Ari Laurel

When I was 16, I was invited to a dinner hosted by members of the infamous Unification Church. When I was 18, I took a Scientology E-Meter test in exchange for borrowing a cell phone so I could call home. When I was 21, I dated a boy whose family evangelized self-actualization workshops. At 23, I worked two years at a tech company that seemed to sustain itself on the CEO’s magnetism, and projected optimism about “the future.”