Exec Director of @econhardship. Author of books like Bootstrapped, Squeezed and Branded. Forget the Horatio Alger Story. Instead try mutual aid.
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Articles by Alissa Quart
The Accidental Activists of Data Center Alley
Activism / October 21, 2026 The Accidental Activists of Data Center Alley These would-be rebels in Northern Virginia joined the fight against data centers mostly to stop the encroachment on their homes and exclusive private communities. Ad Policy Jessica Medeiros staring at the Vantage 2 data center that looms over her neighborhood in Sterling, Virginia. (Joe Cuccio) This story was supported by the journalism nonprofit the Economic Hardship Reporting Project.
Saluting a Matriarch—25 Years After Nickel and Dimed
Comment / September 1, 2026 Saluting a Matriarch—25 Years After Nickel and Dimed Barbara Ehrenreich’s thesis has become even more resonant since the book’s 2001 release. Saluting a Matriarch—25 Years After “Nickel and Dimed” Barbara Ehrenreich’s thesis has become even more resonant since the book’s 2001 release.
College Grads Are Rejecting AI En Masse
‘Tis the season of college commencement—and this year, it’s also the time for booing commencement speakers, who have made AI their go-to topic in the face of vocal student opposition. At the University of Central Florida in May, real estate exec Gloria Caulfield was virally booed for boosting AI as a happy “next industrial revolution” for grads. At Marquette University, Adobe’s Chris Duffey was similarly disdained for an AI-happy pep talk.
Welcome to the Insecurity-Industrial Complex
Culture, Inequality, Living Welcome to the Insecurity-Industrial Complex Co-published by the Economic Hardship Reporting Project and Mother Jones. Affordability is the new buzzword. It’s yapped by politicians and pundits across the spectrum. It’s as popular as a new TikTok dance. And it’s genuinely an important and mobilizing concept. But the truth is, it doesn’t really capture what’s ailing us. What makes this moment unique is insecurity.
Welcome to the Insecurity-Industrial Complex
Affordability is the new buzzword. It’s yapped by politicians and pundits across the spectrum. It’s as popular as a new TikTok dance. And it’s genuinely an important and mobilizing concept. But the truth is, it doesn’t really capture what’s ailing us. What makes this moment unique is insecurity.
For White-Collar Workers, AI Also Stands for “Apocalyptic Insecurity”
For White-Collar Workers, AI Also Stands for “Apocalyptic Insecurity” Co-published by the Economic Hardship Reporting Project and The New Republic. Every day, Jade, 30, logs into her insurance tech job in Raleigh, North Carolina, to optimize systems with AI. She does her work diligently. But she can’t stop the feeling she’s building processes that will one day edge her out of a job. “Half the time it feels like the whole job is just AIs talking to each other, with barely a human involved,” she says.
For White-Collar Workers, AI Also Stands for “Apocalyptic Insecurity”
White-collar workers across the country are grappling with apocalyptic insecurity as AI threatens to replace their jobs, leading to psychological and existential upheaval. The current automation wave is unnerving as workers face job insecurity with no clear solution or timeline, leading to anxiety, depression, burnout, and physical symptoms.
For White-Collar Workers, AI Also Stands for "Apocalyptic Insecurity"
In many ways, this is a story that has been on repeat for over a century. In the early twentieth century, Taylorism-Frederick Taylor's so-called scientific management-recast skilled machinists as extensions of the assembly line. Thinking belonged to the boss; the worker was there to obey. Autonomy and morale withered. Today, this same logic is migrating to office towers. Shortsighted companies roll out AI to surveil and dictate and, at the same time, de-skill and diminish.
Class Struggle, But Weird: The Surreal Politics of This Year’s Oscar Nominees
Class Struggle, But Weird: The Surreal Politics of This Year’s Oscar Nominees Co-published by the Economic Hardship Reporting Project and Mother Jones. When we watch the news now, we often ask ourselves: what disaster movie is this? Is it the one where Americans are shot in their cars and on the street, where manicurists and gardeners are hauled off to torture prisons overseas, and where the commander-in-chief pronounces “affordability” like it’s some weird German word.
Class Struggle, But Weird: The Surreal Politics of This Year’s Oscar Nominees
This article was produced in collaboration with the Economic Hardship Reporting Project, which supports independent journalists as they forward fresh narratives about inequality. Subscribe to follow EHRP’s award-winning journalism, co-published with mainstream media outlets. When we watch the news now, we often ask ourselves: what disaster movie is this?
