I’ve been listening to a song lately with a poetic description of something everybody, religious or non-religious, experiences: spiritual highs. It’s called Rudy by Supertramp, from my favorite of their albums, Crime of the Century. Beginning with the words “Rudy’s on a train to nowhere,” it escalates into Rudy realizing he needs to…Continue Reading
Posts
I’m Not Ashamed of the Gospel, You’re Just Not Preaching It
This article was republished by the Huffington Post under a different title with some changes. So this morning I woke up to the following photo on my Facebook feed: I left a quick comment on both my friend’s post and the original post from Ken Ham. I think Ham deleted…Continue Reading
A Moment I Live For
I first found it when working at camps with young children. When I was seventeen, I volunteered at a horse vaulting camp. My group was full of little girls, aged seven and eight, who had to learn how to do tricks while riding horses. One girl in my group suffered…Continue Reading
The Comfort of Books and Dreams
There’s too much pain surrounding this post to speak in general terms. I must keep it metaphysical, and perhaps it will reach a deeper level than my usual explanatory language. It’s discouraging to learn that, to quote a poet: “how you see it from where you’re sitting, it’s probably 110%…Continue Reading
Sprinklers in the Rain
Repost: this article is highly problematic – the first few sentences demonstrate how the young children in my family were traumatized and lived in fear. My response to being overwhelmed was to dissociate. I’ve preserved it because it is a good example of how I once responded to stress. Zechariah…Continue Reading
Birthday Post 2: Turning 21
Guys, I’m happy. Usually on my birthdays, I slip into an introspective, rather melancholy, thoughtfulness about life. Something in my mindset changed in the past year: I don’t think about dying young anymore. I still live each day as if it will be my last. But I don’t imagine some kind of…Continue Reading
A Lesson in Jam Writing
I’m heading up my writer’s group for the first time, and I had to lead a discussion last week. My theme: discovering the subconscious. I taught my friends a few things I’d learned about waking up my imagination before trying to describe a vivid scene, and then we practiced jam…Continue Reading
Sinners in the hands of an angry church
Repost: originally published June 22, 2013. I no longer believe in God but this post remains important. Earlier this week, a ministry of gigantic proportions shut itself down. Exodus International was known for decades as the most prominent “ex-gay” organization in the nation. This meant they tried to make gay…Continue Reading
Why All Writers Should Study Screenwriting
Originally posted June 11, 2013 There is one reason my entire blog isn’t film reviews and articles of me being a movie snob: I don’t like it when people criticize an industry they have no experience in. It makes them look really stupid when they inevitably do a few of…Continue Reading
When the Heart Forces a Smile
This post was originally published October 5, 2012. For an update on how I feel about Christianity now, see the post “When God Spoke to Me.” This is part of the archive restoration project. From a young age, my mom taught me to force a smile when I don’t feel like…Continue Reading