Good Riddance to An Awful October
And my take on an important issue that's been mostly ignored in recent elections
Hoping your October was better than mine - and offering support and virtual hugs if it wasn’t.
Apologies for being absent from your inbox. It’s no exaggeration to say that October was one of the worst months I’ve had in many years – perhaps the worst in a long time, with the exception of the month when my mother died.
Most significantly, we lost our beloved rescue dog Ivy – two days after her fourth birthday – in a very brutal and heartbreaking way. Not that there’s ever a way to lose a pet that isn’t heartbreaking, but this was particularly traumatic and frankly we’re all still reeling in shock and disbelief.
I do want to take this opportunity to urge all pet owners to get pet insurance. It definitely isn’t a perfect solution but can be a help and is certainly better than nothing.
Also this month, our youngest son was involved in not one but two major car accidents, including one in which his car was totaled when he hit a deer (not an uncommon occurrence in our area). Thankfully, he wasn’t injured.
All of this was a powerful reminder of how drastically your life can change in a second, so it’s important to appreciate every moment and never take the people – or pets – in your life for granted.
Below, I share links to some of my recent stories, along with a post I’d meant to send a few weeks ago. It’s a topic that’s very meaningful to me personally and also related to the election, so I’m making it in just under the wire. Warning: not surprisingly, it gets political, so feel free to skip it if you want to avoid political content.
Recently published stories:
Thanks to everyone who helped with these pieces in any way.
National Geographic: Bushwick is famed for its street art. Will that change as the neighborhood gentrifies?
AARP: DES Daughters: A Medication My Mother Took Before I Was Born Will Affect Me for Life
The Guardian: Were you better off four years ago? Seven US voters weigh their options
U.S. News: 7 Best Dyson Vacuums
U.S. News: 5 Best Junk Removal Companies
U.S. News: Here’s How Much Internet Costs (Then and Now) in the Most Populous States in America [Survey Report]
Real Simple: The Best Canister Vacuums We’ve Ever Tested
Parade:The Unexpected Hepatitis C Symptom You Shouldn't Ignore, According to Doctors
After Dropping Drastically, Child Poverty Skyrockets Once Again – But This Election Could Have a Big Impact
Warning: political post follows.
As someone who grew up very poor and experienced hunger and housing insecurity throughout my childhood, policies affecting low-income Americans are among the political issues I care about the most. With each major election, I am especially alert for any mention of one specific topic that I always hope will be a major concern for our current leaders or candidates seeking office – and that topic is child poverty.
Research shows that children who grow up in poverty are more likely to experience poverty as adults. Taking steps to address and reduce poverty for our youngest populations can change the course of a child’s entire life – and may possibly even break the cycle of intergenerational poverty, creating a ripple effect whose consequences can span generations. Decreasing child poverty and giving children the strongest start possible benefits not just their own families, but also their community and our society as a whole.
That’s why I think it’s imperative that our leaders make this issue one of our country’s highest priorities. Sadly, that’s hasn’t always proven to be the case.
An issue that’s often overlooked at election time
In recent history, this important issue has mostly been ignored by presidential candidates. During the campaign period leading up to the 2020 elections, the Children’s Defense Fund noted that it had been more than 20 years since a question specifically about child poverty was addressed in a presidential debate – a fact that prompted the organization (along with Minnesota resident Israel Glenn, then 18, who experienced hunger and homelessness as a child) to start an online petition in an effort to pressure debate organizers to ask a question about child poverty.
That finally happened during the closing moments of a February 2020 debate involving Democratic presidential candidates, when the very last question focused on what we as a country can do about child poverty, prompting 13 minutes of discussion as the candidates took turns sharing responses in which they each tied it to one of their key platforms or proposed programs. After that, though, the issue seemed to once again fade into the background on the campaign trail.
A roller coaster ride for child poverty rates
Child poverty rates have fluctuated wildly over the past few years. Child poverty reached record lows in 2021, dropping almost in half to reach a level of just over 5%. Experts attributed that in large part to the temporary expanded Child Tax Credit, along with other support initiatives designed to help families who were struggling during the pandemic. Those initiatives went a long way in providing much-needed relief to families who needed help paying for food and other essentials. Once those policies ended, though, the fallout was painful and drastic. Child poverty more than doubled from 2021 to 2022, ricocheting back to pre-pandemic levels and marking the largest year-over-year increase on record.
Now, things seemed to have continued going in the wrong direction. New data indicates that child poverty last year rose at a speed higher than pre-pandemic rates, with nearly a million more children living in poverty in 2023 compared to the prior year. In total, roughly 10 million children – or nearly 14 percent of all children under age 18 in the U.S. – were living in poverty last year.
That harsh reality is even more painful when you consider how different things could have been, had Congress maintained the initiative that was responsible for making such a significant impact. This week, a report issued by the Center on Poverty and Social Policy at Columbia University explored what the 2023 child poverty rate might have looked like if the expanded Child Tax Credit had remained in place. Their analysis of that hypothetical scenario found that an expanded credit could have kept more than five million children out of poverty. “The expanded credit’s effect on poverty remains substantial under an array of potential employment responses,” the report noted.
How Kamala Harris would address child poverty
These recent setbacks are disheartening, but I’m optimistic about how a Kamala Harris administration would focus on solutions to address poverty in general – and child poverty specifically – based on what she has said and done since becoming the official Democratic presidential candidate.
From the start, Harris seemed to signal that this was an important issue for her. In her first campaign ad – released in late July – Harris said, “We choose a future where no child lives in poverty.”
Her proposed agenda also emphasizes initiatives that have proven to be very effective in decreasing poverty in children. Her “Opportunity Economy” platform calls for restoring the Child Tax Credit and the Earned Income Tax Credit and would expand the Child Tax Credit to provide a $6,000 tax cut to families with newborn children.
Harris has also vowed to help support initiatives to give working parents access to more affordable childcare, which can play an important role in lifting families out of poverty, as well. By contrast, when Donald Trump was asked what he would do to make childcare more affordable – a simple question for which he should have been able to easily rattle off some prepared talking points – he gave a rambling answer that made no sense and proposed zero solutions. His running mate, J.D. Vance, didn’t fare much better when asked a similar question, suggesting that the solution to rising childcare costs is asking grandparents to babysit more – something that’s impossible or impractical for many families, especially since these days many grandparents are still working and cannot afford to retire.
Congressional support is key
If she is elected, Kamala Harris will still be limited in what she’s able to accomplish if she doesn’t have Congress backing her up. Which is why voting for like-minded down-ballot candidates who will work with her to pass legislation that supports working-class and middle-class families is also so critical in this election. It was, after all, Republican lawmakers in Congress who have repeatedly blocked efforts to reinstate the expanded Child Tax Credit. That party’s representatives at both the state and federal levels have also consistently acted to chip away at safety net programs or pass initiatives that make it tougher for those in need to receive basic support benefits.
When Congress is split with a partisan divide and the parties compete to get their pet legislation packages passed, poor people – including children – are often used as political pawns, and they suffer the consequences when Republican lawmakers target safety net programs or impose barriers like work requirements on those seeking assistance via SNAP benefits or other programs.
If we want to see real progress in the fight against child poverty – or at least stop backsliding and make up some of the ground we have lost – we must vote for leaders who will work to lift the most vulnerable and needy up, providing them with a strong start that will offer them the best chance to thrive and succeed while ensuring their basic needs are met. Every child deserves that much, at the bare minimum – and that’s something on which we should all agree, regardless of party.