In Polite Company

Outlet metrics

Domain Authority

Ranking

Global

N/A

Country

N/A

Articles

My Feature in Elle: Runaway Tradwives

1 week ago | sarahstankorb.substack.com | Sarah Stankorb

I drove around to a few stores before finding a copy of ELLE on the shelves at a local bookstore. When I asked if they’d have more copies shipped in if I bought the two in my hand, the clerk told me, “Nah,” adding newsstands are kind of not a thing anymore. Then, like a proper print journalist, I withered to ash.
I Want My NPR (and PBS)

1 week ago | sarahstankorb.substack.com | Sarah Stankorb

Audio playback is not supported on your browser. Please upgrade. Before I get started with the topic at hand, if you have been alarmed about pronatalist chatter aimed at prompting an “American baby boom,” so am I—especially because some of Donald Trump’s advisors are informed by Christian patriarchy. You can imagine how such a culture works out for women and kids. Read my thoughts this week at DAME Magazine. Some people have childhood memories of Saturday morning cartoons.
Talking Nice to AI

2 weeks ago | sarahstankorb.substack.com | Sarah Stankorb

The New York Times published a story this week noting an exchange that, appropriately, began online. An X user pondered how much money OpenAI has lost in electricity costs due to people saying “please” and “thank you” to the AI. Open AI founder Sam Altman later responded, “Tens of millions of dollars well spent — you never know.”That “you never know” has disturbed me since I read it. I’ve discovered that I am a luddite when it comes to AI.
Democracy in Peril

1 month ago | sarahstankorb.substack.com | Sarah Stankorb |David Pepper

Audio playback is not supported on your browser. Please upgrade. For my upcoming book, I recently interviewed some folks who were part of the Ferguson Uprising in 2014, the period of civil unrest following 18-year-old Michael Brown’s killing by police officer Darren Wilson, whom a grand jury decided not to indict. When Brown was killed, the police left his body in the street for four and a half hours. I’ve had the scene of a warm August day recounted over and over. People were barbequing.
Was Cory Booker’s 25-Hour Marathon Performative?

1 month ago | sarahstankorb.substack.com | Sarah Stankorb

Audio playback is not supported on your browser. Please upgrade. I’m thinking a lot about the power of symbols—people as symbols of a movement, art able to convey deeper truths. If you like the piece below, you might also be interested in my latest, for Newsweek, “We Need New Art—Imagining a Path Beyond Trumpism.”Like many, I’ve been wondering when the hell Democrats in Congress would organize push-back against Donald Trump’s overreach.
Missed the teach-in? Watch here.

1 month ago | sarahstankorb.substack.com | Sarah Stankorb |Angela Denker

A quick thanks: a new annual subscriber unwittingly made this teach-in possible! That contribution went toward a month-long Zoom webinar subscription, allowing us to have this conversation in a focused, accessible way. Thanks for helping support our growing communities. If you missed the teach-in last night, please see the recording above. To those of you who attended, thanks for making the time! Please let me know in the comments if you think it would be valuable for me to host more of these.
Teach-In on Women Voting with Beth Allison Barr

1 month ago | sarahstankorb.substack.com | Sarah Stankorb |Beth Allison Barr

I know many of us are feeling overwhelmed and untethered with the barrage of changes at the federal level. I think knowledge is grounding, so I asked historian to talk to me about women’s suffrage and the SAVE Act—historical women gaining the right to vote and efforts right now to suppress women (and other voters).
Ohio's GOP wrecking higher ed (boo)-and an invitation (yay!)

2 months ago | sarahstankorb.substack.com | Sarah Stankorb |Angela Denker

Let’s start with the good news. In a time of strategic chaos, it’s time we come together and learn. Here’s one way to do that:Join journalists Rev. Angela Denker and Sarah StankorbMarch 20, 7:30 PM eastern, (6:30 PM central) to explore how Christian patriarchy impacts us all, breeding violence at home and within churches. It warps marriage and parenting.
It’s Hard to Fight Greed While Already Down and Out

2 months ago | sarahstankorb.substack.com | Sarah Stankorb

I was an adult with a growing family, in those early years of scraping to make our own bills, when my mother called. A family member had visited my parents. He was doing well now. Sober, he said. He’d found Jesus. My elderly parents listened to him in the living room while his wife excused herself to the bathroom. That’s probably when she stole my mother’s jewelry from her bedroom. My mom didn’t notice the missing jewelry for weeks. She never wore it. “Isn’t it just awful,” my mother said with a sigh.
The Plot to Disenfranchise Women Voters

2 months ago | sarahstankorb.substack.com | Sarah Stankorb |Tia Levings |Cait West

A story of mine published over the weekend and when I caught the headline, I felt a jolt. “The Christian Nationalist Plot to Disenfranchise Women Voters.” Ouch. It felt a bit extreme, a more alarming statement than I’d typically make. Here’s a lesser-known fact: writers often don’t write their own headlines, especially for online-only stories, which this was. It’s a formula that mixes an editor’s tastes and SEO and brevity. Plot, huh? I had to sit and think about that word. Plot.