Stephanie Land

“While I'd been in school, I had a nagging thought that it'd be so much easier to quit all this higher education nonsense and get a full-time job at wages low enough to still qualify for government assistance.”

“I graduated from college in 2014 and started freelance writing. I'd write anything that paid, including filling local events calendars for hourly rates.”

“My mom grew up in extreme poverty, and always spoke of it with a look of disgust. She felt pressured to fit in, and felt shame about her house, clothes, and general appearance.”

“I had a crazy amount of success as a writer, which isn't normal by any means.”

“My life as a mother had been one of skipping meals, always saving the 'good' food, like fresh fruit, for the kids I told myself deserved it more than I did.”

“When people think of chronic fatigue syndrome, they imagine someone simply sleeping a lot or who's always tired. The stigma from that name, and the name itself, desperately needs to change. In reality, sleeping doesn't mean rest at all, and it's never enough.”

“Sometimes you do not see white faces when you think of poverty. That leads to lots of stigmas, systemic racism and all that.”

“Hunger changes you. As your body begins to claw at you, your stomach churning in anger, every person who shares a photo of the fancy meal they're about to eat is no longer your friend.”

“Employers don't want to hire single moms with kids, because if the kid's sick then they can't work, and it goes on and on and on. It's really incredibly difficult to find a job in that situation.”

“We need to look marginalized people in our community in the eye and listen to their stories of struggle, heartache and impossibility.”

“I am, by default, a healthy eater. I limit processed food, eat fresh ingredients, all of that.”

“My second daughter's birth stopped time. My world lost its momentum in revolving towards goals and dreams.”

“I've seen, and experienced, the anxiety of not being able to find work for months on end.”

“It shouldn't take a pandemic for us to take notice that millions of people can't afford a single sick day.”

“This resounding cry of 'welfare to work' enrages me because something like 75% or 80% of people who are on government assistance are already working.”

“If every parent knew that the best way to prevent lice from spreading is by looking for them, cases decrease dramatically.”

“Being a single mom, I fought my way through living in poverty, feeling like I wasn't ever enough, feeling an annoying tug that we as a family possibly weren't complete.”

“If you work a job outside of the hours a daycare that accepts government grants operates, if you are self-employed or you take classes not approved by federal daycare funding, you will have trouble finding ways around high child care costs.”

“During my last year of college, I maxed out what small available credit I had after declaring bankruptcy in my mid-20s to pay medical bills.”

“I grew up exploring my neighborhood and beyond, and would love to give my daughter that kind of freedom.”