When I was invited to create this post, a number of topics came to mind. But I decided to start our conversation with my response to the question: why do I write? I am a Colombian woman designer who promotes… Read More ›
Feminist Ethics
An Untitled Poem for Unanswerable Questions by Eva Espinoza
Thinking about the discourse between spiritualists and victims of harmThinking about accountability and prison abolitionThinking about how white supremacy tells us people are disposableThat they–that we, don’t matterThinking about “don’t speak ill of the dead”Thinking about “honor your ancestors”Thinking about… Read More ›
Feminist Holy Week Vaginal Christology Devotional, Part 1 by Trelawney Grenfell-Muir
Monday: Thought for the day: In Matthew 21, Jesus rides a mother donkey, her baby beside her, into Jerusalem in blatant condemnation and contrast to the militaristic entry of Roman military leaders and soldiers on war horses through a different… Read More ›
How I Learned to Love Snakes (a poem) by Marie Cartier
Can I recall a time when my resilience surprised me? My mother always said, “If you feel bad, go out into the garden and eat worms.” Sigh. We didn’t have a garden. My resilience. My head hits the counter, as… Read More ›
Sappy modern carols won’t cut it; Gritty Advent Hope is what we need this year. — by Trelawney Grenfell-Muir
As we careen toward ever more terrifying surges in the Covid pandemic, with experts predicting apocalyptic catastrophes by Christmas time, I find myself reacting to the vast majority of modern Christmas songs, stories, movies, and cultural norms with increasing distaste…. Read More ›
Feminist Parenting, Part 2 — What are Children? Are Children Human? by Trelawney Grenfell-Muir
The first thing I do in parenting courses is ask students their most basic beliefs about children. Students are startled by this opening slide, “what are children?” The obvious, knee-jerk response to the question, “Are children human?” is “Of course!”… Read More ›
Abandonment Trauma: Facing the Pandemic With My Fists-up by Karen Leslie Hernandez
Content Warning: Mention of childhood abuse, abandonment, suicide, trauma and death. I am a successful product of child abandonment. Raised in an abusive home, my mother left when I was in 7th grade. From that point on, I spent an… Read More ›
Kamala Harris! “I Feel Heard” by Carol P. Christ
Shortly after Kamala Harris was announced as Joe Biden’s choice for his Vice Presidential running mate, a panel of black women were asked, “How do you feel right now?” “I feel heard” was the simple yet profound response of one… Read More ›
What’s Changed? by Elise M. Edwards
Friends, it has been a few months since I’ve posted in this community. I’m amazed at how much our world has changed since then. Here in the northern hemisphere, spring came and went. It felt like a tide of turmoil… Read More ›
Pandemic Grace: A FAR Message from Xochitl Alvizo
Hello FAR friends, I hope you are each doing well – that you are holding up ok during these trying times. It’s Xochitl here. I’m the behind-the-scenes co-weaver keeping things afloat (to varying degrees!) on this collaborative endeavor we call… Read More ›
“Side of the Angels Statement” by Natalie Weaver
As a feminist, I have learned how important it is to limit the scope of my claims to a reasonable space, demarcated by some genuine historical or current investment, connection, or participation. There are many things in this world about… Read More ›
Poem: In These United States is a Woman Electable? by Marie Cartier
In these United States we are wondering if a woman is electable. Is she likeable enough? I donate to a woman candidate and I have put a sign on my front lawn with a woman’s name on it. I’m a… Read More ›
The Storyteller by Sara Wright
When I walked into the space a bolt of light shot across the room and struck me so forcibly that it felt like it shattered the cells beneath my skin. Did this occur before I glimpsed her bronzed moon shaped… Read More ›
Productive Confusion by Sara Frykenberg
My experience of productive confusion, alternatively, shuffles categories. It breaks apart. It is life giving chaos; but god/dess does it FEEL loud (even though it often requires quiet). If I’m not surfing the internet, while watching a show, while having a glass of wine, I might have to hear my own thoughts. I might notice that my internal loudness is also a symptom of the institutionalized trauma, violence and oppression that works to keep me externally quiet.
