Early reviews are in for my piece on the wild faith-based activities from my early 2000s NIV Adventure Bible 😅😂 open.substack.com/pub/katejohn...

You left the church... So why does guilt still control you? If rest makes you feel selfish or lazy, you’re not alone. Religious trauma and authoritarianism may still have its hold on you. Do you panic when you disappoint people? Keeping others happy uses to feel like safety. 1/3

The lyrical essay that took me a year to publish just came out in Eclectica today (ironically about resilience). It’s about estrangement and finding joy after grief all in the city of New Orleans www.eclectica.org/v30n2/k_john...

This Easter felt different. I think we all felt it. Maybe it’s the constant news of injustice. Maybe it’s our own struggles. But maybe the resurrection isn’t just Christ rising from the dead. Maybe it feels less like triumph and more like childbirth. open.substack.com/pub/katejohn...

This Holy Week, I’m thinking about Mary Magdalene, female leadership, and the voices we’re told can’t speak leading up to Easter. Here’s why it matters now. If you enjoyed, it would mean a lot if you shared or subscribed. open.substack.com/pub/katejohn...

I’ve been thinking a lot about the sacredness of voice, women as preachers, and the radicalness of Jesus elevating the voices of the oppressed. If that’s your vibe, I’ll be dropping a new post about it tomorrow. open.substack.com/pub/katejohn...

I didn’t think I was funny. Then I decided to learn the craft. This week, I got published in The Belladonna for the first time. For those interested, you can read the piece here: thebelladonnacomedy.com/welcome-to-t... Share and subscribe to my newsletter if you want more humor in your inbox.

“The last tribute standing will win a 10% off coupon to the PB&J of the Month Club and an all-expenses-paid trip to Cleveland, Ohio (Blackout dates apply).” By @katejohnsonwrites.bsky.social Full piece: thebelladonnacomedy.com/welcome-to-t...

Am I addicted to the Jersey pork roll at my local sandwich place? Yes. Will I stop? No. I can quit when I want!

So happy! My satire/humor piece about TSA and airports has just been published by @belladonnacomedy.bsky.social! #writingcommunity #writesky #humorwriting #writersofbluesky thebelladonnacomedy.com/welcome-to-t...

Um excuse me, I’d go see this in theaters. www.npr.org/2026/03/25/n...

The horrors in the news are many, but poetry gave me a place to channel it. Here’s how reading daily poetry improved my mental health and how you can get started too: open.substack.com/pub/katejohn...

On Thanksgiving, the immigrant children held at the Dilley detention center gathered in the gym for what they thought was a holiday feast. The kids salivated over a spread of turkey, sandwiches, pastries and pies, a family told me. But the food wasn’t for detainees — it was for the staff.

Just saw on KARE 11 that this boy was sent to a detainment facility in Texas and that his family didn't know his whereabouts for almost 24 hours.

This picture broke me, but the description of this kidnapping by a witness who says ICE referred to this precious child as “it” as they took him away fills me with an unspeakable, murderous rage.

Losing things is really good for my New Years step count goal.

My husband when he wakes me up this morning, “I’m going to ease you into this slowly…”

What the hell???

Everyone should read After Purity by @saramoslener.bsky.social. What a superb read. It reminds me of this recent article from Religion Dispatches but goes much deeper. religiondispatches.org/the-purity-m...

Absolutely terrible

People who call kids “bad” usually don’t know Fact One about child development. A lot—A LOT—of adults, despite their authority, want children to display more emotional maturity than they’ve ever modeled for them.

My new poem Sacred Treasures on SWIMM. www.swwim.org/swwimeveryda...

Brian Recker’s new book Hell Bent is out today! If you grew up terrified of hell growing up or came to Christianity because of hell, this book will heal you. www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/771172...

Brian Recker’s new book Hell Bent comes out tomorrow! If you were plagued with fears of going to hell growing up, please read. It will heal your inner child. bookshop.org/p/books/hell...

Can’t wait for @smashfizzle.bsky.social ‘s memoir class this Monday!

This is your reminder to step outside and breathe.

