Letters from the Joyful Rebellion
A personal column about the things I notice, the questions I keep returning to, and what they tell me about the way we live.
For curious people who enjoy following an idea somewhere unexpected.
I might begin with something I noticed walking through town, a conversation I can’t quite shake, a football match, a question about faith, something strange about AI, or a sentence in a book.
I usually don’t know exactly where it will lead.
What interests me is the turn: the moment when a small observation opens into a larger question about how we work, believe, belong, create, use power, or live alongside one another.
That’s what these letters are. I notice something, follow the question, and see where it goes.
What You’ll Find Here
Curiosity is the starting point.
Some essays begin in ordinary life. Others begin with work, politics, technology, faith, culture, books, football, or a place I’m trying to understand.
The subject can change completely from one letter to the next. The throughline is the way I approach it: notice something, stay curious about it, and follow the connection until it opens into something larger.
I’m less interested in having the answer than in finding the question underneath the obvious one.
If you enjoy essays that take an unexpected turn and leave you noticing something differently afterward, you’ll probably feel at home here.
Why I Write
I’m Heather. I’ve spent more than twenty years working with communication, organizations, leadership, and learning. I tend to notice patterns, especially the ones people feel before they know how to name them.
I studied political science. I pay attention to power. I care about language. Writing is how I make sense of what I’m seeing, and how I test what I believe.
It also feeds the rest of my work. Questions I encounter with organizations, in learning spaces, while traveling, on retreat, or simply going about an ordinary day often turn up again on the page.
Writing gives me somewhere to follow them without already knowing where I’m supposed to end up.
Why a Column?
When I was eighteen, Anna Quindlen’s New York Times column showed me that everyday life was a legitimate place to think seriously.
A column could begin with something small and end somewhere you didn’t expect. It could be personal without becoming confessional, political without turning into a talking point, and serious without giving up warmth or humor.
That idea stayed with me.
Letters from the Joyful Rebellion is my version of that space: somewhere to notice what’s happening, follow a question, and see what it might connect to.
Recent Letters
A few places my curiosity has taken me lately.
Join the Rebellion
New letters go straight to your inbox. Subscribe for free, or become a paid supporter if you want to help sustain the writing.