For one whole year, I’ve been telling people I’m writing a book. “What’s the title?” they ask. Good question. When I started writing back in 2013, the working title was The Wrong Christian. It was initially both a play on words and an homage to the Wallace and Gromit short animated film, The Wrong Trousers. But as I wrote and re-wrote, the themes were less about faith or theology and more about my path out of Christian faith and culture while becoming a fully-fledged Asian American in an intersectional community of artists and activists based here in Los Angeles. Within this community, I found my people, my chosen family, and my identity. As it became clearer and clearer that my days as an English prof at APU were numbered, I knew I had a whole squad ready to embrace me.
But a title for a book that tells the stories of losing faith and becoming who I am as an Asian American? It was tricky. We had long lists of words and phrases. The word “Apostate” kept coming up, but we wondered if people would know the word. It’s hardly a common word. In the end, we said “fuck it.” Well, I said that. David Morris, my publisher at Lake Drive Books approved it.
So we have a title:
Asian American Apostate: Losing Religion and Finding Myself at an Evangelical “University”
Triple-A. AAA. A3? Or 3A?
Yeah, I don’t think I’m cool enough for the Hollywood title treatment. But I’m so glad to have this figured out to start promoting.
We’re shooting for an early April release with both a book and an audiobook ready to go. If you have an organization that would like to host an event with me, please let me know. I’ll be posting more about the book in the coming weeks, but it covers a process of leaving Christian faith and developing an Asian American identity. And of course there is plenty of tea to spill about the racism, sexism, anti-LGBTQIA hatred, and generally shitty education that occurs in every evangelical school. Sound interesting? It’s certainly disturbing, scary, and…sexy. How’s that for the power of suggestion?
This week’s Chapel Probation features a former APU professor, Michael Smith. He has a lot to say about his time there. Most of it devastating. And next week, our first staff person joins us to talk about being a Black woman in the most anti-black and anti-christian workplace she’s ever encountered.
On the short After Hours episodes, we have Mandy Capehart, a writer and podcaster who helps people with their grieving processes. Her heart and her empathy are inspiring as she talks about her work and her reactions to some of the stories on Chapel Probation
.
And to kick off the holiday season next week, my friends Keiko Agena (Gilmore Girls and Prodigal Son) and Shin Kawasaki join me to reminisce about their experiences coming with me to APU to perform for the Asian club. So many great stories and observations about Chapel Probation.
As it’s Thanksgiving season, I want to thank David Morris of Lake Drive Books for all his support and belief in me as a writer. He’s the best. And to my friends, my chosen family, and my family family, I’m so thankful for you all. I’m even kind of thankful for shitty evangelical culture for giving us a foil against which I could rage and discover myself. Thank you, evangelical culture. Also, fuck evangelical culture. But, thanks just the same. But also, fu…
More to come. Thank you for being a part of my apostate experience. Go apostates!