http://www.jessicadawnpenner.com/photographs daily 0.75 2017-08-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/53c01d0ce4b0a131cc9b5c63/1501953865311-FZB48JNISZ4IAP99U6M6/Shaken+in+the+Water+Cropped+Cover.png Images https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/53c01d0ce4b0a131cc9b5c63/1501953865311-FZB48JNISZ4IAP99U6M6/Shaken+in+the+Water+Cropped+Cover.png Images https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/53c01d0ce4b0a131cc9b5c63/1405135302343-4JOGXEEOOJ8730YGXYP8/SITW+Cover.jpg Images https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/53c01d0ce4b0a131cc9b5c63/1501953207565-BR1N0TKR7NURNHL6R8F2/Close+Shot+B%26W.jpg Images https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/53c01d0ce4b0a131cc9b5c63/1405281267664-OIQA3UYZJF3I26BVP7VO/Cover+Photo+with+other+books.jpg Images http://www.jessicadawnpenner.com/book-reviews daily 0.75 2020-07-18 http://www.jessicadawnpenner.com/book-reviews/2018/9/18/marry-a-mennonite-boy-and-make-pie-by-diana-r-zimmerman monthly 0.5 2018-09-20 http://www.jessicadawnpenner.com/book-reviews/tag/Memoir monthly 0.5 http://www.jessicadawnpenner.com/book-reviews/tag/Book+Review monthly 0.5 http://www.jessicadawnpenner.com/book-reviews/tag/Mennonite monthly 0.5 http://www.jessicadawnpenner.com/conversations daily 0.75 2019-09-13 http://www.jessicadawnpenner.com/homecoming daily 0.75 2022-04-08 http://www.jessicadawnpenner.com/homecoming/2022/4/8/mri- monthly 0.5 2022-04-08 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/53c01d0ce4b0a131cc9b5c63/12e075bb-820c-4284-9307-e93bb215f307/Rainbow+Feet.jpg Homecoming - MRI #? - Make it stand out Looking down always bring surprises. http://www.jessicadawnpenner.com/homecoming/2021/9/11/living-in-the-layers monthly 0.5 2021-09-11 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/53c01d0ce4b0a131cc9b5c63/1631387590520-MWLERWDFAG3I9BA0YID0/Jessica_10_2020.jpg Homecoming - Living in the Layers - Make it stand out “I see the milestones dwindling / toward the horizon / and the slow fires trailing / from the abandoned camp-sites, / over which scavenger angels / wheel on heavy wings.” - “The Layers,” by Stanley Kunitz http://www.jessicadawnpenner.com/homecoming/2021/4/10/for-tourists monthly 0.5 2021-04-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/53c01d0ce4b0a131cc9b5c63/1618068936457-U7S91TB3GH3EBT7FQUDR/Chyrsler%2C+April+2021.jpg Homecoming - For Tourists - Always look up https://www.instagram.com/jessica.dawn.penner/ http://www.jessicadawnpenner.com/homecoming/2021/3/27/enter-spring monthly 0.5 2021-03-27 http://www.jessicadawnpenner.com/homecoming/2020/3/30/water monthly 0.5 2021-01-06 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/53c01d0ce4b0a131cc9b5c63/1609892841303-J0QUV95DL9I4E61FTZHM/USQ_Reflection_2020.jpg Homecoming - Water Union Square, New York City (Oct. 2020) http://www.jessicadawnpenner.com/homecoming/2020/12/31/homecoming-2020 monthly 0.5 2020-12-31 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/53c01d0ce4b0a131cc9b5c63/1609442863128-3HNOIG41TFWRUO5CEJ1L/Coney_Island_12_2020.jpg Homecoming - 2020 in One Image 2020 http://www.jessicadawnpenner.com/homecoming/2020/3/16/waiting monthly 0.5 2020-03-16 http://www.jessicadawnpenner.com/homecoming/tag/waiting monthly 0.5 http://www.jessicadawnpenner.com/homecoming/tag/MRI monthly 0.5 http://www.jessicadawnpenner.com/homecoming/tag/disability monthly 0.5 http://www.jessicadawnpenner.com/homecoming/tag/Writing monthly 0.5 http://www.jessicadawnpenner.com/homecoming/tag/Spring monthly 0.5 http://www.jessicadawnpenner.com/bio daily 0.75 2019-12-01 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/53c01d0ce4b0a131cc9b5c63/1575218990364-X7N8DG4WBO3IQG2XQ7A6/Jessica+Penner+2019.jpg Bio http://www.jessicadawnpenner.com/shaken-in-the-water daily 1.0 2017-01-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/53c01d0ce4b0a131cc9b5c63/1483590399405-4I2Q23D28AQMASU0GU2E/image-asset.png Home https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/53c01d0ce4b0a131cc9b5c63/1483590616271-OSWMORFJ7K5VAAOTFU8X/image-asset.png Home http://www.jessicadawnpenner.com/reviews-of-sitw daily 0.75 2020-11-16 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/53c01d0ce4b0a131cc9b5c63/1405131728353-V6XFCK62HONWTYBAZQJX/image-asset.jpeg Reviews of Shaken in the Water "Many novels portray the experiences of Canadian Russian Mennonites, but very few, especially recently, depict Russian Mennonites in the U.S., and it is exciting that Shaken in the Water remedies this lack. " https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/53c01d0ce4b0a131cc9b5c63/1405282052147-5P1IOMDI9ILQ9Q6X0Q1C/image-asset.jpeg Reviews of Shaken in the Water "Penner’s writing style is lyrical and precise, a pleasure to read. The absence of quotation marks in dialogue and the use of both High and Low German – sometimes translated, sometimes not – help to build a sense of otherness, of a community that understands its own rules even as it chafes against them. The sense of place is very strong; I could feel the blinding sun and smell the wheat and dust of harvest." