This Common Life was notably quiet in February.
This wasn’t planned ahead of time. In fact, I’ve never had so many unfinished drafts piled up in a single month. But, even though I had many things I wanted to say, I could not manage to write more than a few words about anything.
My friend Austin, who runs a media marketing company, often says that “content performs on a human level.”
A month-long break from posting is me at this human level.
Beyond the somewhat mundane challenges of life—due dates looming, career opportunities shifting, travel and meetings abounding, etc.—there is also a violent war being waged on the other side of the world that intersects deeply with many parts of my own identity.
Many of these unfinished drafts contain my attempt to share my relationship with both Israel and Palestine—studying at a dispensationalist institution that sought to indoctrinate students with Zionist propaganda, learning more about the struggles of South Asians resisting the powers of settler colonialism, feeling the collective weight of death and destruction that Black and brown bodies must bear, recognizing the willful ignorance of our civic leaders who refuse to do anything of substance to end this violence for all who are in involved. I could go on.
…
Christians across the world have already begun the season of Lent and next week Muslims will begin the holy season of Ramadan—both are seasons of fasting, prayer, and remembrance. They are moments for community to blossom at the site of our vulnerable humanity.
In this season, I am eager to return to writing weekly and cultivating this community with you all. The manuscript for my first book is well on its way and there is much more to share. In February I hosted Interfaith America’s Sacred Journey Fellows in downtown Chicago and, the next week, was honored to be hosted by Princeton Seminary’s Polaris Network, where I serve as an advisor. New episodes of the audio edition of TCL are recorded and new books for upcoming interviews have already arrived. I am also beginning to post more regular content on Instagram and TikTok. (I’d love for you to join me there).
To those who have subscribed this past month and have not yet received regular content, thank you for bearing with me. For those who are paid subscribers, thank you for your patience and grace. This work doesn’t happen without you. To those who have not subscribed yet, now is a great time to do so for all the reasons I mentioned above.
Much more soon.
Reading:
Michelle Zauner, Crying in H-Mart (2022)
Christian Wiman, He Held Radical Light (2018)
Ashish Varma, “I see you as a white guy, like me" (God Here & Now)
Kenji Kuramitsu, “On Palestine, Our Language Must Not Blur the Truth” (Pacific Citizen)
Watching:
Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (Prime)
The Sopranos (MAX)