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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Conversion Therapy Is Abuse- Dame Magazine

Last month I published this essay over at Dame Magazine about undergoing conversion therapy as a teen at Escuela Caribe/ New Horizons Youth Ministries. Recently the 11th Circuit Court effectively legalized conversion therapy. It was important for me to illuminate what conversion therapy actually entails. It’s a term which sounds clinical but is in reality…

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The Elite Arm of the Youth Control Complex #breakingcodesilence

Recently I found a study called “Troubled Affluent Youth’s Experiences in a Therapeutic Boarding School: The Elite Arm of the Youth Control Complex and Its Implications for Youth Justice,” which explores the mostly unregulated private troubled teen treatment industry (TTI). Highly recommended. Authors Mooney and Leighton describe the TTI as a way for the criminal…

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Reading Caste, Watching This Is Paris, and #BreakingCodeSilence

Monday night I watched the Paris Hilton documentary, This Is Paris, which in part deals with Paris Hilton’s time at the troubled teen facility Provo Canyon. I’m still kind of unsettled, which surprised me, mainly because I have spent so long writing about and researching these programs. A large part of my book, Unreformed, traces…

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Shield Athens in the AJC

Me, my husband, Chris, and a collective of incredible Athenians known as Shield Athens spent the first 6 weeks of the pandemic making face shields for medical workers. We ended up distributing around 2500, free of charge. The incredible Jessica Handler, author of Invisible Sisters and the Magnetic Girl, profiled us in the AJC. Love…

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Shield Athens

Sometime after September 11th, I went back to the Delta to visit my grandfather Waters Hicks. My son had been born in August of that year and I wanted my grandfather to meet him. Also, I realize now, that even though I have effectively exiled myself from the Delta, I tend to go back to…

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All about Escuela Caribe

List of previously published posts that are relevant to my experience with Escuela Caribe. Enjoy!

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