Christa M

Christa M

Southeastern USA
Currently a n00b civil servant, I've previously authored journalism, books, research, and marketing content. I'm a neurodivergent sometime swimmer / hiker / paddler, mom to adult sons, raccoon stan, and probably other epithets I’m not thinking of. 
Jun
10
Do You Really Want People to “Just Ask for Help”?

Do You Really Want People to “Just Ask for Help”?

When resources are scarce and getting scarcer, ‘help’ can be conflated with ‘power' — and people need community, not rescuers
9 min read
May
23

How to Learn to Trust, Even When You're Afraid

Because the risk of not trusting is greater than the risk of trusting the wrong people
4 min read
Mar
30
A white man in the background reaches his hand toward a woman's in the foreground.

Reaching Out for Help When Everything Tells You to Pull Back

Why should I ask? Why should anyone answer? I am coming to this first post still recovering from a pretty
4 min read
Mar
29
A black and white image of a white human face mask overlaid on a dark splatter on a wall.

Abusers Hide Behind the Veneer of Respectability

So that you will trust them and provide plausible deniability when they’re found out
7 min read
Jan
18
A young woman in a black dress and hat sits on grass in front of flowering shrubs, holding and smelling a sunflower

Confessions of a Former Manic Pixie Pick-Me

How my survival response to rejection pitted me against other women
4 min read
Oct
19
A person with medium length wavy brown hair and a short sleeve white shirt leans on a natural wood window frame

How Undiagnosed ADHD Made Me Vulnerable to Predatory Grooming

Or, how intersectional feminism is crucial to child protection
7 min read
Oct
12
The Future of Us: Can We Learn to Connect Like Forest Fungi?

The Future of Us: Can We Learn to Connect Like Forest Fungi?

Reclaiming our innate connections to ourselves and each other
8 min read
Aug
07
An Asian child with natural hair washes a head of broccoli under running water over a sink, an adult's hands behind her

An ADHD Recovering People-Pleaser Negotiates Chores With Her Teens

Learning how to make our own way within community and contribution
8 min read
Nov
27
Rows of grocery store shelves sit largely empty except for only a few packages of bread.

Lessons in Coping With Scarcity and Uncertainty

What the book does show is the need to help each other out when we’re in trouble. Roxy, Rufus, and Renae don’t just befriend the other raccoons — they help another mom and kit out of a bad jam. In turn, they’re helped out of their own jams.
4 min read
Feb
17
A fallen log lies across a wasteland of clearcut forest on a hill.

Raccoon Retreat: Baby Raccoon Dystopia

As Raccoon Retreat, the sequel to Raccoon Rescue, heads into production, I’m recalling exactly what an unexpected slog it
4 min read