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Christian Nationalist News and Private Jets

Over the past century, my family has given an enormous amount of money to extreme evangelical Christian preachers, back to my great-grandmother in Dallas, who was so poor afterward that she couldn’t buy food or firewood. Nowadays, my mom and stepfather also get their “news” from Kenneth Copeland’s Christian nationalist Victory Channel. Copeland is the preacher with three private jets who asked his supporters for donations so that he didn’t have to fly with “demons” on commercial air travel. Recent guests include Lauren Boebert and the former president.

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Atlantic’s Books To Feel Closer to Others

One of my strongest hopes in writing Ancestor Trouble was that it might help some people feel less marooned with their own ancestor troubles. So you can imagine how touched and floored I was to find the book listed in The Atlantic by Tajja Isen—a writer and editor I deeply admire—as one of “Six Books That Will Make You You Feel Less Alone,” alongside great books like Saeed Jones’ Alive at the End of the World and others I need to read.

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In Memory of Sandra Miller

I truly cannot imagine the person I’d be if I hadn’t landed in the classes of my high school drama and musical theater teacher, Sandy Miller, known to me as Mrs. Miller, who has passed on.

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Ancestors with Colin McEnroe

Today I was live on Connecticut Public Radio’s Colin McEnroe Show to talk ancestors and Ancestor Trouble. The hour begins as Jenny Strauss contemplates the legacy of her great-grandfather Lewis Strauss, currently depicted in “Oppenheimer” by Robert Downey, Jr. She refers to him as the film’s antihero, which was my takeaway of the director’s intentions after seeing it last night. . . .

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