Last week I had the pleasure of interviewing Deontay Wilson, a Chicago-based filmmaker. Deontay premiered his first documentary "Westside Stories: Paradise Lost" last week at the Kehrein Center for the Arts - where I'm currently working as a communications consultant. Check out my coverage of the event here: Deontay Wilson's "epic poem" documentary series receives …
Exactly ten years ago today, I moved into a studio apartment on Glenwood Ave in Uptown, Chicago, and I am feeling reflective. Ten years in Chicago! A lifetime has passed, it seems. In 2013, I was 25, hot off my post-college jaunts around the world. I’d chosen Chicago based on the Masters of Arts in …
Nowa Provincja, a cafe in Krakow where I met Polish students for English lessons back in 2011. “Ok, now bring your left leg to the front - circle your ankle,” I told three elementary-school age girls facing me, standing on one leg in a park. It was a beautiful mid-August day. The temperature was in …
Continue reading Summer work and the circular nature of life
It is 95 degrees today in Chicago. Cicadas have been singing all day long, creating a constant sweltering lull which beckons the weary to rest. Summer in Chicago can be breathtakingly exquisit. With time to rest, and lay on the beach, it’s as if my brain is slowly cooking off stress and challenges from the …
The lovely lady traveler, Charish, of Rollerbag Goddess Global Communications invited me to write for her blog a few years ago. I was delighted to pen this essay on a 2016 trip to Prachuap Khiri Khan, Thailand, which she featured. I realized I had never posted the entire essay on my site, so here it …
Continue reading Reminiscence of a 2016 trip to Thailand. . .
Today's National Catholic Reporter published an article which follows my October reporting on women who allege abuse, harassment, and grooming by composer David Haas. At this point, 52 women have submitted reports to the survivor advocacy group Into Account. Read my piece here: St. Catherine's report sparks calls for accountability from survivors of alleged abuse …
Roy Bourgeois remains a powerful voice for sanity in the Catholic Church. In his latest campaign to "poke the beehive" of the patriarchy, he organized a national billboard campaign supporting women's ordination with the message "Stop Male Supremacy." I cover Bourgeois, and Catholics who support women's ordination in today's issue of National Catholic Reporter: 'Ordain …
Continue reading Roy Bourgeois’s latest campaign to support women’s ordination
Happy 2021! I hope this year starts out peacefully for every one of you. In today's National Catholic Reporter, my article features a group from San Diego who are working to create new spaces in their diocese for women's voices to be heard and taken seriously, amid the realistic confines of the Catholic Church, which …
There are few experiences that define my haphazard years living abroad more than taking a night train. 5-hour border-delays, accidentally missing my stop, waking up to discover there is someone new in my compartment, and making friends in the bar car at 2am all mark my experiences of this well-worn traveler's adventure. This past November …
Today, the Patheos blog Sick Pilgrim published a piece I've been working on this fall, about how much life is found while following the spirit of creativity, and letting go of institutional identity. The main theme throughout the essay is this: Losing faith in an institution is not the same as losing faith in God. I've …
Sophie Vodvarka Chicago-Based Freelance Writer 