What Is Initiation Writes?

Initiation Writes is a place for stories of initiation. Each story is a place where the storyteller defines initiation for themselves. Perhaps it’s about discovering (or re-discovering) identity and self-worth in a new season of life. Perhaps it’s about cultivating belonging within a partnership, family or community. Perhaps it’s about finding purpose through sharing our wisdom or holding space for others’ transformations. Often it is all three, and more.

In this storytelling space, you’ll find:

• An inclusive digital community outside of social media where we can tell more complex stories about initiation that go beyond the standard Western trajectory of “love, marriage, and baby carriage.” Where there is no pressure to end with “and they lived happily ever after.”

• A place where people can cheer each other on through their initiations, whether you’re on their tenth fertility treatment or figuring out how to live child-free, getting remarried after a bad divorce or deciding to live outside of hetero monogamy altogether.

• A bank of interviews and resources aimed at helping readers to survive and thrive amidst their toughest initiations.

In particular, the initiations you’ll see featured here often include mention of the following:

• Gender identity and sexuality

• Love and breakups

• Infertility and pregnancy loss

• Parenting children and reparenting the self

• Grief and post-traumatic growth, in all of their forms

• Teaching and writing as the means through which we convey the lessons learned from initiation

You’ll often see these topics discussed through the lenses of:

• Science

• Storytelling

• Spirituality

These stories matter. They teach us and others what it means to be alive. Let’s keep telling them to each other here.

About Me

I go by Ryan (she/her/hers). I’m a parent, educator, writer and consultant based in the NYC metro area. I hold a B.S. in Journalism from Emerson College, and I began my career as a journalist, stringing for major newspapers and editing travel books. I became passionate about education following a stint teaching abroad in Asia. After I earned my dual M.Ed in Childhood Education and Literacy from Bank Street’s Graduate School of Education, I went on to design community-building and educational materials for a wide variety of organizations, from foreign and U.S. state governments, to influential startups and schools. I have helped to launch start-ups like Yelp, Readworks, Tinkergarten and Breathe 4 Change. I have taught hundreds of children and adults across NYC, across a wide variety of public, private and charter schools, as well as in adult education spaces like The Brooklyn Kitchen and NUR Space. I have co-edited two books and published many articles with the likes of the UK’s Insight Guides, The Boston Globe, The Boston Herald, The Boston Business Journal, Tasting Table, and many others. I continue to love holding space for other people’s initiations in writing and in classrooms, whenever I can.

When I’m not writing this newsletter, you’ll find me taking long walks in the woods for writing inspiration, stocking up on kimchi at H Mart, or posting photos of my garden on Instagram here.

Thanks for reading. I’m so glad you’re here!

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