INTRODUCTION
Over the years, I have published several articles in various small publications, Xpressions Journal, The Greenwood Leaf, The Souled Out Newsletter, and Greenville College's Papyrus.
Also, I set up an amateur website of my own works, published under the “publication” name, STRTJCKT Publishing.
There were many writings that I didn't publish anywhere, as they came straight from scraps of paper and restaurant napkins to be placed in this book in their original, raw format. Some of these I'm quite proud of—some of them, I debated whether or not to even show them to close friends. However, in the end, I decided to put it out there.
I came from a religious background and lifestyle, but evolved into a non-theist currently. Some of these works show my spiritual past. I'm not embarrassed about where I come from, as my walk brought me to where I'm at now.
But to be clear: There were writings that did not make it into this volume because of the depth of the spiritual and religious content. That which was so saturated with god-talk, I had to discard as I cannot stand behind the words, seeing them as mythic, hopeful and groundless.
That said, I do think there is some decent content that was left over. Besides a spelling error here and there, there is little correction to the original content. Looking back, I see how much I've changed since the decade of the most recent writing in this publication, and feel okay enough to share my old writings with you.
And I hope you can enjoy the vulnerability.
Steve Dustcircle