Check out the library's resource guide on Parenting & Poverty.
Maid is an emotionally raw, masterful account of Stephanie's years spent in service to upper middle class America as a "nameless ghost" who quietly shared in her clients' triumphs, tragedies, and deepest secrets. Driven to carve out a better life for her family, she cleaned by day and took online classes by night, writing relentlessly as she worked toward earning a college degree. She wrote of the true stories that weren't being told: of living on food stamps and WIC coupons, of government programs that barely provided housing, of aloof government employees who shamed her for receiving what little assistance she did. Above all else, she wrote about pursuing the myth of the American Dream from the poverty line, all the while slashing through deep-rooted stigmas of the working poor.
Maid is Stephanie's story, but it's not hers alone. It is an inspiring testament to the courage, determination, and ultimate strength of the human spirit.
-Hachette https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/stephanie-land/maid/9780316505109/
Event Slides and Recordings
Dr. Kimberly M. Radek-Hall presents "Making Maid: The Transfer from Memoir to Movie," a Women's History Month presentation in collaboration with One Book, One College.
One Book, One College presents the Single Parent Panel, March 1, 2023. Facilitator Tina Hardy from IVCC's Center for Accessibility and Neureodiversity (CAN) leads a discussion with 3 IVCC students/single parents: Kristina McConnaughhay, Lynn Keyt, & November Rhodes.
Dr. Kimberly Radek-Hall facilitates a discussion of Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother's Will to Survive by Stephanie Land with the Zonta La Salle-Peru Area Club. Discussion recorded on 2/28/23.
Discussion of Part 1 of Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother's Will to Survive by Stephanie Land facilitated by Heather Steele of Safe Journeys.
“My daughter learned to walk in a homeless shelter.”
At 28, Stephanie Land’s dreams of attending a university and becoming a writer quickly dissolved when a summer fling turned into an unplanned pregnancy. Before long, she finds herself a single mother, scraping by as a housekeeper to make ends meet. Maid is an emotionally raw, masterful account of Stephanie’s years spent in service to upper-middle-class America. “I’d become a nameless ghost,” she writes about her relationship with her clients—and yet as she learns more about their lives—their triumphs, tragedies and deepest secrets—she begins to find hope in her own path.
Driven to carve out a better life for herself and her daughter, she cleans by day and takes classes online by night, writing relentlessly as she works toward earning a college degree. Piece by piece, her compassionate, unflinching writing gives voice to the “servant” worker, illuminating the untold stories of millions of Americans just like her. She writes of surviving on food stamps and WIC coupons for food. Of government programs that provided her housing, but doubled as halfway houses. Of aloof government employees who called her lucky for receiving assistance when she didn’t feel lucky at all. Above it all, she writes about pursuing the American Dream from the poverty line, all the while slashing through deep-rooted stigmas of the working poor.
As empathetic as it is eye-opening, Maid is Stephanie’s story, but it’s not hers alone. It is an inspiring testament to the courage, determination, and ultimate strength of the human spirit.
-Stepville.com, https://stepville.com/maid/
