Keating Zelenke

May 31, 2024 | indypendent.org | Keating Zelenke

I started writing for The Indypendent because I found out the paper was mostly staffed by volunteers and figured they couldn’t afford to reject me. Despite my bachelor’s degree in journalism, I felt like I left college empty-handed — in fact, so convinced was I of my own deficits that I hardly bothered applying to jobs in journalism after graduation.

Apr 4, 2024 | theindypendent.substack.com | Amba Guerguerian |Ariana Orozco |Keating Zelenke |No Tests

Zoomers and millennials want to turn low-wage retail and service-sector jobs into stable, good-paying union jobs. And they are steadily winning union victories once thought impossible. This labor-organizing surge was ignited by the pandemic when many low-wage workers were suddenly hailed as “essential workers” but saw no improvement in their pay while enduring heightened dangers and stress on the job. And it hasn’t let up.

Mar 25, 2024 | indypendent.org | Keating Zelenke

During free time after algebra class, a group of boys at Brooklyn Free School crowd around a table in their classroom. They’re all between the ages of 7 and 12, and form the school’s middle cohort. In front of them on the table, there’s a plastic arena for battling Beyblades, little toy tops that crash into each other when you spin them. Just a few weeks earlier, these toys were at the center of a debate at the school.

Feb 14, 2024 | indypendent.org | Keating Zelenke

In the center of Laura Kaplan’s living-room floor, 10-year-old Zoe draws with colored pencils while her younger brother, 8-year-old Hector, drives toy cars around an imaginary track on the hardwood. Occasionally, Hector pops up and finds the lap of his mother, Elba, who is sitting on the couch against the wall. The children’s father, Allan, watches on from a chair across the room — which is only four or five feet away considering how compact the space is.

Dec 28, 2023 | commondreams.org | Keating Zelenke

The latter half of this year brought us the first GOP debates of the 2024 election cycle. From August to December, the Republican candidates—save for frontrunner former President Donald Trump, who has refused to participate—faced off in four debates sponsored by the Republican National Committee. Trump’s absence from all of the Republican primary debates has marginalized them in terms of their ostensible purpose of helping GOP voters choose a candidate.