11 Books That Confront and Interrogate the Violence of a Class Society
11 Books That Confront and Interrogate the Violence of a Class Society Co-published by the Economic Hardship Reporting Project, LitHub, and Bookshop.org. I helped create and run the media non-profit Economic Hardship Reporting Project, which the late great Barbara Ehrenreich founded. In a time of journalism lay-offs, newsroom shut downs and right-wing-media takeovers, we support heavily reported and fearless nonfiction, including books.
When Reality Felt Broken, I Turned to Tarot Cards
When Reality Felt Broken, I Turned to Tarot Cards This essay was originally published in WBUR’s ideas and opinion section, Cognoscenti. This past summer, I wound up in a Tarot reader’s tent at a seaside town fair. She asked me to shuffle her deck, and then she spread the cards out in a semi-circle. I closed my eyes and, as instructed, let my hands float, landing on the cards that beckoned to me. I was drawn to this, my first professional Tarot reading because my life felt topsy-turvy.
EHRP Poetry in Current Affairs: Going Horizontal & City-Zen
Culture, Inequality, Living EHRP Poetry in Current Affairs: Going Horizontal & City-Zen Co-published by the Economic Hardship Reporting Project and Current Affairs. Going Horizontal Alissa Quart The horizon loomed on the horizon.
Zohran Mamdani Understands the Precarity of Middle Class American Life
Cities, Culture, Inequality, Living Zohran Mamdani Understands the Precarity of Middle Class American Life Co-published by the Economic Hardship Reporting Project and Literary Hub. “We will replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism,” the newly elected Mayor of New York Zohran Mamdani said, in his invigorating inauguration speech yesterday, that praised ordinary New Yorkers.
I’m part of the triple-decker sandwich generation. You probably are as well
I’m part of the triple-decker sandwich generation. You probably are as well Co-published by the Economic Hardship Reporting Project and The Guardian. It was a crisp autumn day, but I had been trapped inside for hours, breathing the cold air of one of Memorial Sloan Kettering’s cancer centers with my mom. We were waiting for her latest infusion to finish dripping. Time in hospitals moves differently – minutes stretch and lose their meaning. Meanwhile, my daughter kept calling.
When reality felt broken, I turned to Tarot cards
This past summer, I wound up in a Tarot reader’s tent at a seaside town fair. She asked me to shuffle her deck, and then she spread the cards out in a semi-circle. I closed my eyes and, as instructed, let my hands float, landing on the cards that beckoned to me. I was drawn to this, my first professional Tarot reading because my life felt topsy-turvy. My mother had just received a hard health diagnosis and President Trump 2.0’s America meant non-stop political crises.
Alissa Quart: “Pearly Everlasting”
Alissa Quart after James Schuyler’s “The Bluet” “Don’t pick the apples” reads the sign, tempting like this island’s algaeic beaches, elegiac ponds. Pearly everlasting flowers under the black sky. Ovoid red leaves descend on us, berries poisonous, as on an outdoors reality show. They call this “survivorship,” even in an Eden that’s shades of medieval tapestries. Seasonality a luxury good in a country that’s a chaotic centrifuge, woods around me the yellow of Grey Poupon.
Zohran Mamdani Understands the Precarity of Middle Class American Life
“We will replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism,” the newly elected Mayor of New York Zohran Mamdani said, in his invigorating inauguration speech yesterday, that praised ordinary New Yorkers. Mamdani’s speech, like his wildly successful campaign, recognized both New York’s working class and that ever-growing group of voters that so often goes unacknowledged in political rhetoric: the precarious middle class.
I’m part of the triple-decker sandwich generation. You probably are as well
It was a crisp autumn day day, but I had been trapped inside for hours, breathing the cold air of one of Memorial Sloan Kettering’s cancer centers with my mom. We were waiting for her latest infusion to finish dripping. Time in hospitals moves differently – minutes stretch and lose their meaning. Meanwhile, my daughter kept calling. Would I be able to go to her school volleyball game? After a few calls, I had to break it to her: the answer was no.
