Want an honest window to the challenges of life?
This is the place where I write about the muckiness of life—the difficult questions, the tough choices, the unwelcome losses.
I don’t have all the answers, but I’ve got a flashlight and I’m using this place to leave a brave and honest map.
Want an honest window to the challenges of life?
This is the place where I write about the muckiness of life—the difficult questions, the tough choices, the unwelcome losses.
I don’t pretend to have all the answers but I’ve got a flashlight, a curious mind, and I’m using this place to leave a brave and honest map.
Latest Posts
Loving Leda Loving Me
This seems like a good day to talk about love. Usually, when we speak of love, we’re talking about person-to-person love, but there is also …
Caste in America
It is Thursday morning as I write this. That’s the schedule: write Thursday morning, edit Friday morning, take a last look review Saturday morning. Today …
I am Intelligent
I should be able to believe that I’m intelligent because, as an adult, people have told me this, often. But my self-perception was formed in …
Testimonials
Jule’s writing is a bounty of passion for life tempered by practical wisdom for living, loving, and overcoming tragedy. As Jule searches for the things that bind us together she takes us in tow for an instructive and delightful ride.

What I love most about Jule Kucera’s writing style is that there’s so much room for the reader. She invites us in and makes a spot for us on the couch so we’re able to get in touch with our own dark, messy, and perhaps even tragic experiences. Though these are her stories, in a way they feel like ours. And she welcomes us to heal together as life has its way with us.

The writing of Jule Kucera is authentic and intimate, pulling me in with her observations of both the mundane and the extraordinary, the painful and the joyous. She is perceptive, reflective and forgiving, choosing words that force me to think a little harder about life.

Hard Times & Hope Podcast
Bethan: Finding wonder, joy, and healing in nature
Hard Times & Hope podcast, episode 8 Bethan: Finding Wonder, Joy, and Healing in Nature Bethan had an illness that shrunk her world—on good days, …
Kevin: When a community is having a hard time
Hard Times & Hope podcast, episode 7 Episode Summary This episode with Kevin Wright is an experiment. I wanted to see if there are commonalities …
Rob: A boy must quickly become a man
Hard Times & Hope podcast, episode 6 Episode Summary When Rob was 14, his father was diagnosed with a brain tumor and given two weeks …
Do we have things in common?
To find out, how would you answer these questions?
(My answers are “Yes!”)
- Are you curious?
- Have people told you that you’re strong?
- Have you loved… and have you lost?
- Do you believe in getting better?
Looking for an honest take on the stuff most people don't talk about?
Sign up for musings on the muck* every Sunday and a link to a podcast conversation every other Saturday. No spam, leave any time. You’ll get my Vessel of Affection Map as a thank you!
*The muck is the unpleasant stuff that brings the good stuff.