The writings featured here are written by either Erin or writers whose lived experience she respects. To submit a proposal, write the team.
You can search the blog by category or subtopic (what are called “tags”) by clicking the links below:
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antipsychotics antiracism autism betrayal breast cancer cardiovascular disease Christians for a Free Palestine Cindi Dale Clarissa Pinkola Estes college community care Courage Depth Psychology Emergent Grace Movement europe Francis Weller freedom genocide Gen Z global health Guy Kawasaki health heart disease human rights In the Absence of the Ordinary job search John Lewis joy from ghazza knowledge vs wisdom lenses for Bible study Malady of the Mind Palestine psychiatry race solidarity suicide prevention The Cerulean Soul The International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People Think Remarkable: 9 Paths to Transform Your Life and Make a Difference Truth Therapy untie the strong woman Usama Nicola vitamins What I Remember of the Little I Understand white nostalgia
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Job Search Challenges Part 3: A Broken Process
The greatest challenge all job seekers face is a job search process that is inherently flawed and rigged against their success and sanity. Every step of the process, from finding a job to submitting the application, to even hearing back after an interview, is notoriously frustrating and unnecessarily demoralizing. From the very beginning it’s easy to feel discouraged about applying to jobs, especially since postings seem to ask for an absurdly unrealistic requirements. In addition to entry level jobs asking for several years of experience, the laundry list of “required” and “nice to have” skills and attributes can dissuade job…
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Job Search Challenges Part 2: No College Education
While job seekers of all ages and experience levels can experience difficulty finding a job, those without a college education are at an even greater disadvantage. Often job postings will mention a bachelor’s or equivalent degree as a requirement, which could turn away lots of otherwise qualified applicants who didn’t have the opportunity to attend college. Some jobs, typically for more technical roles, require a relevant degree to ensure that applicants already have the necessary skills and knowledge to perform their expected duties, and were evaluated and deemed competent at them. Other jobs don’t have any specific requirements and instead…
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Palestinian Embroidery on UNESCO’s List: Bethlehem as a Model of Identity and Memory
By Usama Nicola, Bethlehem, Palestine On December 15, 2021, during the 16th session of UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, “The Art of Palestinian Embroidery: Practices, Skills, Knowledge, and Rituals” was inscribed on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. This decision crowned a long journey of efforts by Palestinian and international organizations to preserve this art form, which is far more than a mere handicraft it forms an authentic component of Palestinian cultural identity. Palestinian embroidery is not just stitches and threads; it is a historical and aesthetic narrative passed down…
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Job Search Challenges Part 1: When a Degree Isn’t Enough
By, Nils Gollersrud College graduates are commonly told that all the tuition money and time spent to earn a degree will pay off since it will help guarantee a high-paying job. While a college education is certainly an advantage for finding a job, there’s still significant challenges that college-educated job seekers face in today’s job market. The lack of required skills and experience is a common reason that young job seekers are discouraged from applying to jobs. It’s also common nowadays to see “entry-level” jobs ask for “2-4 years” of relevant experience. Sometimes this experience can come from internships, volunteer…
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The work culture in the US is frequently toxic
By, Mohammed X., Washington State, from Nablus, Palestine I am a young Palestinian living in Washington State. I came here after going through difficult circumstances in the West Bank. My wife and I decided to move with our only child in search of a better and more stable life. About two weeks after arriving, I found a job as a server in a restaurant. From my very first day at work, I immediately felt how different the relationship between employers and employees is here compared to back home. Warmth vs. Machines In Palestine, you can sense mutual respect and warmth…
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The International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People
By, Usama Nicola, Bethlehem, Palestine November 29th marks the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, a day meant to remind the world of the inalienable rights of Palestinians, rights that are still denied to us. This date, chosen by the United Nations to commemorate Resolution 181 of 1947, calls for the partition of Palestine into two states, one Jewish and one Arab. Over the years, this decision has come to symbolize the beginning of an ongoing injustice that continues to affect the lives of millions of Palestinians, including myself, living under occupation in the West Bank. Today, as the world marks…
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What is Mutual Aid?
