About me

This blog charts my exploration of our human capacity to discover truth, goodness, and beauty amidst suffering.

I began writing in 2013 to catalogue my recovery from my first depressive episode. Under Reconstruction has grown with me since then, and now allows me to connect with readers from around the world.

My writing and worldview are very much formed by the recurring mental health crises, my conversion into the Catholic faith, and an ongoing journey of hope.

I have the honour of working as a special education teacher. It’s a privilege to know and grow alongside young adults who posses exceptionally big hearts. I’m passionate about helping individuals with (or without!) disabilities recognise their own worth and potential, as well as helping others see the intrinsic value in every human being regardless of ability.

I am currently based in Singapore. I have also lived in Jakarta where I grew up, and Chicago where I studied and worked over 5 years. I love art, books, and thrift stores.

I occasionally write on divisive issues. Open, constructive dialogue is mutually challenging and beneficial, so feel free to comment whether you agree or disagree. Disrespectful comments, however, will not be approved. And thank you for taking the time to view this short bio — I try to do the same for each reader who comments, because I believe it’s supremely important that a person is not defined by their stance on a single issue.

96 thoughts on “About me”

  5. Thank you so much for liking my post “The Unattainable Magdalene”. I am new to the world of blogging and hope to help or encourage at least a few. Your like gave me renewed hope of it being possible. Congratulations on your conversion to Catholicism! Welcome home!

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  6. Thank you for persevering and using your God-given talents to His glory. My mother is a retired special education teacher, and my wife is an elementary music teacher who works with many special needs children. Our children are our future – and each of them matters. It is incumbent on us to ensure they have the support base on which to grow. Thank you for reading and acknowledging my blog. I will most certainly be following your work. May God continue to bless you and yours.

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  8. Thank you so much for the like on my post! You are so kind, and I’m so humbled you even stopped by to read my writings. Thank you for all your work, I’m looking forward to reading more of it!

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  10. I am so impressed with UR faith with all that the Lord has tested U with…

    This in particular, caught my eye… ” I am passionate about helping individuals with disabilities recognize their own worth and potential”

    I too am passionate about helping the disabled, the homeless, the jobless, and the downtrodden… I would love to send U some info on a product that can be used for all of the above and more…

    My e-mail is brucermillslast@comcast.net

    I would also like to direct U to a young ladies blog that suffers from OCD, and her name is Mary Saum… Here is a link to one of her posts…

    Blessings in Christ, bruce

    P.S. The younger generation call me pop’s !!

    https://msaum3.wordpress.com/2015/01/14/ocd-has-been-put-in-its-place/

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  11. Hi there, I’ve really enjoyed reading your blog.

    I’m also apart of the Mental Health Writers Guild, and I have a new project coming up which I hope you’d be interested in working on.

    https://bylaurenhayley.wordpress.com/the-mental-health-art-auction/

    The Mental Health Art Auction needs YOU, to post about your experiences, raise awareness, and promote the auction that will happen in August.

    The auction will feature a piece of art put together by myself, which will reflect how each and every blogger taking part feels about mental health. What it means to them. This is an opportunity to get more people talking, and hopefully raising a lot of money for charity. Please check out the link and let me know if you’re interested 🙂

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  15. I can relate so much to what you have written! I was born in Nigeria and lived in four different countries and had moved thirty-four times by the time I was twenty-six years old. In my ‘about’ page I state that, I too, am under ‘construction’ but am slowly growing into the woman God created me to be.
    Thank you for sharing.

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  16. I so relate to that feeling of uprootedness and faking a language. I wish you well in your aspirations of special ed and am smiling because my new novel is set in Chicago even though I only know the city through visits. And thank you for following my blog. Have a Blessed Christmas, Karen.

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  17. Thanks for liking my recent post, Karen. I appreciate your position on the things that matter most to you. While I didn’t attend UC, I did live in Chicago for a few years (I’m an Illinois native) and am a teacher at the U of Alabama at Birmingham:-)

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  20. Though Pro-Life vs Pro-Choice isn’t an issue I address on US-Issues.com, I have thought about it a bit.Here’s a pair of discussion points that you may find useful.

    1. You wake up one day, and you find yourself sitting in a chair. Attached to a chair leg is a rope which leads over to a cliff (and over the cliff). Attached to the other end of the rope is an innocent bystander. There’s a note that says help should arrive in an hour. If you wait the hour, help will save the bystander at the other end of the rope. If you get up, he falls to his death.

    Do you have a right / is it ethical for you to stand up before help arrives?

    So long as everything you need is provided for you until help arrives, would it make a difference in your choice if you had to wait a whole day?
    … or a whole week? … or 6-8 months?

    2. Especially regarding tax supported abortion services, I’ve heard the argument / question, “What if it were the result of a rape or incest?

    It seems to me that pregnancies are caused by rape or incest in less than 1 in 1000 cases where an abortion is requested. That means that, in all the other 999+, abortion is a choice – an elective surgery.

    Elective surgery is not something that tax dollars ought to be paying for. Especially when those dollars come, in part, from people who believe it’s a moral abomination.

    The Supreme Court ruled a couple generations ago that abortion is legal. It takes a very mean spirited person to say, “Ha, ha, we won, and you lost. Now we’re going to rub your noses in it by making you pay for what you consider to be murder.”

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  23. Thank you for your support of my writing Karen. In my quite long life and profession I have seen many teachers. Your compassion, caring and ongoing spirit are fine qualities for a teacher and speak well of your country’s future.

    All of my best wishes.

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