First Things asked contributors for the best film they saw in 2021, and my husband and I both picked films by David Lowery. My choice was The Green Knight, and (once I had dibsed it) Alexi chose The Old Man and the Gun. Here's an excerpt from my reflection: To call it an adaptation of… Read More
Category: Articles
Lyme and Literacy in Suffering
I got to read and review Ross Douthat's memoir of Lyme disease, The Deep Places for National Review. The book is thought-provoking and unsettling. It is as much about how to endure suffering as how to address medical mysteries. In some ways, Douthat’s striving for a cure is a transposition of the same meritocratic story… Read More
Black Widow, Gymnasts, and How We Use Girls
I saw Black Widow just before the beginning of the Tokyo Olympics, and, as I wrote at The Bulwark, the juxtaposition was an uncomfortable one. The story of the girls reshaped and thrown away by the Red Room trainers isn’t so different from the story of USA Gymnastics over the last decade. With the Summer… Read More
Penance and Public Shaming
I was glad to get the chance to make my Bulwark debut with an essay on a question I've been wrestling with for some time: "What do we do with people who have committed a wrong that they themselves cannot put right?" Cycles of public shaming ebb and flow through our public discourse. Some implicate… Read More
Let the Body Testify
In the "Creatures" issue of Plough, I wrote a feature article on how women translate their pain and their experiences to make them legible to a world shaped by male norms. I was honored that this piece was recognized with a 2021 Eliot Award by Mere Orthodoxy, as well as being an Editors' Favorite and… Read More
Government Should Fail More
At The Week, I have a reflection on watching SpaceX crash rockets with my daughter and the price we pay for expecting perfection in public policy. Musk's riches allow him to comfortably risk his money. But these more adventurous investments should be made by the government, too. I want to see more failures of government… Read More
Building Community From the Ground Up
In a feature for Breaking Ground, I covered an intergenerational community that will house an order of aging religious sisters, provide assisted living for seniors, and welcome single mothers who are working on their college degrees. Accommodating all those different residents at Trinity Woods meant incorporating their needs into the design from the beginning. Corridors… Read More
Paid Family Leave Should Cover Miscarriage
New Zealand unanimously passed a law requiring three days of bereavement leave for parents who lose a child through miscarriage. I wrote a piece for the Institute for Family Studies on why I think this kind of leave is sorely needed. Parents who lose a child through miscarriage can have their grief dismissed. When my… Read More
Making Mothers Count in Medicine
At Capita, I've written an appreciation of doulas. My daughter was born with the help and support of a close friend who was training as a doula. That experience left me grateful for Bria... and furious her work was considered "extra" to medicine. A medical system that ignores the value of doulas leaves a lot… Read More
Why Pro-Life Catholics Should Get Vaccinated
In The New York Times, I made the case for pro-life Catholics to get covid vaccines, despite their dependence on cell lines derived from aborted children. Even people who are comfortable with the vaccines need to grapple with the question of how we make amends for our material cooperation with evil. I’ve gotten both my… Read More