<![CDATA[The Subversive Lens Newsletter]]>https://thesubversivelens.substack.comhttps://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!XPQx!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fthesubversivelens.substack.com%2Fimg%2Fsubstack.pngThe Subversive Lens Newsletterhttps://thesubversivelens.substack.comSubstackSat, 05 Sep 2026 00:59:18 GMT<![CDATA[The Lie of Inevitability]]>https://thesubversivelens.substack.com/p/the-lie-of-inevitabilityhttps://thesubversivelens.substack.com/p/the-lie-of-inevitabilityMon, 10 Aug 2026 20:32:06 GMT Read more

]]><![CDATA[Grad School Speech]]>https://thesubversivelens.substack.com/p/grad-school-speechhttps://thesubversivelens.substack.com/p/grad-school-speechSun, 31 May 2026 20:56:03 GMTI was chosen by my grad school cohort to deliver a speech at our local commencement celebration.

The following is the written text of yesterday's speech:


Today is a celebration.

And

Today begins a period of mourning as we walk away from what came before.

Zoom classes and group texts and tearful check-ins. Reading. So much reading. Writing research articles and APA formatting. Laughter. So much laughter. The deaths of loved ones. The moments of pride, and the soft rush of quiet epiphanies. The clinical role plays, those destroyers of the human soul. The wifi password that was nearly impossible to memorize. The exhaustion.

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]]><![CDATA[The End]]>https://thesubversivelens.substack.com/p/the-endhttps://thesubversivelens.substack.com/p/the-endSun, 12 Apr 2026 19:48:11 GMT Read more

]]><![CDATA[2025: A Retrospective and A Brief Look Forward]]>https://thesubversivelens.substack.com/p/2025-a-retrospective-and-a-briefhttps://thesubversivelens.substack.com/p/2025-a-retrospective-and-a-briefWed, 31 Dec 2025 19:04:14 GMT Read more

]]><![CDATA[Starting Over]]>https://thesubversivelens.substack.com/p/starting-overhttps://thesubversivelens.substack.com/p/starting-overSat, 20 Sep 2025 00:02:15 GMTI’m starting over.

After various attempts to read it, I am not deeply invested in a book by Mortimer Adler, titled “How to Read a Book”. It has been life-changing. Or will be life changing. As long as I can get past this feeling that, after four decades plus of life, I am back at the beginning.

I realized I haven’t just been reading superficially—I’ve been approaching learning itself in a short-sighted manner. I can’t help but look back at getting my Bachelor’s Degree and wonder how much more solid of a foundation I could have built. I consider the past two years of Grad School—and wince. What is even worse is that I felt the deficit; I felt some inadequacy; I recognized something was amiss.

But I was trying to hang on and balance life changes and children and the death of my father. I didn’t have an ample reservoir, or I was passive, or I didn’t know where to gain a toehold.

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]]><![CDATA[A Eulogy For My Dad]]>https://thesubversivelens.substack.com/p/a-eulogy-for-my-dadhttps://thesubversivelens.substack.com/p/a-eulogy-for-my-dadThu, 24 Jul 2025 21:58:22 GMT Read more

]]><![CDATA[A Reclamation]]>https://thesubversivelens.substack.com/p/a-reclamationhttps://thesubversivelens.substack.com/p/a-reclamationFri, 11 Jul 2025 19:08:39 GMTI’m making a pilgrimage (of sorts) to Michigan soon.

I will attend my Dad’s memorial.
I will show my partner the contextual fabric that has shaped me into who I am.
I will visit Lake Michigan, (re)visit the shorelines where my boys grew up.
I will drive by my childhood home and try to make sense of what those walls have seen. And know.
I will see my mom for what will likely be the last time.

One night, we will stay in a cabin on the grounds of a conservative Bible camp I used to attend forty years ago. It has been converted into a VRBO, and I have been communicating with the person who purchased it. We likely attended youth camp at the same time some two score years ago.

My parents were married in the tabernacle there in 1976; years later, I would hear hellfire-and-brimstone messages from those same pews.

There was a canopy of trees near the dining hall. I would measure my yearly growth on how close I could kick a ball to that arboreal ceiling.

It will be a pilgrimage of reclamation. The tabernacle is still there, now a wedding venue. I plan to reclaim those pews where I once sat as a nervous ten-year-old, fearful of a vengeful god and an eternity separated from my parents.

I’ll walk the grounds.

That’s where my grandparents’ camper used to park.
That’s where I once had a foot race, refereed by Pa Brown.
That’s the hill we used to roll down.
That’s the boys’ dorm.

