The Double Shift

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 may enjoy are my two-part series: The “Every Family for Themselves” Fight for Summer Camp & How to Make Summer Better for Everyone. Or check out Millennial Dads and The Caregiving Praise Conundrum, Your Working Conditions as A Parent Are Unacceptable, or How to Make Friends as An Adult.

If you want more audio newsletters and want to be a part of our community, subscribe now and become a member of the Double Shift. If you have questions or need help with your podcast feed or membership, reach out to us at [email protected]. You can get a one month free trial of The Double Shift newsletter on Substack by going to thedoubleshift.substack.com/listeners or click the button below.

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 or download the PDF and read it on your Kindle if you're into that. And if you don't have time for this 60 page masterpiece, you can read the key findings here.

Be sure to sign up for the written newsletter that's available to all at thedoubleshift.com/newsletter. And if you want to support this work and get audio newsletters like this one weekly, go to thedoubleshift.com/join. It starts at $7 a month and you get all kinds of member perks in addition to the audio newsletters, like weekly discussion threads, monthly virtual and IRL events, and more!

Thank you for listening and I appreciate your support - xo Katherine

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 throwing

Membership starts at $7/mo, and members get:

• An audio version of the newsletter to listen to on your favorite player
• The ability to comment on public posts and members-only private threads
• Access to members-only hangouts on Zoom (and in person!)

This is the start of the list. More benefits coming, based on member feedback.

Read the full announcement post here!

Your paying membership allows this to be one of the very-few non-corporate spaces left on the mom-internet. 

To sign up for our revamped newsletter full of reporting about the forces that shape family life in America and challenging the status quo of motherhood, go to thedoubleshift.com/newsletter.

To see all the member benefits, join the community or upgrade your membership go to thedoubleshift.com/join.

If you’d like a donated membership email, [email protected].

Our next virtual hangout is July 20th at 3pm EST. It’s titled Workplace Revolution w/Erin Grau, who’s the co-founder and COO of Charter Works. To listen to Erin on the Double Shift, listen to "Paid Leave, We Can Do Better," and the followup episode we made about Double Shifters who were galvanized to advocate for better family policies by listening to Erin's story. To celebrate our relaunch, this event is open to all. RSVP here. 

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’ve reframed the conversation about motherhood and built a community of folks who aren’t only listening, but also supporting each other and taking action to make their communities better. 

While the podcast in this format will be on indefinite hiatus, our work is just getting started. We’ll be investing time and energy into our free weekly newsletter, led by Katherine, about the forces that shape family life in America, filled with reporting and storytelling. Sign up here: thedoubleshift.com/newsletter

We’re also nourishing our robust member community with hangouts, audio newsletters, and more. Please join us and support our ongoing mission! It starts at $5/mo. Go to thedoubleshift.com/join.

THANK YOU with our whole hearts for being part of The Double Shift.  

In case you’d like to go down memory lane, here’s a playlist of some of our favorite episodes over the last 3 years. 

Pre-order Angela’s book, Essential Labor: Mothering as Social Change.

Read this week's newsletter: 5 Things I've Learned as a Pandemic Mom and Podcast Business Lady

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 has THE most dysfunctional American twist … take a listen. 

Our Thanks to The Better Life Lab at New America for their support with this episode.

If you haven’t signed up for our newsletter, PLEASE sign up here:

https://www.thedoubleshift.com/newsletter. This is the best way for us to stay in touch with you about the future plans we have cooking.

If The Double Shift podcast has meant something to you personally or had an impact on your life, we’d love to hear about it. You can send us an email or a voice memo recorded on your phone to [email protected], and we may use it in our upcoming episode.

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 newsletter: www.thedoubleshift.com/newsletter, and become a member to support our show. www.thedoubleshift.com/join.

Listen to our episode from 2019, Paid Leave, We Can Do Better.

Subscribe to our newsletter: www.thedoubleshift.com/newsletter, and become a member to support our show. www.thedoubleshift.com/join.

Listen to our episode from 2019, Paid Leave, We Can Do Better.

Information and Resources:

“Where are the Mothers?” Read host Katherine Goldstein’s original reporting about how the women at the New York Times improved their parental leave.

Making the case for parental leave:

• “5 Ways to Explain the Urgent Need for Paid Family Leave.” 
• “The Economic Benefits of Paid Parental Leave.”
• “Wal-Mart and Now Starbucks: Why More Big Companies are Offering Paid Family Leave.”

Read The NYTimes Parenting Section’s Guide to negotiating for parental leave:

• “How to Ask for Parental Leave When You’re an Hourly Worker”
• “How Freelancing Parents Can Create Maternity or Paternity Leave.”
• “How to Ask for Maternity or Paternity Leave When Your Company Has No Policy.”

