In the fall of 2013, gentrification arrived in my working-class North Oakland neighborhood. The rent ticked up month after month. Then one day, the landlord called to notify us he was putting the house on the market. Because of an influx of highly paid tech workers into the Bay Area, the house liste
Kaya Oakes
Kaya Oakes, a contributing writer for America, teaches writing at the University of California, Berkeley. Her fifth book, The Defiant Middle, will be released in the fall of 2021.
Posted inFaith in Focus
The Monk and Me: New habits of friendship
I met the monk, before he was a monk, on Facebook. The message icon flickered to life when an actor we both know made the connection: two writers, two creative people, two weirdoes, two Catholics. Perhaps we’d like to get acquainted? The monk back then had a different name; let’s call hi
Posted inFrom Our Archives
Writers Blocked?: The state of Catholic writing today
Midway through Richard Rodriguez’s recent spiritual autobiography, Darling, the author offers Catholic readers a useful catechism: “I stay in the church because the church is more than its ignorance; the church gives me more than it denies me. I stay in the church because it is mine.&rdq
Posted inFaith
The ‘Nones’ Are Alright: What we can learn from a generation of seekers
What we can learn from a generation seekers
Posted inFrom Our Archives
Prose and Prayer: Teaching the art of spiritual autobiography
Teaching the art of spiritual autobiography
Posted inFaith in Focus
Sisters in Faith: Finding renewal–and a dose of irreverence–in a women’s prayer group
Finding renewal–and a dose of irreverence–in a women’s prayer group