Andy Warhol once (allegedly) said that “in the future, everyone will be famous for fifteen minutes.” This is often heralded as a prescient statement and indicative of our times, especially in an age of social media. However, I would argue that the statement needs a little finessing. It isn’t so much that everyone gets their…
Legendary Canadian rock band The Guess Who are finally in the pages of Rolling Stone again. While the band went through several lineup changes in the 1960s and 70s, The Guess Who is most well-known for the songs they recorded while Burton Cummings was lead singer. From “American Woman” and “These Eyes” to “No Time”…
Some might see the difference between a news-style satirist and a peddler in fake news as rather subtle. Superficially, both are presenting “false” narratives, which on the surface have the appearance of truth. However, writers of satirical news, as seen in The Onion, The Beaverton, and my own website The Unger Review, never intend to…
Struggling ghostwriter Timothy Heppner lives in a small Manitoba town where he writes family histories and genealogies for local people. Sounds innocent enough, but Edenfeld is not particularly kind to its writers and Timothy is concerned. After all, Elsie Dyck, the town’s most famous author, has gone missing, presumably booted out of town after her…
A number of months ago the City of Steinbach approved a new honourary street sign policy. As soon as I heard about it and read the criteria, I immediately thought this this was perfect opportunity for our community to honour our most notable literary export Miriam Toews. To me, she was the most obvious name…
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In many aspects of life, especially politics, it’s seen as a sign of weakness to change one’s mind. While I certainly don’t discount the criticism laid upon politicians whose policy or opinions seem to shift with the wind, or those who pander to whatever group will get them elected, I do think we need to…
My first awareness of The Beatles was in Woodlawn School in Steinbach back in the mid-1980s. I don’t remember much, but the older students were doing some kind of dramatic performance in the gymnasium and, for a brief moment, “The Beatles” made an appearance. I remember asking my teacher who or what I had just…
I’m excited to announce that my new novel Once Removed (2020, Turnstone Press) is available now! Ask for it at your local independent bookseller! An affectionate pastiche of small-town Mennonite life, replete with duty, folly, irreverence, and joy. —David Bergen Hilarious as Schitt’s Creek, sinister as Hitchcock, Once Removed gives us Timothy Heppner, the quintessential non-resistant Mennonite, in a comic…
I started the Daily Bonnet on a whim, really. Back in 2016, I wrote one article about Steinbach city council moving the entire community to the Mennonite Heritage Village and posted it on my website. After a few days I noticed that thousands of people had read it and I figured, “hey, people seem to…