The Double Shift

I have a great time talking with Kathleen Donahoe about the health realities that led her to be an expert don’t list creator, how she’s using her budget to drive her holiday Don’t List this year, and why letting go of traditions to make space for others is especially meaningful for her this year. ALSO: If you are looking for a great gift (what is better than the gift of community and connection!?)...

I had a blast talking to Virginia Sole-Smith about her “Friend Friday” tradition, and the insights she’s gathered from the Burnt Toast by Virginia Sole-Smith Community about making Deep Casual Hosting work! I also snuck in a question about Virginia’s move to Patreon! Feel free to check out Virginia’s work on deep casual hosting here. Here’s my landing page of all Deep Casual Hosting content! Also,...

I had a blast talking about Amanda Litman ’s weekly experiment of hosting friends at her Brooklyn apartment every Saturday night. My favorite parts of this conversation were discussing how NOT having a perfectly clean house can actually make guests feel more welcome, how to handle entertainment for kids, and how much this regular connection has bolstered Amanda’s mental health in these trying time...

I felt an absolute zing of electricity when I opened a message a few weeks ago asking if Shannon Watts could interview ME for her Substack Live series. Along with being a longtime fan of the incredible national movement Shannon has built for common sense gun laws with Moms Demand Action, I love her Substack Playing with Fire . It’s all about prioritizing desires (especially around activism and soc...

I’m back with an update on what I’ve been working on— The How to Find Your People Club , an IRL community-building project tackling loneliness and disconnection. Plus, exciting news: I’m writing a book! In this episode, I’ll share more about the club, why community matters, and then dive into my latest audio newsletter, How Busyness Stops Us from Meaningful Connection . If you’ve missed hearing fr...

We are constantly surrounded by aspirational images of human connectedness but according to American Time Use Survey data, Americans' time socializing in person declined 20% from 2003 to 2023. The How to Find Your People Club exists to help you build meaningful relationships, and doing that within a community is an extremely meaningful and practical way to build strong connections. This audio news...

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,...

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 pu...

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 a...

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 c...

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:...

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 fami...

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 st...

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 tra...

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 j...

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’ n...

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 so...

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...

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 pan...

While we are on hiatus, check out a show we think you’ll love. It’s called Home. Made. Today we are sharing the full episode of the series, called   “Is There A Doctor In The Dollhouse?” It’s about Dr. Kwandaa Roberts, who on the surface appeared to “have it all:” a thriving medical practice, a big house in the suburbs, two kids. But she harbored a secret dream to be an interior designer. Her chan...

Katherine and Angela have built their careers thinking about motherhood, career and identity. Today, we hear from the Double Shifters who have influenced them most — their own mothers.   Angela interviews Kay Goldstein about her trailblazing careers (plural!) as a second wave feminist, how she looks back at her life as a mom in the workforce now, and the lessons she shared with Katherine about not...

A year and a half ago, Shana Thomas was a mom of three who earned a good salary. She’d worked her way up at a company she loved and was telling younger women they could "have it all.” The pandemic changed everything. She's now one of the 4.5 million women who has left employment behind since the start of 2020, and is now an in-home services caregiver for her youngest daughter who’s a wheelchair us...

In Part 1 of this series, hosts Katherine Goldstein and Angela Garbes shared their own mental health challenges over the past year. They definitely aren’t the only ones who have struggled -- and in this episode we hear directly from some listeners who’ve sent us voice memos about how they are also not OK. We share some of the most pressing issues we are hearing about with Dr. Amber Thornton, a cli...

The mental health impact, especially on mothers, in the last year has been enormous. But the realities are something that's rarely talked about openly, and still carries a stigma. Hosts Katherine and Angela share their own personal stories of mental health diagnoses and experiences with antidepressants during the pandemic. Resources: If you are needing mental health support, please check out the f...

Right now, all many mothers can think about is just wanting a break from the unrelenting domestic work that last year has heaped on us. In this special Mother’s Day episode, Katherine and Angela explore some fascinating, little-known history that has led our society to expect that mothers’ care work should be a largely uncompensated “labor of love.” We’ll also explore some forgotten moments in the...