I don’t understand the comment about building houses. Can someone explain? Do they not have enough housing in MI? My thought was who can afford to buy the houses if you build them? I am Gen X, I have always worked, I have a degree, and I have never thought I could afford a house. If I get the house, I would have no money if the AC goes out. There is no way I could have a house and a car payment at the same time. I couldn’t afford electricity or groceries. I knew when I left home could not support the lifestyle I was accustomed to. I have often wondered, what I am doing wrong?
What I loved the most about these interviews was their enthusiasm for what could be. I don’t hear that out of a lot of the incumbents. It gives me hope.
Has it been considered to try to do anything like these interviews with the other side of the aisle? Meaning, non-MAGA people who are right of center but want a path past the MAGA crap? There has to be some existence of those kind of people somewhere, right? Like highlighting non-MAGA candidates in heavily red district primaries or something like that? Wouldn’t it be overall beneficial to try to elevate those types of voices, also?
I appreciated hearing from candidate who are up for primaries and/or election. As an Iowan, I am very surprised and somewhat hopeful about one of Senator Joni Ernst’s opponents. I think that she has at least three at the moment.
I was energized by this episode and wanted to come back and comment on who is running against incumbents. Governor Reynolds opponent is Democrat Rob Sand who has been our state auditor. Joni Ernst's race is going to be a very interesting with the Democratic opponent Nathan Sage already getting a lot of grassroots support (I would love to hear an interview with him as he also has radio experience). https://www.facebook.com/reel/2128279380976864 I also just saw that my Republican representative Marianette Miller-Meeks has a Democratic opponent named Travis Terrell.
Loved this episode. I loved how Jake is saying we need to challenge so we have ideas. I’m not happy that Democratic leadership is giving David Hogg crap for funding primaries. Don’t forgot that’s how AOC won. She saw the constituents were not happy and she challenged.
I guess it is better to grow up poor. I had no idea that people were so angry they didn't have a country house that they all need to vote for Donald Trump. I have never had that expectation. But I didn't have the idyllic childhood that made me expect those things.
How did the male role models disappear? Can somebody explain that to me?
This helped crystallize a question for me. Is the American dream an aspiration or an expectation? I see an aspiration as something to work towards and that is how I view the American dream. An expectation is something people are often bitter if they don't get.
I don’t know but I have an 18-year-old who is really into basketball and seems to look up to NBA players. At least he has said more than once that LeBron James should run for president:)
That seems reasonable and normal for an 18 year old. I paused the podcast at the lack of male role models discussion and I asked my husband (age 60) who were his male role models growing up. We've been married decades, and he never answers any question I ask without joking, so understand this is his joke answer but also semi-serious: "John Wayne...Carry Grant...Boy George." So I get that all of these people are dead I think? (Haven't checked on Boy George in a while.) But George Clooney exists. Tom Cruise exists. Um... all those male athletes exist. What's with the I don't have anybody to look up to talk? Keep in mind he and I somewhat remember Nixon being president.
This was a good episode and yet I am still very frustrated with the assumption that we all have the opportunity to vote for a candidate. In my super majority state, it is nearly impossible to vote for or participate in the conversation; most of the seats do not have a Dem candidate. Along that same line- when we do have the opportunity to vote for a candidate the timing (primaries for example) make our choices irrelevant. If it is possible to hold regular voting in a certain window-why not do the same for primaries-with the final day being the same for all? A true full primary cycle.
As I wrap this meandering comment up, my hope is between now & 2026 we hear from all states not just the blue ones or the swing ones.
I live in New York. I used to live in Wisconsin. I don't know which is worse - having absolutely no voice in the presidential election or getting inundated daily by messages from presidential candidates.
We (the party) are saying new leadership not young, don't allow the younger generations to make new = young. He's doing a great job with that messaging.
I read an article about how Democrats concede they have no alternative to Chuck Schumer for the time being. It's basically because there isn't a clear successor. How is that a thing? How irresponsible is (either) party to not have a clear successor? If Chuck Schumer just peacefully passed in the night unexpectedly - there should be a CLEAR successor. My company is small (under 50 people so similar to the darn Senate of Democrats) and I can immediately tell you order of operations of who would take the helm if my boss (who is 41) were to die.