Class Not Dismissed: Mamdani, Nonprofits, and the Fight for Economic Justice
Cities, Culture, Inequality, Living Class Not Dismissed: Mamdani, Nonprofits, and the Fight for Economic Justice Co-published by Economic Hardship Reporting Project and Nonprofit Quarterly. Tariffs, a diminished dollar, the defunding of PBS and NPR, massive federal job cuts, ongoing tech layoffs, and the so-called big beautiful bill have all conspired to redistribute wealth upward. One need only look at the aptly named site WARNTracker to see what has been unleashed.
What Labor Day Sales Say About the American Dream
What Labor Day Sales Say About the American Dream Co-published by Economic Hardship Reporting Project and TIME. As this year’s Labor Day approaches, I remember my late grandmother. She worked her whole life in her and my grandfather’s small shoe store in the Bronx. Her relationship to her work—and Labor Day sales—reflect an America that today is under threat. My grandmother fled Europe in the early tremors of the Holocaust, ultimately losing some of their siblings and their parents.
What Labor Day Sales Say About the American Dream Original
As this year’s Labor Day approaches, I remember my late grandmother. She worked her whole life in her and my grandfather’s small shoe store in the Bronx. Her relationship to her work—and Labor Day sales—reflect an America that today is under threat. My grandmother fled Europe in the early tremors of the Holocaust, ultimately losing some of their siblings and their parents.
Class Not Dismissed: Mamdani, Nonprofits, and the Fight for Economic Justice
Tariffs, a diminished dollar, the defunding of PBS and NPR, massive federal job cuts, ongoing tech layoffs, and the so-called big beautiful bill have all conspired to redistribute wealth upward. One need only look at the aptly named site WARNTracker to see what has been unleashed. The economic and cultural shocks keep on coming. Yet amid these dismal shifts, there is a bright spot—a new interest in what I call precariat power. What’s that?
I Don’t Identify With My Country’s Values Anymore. Is This ‘Citizenship Insecurity’?
Culture, Inequality, Living I Don’t Identify With My Country’s Values Anymore. Is This ‘Citizenship Insecurity’? Co-published by Economic Hardship Reporting Project and The Guardian. It starts with a quiz from a law firm: did your grandparents leave before or after 1951? Do you have their passports or marriage certificate? If I answer correctly, I will get another email from a lawyer who specializes in citizenship claims. If I do not, my file may be quietly marked as a long shot.
I don’t identify with my country’s values anymore. Is this ‘citizenship insecurity’?
It starts with a quiz from a law firm: did your grandparents leave before or after 1951? Do you have their passports or marriage certificate? If I answer correctly, I will get another email from a lawyer who specializes in citizenship claims. If I do not, my file may be quietly marked as a long shot. The stakes are high: if successful, I could ultimately obtain an EU citizenship for myself and then perhaps for other members of my family.
Opinion | Selling the 400 Paintings My Mother Made
You have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load. My Mother, the Artist, Discovered at 90 July 22, 2025, 5:02 a.m. ET Credit...Photographs by Naila Ruechel for The New York Times Ms. Quart’s most recent book is “Bootstrapped: Liberating Ourselves From the American Dream.” In the past month, I have been selling and giving away paintings. They are not the work of a famous artist or even my own output.
Culture, Inequality, Living Why Donald Trump and JD Vance Can’t Stop Talking About Dolls Co-published by Economic Hardship Reporting Project and Literary Hub. Last week, President Donald Trump went on a seemingly bizarre campaign against dolls. In his May 4 interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press,” he commented that “a beautiful baby girl” should have fewer toys.
Why Donald Trump and JD Vance Can’t Stop Talking About Dolls
Last week, President Donald Trump went on a seemingly bizarre campaign against dolls. In his May 4 interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press,” he commented that “a beautiful baby girl” should have fewer toys. After all, he opined, she “can have three dolls or four dolls because what we were doing with China was just unbelievable.” JD Vance continued the doltish doll discourse.
'Barberry And Saffron': Bakery startup bringing a taste of Iran to Brooklyn - Benton County Enterprise
At the Crown Heights, New York, Whoopsie Daisy bar in Brooklyn, on a sunny fall afternoon, patrons drank natural wines while their children ran around the outdoor garden. Little dogs peeped out from under tables or the tops of backpacks. Modish twentysomethings took turns playing music on their cellphones. While the location was a bar, the snacks on offer were not nachos or day-old pretzels. Patrons feasted on exquisite vegan cardamon rose baklava and saffron ice-cream sandwiches.
