My Former Reform School Is In the News Again

Last month Jesus Land author Julia Scheeres, forwarded me a link from ProPublica with a headline that made of us both infuriated. There Were Warning Signs Of Sexual Abuse At a Youth Center. Indiana Kept Sending Boys and Money Anyway. No one wants teenagers to be abused, especially at state-funded Christian facilities, but it was beyond maddening…

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A User’s Guide to Unreformed/ Moving to Substack

Thank you to everyone who read my Unreformed blog. I’m starting a substack which will occasionally focus on the troubled teen industry but also will include outtakes from my interviews (the next three are Darrin Bell, Emi Nietfield, and Myriam Gurba), what I’m reading, and what I’m researching— I’m currently working on a project exploring…

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RUN TOWARDS THE DANGER

I’ve been reading Sarah Polley’s RUN TOWARDS THE DANGER. The title essay feels like it was written for people, who, like me, have experienced a traumatic injury. IN RUN TOWARDS THE DANGER, Polley, who is Canadian, travels to America to consult with a doctor about a concussion which has lingered for four years. He tells…

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2022 Interviews

I always knew I wanted to be a writer, but after I was sent to reform school, I didn’t write for a decade. I have a tricky relationship with writing— at the school I was punished for what I wrote in my letters home. They would make me rewrite my letters over and over. I…

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On Dana Spiotta’s Wayward, Blue Bubbles, & Hobby Lobby America

I love Dana Spiotta, and loved every minute of the conversation we had a few weeks ago for Electric Lit (pub date July 27th) about her new book Wayward, which is about a white liberal Gen X woman upending her life in response to the 2016 election. Along the way Spiotta skewers liberal white women…

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#justiceforcornelius

On Thursday April 29, 2021, at 12:45 p.m. ET/9:45 a.m. PT, please join survivors of the troubled teen industry in a silent vigil commemorating the one year anniversary of the death of Cornelius Frederick. A memorial and community gathering hosted by PACCT Emergent Justice, will take place on Thursday, April 29th at 5:45 p.m. ET/2:45…

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Why Women Are Opting Out of Religion

Recently I was interviewed by Sarah Stankorb about why I left why I left white Evangelical Christianity for Gen, which basically is because of misogyny, racism, homophobia, etc. I’m not alone. Since 2018, 21% of women in America identify as non-religious. I covered the topic more in-depth in this essay, I Grew Up Evangelical and…

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