By Beatrice Mutual aid is what happens when people refuse to give up on each other. It’s not charity, and it’s not a handout. It’s community care in motion — the belief that if we all bring what we have, everyone gets what they need. Every week, we show up with food, water, tents, wound care, harm reduction, and clean clothes. But the real work isn’t just the gear. It’s the conversations, the laughter, the remembering of names. It’s people who’ve been told they don’t matter realizing they still do — because we keep showing up for them, and they…
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The Everyday Miracles of Palestine: Courage, Hope, and Resilience
By Usama Nicola, Bethlehem, Palestine Sometimes I think we confuse miracles with magic. Magic dazzles and disappears. It demands nothing of us but wonder. A miracle, though, asks for patience, courage, and participation. In the Gospels, Jesus’ miracles often began not with spectacle, but with a simple act of trust. When he turned water into wine at Cana, the miracle started long before the first cup was poured, it began when the servants, not understanding what he meant, filled the jars anyway. When he healed the blind, the lame, or the sick, he asked them to act: to rise, to…
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“Art Takes the Greys of the War”: Art Therapy as a Tool of Hope in Palestine
By: Tala AlRaheb, Ph.D. Development Director at Bright Stars of Bethlehem Rami *[1] a young boy in Gaza was stuck under the rubble with his family when an airstrike hit their home last summer. The weight of the rubble had crushed his shoulder and arm. Despite receiving medical care and attention, doctors told Rami’s family that he would never regain movement in his arm again. Imagine being a child, already worried for your life, and being told, if you live that you will be left with one working arm. Rami was traumatized. Every time he looked at his arm, he…
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Three Things About Beating Stage IV Cancer
By Celene Davis (Note: there is strong language in this article, but it is important to me, Erin, to maintain the voice in this important piece about surviving cancer. Suppressed anger and emotion has been linked to worse cancer outcomes, and this piece affirms that reality and provides healing advice.) When the doctors say you have cancer time stops. It slows down and you sit with it and everything it means. You sit with every single f***ing choice the world will now say: yep that’s how he got cancer. Cancer is never your fault. It’s not your fault if you were a smoker. I wasn’t. And it’s not your fault…
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The “Evangelical” Problem
By Caleb Cray Haynes A little over a year ago, when we were still in election season, I opened my front door early one Sunday morning to welcome in some folks from NBC. (Yes, the television network.) Earlier in the summer they had reached out to me about doing a story on the intersection between climate change, voting, and Evangelicals. This, I’ve found, has continually been an intermingling that people are fascinated with. The idea of grounding the story in the context of a “real family and pastor at a real church” was what they were after. So, for a…
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Book Review: Think Remarkable by Guy Kawasaki
Think Remarkable: 9 Paths to Transform Your Life and Make a Difference by Guy Kawasaki (with Madisun Nuismer) is a book written to Gen Z that applies to us all. The book contains three movements: STAGE 1: GROWTH–BUILD A FOUNDATIONSTAGE 2: GRIT–ACTIVATE YOUR ASPIRATIONSSTAGE 3: GRACE–UPLIFT AND INSPIRE Its chapters describe what the book is about: This book was really inspirational and was full of numerous examples with which the above points are impressed upon the reader. In a world where I am constantly trying to figure out what would inspire young people, and how to help the most constructively,…
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Book Review: In the Absence of the Ordinary: Soul Work for Times of Uncertainty
Francis Weller’s In the Absence of the Ordinary: Soul Work for Times of Uncertainty features essays on grief, change, and what he terms “sacred transitions.” One of its opening affirmations is that, in the world of soul, “down is holy ground.” In the spirit of other depth psychologists, Weller calls us to humility, mutuality and to “embrace not knowing.” This book provides a vessel by which to frame our days as activists and people of conscience in 2025. According to Francis Weller, we are in a threshold time wherein we are being invited to radical change that “nourishes the life…
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World Heart Day 2025: The Cardiac and Mental Health Situation in Palestine
By Usama Nicola, Bethlehem, Palestine, September 2025 In my own family, heart disease is not an abstract statistic. My oldest brother has already undergone two cardiac catheterizations and is scheduled for open-heart surgery this Thursday. Tomorrow, a cousin of mine faces the same surgery. Five years ago, I went through a cardiac catheterization myself. My father has had the procedure twice, and just last month my brother-in-law underwent it as well. Last week, I sat in the emergency room with my brother and had never seen the hospital so overcrowded with patients waiting for urgent care. What we live through…
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White Nostalgia Revises History and Blocks Healing
By LaRinda Johnson As I reflect on Erin Grimm’s June 3,2024 blog post, White People are in Historical Time…and It’s Not Good, I think about this idea of historical time and am sparked with thoughts of nostalgia. I’m thinking about how “what is” and “what was” exist as a cycle and self-fulfilling prophecy in whiteness. A few years ago I learned that in the 17th century, nostalgia was considered a disease associated with mental illness. This diagnosis stemmed from Swiss mercenaries longing for home. I imagine I am not alone when I think of nostalgia as a harmless longing for…
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Getting Through College with Autism
Getting through college with autism requires skill and preparedness—and it is not impossible.
