Just turned 35 😊

Just submitted final grades, and that’s a wrap on my second year of teaching at NYU! Truthfully, there is no other place—no other students—I’d rather be teaching.

Some of the texts we practiced reading scripturally in my “What Is a Scripture?” class

Had class outside today 😎

On my way to Worcester, MA, to attend this groundbreaking conference and give a presentation on Deaf queer religious life in the 1970s and 80s. Especially excited for this first lecture!

Wonder how many times my email has told me “It seems you forgot to attach a file.” Many, many times.

Fastest time in a LONG time today!

Beginning a 2-week unit on Mormonism in one of my classes today!

Something awful special about playing with my nephew in my childhood home 🥰

Any and every day is a good day to be loving this man.

One of the few sentences that I’ve drafted for “The Moses of the Gay Liberation Movement” is the first line of the preface: “I first learned about Rev. Troy Perry because I told a lie.”

MY PHONE JUST AUTOCORRECTED “UNTENURED” TO “INDENTURED” ☠️

Lovely email today from a former student (one of my best) who said that “your teaching and one-on-one support inspired and solidified my commitment to Jewish American studies.” Very excited to see where this student goes.

Hmmm these AAR CFPs are just not inspiring me like they usually do…

Recurring conversation while watching the Super Bowl last night… Husband: I don’t understand what just happened. Me: Do you want me to explain it to you? Husband: No.

I hate hate hate waking up in the middle of the night to thoughts of our president’s attacks on humans and on our government’s institutions.

I did it, I got back in the pool

Today, I feel like I have the best job in the world.

Trump is calling for ethnic cleansing—“clean out that whole thing” was his phrase!—but the NYT manages to make him sound like a humanitarian.

Bringing legos to one of my classes tomorrow. Stay tuned.

Some of the books we’ll be reading in my two courses this semester: “‘Cults’ and Religious Panics” and “What Is a Scripture?”

i don’t understand how, psychologically, a person gets to a place where they interpret sign language as some kind of attack or imposition on their life. like, what the fuck is wrong with you?

It’s gonna be a WILD semester…

The room was packed for our session on “Finding the Mainstream within the Margins.” Never given a conference presentation in a room like this before!

Today I get to give a presentation titled “On Teaching Anita Bryant and Getting Pied in the Face,” and I’m convinced it’s downhill from here.

My last week in two photos ❤️

Final grades submitted, another semester in the books!

I LOVE MY JOB.

In the thick of one-on-one meetings with each of my students to end the semester, and it is really, really lovely.

Thrilled to squeeze into this top-10 list in the 11th hour (i.e. the 11th month 😂). Check out these amazing articles from amazing scholars of religious studies! tif.ssrc.org/2024/12/11/m...

I try my best to give my students final assignments that they will enjoy writing and that I will enjoy reading, and ya know what, sometimes it works.

It’s none of my business, but I wish I could tell the students emailing me between 2am and 4am to get some rest.

Guest lectured in “History in the Headlines” at NYU today and got good practice summarizing the history of religion and politics in the U.S. over the past 75 years in…50 minutes 😂

I will not be taking questions at this time.

AAR history is being made today: an entire session is being presented in American Sign Language (and interpreted in English). I’m honored beyond words to contribute to this panel on Deaf liberation theology, sharing a bit about crip theory and Deaf queer religious community in the 1970s.

First full draft of the manuscript of “Born Again Queer: The History of Evangelical Gay Activism and the Making of Antigay Christianity.” Another read-through, and then it’s off to my editor at Princeton University Press!

Thrilled to announce that I’ve signed a book contract with Eerdmans’ Library of Religious Biography series: “The Moses of the Gay Liberation Movement,” a biography of Rev. Troy Perry!

OK the conclusion still needs some love, but the rest of this book manuscript is FULLY DRAFTED!

I know these journalists and students mean well, but this is *NOT* the time to be sending me emails with subject lines like “potential interview”

Even more so now, after this election, a lot of people will be talking about evangelicals and why they do what they do. Thanks to The Immanent Frame for publishing some of my thoughts on how we often err when discussing evangelicals and the Bible: tif.ssrc.org/2024/11/13/t...

Got to lecture on Sister Aimee Semple McPherson today, which is always a treat!

Oh the joys of not yet having wifi in your new place…

I do not recommend lugging 8 boxes of books on a dolly half a mile through New York City 🥴