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Maria Cadenas Focuses on Love
From Chilaquiles to Community Development Maria Cadenas Focuses on Love by suki wessling Welcome back to our monthly feature of moms who have faced the task of pandemic parenting while also continuing their work in our community. Research has shown that women have suffered greater economic and personal fallout from the pandemic, losing jobs or having to work while also caring for children. Maria Cadenas’s 12-year-old daughter is “not a morning person,” so that’s Maria’s prime time for work. And work she does: On top of her primary job as Executive Director of Santa Cruz Community Ventures, Maria has run for office for Santa Cruz City Council and State Senate.…
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Jasmine Alinder
Jasmine Alinder Dean of Humanities, UCSC BY suki wessling This monthly series from Growing Up will highlight some of the moms in our community who are out there making things happen while also caring for kids at home. We’ll feature teachers, healthcare workers, business owners, coaches, and more. If you know of a mom who has made a difference, please email [email protected]. This month’s mom, Jasmine Alinder, is a mid-pandemic transplant to Santa Cruz just before the start of the school year. A dean who can’t get to know her faculty is also a mom who had to uproot her children in the strangest year of their lives. Thank you,…
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February Mom
by suki wessling Suki Wessling is a local writer and the mother of two adult children. You can read more at SukiWessling.com Welcome to a New Monthly Feature! Every study of gender roles in life-as-normal illustrates what most families know to be true: When it comes to childrearing, moms tend to do the bulk of the work. Moms spend more time driving children, miss more work because of children, and do the bulk of the housework, even when they are the primary breadwinner. What happens when you put a pandemic on top of what was already an inequitable situation? For a lot of moms, Covid has meant crisis. Lacking childcare,…
