the OORB.  The OORB drive cars, have never limited higher education, and haven’t spoken PA Dutch for many generations, so they are, in some ways, an attractive option for converts who have higher ed and only speak English.  Interestingly, Waldrep provided a photo of Plain hat rather that a head short for his Poetry Foundation bio.  They don’t prohibit photos, but discourage them.  We always love hearing from listeners! You can reach us at plainwrongpod at gmail.com, or on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. If you want to help support the podcast financially, please consider joining our Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/plainwrongpod or buying merch at TeePublic Follow us: Twitter: https://twitter.com/plainwrongpod Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/plainwrongpod/ Website: http://plainwrongpod.com/ “Just Plain Wrong” is produced, written and edited by Erin Milanese, Abby Nafziger and Matilda Yoder. Our intro music is played by Erin, and the outro by Miriam Augsburger. Both are "arrangements" of the Doxology from the Mennonite Hymnal. Logo design by Ida Yoder Short. Canva design (used for Social Media posts in Season 4 -6) by Abigail Adams.

This week the MennoBrarians discuss the selection chosen for us by our Discernment Committee level Patreon members: Plain Truth by Jodi Picoult, published in 2000. This book has it all: a mysterious murder, a lying Amish teenager accused of the crime, a cutthroat but disillusioned big city lawyer, and a 28 year old ph.d. student studying ghosts that turns out to be the baby's father. We chat mysteries, plot twists, and what maybe didn't hold up so well 25 years after publication.  We always love hearing from listeners! You can reach us at plainwrongpod at gmail.com, or on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. If you want to help support the podcast financially, please consider joining our Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/plainwrongpod or buying merch at TeePublic Follow us: Twitter: https://twitter.com/plainwrongpod Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/plainwrongpod/ Website: http://plainwrongpod.com/ “Just Plain Wrong” is produced, written and edited by Erin Milanese, Abby Nafziger and Matilda Yoder. Our intro music is played by Erin, and the outro by Miriam Augsburger. Both are "arrangements" of the Doxology from the Mennonite Hymnal. Logo design by Ida Yoder Short. Canva design (used for Social Media posts in Season 4 -6) by Abigail Adams.

This week is part 2 of our cookbook series! We chat with Amy Harris-Aber, about Community Cookbooks - informally published cookbooks often associated with families, camps, or churches. We chat about Amy's research on Mennonite cookbooks, discuss our fave recipes and cookbooks, and much much more.  Amy's websiteAmy's article on Russian Mennonite Community CookbooksCookbooks / articles / books mentioned:  Feminist Rhetorical Practices – Jacqueline Jones Royster and Gesa E. KirschGoessel Centennial Cook BookRosie Grant - Gravestone Recipes (book), ghostly.archive (Insta account) Tasteful Domesticity – Sarah WaldenRecipes for Reading: Community Cookbooks, Stories, Histories – Ann BowerMelting Pot of Mennonite Cookery History of Cookbooks - Henry NotikerClaiming a Piece of Tradition: Community Discourse in Russian Claiming a Piece of Tradition: Community Discourse in Russian Mennonite Community Cookbooks by Amy Harris-AberErin’s -  Memories and Recipes from the family of Jesse & Anna Shetler  Abby’s - Wilderness Wind cookbook, 2nd editionTillie’s - From the Kitchens of CMC (Columbus Mennonite Church) We always love hearing from listeners! You can reach us at plainwrongpod at gmail.com, or on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. If you want to help support the podcast financially, please consider joining our Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/plainwrongpod or buying merch at TeePublic Follow us: Twitter: https://twitter.com/plainwrongpod Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/plainwrongpod/ Website: http://plainwrongpod.com/ “Just Plain Wrong” is produced, written and edited by Erin Milanese, Abby Nafziger and Matilda Yoder. Our intro music is played by Erin, and the outro by Miriam Augsburger. Both are "arrangements" of the Doxology from the Mennonite Hymnal. Logo design by Ida Yoder Short. Canva design (used for Social Media posts in Season 4 -6) by Abigail Adams.

