Before obstetrics and gynecology became specialized subfields in the late nineteenth century, the field of women’s healthcare was dominated by women who were midwives.

I never imagined being in the same category as Chrissy Teigen, Kim Kardashian, or Tan France. Nor could I have dreamed of someone else carrying and birthing my child. I’ve never aspired to celebrity culture or cared much about it, but alas, when my fertility doctor suggested pursuing surrogacy as my most viable path to parenthood, I began my journey into what I thought was the seemingly unattainable life of the rich and famous.

Yanan Rahim Navarez Melo crafts an op-ed article arguing for us to rethink our orientation around land ownership, calling for a theology of land. Regardless of religious or spiritual orientation, Melo’s essay reminds us that no thing exists without the earth. How might we reshape our thoughts and practices to reorder the land as sacred in our lives?

Joliene Adams writes a journal entry-like essay processing the grief of losing her father, undergoing in-vitro fertilization (IVF) treatments, and observing the changing climate along the Oregon Coast Trail.

In life, failure is always an option. However, failure is not synonymous with the end.