I was at a rock concert last week and a stranger felt me up. I froze for several seconds–couldn’t breathe, couldn’t move as those hands moved up and down my waist. Finally, I found the courage to elbow the person in the stomach. Then, I went to the bathroom and cried and ended up missing half of The Darkness singing “Love on the Rocks with No Ice.” But a week later, I can still feel those hands. Every time I... Read more
Last Valentine’s Day was hard. I had had plans, of course. I was going to continue the tradition that my boyfriend and I had started two years earlier where we give each other President’s Day cards instead of Valentine’s Day cards. The card was still sitting in my desk drawer. It said, “You baRACK! You’re da oBAMa!” But now the plans were cancelled because there was no one to give the stupid card to anymore and the student union was rubbing... Read more
There’s a quote going around on Facebook of Morgan Freeman saying that the best way to end racism is to stop talking about racism. I think I understand what Morgan Freeman is trying to say, but the conversations happening on Facebook, and the common discourse that gets thrown around (usually among my fellow white people) every February makes me uncomfortable. “Why are we celebrating black history month? Isn’t calling attention to black history just going to make the problem worse?”... Read more
Sometimes you don’t find God in church. Sometimes you go to church, and as others around you experience the Almighty, you experience only discomfort. Or the pain of old wounds. Or bitterness. Sometimes you enter that building and something triggers a memory and your heart goes into defense mode and something tells you not to let yourself be vulnerable. Not this time. Not right now. Maybe next time, but right now. Today. You must keep your heart safe. And you... Read more
Here are some of my favorite things from the past week! Enjoy! “What Christians can do to help survivors” by Somatic Strength: SUCH an important message. All Christians, please read this. “What Planned Parenthood actually does, in one chart” by Ezra Klein: In light of the recent Komen Foundation controversy, I think it’s important that we recognize that Planned Parenthood is not an evil baby killing machine. In fact, it probably prevents more abortions and saves more lives than it... Read more
Some people out there say that Christianity is for men, because our God came to earth as a man. He was brutally executed on a cross and there was blood and guts and other bad-ass manly things. Some people think that, if the church gets too “feminized,” we might replace Jesus with a Disney princess and the cross with a field of dandelions and the broken body and blood of Christ with chocolate milk and cupcakes. Yeah, some people think... Read more
Trigger Warnings: We’re talking about rape again today. A couple weeks ago, when the “Jesus vs. Religion” video was making it’s rounds on the internet, I decided to respond with my opinion that, religion really isn’t such a bad thing. That Jesus and religion can get along. Back then, I wasn’t angry at the video’s creator, Jeff Bethke (though, perhaps I was a bit annoyed at how much he was clogging up my Facebook newsfeed). I was just trying to figure out for myself... Read more
Here are a few of my favorite moments from the internet this week! Enjoy! “Five women who changed God’s rules” by Fred Clark at Slacktivist: Sometimes I don’t think God’s laws are fair. Sometimes they’re sexist. Sometimes I let God know how I feel about those rules. Turns out, this makes me a “biblical woman,” and turns out that, God listens to women. This article tells us of five women in the Bible who challenged one of God’s unjust laws and... Read more
It’s been a rough week for many of us survivors of rape. Some of the responses to Joe Paterno’s death (the one’s that blantently stated that we should forget his role in enabling the rape of young boys in light of his awesome football legacy) had been fighting back panic attacks, tears, hate, and rage as I tried so hard not to let anger suck away all the joy and healing that I’ve managed to find over the past few years. Walking the line between... Read more
Trigger warnings: rape, and rape enabling Some of the responses to Joe Paterno’s death were triggering for me. You know, the ones that basically say (albeit in much more eloquent terms), “Everyone, shut up about the rape victims and how they’re feeling! Joe Paterno was really good at winning football games! Can’t we just talk about that?” As a rape victim, this was painful to hear, but not unexpected. As soon as I heard of his death (or rather, as soon... Read more
Sarah Over the Moon
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