Changing the World 101
Simply begin at Blog Post #1, in which I make a rudimentary, over-simplified attempt at the “can’t we all just get along?” argument that would become a recurring theme in my work over the years.
Sex Education With Ninth Graders: For Dummies
You want to tell them what a boner is, so that if they ever come across one in an intimate environment, they know their boyfriend isn’t suddenly suffering from spontaneously protruding intestinal organs.
Concrete
It sits there, heavy.
Pot holed.
The cold, hard facts.
Common Scents
Cutting open a Bisquick bag will always smell of thin Duke University t-shirts, thoughtful eyebrows, and hour-long explanations of the electoral college.
Regarding Remembrance
And, on that Sunday, George remembered.
Living
This was the year I stayed. I stayed in a job. I stayed in a place. I stayed in a relationship (marriage, it turns out, will do that).
What is “Net Neutrality”?
To a large degree, the underlying argument of the Net Neutrality debate can be traced to the basic tenets of the two primary political party systems in the United States: Big Government vs. Small Government.
First, Grow Up
First, you’ll notice that the world isn’t just orange push-ups and Math Blasters on CD-ROM. Then, you’ll notice that there are people with Flip Glosses, hair straighteners, and boyfriends.
How to Take the GRE
7. Bring vocabulary cards on road trips and try to convince people that studying them will be, just, SUCH a fun game.
For my Camp Students: On Losing Races
Paul calls the Corinthians, God calls us, to run to win. Our faith journey should be so committed that we’re willing to do it with half a lung and still come out on top.
On More Than Just Love & Marriage
It has always seemed weird to me that everyone is so cautionary about the permanence of tattoos and so encouraging about the permanence of marriage.
The Month of No Lying
My encounter with “The Whole Truth” Diet taught me a lot more about my habits and relationship with reality.
The Small Talk Seal
I love talking, which, incidentally, was my very first full sentence. “Any excuse to speak” has long been listed among my favorite hobbies.
Boersma Girls Backpack: An Experiment in Photojournalism
Gollums in caves. Rolled down Smartwools. Disposable camera flash. #SB2k13.
A Love Letter to the Cast of Ragtime
I was recently in a local theater production of Ragtime. I’d like to take a moment to thank my fellow cast members for being humans, and for the joy they brought to my life just by existing.
Why Feminism Matters and Doesn’t Matter
Words have limitations.
All the Poor and Powerless
This Christmas eve, I feel responsible.
TV, Thai, and Pocket Nuggets
So I prayed for approximately eight straight minutes “Thank you; thank you; thank you; thank you; thank you; thank you; thank you…
Humanity
A definition. A rationalization. An attribute. An un-plumbable well of existence.
Things You Used to Know
NOTE: In this post, I use a lot of CAPS LOCK. You may worry that this is because I am mad at you. It is.
In Which People are Generally Cool
This morning, while I walloped crawling mosquitoes off of my vulnerable feet, my husband hacked off haphazard slices of my toenails with his Leatherman.
Dear Class of 2019
I know adults aren’t easy to trust, and teachers least of all, but please trust me. Trust that I know what I’m talking about, even just a little bit. Trust that I might, on occasion, be right when you’re wrong.
Dear Lauren, Love Lauren
The following is a completely fictional recorded conversation between my past and present selves. It is transcribed as it was spoken and it is also not real. 18-year-old Lauren: Dear 25-year-old Lauren, I hope you’re no longer miserable. Please tell me that...
Very Sophisticated Treatise on Musical Comedy
Grease is a overly-simplistic, stereotypical, peer-pressure-driven, youth-glorifying narrative, but on Wednesday, I remembered that it’s one of my all-time favorites.
“That Time Andrew Garfield Convinced Me to Go to Law School,” or “How to Write a Research Paper”
“You know, I may be a complete stranger, but it seems as though you’re a very intelligent person with a lot to give the world, and I can see you practicing law someday. Just a thought.”
So, You Just Broke Up…
Be brave. Be smart. Make mistakes, but the smallish kind if you can help it. Call someone with high-waisted pants and have them buy you a milkshake.
The Crow, The Mole, The Hare, The Fleas, The Otter, and the Bumblebees
One summer when the air was hot, / The sort of heat not soon forgot; / Beneath a heavy reddish sky, / A river and a lake ran dry.
A Time for Everything
Sometimes, I grow tired of people pretending they do know. I grow tired of people claiming the time to kill, the time to give up, the time to throw away.
Spoiler Alert: RE Santa and Absolute Truth
This was a truly significant moment in my life, and there is a reason that I still remember Chris’s grinning, red-rouged cheeks and Haley’s big, brown dismayed eyes beneath her adorable nineties bob. It was the first moment in my life where the right thing to do was also wrong.
Elements of Plot and Style
What’s the climax of my life? It seems to me that many people around me are pretty focused on figuring out whether or not they’re currently living the climax.
