Last month, in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, the US Supreme Court issued the controversial ruling that Christian owners of closely held for-profit corporations had a religious liberty right to deny contraceptive coverage in their employee health insurance plans. Hobby Lobby and two other companies had sought exemptions from the section of the Affordable Care
Hobby Lobby’s Questionable Theology Read More »
Helen Leslie Sokolsky’s distinctive new poetry chapbook, Two Sides of a Ticket (Finishing Line Press, 2014), contains a portrait gallery of urban characters. Their alienation is healed, momentarily, by the author’s mature and compassionate re-imagining of the lives she glimpses in passing. These narratives show us recognizable scenes made fresh by Sokolsky’s original metaphors. I
Poetry by Helen Leslie Sokolsky: “Friday’s Dress” Read More »
Welcome back, patient readers, to my redesigned blog! Goodbye GoDaddy, hello WordPress. Kudos to web designer Derek Allard at Tunnel 7 and programmer Ryan Askew. What’s new: Social media sharing buttons on each post. Wider columns for proper formatting of reprinted poems. Color scheme upgraded from “Colonel Mustard in the library” to “Expensive box of
Reiter’s Block Reloaded and New Poems: “Polish Joke”, “Mis Numeros” Read More »
The NY Times, the New Republic, and a slew of feminist blogs have recently been debating whether it’s appropriate for educators to put trigger warnings about potentially traumatic material on their syllabus. Not surprisingly, the mainstream media has taken the tack that students should expect to be challenged and disquieted by new ideas in the
Trigger Warnings in Education: Some Reminiscences and Suggestions from a Survivor Read More »
The girly pink explosion of sweetness that is Mother’s Day will soon be upon me again. Do I have a problem with that? I love this little guy, and I love pink. But when I think about being a mother, the images that come to mind are not sugary, soft, and girly. I channel the
Unconventional Mother’s Day Blogaround Read More »
In late April, I attended the Second Acts Conference in Washington, DC, an initiative of the intentional Christian community and social justice coalition Becoming Church. Becoming Church is an umbrella organization for small-group churches (a dozen people maximum) that follow the Church of the Saviour model of “journey inward/journey outward“. Grounded in their faith in
Becoming Church: My Field Trip to an Intentional Christian Community Read More »
I’m pleased to share the next installment of my prison pen pal Conway’s “City Elegy” poetry series below. This weekend, I’ll be attending the Becoming Church conference, a project of the Church of the Saviour in Washington DC, which will focus on Christian activism for prison reform. My other purpose in attending is to research
New Poetry by Conway: “City Elegy VI” Read More »
Happy Easter, dear readers! Today we celebrate the miracle of God’s love triumphing over sin and death. Two years ago, on Holy Saturday, my own little miracle came into the world: Shane had a wonderful time at the Easter service today at St. John’s. The handbell choir was his favorite! I bit my nails less
Hail Thee, Festival Day! Read More »
A couple of weeks ago, I asked my therapist, “Will I ever get to the bottom of this pile of bad feelings, or is this my life?” I was going through another patch of nightmares and becoming frustrated. No new information was coming up; the incidents were way in the past, by now more thoroughly
Survivors in Church: Insights from Disability Theology Read More »
The poetry website Utmost Christian Writers, edited by Nathan Harms, has offered me a regular home for my spiritual writing for over a decade. This year I was honored to win First Honorable Mention in their annual poetry contest. My entry, “Lord of the Storm“, was inspired by memories of a family vacation on Martha’s
My Poem “Lord of the Storm” at Utmost Christian Writers Read More »