I hate breakups. And coming from someone who has endured more uncouplings than any reasonable person should have to experience, I feel like my character has been sufficiently built. I saw a meme once where instead of giving someone their soulmate, God gives them another toxic relationship for “character development.” Respectfully, my character is overly developed. Let’s move on. Since this is a Lent post, let’s go back to the desert of Kansas. I had taken my LSAT. Applied to

When I moved to Overland Park, Kansas, I joined a women’s golf league because golf is my happy place, and it gave me an outlet while my life was emotionally, spiritually, and existentially unraveling. It was very different from my Rochester women's league. In Rochester, we absolutely drink Bloody Marys at 7 AM and take Fireball shots after birdies like that’s part of the official rules of golf. Overland Park was quieter. Tee times were at 7 in the morning, and it felt less Gu

People are often surprised by how much I love Jesus. Not the way most Christians talk about Jesus. Not the weaponized version. Not the one used to threaten queer people or enforce belonging. The Jesus I love lived in the margins. The one who walked toward suffering, not away from it. I’ve always wrestled with faith. When I was 13, I saw images of children starving during a famine in Africa. I remember asking myself, if God exists, why aren’t they being saved? Why aren’t praye

I’ve been thinking a lot about working at the Circle K. People come in almost every day. Regulars. Familiar faces. For many folks, especially people who are unhoused, it becomes a kind of third place. Not home. Not work. Just somewhere warm. Somewhere predictable. We’re a few blocks from The Landing, the Warming Center, The Salvation Army, and Mayo Park. A lot of folks who live in the park come through our doors. Many buy a soda because it’s cheap. Ninety-nine cents. A dollar

I’ve been thinking a lot today about Punch-kun, the Japanese macaque monkey who went viral this week. Rejected by his mother for reasons only she knows. Hand-raised by zookeepers. Given an IKEA orangutan plushy as a surrogate. People woke up crying over videos of him trying to be accepted by his troop. And honestly, I get it. I felt that immediate instinct to protect him. To scoop him up. To say, someone, please love this baby. But I also wondered why Punch hit such a nerve.