I send out two newsletters a month: a story on the first (available with all subscriptions) and a contemplation or commentary on the fifteenth (available with paid subscriptions).
I’ve spent the last year or so thinking through how to write most effectively about “deconstruction” and encourage other people who find themselves on that path. It’s a big challenge. “Deconstruction” is an increasingly common experience, but no two experiences are the same. I am deconstructing from religious beliefs, a work ethic, an economic outlook, a political perspective, a way of doing relationships. By the time you read this, that list will probably have a few more items. Someone else may be deconstructing from one or more of those or something completely different.
The most obvious thing we usually have in common is our starting point: the systems we’re deconstructing from. I’ve found company with other former evangelicals and other former Republicans. It is important to share recognition of our toxic experiences (and sometimes our shared complicity in them). But bonding over what you disagree with is not a recipe for longterm mutual support and happiness. Ultimately, I suspect that approach cultivates as much rigidity and dogma as what we left behind. And, while shared bad experiences has an important place in our development as a culture, it’s not the kind of writing I want to do.
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