Nativity program
St. Paul, Minnesota, 2002

Here I am, reluctantly embodying the virgin, Theotokos, for my church Christmas pageant. I was the eldest girl in Sunday school and there was no say in the matter. Alongside Joseph (my crush, Aristotle), we passed through Bethlehem on red carpet, down an aisle in the spotlight of a suspended nativity star. I held a babydoll under my robe that was tied tight around my belly, where it would stay until angels began to dance around me. They would then disband to reveal a baby Jesus laying still in the manger. I loathed this choreographed moment of “birth'” but how soon the performance would all be over.