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2007-11-20 issue:

I give thanks for sabbaticals

Editorial

by Everett J. Thomas

Print Article

This Thanksgiving season I am particularly grateful for sabbaticals. The last three months have been a wonderful interlude from the ongoing deadlines here at The Mennonite.



When people found out what I was planning to do during the sabbatical (“Time for a Sabbatical,” July 3), many had the same response: You’re going to do all those things? That’s not a vacation.

A sabbatical is not a vacation. It is a time to do some things not possible otherwise. It is also a time to disconnect from ongoing work and look at life from the perspective of a relaxed schedule.

So, beginning in August, I worked at three projects: a trip to the New Orleans area to examine the work of Mennonite Disaster Service, research for a historical novel and writing my memoirs of the 1990s, when the General Conference Mennonite Church and Mennonite Church merged.

In our regular work we receive dozens of news releases each week and then discern which ones we can publish in our limited news space. Occasionally, we may have the time to generate an original story. So taking a trip to the New Orleans area (“10 Days in Katrina Land,” Oct. 16) was a luxury. Almost never can we leave the office for several weeks and focus on one program. But the sabbatical allowed me to do that.

It also gave me the time to do something new: review the hours of video footage I shot at various MDS sites, then whittle it down to a few minutes. Doing so allowed us to post a video clip on our Web site that is a companion to the cover story. I hope you look at it. Where else will you get into a 14-foot flat-bottomed boat and head out on the bayou with an MDS director? It is a short-enough ride that you won’t get seasick.

I timed the trip to “Katrina land” so that my 10 days there would end on Aug. 29, the two-year anniversary of the hurricane’s landfall. But that anniversary adversely affected my travel plans. At the Gulfport, Miss., airport that afternoon, I was ready to head home, but all planes were grounded because Air Force One brought in President Bush to make an appearance in New Orleans.

When I began my sabbatical, I projected that I would have two big projects and two smaller projects. I thought the MDS project was a smaller one, but it took more time than I anticipated. I learned that a story like that cannot be told quickly or with minimal time given to coverage.

The primary sabbatical project was to begin a historical novel based on my immigrant ancestor Johann Thomas, who arrived in the Lancaster, Pa., area in 1747. I have now sent to the publisher what is required by their guidelines: a table of contents and two chapters. Their guidelines say it can take up to a year for them to decide whether to publish the manuscript. Among other things, this experience turns the tables: It reminds me how writers feel when they send manuscripts to us and must wait to learn whether we will accept them.

The primary learning from the research centered around the plight of Mennonites traveling across the Atlantic by ship. Many—especially young children—died along the way. Many were sick from contagions on board, bad food and contaminated water. Some immigrants ran out of money before reaching Philadelphia; this resulted in onboard tensions between those Mennonites who had money and those who did not.

Another sabbatical project turned out to take less time than I expected: writing my memoirs from the process that brought General Conference Mennonite Church and Mennonite Church together—to form Mennonite Church Canada and Mennonite Church USA.

Finally, a personal project did not come to fruition. I hoped to get my captain’s license from the U.S. Coast Guard but learned I have not yet logged enough days “on the water and under way.” I guess I’ll just need to spend more time sailing.

It is good to be back at the work here at The Mennonite. I do feel regenerated, refreshed and grateful for this wonderful work. This Thanksgiving I give thanks for sabbaticals.

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