How Harmful is Educational Neglect?
For the past several weeks, I’ve been re-entering the world of Duolingo. Since I first used the app about a decade ago, it has received a full makeove…
Parrot Performance
I didn’t know how to connect. I only knew what I was taught, and I was taught badly. Like a parrot in a cage, I learned the language of my captors. My…
Letter of Self-Compassion: Learning to learn
Learning takes effort and the capacity to wrestle past frustration. What’s referred to as a “learning curve” is more tolerable for some people than fo…
Children Do Not Belong to You
Content warning: this piece discusses child abuse and neglect. “Children, you are about to be told one more time that you are America's most valu…
Letter of Self-Compassion: Writer's Block
“There’s nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and open a vein.” This phrase is commonly attributed to Hemingway, but may have b…
Letters of Self-Compassion: Heaven
2015 was so full of transformations. I worked three different jobs, and my relationships were in a constant state of flux. It seemed like I was consta…
Letter of Self-Compassion: Hell
One of my earliest memories is of crying with my mom. When I was about five, it occurred to me that not everyone I loved was a Christian. My mom told…
An Introduction to a New Series: Letters of Self-Compassion
“Things you said about me, it hurt, it did. What matters more is how I feel about myself The things you said about me, I won’t forget What matters now…
Goodbye 2023
This past year has been…a lot to survive. It feels like I’ve done very little of what I once loved to do: writing and reading. In the midst of chaotic…