P.S. I also think it's total BS. Cory Booker. Chris Coons. Tammy Duckworth. Mark Kelly. Amy Klobuchar. Adam Schiff. Elizabeth Warren. -- No one could realistically challenge any of those people with "ineptitude" for the job as minority leader. I think it's just more proof although Schumer clearly doesn't have a roadmap for anyone to follow, no one else does either. Which is bad.
This is the EXACT same thing they did with Biden right before he stepped down. “Who else could possibly be President?” (they'll figure it out!!!!!) if we can learn one thing from Donald Trump, let it be that we are making these jobs seem too hard and giving them too much importance!
I have heard lots of complaints that Obama didn't build the party and didn't cultivate successors. It sounds like that problem continues. I don't know much about Duckworth's leadership skills but I have generally been impressed with her
Like I hear this, and even if it is true, it all just sounds like excuses to not be better. I get it, we're in a mess. So grab up a broom versus sit there and say "This is a mess." I don't even care if it's a mess you didn't create. Fine. You know how many messes I clean up both professionally and personally I didn't make!?!? lol Most of them just sound like whiney babies to me right now.
A second home is the Michigander American dream? Along with a gas guzzling suburban? By that metric, I guess I understand why millennials complain. It's not sustainable for o always do better than the generation before and to make money selling our homes but those homes will still be affordable.
"Each generation does better than the one before" is just a lie we tell ourselves to get out of bed in the morning, I'm convinced. I had limited idea of my family history growing up. My great-grandparents were long gone, and my parents barely remembered them. My dad told me what little he knew, and then I back-filled the rest based on movies and books and lies my teacher told me. I decided we'd clawed our way out of the wilderness with each generation doing a little better. And then my sister decided to trace our genealogy, and it turns out that ain't the story at all. I mean, there's some progress and then there's some backsliding. It's much more two steps forward and one step back. But, you know, eventually we all get indoor plumbing. So that's good.
You know, I heard “suburban” the vehicle at first, too. But honestly, I think what was being said was about wanting “a suburban home,” but there was sort of an awkward pause or something that made it sound like “a suburban.”
Our "second home" is our travel trailer. We have taken our now teenagers all over the country in that thing. It has been our escape from so many things. Are we still paying for it? Yes. Do we regret the debt? Nope. And yet as Xennials we are lucky enough to be in a financial situation where it is a stretch but not an impossibility. I think Beth's comment that the American Dream is being able to go on vacation once a year and for us, that is it. And this year we have to forego vacation because we have experienced some belt-tightening this year.
I can see your point, but as a Michigander, now living in Indiana … this is 100% the Dream. It made me teary because I didn’t totally realized it until it was said. And I echo the other comments. My family would rent a cabin up north for our summer vacations. I’m not taking the fancy VRBOs we see now. The decor was threadbare. The beds - terrible. No TV, No Air, No Heat. 😂 these are very modest small homes that are luxurious to have and often shared amongst families. In the 90s, My parents would always say “why didn’t OUR parents buy a cabin in the 60s??” Now I’m saying the same thing 😂
I’m 48, married with 2 teens and I honestly don’t dream of much. The cost of living has been tough our whole parenthood journey, and yearly family vacations are a dream. We have not been able to do that mostly due to cost but also due to very limited paid time off.
Oh my goodness, one of my high school friend's parents had a "cottage" in Coldwater, Michigan. My boyfriend (now husband) and the guys would go as often as they could. I went a couple of times and that place was a shithole 😂 But it was our escape and we had good memories of going and hanging out there as college students.
