Images of Amish life often evoke nostalgia in many for a “simple life” of a bygone era when life happened at a slower pace. Some of the days of my childhood fit this image when Nature was my playground in the fields, garden, and woods surrounding the little farmette where I grew up. Other days were filled with fear and terror. My childhood was defined by my father’s mental illness, my brother’s brutality, my mother’s severe punishments, and the austere traditions of the Amish. I was also endowed with a nature that didn’t fit my culture. And yet this was the world in which I belonged, at least according to Amish beliefs. I glimpsed freedom in the “outside world” and yet I could not partake without leaving behind this sense of belonging in the only world I knew. At twenty, I finally made the choice to do exactly that and move to Vermont where I knew no one.

With the eighth-grade education of her childhood, Saloma Miller Furlong acquired her GED, enrolled in community college courses, and became an Ada Comstock scholar at Smith College, graduating with a major in German and a minor in Philosophy. She is the author of three books, and has spoken at more than 170 venues in 27 states. Her story has been featured in two PBS American Experience films “The Amish” and “The Amish: Shunned.”  To learn more, you may visit Saloma’s website and her blog, About Amish.