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/53c01d0ce4b0a131cc9b5c63/1405120306890-1V9TJDNA5UBCQ58ITYSA/image-asset.jpeg Reviews of Shaken in the Water "I see the book as a mosaic made up of broken dishes--you take this mess of tragedy or clumsiness or both and try to build something beautiful and proud. Each jagged little piece has its mate. You just have to find the right fracture." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/53c01d0ce4b0a131cc9b5c63/1405133336893-FNUUFTRQUYVDQOQMB543/image-asset.jpeg Reviews of Shaken in the Water "[The] religious themes do not translate to holy or even upbeat ones. There are references to incest and abuse. And nearly all marriages are filled with pain. Nevertheless, one wants to muddle through and find the gem that clearly glimmers under the surface." Photo by David Penner https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/53c01d0ce4b0a131cc9b5c63/1405134225110-GEKHF4FO32GHV5LSKALD/image-asset.jpeg Reviews of Shaken in the Water "Although we do like these characters, Penner defies you to become overly sentimental about them. They are all thoroughly flawed human beings. We can relate to their struggle, but I found myself sometimes wanting to hold them at arm’s length, shocked by the confessions that poured forth from them and troubled by their compromises. But this inherently flawed nature, while harder to read and less easy to digest, is also what makes this book feel real." http://www.jessicadawnpenner.com/work daily 0.75 2024-08-06 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/53c01d0ce4b0a131cc9b5c63/1405278180604-UDFE8IHVSETZFY9QO0BD/image-asset.jpeg Nonfiction “The patient is my god in the operating room,” my neurosurgeon said shortly after the towers fell on September 11. This he said to my small gathering of supporters in a hospital waiting room. This he said to assure them that he would not be distracted by world events while he was operating on my event. "Mustard Seed" won an honorable mention in the Burns Archive Nonfiction contest and was nominated for a Pushcart Prize Mustard Seed https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/53c01d0ce4b0a131cc9b5c63/1405280662388-A05FRVRTCT29NORPEHQZ/image-asset.jpeg Nonfiction My devotion to New York is somewhat founded on September 11. New York and I have both been through hell. We are battered, but we are survivors. Why I Left New York (And Returned) Photo by Lisa Marie Basile https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/53c01d0ce4b0a131cc9b5c63/1405277796312-29CKOYZRSD9NTKMS1YS0/image-asset.jpeg Nonfiction I­ am frustrated because I know my pitch is off—if there was someone who could cue the right pitch I could carry the tune better and more stars would shimmer along. I sing louder in hopes that the volume might do the trick. I am angry. At myself. At the stubborn stars. At the screeching that begins to ring in my ears .Hymn Sing https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/53c01d0ce4b0a131cc9b5c63/1537549414989-0RWCHXJHUQNC7I0P3Y2K/Total+Eclipse+2017.JPG Nonfiction It's been my observation that if one is disabled, one becomes an expert at waiting. Like any muscle, waiting is honed after repeated use. I often witness examples of the waiting muscle in bodies that are missed by the abled eye. The waiting for elevators that are too full of abled passengers. The waiting behind the abled at crowded bus stops. The waiting in front of a broken subway elevator. The waiting outside an inaccessible building for one's companions to emerge. The waiting at the only accessible entrance in an alleyway for someone to open the door. The waiting for abled passengers to exit the plane or train. The waiting for the abled driver to appear and move their car parked too closely to the disabled parking space. Those who are waiting in any of those scenarios have a Buddha-like calm—not because they are calm, but because they know that they must remain calm for the abled eye that will note their frustration and possibly use it against them. It is perfectly acceptable for an abled person to rant about the inconvenience of a wait, but when a disabled person rants, there is a general assumption of mental dysfunction in the rants, rather than empathy, or, at the very least, the thought that the person is just an asshole. It's difficult to be an asshole when one is a disabled person. Waiting https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/53c01d0ce4b0a131cc9b5c63/1533238299447-S0JJMTB7UAKGZ127ZAXM/Kindergarten.jpg Nonfiction There was a spawn of tornadoes in Kansas and Oklahoma a few years ago. Reports of a twister on the ground heading to my hometown were broadcast on television and radio. My mother said that the odd thing about that storm was that it was completely silent. No wind. No rain. No hail. The only proof of the existence of a tornado was the siren that wailed for over forty-five minutes. Five people in a mobile home park died in Oklahoma from that massive storm, because the siren was busted. Being a cripple, a gimp, a limp-a-legger, is like sitting in a silent storm with a busted siren. You wonder when it will strike. You know the storm will never blow away. You know the words will always be there, waiting in disguise. Almost Right http://www.jessicadawnpenner.com/prologue-of-sitw daily 0.75 2015-12-08