The Double Shift

The Double Shift is Katherine Goldstein's show about the work that surrounds raising children, and what that work says about the society around it. Goldstein, a journalist, says her background is in research on moms in the workplace, gender equity and care policy. She is also writing a book about community, and part of the feed is built around that project. She states the through-line plainly in a live conversation with Shannon Watts. Big social problems, Goldstein says, will not change while people are drowning in their own personal crises. Asked whether community means activism, mutual support or camaraderie, she answers all three. Her reasoning is practical: it is hard to be the activist the moment requires when no one can help watch the kids. The co-hosted episodes with Angela stay closer to home. One begins with a question about what percentage of a mother's brain childcare has occupied since her first daughter was born. The answer includes agreeing to a new job one week after giving birth. The episode sets that story beside a Center for American Progress warning that half of America's childcare capacity is at risk of permanent closure without significant federal investment. Another conversation starts with election-night sleep and turns grave, asking whether the country has ever had a shared sense of reality. The answer reaches back to land taken by force and to slavery. Some episodes are recorded live, and one invites questions through a chat as it goes. The holiday session with Kathleen Donahoe is lighter but just as pointed, naming the economic and class anxiety the season stirs up. The talk soon turns to money: a list of things skipped this year, among them family photos, Christmas cards, fancy clothes and the more expensive Nutcracker. 'Matriarchy Now' carries news that Goldstein has given birth to twins, along with a wry admission about forgetting to press record. Co-housing keeps coming back. A sponsor segment calls it a personal obsession and mentions an episode, 'Don't Call Me Mom, Call Me Ted', set in a co-housing community. The feed also carries an episode of 'Labor', a separate show from two journalist mothers, in which Julie gives a quick definition of neoliberalism and the discussion argues that economic shifts have tied individuals more tightly to their families through wealth and debt. Across all of it the tone stays warm and measured, and it turns frustrated or analytical when a private burden turns out to have a public cause.