Author Archives
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Subversive Sister Saints by Angela Yarber
As the American Embassy was bombed in 1999, I was hunkered in a Russian Orthodox Church, gazing at the brooding, whitewashed faces of icons, hands raised in endlessly frightening benediction. Hundreds of men met my eye, as I found myself… Read More ›
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Coming Out of Quarantine by Angela Yarber
As Pride Month and Black Lives Matter protests co-exist, the spirituality of queer women of color teaches white allies how to listen. After nearly eighty days of sheltering in place, I feel like I’ve stepped out and found the world… Read More ›
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Reimagining the Classroom: Embodied Ecofeminism and the Arts Course on Hawai’i Island by Angela Yarber
“The classroom remains the most radical space of possibility in the academy.”-bell hooks Like many academics, my “in the box” dream was to be a professor. The full-time, tenured kind. Like many queer feminist academics, I know that such dreams… Read More ›
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Holy Woman Within: A Hawai’i New Year’s Retreat for Spiritual Creatives by Angela Yarber
I was a pastor for 14 years. Yes, a queer, feminist, Baptist pastor. We exist. Simultaneously, I completed a PhD and was a professor, both at divinity schools and in a Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Dept. I could never… Read More ›
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Holy Women of Pride: Queer Spirituality and Worship Resources by Angela Yarber
As we enter Pride month, do you ever finding yourself wishing there were unabashedly queer resources to aid clergy and people of faith in nurturing spirituality, celebrating queer families, or offering liturgies that celebrated revolutionary queer women? Look no farther!… Read More ›
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Embracing Lost Vocation: Painting Mother Goddess by Angela Yarber
The awakening occurred at 1:27am with the pterodactyl-cry only uttered by toddlers. It continued around 2am when said pterodactyl joined weary moms in bed. Stinging tears splattered pillows with a swift headbutt to my nose, later accompanied by footied talons… Read More ›
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Celebrating Pride: Honoring the Spiritualities of Queer Holy Women of Color by Angela Yarber
With rainbow colors erupting from even the big box stores, I find my super queer-feminist-self scratching my head at the way Pride has transformed into a capital enterprise. I mean, I’m pretty stoked that the cultural climate seems to be… Read More ›
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Women’s History Month: Painting and Empowering Adolescent Girls by Angela Yarber
In celebration of Women’s History Month, the Holy Women Icons Project is excited to launch Revolutionary Girls, a new program seeking to empower marginalized adolescent girls by telling the stories of revolutionary women through art, writing, and discussion. Partnering with local schools… Read More ›
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The Protest Goddess by Angela Yarber
I’ve long held that feminism, in order to be true and engaged and practical, must be intersectional. The work of justice for women must also include justice for other marginalized groups. Because many women are also LGBTQ, people of color,… Read More ›
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Goddesses of Mindfulness for a New Year Feminism and Religion by Angela Yarber
I’ll be honest. For me, 2017 royally sucked. Though “feminism” was dubbed the “word of the year” by Merriam-Webster’s—as evidenced by the Women’s March, the Handmaid’s Tale, Wonder Woman, and the Me Too Movement—the reason feminists thrust our fed-up fists… Read More ›
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Grieving through the Holidays: Painting Holy Women Icons of Grief by Angela Yarber
The holiday season is a particularly difficult time for grief. Whether it is grieving someone who died earlier in the year as you celebrate your first holiday season without them, or the lasting memories of loved ones who are no… Read More ›
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Small Business Saturday: Feminist Gift Guide for the Holidays by Angela Yarber
Wondering what to give the revolutionaries in your life for the holidays? Want to support feminist small businesses as you shop? Need some creative ideas with powerful feminist history and theory embedded in each purchase? Would it help if the… Read More ›
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Holy Women Icons Bearing the Light of Advent by Angela Yarber
There’s nothing like the holiday season to bring out everyone’s least feminist self. In one of the courses that I teach—Gender, Food, and the Body in Popular Culture—students are assigned to examine gender roles throughout the holiday season through the… Read More ›
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Painting Breast Cancer Goddess by Rev. Dr. Angela Yarber
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, though I imagine most of us are already relatively aware. One in eight women will have breast cancer. Pink is everywhere. It’s difficult to find a person who hasn’t been impacted by breast cancer… Read More ›
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Bridging Beyond Binaries: Painting Gloria Anzaldúa by Angela Yarber
One of the great joys of being an artist and writer is working on commissions, enlivening in paint, canvas, and word the stories of revolutionary holy women who have emboldened and inspired the one commissioning the Holy Woman Icon. Gloria… Read More ›
