Seekers of Meaning 7/12/2024: Elissa Strauss, author of “When You Care,” book about caregiving

Jewish Sacred Aging Podcasts

On this week’s episode of the Seekers of Meaning TV Show and Podcast, Elissa Strauss discusses her new book, When You Care: The Unexpected Magic of Caring for Others.

In this “urgent and necessary book” (Rebecca Traister, New York Times bestselling author), journalist Elissa Strauss explores the powerful role caring for others plays in our individual and communal lives, weaving together research and stories from parents and caregivers with a feminist bent.
Behind our current caregiving crisis, in which a broken system has left parents and caregivers exhausted, sits a fierce addiction to independence. But what would happen if we started to appreciate dependency, and the deep meaning of one person caring for another? If we start to care about care?
With a curiosity and desire to understand more fully one of humanity’s most profound and essential relationships, journalist Elissa Strauss she interrogates our societal obsession with going it alone and poses a challenge to let ourselves be transformed by the act of caregiving. When You Care weaves historical anecdotes and science with conversations with parents and caregivers to the young, old, disabled, ill, and more, revealing a rich array of insights about how care shapes us on the inside and the outside, for the better.
Care is a long-ignored force in our collective and political lives, as well as a deeply philosophical, spiritual, and psychologically potent experience. Moreso, an embrace of care by both women and men will lead to a more gender equitable future and help us reimagine what it means to be productive and live a meaningful life. “A deeply researched—and deeply felt—exploration of the beautiful truth about care: that we find, feed, and know ourselves through our relationships” (Judith Warner, New York Times bestselling author).

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About the Guest

Elissa Strauss

Elissa Strauss has been writing about the politics and culture of parenting and caregiving for over fifteen years. Her work is featured in publications such as the Atlantic, the New York Times, Glamour, ELLE, TheWeek.com, and more. Previously, she contributed to CNN.com and Slate, where her cultural criticism about motherhood was showcased on DoubleX. Her book, When You Care: The Unexpected Magic of Caring for Others, is available from Gallery Books.

In addition to writing, Strauss is involved in curation and cultural programming. She holds the position of associate director of LABA: A Laboratory for Jewish Culture, a global artist incubator program that draws inspiration from ancient Jewish texts to foster new cultural creations and dialogues. She is also the artistic director of the LABA hub in the Bay Area and serves as the senior curator for the 2024 California Jewish Open at the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco.

Strauss resides in Oakland, California, with her husband and their two sons.

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