Holmes County author tells
inspirational tale of Amish
After writing Hiking Through: Finding Peace and Freedom on the Appalachian Trail and Biking Through, his book about cycling from the Washington coast to Key West, Fla., Holmes County author Paul Stutzman has turned to fiction. His inspirational debut novel The Wanderers, which takes place around the late 1960s, reflects Stutzman’s Amish heritage.
The primary narrator is Johnny Miller, a dissatisfied young man who resents that his non-Amish friends can watch television, go on vacations and, most important, continue their educations. Johnny hasn’t joined the church yet, and he takes to drinking and wild parties; his attitude leads him into bad company and potential disaster. He meets Annie, whose Christian faith has the potential to redeem him, but their future together is not beyond doubt.
The second part of the book introduces Sabio and Mariposa, two of the Monarch butterflies that are Annie’s special delight. Their migration from Ohio to Mexico represents Johnny’s wanderlust and the fragility of life, and Johnny himself, his faith faltering, embarks on a self-revelatory journey. It’s the Vietnam era, and Johnny has been granted exemption from the draft as a conscientious objector. He meets hippies, veterans, millionaires and bums, all of whom help him on his path.
The Wanderers (374 pages, softcover) costs $14.99 through Stutzman’s website, www.paulstutzman.com; $9.39 for the Kindle and Nook. Paul Stutzman lives in Berlin; his family converted from the Amish faith into a Conservative Mennonite community when he was very young.
Writer’s columns collected
Although many of the issues covered in On the Mark, Craig A. Marks’ collection of columns from the West Side Leader and South Side News Leader, are no longer really issues, it’s no less enjoyable to read his takes on topics such as the demise of Quonset Hut record stores and the Cavs winning the 2003 draft lottery for you-know-who.
Almost a hundred columns, and almost all of them winners, span the years from 1992 to 2012. Some of them are drawn from Marks’ personal life, like a 1999 letter to his newborn daughter, whom he mentions over the years, and his father’s ongoing battle to keep the squirrels out of his backyard bird feeder.
Though the content of some of the columns is out of date (case in point: a 1993 recap of a Cleveland Thunderbolts indoor football game at the Richfield Coliseum), it’s fun to look back at the things that occupied our attention 20 years ago.
On the Mark (221 pages, softcover) costs $7.99 from online retailers.
Advice for graduates
Don Philabaum’s disheartening statistic is that 80 percent of graduating college seniors are unemployed on graduation day. He has more statistics, but plenty of advice, in The Unemployed Grad: And What Parents Can Do About It, his new guide with strategies to help college students prepare for the working world and land jobs by the time they earn their diplomas.
One of Philabaum’s gripes is that few students make use of their colleges’ career centers, where they can take vocational tests, get help with their resumes and find network opportunities. But he also charges that many universities don’t devote enough resources to their career centers; many are understaffed, located “on the edges of campuses, in converted boiler rooms.” Why, he asks, aren’t they in the student union?
Philabaum, principal of Internet Strategies Group in Richfield, also discusses the use of social media, “guerrilla marketing tactics” and skills that employers expect. The Unemployed Grad (285 pages, softcover) costs $24.95 from online retailers and includes a link to download videos and a workbook. Don Philabaum attended Kent State University.
Event
Visible Voice Books (1023 Kenilworth Ave., Cleveland) — Kimberly Loving Ross signs The Library Room, about students of diverse faiths who collaborate on a project, 6 to 8 p.m. Friday.
— Barbara McIntyre
Special to the Beacon Journal
Send information about books of local interest to Lynne Sherwin, Features Department, Akron Beacon Journal, P.O. Box 640, Akron, OH 44309 or lsherwin@thebeaconjournal.com. Event notices should be sent at least two weeks in advance.