Additional organizations that support family leave advocacy:

• Paid Leave US is a national advocacy organization aimed at getting national paid family leave by 2022. Check out their FAQ,...
  
  This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thedoubleshift.substack.com/subscribe

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 intertwined, how abortion providers save lives, and her belief that any reason is a good reason to have an abortion.

Angela and Katherine also share their own reproductive health experiences and why they've both become even more pro-abortion since becoming mothers. And, we hear from a listener -- on the cusp of becoming part of the 59% of abortion patients that have already had at least one child -- about how the challenges of parenting in the US are impacting her abortion decision. 

Notes:

Angela recommends the book, Reproductive justice by Loretta Ross and Ricky Salinger.

If you love the Double Shift Podcast, sign up for our newsletter, thedoubleshift.com/newsletter. 

Consider joining The Double Shift member community, which is a social change laboratory for moms. Learn more here at thedoubleshift.com/join.

COVID vaccinations for five to 11 year olds are here, and for so many parents and caregivers this moment could not have come soon enough. Others are taking a wait-and-see approach, including many moms who are vaccinated themselves but may feel anxiety about the COVID vaccine when it comes to their kids... and they don't necessarily have access to a doctor or health care worker who can help them sort through the information -- and emotion -- overload that dovetails with socially imposed expectations on what it means to be a “good mom.” 

Katherine has got you covered. She talks with her great friend AND trusted advisor, board certified family physician Dr. Liz Baltaro, about the science on kids and the COVID vaccine, and about the swirling vortex of “vaccine anxiety:” The worry many moms feel when making these weighty decisions about their children’s safety. Dr. Liz fields questions from you, our listeners, and brings calm to the chaos. Even if you are on board with getting your kids the shot, this episode may answer some important, lingering questions you have and will help you better understand those in your life who aren’t quite sold.

Some Helpful Resources:

Pfizer study on vaccines for ages 5-11 measures vaccines ability to neutralize antibody responses

The risk of myocarditis is higher from COVID than from the COVID vaccine --The New England Journal of Medicine

The official CDC guidance on vaccines for kids and teens 

American Academy of Pediatrics FAQs of the COVID Vaccine 

Answers to your Questions About the COVID Vaccine and Kids -- NYTimes

Research cited in this episode was based on information available as of October 2021. Research on the impact of the covid vaccine on children is being updated regularly -- check the CDC web page for children and teens for the most recent information on vaccine safety and effectiveness.

If you love the Double Shift Podcast, sign up for our newsletter, thedoubleshift.com/newsletter. 

Consider joining The Double Shift member community, which is a social change laboratory for moms. Learn more here at thedoubleshift.com/join.

While other news outlets have “moved on'' from talking about how mad and burnt out moms are, we’re just getting started. In part two of this intimate, in-the-moment audio diary series, host Katherine Goldstein shares her story of caring for newborn twins and a four-year-old as the coronavirus shut the world down around her. She’s joined by co-host Angela Garbes to discuss the idea that mothers are the unacknowledged essential workers of the pandemic, what’s changed in the year+ since the audio diaries were recorded, and what hasn’t. Katherine and Angela also reflect how they both see collectively harnessing anger over what has happened in the last 19 months as crucial for finding a path forward.

Newsweek: Pandemic Could Cost Typical American Woman Nearly $600,000 in Lifetime Income

Check out The Nap Ministry on Instagram.

If you love the Double Shift Podcast, sign up for our newsletter, thedoubleshift.com/newsletter. 

Consider joining The Double Shift member community, which is a social change laboratory for moms. Learn more here at thedoubleshift.com/join.

Every mother has been touched by the pandemic and every mother has a story that deserves to be heard...including our own host, Katherine Goldstein.

In this two-part series, Katherine shares her story of caring for newborn twins and a four-year-old as the coronavirus shut the world down around her. Through intimate, in-the-moment audio diaries, she strips away the tropes around self-sacrificing pandemic motherhood and lays bare the frustration, fear, uncertainty, and anger (so much anger) over how mothers, children, and caregivers have been abandoned in this crucial moment -- and have actually always been left to fend for themselves.

A year and half later, we all know where this story is headed....but we don’t yet know how it ends. 

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If you love the Double Shift Podcast, sign up for our newsletter, thedoubleshift.com/newsletter. 

Consider joining The Double Shift member community, which is a social change laboratory for moms. Learn more here at thedoubleshift.com/join.

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Listen to Battle Tactics for your Sexist Workplace wherever you get your podcasts. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/battle-tactics-for-your-sexist-workplace/id1391206534