Dear Revealer readers,

Revealer Editor, Brett Krutzsch

Earlier this month I had the opportunity to attend the opening night of Shakespeare in the Park, a venerable New York City summer experience. The show, a reimagined Merry Wives of Windsor with an all-Black cast, was the first piece of theater I had seen since March 2020. To enter the outdoor venue in Central Park, my husband and I had to show proof of our COVID-19 vaccinations and wear masks as we walked to our seats. We were permitted to remove our masks once seated. But with strangers sitting next to, in front of, and behind me, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to remove my mask. Typically, I only wear masks indoors, but this was the first time I was in an outdoor crowd since I received the vaccine. Even though the CDC says the chance of outdoor COVID-19 transmission is unlikely, I wanted the extra protection that comes with wearing a mask. I kept mine on, as did several others, and thoroughly enjoyed the show. Before the performance began though, I wondered if I had become overly cautious. But the effects of living through the pandemic linger with me and I find them hard to shake. The pandemic remains part of me, not necessarily controlling me, but a factor in many of the decisions I make in this summer of returning to the traditions and experiences I have long loved. 

The Summer 2021 issue of the Revealer explores how things from our past stay with us and shape our lives. The issue opens with Erika Veurink’s “Post-Purity Culture: The New Online Frontier of Evangelical Sexual Ethics,” where she explores how both evangelicals and ex-evangelicals use social media to address the ideas they were taught about sex in adolescence and how those lessons frame their experiences in adulthood. Next, in “Touch, Contingent Lives, and the Pandemic,” Kali Handelman interviews Liane Carlson about the ways the pandemic continues to inform our daily practices, our sense of fragility, and our awareness of the necessity – and dangers – of touch. Then, in the newest installment of his “From the Margins” column, Daniel José Camacho writes in “Grad School Blues” about his decision to relinquish his dreams to pursue a Ph.D. and why that decision continues to vex him. Next, in “Black Women Getting Free,” Ambre Dromgoole interviews acclaimed author Deesha Philyaw about her award-winning book The Secret Lives of Church Ladies and how “the Black Church” continues to shape many Black women’s lives even if they have nothing to do with Christianity. Then, in “Hindu Ritual in India’s High-Tech City,” Deonnie Moodie reviews Tulasi Srinivas’s book The Cow in the Elevator and explores how people in Bangalore, India have re-imagined ancient rituals to meet their needs today in a rapidly-changing environment. And finally, in “Holocaust Tourism’s Popularity,” Daniel Reynolds shares an excerpt from his book Postcards from Auschwitz about why travel to Holocaust memorial sites has increased and what people learn about the past at former Nazi concentration camps.

Our Summer issue also includes the newest episode of the Revealer podcast: “Evangelical Masculinity.’” Dr. Bradley Onishi, a scholar of religion and former evangelical pastor, joins us to discuss why evangelical men valorize aggressive masculinity, what evangelical men are taught about sexuality, and what evangelical ideas about masculinity have to do with America’s current political climate. You can listen to this fascinating and insightful episode on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

As we navigate this summer, one with much promise for sociality, I hope we become kinder to one another and to ourselves about what we need in order to feel safe and comfortable. The pandemic is not in the past. And even if it were, like so many of our past experiences, it could still linger with us and shape how we interact with the world. I hope all of us show patience to ourselves and to others as we find new ways to live with the pasts that stay with us today.

Yours,
Brett Krutzsch, Ph.D.