Monday Thought

I was a bookworm growing up, and so it was easy for me to get lost in the stories I was reading. For a very long time, I was particularly attracted to the ease with which Young Adult literature pulled me in.  As much as I would want to be absorbed into these stories and […]

For so long, I had grown up believing that social justice discourse, particularly through a gendered lens, was a completely separate sphere from Islamic discussions.. This post, for example, is not something that I am used to seeing. I mean:  a religious scholar calling out the systemic abuse and silencing of women in religious circles, […]

There are 18.6 million people in Malawi. Many of them are subject to some sort of initiation ceremony. These ceremonies are religiously followed and form the basis of a version of  cultural survival. Still, there is the troubling fact that a number of children drop out of school after going through such initiations.  This may […]

As a child, I watched and sang along to the iconic soundtracks of The Prince of Egypt and Joseph: King of Dreams DVDs until the CDs were scratched beyond recognition and would not play anymore. Like Joseph, I was a young dreamer. I had dreams of heaven and otherworldly places. My mum would encourage me […]

Present day sex workers are devalued, abused and oppressed. But prostitution is one of the oldest professions, even featured in The New Testament as Jesus is condemned for mixing with female ‘sinners’. ‘Sacred Prostitution’ has been happening for centuries and in a variety of cultural practices including in India, Ancient Greece and even Japan.  Sex […]

Sit a while here on the banks of the West Fork of the Trinity River and watch the water flow by on this late October morning. See how the slanting sunlight plays across the ripples in the reflection of the cottonwoods and hackberries and grapevines and elms that cluster along the banks. Feel the cool […]

From: Kanin To: Sunny Hi there Sunny! Welp, we kind of took an inadvertent (?) Preachy break there, huh? I dunno about you — except I kinda do cause we just had a chat about it — but I think I kinda needed it. Like…stuff got busy! My kid turned one! There was a whole […]

When I left Christianity, I also ended my relationship with God. Over some difficult years, I learned that this was ultimately a good thing. I had been pushed to a space where I was able to finally acknowledge my ancestors for who they truly are to me. Turns out, doing this would not only benefit […]

Yuengling is an objectively terrible beverage. Even a quick pull from a longneck that originated at the longest-running brewery in the United States leaves you wondering just what the fuck you’re  doing trying to put a thing that actually tastes like spoiled grain (yes, I know) into your  body. And that’s to say nothing of […]

My friend recently lost his baby. The baby had emerged from her mother crying and kicking that day, like all newborns. But a few hours later, she was dead. They suspect an undetected complication.  For a while after I heard the news, I could not decide on what to say if I reached out to […]