More from @swordsjew

Tal Lavin

@swordsjew

10 Dec

I'm sorry for all the relentless promo lately. But it's hard & daunting to launch a new publication. I've been working really hard, and I *like* today's column - it's funny, and fun, and researched - and I hope you'll consider subscribing. theswordandthesandwich.substack.com/p/notable-sand…

Every Monday, I engage with a serious subject on the US right - such as this recent column about the antivaxx movement's misuse of Holocaust imagery. theswordandthesandwich.substack.com/p/antivaxx-hol…

@Wikipedia

And every Friday, I chronicle a new installment in @Wikipedia's List of Notable Sandwiches - like this exhaustive history of the baked bean sandwich: theswordandthesandwich.substack.com/p/notable-sand…

Read 4 tweets

Tal Lavin

@swordsjew

9 Nov

Tomorrow I attempt to quit smoking again. With patches and gum this time. Wish me luck, and I plead your forebearance. no podcasting

A teen tried to cadge a cig off me yesterday and I instantly transformed into a haggard crone in an anti tobacco PSA

My psychiatrist told me in no uncertain terms that quitting cold turkey would be bad for me. I'm allergic to Wellbutrin and Chantix has been recalled off the market. So time to put some nicotine on my skin.

Read 4 tweets

Tal Lavin

@swordsjew

8 Nov

It's here: the final installment of my series on evangelical Christian corporal punishment. This last section concerns the process of deconstruction (breaking away from faith); how people heal; and how they choose to parent, their children and themselves. theswordandthesandwich.substack.com/p/ministry-of-…

This has been a massive amount of work -- intellectual and emotional. I have read all or parts of 21 books, talked to over a hundred people. Taken as a whole, the series traces the political evolution of evangelical child punishment in the 20th century and its effects.

Part 1 looks at the "biblical parenting" movement of the back half of the 20th century, situating it in text and historical context, and featuring the testimony of people raised by Dobson, the Pearls et. al. theswordandthesandwich.substack.com/p/ministry-of-…

Read 8 tweets

Tal Lavin

@swordsjew

8 Nov

finishing up the series on evangelical child abuse tonight for publication tomorrow. this has been a real weight on me-- one that feels important. it is a topic i will expand on in my book. but it has been challenging to write gracefully & factually about so much pain.

every time i dive into the evangelical world i find something new and staggeringly bizarre (or see something I knew about in a new context). Answers in Genesis is something else (as are the Hams' books on childrearing). Also I got the Keepers At Home handbook! It's so... pink.

This piece is a bit shorter. The draft is only 3,000 words. I feel so... much... right now.

Read 6 tweets

Tal Lavin

@swordsjew

5 Nov

im technically "done" with the 10k runner program (although i guess it assumes 10 minute miles, which... not yet). either way: i ran a whole hour without one stop!

which is precisely 10 times as long as i could run 7 months ago. 🙂

I've lost 0 weight. Still 202 pounds. It was never, ever about weight. It's been about feeling something in my body that isn't panic. And ever so slowly tugging at the chains of agoraphobia.

Read 4 tweets