I am very angry right now. In my community, I’m witnessing a fixable systemic childcare problem be cemented squarely on the shoulders of individual families, rather than those with power and resources collectively addressing a real need. My beleaguered public school district is waving the white flag of surrender to its working parents over our afterschool program. In this week’s audio newsletter, I’ll make a case for why we have to resist the dismantling of safety nets. This is the last free audio newsletter for everyone. If you’re a paid member, you still have access. If you’ve loved these au ..read more

After all of the intensity of being a business lady and switching platforms in the last few weeks, I thought I’d change gears with this occasional beloved series on a wide range of things that make my life better. None of these are a substitute or solution for a robust social safety net or a society that values care, but they are still fun. Nothing in this list is sponsored, and not all require purchases to experience. If you love audio newsletters and what to try out our membership program, go to thedoubleshift.substack.com/listeners for a free 30-day trial. Recommended Links: * Zuri Kenya Dr ..read more

In this week’s audio newsletter is an essay about Sophia Chitlik, who is running for NC state senate here in Durham, North Carolina. What excites me the most about Sophia is that she’s promoting a platform we need candidates from across the country to try out. She’s running on care. You can connect with Sophia and read more about her campaign at her website, https://sophiafornc.com. If you love audio newsletters and what to try out our membership program, go to thedoubleshift.substack.com/listeners for a free 30-day trial. If you love the Double Shift, I think you’ll also love:  Therapy T ..read more

Welcome to the audio version of The Double Shift newsletter, read by yours truly, Katherine Goldstein. Today’s edition is about my big financial decision to switch newsletter platforms, and what it means to “start over.” I’m ready (with my face scrunched and my fingers crossed) to take the risk of asking my existing members to stick with me by taking a few extra steps to sign up again with their credit cards on Substack. I believe what I do is valuable. I want it to reach more people. I want to earn more money for it.  If you are new to The Double Shift newsletter, some recent posts you m ..read more

For some of you, it may have been a minute since you've heard from me since we stopped producing episodes last year. But I want you to know I'm still working hard on all sorts of issues and stories about challenging the status quo of motherhood and beyond. Also, the Double Shift community is thriving! Today I'm sharing some highlights from my new report, A Playbook to Transform How America Cares: The Care Movement’s Winning Tactics, Lessons, and Case Studies from the Pandemic Era and Beyond which I think Double Shifters will love. If you want to dive into the full report, you can read it here ..read more

It’s been a minute since you’ve heard from us, but Katherine is excited to share news about the next chapter of The Double Shift, a newsletter and community that’s a social change laboratory for moms. The Double Shift has always been more than a podcast, and we're embracing our membership community as a place for building connections around political, social and workplace change, transforming families and building a more just future for everyone. We believe in: Solidarity — not advice Bold ideas — not life hacks Curiosity — not judgment Thoughtful research and analysis — not uninformed flame t ..read more

The Double Shift podcast launched three years ago to share the real stories of motherhood in America, and radically explore the social forces that make being a mom so challenging.  We’ve brought you stories from inside brothels and a 24-hour childcare center; we’ve confronted capitalism, patriarchy, and the idealized myth of nuclear family; we opened up conversations about mental health and its stigma and amplified the voices of people often left out of conversations about motherhood; and we’ve gone deep on the experiences of moms and caregivers during the pandemic.  Along the way we ..read more

For six months last year, tens of millions of families could count on consistent, predictable support from their government to help defray the steep financial cost of raising a child in this country.  We hear from moms about how these monthly Child Tax Credit checks helped them support their families, move forward in their careers, make change in their communities, and reduce the psychological trauma of trying to raise a family while living in a constant state of precarity.… and about what life is like now that the payments have ended.  Oh, and one guest’s CTC-supported success story ..read more

Changing workplaces to make them substantially better for moms and caregivers is, in fact, possible. Inspired by our show on paid family leave back in 2019, we hear from some Double Shift listeners who fiercely advocated for -- and got -- better paid family leave at their companies. We are closer than ever before to getting federally funded paid leave for everyone. This is so important, but it’s just one part of an ongoing movement. Today’s episode offers encouragement, some playbook tactics, some real world examples, and something we all need right now -- hope.  Subscribe to our newslett ..read more

Here at the Double Shift, we love to dismantle stigma through storytelling. So our guest this episode, Kenya Martin (aka "Abortion Diva"), speaks to our souls. Kenya is a former abortion clinic counselor in Texas, current activist, and a mom, who shed the shame she felt about her own abortions and became "loud and proud" about them to help other people feel less alone.  As we grapple with Texas’ new abortion restriction law, and the looming Supreme Court decisions that could force more people into parenthood, Kenya talks about how reproductive freedom and economic justice are inherently i ..read more