WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2025, 6:45–8:15 P.M., in person in Bloedel Hall and online via Zoom

Does joy just seem too difficult to come by these days? Does it seem irresponsible or naïve? Maybe you don't feel like you can be joyful, don't know how to, or don't deserve to?

Local author Shemaiah Gonzalez shares stories from her new book Undaunted Joy: The Revolutionary Act of Cultivating Delight. In her collection of short essays on defiant joy, Shemaiah reflects on how she gradually learned to see joy not as an indulgence but as a necessity—a way of life and the fruit of faith. Shemaiah will led us in conversation to notice God in the mundane and magnificent.

Once you start looking for joy, you might start finding it everywhere. It's time to live joyously.

A Zoom link will be posted here when it is available

Program is free; optional community dinner at 6 p.m. ($8/adult; $25/family max.)

About the presenter

Shemaiah Gonzalez is a writer with degrees in English Literature (BA), Intercultural Ministry (MAPS) and Creative Non-Fiction Writing (MFA). She thrives in moments where storytelling, art, literature, and faith collide. Her work has appeared in America Magazine, Image Journal’s Good Letters, Ekstasis, The Curator, and Loyola Press, among others. A Los Angeles native, she now lives in Seattle with her husband, whom she has known since she was 14 years old, and their two teen sons.