Half of Washington students qualify for lunch aid
Why it matters: Teachers nationwide are increasingly worried about childhood hunger, with three-quarters reporting students come to school hungry, according to a survey of 1,000 K-12 public school teachers in the U.S.
Zoom out: Nearly 8 in 10 (78%) of teachers said they were concerned about food insecurity in the communities where they teach, per the survey.
The big picture: Proposed cuts to the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program food assistance program, serving more than 41 million Americans, and federal funding cuts to free school meals could increase hunger, experts say.
What they're saying:"SNAP is one of the most effective tools we have as a nation to address childhood hunger," Sarah Steely, director of No Kid Hungry Virginia, told Axios.
"It provides families with that extra help to put food on the table so that kids can have access to consistent nutrition all year round, especially filling the void during school breaks."
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A few years ago, my mom and I had a blowout fight. I can't recall what sparked the argument, but what I do remember is lying on the bathroom floor and sobbing as I scanned my texts for someone to reach out to who could keep me distracted from all the sadness. In my phone were the names of dozens of girls I met during my time at college, when I was rotating through late-night clubbing, brunches, and concerts in an attempt to get closer to people I hoped would one day be bridesmaids at my wedding. But truthfully? These friendships were superficial—nothing like what I watched and coveted in the TV show Girls. I couldn't rely on them during a panic attack. And if you can't call a friend at 10 p.m. on a weekday when the snot coming out of your nose has made you unintelligible, are they even a friend? I am a successful 21-year-old who is a published journalist and works a good, degree-aligned job. I live happily in New York City. I work out, love nature, and have a great boyfriend. The only thing missing? Friends. I lack them, and although this feels almost radical to confess these days, I know for a fact I'm not alone in it. Today, lonely women like me abound, and the data backs this up. About 1 in 6 Americans say they feel lonely or isolated from those around them all or most of the time, according to the Pew Research Center. The Campaign to End Loneliness goes one step further, finding that people under 30 are the loneliest age group and that women are significantly more likely to be chronically lonely than men. I have often dreaded the end of the workday when I'd find myself faced with the prospect of an evening spent alone. However, judging by recent media coverage, you'd be forgiven for thinking that loneliness is almost exclusively experienced by young men. Whether it's through stories of perpetually online Joe Rogan–devoted incels lashing out in anger over their own inadequacies or average guys who lack the tools needed to deal with their feelings, the message around loneliness is that it's affecting men at alarming rates—and we should all be concerned, especially when social isolation leads to violence and extremism in men. 'The epidemic of loneliness is hitting men hardest,' a Los Angeles Times op-ed from last year posits. 'Is the Cure to Male Loneliness Out on the Pickleball Court?' asks the New York Times. 'Are men okay?' wonders Vox. Earlier this week, the conversation on male loneliness was reinvigorated thanks to a New York Times article on 'mankeeping.' According to the Times, this is 'the work women do to meet the social and emotional needs of the men in their lives, from supporting their partners through daily challenges and inner turmoil to encouraging them to meet up with their friends.' Not only are women alarmed that the men in our lives are friendless, but it appears we feel responsible for helping them feel less alone. In pointing to a real problem, this media coverage glosses over another issue. Women's struggles with loneliness can be just as if not more severe than men's, but female isolation is rarely the topic of think pieces or trend stories. Are women okay? Some of us aren't, but when we're not occupied with 'mankeeping,' it's up to us to mitigate our own social anxiety. 'Women take on an especially high level of pressure and urgency to feel a deep connective tissue in a friendship,' Alyssa Petersel, LMSW, CEO of the therapist-match platform MyWellbeing, tells me in an interview. 'Women tend to view loneliness as a personal failure, but men, broadly speaking, are more likely to externalize the feeling (what's wrong with other people?) or not recognize it at all.' And while, according to Petersel, men may feel like 'their cup is full' after bonding with friends over concrete activities like watching sports, for women it's all about quality versus quantity. Even with a high weekly volume of lunch dates or Pilates meetups, we don't feel truly satisfied until our standard for a friendship's depth is met. 'Female loneliness is often existential: I know a lot of people, but who really knows me?' echoes Los Angeles–based clinical psychologist Dr. Lauren Kerwin. That's not to say men can't feel a mismatch between the friendships they have and the friendships they want to have, but the experts I talked to say men are less likely to blame themselves for it. 'There's a persistent cultural script that women should be naturally good at friendship. Lonely men may be socially accepted, even expected, but lonely women often carry shame,' says Kerwin. This pervasive loneliness has deep roots in art and culture. Reclusive and brilliant writers like Emily Dickinson or Emily Brontë described their own isolation at a time when women often couldn't work outside the home, gain a university education, or own property. Instead of going out to a tavern with a friend (unheard of) or bonding with coworkers, most of us could be found taking care of (ahem, 'mankeeping'?) our husbands by tending to their meals, trousers, and mood swings. In the process, we learned how to hide behind the mask of a seemingly perfect life—the magna cum laude college honors, say, or the beautiful photos on social media—which is one reason female loneliness hasn't seemed like an epidemic. The media, our partners and families, and the broader culture rarely see cause for concern or theorize about how to enhance our lackluster social lives. And so we are left to forge ahead on our own. 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