Confluences

Religion, Health, and Diversity in Missouri

Chapter 7. Seeking the Sacred in St. Joseph Museums: A Basket Made by Small Hands
Tessi Muskrat
pp. 233-258

Evangelical Purity Culture and Its Discontents

2. The Space Between: Liminal Time within Purity Culture
Tessi Muskrat

I Write Barefoot

I do pretty much everything else barefoot, too. I like the feeling of the earth beneath my feet, the freedom of being open to the world. I like to know where I stand. I like being just a little bit different.

Writing barefoot is about being honest. It's about looking deeply into yourself and looking openly at the world and speaking your truth. It's about telling—and living—my own story to the very best of my ability.

As an author, I collect, create & share stories in English and American Sign Language (ASL). There is no greater honor for me than to be allowed to sit and listen to someone's Story; the sacred journey that has brought them to where and who they are right now, in this moment. I listen to stories with an openness and humility that allows them to do their work on me, and through my writing I share that work with you.

I write auto-ethnography, memoir, short stories, essays and fantasy, and share compositions in ASL on a variety of topics. My writing has been published in several national magazines, including Spiritual Directors International (SDI)'s Connections, New Attitude Magazine, Guideposts for Teens and The Braided Way. My essays have also been published on the SDI blog and in Finding Mr. Right, a book about finding love. Most recently, I've had chapters published in two edited volumes (Confluences: Religion, Health, and Diversity in Missouri and Evangelical Purity Culture and Its Discontents) and have several pieces in press.

It is my hope that you may find, in my Story and the Story of others, something of beauty that reflects that which is blossoming in your own story.

I invite you to take off your shoes and journey barefoot with me, honoring the knowledge that our Story is holy and we desire to connect to our Story deeply; not shielded from its raw beauty, but sensitive to its overwhelming joy and pain.