I’ll reclaim it step by step, though I’ll let the spirit of my grandparents rest, the two sweet souls that offered solace in a childhood of trauma, hunger, and insecurity.

I plan to revisit my grandparents’ farm in northern Michigan;

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]]><![CDATA[Better Left Unsaid]]>https://thesubversivelens.substack.com/p/better-left-unsaidhttps://thesubversivelens.substack.com/p/better-left-unsaidFri, 20 Jun 2025 18:11:28 GMT Read more

]]><![CDATA[Friendship Failures]]>https://thesubversivelens.substack.com/p/friendship-failureshttps://thesubversivelens.substack.com/p/friendship-failuresFri, 28 Mar 2025 19:08:28 GMT Read more

]]><![CDATA[So It Begins . . .]]>https://thesubversivelens.substack.com/p/so-it-beginshttps://thesubversivelens.substack.com/p/so-it-beginsSat, 18 Jan 2025 00:33:38 GMT Read more

]]><![CDATA[Muddled Thoughts of 2024]]>https://thesubversivelens.substack.com/p/muddled-thoughts-of-2024https://thesubversivelens.substack.com/p/muddled-thoughts-of-2024Thu, 02 Jan 2025 19:48:07 GMTI fear my brain is still stuck back in 2019. Before the pandemic; before the divorce; before I lost even more faith in humanity.

Before.

I fear I don’t have a 2024 recap that will find a thread of hope that I spin into a profound message.

I fear my writing brain is undergoing an inescapable atrophy; that thoughts will no longer flow.

I fear—that the fear is winning. The fear of failure; the fear of loss; the fear of fear.

I grew in 2024.
Set aside some grievances.
Found a clarity of purpose.

I shrunk in 2024.
Let some grievances grow.
Felt muddled.

I excelled in 2024.
Finished a year of grad school.
Started a challenging internship.

I failed in 2024.
To vanquish familiar demons.
To forge a new path.

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]]><![CDATA[The Coming Storm]]>https://thesubversivelens.substack.com/p/the-coming-stormhttps://thesubversivelens.substack.com/p/the-coming-stormSat, 23 Nov 2024 19:04:47 GMT Read more

]]><![CDATA[To Those Whose Souls are Threadbare]]>https://thesubversivelens.substack.com/p/to-those-whose-souls-are-threadbarehttps://thesubversivelens.substack.com/p/to-those-whose-souls-are-threadbareSat, 02 Nov 2024 19:01:39 GMT Read more

]]><![CDATA[Lost Lives]]>https://thesubversivelens.substack.com/p/lost-liveshttps://thesubversivelens.substack.com/p/lost-livesFri, 20 Sep 2024 00:05:52 GMT Read more

]]><![CDATA[An Unlived Life]]>https://thesubversivelens.substack.com/p/an-unlived-lifehttps://thesubversivelens.substack.com/p/an-unlived-lifeSun, 08 Sep 2024 02:48:37 GMT Read more

]]><![CDATA[Thank You]]>https://thesubversivelens.substack.com/p/thank-youhttps://thesubversivelens.substack.com/p/thank-youSat, 07 Sep 2024 17:59:57 GMTI wanted to thank all of my free subscribers for signing up. I recognize that my output here has been limited, but I do plan on being more active with general Substack posts.

My summer has been full with a grad class, kids’ activities, and general chaos, and though I’m going into this fall when several classes and a new internship, I hope to create a more sustainable writing schedule.

I greatly appreciate everyone who has allowed me into the email inboxes, and I hope to be more engaged soon.

The Subversive Lens Newsletter is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

]]><![CDATA[From Rags to Riches—and Back.]]>https://thesubversivelens.substack.com/p/from-rags-to-richesand-backhttps://thesubversivelens.substack.com/p/from-rags-to-richesand-backSat, 31 Aug 2024 21:26:15 GMT Read more

]]><![CDATA[Accountability Partners]]>https://thesubversivelens.substack.com/p/accountability-partnershttps://thesubversivelens.substack.com/p/accountability-partnersMon, 26 Aug 2024 19:16:12 GMT Read more

]]><![CDATA[The Great Rupture]]>https://thesubversivelens.substack.com/p/the-great-rupturehttps://thesubversivelens.substack.com/p/the-great-ruptureFri, 26 Jul 2024 03:37:37 GMT Read more

]]><![CDATA[A Second Deconstruction]]>https://thesubversivelens.substack.com/p/a-second-deconstructionhttps://thesubversivelens.substack.com/p/a-second-deconstructionMon, 10 Jun 2024 18:23:53 GMT Read more

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