Short stuff

Christian rapper Fresh I.E., two-time Grammy nominee, is working on an anti-suicide compilation, “Don’t Let Go,” intended to encourage youth in aboriginal communities to choose life despite the hopelessness they may feel.

At its annual meeting in December, the Mennonite Historical Society of Canada gave Ted E. Friesen, publisher (Friesens Corporation) and first president of the Society, a lifetime achievement award.

—Canadian Mennonite

Visited the MBMS International website lately? The architecture underneath it is new! A new web content management system called Joomla will provide “a much stronger platform” for the future, with more pages for missionaries and country team leaders. Release of the technology will be “slow and steady,” but MBMSI hopes the site will become a primary communications hub.

Jennifer Loewen, student ministries administrative assistant at Northview Community Church, Abbotsford, and a grad of Columbia Bible College, has released her first CD, “Wait for You.” The 11 original tracks “tell a story of a woman deeply in love with her Saviour.”

Anthropologist James Urry of New Zealand launched his new book, Mennonites, Politics, and Peoplehood: Europe–Russia–Canada 1525 to 1980 (University of Manitoba Press), in Winnipeg Mar. 4. His 10-year study surprised him, he said, with the extent of Mennonite involvement in political life.