Responsible Parenting

The parent willing to make this statement wants their child to "grow up and take responsibility" while refusing to do so themselves.

And By This They Will Know You Follow Me: A Pride 2019 Love Letter

I had a friend in high school who was-- among other things--overly friendly with all the girls and an endless tease. He was funny, exuberant and had a large, fabulous personality. My boyfriend, now husband, was often irritated by his presence only because boundaries were foreign to this guy. But I loved him. For example,...

The Battle for Choice

There was a time I wore the red tape across my lips and prayed for the unborn. There was a time I believed stringently that abortion equaled murder. There was a time I believed that issues surrounding reproductive issues was black and white. I don't believe that way any longer. I personally could never endorse...

How I Learned to Have Boundaries Written by: David Sutcliffe

"I used to have a hard time saying no. And being direct about what I wanted. I often found myself accommodating others, doing things I didn’t want to do. This would lead to lingering resentment, and if it persisted, an explosion of blame and victimization. If I finally confronted someone the response was usually, “Well,...

Learning to Fly While Falling

Once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return. --Leonardo da Vinci I had just come to the end of an exceptionally traumatic year. Circumstances beyond my control had thrown my world upside down and...

Bittersweet Farewell: A Fictional Imagining

Of our souls and our bodies, our hands were the first to touch. And now they would be the last thing that connected us. I silently begged, oh please don’t let go.

Status Anxiety: Keeping up with the Joneses to the Nth Degree

One of my best friends suggested I watch Alain de Botton's video Status Anxiety (2004), and it placed a spot light on some of the philosophical questions I have been pondering over the past few weeks and months. In the opening few minutes of the video, Alain describes what he perceives to be the foundational...

If You Read This After I’m Gone

It was just supposed to be a mammogram. A few weeks earlier I had gone to my doctor to inquire about an unusual hardness behind my left nipple. I thought, in part, that I was a tad irrational. My doctor validated my fears during my first appointment and sent  me for a scan. I wasn’t...

Love People, Whether They are Sinners or Not.

"Hate the sin, but love the sinner." Jesus never said this. It’s from St. Augustine. His Letter 211 (c. 424) contains the phrase Cum dilectione hominum et odio vitiorum, which translates roughly to "With love for mankind and hatred of sins." The phrase has become more famous as "love the sinner but hate the sin" or...

It’s Not Over, I Just Pretend All the Time

The rest of the world is more comfortable when they hear stories of rosy optimism and conquering disease. I figured that out early. I could post glowing optimistic stories of each new victory I over came and I would receive endless praise. It was great, it fed my ego, but it wasn’t always honest. When...