About the Project

Project M exists to tell the truth about marriage.

I’m here to describe marriage. I’m here to theorize about it. I’m here to tell stories and ask questions and think deeply about this multi-millennial practice, and to get your input, too.

I’m also interested in dispelling the myths around marriage.

Marriage has been around for a pretty long time. Like, since the beginning of human history, more or less. In this time, a lot of ideas, myths, and opinions have gathered around the subject.

I want to unromanticize marriage, but also to occasionally re-romanticize it. I want to think about marriage with fresh eyes, casting off all the preconceived notions that we have accumulated over the centuries. Marriage can sometimes seem a little outdated and irrelevant for today’s high-tech world, but I argue that it is still important and pertinent, even today.

I’m not here to offer advice, but to generate ideas and tell stories.

I’m no expert. I don’t have any training or education in marriage. I’m just this girl, you know? I have a degree in literature and I’m married and I love to write. Plus, there are lots of other blogs out there that aim to teach you how to make your marriage awesome. This is not one of them.

I’m also not going to pressure you to have a spectacular marriage.

We get enough pressure to excel and be awesome in every other area of our lives. I’m all about aiming for pretty OK. You are probably doing a great job in your marriage and you do not have to stress out about it.

I want to inspire people to give marriage a chance, but I also want to be honest about marriage.

I love marriage. I think marriage in North American needs to be brought back from the margins. But I also know that it won’t save you. It won’t bring you eternal happiness or satisfaction.

I don’t want to give you any false pretences about the glory and majesty of marriage. But in many respects it is glorious and majestic. And it can definitely bring you occasional happiness and satisfaction.

But more importantly, I think it enriches our lives and enables us to become better, more mature, more complete human beings. So that’s why I believe in marriage.

Why tell the truth?

Because I believe that writers have a moral obligation to share our experiences with others so that we don’t all have to feel so isolated in this lonely world. (Thanks, Anne Lamott, for helping me to understand it this way).

But why do I want to talk about marriage specifically? Why do I want to “tell the truth” about marriage?

Because marriage has been the most surprising experience of my life.

Before I was married, I thought I knew what marriage was. And I didn’t like it. But since being married, I have discovered that I was totally wrong about all of it. Marriage kicks butt. And since I was totally wrong about marriage, I think that maybe other people are wrong about it too and would like to learn more. Even if it’s from some girl from a small town who likes to write.