This week, the MennoBrarians draft published Mennonite cookbooks. We chat cooking blogs, favorite recipes, and much much more.  Draft picks (stop reading if you don't want spoilers!):  Erin - Simply in SeasonAbby - More with LessTillie - Extending the TableTillie - Mennonite Community CookbookAbby - There’s always room at the table - Kaleb WyseErin - Peppernuts Plain and FancyErin - The Daily Feast - The Graber FamilyAbby - The Lost Art of Real Cooking: Rediscovering the Pleasure of Traditional Food One Recipe at a time by Ken Albala and Rosanna Nafziger, 2010Tillie - Food that Really Schmecks: Mennonite Country CookingHonorable Mentions Menno-Night Caps, Sherri KlassenMe, Myself, and Pie: Amish Recipes. Sherry GoreMelting Pot of Mennonite Cookery: 1874-1974, Edna Ramsayer Kaufman Homage: recipes and stories from an Amish soul food kitchen, Chris Scott  We always love hearing from listeners! You can reach us at plainwrongpod at gmail.com, or on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. If you want to help support the podcast financially, please consider joining our Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/plainwrongpod or buying merch at TeePublic Follow us: Twitter: https://twitter.com/plainwrongpod Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/plainwrongpod/ Website: http://plainwrongpod.com/ “Just Plain Wrong” is produced, written and edited by Erin Milanese, Abby Nafziger and Matilda Yoder. Our intro music is played by Erin, and the outro by Miriam Augsburger. Both are "arrangements" of the Doxology from the Mennonite Hymnal. Logo design by Ida Yoder Short. Canva design (used for Social Media posts in Season 4 -6) by Abigail Adams.

This week, the MennoBrarians chat with Karen Johnson-Weiner about her book, The Lives of Amish Women. The book captures the diversity of the experiences of Amish women, with Johnson-Weiner's research relying heavily on correspondence and interviews with members of Amish communities. We chat about her research, her friendships with Amish women, why there hasn't been much research published on Amish women and much more! We really enjoyed The Lives of Amish Women and recommend you add it to your reading lists if this is a subject that interests you. Note: The audio for this episode is more "echo-y" than usual due to Karen needing to record in an unexpected location (a stairwell!). Thank you to Johns Hopkins University Press for providing us with review copies of the book.  Links: Lives of Amish Women Karen Johnson-Weiner's website We always love hearing from listeners! You can reach us at plainwrongpod at gmail.com, or on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. If you want to help support the podcast financially, please consider joining our Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/plainwrongpod or buying merch at TeePublic Follow us: Twitter: https://twitter.com/plainwrongpod Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/plainwrongpod/ Website: http://plainwrongpod.com/ “Just Plain Wrong” is produced, written and edited by Erin Milanese, Abby Nafziger and Matilda Yoder. Our intro music is played by Erin, and the outro by Miriam Augsburger. Both are "arrangements" of the Doxology from the Mennonite Hymnal. Logo design by Ida Yoder Short. Canva design (used for Social Media posts in Season 4 -6) by Abigail Adams.

This week, the MennoBrarians chat about the movie "Holy Matrimony," a 1994 comedy movie starring Patricia Arquette and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. In the movie, Patricia Arquette's character, Havanna, is unknowingly dragged into a Hutterite colony by her boyfriend Peter who she is forced to marry, and then after Peter dies in a car accident days later, she must marry Zeke, Peter's 12-year old brother per the rules of the colony. If you think that's weird, just wait til you hear us break down the rest of the plot! We do a very detailed plot recap, and chat Hutterites (who, for the record, do not believe in Levirite marriage), state and county fairs, and what on earth this movie was trying to do.  You can find Holy Matrimony streaming on YouTube.  We also reference the podcast How Did This Get Made? that does an episode on Holy Matrimony: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLQbY4byIUo (or you can find wherever you get your podcasts).  We always love hearing from listeners! You can reach us at plainwrongpod at gmail.com, or on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. If you want to help support the podcast financially, please consider joining our Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/plainwrongpod or buying merch at TeePublic Follow us: Twitter: https://twitter.com/plainwrongpod Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/plainwrongpod/ Website: http://plainwrongpod.com/ “Just Plain Wrong” is produced, written and edited by Erin Milanese, Abby Nafziger and Matilda Yoder. Our intro music is played by Erin, and the outro by Miriam Augsburger. Both are "arrangements" of the Doxology from the Mennonite Hymnal. Logo design by Ida Yoder Short. Canva design (used for Social Media posts in Season 4 -6) by Abigail Adams.