Finding rest in the midst of the death of a man who advocated for a world where men's authority was built on the unpaid labor of women. #exvangelical #charliekirk open.substack.com/pub/sonyaros...

Focusing on what truly benefits kids, with their input, would save us all. I wish that, collectively, we desired a free future for children more than we desired the power to harm or control another adult. Every day I try to imagine that better world for all the children who should get to live there.

We sacrifice their future to focus on what we can deny one another (to punish, hoard power, or both).

More than anything else, the whole world runs on the disregarded suffering of children.

Since my summer query one went so well, I’m doing another workshop in the winter. Come hang! The goal is to help get a nonfiction book proposal wrangled up and polished. These workshops will help fund my free events in the New Year. www.ericsmithrocks.com/blog/2025/9/...

So excited to join the Magic of Memoir series, featuring fantastic writers like @smashfizzle.bsky.social and @jeannineouellette.bsky.social, to dive deeper into the essentials of memoir craft. magicofmemoir.com?utm_source=s...

Little kids are having to use their bodies to shield friends from gunfire while armed soldiers are busy picking up trash.

Heartbroken by the recent tragedy in Minneapolis at Annunciation Catholic School. This is not was childhood should look like. Children deserve to learn without fear. #poetry #endgunviolence #neveragain #protectourchildren #poetsoninstagram #poetrycommunity

I have a book imprint & this week a new title is out, an essay collection about living with PTSD and moving forward from trauma but it’s also about being young, misadventure, motherhood and opening up to love again. The Answer Is in the Wound by Kelly Sundberg, out now: bookshop.org/a/112057/978...

Read more about redefining family Values on my Substack: open.substack.com/pub/sonyaros... #exvangelical #deconstruction #jamesdobson #writingcommunity #writesky

Reject feminism, submit to your husband Taylor Swift. You are not in charge. - Charlie Kirk Keep our Queen’s name out of your mouth Charlie. Let her enjoy her moment ❤️. #charliekirk #taylorswift #taylorswiftengagement

What are family values and what do I mean by them as an #exvangelical bisexual woman vs what men like James Dobson meant by them? #writingcommunity #writesky open.substack.com/pub/sonyaros...

I grew up in evangelical spaces. I was taught to stand up to injustice and love my neighbor. But when I failed to see that among the churches I grew up in, I began to realize I needed to create it for myself #religioustrauma #exvangelical #deconstruction #justice.

Kilmar Abrego Garcia was taken into custody by ICE shortly after turning himself in. A federal judge said she will order officials to keep him in the US while she weighs a new legal challenge from him over the Trump administration's plans to quickly deport him to Uganda. https://cnn.it/41XZxUI

Quote from my recent piece Wooden Spoons and Wedding Days: Lessons I Learned from James Dobson open.substack.com/pub/sonyaros...

“The worst part was not the sting of the wooden spoon — it was the shame and the erosion of safety.” In my new substack post, I reflect on the Legacy of James Dobson, Evangelical corporal punishment and purity culture. #jamesdobson #exvangelical open.substack.com/pub/sonyaros...

It may have been the hardest thing we ever did, but we did it ❤️. We deconstructed the lies and shame that came with Evangelicalism, rigid gender roles, and purity culture. We survived James Dobson and family values. I’m so proud of us. #exvangelical #deconstruction #purityculture

I debated writing this. It can feel tempting, upon encountering yet another instance of this administration’s racism, to let it be. How many ways can you say the same thing over and over again? And yet we have to write it down, if for nothing else, so those who come after us know we were against it.

I started a Substack called Family Values which unpacks the harms of family values in Evangelical Culture. A place to explore identity, resilience, and healing through joy. Please give me a follow! #writingcommunity #exvangelical #deconstruction #jamesdobson open.substack.com/pub/sonyaros...

I spoke with Scott Tong on NPR’s Here & Now today on James Dobson: www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2...

Some poor soul already wrote to me trying to take up for James Dobson.🙄 Let me repost my article again. That man is responsible for so many of the bad policies that are happening to torture people today. . www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnb...