Emi Nietfield & Alissa Quart: The American Bootstraps Myth: Liberating Ourselves from the American Dream (ASL)
Room: Society, Sciences & Technology, 2nd Floor
Self-reliance is central to America's mythology. But what if this ideal holds us back—as well as being false, classist, corrosive and even sick-making? Join Alissa Quart, author of Bootstrapped: Liberating Ourselves from the American Dream and executive director of the Economic Hardship Reporting Project, in conversation with Emi Nietfeld, author of Acceptance and a former foster youth turned Harvard grad, as they challenge our country's sanctified virtue of "grit." They will also re-imagine this self-sufficient American Dream, laying out an alternative which centers around mutuality and participation.
Emi Nietfeld is the author of Acceptance (Penguin Press '22), a critically-acclaimed memoir of her journey from foster care and homelessness to Harvard and Big Tech, interrogating the American obsession with "resilience." A former software engineer, her viral New York Times op-ed, “After Working At Google, I’ll Never Let Myself Love a Job Again” was one of their most-read essays of 2021. Today Nietfeld writes about inequality, mental health, and child welfare for The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, and elsewhere. She lives in New York City with her family and is @eminietfeld on social media.
Alissa Quart is the author of five books of nonfiction including the acclaimed Bootstrapped: Liberating Ourselves from the American Dream, Squeezed: Why Our Families Can't Afford America and Branded: The Buying and Selling of Teenagers. She collaborated on creating the non-profit the Economic Hardship Reporting Project with the late Barbara Ehrenreich: she has run it for close to a decade. She is also the author of two books of poetry, including Thoughts and Prayers, and has written for many publications including The New York Times, The Guardian, The Washington Post and TIME. Her awards include an Emmy, an SPJ Award, and a National Headliner Award. She lives with her family in Brooklyn.
Room: Society, Sciences & Technology, 2nd Floor
Self-reliance is central to America's mythology. But what if this ideal holds us back—as well as being false, classist, corrosive and even sick-making? Join Alissa Quart, author of Bootstrapped: Liberating Ourselves from the American Dream and executive director of the Economic Hardship Reporting Project, in conversation with Emi Nietfeld, author of Acceptance and a former foster youth turned Harvard grad, as they challenge our country's sanctified virtue of "grit." They will also re-imagine this self-sufficient American Dream, laying out an alternative which centers around mutuality and participation.
Emi Nietfeld is the author of Acceptance (Penguin Press '22), a critically-acclaimed memoir of her journey from foster care and homelessness to Harvard and Big Tech, interrogating the American obsession with "resilience." A former software engineer, her viral New York Times op-ed, “After Working At Google, I’ll Never Let Myself Love a Job Again” was one of their most-read essays of 2021. Today Nietfeld writes about inequality, mental health, and child welfare for The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, and elsewhere. She lives in New York City with her family and is @eminietfeld on social media.
Alissa Quart is the author of five books of nonfiction including the acclaimed Bootstrapped: Liberating Ourselves from the American Dream, Squeezed: Why Our Families Can't Afford America and Branded: The Buying and Selling of Teenagers. She collaborated on creating the non-profit the Economic Hardship Reporting Project with the late Barbara Ehrenreich: she has run it for close to a decade. She is also the author of two books of poetry, including Thoughts and Prayers, and has written for many publications including The New York Times, The Guardian, The Washington Post and TIME. Her awards include an Emmy, an SPJ Award, and a National Headliner Award. She lives with her family in Brooklyn.
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