A New Project Launch
Things have been quiet here over the summer, for many good reasons. Such special circumstances happen only in summer: Garden smells of turned earth and tomato vines, robins nesting on porches and garter snakes gobbling up fallen eggs, lengthy swims in cold pools in the rain, evening walks filled with fireflies and flittermice. We dragged home a huge stack of illustrated fairy tales from the library, and have been delighting in the art of K.Y. Craft and early Paul O. Zelinsky.
Oh, and I’ve been working on something, and I’m finally ready to share...
Something that’s been bothering me for a while now is that I found myself in need of a sex ed curriculum for my teenagers. I wanted something that was both scientifically valid and religiously respectful. But everywhere I looked, I either found materials that either ignored spirituality entirely, or sacrificed scientific rigor in favor of a poorly explained religious morality. While some of the materials I found were okay, nothing fit the bill for exactly what I was looking for. Eventually, after a lot of prayer and worrying, I had an epiphany: There is no perfect sex ed curriculum.
Then a little voice whispered, Laura, you’re going to have to do it yourself.
Surely you’re joking! I laughed to myself. I’m not gonna. I crossed my arms emphatically, just to prove my point.
Except, I did. But that wasn’t the end of the troubles.
Sex is such a personal, private, intimate aspect of our existence, that it resists all forms of systematization. Anything that tries to make an exhaustive curriculum about sex will fail most of the students it is intended for. As a lifelong lover of biology, my standards for scientific education were higher than a lot of religious curriculum even attempted. In addition, secular curriculum couldn't possibly address sex with the spiritual maturity and nuance I had been preparing my students for their whole lives. To top it off, my two oldest students had very different personalities.
That's when I realized I had to tailor it to each of my individual kids.
As I scribbled and doodled in a composition book, I realized that although the "bones" of the curriculum would be the same, the dressing was going to be different for each of my students. So I typed up and printed out my work, slapped it in three-ring binders, then used notebook paper to add the personal touch when necessary.
As I shared my project ideas with friends and family, I was encouraged to go for broke and share the fruits of my labor with the world. While editing the material, I came across an essay I wrote a few years ago. It was a little dusty, but I realized that it really helped illustrate the thought process that went on behind the curtain. With some more prodding by friends who are very patient with me, I was convinced to offer this essay as a form of “mother culture." (If you’re unfamiliar with the term, think continuing education credits for homeschooling parents.)
But I still wasn’t sure how to release the material-- should I edit it down and self-publish it as modern samizdat? Should I pull out all the stops and expand it into a magnum opus? Just looking at what I had, I could easily triple the length if I just buckled down. This little addendum was starting to spiral out of control.
Be careful, Laura! I said to myself. You don’t want to come across as some kind of Orthodox sex-guru!
I had to wrap this thing up and tie all the ends together, and it had to happen fast, before the thing hijacked my life. That’s when I settled on audio format. The final product, Turning Venom Into Medicine: Meditations on Sexual Sobriety, is twelve loosely related essays on the topic of Orthodox spirituality and sexuality.
When I was a young parent and homeschooling mother, the idea of one day having to teach sex ed to my kids was really daunting. In a way, publishing my work here is mostly about offering empowerment to anyone in a similar situation, who could use a little bit of inspiration. I can tell you honestly that a lot of thought and prayer went into this, and I’ve asked Saint Mary of Egypt to keep her eye on it.
You can find Sex Ed For Sane People, and its companion, Turning Venom Into Medicine: Meditations on Sexual Sobriety exclusively on my author website:
In celebration of its completion, it is on sale for 50% until the end of the Dormition Fast.
Through the prayers of Saint Mary of Egypt, Lord have mercy on us!
Looks amazing. So does the “Turning Venom” come with the “Sex Ed” or are those separate purchases?