Weekend in the Woods

This weekend, a group of friends and I trekked to the Catskills for our annual winter getaway. It’s the fourth year that my group of…

Happy Lent?

My best friend, Sara, visited this past weekend, and I could not have been happier to see her in person. Since graduating high school, we’ve…

Friends on the Beach

Last night, we had the official welcome of my good friend, Pope Francis, to World Youth Day, again on the beaches of Copacabana. The crowds…

Apologizing for My Catholicism (or sometimes lack thereof)

apology-flashAs a sometime Catholic, I often find myself apologizing. Primarily, I find myself apologizing to those more devout than myself for my negligence. This comes up most often having dinner at my parents’ house with the priests from their parish, who ask the perfectly innocent questions of why they haven’t seen me in a while or where I go to church in my neighborhood.

The other side of the coin is having to apologize for having religious convictions at all. As someone in my twenties living in an urban area and in a so-called creative profession, it’s generally assumed by my acquaintances and associates that I am either an atheist or subscribe to some kind of a New Age-y religion (possibly with the intention of annoying my more conventional parents)…

The Opinions of Others

A few weeks back, I blogged about new research that found, when searching for a relationship partner, we tend to gravitate toward people who are…