I was born in Powell, TN and grew up amid the Smoky Mountains. I’m of Mexican and European ancestry.

My parents were nominally Christian, specifically Methodist. Quite young, I decided religion wasn’t for me (lol) and began to identify as an atheist. Turns out, you can do both.

My adolescence and early adulthood were spent in Michigan, where I attended Eastern Michigan University, joined Alpha Gamma Delta sorority, and gained a Bachelor’s in Literature & a Master’s in Gender, Media, and Culture.

Being mixed-race, bisexual, and a woman made it impossible to ignore the inequalities in our world.

At the end of 2014, I was burnt out. I purchased a beautiful 1969 RV. It was 23 feet long, silver and striped, like an Airstream knock off. For three months in Texas, I retreated from the world with the same familiarity as others return home. On March 23rd 2015, I stopped for gas. On my phone, I read a Village Voice advice column by rock-star philosopher Andrew W.K. called “How Can I Talk to My Bigoted Friend?” 

“Prejudice not only cuts one person off from those around him, but cuts that person off from himself…Unite yourself with your own best vision of humanity. Unite the people around you with a shared vision of possibility. Unite everything. Divided we fall.”

Suddenly, I felt and knew myself to be intrinsically connected to the universe, a part of all existence.

I’ve described it as a “glowy” feeling. Not of light but of pure shocking joy, like being surprised with the best news I’d ever received. It was as though disparate stars, having moved not at all, were suddenly constellated, bearing clear shapes and epic stories. 

All the way back to my RV and for hours afterwards, I laughed, cried, gazed at my hands with wonder, and breathlessly tried to express what I was experiencing. My previous misconception of “me” in relation to “not-me” dissolved and reconstituted. Every particle of my body has been part of countless other forms before. After I die, every atom will eventually just move on and on and on throughout time and existence, parts of other beings, other astral bodies. An infinite and shifting network of connectedness permeates the universe. A bone-deep solace of wholeness contradicted the isolation that had characterized my youth. Decades of hurt and anxiety faded, like old clothing I could choose to put away. All that separation had been an illusion. And the illusion was gone.

I count myself lucky that it lasted hours. But when I woke up the next morning, it was over. My thoughts paced in circles: “Was that a spiritual experience? But I’m an atheist!” I went back to work, back to normal. My partner and I went on with our lives and eventually separated. I incubated my secret little epiphany. I couldn’t explain it. But I could feel its aftereffects. Everything needed to be figured out anew in light of this quiet little certainty: I’m part of the whole. This spiritual cataclysm had changed nothing, except my perception of everything.

Becoming a Unitarian Universalist

Several years passed. The epiphany feeling happened twice more. Not quite as earth-shaking. Still joyful and a bit manic. Each time, I gained new information: about “reminders” and nonviolence. I’d ended up back in Nashville and I needed assistance to make sense of what I was experiencing, so I visited a nearby Unitarian Universalist congregation. There, I crossed my arms and asked “I’m an atheist; is it ok for me to be here?” to which they replied, “Of course!” Unitarian (one) Universalists (all) are welcoming of all people. Seeing their minister attend an LGBTQ+ vigil began to help me unpack my preconceived notions about religion.

Shortly after becoming a member, they hired me as their part-time membership coordinator! I worked for them for about a year and a half, while working another full-time job. Then, I became an active lay leader: singing in the choir, teaching Sunday School, and helping to plan & lead worship. I discovered a knack for public speaking I’d never known I had. Eventually, people started to ask me “How’s divinity school going?” or “When are we going to lose you to divinity school?” I took the hint and, to my surprise, was accepted to Harvard Divinity School.

I completed my MDiv, a chaplain training program, a ministerial internship, and the big MFC Interview. I’m now a fellowshipped and ordained Unitarian Universalist minister working in East Tennessee. This profession is one that I’ve found to be closest to my vocation:

To remind myself and others of
our universal interconnectedness,

so that we may reduce harm and steward Earthlife,

both here and out among the stars.