Faith. Books. Disability Awareness
I am so happy to be able to announce that my new book The United Methodist Church and Disability: Essays and Practical Ideas for Churches, Clergy, and People with Disabilities is now available for pre-order! The Kindle Version will be released November 25th and the large print paperback version will be released on (or very close to) that date.
"My White Cane Is a Magic Wand," was the very first poem I ever had published in a literary magazine. It explores the theme of sight loss and life with a disability. It originally appeared in The Drabble in February of 2018.
3 Career Lessons I Wish I Had Known Sooner As a Visually Impaired Woman By: Rev. Rebecca L. Holland, B.S. English Ed. & M.Div. (Originally published in the March edition of CAPTIVATING! Magazine) Several weeks ago, I was sitting in my office when I received an e-mail. It read simply: “I would like to ask you a… Continue reading 3 Career Lessons I Wish I Had Known Sooner as a Visually Impaired Woman
This post is part of the weekly series, "His Encouragement: Thursday Thoughts to Strengthen Your Soul." Introduction: A City Bathed in Prayer My Bible Verse for the Year: The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’… Continue reading Joy in the City Devotional: (His Encouragement #24)
HAPPY ASIAN PACIFIC ISLANDER AWARENESS MONTH!
I’m smiling today because my article, “How Writing Helped Me to Explore My Filipino-American Heritage,” was published in Captivating Magazine ! CAPTIVATING is a magazine that seeks to empower people with disabilities. The goal of the magazine is to show that people with disabilities, such as sight loss, can continue to live full and complete lives. I’m so happy to be included in this project.In this article, I share about how writing my first chapbook helped to give me the confidence to write my first novel. The things that make us different are what can give us unique voices as writers. I hope you will check it out!
I have reblogged it here for your convenience but you will have to click the “read more tab,” to see the entire article. The article includes image descriptions. There is also an option to have the article read aloud to you by an electronic voice.
By: Rev. Rebecca L. Holland, B.S. English Ed. & M.Div.
I was in my junior year of college when I experienced an encounter with racism that will stick with me for the rest of my life. One of my classmates took my journal and read it without my permission. When I demanded that he return it to me, he responded, “I don’t see how you think you can be a writer when you don’t even speak English.”
“What do you mean?” I replied. “I’m an English major!”
“English isn’t your first language. Although I have to admit, you speak it surprisingly well for someone who’s not even an American.”
“I was born in Virginia! English is the only language I speak!”
“That doesn’t matter,” he said as he looked directly into my eyes. “It’s not your language. Your language is- what is it they…
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This post is part of the weekly series, "His Encouragement: Thursday Thoughts to Strengthen Your Soul." Scripture: Psalm 40:3 (NIV) He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear the Lord and put their trust in him A Happy Memory When it was time for me to go… Continue reading Devotion: The Stories that Shape Our Lives
My debut novel, Cinnamon Rolls & Running Shoes, features a diverse cast and is now available exclusively on Channillo! Dickens and Dumas were both published in serial form and now so am I !
This article was originally published in CAPTIVATING! I'm such a huge book worm, and the Voice Dream Reader app has been such a blessing to me, that I wanted to share it here on my personal blog as well. I also encourage you to check out all the other great articles in CAPTIVATING, a magazine that is breaking barriers… Continue reading I’m Visually Impaired and Voice Dream Reader Enables Me to Read 120+ Books a Year!
An intersectional approach means that we realize that every person is unique and that no two people are the same. As such, we recognize every single person will have a unique experience of life. As the United Methodist Church considers its future, in order to be truly inclusive, we must also consider the needs of women, people of color, and people with disabilities. I urge the UMC to take an intersectional approach to ministry.
It is always a joy and a thrill to have a poem accepted by a literary magazine. My poem, “What They Said When Io Ran,” was published by the Amethyst Review: New Writing Engaging with the Sacred. The Amethyst Review is one of my favorite literary magazines because it focuses on work that specifically explores the intersection of faith and writing. As a writer, this is one of my favorite themes.
I am delighted to be included in Amethyst Review and I hope that you will take a moment to explore the pages of their magazine as well as to consider my poem, which I have reblogged here.
Blessings
,
-Rev. Rebecca
What They Said When Io Ran
Words liberate
Poetry heals
The sages of the ages past
Tried their best to lock away
The knowledge of what words can do
They should not keep them from you
They will try to chain you with meter
And clip your wings with rhyme
Say that you are not good enough
Because you cannot write like them
Because your iambs are trochees and your lines stumble on broken feet-
But they do not see
That you are writing a new song
They do not see
That a new language is required
To tell the world of how you were
………………Beaten
………………Broken
………………Erased
………………Desired
………………But never silenced.
When Io ran, they claimed she liked the chase
When Daphne transformed into a tree
Rather than embrace her rapist
They said, how lovely is the laurel
And used her arms to crown…
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