This is Recovering, a newsletter about all the ways we recover—from addiction, religion, grief—and what we recover in the process.
The professional gets personal
Early in 2022, following a string of deaths and heartbreaks, I wanted to start a newsletter about sobriety, grief, and spiritual awakenings. After the fall of Roe, I dreamt of a newsletter creating new theologies of reproduction and reproductive justice.
And after the collapse of Twitter, I thought, well, perhaps this is the time to do both.
This newsletter will be a mix of the professional and the personal. I’ll share essays on religion, sobriety, grief, and awakenings, as well as musings from my ongoing Ph.D. research in reproduction, gender & the body, and Catholicism.
What do we mean by “Recovering?”
“Recovering” may take on many forms, narratives, and ideas.
“Recovering” can be interpreted broadly. As an emerging religious historian, I’m interested in how history is recovered and how narratives shape themselves in this recovery.
“Recovering” can also be taken more literally. As a person in recovery, I navigate the world from this sense of both wonder and bemusement as I work to explore, uncover, and define my life and spirituality.
“Recovering,” too, can be applied to the challenges that many face as “recovering Catholics.” How do we recover from abusive or toxic theologies and the authoritarianism of the Catholic hierarchy? How do we “do theology” from this place of recovery?
What’s my research?
I’m a Ph.D. student in the departments of religion and gender, sexuality, and women’s studies at Temple University. I also teach in the women’s and gender studies department at the University of Delaware.
To put it simply: My research is on reproductive medicine and the Catholic Church, with a focus on abortion and contraception, American Catholic social history, and religion’s role in U.S. healthcare systems.
I write fiction, too.
In addition to my doctoral studies and research, I write and publish fiction and creative nonfiction. Recent fiction appears in North American Review, The Georgia Review, The Razor, and Phoebe.