My family’s most diligent deceit never worked on me. My father told me not to worry about money. My mother told me that my focus should be on getting an education. They both told me that they didn’t want me to end up the way they did, ensnared in a financial trap. They told me to let them worry about the bills and that it wasn’t my responsibility as a daughter to support us in the first place. But I... Read more
This is an installment of the Religious Fundamentalism and Sexuality Project. You can read the full list of questions here and the posting plan here. The first six participants whose stories I’ll be posting are Melissa and Haley, Lina and V, Latebloomer and Katy-Anne. Life Outside the Bubble 2. What strategies have you found for coping with friends or family who believe in purity, modesty, “traditional marriage,” etc.? (more…) Read more
I’ve written a little about the fact that my best friend in my teen years was a libertarian, and I thought I was, too. One of his go-to arguments for abolishing welfare was that private charities and churches would step up to fill the gap. At the time, I rolled my eyes at his naivete but had nothing to say. Now I do (and I’m still rolling my eyes, Sven). If private charities and churches are standing ready and willing... Read more
This is an installment of the Religious Fundamentalism and Sexuality Project. You can read the full list of questions here and the posting plan here. The first six participants whose stories I’ll be posting are Melissa and Haley, Lina and V, Latebloomer and Katy-Anne. Life Outside the Bubble 1. What is your relationship with your family and/or fundamentalist friends like now? (more…) Read more
Note: These are meant to be tongue-in-cheek. My graduate school experience is like one of the cushier New England convents with private swimming pools and flatscreen TVs than the forlorn mountainside shelters where monks beat each other with rocks and eat tree bark. 1. On the first day you arrive, you’re reminded that you’re part of a small, elite subgroup with access to specialized knowledge that the average person can never hope to achieve. You’re congratulated for choosing to come... Read more
This is an installment of the Religious Fundamentalism and Sexuality Project. You can read the full list of questions here and the posting plan here. The first six participants whose stories I’ll be posting are Melissa and Haley, Lina and V, Latebloomer and Katy-Anne. Questioning 4. (If you are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender) Have you “come out” to your family? How did they respond? How long have you been “out,” and has anyone you knew changed their mind about sexuality after talking with you? ... Read more
This is an installment of the Religious Fundamentalism and Sexuality Project. You can read the full list of questions here and the posting plan here. The first six participants whose stories I’ll be posting are Melissa and Haley, Lina and V, Latebloomer and Katy-Anne. Questioning 3. What media (if any) did you read or watch that made you rethink your assumptions about sexuality? (more…) Read more
Those who liked my Open Letter and Millennial Problems posts will really like this one from Courtney Stoker: From Austin to A&M: Don’t you know you aren’t special? An excerpt: I was told, proudly, that I was a perfectionist, and no one even noticed that my perfectionism was a generational symptom of a profoundly dysfunctional way of living. Most people I was friends with were “perfectionists,” because we knew that working hard didn’t guarantee us anything. Perfection didn’t guarantee us anything. We knew... Read more
This is an installment of the Religious Fundamentalism and Sexuality Project. You can read the full list of questions here and the posting plan here. The first six participants whose stories I’ll be posting are Melissa and Haley, Lina and V, Latebloomer and Katy-Anne. Questioning 2. How did your friends, family or church respond to your questioning? Did you talk to people or keep your doubts secret? (more…) Read more
The Phoenix and Olive Branch
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