We Won’t Go Back by John Erickson
Bottom line: abortion is healthcare. Nearly a fourth of women in America will have an abortion by age 45. Every day, people across the United States make deeply personal decisions about their pregnancies. Those decisions deserve respect.
Raising (Dis)respectful Sons by Esther Nelson
I recently spoke with a female relative (I’ll call her Sylvia), the mother of two teenage sons. The eldest just completed his first year of college. During our conversation, Sylvia mentioned she was not looking forward to him coming home… Read More ›
Marianne Williamson. . . I’m Sacredly Smitten by Lache S.
I caution myself to be critical and nuanced. I’m sorry, folks. I just haven’t had such dazzling hope or remote interest in politics since. . . well, since I was a puppet junior high evangelist for an independent candidate my… Read More ›
Raven’s Cry by Sara Wright
Fake coyote calls split a moon cracked sky in two. False ‘Indian’ hoots and drums stunned sleeping birds – Why do ‘whites’ insist upon using Indigenous ways, to make a point? Coyotes know. Did they think that she was blind… Read More ›
Storytelling as a Spiritual Practice by Nurete Brenner
“The master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house.” Audre Lorde Question: What tools do we have that are powerful enough to dismantle the Master’s house? Answer: Storytelling. Storytelling does not belong to the “master.” Storytelling is subversive because it… Read More ›
Seed Bearer by Sara Wright
Yesterday old eyes stung – fierce white heat – blurred vision. Singing love songs, I scattered seeds in furrows raked smooth, tucked tufts under stone… Imagining a Wildflower riot! Bittersweet orange, blue and gold winding through rice grass – sage… Read More ›
The Finish Line by John Erickson
I see it…do you? It’s just within reach and I’m almost there…the proverbial finish line to my Ph.D. That’s right folks, I’m graduating. To say that this has been an easy journey, one that many of you have read about… Read More ›
Time to Dismantle the Myth of the Nation State? by Carol P. Christ
I am a citizen of two countries currently being torn apart by popular nationalism. In Greece, the cry is “Macedonia is only Greek,” while in the United States a nation of immigrants is being told that it must fear being… Read More ›
Leading by Mandala by Nurete Brenner and Elizabeth Meacham
Lake Erie Institute The old myths and images that sustained us in earlier periods are no longer serving us during this time of breakdown of the old and the uncertainty about the future. The lone wolf, the frontiersman, the all-powerful… Read More ›
Seeking Happiness, According to Paulo Coelho by Lache S.
Lately I’ve been reading a few Paulo Coelho books. I won’t say they are beyond feminist criticism, but it’s not what I’m going to focus on this post; but as always, feel free to say in the comments why/if you… Read More ›
Emotional Policing from Within: Choosing Right Relationship Over Being Right on FAR by Lache S.
I have something hard to say. It is about some of ourselves, some of the time. Let me start by offering you my perspective on negativity on the internet: people are not always conscious or mindful. We let our bitter… Read More ›
The Gifts of Life: Do We Remember? by Carol P. Christ
Strawberries shaped my view of a world full of gifts simply scattered at your feet. A gift comes to you through no action of your own, free, having moved toward you without your beckoning. It is not a reward, you… Read More ›
Compassion. Simply Be. by Karen Leslie Hernandez
From November 1-7, I attended the Parliament of the World’s Religions in Toronto, Canada. With a myriad of religions and spiritual traditions represented, this was my third Parliament. Inspiring people from all over the planet gathered to teach, to listen,… Read More ›
The Ninth Touchstone: Repair the Web by Carol P. Christ
As I reflected on the Nine Touchstones again recently, I was pleased to discover that the first and the eighth touchstones are articulations of the central values of egalitarian matriarchal societies. Few of us live today in egalitarian matriarchies, and… Read More ›
A Ritual to Bless Our Children by Barbara Ardinger
It was maybe twenty-five years ago that I first got addicted to the Sunday morning news/talk shows. I’d turn on the TV at 7 a.m., watch an hour of local news, then Stephanopoulos at 8 a.m., then MSNBC until noon… Read More ›
America, The Beautiful by Marie Cartier
There is a very white woman in a Lexus. I could say her license plate number, but does it matter? She’s that woman you’ve heard about—yelling at a brown woman holding a sign, “I’ve lost my job. I have two… Read More ›
