Radical Healing

The one where we talk about PURITY CULTURE! In this episode we interview Krysta Carrick Byrnes, a nurse practitioner and our friend who also attended the Christian Academy in Japan.
Krysta shares about the gradual evolution of her worldview and self-understanding  after leaving CAJ. In our conversation we focus on purity culture in particular, unpacking its harmfulness, and also brainstorm what things we'd like to emphasize if we were to talk about sex-ed at CAJ today.
We were so happy to be able to have this conversation with Krysta, who brought a lot of great insights from her experiences as a medical professional.

For more resources, here are a couple book recommendations:
“Come as You Are: The Surprising New Science That Will Transform Your Sex Life”
by Emily Nagoski (Note from Krysta: “This book's target audience is cisgendered women so it is not fully inclusive, but I found it very interesting and helpful.)

"Pure: Inside the Evangelical Movement That Shamed a Generation of Young Women and How I Broke Free"
by Linda Kay Klein

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Content warning: The episode includes mention of death by suicide of a loved one (timestamp 1:11:15-1:12:40)

The one where we talk about college campus ministries. Shifting our focus from the CAJ/Japan missionary community experience, in this episode we interview Keren WuRohe, Jeweliann’s friend from college. Keren shares about her spiritual journey post-college and unpacks her complicated experiences with CRU (formerly Campus Crusade for Christ) and HCFA (Harvard College Faith and Action). 

 Topics include 

• Keren’s passion for equity in education
• being suffocated by “Biblical femininity”
• Christian elites being #fancyforGod
• the sacred beauty of Yosemite+the freedom of embracing our insignificance. 

And here are Keren's recommendations!
 @yourfavoriteheretics
@dirtyrottenchurchkids
Searching for Sunday: Loving, Leaving, and Finding the Church by Rachel Held Evans

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In this episode, we talk to Makoto Seely, an alum from the CAJ class of 2008. Makoto went to CAJ from kindergarten through 12th grade. Both their parents were CAJ staff members and they are a third generation missionary kid. Makoto’s parents had a very positive influence in the CAJ community and played a role in both of our lives personally. Sadly Mrs. Seely passed away in 2018 from brain cancer. Her legacy lives on and she is remembered fondly by many. Makoto shares about their experience struggling with faith as a teenager, moving away from Christianity and unapologetically embracing happiness.

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The one where we talk with Mary Somers-Harris about disability in the church, charismatic evangelicalism, and the abuse problem at Youth with a Mission (YWAM).

Mary shares about her experience growing up as a missionary kid in YWAM Japan, her experience at YWAM’s discipleship training school (DTS) and the ableist and spiritual abuse she experienced here. 

YWAM is a major missions organization with 25,000 young people participating each year globally. Sadly, abuse is rampant at YWAM schools all over the world and as an institution has not addressed the problem or come up with prevention guidelines. 

If you’ve experienced abuse at YWAM, know that you’re not alone and that there are supportive resources available. On Facebook, you can join the private group “Spiritual Abuse in YWAM”. On Twitter, search for the hashtag #ywamtoo, and on YouTube, you can listen to many survivors sharing their stories. 

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The one where we continue our conversation with Nashe, one of the writers of the call to action letter (ep.3).

Nashe shares about her experience growing up at the Christian Academy in Japan and not fitting in more ways than one as a Sri Lankan/Zimbabwean queer kid raised with liberation theology. Topics include navigating secular spaces after CAJ, sex ed, the joys of exploring anarchist geography and music

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The one where we interview three CAJ alumni from the class of 2015 and 2016, Erika I., Julie, and Nashe, about a Call to Action letter that they wrote to the CAJ administration this past summer. In conversation, we ended up talking about identity, the TCK label, queerness, and sex education. Read their Call to Action letter (now public) here.

To read the open letter by Rachel Engel that is referenced, see here: An Open Letter to the International School Community: Our Role in the Black Lives Matter Movement and Anti-Racism Work

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Erika interviews Jeweliann!

Ep 2: The one where Jeweliann talks about deconstructing the harmful doctrine of original sin, her nerdy adolescent interest in birth control and being "ha-fu" at CAJ.

For those interested in the book Leaving the Fold, by Dr. Winell check it out here:
 http://marlenewinell.net/leaving-fold-former

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Introducing the Radical Healing Podcast!In our first episode, Juju interviews Erika!

Ep 1: The one where Erika is very proud of her alphabet worksheets, explains Marxism very badly, and goes on rants about the Pilgrims. You can read the full episode transcript at radicalhealingpod.com, and download a really good zine on Marxism at tiny.cc/zinelibrary

For more, visit radicalhealingpod.com and follow @radicalhealingpod (Instagram)