Hi and welcome to my editorializing corner of the internet.

This is me, taking a baby on a reporting trip to Delaware in 2019. I brought my mom along too, who pushed her in a stroller while I did interviews.

About me: I’m a writer who made the decision years ago to write about things that mattered to me. Lately that topic has been child care. The Covid-19 pandemic put a spotlight on the issue that so many parents for years have known about - its very hard to work without reliable child care if you have kids, and it’s very hard to raise kids without a stable income.

We live in a country that values the individual - we idolize stories of bootstraps and hard work but we fail to look at the very real ways we can make things better for people - especially families with young children.

I have three kids of my own - I’m deeply familiar with the way an ear infection or stomach bug or snow day can upend whatever work plans you’ve created. I’m also incredibly fortunate to have had access to quality child care over the years. But access to child care shouldn’t be a privilige for the lucky few, but rather a right. Our country has the means to change this, but we still lack the political will to do so.

I work at the Better Life Lab at New America, where narrative change is part of our mission. I hope the stories you read here can help illuminate why investing in care matters, and why the hardships we put on parents don’t need to be this way. Our country is making a choice - and we have the ability to change that.

Why subscribe?

Right now the newsletter is free and available to all, subscriptions are optional but appreciated to support this work. Subscribers get full access to the newsletter and publication archives and my gratitude.

To learn more about the tech platform that powers this publication, visit Substack.com.