Watering the Weeds: A Storytelling Ethic of Care for Queer Students at Private Christian Universities

Abstract

"Watering the Weeds: A Storytelling Ethic of Care for Queer Students in Private Christian Universities" seeks to work as a guide to foster expansiveness for LGBTQIA+ students at Private Christian Universities (PCUs), and any interested others in similar life-limiting situations or traumatic contexts. The author brings forward old poetry of theirs written during their undergraduate studies at a PCU, and uses these works as a template for both locating gaps of care that are/were present at PCUs and providing suggested ways forward. This work speaks to the loneliness of queer futurity, the necessity of hospitality, and the human right to build a home. In this essay, PCU queers and other life-limited individuals are understood as “weeds” which grow even through the cracks of hostile, concrete environments; these individuals deserve to be “watered,” and are here given paths on which to do so, to remember their inner lifeblood. May these words provide safety, affirmation, chutzpah, life-direction, or whatever else is needed to nurture oneself. Rensunberg encourages readers to know loneliness is a perhaps common emotional reaction to catastrophic social events, and suggests honest and pragmatic methods for integrating such experiences. Eras which feel like the ‘end of the world’ are also often the site of newness, transformation, and disruptive hope. Suggestions are made regarding where to start in building (or re-building) ones own spiritual canon and capacity for meaning-making in the world.