You might have read I Was Trained for the Culture Wars in Home School Awaiting Mike Pence as Messiah on Autostraddle once (or even the follow up pieces), their reporting on the Christian Nationalist agenda for Prism, or seen them briefly on Season 2 of Amazon Prime’s Shiny Happy People; Maybe you know Kieryn from their work with the Coalition for Responsible Home Education, East Bay for Everyone, Mayoring YIMBYtown 2017, cohosting the Kitchen Table Cult Podcast, running the Laney Queers, tenant unionizing, serving as an Assembly District Delegate to the CA Democratic Party, practicing mutual aid in their neighborhood, or organizing KDE’s Akademy.
Or maybe you just stumbled here on your way to the delta quadrant and found yourself asking…
WHO(MST) IS KIERYN DARKWATER AND WHERE DID THEY COME FROM?

Kieryn was homeschooled in the 90’s-00’s and grew up in a cult and cult-like environments. The reality of being the eldest daughter in a large conservative quiverfull family meant there wasn’t much (if any) time for having in-person friends. So they started blogging in 2005, and met other homeschoolers with similar backgrounds. When they escaped in 2009 they continued writing and documenting their evolution first of adapting to married life, then coming out as bi, leaving christianity, and abandoning the gender binary.
Between 2017 and 2019 Kieryn became a student organizer and senator at Laney College where they grappled with the impact of educational neglect, learning disabilities, and navigating school (with a structure) while trans. They studied Industrial Maintenance Machining and Labor & Community Organizing.
Now, Kieryn can be found advocating for protections for homeschooled kids, making YouTube videos about art, living in Berlin or Minecraft, organizing with KDE, and occasionally updating this blog when they aren’t studying for their Associates degree in Social Sciences.
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Read the Latest Posts:
- You Can Help Make Me (Provably) SmarterI originally planned to write more prolifically this year since we ended the podcast last summer, but last fall I… Read more: You Can Help Make Me (Provably) Smarter
- Showing Up for MyselfI should be working on the annotated bibliography for my english class(!!!) right now but so much has happened since… Read more: Showing Up for Myself
- Thirty-ThreeI went to Lisbon for my birthday and saw where my great-grandparents immigrated from. Their building (not pictured) is still… Read more: Thirty-Three
- Why do I still suggest voting as an action?The leftist Discourse(tm) contains a lot of valid feelings on the futility of voting in US elections. I have been… Read more: Why do I still suggest voting as an action?
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