At Capita, I've written an appreciation of doulas. My daughter was born with the help and support of a close friend who was training as a doula. That experience left me grateful for Bria... and furious her work was considered "extra" to medicine. A medical system that ignores the value of doulas leaves a lot… Read More
Author: Leah Libresco
Why Pro-Life Catholics Should Get Vaccinated
In The New York Times, I made the case for pro-life Catholics to get covid vaccines, despite their dependence on cell lines derived from aborted children. Even people who are comfortable with the vaccines need to grapple with the question of how we make amends for our material cooperation with evil. I’ve gotten both my… Read More
The Cautionary Tale of WandaVision
WandaVision is an ambitious offering from the Marvel Industrial Complex, but it falls short of its potential. I reviewed the show for Mere Orthodoxy (in a way I hope was comprehensible even to non-watchers!). The show is ultimately about the consequences of the stories we tell about our lives. The show uses the heightened style… Read More
Game Design with Questing Beast
My husband Alexi and I were guests on Questing Beast for a discussion of game design and storytelling. I really enjoyed the conversation, particularly when we talked about how social conflict in incorporated into a game's mechanics. A more freeform game can turn on the player's quick-thinking, rather than the character's. We talked a bit… Read More
How The Government Wasted Our Pandemic Sacrifices
In my first piece for The Week, I'm discussing why the lack of high-quality masks is our pandemic failures in miniature. Throughout the pandemic, Americans have made extraordinary sacrifices to slow the spread of the virus. We haven't been unequal to the disaster, but our leaders' lapses have left people filling in the gaps of… Read More
The Case for Unconditional Child Allowance
I defend the Romney child allowance plan against criticism from Senators Marco Rubio and Mike Lee in The New York Times. The senators called the Romney proposal “welfare assistance” and added: “An essential part of being pro-family is being pro-work. Congress should expand the Child Tax Credit without undercutting the responsibility of parents to work… Read More
A Game About Grace and Weakness
During Zinequest 2021, I wrote a piece at Mere Orthodoxy about the design choices and theology behind Back Again from the Broken Land, a game I wrote together with my husband. The game is Tolkien-inspired—it's about small adventures walking home from a big war. Part of our goal was making it Tolkien-like in the action… Read More
Snow Days and Slack
The covidtide winter was already hard, and then schools started doing away with snow days in favor of digital school. I'm at Breaking Ground defending the snow day and its power to interrupt our overscheduled, strained routines. Slack is a necessary part of life, both for the individual and for the community. In Prayer as a… Read More
Writing Back Again from the Broken Land
My husband Alexi and I have written our first game together! Back Again from the Broken Land is a Tolkien-inspired role-playing game about small adventures walking home from a big war. We launched the game on Kickstarter as part of ZineQuest. In the game, you and the other members of your fellowship are making your… Read More
In Defense of Boring Time with Friends
I was honored to be a guest writing for Gracy Olmstead's Granola newsletter, and I wrote a defense of storge—the love marked by affection and fondness. Inviting people into the quotidian parts of your day isn’t just, as I used to think of it, a way of staving off boredom or loneliness. It’s a pledge… Read More