Opinion

  • The Performance of Survival

    School should be a safe place for all kids regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation, or anything else that might make them different from others. That is the ideal people like to talk about. But the truth is that it is not and never really has been. Growing up, I understood something very clearly even…

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  • Bookends

    Bookends

    Every once in a while I stop and look at two books sitting on my shelf. The Uninvited and The Architecture of Shadows. They were written many years apart, but in a strange way they belong to the same story. The Uninvited was the beginning of everything for me. It tells the story of what…

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  • Apocalypse, Again

    Apocalypse, Again

    Lately I have been seeing more and more people say the same thing. That everything happening in the world right now was predicted in the Bible. Wars. Political tension. Disasters. Social division. For many people it feels like history is building toward something final, something foretold long ago. I understand why people feel that way.…

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  • Eyes Open. Heart Steady.

    Eyes Open. Heart Steady.

    If you live in this world long enough, you are going to live through some type of instability. I know I have. I could list them out. Hate crimes. Civil unrest. Moments that remind you how quickly things can shift. I remember Ferguson. I remember fire trucks parked across streets like makeshift barricades. I remember…

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  • Coming Out

    Coming Out

    Here’s something I’ve learned over the years. Coming out is not a one time event. It is not just something gay people do. It is something we all do, over and over again, in different ways, throughout our lives. We just do not always call it that. Coming out is what happens when you finally…

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  • Neighbors, Not Enemies

    Neighbors, Not Enemies

    You know what has been bothering me lately about the state of things in the United States? How much of what we are living through feels rooted in hating your neighbor. Not debating policy. Not wrestling with ideas. Not even arguing about the direction of the country. It feels personal now. It feels aimed at…

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  • Recognition

    Recognition

    I want to start this quietly, because this is not a reaction piece. It is me trying to place a current moment inside a much longer human story. When Donald Trump hosted a prayer breakfast, stood in front of cameras talking about faith and values, and then later that same night shared a racist video…

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  • Nightmares and Dreams: More Than One Explanation

    Nightmares and dreams have always played a part in my life. If you have read any of my books, you already know that. I have had recurring nightmares. The man in the shower in the basement of the house in Union stayed with me for a long time. He followed me into sleep. There was…

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  • Paperwork Instead of Bullets

    Right now, the United States is using a practice that allows asylum seekers to be deported to third countries. That means people are not necessarily sent back to where they came from. They can be sent to any country willing to accept them. For LGBTQ+ refugees fleeing persecution, this has life or death consequences. People…

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  • I Did My Best

    I Did My Best

    These are thoughts from the quiet moments in the morning, from a night that was too long. Sometimes the quiet in the early morning gets loud enough that I finally let myself say it. Not out of frustration. Not as a defense. Just because it is true. I did my best. I was a very…

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