Scout, where did you come from? What were you like as a puppy? What was your name before we took you home?
Questions for My Rescue Dog

Scout, where did you come from? What were you like as a puppy? What was your name before we took you home?
[Original publication date: Feb. 28, 2014] Dear Men, Dear Decent Men, This is not a letter to misogynists or selfish jerks, who aren’t going to pay attention to what I have to say anyway. It’s a letter to good, decent men who might not realize that they’re doing something that really frustrates a lot of […]
Earlier this week, Leadership Journal, an imprint of Christianity Today, ran an essay written by an anonymous former youth pastor who is now serving a prison sentence for statutory rape. The problem: the writer never acknowledges the fact that his “affair” was actually rape, he wrote the piece as a self-indulgent morality tale about the […]
Hi! My name’s Liz. I was at Concannon’s Bakery & Café this morning with my mom, my sister, and four great little kids. You chose to sit at the table next to us, even though the whole place was full of empty tables. We knew we were going to be a somewhat noisy group, so […]
Dear Men, Dear Decent Men, This is not a letter to misogynists or selfish jerks, who aren’t going to pay attention to what I have to say anyway. It’s a letter to good, decent men who might not realize that they’re doing something that really frustrates a lot of women in their lives. It’s a […]
I should emphasize something: I rarely swear in my classes. Sure, I often teach Anne Lamott’s “Shitty First Drafts” during the first week of my composition courses, and plenty of the readings I assign have their share of “bad words.” As a lecturer, though, I rarely utter anything worse than crap, hell, or piss. I […]
When my dad came out in 2004, I had already come to the conclusion that there was nothing spiritually or morally wrong about being gay. Sometimes it’s hard to figure out just how I managed to come to that conclusion, because I wasn’t in an environment where that perspective was encouraged at all.
Earlier on Tuesday evening I was doing some research on Kolkata, India and was searching for some information about sex work in the city. I did a quick search for Sonagachi, which is the city’s largest red light district. In fact, it’s one of the biggest red light districts in all of Asia. Sonagachi is […]
I saw this on Facebook yesterday and thought I’d respond:
Recently I addressed the growing myth that American Christians are persecuted for their beliefs. I’d like to take this a step further by demonstrating that not only are Christians not persecuted, but they are among the most privileged groups in the country.
There is a certain attitude among my fellow Christians that really bothers me. I know it bothers other Christians, too, and it really bothers non-believers. The attitude is based on the myth that Christians in the United States are persecuted for their beliefs.
Ruthie is three. She is a healthy toddler. Her brain is perfect–a neurologist confirmed that in 2012 when she was exhibiting some strange growth patterns that needed to be checked out.
Last week, after watching Django Unchained with Chalupa, I had a chat with one of my favorite feminists, Slay Belle, about the movie. Here is the transcript of our conversation in which we address the plot, writing, and controversies of the film, as well as how feminists can approach the movie. (Spoilers contained within.)
A note: Two nights ago I came across Is This Modest?, a Christian website that is evidently designed to help young women figure out whether or not what they’re wearing is going to make men stumble.
Many of our readers are familiar with Liz BR from her fabulous “The Myth of Modesty” series Persephone ran a few months ago. She offered to contribute to my Halloween series as someone who wasn’t allowed to celebrate the holiday when she was growing up and I knew I wanted to include her perspective. – […]