It hit me immediately after he said it. We were in the middle of a conversation on an idle Tuesday afternoon, sitting at the window bar at one of the city’s best coffee shops. I was drinking a latte. Right after I heard the words, I looked down at the remnants of the design the […]
When a group of young adults asked me to become their next leader, I quickly blurted out, “I can’t, I’m a woman.” Everyone was surprised, most of all myself. I’m usually bold and outspoken; in what cave of my soul had this patriarchy been hiding? Members of the group discussed and discerned with me; books […]
It’s been just over five years now since my therapist suggested I attend The Story Workshop. At the time I had no idea that those four days would impact the entire arc of my life. Even today I am still living into the beauty and pain that was awakened in me and my story. I […]
When I was a first year student, I used to go to the communion that the MDiv students hold in the chapel every Wednesday and I would cry. The school and the move from California to Seattle had cracked open something deep inside me and I could not stop crying everywhere I went. My advisers […]
Recently, someone asked me what books have shaped my life. I rattled off what came to my head, but the question has stayed with me. This person wasn’t interested in simply what I liked; this wasn’t a question about preferences. She was asking what was important to me—what had influenced me—but I don’t really think […]
I’m always curious about the serendipity of things, especially since I don’t believe anything is simply happenstance. I’m not sure I chose to attend The Story Workshop in 2009 as much as it was something that just had to happen. Yes, I asked to be placed on a waiting list. Yes, I booked my own […]
We gather in a circle, hand in hand, and scan the faces of those standing in our midst. It is 8:30pm on Wednesday night, and most of us are undoubtedly feeling spent after full days of classes, work, internship and studying. And still, we gather. We take the hand of those nearest to us and […]
I can’t help but smile when I see the remnant of luggage decorating the spaces in our building. It is a reminder of the history that inhabits these walls. And before the luggage factory, back when the Puget waters met the western wall, a fisherman’s wharf greeted the day’s catch with open arms. This is […]
I love Preview Weekends. I have plenty of reasons not to. As a student worker, I spends Saturdays single-handedly covering both the library and the front desk. It’s not an incredibly heavy workload, but for those few hours I am the first resource for a steady stream of students needing anything from paperclips to paper […]
My sunrise service on Easter Sunday took place at The Seattle School. With more impending due dates than I could keep track of, I chose to write papers instead of attending a morning church service. Let’s not judge here. The decision to do homework on Easter wasn’t exactly an arduous one, anyway. I have been […]
Earlier this year, a memorial to rape survivors was temporarily in place in the reflection pool of the Washington Monument. The letters floated in blood red on the water’s surface, reading “I CAN’T FORGET WHAT HAPPENED BUT NO ONE ELSE REMEMBERS.” Upon encountering the image, my first thought was “Of course, that’s why we have […]
“Fiction is rooted in an act of faith: a presumption of an inherent significance in human activity that makes daily life worth dramatizing and particularizing.” – John Updike, speaking on religion and literature, 1994 I have this photo on my phone that I flip to often, probably more than I am comfortable admitting. It’s a […]