While we are currently at our maximum number of regular contributors, Mockingbird is happy to publish quality writing from guests. To submit something for consideration, simply email it to info@mbird.com. We can’t promise anything, but we will take a look. Naturally, the best way to get a sense of what we are looking for is to read the site.
About Guest Contributor
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Miss Snake Charmer: Queens, Snakes, and the Weight of the Law
This one comes to us from Jesse Pirschel. While driving my boys to school, we were listening to an episode of the podcast Snap Judgment entitled “12 Pageant Queens, 10,000 Snakes.” In a car full of boys there were mixed emotions about the prospects of this episode. The podcast features several teenage girls from West […]
What Could Be Creepier
This one comes to us from Juliette Alvey. I could never be a hunter. This is not a moral judgment but rather a statement about my squeamishness. I was just driving home and saw a raccoon get hit by the car in front of me. I felt my gut wrench as the animal lay still […]
Why So Downcast, O, My Arthur Fleck?
This one was written by Bryant Trinh. When the first trailer for the Joker was released online, it seemed as though a swath of the nation was experiencing a mass hysteria for what was to be shown in theaters. I was among one of those who were eager and fascinated to see the character study […]
Tom King’s Pen: a Gavel and a Sanctuary
This one comes to us from Blake Nail. Look! Up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s a man with superpowers, a closet full of skeletons, a chest constricted by anxieties, and a diagnosis of PTSD, all from saving the world! Whether we’re stuck on a hurtling train with the brakes cut, […]
Binge/Cringe
This one comes to us from Nathan Hoff. Why do I keep eating ice cream? Why do I keep looking at porn? Why do I keep drinking booze? Why do I work like there’s no tomorrow? Why do I binge-watch Netflix? Why do I keep on ketoing? Why do I keep looking for news? Why […]
No Body Wins
Very thankful for this candid piece from an anonymous writer. I am a survivor of sexual violence. I now work closely with other survivors. I didn’t seek out a job where I would do this type of work, but I wouldn’t exactly call it an accident that I’m doing this type of work, either. It […]
Comedians in Cars Talking About Death
This one comes to us from Juliette Alvey. Anytime I hear someone speak positively about death or not fearing death, my ears perk up. I am not one of those people. I am scared to death to die. So when Jerry Seinfeld had a conversation with John Mulaney on Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee and predicted […]
Bayesian Theology or: How I Learned to Loosen a Doctrinal Death Grip and Love Statistical Thinking
This one comes to us from Rob Munk. Halfway through 2017, I met the woman I plan to marry. We bonded over pancakes at a greasy-spoon diner on our first date. She was Anglican; I was Lutheran. It was a match in high-church Protestant heaven. But like many Christian couples, we had our share of […]
How Phobia Has Made Me Think About Fear
Thankful for this one from Joey Jekel. But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, the offspring of Abraham, my friend; you whom I took from the ends of the earth, and called from its farthest corners, saying to you, “You are my servant, I have chosen you and not cast you off”; […]
The Evil Person I Become on a Bike
This one was written by Sarah Hinlicky Wilson. Yes, that’s me: mild-mannered theologian by foot, hate-spewing demon by bike. Note that when I say “bike,” I don’t mean a souped-up chopper bearing a Hell’s Angel in well-worn leather and a half-drunk can of Schlitz. I mean a dorky, human-powered eight-speed that I can’t even make […]
A Not-So-Godforsaken Town: It: Chapter 2 Shows Us It Really Is Finished
Very grateful to Prof. Leigh Hickman for bringing her expert analysis to bear yet again. If you missed her essay on It: Chapter 1, start there. And be warned—spoilers ahead! The first line of voice-over in It: Chapter 2 starts with the word, “Memory.” Like an invocation of the muse in a Homeric epic, the […]
Little Faith
The following was written by Laura E. Creel: Sometimes, I think, faith is more about existing than about believing. I didn’t always think that: The spiritual formation I received as a child extolled and expected the virtues of a “strong faith.” I learned that being a “real” Christian meant defending—with wholehearted certainty—a litany of beliefs […]
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