Stacey

There are moments in life when the path stretches so far ahead that it feels almost impossible to see where it began—or where it might lead. These last few months have been some of the most challenging I’ve faced as a human flying through space on this big, beautiful rock. While we often choose the paths we walk, there are times when the universe opens the way for us—abruptly, unapologetically, and far less smoothly than we might hope. I’ve come to think of these moments as initiations ....

In February of 2021, I was in an accident that changed the trajectory of everything. And it’s not even that dramatic of a story. I went sledding. One big icy hill in the national forest. One wildly inadequate sled. Too much speed. A badly placed jump. And then that slow-motion moment where your body knows—before your mind catches up—that this is going to hurt. I remember seeing the ground get farther away. I remember the impact. My tailbone hit first. I felt bones shift, something like bubble...

Public conversations about indoctrination tend to focus on adulthood. College campuses are framed as ideological battlegrounds, places where young people are supposedly “brainwashed” by professors, books, or social movements. But this framing misses a basic reality. Indoctrination does not work best on fully developed minds. It works best before critical thinking, autonomy, and moral discernment are neurologically available. Which means it almost never begins in college. It begins much...