Yeah I know of a few exceptions of people who keep investing in the cabin with the full plan to retire and sell their other home and live in the cabin post-retirement but I can count on one hand the people I know like this. I too started to question if EVERYONE had a damn cabin lol but then yes, they would start to tell me the condition of this thing and I thought ewwww no. I'm not a campy person so if you get too far away from a hotel/indoor plumbing/modern amenities I'm usually a no-go. I hear cabin and think Hallmark Christmas movie cabin not Little House on the Prairie cabin. But because either 1. people refuse to sell them or 2. once they do the value is so high none of the family can afford to buy them either it is really hard to purchase one. The last time I even "looked" into it it was like $600K and it only had 1 bedroom !? Hard pass.
Do you live in Michigan? (Not said snarky if it comes off that way) I live in Wisconsin - it's EXTREMELY common for people to have a cabin up north. I grew up in Ky no one I knew owned a 2nd home. My step mom had a trailer on Ky Lake LOL that's as close as we ever got to that. But also these cabins are not what you envision from vrbo. They are closer to the trailer - they are generally passed down from family to family or the whole family "shares" the cabin. They tend to be pretty small too and to obtain one in 2025 is nearly impossible. It's not on my bucket list, again grew up in KY and it's so cold here I never want to "Go up Nort'" but if you live here and grew up here I can see how not having a cabin or access to one would feel like you got robbed or have less. Also Michigan gets a LOT of snow. A lot of trucks/suburbans in my town b/c we are a commuter town to Milwaukee and people need to be able to get to work and car's like my husband's Toyota Camry won't cut it on a snow day. And unlike in KY - snow does not mean you aren't at work. It's assumed you'll still make it in. Sidebar: If you have more than 2 kids and lord help if they are all 3 in boosters/car seats you're in a minivan or a gas guzzler unfortunately whether you want to be or not.
Michigander here and I would indeed love a cabin Up North. It’s where I go to vacation every year. I doubt I’ll ever have a second home but if I did that’s for sure where it would be.
As a Michigander, Mallory’s comment about having an up north cabin as the American Dream was hugely relatable. My grandparents had a tiny up north cottage that was shared with the family for years and years. My grandma was a high school secretary and my grandpa worked for Ford, and like Mallory said, they also had *time* to go up north on weekends. They had the American Dream in my eyes. When they sold it a decade ago, no one in my family could afford to buy it from them. I keep watch on it on Zillow because I’m so sad it’s out of the family and wish I could someday buy it back because it holds so many precious memories. (That’s never going to happen.) I think this “cabin/cottage” anecdote speaks to a lot of millennials, who I don’t think are being selfish in the sense of, “I deserve a second house!”—I do not feel that way at all. I’m a teacher without children, and I have a good life and so much I am thankful for, but I’ll never have the financial situation my grandparents had even though I do think I work just as hard as they did and chose a similar career path. I don’t think it’s selfish to feel sad that the tiny family cottage couldn’t stay in my family and I do see how owning a second home could come across as super out-of-touch for many outside of Michigan/Wisconsin. Just wanted to share my pov because Mallory reached me as her target audience with that comment!
I also liked that she emphasized the dream of having time to enjoy things like a cabin Up North. Yes please. Having time to do more of what I love would indeed be a dream.
I lived in Detroit as a kid and even those who were lower-middle class talked about going "up north" any time there was time off of school. And I went to a Lutheran school in inner-city Detroit. It was a VERY relatable statement.
It's crazy. SO many people and I think it's cold....why are you going somewhere COLDER!?!?! It really is beautiful up there though. When I was right out of college my job sent me to Tomahawk in the winter - I got a whole 20 minute video of what to do if I saw a BEAR (!) but it was truly beautiful. It was also FREEZING lol
Michigan is beautiful in the summer. Which is often when people are going to their cabins (not the only time). We also just have a different relationship with what is “cold.” Give me a Michigan summer over an Alabama or Georgia summer (two places I have also lived) any day.
Oh agreed just not growing up here it's still just cold for me lol but our WI summers are a dream. My kids are such light weights they can't do the heat at all. If we visit our family in Ky we have to be fall/winter/spring visitors ha my kids melt in 90-100+ weather.
I take wanted to do the UP for our family summer vacation this year, but as I mentioned elsewhere, we had to give ours up this year. We're stuck with weekend camping trips in Indiana this summer.
We don't have it in our PTO/budget to do big vacations but our kiddos seem perfectly content with little 3-4 day trips 2 - 3 times a year. I say all the time, these are the same kids that are excited with new underwear in their Christmas stocking LOL my kiddos (and I think a lot of kiddos) are easy to impress. A night in a hotel makes their month even if we are just down the road. I can't carve out $1000+ vacations all the time but my groupon to our new hotel in town for $75 makes their day and you'd think continental breakfast was something not of planet Earth according to them. (I cook an insane amount of food - they love the control of just eat whatever you want).
I lived in the Midwest for several years and lived in a lake effect region. I grew up in a community on the west coast where people's first houses were a trailer. I didn't particularly have any vision of the cabins up north except that they are second homes. I didn't own a truck or a suburban in the Midwest but I know plenty of people who own both in conditions that don't necessitate it. I have 3 kids and have owned a minivan for 11 years. They have much better gas mileage than a suburban. People convince themselves things are necessary when they are really just choices. I wish people would acknowledge that they are making choices and that we can't keep expecting more for less without some people being harmed.
Two very hopeful and encouraging interviews. It is easy to get "frozen" and do nothing - except bitch, of course. This reminds me to get off my 74-yo butt and do something! Again, thanks.
I don't want to get out of fandom honestly. I do want to not like someone so much I get blinded by the obvious, but I think that's kind of how politicians work. People "like" them. I think that was a real problem for Biden. I did not dislike him in 2020 I was just meh, whatever. But by 2024 I did not like him anymore. At. all. So I think it's good we "like" her, I would not need a stupid text to send her $5. I think a good thing Donald Trump brought to politics (stay with me....) is he eliminated the perfection precedent. I don't even know if he knows it yet, but this notion if you were dumb at 25 and got a public intoxication ticket does not mean you can never hold office. If you have a minor marijuana charge, that doesn't keep you from running for public office. And honestly, we have probably kept some really good leaders who learned from big mistakes and turned it into a character building moment and kept them from being good leaders. I do not want to remove the need to be of good character (i.e. Donald Trump) but I here for eliminating the purity clause/requirement for people to be seen as a decent leader. We had a really good candidate run in Milwaukee but they (opposition) wanted to crucify for him for once upon a time being behind on child support. The mother of the child even spoke on his behalf of that time in his life but sadly, it worked and I thought that's BS. And I am a woman who knows what it is to have a dad not pay child support for months on end. I want that to NOT just be something that works for Donald Trump.
To the “fandom” I think what I want to avoid is, on the one end, blindness for what is real and only seeing my idea of a person/candidate (especially since they are people I don't know).
And on the other, I think we can get into a weird version of purity culture where they don't get to be people anymore. And this is hard, because I, personally, deeply, in my bones, do not think it's too much to ask to not elect/appointment people with a history of sexual assault and harassment to the Presidency, head the Department of Defense, Supreme Court, etc. But I see, in practice in American politics, that that means that people who play dirty will just make an accusation and say ‘you’re a hypocrite’ or (if you call it out) call it a ‘witch hunt.’ none of which seems to be fixing the culture ltd sexual assault and harassment in our country. 😤🙄
No answers here, but I am thinking about this A LOT right now and how I ‘right size’ my fandom.
I don’t understand the comment about building houses. Can someone explain? Do they not have enough housing in MI? My thought was who can afford to buy the houses if you build them? I am Gen X, I have always worked, I have a degree, and I have never thought I could afford a house. If I get the house, I would have no money if the AC goes out. There is no way I could have a house and a car payment at the same time. I couldn’t afford electricity or groceries. I knew when I left home could not support the lifestyle I was accustomed to. I have often wondered, what I am doing wrong?
So the takeaway is that the "American Dream" varies from region to region, person to person.
What I loved the most about these interviews was their enthusiasm for what could be. I don’t hear that out of a lot of the incumbents. It gives me hope.
These were great interviews- I voyeuristically wanted to know what might happen that you run against your former boss- but that’s none my business 😆
But I loved the energy and the ideas and the wheels turning at the don’t cap the house ….
These felt hopeful
I admit that that was what I REALLY wanted to know too. :-)
Has it been considered to try to do anything like these interviews with the other side of the aisle? Meaning, non-MAGA people who are right of center but want a path past the MAGA crap? There has to be some existence of those kind of people somewhere, right? Like highlighting non-MAGA candidates in heavily red district primaries or something like that? Wouldn’t it be overall beneficial to try to elevate those types of voices, also?
I appreciate the Bulwark for this perspective
We have! Full transparency, it's hard to get them to come on our podcast, but it's something we're working on.
A standout example to me is this episode with Britt Raybold of Idaho from awhile back. Her interview starts about 33 minutes into the episode.
https://www.pantsuitpoliticsshow.com/p/2022329the-show-mustnt-go-on
I appreciated hearing from candidate who are up for primaries and/or election. As an Iowan, I am very surprised and somewhat hopeful about one of Senator Joni Ernst’s opponents. I think that she has at least three at the moment.
I was energized by this episode and wanted to come back and comment on who is running against incumbents. Governor Reynolds opponent is Democrat Rob Sand who has been our state auditor. Joni Ernst's race is going to be a very interesting with the Democratic opponent Nathan Sage already getting a lot of grassroots support (I would love to hear an interview with him as he also has radio experience). https://www.facebook.com/reel/2128279380976864 I also just saw that my Republican representative Marianette Miller-Meeks has a Democratic opponent named Travis Terrell.
Loved this episode. I loved how Jake is saying we need to challenge so we have ideas. I’m not happy that Democratic leadership is giving David Hogg crap for funding primaries. Don’t forgot that’s how AOC won. She saw the constituents were not happy and she challenged.
I guess it is better to grow up poor. I had no idea that people were so angry they didn't have a country house that they all need to vote for Donald Trump. I have never had that expectation. But I didn't have the idyllic childhood that made me expect those things.
How did the male role models disappear? Can somebody explain that to me?
This helped crystallize a question for me. Is the American dream an aspiration or an expectation? I see an aspiration as something to work towards and that is how I view the American dream. An expectation is something people are often bitter if they don't get.
To the ‘cabin at the lake.’ I think it might be a Michigan thing. If you scroll down, our Michigander listeners added some context.
I don’t know but I have an 18-year-old who is really into basketball and seems to look up to NBA players. At least he has said more than once that LeBron James should run for president:)
That seems reasonable and normal for an 18 year old. I paused the podcast at the lack of male role models discussion and I asked my husband (age 60) who were his male role models growing up. We've been married decades, and he never answers any question I ask without joking, so understand this is his joke answer but also semi-serious: "John Wayne...Carry Grant...Boy George." So I get that all of these people are dead I think? (Haven't checked on Boy George in a while.) But George Clooney exists. Tom Cruise exists. Um... all those male athletes exist. What's with the I don't have anybody to look up to talk? Keep in mind he and I somewhat remember Nixon being president.
Boy George is alive and busy doing theatre.
OK, so it's George Michael that died. I couldn't quite remember.
These interviews were great!
agree!!
This was a good episode and yet I am still very frustrated with the assumption that we all have the opportunity to vote for a candidate. In my super majority state, it is nearly impossible to vote for or participate in the conversation; most of the seats do not have a Dem candidate. Along that same line- when we do have the opportunity to vote for a candidate the timing (primaries for example) make our choices irrelevant. If it is possible to hold regular voting in a certain window-why not do the same for primaries-with the final day being the same for all? A true full primary cycle.
As I wrap this meandering comment up, my hope is between now & 2026 we hear from all states not just the blue ones or the swing ones.
I live in New York. I used to live in Wisconsin. I don't know which is worse - having absolutely no voice in the presidential election or getting inundated daily by messages from presidential candidates.
Great episode - loved both guests.
We (the party) are saying new leadership not young, don't allow the younger generations to make new = young. He's doing a great job with that messaging.
