Nov 18, 2020Member-onlyThanksgiving’s Roots in Colonialism: A Message for Fellow White PeopleContent warning for descriptions of violence against Indigenous people. Just a note: I will be eating turkey and green bean casserole next week, like so many Americans across the country. My words are not intended to place a barrier between myself and others. We have choices to make under a…Thanksgiving7 min readThanksgiving7 min read
Nov 3, 2020PTSD is White-Washed: Why Black Americans Deserve BetterThe year 2020 has been marked not only by collective endurance in the face of a global pandemic, but by continuing protest against the systemic murder of Black Americans at the hands of police. As grief counselors and therapists discuss how these twin horrors impact our mental health, it should…Black Lives Matter4 min readBlack Lives Matter4 min read
Jul 25, 2020Member-onlyGrant Me the Courage: On Vets, Justice, & Collective Hope“Please, I need a chaplain to visit Mr. S. I just gave him really bad news.” “I know he prefers the Catholic chaplain. Does he want to wait for him, or should I come now?” “Come now. I just gave him really, really bad news.” Yesterday at 12:15 pm, just…Veterans5 min readVeterans5 min read
Mar 20, 2020Member-onlyIn The Wake: A Pandemic PoemYou’re having a celebration of life But I’m here for the funeral I’m here for the firm voice of the priest squaring my shoulders and telling me It’s okay to grieve It’s okay to grieve the things you wanted the things you no longer have even as the death knell echoes through empty…Covid 191 min readCovid 191 min read
Oct 22, 2019Member-onlyHow to Start Shopping Ethically: Tips from a Conscious Consumer VeteranVeteran is a relative term. By the standards of our grandmothers who sewed their own clothes, I am not one. But by the standards of the quickly moving world of ethical fashion on the internet, I’m old enough to be your mother! I’ve been blogging on ethical fashion — starting…Fashion5 min readFashion5 min read
Jul 30, 2019Member-only“The True Cost” Was Bleak. Has the fashion industry improved since it premiered?A few weeks ago, I helped coordinate a screening of The True Cost documentary in partnership with local sustainability advocates in Charlottesville, Virginia. I hadn’t watched The True Cost since it premiered in 2015 and, while I remembered feeling a bit hopeless afterward, I wasn’t prepared for the onslaught of…Fashion7 min readFashion7 min read
Jun 14, 2019Member-onlyWhat I Learned When I Quit Instagram — Because a Digital Detox Didn’t Cut ItI was an Instagram addict. It started off innocently enough. In 2015, a friend in the budding “influencer” space suggested I make an account for my blog. …Social Media4 min readSocial Media4 min read
Jun 5, 2019Member-onlyWhy I Quit Using a Rhetoric of Violence in my Social Justice ConversationsThe US political climate in the Trump age is burdensome to say the least. Fear yields anxiety yields rage yields exhaustion. We are traumatized, the systemically and personally vulnerable among our population especially so. We are confused, and the President and his allies continually sow more confusion. We feel hopeless…2016 Election7 min read2016 Election7 min read
May 22, 2019Member-onlyIn White Suburbia, the Fair Trade Movement is an Entryway to Social Justice MovementsAs a white kid growing up in upper middle class Florida suburbs, my world, culturally speaking, was quite small. There was one Jewish kid in classes with me and very few people of color. Partly due to Florida’s abysmal public education program, kids of different races were often grouped into…Racism6 min readRacism6 min read
May 18, 2019A Former Evangelical on AbortionA Former Evangelical on Abortion I grew up in a conservative, Evangelical church tradition where “traditional gender roles” were the norm. While women could serve as pastors, most women in the congregation were subtly prodded toward more “appropriate” tasks like caregiving, coordinating pot lucks, and participating in women-centric, feelings based small groups and bible studies. …Abortion7 min readAbortion7 min read