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The Betrayal of Shadow and the Silence of Light
By Joy of Ghazza In the sacred stillness of Da Vinci’s Last Supper,I once gazed upon that solemn silence,my soul entangled in every shadow, every line, every hue.My eyes, like pilgrims, wandered through the scene,returning again and again to that eternal grace. Questions surged within me like waves:Why did Da Vinci choose to paint the Last Supper?Why bind those final moments into a canvasthat became an immortal emblem of human art?Is it true that all that is final, all that is sorrowful,carries a beauty that renders it eternal? Why does the world exult in elegy,in the rituals of farewell,when so…
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Social Media Kills
By Taylor Gardner, Seattle, WA Social media is killing us and we don’t even know it. I’ve been sitting here scrolling for hours thinking about the lifestyles I should pursue or changes in my appearance or how my platform looks and how many followers I have. I should be asleep. I should be working in school, but I’m scrolling away, mindlessly. My generation is sickeningly addicted, and I’m guilty. We are sick with the fatal virus of social media. It’s killing us from the inside out and we don’t even recognize it until we take our last breath. This is…
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I Called, I Texted, I Screamed — And Someone Answered
By Beatrice Suicidal ideation has been part of my life for as long as I can remember, so I know how much it matters to hear a voice that doesn’t rush or judge — one that stays until you can breathe again. I also know what it feels like to reach out and feel like you’re screaming into the void, crushed by silence that makes you feel worthless and unbearably alone. That’s why I want to start with the lines that do answer. Friends and family have told me how The Trevor Project met them with patience and affirmation when…
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A Sea in My Name… and a Wounded Homeland
by Joy from Ghazza I don’t know…Or perhaps, I do this time. Today, a desire unlike any before compels me to rebuild my fractured self. I’m not sure if that’s the word for all the past chapters, those stations that still linger on me like bruises. Today, for the first time, I see your colors, O world. I discover there are hues beyond the muted shades my eyes get lost in daily. I lift the veil from my soul, setting it free, to fly as God intended it to be. I turn my hands over, tracing the lines of my…
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The writings featured here are written by either Erin or writers whose lived experience she respects. To submit a proposal, write the team.
You can search the blog by category or subtopic (what are called “tags”) by clicking the links below:
Categories:
Tags:
antipsychotics antiracism autism betrayal breast cancer cardiovascular disease Christians for a Free Palestine Cindi Dale Clarissa Pinkola Estes college community care Courage Depth Psychology Emergent Grace Movement europe Francis Weller freedom genocide Gen Z global health Guy Kawasaki health heart disease human rights In the Absence of the Ordinary job search John Lewis joy from ghazza knowledge vs wisdom lenses for Bible study Malady of the Mind Palestine psychiatry race solidarity suicide prevention The Cerulean Soul The International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People Think Remarkable: 9 Paths to Transform Your Life and Make a Difference Truth Therapy untie the strong woman Usama Nicola vitamins What I Remember of the Little I Understand white nostalgia
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