Author Archives: kelseyelizabethdallas
This one’s for the feelers
As a student at Yale Divinity School, I am more aware of emotions than the average graduate student. We divinity students are feelers. We spend hours discussing the proper way to self-care and entire semesters determining which tone of voice is best suited to ask the tough questions. Our obsession with emotion may seem a […]
Work Hard and Be Nice to People
It’s been six months since I laid out plans for my twenty-third year. 182 days have brought me closer to a place of peace than I thought possible when I discussed waking up early, learning to cook and indulging in as much trashy television as my heart desired. In this almost-but-not-yet space between 23 and […]
What I talk about when I [don’t] talk about God
Today I received feedback on my final sermon for preaching class. It was positive overall, though the professor ended on a comment that embodies the kind of criticism I’ve grown to fear as a Presbyterian layperson in the midst of future Preachers. She wrote, “While I am delighted to see such an improvement in your […]
The best stories sneak up on us
At the end of a recent interview, my interviewee, a seasoned journalist himself, asserted that I’d forgotten to ask the most important question of all. Never one to take criticism well, I eyed him skeptically, and replayed the last hour in my mind, guaranteeing that we’d touched on all of my article’s most important themes. […]
Summer Sabbatical
When I was in sixth grade, I took my teacher’s advice and began keeping a gratitude journal. Each day I’d pen a short sentence about the ice cream sundae I got to have after dinner or the game of checkers my grandma let me win, giving thanks for the simplest of pleasures. Now twice the […]
Give Us This Day Our Daily Latte
Give Us This Day Our Daily Latte Here is the link to my latest (and silliest) blog that marked my debut on HuffPost College. I love all the great responses I got about this just-for-fun piece.
Tu me manques
The French verb manquer, meaning “to miss,” has a lesson to teach us. For some uncertain but arguably romantic reason, this verb places special demands on students of the language. It requires an advanced level of grammatical aerobics, extra attention paid to the maddening subject-verb-direct object agreement. Instead of Je manque mon chien, je manque ma mère, je […]
Well-Intentioned Interference
Well-Intentioned Interference New blog for HuffPost religion. It was inspired by my McGill course on Religion & Foreign Policy.
Uncertain Engagement
I spent the past year representing a rare breed at YDS. Though enrolled in the Master of Arts in Religion program, I have no intention of pursuing a doctoral degree. Though I have attended church services each Sunday for most of my life, I do not seek to enter formal ministry. My fellow students do […]
Lobster and Learning about Religion
This time last week I was up to my elbows in butter, crushing a crustacean’s exoskeleton with a nut cracker and debating the merits of saving the claw for last. I tackled my very first lobster and it was a gourmet experience unlike any I have known before. When our waitress delivered my lobster, I […]
Kelsey Elizabeth Dallas 