Quotes from Stephanie Land

I expect to work for as long as I can. I can't imagine retirement.

It shouldn't take a pandemic for us to take notice that millions of people can't afford a single sick day.

I worked part-time cleaning houses, and went to school full-time.

We need leaders who are able to vividly remember how it feels to experience hardship, trauma and pain, who make us feel less alone.

Struggling to take care of my daughter on my own, I needed whatever government assistance I qualified for - a few hundred bucks a month in food stamps, free school lunches, childcare vouchers and coupons for milk and cheese - while I simultaneously worked as a maid, juggling 10 clients between going to class to put myself through college.

I think people are fed up with struggling to make ends meet. It's so easy to find yourself in a position of not being able to pay the bills for most Americans when we're watching the cost of housing and child care and health insurance skyrocket without an increase in wage.

While I'd been in school, I had a nagging thought that it'd be so much easier to quit all this higher education nonsense and get a full-time job at wages low enough to still qualify for government assistance.

I expected college to feel like a major accomplishment. I walked across the stage, eight months pregnant with my almost seven-year-old daughter watching in the audience.

During my last year of college, I maxed out what small available credit I had after declaring bankruptcy in my mid-20s to pay medical bills.

The poor, and especially poor people of color, don't have the luxury of raising 'free-range' children without risking severe consequences. Parents of color don't receive a visit and a warning if their children are found playing alone; they are immediately blamed and far more likely to be arrested or lose custody of their children.

I have had PTSD since I was in a car accident when I was 16.

Keeping the magic alive can be as simple as going to the mall to sit on Santa's lap or reading special stories on Christmas Eve.

I have a lot in common with most Trump supporters. I'm white, I live in a rural area that is predominantly white where many people struggle to find a job.

My day planner is a constant companion as my organizer. And shows me that I am, in fact, getting things done.

Keeping lice out of schools should be a herd immunity type of attitude. Schools should send home brochures with a plastic comb attached in an envelope.

I don't believe life begins at conception.

There is no planning in a life of fighting to keep a roof over your head. It's pure survival.

As a single mother, I qualified for Pell Grants, and received a scholarship from a small organization for domestic violence survivors.

When people think of chronic fatigue syndrome, they imagine someone simply sleeping a lot or who's always tired. The stigma from that name, and the name itself, desperately needs to change. In reality, sleeping doesn't mean rest at all, and it's never enough.

Sometimes you do not see white faces when you think of poverty. That leads to lots of stigmas, systemic racism and all that.

I didn't grow up in systemic poverty.

I go through phases where all I want to eat are mashed potato patties with fried eggs, or pasta with meat sauce.

As a mother living in poverty, I don't expect my parenting choices to be respected by default.

I don't think there is a true cure for PTSD.