Let’s talk about school. I’ve talked a lot about my own experiences in school. Before I was homeschooled, I went to Catholic parochial schools and hated every minute of it. I was bullied into full-blown PTSD by the children and even one of the teachers. The academics weren’t very good either. After that I was homeschooled from the sixth grade until college, and homeschooling saved my life. It was the best choice my parents could have made. We belonged to... Read more
It happened when I was weeding the strawberries. It was the brightest of bright late April days, after a soggy week. The grass was high– Jimmy the Mechanic knows I like to mow it after the dandelions have bloomed, so the pollinators can eat. The lilacs were opening. I could hear the songbirds nearby, and the neighborhood hawks calling in the distance. I’d weeded the onions and found a few volunteer sunflower seedlings, from where the birds tore the... Read more
The first criminal trial of a former United States president, begins in the morning. I’m writing this in the wee hours of Monday morning. By the time you read it, the trial will probably have begun. And of course, by the trial I mean jury selection. The boring part. We won’t get to the exciting part for weeks. Donald Trump, the champion of the pro-life movement and American Christianity, is accused of falsifying business records to hide a hush... Read more
I had a bit of an anxious night. I haven’t suffered too much from being anxious lately, but I’m afraid it’s creeping up on me just now. I was trying to do our taxes. I know I should have finished our taxes by now, I’ve just been overwhelmed and dreading them. I had my stack of 1099s from all my writing projects. I had my notes on all the little expenses writers have here and there. I had... Read more
I drove out to see the wildflowers, in Serendipity. Last year, due to the fiasco with the car, I was trapped in Steubenville and couldn’t go hiking until June. Forest wildflowers are gone by June. The trees’ canopy cuts off their sun. They are ephemeral, a miracle that appears for a few weeks in spring. Then we get the miracle of the shade trees that cool the hiking trails by ten degrees. Then we get the miracle of Autumn. Then... Read more
I guess I’d better say something about Arizona’s Supreme Court ruling, upholding the 1864 abortion ban. As always, I don’t want to talk about abortion, but as always, abortion is in the news. I’m that Patheos blogger who’s been calling out the hypocrisy and abuse in the pro-life movement for eight years now. I would like to write another poetic piece about the hikes I’ve been taking lately, and a funny one about the bridge construction project that nearly spoiled... Read more
There are those who say that learning about nature freed them of the belief in God, and I’m not better than those people. For me, though, it’s the opposite. The more I learn, the more I see, the more I believe. Yesterday was the solar eclipse. Here in Steubenville, we were to get 97.7% of totality. There wouldn’t be a few minutes of night, only a few minutes of twilight, but we’d see the sun go almost completely behind... Read more
Hey folks: This is not a real blog post, this is my more-or-less monthly round up of the things I did when I wasn’t here (and the tip jar because I’ve got to eat). I have written three actual blog posts I’m proud of in the last 24 hours, and there’s more coming down the pipe soon. But these posts do help me keep organized. First of all, last month I was honored to be writing for the Pittsburgh... Read more
I want to say a word about my Transgender brothers and sisters. I’m going to close comments right away, because they will turn into a sewer. They always do when Transgender people are mentioned, and I don’t want my friends to have to read that. I always want to be a little cautious when talking about the intersection of queerness and religion– particularly when it comes to Transgender people. I am not transgender. You shouldn’t listen to me, primarily, when... Read more
The news has come out, in the past few weeks, that the number of abortions in the United States continues to rise. We’ve known for a long time that the highest rate of abortions ever recorded in the United States was in the 1980s and 1990s, and the abortion rates dropped steadily during the decades after that. They tended to drop more sharply under Democratic presidential administrations and more slowly under Republicans, except for a brief period when... Read more
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