Summer Backbreak
Working parents and moving academics burn out. But Kristen and I are back, baby, with great news.
(Read to the end for a spicy yogurt mistake...)
The most common question people ask me right now is how my work is going. I think this is because people are curious about freelancing and also because people are wondering how the federal cuts are affecting me.
But the thing that has been top of mind for me has been cobbling together childcare while my kid's preschool is on summer break. From early June until last week, I didn’t have full-time childcare. Summer is a free-for-all of day camps and care shares and too much screentime, and although I feel like I can't complain because I have more options than many Americans, I still rarely got a full eight-hour workday during those months, unless my parents (who live almost five hours away) or a fellow care share parent was extra generous.
“Are you a good person?”
“Is everything OK?”
When summer began, I was wowed by the fact that things were so much easier than last year. I now know more parents who are willing to care share, there are more day camp options for 4-year-olds than 3-year-olds, and it's an easier ask to seek help for her at this age. She self plays more, too, so I can sometimes work when she is at home with me, which was unheard of last year. So, in June, I felt like I had this. But by July I was scrambling, and by August I was exhausted.
The thing about early freelancing is that it takes work to get work, and so in June I didn't have the time to pursue work for the coming months, which meant I had to really hustle in July.
The good news is that I got some exciting gigs: I received a Pulitzer Center grant to report on climate issues in southwestern Virginia—the first installment about increasing cooling costs and cuts to energy assistance just aired this week. I got a travel fellowship that is sending me to Germany next month (stay tuned!). And an article I edited for American Scientist last year, "Discovering the Urinary Microbiome," won an Apex Award for health and medical writing. Affirmations like these help me stay in the game, despite how tough it is. But my own well-being was taking a hit.
Any parent knows that the first thing to go when you don’t have childcare is the extra time you have for your own self-care. I stopped going to the gym, forgot to take medicine, and didn’t get alone time to recharge. It's frustrating to want to enjoy the quality time with your kid that summer offers, while being so stressed out that it takes away from the quality of the precious time you have. Childcare in the U.S. has been broken for a long time, but few people get it--like, really get it--if they have grandparents nearby or have one parent who stayed with the kids or live in an area that actually has decent, remotely affordable childcare options.
But, really, how is work going?
Freelancing is pushing my skill set in ways that I feel are good for my career and professional experience. It's hard, of course, but mostly the good kind of hard. I am grateful that every bust cycle of freelancing has surprised me with work that I'm excited about.
And at the same time, yes, the federal cuts are affecting my work. But not yet drastically. I suspect I am getting fewer editorial clients than I otherwise would if my client base were not scrambling for their livelihoods at the moment. I have had one writing client tell me the funding for my work is ending. But they are seeking other funders to keep it going, so that hopefully I can continue my work with them. A lot fewer places are taking pitches than would be the case usually.
There's a lot of uncertainty, but uncertainty is no stranger to someone like me, who launched their career in knowledge work during the 21st century. I've never known a time of funding stability, but I really would love it if the needle started going in the other direction--not just for my own career, but also because I think our society actually needs the information that stable knowledge systems bring.
I also want to shout out to all the friends and family who have stepped in at some point to help with childcare (you know who you are). I am lucky to have the community I have, and it keeps my head above water on the regular. I also want to shout out to the friends and colleagues who have reached out with work, especially high-pay work, for my one-year-old business. That kind of support is what a new freelancer most needs (and I still need more of it, y'all, starting around November/December). It keeps me from having to work to get work, and that is money in the bank, y’all.
The most gratifying part of my career shift has been the ways that I feel part of a scrappy community of people who get the hardships I face and why they are important, and they lend a hand. I'm not the first to say: No one is coming to save us (it is in fact the name of a great podcast about childcare in the United States). But together we can make the world better bit by effing bit.
Also, next August I now know I will just need to take that month off from the newsletter. Lesson learned.
Recent Things I Wrote:
Energy Scarcity and Extreme Heat, WVTF, a collaboration with Melba Newsome and Climate Central
Guidance for tracking local impacts of the federal Justice40 cuts), AHCJ
Recent Things I Recommend:
5 Ways to Use ChatGPT Like an AI Pro (satire), by Alanah Pearce
De-ICEing Your Town, by Andrea Pitzer
Taco Bell rethinks AI drive-through after man orders 18,000 waters, BBC
The Playbook Used to 'Prove' Vaccines Cause Autism, by Jessica Steler
Kristen's Corner (now from Philly!)
It may seem like this labor- and union-themed recommendation list is belated, seeing as Labor Day was in early September and it is no longer, in fact, early September. I would urge you to think about whether you're simply capitulating to capitalist conceptions of time and falling prey to the grindset. This list isn't late; it's simply engaging in self-care.
I would also like it stated for the record that the release of Hades II was too recent to impact the timing of this section. Death to Chronos.
The Story
The Topeka Witches Coven Answers Questions About the Upcoming Union Vote to Join the United Auto Workers by Katy Hayes in McSweeney's Internet Tendency
McSweeney's is one of the best places to look for satire and comedy these days, along with The Onion. Scholars have long argued that speculative fiction is, at its best, a mode that defamiliarizes the familiar to spark critical thought and engagement. As a scholar who has worked at multiple institutions with varying levels of union protection and also someone who has recently been feeling significant witchy vibes that are heavily impacted by the release of Hades II, this story both accomplished the goals of specific and also made me laugh a lot.
The Glimpse Into The Future
Alexa, Play Solidarity Forever by Audrey R. Hollis in Fireside Magazine
Am I generally anti-Alexa? Yes. Did this story make me want to picket for Alexa's right to unionize? Also yes.
The Song
The Chemical Worker's Song (Process Man) by Ron Angel, covered by Great Big Sea
Labor and technology can feel like an odd combination. A lot of the heavy industries that we rely on get overlooked when we think about technological advances – we think of shiny gadgets, the newest iPhone or electric cars. But as this song reminds us, everything we use, every technology we touch, comes with a price. This was originally written as a protest song by Ron Angel, a worker at a nylon factory. Where Solidarity Forever is a hopeful song about the power of looking out for one another, The Chemical Worker's Song is a stark look at why solidarity is needed.
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Something Fun:
Sourdough for Beginners | Update In honor of my husbands misfortune this morning, my starter now has the new name of “Spicy Yogurt”
Update In honor of my husbands misfortune this morning, my starter now has the new name of “Spicy Yogurt”. Thank you all for laughing with me. Originally posted anonymously because I wasn’t sure what...
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