sharing an unpublished story

and asking for feedback, again!

hi all,

how’s it going? coming to you with another newsletter, late (again!) and am wondering what you are looking for here, AKA, I’m asking for feedback (again!) 

I subscribe to so many newsletters, but I only open some of them all the time (sorry!) if a newsletter comes too often I feel overwhelmed; if it’s too long I need to wait until I have time to sink my teeth into it, which sometimes means I forget about it. some of my favorite newsletters are Maybe Baby, This Needs Hot Sauce, Morning Person, From the Desk of Alicia Kennedy, and Pithy Outcomes (this is not an exhaustive list! and of course they’re not the only newsletters I read, just the ones I always read without fail.) all of these newsletters provide me with different things — essays on food and culture and relationships and motherhood; lists and recommendations of books and and recipes and restaurants and clothes — but I love them all, and every time I see them in my inbox I smile.

I guess I am wondering what you are getting from this newsletter, or what you’d like to get from it. should it be shorter and come more often? longer and come less often? more advice, less advice? newsletters that alternate between essays and advice? more on what I’m reading/buying/eating? (not trying to be an influencer, I’m just incredibly nosy and assume everyone is too, and these are some of my favorite parts of other people’s newsletters. it’s why I love reading Money Diaries and The Receipt and any other anonymous day-in-the-life reports.) I am here to serve, people!!! within reason, of course. I am re-upping the (anonymous!) feedback form with some additional questions, it would be super helpful for me if you filled it out.

the honest truth is that if I don’t have something to write about, a newsletter won’t get written. I’ve started keeping a list of possible ideas in my iphone notes — currently: an update on my health and all of the related changes and feelings; my breastfeeding journey coming to an end; how fucking hot and horrible this summer is and the personal sadness of climate change; the way my husband and I split up our domestic labor and what it means for our marriage — but it would be helpful to hear from you! I genuinely want to know what you want to read about so that I can write about it.

a cool truck I saw in Rehoboth, DE

in the meantime, today’s newsletter will be a little different than usual! instead of a personal-ish essay, I’m sharing a reported story I wrote for In These Times in April that was killed. (“killing” a story sounds mean to me, but I guess that’s just the lingo lol, and doesn’t imply anything nefarious!) there was so much election content in the late spring and early summer that it was hard to figure out when to run this story, and then it was no longer relevant because Biden did such an insanely bad job at the debate and everything written after that was about him dropping out, and then, blessedly, he did drop out. but I worked hard on it and I think the workers’ perspectives are interesting and important — and I think the political road ahead for unions is going to be long and difficult — which is why am I sharing it. this story went through a round of edits before being killed, but otherwise it’s here as originally written.

if you’d like to support my writing because this newsletter means something to you or because you understand it takes a lot of time and effort to put it together — or because you want to keep my feet to the fire re: a regular publishing schedule (still working on this one…) — you can do that below. it means more to me than you know. (relatedly, all posts are paywalled a few weeks after publishing, so I strongly recommend subscribing to make sure they’re in your inbox and you don’t miss them when they’re free/public!)

I also want to give a fair warning that the month of August is incredibly busy for me — I started a new job on 8/1 (!) and I’m doing a lot of traveling, both for that and for vacation — so if you don’t hear from me until September, please don’t hold it against me. looking forward to getting your feedback, and I hope you’re all having a nice summer.

love,

your friend Mindy 

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As the 2024 presidential election approaches, one of President Joe Biden’s most loyal allies—the U.S. labor movement—is getting ready to pound the pavement for his re-election campaign. Biden, who has declared himself “the most pro-union president in American history,” has made great strides for workers in the United States, including through economic investments in the Inflation Reduction Act, the nomination of union-side lawyer Jennifer Abruzzo as General Counsel on the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), standing with striking United Auto Workers on the picket line in their historic strike against the Big Three automakers, and more. The backdrop of the upcoming election also features the potential return of anti-worker former President Donald Trump to the Oval Office, high levels of inflation and corporate price gouging and Israel’s continued assault on Palestinians, which has been met with unflinching U.S. support. While many unions have released statements calling for a ceasefire in Gaza—and have called on Biden to act—they are also, by and large, doubling down on their support of the incumbent Democrat. But it remains to be seen if labor’s efforts will translate to winning over working-class voters.