This week, we chat with Eric Bradley, our friend, colleague, and the new Head Librarian of the Mennonite Historical Library (MHL). We chat primarily about genealogy and genealogy research, but also touch on MHL resources, Eric's faith journey, and much more. Some of the genealogy resources mentioned in this episode:  Swiss Anabaptist Genealogical Association https://www.saga-omii.org/Grandma Online: https://grandmaonline.org/gmol-7/login.aspFamily Search: https://www.familysearch.org/en/united-states/Mennonite Historical Library website: https://www.goshen.edu/mhl/  We always love hearing from listeners! You can reach us at plainwrongpod at gmail.com, or on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. If you want to help support the podcast financially, please consider joining our Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/plainwrongpod or buying merch at TeePublic Follow us: Twitter: https://twitter.com/plainwrongpod Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/plainwrongpod/ Website: http://plainwrongpod.com/ “Just Plain Wrong” is produced, written and edited by Erin Milanese, Abby Nafziger and Matilda Yoder. Our intro music is played by Erin, and the outro by Miriam Augsburger. Both are "arrangements" of the Doxology from the Mennonite Hymnal. Logo design by Ida Yoder Short. Canva design (used for Social Media posts in Season 4 -6) by Abigail Adams.

This week, the MennoBrarians draft poets! Specifically, Mennonite poets, or poets we make the case are close enough to Mennonite to count as Mennonite poets. We chat about the history of Mennonite poetry, share the bios and snippets from our favorite poems, and chat about our own poetry phases - including Abby doing a special reading of a poem she wrote as a tween, Snowflake, Snowflake.  Draft picks:  1. Patrick Friesen, "The Moon in the Streets" (Tillie) 2. Kate Baer, "Life a Wife" (Abby) 3. Julia Kasdorf, "The Mennonites" (Erin) 4. Carrie Newcomer, "I Believe" (Erin) 5. Jean Jantzen, "Wild Grapes" (Abby) 6. Jeff Gundy, "The Cookie Poem" and "How to Write the New Mennonite Poem" (Tillie) 7. Yorifumi Yaguchi, "Gravestones" (Tillie) 8. David Wright, "A New Mennonite Replies to Julia Kasdorf" (Abby) 9. Ann Hostetler, "Iconoclast", and also editor of A Capella, an anthology of Mennonite poetry Honorable mentions (we cut this portion of the podcast for time, but want to still give these poets a shout out!) - Jesse Nathan (Erin) - Daniel Shank-Cruz (Tillie) - Dennis Hoffman (Tillie) We always love hearing from listeners! You can reach us at plainwrongpod at gmail.com, or on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. If you want to help support the podcast financially, please consider joining our Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/plainwrongpod or buying merch at TeePublic Follow us: Twitter: https://twitter.com/plainwrongpod Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/plainwrongpod/ Website: http://plainwrongpod.com/ “Just Plain Wrong” is produced, written and edited by Erin Milanese, Abby Nafziger and Matilda Yoder. Our intro music is played by Erin, and the outro by Miriam Augsburger. Both are "arrangements" of the Doxology from the Mennonite Hymnal. Logo design by Ida Yoder Short. Canva design (used for Social Media posts in Season 4 -6) by Abigail Adams.

This week, the MennoBrarians chat about Charlos Whittaker's book Reconnected, a memoir about giving up technology and living with Amish for several weeks. We chat about the early days of cell phones, Carlos' experience with the Amish, which bits of his advice we liked, and much more.  Carlos Whittaker is a christian social media influencer, speaker, author, and podcaster, who promotes ideas related to faith, politics, mental health and well being, and dialoguing with those that disagree with us. You can find him @loswhit, and his book, Reconnected, wherever you like to get your books.  We always love hearing from listeners! You can reach us at plainwrongpod at gmail.com, or on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. If you want to help support the podcast financially, please consider joining our Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/plainwrongpod or buying merch at TeePublic Follow us: Twitter: https://twitter.com/plainwrongpod Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/plainwrongpod/ Website: http://plainwrongpod.com/ “Just Plain Wrong” is produced, written and edited by Erin Milanese, Abby Nafziger and Matilda Yoder. Our intro music is played by Erin, and the outro by Miriam Augsburger. Both are "arrangements" of the Doxology from the Mennonite Hymnal. Logo design by Ida Yoder Short. Canva design (used for Social Media posts in Season 4 -6) by Abigail Adams.