I read an article about how Democrats concede they have no alternative to Chuck Schumer for the time being. It's basically because there isn't a clear successor. How is that a thing? How irresponsible is (either) party to not have a clear successor? If Chuck Schumer just peacefully passed in the night unexpectedly - there should be a CLEAR successor. My company is small (under 50 people so similar to the darn Senate of Democrats) and I can immediately tell you order of operations of who would take the helm if my boss (who is 41) were to die.
P.S. I also think it's total BS. Cory Booker. Chris Coons. Tammy Duckworth. Mark Kelly. Amy Klobuchar. Adam Schiff. Elizabeth Warren. -- No one could realistically challenge any of those people with "ineptitude" for the job as minority leader. I think it's just more proof although Schumer clearly doesn't have a roadmap for anyone to follow, no one else does either. Which is bad.
I think there are plenty of Senators who could take Schumer’s job. It’s wild that that is a legitimate talking point.
This is the EXACT same thing they did with Biden right before he stepped down. “Who else could possibly be President?” (they'll figure it out!!!!!) if we can learn one thing from Donald Trump, let it be that we are making these jobs seem too hard and giving them too much importance!
I think Chris Murphy’s been making a case for himself lately. This is bananas.
I have heard lots of complaints that Obama didn't build the party and didn't cultivate successors. It sounds like that problem continues. I don't know much about Duckworth's leadership skills but I have generally been impressed with her
Like I hear this, and even if it is true, it all just sounds like excuses to not be better. I get it, we're in a mess. So grab up a broom versus sit there and say "This is a mess." I don't even care if it's a mess you didn't create. Fine. You know how many messes I clean up both professionally and personally I didn't make!?!? lol Most of them just sound like whiney babies to me right now.
A second home is the Michigander American dream? Along with a gas guzzling suburban? By that metric, I guess I understand why millennials complain. It's not sustainable for o always do better than the generation before and to make money selling our homes but those homes will still be affordable.
"Each generation does better than the one before" is just a lie we tell ourselves to get out of bed in the morning, I'm convinced. I had limited idea of my family history growing up. My great-grandparents were long gone, and my parents barely remembered them. My dad told me what little he knew, and then I back-filled the rest based on movies and books and lies my teacher told me. I decided we'd clawed our way out of the wilderness with each generation doing a little better. And then my sister decided to trace our genealogy, and it turns out that ain't the story at all. I mean, there's some progress and then there's some backsliding. It's much more two steps forward and one step back. But, you know, eventually we all get indoor plumbing. So that's good.
I love this comment. Indoor plumbing for the win!
You know, I heard “suburban” the vehicle at first, too. But honestly, I think what was being said was about wanting “a suburban home,” but there was sort of an awkward pause or something that made it sound like “a suburban.”
That’s how I heard it too.
I think this is how I heard it, too!
Our "second home" is our travel trailer. We have taken our now teenagers all over the country in that thing. It has been our escape from so many things. Are we still paying for it? Yes. Do we regret the debt? Nope. And yet as Xennials we are lucky enough to be in a financial situation where it is a stretch but not an impossibility. I think Beth's comment that the American Dream is being able to go on vacation once a year and for us, that is it. And this year we have to forego vacation because we have experienced some belt-tightening this year.
I can see your point, but as a Michigander, now living in Indiana … this is 100% the Dream. It made me teary because I didn’t totally realized it until it was said. And I echo the other comments. My family would rent a cabin up north for our summer vacations. I’m not taking the fancy VRBOs we see now. The decor was threadbare. The beds - terrible. No TV, No Air, No Heat. 😂 these are very modest small homes that are luxurious to have and often shared amongst families. In the 90s, My parents would always say “why didn’t OUR parents buy a cabin in the 60s??” Now I’m saying the same thing 😂
I’m 48, married with 2 teens and I honestly don’t dream of much. The cost of living has been tough our whole parenthood journey, and yearly family vacations are a dream. We have not been able to do that mostly due to cost but also due to very limited paid time off.
