Don’t call us, we’ll call you

I started this blog in the summer of 2008 with the intent of chronicling my summer research adventure in the jails of Illinois, asking men in jail about their family and financial backgrounds, which some people expressed interest in (while others vehemently denied that “research” and “adventure” should be uttered together!).  But I didn’t do a very good job of chronicling it.  So I decided to try a new tactic, writing about it retrospectively as I analyze my data and process all that I heard and saw.  I hope you find it as fascinating a glimpse into another world as we did.  And I hope I can help you feel the joy and hope we found there, along with the obvious agony.

Initially, my blog was devoted to my thesis research.  Being a graduate student at Brigham Young University (specializing in family economics and economic socialization) was the most salient aspect of my life in 2008.  But a few years later, my scope has broadened to discuss more about my day-to-day life and adventures in parenthood, pregnancy, miscarriage, chronic illness, growing up, spiraling downward, clawing back up, and anything else I feel like talking about.

You can contact me at [email protected].