Uncovered: Life Beyond

Send us Fan Mail

We reflect on last week's episode and the events that prompted it--such as public figures spreading misconceptions about Amish culture and failing to honor the truths of those living in high-demand religion. We stress the importance of listening to and respecting the broad range of individual experiences that together make up a culture far more dynamic and complex than any fiction writer could imagine. We also ask how our world might change if more women took our professed ideals and values more seriously than we do keeping the secrets of powerful men. 

Links Mentioned in the Episode

Previous episode we referenced: 21. The Fantasy and Fallout of Amish-themed Romance Novels
Complete, unedited panel discussion: Coffee with JC, Ruth, Rebecca, and Naomi on YouTube Live; Hosted by Mary Byler (Abe Troyer and Old Order Amish); produced by The Misfit Amish 2024

The danger of a single story (Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s TED Talk)

Rhetorical Listening (brief summary) 

Women Talking (Official Trailer) The film takes a Russian Mennonite colony in South America dealing with the fallout of rape culture as its jumping off point and then explores the revolutionary possibility of these devout women taking their future in their own hands. It is self-described as “an act of female imagination.”

Women Talking (Miriam Toews; Extended Preview)

Thanks for listening! Connect with us via

• Facebook: Uncovered: Life Beyond 
• Instagram: @uncoveredlifebeyond
• Email: [email protected]
• Website: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2171591

Subscribe (for free) to Uncovered: Life Beyond on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, or wherever you get your podcasts so you'll never miss an episode!

What topics at the intersection of education, high-demand religion, career, parenting, and emotional intelligence are of interest to you? Help us plan future episodes by taking this quick listener survey. We appreciate your input very much!

Send us Fan Mail

Ever wonder what it would be like to step into the world represented by Amish-themed romance novels? Well, just as the cottages in a Thomas Kincade painting don't actually exist (has anyone ever seen glowing windows in the middle of the day?), neither do the communities of Beverly Lewis' imagination. These books  reflect as much about Amish culture as the Little House on the Prairie TV show  tells us about pioneer life.  But is it all just harmless fluff and fun? Does it really matter since fiction is fiction, after all? Naomi and Rebecca join a few friends to discuss the impact of these books on the lives of actual Amish women and the material harm it does to romanticize a culture as they do. We are publishing the first thirty minutes of our conversation here.

Listen to our complete discussion:
Coffee with JC, Ruth, Rebecca & Naomi (Misfit Amish Podcast)
Coffee with JC, Ruth, Rebecca, and Naomi (YouTube Live)
Hosted by Mary Byler (Abe Troyer and Old Order Amish); Produced by The Misfit Amish 2024

Connect with JC on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@jc_8287?_t=8jpv1gr8jew&_r=1

Sins of the Amish | Official Trailer | Peacock Original

Thanks for listening! Connect with us via

• Facebook: Uncovered: Life Beyond 
• Instagram: @uncoveredlifebeyond
• Email: [email protected]
• Website: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2171591

Subscribe (for free) to Uncovered: Life Beyond on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, or wherever you get your podcasts so you'll never miss an episode!

What topics at the intersection of education, high-demand religion, career, parenting, and emotional intelligence are of interest to you? Help us plan future episodes by taking this quick listener survey. We appreciate your input very much!

Send us Fan Mail

What if putting my child in daycare is going to mess them up forever? Am I sacrificing their wellbeing for my personal ambition? These are the kinds of questions many mothers face as they consider college and/or joining the workforce.  We respond to a listener question about navigating the guilt that is often heaped upon mothers who break the family tradition of being a stay-at-home mom. We reflect on our own experiences with childcare while acknowledging the irony of hesitating to ask for childcare when we've been providers ourselves. We unpack some of the challenges that come with making the best choices for our children while pointing out how broader gender norms and social policies shape the limited options available to American parents. (Warning: It gets a little punchy!) In the long run, arbitrary rules and cultural prejudices won't keep children safe; children thrive when they have curious, connected, and fulfilled parents.

Links (we should have) mentioned in the show: 

• Child care and the damage myth - The Conversation
• What Do We Know About the Effects of Early Child Care? (pdf)
• 5 Lies I Believed About Childcare - Motherly

Thanks for listening! Connect with us via

• Facebook: Uncovered: Life Beyond 
• Instagram: @uncoveredlifebeyond
• Email: [email protected]
• Website: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2171591

Subscribe (for free) to Uncovered: Life Beyond on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, or wherever you get your podcasts so you'll never miss an episode!

What topics at the intersection of education, high-demand religion, career, parenting, and emotional intelligence are of interest to you? Help us plan future episodes by taking this quick listener survey. We appreciate your input very much!

Send us Fan Mail

Ever been sucker-punched by the realization that you've dropped the ball on something super important? If so, come sit with us! In this episode we unpack big feelings about a recent slip-up in the balancing act of work, family, and school. We can't tell you how to prevent the curveballs, but we can assure you that you're not alone and that it's all part of being human.  In fact, asking for grace and leaning on each other is not only natural—it's essential for our collective well-being.

