HeyJaredBlack Sheep Mom
Confessions from the mother of an American inmate— Part Memoir. Part Movement.
- Indexed issues, last 90 days
- 6
- Latest publication
- Sep 18, 2026
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- Jul 10, 2026
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The One Question I Could Not Answer (opens the original)
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I have often contemplated where I really fit in the world. For the past four weeks, I have been positioned as a ‘Bestseller’ writer in the Substack Parenting Category—reaching No. 2 in the world and holding that spot for nearly a week. We have subsequently been at #22, #64, #85, and a whole bunch of other random, inexplicable, rather pointless rankings. And while this could be harnessed as some definition of writerly “success,” I have no desire. This is just my life. And honestly, it feels disin
A Parent Helpline (opens the original)
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It is hard to know what to write after receiving 20k+ responses on something you just wrote.I admit, I’m a bit paralyzed. Announcing that my son had returned to rehab might have been met with a bunch of disappointment, and I had braced myself for some negativity (and maybe silence) from the people who had just watched and supported his return home from prison. I would have understood. Relapses only look good when we
Confession #23: Things are not going well (opens the original)
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Authors Note: This letter contains thoughts about death. Please take care in reading.I have imagined him dead one-hundred times, in one-hundred different poses. I’ve seen him splayed out, lifeless on the bathroom floor. I have envisioned his lips blue on the couch, him curled into one final fetal position on his bed.I have found his body hanging from the underside of the deck, hanging in my garage, my barn, my basement. He has been dead out in the yard, frozen to the ground; sitting upright with
Only One Candidate Responded to Little Me (opens the original)
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Author’s Note: The guide below is based on hours of pouring over direct candidate responses, public records, interviews, legislative history, campaign platforms, and verified reporting. The decision, however, was an easy one. When I began this piece, the entire state of Michigan was covered in a grey, smoky haze. The sun was red in the midday sky. Sure, we blamed Canada, but it doesn’t help that we have been living in a political dumpster fire here for decades.For the past seven years, we have h
A Self-Imposed Isolation (opens the original)
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For the next ten days, I will be in the wilds of Michigan's Upper Peninsula where, every year, I take a trip to get my head and heart back from the treachery of modern life. By the time you read this, I will have crossed the Mighty Mac and service on my phone will have gone spotty until, moving further north, will have completely dropped off into oblivion—back to the sensibilities of 1800s, old mining towns, and (gasp!) no Starbucks nor Walgreens nor Big Box stores for hundreds of miles. I am so
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