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Self-Care is a Feminist Issue: Holy Women Icons Project’s 7-Day Online Self-Care Retreat by Rev. Dr. Angela Yarber
Several years ago, I was pastor of a welcoming and affirming church. As a queer clergywoman, I thought that such a place would be the perfect place to flourish and thrive as a pastor. And yet, because of heterosexist and… Read More ›
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Holy Women Icons Online Retreats by Angela Yarber
I’ve shared before that the non-profit my wife and I created, the Holy Women Icons Project, is in the process of creating a small intersectionally ecofeminist retreat center on Hawai’i Island. The Holy Women Icons Project seeks to empower marginalized… Read More ›
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Painting, Privilege, and “Going Tiny” in Hawai’i by Angela Yarber
It started with Pelé, the Hawai’ian Volcano Goddess who governs fire, lightning, volcanoes, and the flow of lava. When my little family set off on a big adventure in June 2015, I knew I’d research and paint her as a… Read More ›
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Painting Our Lady of Sorrows: Mother’s Day and Resurrection by Angela Yarber
The month of May finds those within the Christian tradition solidly within Easter season, reveling in the promise of resurrection, while simultaneously celebrating Mother’s Day. To be honest, I’d never seen much of a correlation between these two events in… Read More ›
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Painting a Goddess of Grief by Angela Yarber
In many ways, I’ve thought of the myriad Holy Women Icons I’ve painted as mediators, guides who accompany us, women who have shown us the way. Whether they enliven us to create, inspire us to sustain, or embolden us to… Read More ›
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Painting the Mother of Exiles by Angela Yarber
Last month, my column focused on the importance of intersectionality within the feminist movement by highlighting the revolutionary work of Sojourner Truth, an escaped slave, abolitionist, and women’s rights activist. I’d like to continue to press the importance of intersectionality,… Read More ›
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The Need for Intersectionality: Repainting Sojourner Truth by AngelaYarber
I’ve long held that feminism, in order to be true and engaged and practical, must be intersectional. Such is also the case, I believe, for LGBTQ rights. The work of justice for women and LGBTQs people must also include justice… Read More ›
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Painting Lilith, Queering Lilith by Angela Yarber
Lilith has been a misunderstood, appropriated, and redeemed woman throughout the ages. Many feminists claim her as an empowering figure in Jewish mythology, her story reclaimed by contemporary artists such as Sarah McLachlan, who created the all-women music tour, “Lilith… Read More ›
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Painting Mary(s), Queering Mary(s) by Angela Yarber
It’s no secret that the holidays are often a difficult time for queer people. Disproportionately estranged from family, we often must create our own family. While these chosen families can be tremendously life-giving, it’s tough not to long for our… Read More ›
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Painting Our Lady of Light: Winter Holidays 2016 by Angela Yarber
There’s nothing like the holiday season to bring out everyone’s least feminist self. In one of the courses that I teach—Gender, Food, and the Body in Popular Culture—students are assigned to examine gender roles throughout the holiday season through the… Read More ›
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Nominating Holy Women Icons by Angela Yarber
Who is your Holy Woman Icon? When I began the academic study of religion in 1999, I was struck by the pantheon of male saints, venerated, honored, painted, adored, perhaps even worshipped. From virtually every tradition, men reigned supreme—in leadership,… Read More ›
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Holy Women Icons Contemplative Coloring Book by Angela Yarber
Around the time Microaggressions in Ministry: Confronting the Violence of Everyday Church was published, I was under contract and furiously trying to finish yet another book project, a coloring book of all things. On the heels of such imperative justice… Read More ›
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Drawing Pele, Retreating to Hawai’i by Angela Yarber
I knew I’d paint her from the moment we discovered that we would spend three months of our Year of Volunteer Travel Discernment in Hawai’i. Little did I know how Pele would turn our world inside out, destroying what needed… Read More ›
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Painting the Virgen de la Caridad, Doing Intersectionality by Angela Yarber
The most recent Holy Woman Icon with a folk feminist twist that I’ve painted is the Virgen de la Caridad. Like Mary, Guadalupe, La Negrita, and the Virgin of Regla, she was commissioned by a bold and brilliant friend, a… Read More ›
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Painting Jane Addams by Angela Yarber
As bright red hearts grace every storefront in anticipation of Valentine’s Day, the virtue of love remains at the forefront for many feminists. Let’s set aside Hallmark and the commercialism of romance for a moment and focus on some forms… Read More ›
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