Oh my goodness, one of my high school friend's parents had a "cottage" in Coldwater, Michigan. My boyfriend (now husband) and the guys would go as often as they could. I went a couple of times and that place was a shithole 😂 But it was our escape and we had good memories of going and hanging out there as college students.
Yeah I know of a few exceptions of people who keep investing in the cabin with the full plan to retire and sell their other home and live in the cabin post-retirement but I can count on one hand the people I know like this. I too started to question if EVERYONE had a damn cabin lol but then yes, they would start to tell me the condition of this thing and I thought ewwww no. I'm not a campy person so if you get too far away from a hotel/indoor plumbing/modern amenities I'm usually a no-go. I hear cabin and think Hallmark Christmas movie cabin not Little House on the Prairie cabin. But because either 1. people refuse to sell them or 2. once they do the value is so high none of the family can afford to buy them either it is really hard to purchase one. The last time I even "looked" into it it was like $600K and it only had 1 bedroom !? Hard pass.
At this point, the land is worth way more than most cottages.
Do you live in Michigan? (Not said snarky if it comes off that way) I live in Wisconsin - it's EXTREMELY common for people to have a cabin up north. I grew up in Ky no one I knew owned a 2nd home. My step mom had a trailer on Ky Lake LOL that's as close as we ever got to that. But also these cabins are not what you envision from vrbo. They are closer to the trailer - they are generally passed down from family to family or the whole family "shares" the cabin. They tend to be pretty small too and to obtain one in 2025 is nearly impossible. It's not on my bucket list, again grew up in KY and it's so cold here I never want to "Go up Nort'" but if you live here and grew up here I can see how not having a cabin or access to one would feel like you got robbed or have less. Also Michigan gets a LOT of snow. A lot of trucks/suburbans in my town b/c we are a commuter town to Milwaukee and people need to be able to get to work and car's like my husband's Toyota Camry won't cut it on a snow day. And unlike in KY - snow does not mean you aren't at work. It's assumed you'll still make it in. Sidebar: If you have more than 2 kids and lord help if they are all 3 in boosters/car seats you're in a minivan or a gas guzzler unfortunately whether you want to be or not.
Michigander here and I would indeed love a cabin Up North. It’s where I go to vacation every year. I doubt I’ll ever have a second home but if I did that’s for sure where it would be.
As a Michigander, Mallory’s comment about having an up north cabin as the American Dream was hugely relatable. My grandparents had a tiny up north cottage that was shared with the family for years and years. My grandma was a high school secretary and my grandpa worked for Ford, and like Mallory said, they also had *time* to go up north on weekends. They had the American Dream in my eyes. When they sold it a decade ago, no one in my family could afford to buy it from them. I keep watch on it on Zillow because I’m so sad it’s out of the family and wish I could someday buy it back because it holds so many precious memories. (That’s never going to happen.) I think this “cabin/cottage” anecdote speaks to a lot of millennials, who I don’t think are being selfish in the sense of, “I deserve a second house!”—I do not feel that way at all. I’m a teacher without children, and I have a good life and so much I am thankful for, but I’ll never have the financial situation my grandparents had even though I do think I work just as hard as they did and chose a similar career path. I don’t think it’s selfish to feel sad that the tiny family cottage couldn’t stay in my family and I do see how owning a second home could come across as super out-of-touch for many outside of Michigan/Wisconsin. Just wanted to share my pov because Mallory reached me as her target audience with that comment!
I also liked that she emphasized the dream of having time to enjoy things like a cabin Up North. Yes please. Having time to do more of what I love would indeed be a dream.
I lived in Detroit as a kid and even those who were lower-middle class talked about going "up north" any time there was time off of school. And I went to a Lutheran school in inner-city Detroit. It was a VERY relatable statement.
It's crazy. SO many people and I think it's cold....why are you going somewhere COLDER!?!?! It really is beautiful up there though. When I was right out of college my job sent me to Tomahawk in the winter - I got a whole 20 minute video of what to do if I saw a BEAR (!) but it was truly beautiful. It was also FREEZING lol
Michigan is beautiful in the summer. Which is often when people are going to their cabins (not the only time). We also just have a different relationship with what is “cold.” Give me a Michigan summer over an Alabama or Georgia summer (two places I have also lived) any day.
