
Toby (a Love Story)
“Don’t you think that dog is beautiful?” she asks, showing me a picture of a pit bull on the animal adoption website for the hundredth time. She sees something in them that I just can’t quite find, and believes with unbated optimism that, given enough opportunities, I too will fall in love with a dog…

Goodbye Mr. Trump
Today Donald Trump is evicted. Not from the White House (unfortunately), but from my brainspace. He’s already taken up much more room than he deserves.

Never Again
I used to think the candle I lit that day in the Holocaust Museum meant something. Never again.

God is Not an Asshole (and Other Things I Wish My Pastor Told Me)
We all wonder the same things: Is there a god? What is god like? And most of the time, we’re left wrestling with those questions alone.

Untethered
I saw an article the other day about how loneliness is as bad for you as cigarettes or something. I don’t smoke much these days, but I’m terribly lonely — and have been for years.

My Cult Story (A Documentary Film)
We were supposed to change the world — a weird kind of extraordinary was defined by Gothard’s lists. When that’s your normal,the message hammered into you is just ‘You’re not good enough.’

Do This Instead
This is mostly written to myself, as a reminder that the things I usually do are not the things that make me happy. I’m trying to change that.

To Lose Myself in Earth's Shallow Soil
I feel the soil of our planet growing thinner. It’s becoming more difficult to find space where we can send our roots down deep, for strength and water and life. Do you know what this feels like?

A Tattoo and a Prayer
It seemed like a good time to carve these words onto my chest. I have a feeling I’ll need them close by in the days ahead.

The Chaos of Hope
Words are wild, violent slippery things; you never know when they might go flying out of control. But if anything, this essay is about losing control, about leaning into the chaos of hope.

In the Beginning…. Shit
Then God spoke into the darkness and said “Let there be light.” And not a damn thing happened.

To the Christian Contemplating Suicide (The Letter I Wish I’d Found)
There is space in the big wide world for every piece of you. You deserve the space you take up in this world. Please stay.