To Glenda, Selling Alligator Alcatraz Merch on Etsy

Last updated on: July 6, 2025 at 4:03 pm By Melanie Springer Mock

I saw your face all over social media the other day, Glenda from Florida, because you (and lots of others) were selling Alligator Alcatraz t-shirts through your Etsy shop. Your image appeared not because people were promoting your products, thankfully. Instead, someone had found your Etsy page, and the shirts, and then your social media profiles, then hounded you for the callous disregard your products showed toward other human beings. You were profiting off the pain and suffering of people... Read more

Words that Divide and Unify Us

Last updated on: June 22, 2025 at 8:55 pm By Melanie Springer Mock

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Over the past several weeks, I’ve given several public presentations about a topic I’m increasingly interested in exploring: the ways disinformation is used to dehumanize and divide people, and the imperative of Christians to be, in the words of George Fox, valiant for the truth. The venues in which I presented were fairly diverse: sharing at the Newberg City Club, a nonpartisan, nonsectarian community organization; preaching at Salem (Ore.) Mennonite Church; and then speaking on a panel at the Mennonite/s... Read more

Finding Faith in Overseas Travel

Last updated on: May 28, 2025 at 7:18 am By Melanie Springer Mock

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On the first morning of my overseas travel, I went for a run in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. A large city park one block from our hotel provided the perfect venue for a very hot, very humid effort, even at 6 a.m. The park was crowded with locals: people running and walking; elderly folks doing Tai Chi; middle-aged women dancing Zumba; Buddhist monks headed to a nearby temple; people buying fresh produce at small stalls set up street side. Even though... Read more

Anti-Christian Biases and Hot Accessories In Trump’s America

Last updated on: April 29, 2025 at 8:13 pm By Melanie Springer Mock

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On April 22, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi hosted the first meeting for an anti-Christian bias task force, convened to “eradicate anti-Christian biases” from the federal government. To celebrate the first 100 days of President Donald Trump’s reign, faith leaders gathered to worship near the president, gushing on social media posts about the White House becoming a “house of prayer.” The New York Times recently published an article about crosses becoming a “hot accessory” among Trump’s staff, “the jewelry of... Read more

Protesting, and Praying With My Feet

Last updated on: April 14, 2025 at 5:46 pm By Melanie Springer Mock

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On April 5, I joined people around the nation for a “Hands Off” protest, demonstrating against the current administration in the United States, and the many, many actions they’ve taken to harm humans. While crowd estimates are difficult to come by, some reports put the number at five million who participated in the United States, and in locations worldwide. Since the January 20 inauguration, I’ve felt a certain sense of angst and despair about the cruelty perpetrated on everyone from... Read more

The Truth That Really Matters

Last updated on: March 27, 2025 at 5:11 pm By Melanie Springer Mock

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Another week, another scandal, another cascade of lies from the current administration, for whom the truth doesn’t always seem to matter. The revelation that United States administrators, including the Secretary of Defense, were sharing war plans through an unsecured app, and invited a journalist to join in resulted in more spin, and spin, and spin. This includes the president’s press secretary, a professed Christian who stands behind a briefing room dais, where a giant golden cross around her neck, and... Read more

As Goes My Town, So Goes America

Last updated on: March 10, 2025 at 12:14 pm By Melanie Springer Mock

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Two weeks ago, the Department of Education launched a portal where concerned parents, students, teachers, and community members could report “divisive ideologies and indoctrination” happening in public schools. From the outset, the intent was clear: the site essentially hosted a snitch form, welcoming people to inform on their neighbors for transgressing the edicts of President Trump, who has demanded that public schools be whitewashed (literally) of any instruction that smacks of diversity, equity, and inclusion. By the time I tried... Read more

Beware the Dehumanizing Impact of “Audits”

Last updated on: February 16, 2025 at 1:28 pm By Melanie Springer Mock

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Just now, on social media, I read comment strings on my local community pages cheering Elon Musk for taking a wrecking ball to our federal government. While reading the news these days makes me sick and anxious, few stories made me so nauseous as my neighbors, celebrating a billionaire’s seeming ability to wreck institutions that provide international aid, educate children, and protect our national parks. The comments seemed giddy, as if these folks don’t care for the thousands of federal... Read more

Reading as Resistance to Chaos and Rage

Last updated on: February 5, 2025 at 11:29 am By Melanie Springer Mock

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Like so many others in my community and elsewhere, I’ve been spinning out with anxiety about the state of our country. Each day’s news cycle brings more chaos and uncertainty and rage-inducing headlines. For the first week (or so) of a new presidency, I was doing okay, holding on to hope, certain that the country’s guardrails would hold, if only barely. But then came the plane crash in Washington, D.C., and President Trump’s inference that women and minorities were to... Read more

The Threats and Promises of Religious Freedom

Last updated on: January 14, 2025 at 12:33 pm By Melanie Springer Mock

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This week I begin my 48th semester as a college instructor at a faith-based institution. (I also taught as a graduate student at state schools, so my total teaching tally is nearer to 60 semesters.) At George Fox University, we are encouraged—required, even—to bring our Christian faith to the classroom, and I have cherished the opportunity to openly express my love for Jesus in the vocational space I’ve inhabited for several decades now. The integration of my faith with learning... Read more