Kaya Oakes
Kaya Oakes is the author of The Nones Are Alright: A New Generation of Seekers, Believers, and Those In-Between (Orbis, 2015), the memoir Radical Reinvention: An Unlikely Return to the Catholic Church (Counterpoint Press, 2012), and a social-science based exploration of independent art and culture, Slanted and Enchanted (Henry Holt, 2009). She teaches creative nonfiction, narrative journalism, expository and research writing at the University of California, Berkeley.
Recent Posts by Kaya
Forgiveness in the Epoch of Me Too
Whose job is it, anyway?
Lay Down Your Weary Tune
My fear is generalized. This is now my country’s fear as well.
Breaking Up With White Jesus
It’s December of 2014. 2am, 3am, 4am, 5am, I thrash and turn over in bed and click on my phone, know I should not click on my phone, click on my phone. And there are the messages, the emails, the notes that never seem to stop. The usual stuff women get on the Internet: you…
Just Give Me That Old-Time, DIY Religion
For the past two years, I’ve been deep in conversation and research about the phenomenon of “nones”–the rising number of religiously unaffiliated Americans. Although the word “none” appears in my forthcoming book’s title, it’s a term I and most of the people I interviewed for the book dislike. “None” implies negation and absence. And what’s…
The Pope and Selfishness: Contradictions and Fictions
It was a record-scratching, “hold up, wait a minute” moment a few days ago when Pope Francis, who had just a couple of weeks back told Catholics that they don’t need to “breed like rabbits,” followed that up by stating that “the choice not to have children is selfish.” KtB editor Mary K. Valle and…
Televised Prayer: Rev.
People don’t pray on television. Let me rephrase that: when people pray on television, they pray badly. They ask God for stuff, and then they get it. Television prayer is usually depicted as a quid pro quo. That’s why it was surprising, in one of the final episodes of the BBC series Rev., to see…
Waiting For Facts
The shakeup in Berkeley’s Catholic community.
Torn Bread
Communion in a woman’s hands.
Color and Consciousness
Bruce Reyes-Chow curates tough, necessary conversations about race.
Searching for Bach
The cello sounded like heaven. Or whatever heaven sounds like when you’re twelve.
Singing to Jesus with Eyes Closed
You would think Berkeley had suddenly transformed into an Evangelical school.