HeyJaredLaura Flanders' Substack
Reporting on radical possibilities. Irregular reflections from a persistent believer.
- Indexed issues, last 90 days
- 12
- Latest publication
- Sep 25, 2026
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- Jul 17, 2026
Latest issues
A Conversation on Caregiving this Dolly Parton Day (opens the original)
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A 24-hour workday is so inconceivable that it almost sounds fictitious, but for thousands of home health aides in New York City, this is their reality. These workers — mostly immigrants and women of color — are allowed to be paid for only 13 hours of a 24 hour shift. Sleep is illusory, as is finding other workers to cover their shifts. The latter was the case for Luz Estrella, a homecare worker from the Dominican Republic who worked 24-hour shifts for 12 years. She couldn’t be with her young dau
Two Years After Hurricane Helene (opens the original)
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Two years ago, a hurricane named Helene smashed into the mountains of western North Carolina. The flood waters, wind, and rain of the storm led to the deaths of 200 people and damage estimated at some $78.7 billion. Helene was one of the worst storms ever to hit the United States and a shocking reminder to people accustomed to coastal storms, that no one is safe from climate catastrophes — not city people, or mountain people — no one. And very few of us are ready.Ready or not, some of us have be
These films keep people out of prison (opens the original)
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“Five episodes in one month on cash bail and the criminal legal system is a real commitment . . . ” - LF&F followerIt’s Abolition Month on the Laura Flanders & Friends podcast and we have more episodes coming your way this September. This week, we’re revisiting our 2021 episode on Complete Picture, a project that is reducing prison sentences and keeping people out of prison altogether. Millions of people in the U.S. are in jail for non-violent offenses, such as possession of drugs, parole violat
The Quota of One (opens the original)
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Dolly Parton, Wendell Berry, Cassandra Wilson, Gloria Steinem. The rat-a-tat-tat of death doesn’t stop. My inbox has become a memory mosaic in which diverse remembrances and celebrations mix. While it feels like a lot, it also feels like life. Mosaics are the opposite of obituaries. An obit writer’s job is to inventory an individual’s accomplishments and describe their singular impacts. Obituaries tell hero-stories. A mosaic is more like a playlist. In mine, the sparkling strum of Dolly shuffles
America’s carceral system locks up lots of creativity (opens the original)
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According to a report from the Prison Policy Initiative, U.S. taxpayers and families of system-involved people pay at least $445 billion every year to keep people incarcerated. Which is to say, we in the U.S. spend an astronomical amount of money to lock people up.Meanwhile, conditions for incarcerated people have been getting steadily worse. Take one program — The Prison Rape Elimination Act, or PREA. Created by Congress over two decades ago, the PREA supposedly created a zero tolerance policy
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