What shall we talk about next? Click this link to Vote for Upcoming Topics.

Thanks for listening! Connect with us via

• Facebook: Uncovered: Life Beyond 
• Instagram: @uncoveredlifebeyond
• Email: [email protected]
• Website: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2171591

Subscribe (for free) to Uncovered: Life Beyond on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, or wherever you get your podcasts so you'll never miss an episode!

What topics at the intersection of education, high-demand religion, career, parenting, and emotional intelligence are of interest to you? Help us plan future episodes by taking this quick listener survey. We appreciate your input very much!

Send us Fan Mail

Listen in as Rebecca and Naomi rehash a weekend last fall with a few far-flung cousins where the coffee and conversation flowed freely. 

Items mentioned in the show: 

• Help plan future episodes! Click this link to Vote for Upcoming Topics
• Behalt: Amish & Mennonite Heritage Center

Naomi’s Book Haul: 

The Narrow Way of Self-Denial: An Amish Man’s Counsel for His Children by D.J. Stutzman (1917; reprinted by Sweetwater Publications, 2006)

History of our Parochial Schools and Newspaper Clippings of Prosecution Times compiled by Henry and MaryAnn Raber (2021)

Ich Kann PA Deitsch Shreiva by Tomas Beachy (Carlisle Press, 2011)

Speaking Amish: A Beginner’s Introduction to Pennsylvania German by Lillian Stoltzfus (Eckshank Publishing, 2013)

The Amazing Story of the Ausbund: The Oldest Hymnal in the World Known to Still be in Continuous Use by Benuel S. Blank (Blank Family Books, 2021)

Grounded upon God’s Word: The Life and Labors of Jakob Ammann by Andrew V. Ste. Marie  and Mike Atnip (Cross Bearers, 2020)

Report for Duty by Lily A. Bear (Christian Light Publications, 2016)

Pacifists in Chains: The Persecution of Hutterites During the Great War by Duane C.S. Stoltzfus (Young Center, 2013)

Rebecca’s Book Haul

Hope’s Table by Hope Helmuth (Herald Press, 2019)

Jacob’s Choice by Ervin R. Stutzman (Herald Press, 2014)

Tom Lyons: The Indains among the Amish by Wayne R. Miller (Ohio Amish Library, 2017)

The Amish in Switzerland and other European Countries by Betty Miller

Memorial History of Peter Bitsche: Complete Family Register 1767-1892 (Trollope Press, 2008)

Thanks for listening! Connect with us via

• Facebook: Uncovered: Life Beyond 
• Instagram: @uncoveredlifebeyond
• Email: [email protected]
• Website: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2171591

Subscribe (for free) to Uncovered: Life Beyond on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, or wherever you get your podcasts so you'll never miss an episode!

What topics at the intersection of education, high-demand religion, career, parenting, and emotional intelligence are of interest to you? Help us plan future episodes by taking this quick listener survey. We appreciate your input very much!

Send us Fan Mail

The Scandal of Women Protesting Patriarchal Click-Bait 

After their unplanned absence, Naomi and Rebecca are back to discuss changes to the podcast, catch up on life, and break down some recent distress expressed online at women taking issue with offensive theology. 

Help plan future episodes! Click this link to Vote for Upcoming Topics.

Articles mentioned in the episode:

• Josh Butler Resigns as Pastor Following TGC Article Backlash (Christianity Today)
• Stop Telling Women They’re Crazy (Refinery29)

Thanks for listening! Connect with us via

• Facebook: Uncovered: Life Beyond 
• Instagram: @uncoveredlifebeyond
• Email: [email protected]
• Website: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2171591

Subscribe (for free) to Uncovered: Life Beyond on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, or wherever you get your podcasts so you'll never miss an episode!

What topics at the intersection of education, high-demand religion, career, parenting, and emotional intelligence are of interest to you? Help us plan future episodes by taking this quick listener survey. We appreciate your input very much!

Send us Fan Mail

In this episode, Rebecca and Naomi discuss the fraught issue of fashion and personal style after growing up in plain culture where your clothes not only broadcast your church identity and social status but also are interpreted as indicators of your spiritual health and family cohesiveness. Rebecca and Naomi don't tell you what to wear, but they do suggest some ways to reframe familiar narratives about modesty and guilt that have helped them feel less judgmental and more accepting of themselves and others.

Show Notes

Brené Brown on Fitting in vs. Belonging: https://www.instagram.com/reel/CvVPGG7JYVH/?igshid=MWZjMTM2ODFkZg==

Sheila Wray Gregoire’s discussion on what modesty means in the Bible:

https://baremarriage.com/2019/03/new-look-at-christian-modesty-guidelines/

Sheila Wray Gregoire’s guide for talking to a woman about what she’s wearing: 

https://baremarriage.com/2023/05/should-you-talk-woman-about-what-shes-wearing-dress-codes-modesty/

Thanks for listening! Connect with us via

• Facebook: Uncovered: Life Beyond 
• Instagram: @uncoveredlifebeyond
• Email: [email protected]
• Website: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2171591

Subscribe (for free) to Uncovered: Life Beyond on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, or wherever you get your podcasts so you'll never miss an episode!