'Barberry And Saffron': Bakery startup bringing a taste of Iran to Brooklyn
Economic Hardship Reporting Project and The Guardian profile an Iranian-influenced pastry startup founded by a culinary entrepreneur who wants to share her Iranian culture and the region's tastes and pleasures in the U.S. Originally published on economichardship.org, part of the BLOX Digital Content Exchange.
'Barberry And Saffron': Bakery startup bringing a taste of Iran to Brooklyn Original
Pixel-Shot // Shutterstock At the Crown Heights, New York, Whoopsie Daisy bar in Brooklyn, on a sunny fall afternoon, patrons drank natural wines while their children ran around the outdoor garden. Little dogs peeped out from under tables or the tops of backpacks. Modish twentysomethings took turns playing music on their cellphones. While the location was a bar, the snacks on offer were not nachos or day-old pretzels.
'Barberry And Saffron': Bakery startup bringing a taste of Iran to Brooklyn
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'Barberry And Saffron': Bakery startup bringing a taste of Iran to Brooklyn
Economic Hardship Reporting Project and The Guardian profile an Iranian-influenced pastry startup founded by a culinary entrepreneur who wants to share her Iranian culture and the region's tastes and pleasures in the U.S. Originally published on economichardship.org, part of the BLOX Digital Content Exchange.
'Barberry And Saffron': Bakery startup bringing a taste of Iran to Brooklyn
Economic Hardship Reporting Project and The Guardian profile an Iranian-influenced pastry startup founded by a culinary entrepreneur who wants to share her Iranian culture and the region's tastes and pleasures in the U.S. Originally published on economichardship.org, part of the BLOX Digital Content Exchange.
Why I’m Replacing Doomscrolling With Poetry
Culture, Inequality, Living Why I’m Replacing Doomscrolling With Poetry Co-published by Economic Hardship Reporting Project and TIME. The American people are living through a moment of seismic uncertainty and social shocks. One day, our president and vice president scream at a world leader in front of television cameras. Another, the administration docks Columbia University of $400 million in federal funding. And all along, Canada has to take seriously the threat of becoming America’s 51st state.
Why I'm Replacing Doomscrolling With Poetry
Credit - Gary Waters—Westend61/Getty Images The American people are living through a moment of seismic uncertainty and social shocks. One day, our president and vice president scream at a world leader in front of television cameras. Another, the administration docks Columbia University of $400 million in federal funding. And all along, Canada has to take seriously the threat of becoming America’s 51st state.
America Needs a Working-Class Media
America Needs a Working-Class Media Co-published by Economic Hardship Reporting Project and Columbia Journalism Review. In the seven years Kaia Sand published Street Roots, an outlet that serves unhoused people in Portland, Oregon, she would often find herself unsettled by how more mainstream publications covered the lives of poorer Americans.
America needs a working-class media - Editor and Publisher
Posted Wednesday, February 19, 2025 9:30 am This story was copublished with and supported by the Economic Hardship Reporting Project, a nonprofit organization that supports journalists. America needs a working-class media. ... What would that media look like? It would be one where economic reporters are embedded in blue-collar communities and neighborhoods rather than financial districts, and source networks built around people with direct experience instead of outside analysts.
America Needs a Working-Class Media
Sign up for The Media Today, CJR’s daily newsletter. This story was copublished with and supported by the Economic Hardship Reporting Project, a nonprofit organization that supports journalists. In the seven years Kaia Sand published Street Roots, an outlet that serves unhoused people in Portland, Oregon, she would often find herself unsettled by how more mainstream publications covered the lives of poorer Americans.
How Insecurity Became the New Inequality
How Insecurity Became the New Inequality Co-published by Economic Hardship Reporting Project and TIME. In a mere week, Trump’s second presidential term has already been accompanied by a cascade of startling and unnerving political and natural events: from the U.S. leaving the World Health Organization and the Paris Climate Accords, to the nighttime firings of inspectors general to the pardons of the Jan.
How Insecurity Became the New Inequality Original
Ideas By Alissa Quart January 30, 2025 7:00 AM EST Quart is the author of five acclaimed books of nonfiction including Bootstrapped: Liberating Ourselves from the American Dream, the paperback of which is out on April 9, 2024.
How Insecurity Became the New Inequality
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