Oh agreed just not growing up here it's still just cold for me lol but our WI summers are a dream. My kids are such light weights they can't do the heat at all. If we visit our family in Ky we have to be fall/winter/spring visitors ha my kids melt in 90-100+ weather.
I take wanted to do the UP for our family summer vacation this year, but as I mentioned elsewhere, we had to give ours up this year. We're stuck with weekend camping trips in Indiana this summer.
We don't have it in our PTO/budget to do big vacations but our kiddos seem perfectly content with little 3-4 day trips 2 - 3 times a year. I say all the time, these are the same kids that are excited with new underwear in their Christmas stocking LOL my kiddos (and I think a lot of kiddos) are easy to impress. A night in a hotel makes their month even if we are just down the road. I can't carve out $1000+ vacations all the time but my groupon to our new hotel in town for $75 makes their day and you'd think continental breakfast was something not of planet Earth according to them. (I cook an insane amount of food - they love the control of just eat whatever you want).
I lived in the Midwest for several years and lived in a lake effect region. I grew up in a community on the west coast where people's first houses were a trailer. I didn't particularly have any vision of the cabins up north except that they are second homes. I didn't own a truck or a suburban in the Midwest but I know plenty of people who own both in conditions that don't necessitate it. I have 3 kids and have owned a minivan for 11 years. They have much better gas mileage than a suburban. People convince themselves things are necessary when they are really just choices. I wish people would acknowledge that they are making choices and that we can't keep expecting more for less without some people being harmed.
Two very hopeful and encouraging interviews. It is easy to get "frozen" and do nothing - except bitch, of course. This reminds me to get off my 74-yo butt and do something! Again, thanks.
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I know we’re trying not to fandom politics, but I am a Mallory McMorrow stan. I assume you recorded this before her announcement to run for senate?
Michigander here and I am also a Mallory McMorrow fan here. She is so intelligent and I love that she’s a problem solver. Definitely what we need.
I don't want to get out of fandom honestly. I do want to not like someone so much I get blinded by the obvious, but I think that's kind of how politicians work. People "like" them. I think that was a real problem for Biden. I did not dislike him in 2020 I was just meh, whatever. But by 2024 I did not like him anymore. At. all. So I think it's good we "like" her, I would not need a stupid text to send her $5. I think a good thing Donald Trump brought to politics (stay with me....) is he eliminated the perfection precedent. I don't even know if he knows it yet, but this notion if you were dumb at 25 and got a public intoxication ticket does not mean you can never hold office. If you have a minor marijuana charge, that doesn't keep you from running for public office. And honestly, we have probably kept some really good leaders who learned from big mistakes and turned it into a character building moment and kept them from being good leaders. I do not want to remove the need to be of good character (i.e. Donald Trump) but I here for eliminating the purity clause/requirement for people to be seen as a decent leader. We had a really good candidate run in Milwaukee but they (opposition) wanted to crucify for him for once upon a time being behind on child support. The mother of the child even spoke on his behalf of that time in his life but sadly, it worked and I thought that's BS. And I am a woman who knows what it is to have a dad not pay child support for months on end. I want that to NOT just be something that works for Donald Trump.
To the “fandom” I think what I want to avoid is, on the one end, blindness for what is real and only seeing my idea of a person/candidate (especially since they are people I don't know).
And on the other, I think we can get into a weird version of purity culture where they don't get to be people anymore. And this is hard, because I, personally, deeply, in my bones, do not think it's too much to ask to not elect/appointment people with a history of sexual assault and harassment to the Presidency, head the Department of Defense, Supreme Court, etc. But I see, in practice in American politics, that that means that people who play dirty will just make an accusation and say ‘you’re a hypocrite’ or (if you call it out) call it a ‘witch hunt.’ none of which seems to be fixing the culture ltd sexual assault and harassment in our country. 😤🙄
No answers here, but I am thinking about this A LOT right now and how I ‘right size’ my fandom.
We did!