What topics at the intersection of education, high-demand religion, career, parenting, and emotional intelligence are of interest to you? Help us plan future episodes by taking this quick listener survey. We appreciate your input very much!

Send us Fan Mail

If you're wondering how you're ever going to manage all the caregiving, paid work, and school on your plate this fall, you're in the right place! In this episode Naomi and Rebecca discuss their own sense of overwhelm at all the things coming at them in the new school year and share survival tips they've learned over the years. Come for the solidarity and stay for a vision of a brighter tomorrow. 

Resources mentioned in this episode: 

• "Other countries have social safety nets. The U.S. has women" by Anne Helen Petersen 
• Fair Play: A Game-Changing Solution for When You Have Too Much to Do (and More Life to Live) by Eve Rodsky

Thanks for listening! Connect with us via

• Facebook: Uncovered: Life Beyond 
• Instagram: @uncoveredlifebeyond
• Email: [email protected]
• Website: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2171591

Subscribe (for free) to Uncovered: Life Beyond on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, or wherever you get your podcasts so you'll never miss an episode!

What topics at the intersection of education, high-demand religion, career, parenting, and emotional intelligence are of interest to you? Help us plan future episodes by taking this quick listener survey. We appreciate your input very much!

Send us Fan Mail

It may seem that Wisconsin vs. Yoder was a major win for the Amish since today 85-90% of Amish young people continue in the tradition and the Old Order population doubles nearly every twenty years. However, in this episode, Naomi and Rebecca take a closer look at the realities of Amish life more than half a century out from that landmark Supreme Court decision. They find that banning formal high school education not only sabotages the lives of young people who leave (as was intended), but it also shortchanges the lives of those who stay. 

Show Notes

• Full Transcript of the 1971 Wisconsin v. Yoder Supreme Court Hearing (The Amish Heritage Foundation)
• Wisconsin v. Yoder (Audio version of oral testimony) 
• Full text of William O. Douglas’ dissenting opinion: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Wisconsin_v._Yoder/Dissent_Douglas
• "Yoder" Revisited: Why the Landmark Amish Schooling Case Could—And Should—Be Overturned (Gage Raley in the Virginia Law Review).
• "Heritage versus History in Amish Tourism" (Susan Bieseker) 
• Plain Truth (Jodi Picoult)
• Candid Amish elders quoted by Tom Shachtman in Rumspringa: To Be or Not to Be Amish (p. 261)
• Do Amish One-Room Schools Make the Grade? The Dubious Data of "Wisconsin v Yoder” (William Fischel)

Thanks for listening! Connect with us via

• Facebook: Uncovered: Life Beyond 
• Instagram: @uncoveredlifebeyond
• Email: [email protected]
• Website: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2171591

Subscribe (for free) to Uncovered: Life Beyond on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, or wherever you get your podcasts so you'll never miss an episode!

What topics at the intersection of education, high-demand religion, career, parenting, and emotional intelligence are of interest to you? Help us plan future episodes by taking this quick listener survey. We appreciate your input very much!

Send us Fan Mail

The reality that Amish teens are prevented from attending high school has been supported by broader American society for more than fifty years–and is often even romanticized as a cultural norm to celebrate. Yet how is this situation possible at a time when education is so crucial to becoming an employable adult? In this episode, Naomi and Rebecca discuss the internal contradictions and inconsistent logic of Wisconsin vs. Yoder, the 1972 Supreme Court decision that exempted youth in Amish (as well as in  Amish Mennonite, Old Order Mennonite, and conservative Mennonite) communities from formal schooling beyond eighth grade. 

Link to Show Transcript 

Show Notes

Full Transcript of the 1971 Wisconsin v. Yoder Supreme Court Hearing (The Amish Heritage Foundation)

Wisconsin v. Yoder (Audio version of oral testimony) 

Full text of William O. Douglas’ dissenting opinion: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Wisconsin_v._Yoder/Dissent_Douglas

"Yoder" Revisited: Why the Landmark Amish Schooling Case Could—And Should—Be Overturned (Gage Raley in the Virginia Law Review).

"Framing Affirmative Action" by Kimberlé Crenshaw

Thanks for listening! Connect with us via

• Facebook: Uncovered: Life Beyond 
• Instagram: @uncoveredlifebeyond
• Email: [email protected]
• Website: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2171591

Subscribe (for free) to Uncovered: Life Beyond on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, or wherever you get your podcasts so you'll never miss an episode!

What topics at the intersection of education, high-demand religion, career, parenting, and emotional intelligence are of interest to you? Help us plan future episodes by taking this quick listener survey. We appreciate your input very much!