This week the MennoBrarians chat about the TV show Only in America, in which host Larry the Cable Guy visits different parts of the United States to learn about different cultures.  We cover episode 18 of season 1, "Larry is Amish" in which Larry visits Milwaukee, WI, Amish Country, and the Houston Art Car parade. It turns out, Larry doesn't actually visit the Amish, he visits an Old Order River Brethren that makes sauerkraut. We chat cabbage, Brethren, redneck jokes, and much much more.  We always love hearing from listeners! You can reach us at plainwrongpod at gmail.com, or on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. If you want to help support the podcast financially, please consider joining our Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/plainwrongpod or buying merch at TeePublic Follow us: Twitter: https://twitter.com/plainwrongpod Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/plainwrongpod/ Website: http://plainwrongpod.com/ “Just Plain Wrong” is produced, written and edited by Erin Milanese, Abby Nafziger and Matilda Yoder. Our intro music is played by Erin, and the outro by Miriam Augsburger. Both are "arrangements" of the Doxology from the Mennonite Hymnal. Logo design by Ida Yoder Short. Canva design (used for Social Media posts in Season 4 -6) by Abigail Adams.

This week, the Mennobrarians are back with a snake draft! In this snake draft, we choose our favorite Christian media we watched, read, or listened to as kids.  Stop reading here if you want our draft picks to be a surprise!  Final draft board:  Round 1  Abby - I Can Make Peace: Stories and Songs for ChildrenErin - VeggieTalesTillie - The New Picture Book of Saints by Rev. Lawrence Lovasik https://archive.org/details/picturebookofsai0000unse Round 2 Tillie - Matilda Bone by Karen CushmanErin - Kids Praise 2-4 by Psalty the Singing SongbookAbby - The entire Chronicles of Narnia  Round 3 Abby - Coals of Fire, Elizabeth Hershberger Bauman, 1954Erin - With magazine, Herald PressTillie - The Ring of Endless Light by Madeleine L’EngleRound 4 Tillie - Many Waters by Madeleine L’EngleErin - The Buttercream Gang (movie), 1992 (found on YouTube: https://youtu.be/ukAC7eUgGnE?si=v7arTexM_NYKj1pi)Abby - The Great Shalom by Peter J. Dyck 1990Honorable Mentions Tillie - Lord of the Rings (not really Christian)Erin - Magee and Me - Twister and ShoutAbby - Piercing the Darkness by Frank E. Peretti We always love hearing from listeners! You can reach us at plainwrongpod at gmail.com, or on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. If you want to help support the podcast financially, please consider joining our Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/plainwrongpod or buying merch at TeePublic Follow us: Twitter: https://twitter.com/plainwrongpod Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/plainwrongpod/ Website: http://plainwrongpod.com/ “Just Plain Wrong” is produced, written and edited by Erin Milanese, Abby Nafziger and Matilda Yoder. Our intro music is played by Erin, and the outro by Miriam Augsburger. Both are "arrangements" of the Doxology from the Mennonite Hymnal. Logo design by Ida Yoder Short. Canva design (used for Social Media posts in Season 4 -6) by Abigail Adams.

This week, the MennoBrarians chat with JB Miller about Pinecraft, growing up gay in the Conservative Mennnonite Church, orange Jello, the perfect tourist day in Sarasota, and much much more. JB is a life long Mennonite, who grew up in a variety of Conservative Mennonite denominations, and experienced life in the Pinecraft area as both a child and as an adult.  We always love hearing from listeners! You can reach us at plainwrongpod at gmail.com, or on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. If you want to help support the podcast financially, please consider joining our Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/plainwrongpod or buying merch at TeePublic Follow us: Twitter: https://twitter.com/plainwrongpod Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/plainwrongpod/ Website: http://plainwrongpod.com/ “Just Plain Wrong” is produced, written and edited by Erin Milanese, Abby Nafziger and Matilda Yoder. Our intro music is played by Erin, and the outro by Miriam Augsburger. Both are "arrangements" of the Doxology from the Mennonite Hymnal. Logo design by Ida Yoder Short. Canva design (used for Social Media posts in Season 4 -6) by Abigail Adams.