I recently read Patricia Lockwood’s memoir Priestdaddy. Lockwood is a poet with a unique backstory—her father is an ordained Catholic priest. My original intention for picking up the memoir was to gain insights into what it might be like to have married priests with families. Lockwood doesn’t give us much in the regard. Her father is almost a caricature, not a real person. He is overweight, fiercely conservative, spending his time at home in his study lounging in his underwear and listening to Rush Limbaugh and watching football. When his adult children and grandchildren visit, he makes a five...

I wanna run I want to hide I want to tear down the walls that hold me inside I want to reach out and touch the flame Where the streets have no name. These are tough times for social justice folks. No matter the social justice issue you care most deeply about– food security for the poor, migrant justice, the Syrian refugee crisis, climate change, health care access, LGBTQ equality, transparency in campaign finance, and on and on– there seem to be daily news stories about how we are taking steps backwards on these issues. You may want to...