Hello friends! I’ve been writing blog posts, teaching, speaking, and writing books for years, but I wanted to pause for a minute and introduce myself to any new readers and listeners.
I’m Amy Julia Becker, and I write and speak and teach about faith, family, disability, and privilege because I care about personal and social healing. I believe that if we can begin to understand our common humanity—the ways all of us are both broken and beloved, both needy and gifted—we will be able to live in love instead of fear.
My Family and Writing
I’m married to Peter, the Head of School at The Frederick Gunn School in Washington, Connecticut. We have three kids: Penny, William, and Marilee.
My writing has all emerged out of the personal experiences of our family alongside my commitment to follow the way of Jesus. Penny was diagnosed with Down syndrome at birth, and her birth transformed my understanding of what it means to be human and of the beauty and joy of receiving all people as the gifts that they are. I wrote “A Good and Perfect Gift: Faith, Expectations, and a Little Girl Named Penny” about that experience.
And then we had two more kids, and I had a pretty rough go of it as a mother of babies and toddlers. I really like communication through words. I really like structure and order and predictability. So those early years were tough, and I learned a lot of ugly truths about myself and eventually some beautiful truths about receiving my own limits and what it means to stretch the bounds of love. My book “Small Talk: Learning from My Children About What Matters Most” comes out of those years.
White Picket Fences
And then I wrote “White Picket Fences: Turning toward Love in a World Divided by Privilege.” It’s a memoir about my own childhood in a functionally segregated southern town, my adolescence in the northeast where I saw the harmful effects of wealth and achievement, and my adult years of learning about how to understand our common humanity so that we can celebrate our diverse needs and gifts and learn to live in love instead of fear.
Along the way, I’ve also written a gazillion blog posts, essays for various other publications, and taught in churches and schools and at conferences. My most recent adventure has been to start a podcast to talk about the themes of “White Picket Fences” and explore issues surrounding unjust social advantages and how to participate in hopeful, holistic, healing action.
I’d love for you to explore some of the resources here, listen to a podcast episode, read one of my books, and let me know what you think about it all. Welcome, and thanks for being a part of the conversation!
To go further with Amy Julia:
- AJB on Racial Healing
- What Having a Baby with Down Syndrome Taught Me About Distraction, Fear, and Love
- “White Picket Fences” Resources
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