Brian Ammons

Been thinking about “purpose” vs. “meaning” — particularly in relation to vocation. When I focus on a purposeful life I am more driven and less content, but a meaningful life feels more expansive - there’s room for curiosity, pleasure, and connection without needing to operationalize every choice.

Every time I try and post something here I think about that time at incoming student orientation they told me to announce the hashtag right as I was walking onstage, which I did…and instantly made the internet awkwardly uncool.

Anybody know if Maguire was actually reading Girard, or did he just play that out better than Lucas did Campbell?

Friends, this is exciting.
As well as InVerse podcast, St Stephen’s University has approached @steveschallert.bsky.social & I to curate an exploration of who Bayard Rustin called, “angelic troublemakers” for this moment.

Want the introductory episode now? Reply “yes” and I’ll DM it to you.

Just spent some time with friends and landed in a conversation about how too often progressive Christianity may have more room for messy life stories, but tends to want those to have been a thing of the past. There’s still a conversion narrative — “I saw the light, and now everything is better.”

The Past Hundred Years Of Gender-Segregated Public Restrooms While anti-transgender bathroom bills have only recently gained momentum, gender-segregated public restrooms have been sites of gender inequity for over a century. Cultural anxieties about bodily secr...

Revisiting this article from the last round of the bathroom wars (brought to us by my home state of NC). Public toilets have a long history as sites of cultural anxiety and power plays. www.buzzfeed.com/shannonkeati...

Post by Charlotte Clymer: Every transphobic argument can basically be boiled down to: "I actually don't know the science at all or have a good argument here, but trans people challenge my long held view of the world and it's very uncomfortable and everyone should be expected to move around my discomfort."

This…this is it. In a nutshell, yes.

I just keep returning to @muppethistory every ten minutes or so.

I never really twittered. I found it kinda tiresome even in the supposed glory days. So, I’m still figuring it all out. But srsly, how do y’all manage your nervous systems after encountering the same infuriating/heartbreaking story like 20 times in a row? I’m not being sarcastic…genuinely curious

Bluesky tip for newbies: Bluesky has no real algorithm. Likes here do nothing but show the poster that you enjoyed their content.

That kindness is always going to be appreciated by creators, but if you want to help to boost something here, you have to repost it so others see it. 🙂

That’d be great — many thanks!

Yeah I know that happened, and it was settled 25 years ago.

I get the two space rule had to do with limits of typewriters to differentiate spacing. Still, I gotta say, as someone with some reading processing challenges, the double space makes large text blocks more manageable.

Okay, I know this has been long settled in the style guides, but can someone explain to me why we quit using two spaces between sentences? I’m as stubborn about this as I am the Oxford comma. It makes things easier to read.

I’ll be over here renewing my AARP membership.

Making some new friends, so here’s the intro post:

I split my life between Asheville and just outside Belfast. I work with my husband, Gareth Higgins, on transformative storytelling (defined broadly) through The Porch — because the stories we tell shape the possibilities we can imagine.

ANNOUNCING THE 2025 PORCH GATHERING - Gareth Higgins — The Porch Clearly we're experiencing a time of upheaval and uncertainty, and some of us are feeling exhausted or hopeless. Dreams are deferred, fear rises, and there’s a sense of "spiritual homelessness". This...

“We're here for a short time…We can spend that time in panic or ignorance, by seeking to dominate others or serve the common good, by indulging in fantasies of retribution or transformation, withdrawing into isolation or nurturing a contemplative life…”

www.theporchcommunity.net/essays/2024/...

Founded to avoid compliance with Brown v. Board, and rewarded with state funding . . .

Read ⬇️ and "Cutting School: Privatization, Segregation, and the End of Public Education" by @nrooks.bsky.social #segrenomics

That’d be great. Thanks!

I quit writing for about a decade because I got stuck trying to figure out how to talk about things other than my queerness without ignoring that my queerness also shaped how I understood those things. I’m still working through it.

Thanks for this. @bdammons

Eagerly awaiting your Starter Packs.

The not saying “Twitter” thing feels like an oblique H⚡️P reference. Creeps me out.

Them: It’s like The Other Place in 2013!
Me: You mean when the gays were still on Tumblr?

If you know you know!

Friends, my new children's book Winter's Gifts came out one week ago! And it's been featured on the Brightly Storytime YouTube channel! You can watch it below, and please share it with teachers, parents, and caregivers:
www.youtube.com/watch?app=de...

Figure if I keep saying it out loud, it’ll be harder to back out of doing it 😬. I welcome thoughts or suggestions about related readings.

VOCATION AND TRANSFORMATIVE STORYTELLING - Brian Ammons — The Porch From Gareth Higgins: Hi folks - for years Brian Ammons has been helping me see that the truth about many things we take for granted is often a third option beyond the binaries offered in public. Bri...

So, I’m working on a writing project about vocation — challenging the traps in the ways it’s often talked about, but still claim what’s particular and valuable in the concept. Linking a talk about it at The Porch Gathering last spring.

www.theporchcommunity.net/recent/2024/...

a close up of a woman 's face with a blurred background of lights . ALT: a close up of a woman 's face with a blurred background of lights .

Leaning into the bsky NRG.