Passing out is not fun. I watched while the technician prepared her equipment. She was calm, careful, and there was only the slightest prick as the needle entered my vein. I hoped that this MMR titer* would prove that I was already immune so I would not need a vaccination to attend college. I was in my early 30’s, a seasoned Waldorf teacher, and ... staunchly anti-vax. ❌

Explore the connection between learned helplessness, trauma, and cultic control. This blog unpacks the surprising biology behind helplessness and the hopeful path to healing through unlearning fear and reclaiming agency.

Are you finding ways to move beyond past trauma?  It’s happened a dozen or more times in the past two weeks - in my own little world 🌎, so it makes me wonder if it’s happening in yours too. 

It happens every year. On a fine spring morning, I feel surprised, even shocked, to see where the sun rises. ☀️ This - regardless of the fact that my daily walks afford me ample consistency to track this detail. Year after year, walking the same trails. 

Most weeks, my Tuesday writing group is where my words and thoughts coalesce for this Wednesday newsletter. I typically arrive with a partially marinated idea of what I want to share with you and in the course of an hour, a short essay is born. Not this week. 🥹

Last week, I gave a book reading in the sweetest cafe: Shipwrecked, on the shore of the Hudson River, two doors down from a restaurant run by a cultic group. I read a smattering of passages from my memoir, An Everyday Cult.