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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The Promise of Scripture “to Come”: Qumran, Derrida, and Unfulfilled Desire, Part 1
Thankful for this one from Caitlin Hubler. “The” Old Testament does not exist. That is, there is no one version of the text. Although most of us encounter it in the form of a single, neatly bound book alongside the New, behind this veneer of simplicity lies a complex process of transmission, selection, and reconstruction. […]
Hopelessly Devoted: Against Cynicism
This one comes to us from Kenneth Tanner. I run with cynics. I find them in the church. I find them in bars, coffee houses, and at baseball games, and on the screens we stare at all the time. And the first thing I want to say is that I am at times one myself. […]
Just Another Late Night in Washington, DC
This one comes to us from Jim Moore. Sometimes life in America turns into one giant discourse on the work of the Law and the work of the Gospel. That’s how I felt tonight watching Emma Thompson star in Mindy Kaling’s movie Late Night. The movie revolves around an acerbic, cantankerous late-night comedian who has […]
Toys as Shepherds and Shepherds as Toys: Guiding the Lost in Toy Story 4
Grateful for this one from Jeremiah Lawson. For his insightful commentary on the first three Toy Story films, start here. Warning: spoilers here! Here in 2019 there seems to be an inverse proportion between the number of bids at epic storytelling and the number of successes. After eight seasons and years of commentary, Game of […]
Instagram Planners and the Protestant Work Ethic
This one comes to us from Holly Genovese. I love my Emily Ley Simplified® planner. It’s full of notes, lists, and proof of a busy year. It’s my fourth Simplified® planner, and I have one waiting patiently on my desk for August 1. The planner is well made, the paper is beautiful. It has room […]
Dead to Me: A Dark Comedy of Forgiveness
This one was written by Sam Guthrie. In the Netflix original series, Dead to Me, Judy (Linda Cardellini) helps Jen (Christina Applegate) cope with the sudden loss of her husband, Ted. The two form an unlikely friendship tracking down Jen’s husband’s killer in the pristine landscape of Malibu. Thanks to Liz Feldman, the creator of […]
The Writing on the Bag (Paper, Plastic, or Shame?)
This one comes to us from Blake Nail. The box of Cookie Crisp taunts you as you reach for the Grape Nuts and sigh. You travel over to aisle 9 where the peanut butter is and realize you should just grab some jelly while you’re at it. Make a stop in aisle 14 for the […]
Let Us (Not) Run the Race
This one was written by Grace Leuenberger. Last month I joined more than 20,000 people on the starting line of the Pittsburgh Marathon and Half Marathon. With about eight minutes before the start of the race, I pushed my way through the masses to the front of Corral A to join the group that would […]
Sobriety Broke Me to Pour Me Out
Grateful for this one, by Erin Jean Warde. Months ago, I decided to quit drinking. I have chronic migraines and sometimes face depression. I wondered if maybe something that gives me headaches wasn’t the best for chronic headaches. I wondered if maybe a depressant wasn’t the best beverage for depression. I don’t have a particularly […]
Beggars, a Poem: Notes on Need and Circumstance
This reflection and accompanying poem come to us from Becky Carlozzi. The night before my husband and I left for our fifteen-year anniversary trip to Italy, I received a phone call that my friend had been arrested and would spend several weeks in jail. The following day, staring out a window at 30,000 feet, I […]
Father of the Bride(groom): Winning and Losing with Vampire Weekend
This one was written by Ryan Stevenson-Cosgrove. The members of band Vampire Weekend have always been winners. Only on their latest album, “Father of the Bride,” they no longer sound like it. At least, not in the way we tend to think. Vampire Weekend’s star began to rise at a time in the music industry […]
The Special Waffle: Something Like a Parable
By Nathan F. Elmore: Occasionally, you get handed the Special Waffle—rectangular pieces of brie topped with thin, crescent-moon slices of Granny Smith apples, drizzled with honey and resting on a modest, square-shaped buttermilk waffle. Without paying for such things. Without any birthright for such things. Without having ordered it or even wanting it. Without deserving […]
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