In this episode, Sarah and Miranda Rake kick things off with some Mariah Carey karaoke and a rundown of their favorite “laundry folding films.” Then journalist Courtney Martin joins to talk about the messy, tender, and often overwhelming realities of caring for aging parents while raising kids—the ultimate sandwich generation hustle. Courtney shares what it’s been like to relocate her whole family, the heartbreak and beauty of moving her dad into memory care, and how communal living and worker-owned elder care centers have shaped her journey. Grab a mug of tea, add another bag (Sarah’s jam), and settle in for a conversation that’s equal parts comfort and reality check.
Other Links:
Learning in Public: Lessons for a Racially Divided America from My Daughter’s School by Courtney Martin
What Our Intergenerational Household Taught All of Us About Care (Greater Good Science Center)
Opinion: Whoever needs to hear this: It’s OK to put your loved one with dementia in residential care (SF Chronicle)
On Vanishing: Mortality, Dementia, and What It Means to Disappear by Lynn Castiel Harper
Creative Care: A Revolutionary Approach to Dementia and Elder Care by Anne Basting
Travelers to Unimaginable Lands: Dementia, Caregiving, and the Hidden Humanity of Memory by Dasha Kiper
the examined family (Courtney’s Substack)
Mother of It All Bookshop (Bookshop.org)
Caring Across Generations (Ai-jen Poo)
Doulagivers Elder Care Doula Directory (Doulagivers: Find a Doula)
Holiday Movies We Love (Or Don’t)
White Christmas
Christmas in Connecticut
Desk Set
A Very Murray Christmas (Netflix)
Freakier Friday
Sarah’s Letterboxd
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