Meagan Day

Last updated

Meagan Day
Born
San Antonio, Texas, U.S.
Education Oberlin College (BA)
Goldsmiths, University of London (MA)
Employer Jacobin
Organization Democratic Socialists of America

Meagan Day is an American writer, editor, and activist, who is currently an editor at Jacobin , where she was previously a staff writer. The author of Maximum Sunlight (2016) and co-author of Bigger than Bernie (2020), her articles have appeared in numerous publications, including The New York Times and The Guardian . [1] She is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America. [2]

Contents

Early life and education

Day was born and raised in San Antonio, Texas. [3] Day has stated in multiple interviews that she grew up relatively well-off, an experience that she says shaped her eventual political outlook. [4] [5] Day's father is an "owner and operator of businesses spanning the automotive, real estate, charter jet, hospitality and furniture industries." [6]

Day received her bachelor's degree at Oberlin College, graduating in 2012. It was while attending Oberlin College that she became a writer and editor at the literary criticism magazine Full Stop. She received her master's degree from Goldsmiths, University of London in 2013, and in the years following contributed to Full Stop, n+1 and The New Inquiry . It was also at this time that Day began to read the magazine Jacobin, and found an interest in journalism and left-wing politics growing. [3] [7]

Writing

Maximum Sunlight (2016)

In 2016, Day wrote the book Maximum Sunlight which details her experience as she visits Tonopah, Nevada, an isolated, unincorporated town located in the middle of the desert, between Reno and Las Vegas.The creative nonfiction work comprises brief, impressionistic vignettes organized around Day's observations, research, and interviews with local residents. Additionally, the book features photography by Hannah Klein. [8]

Olivia Durif, writing for the LA Review of Books , described Maximum Sunlight as "a long piece of investigative journalism and a short, intimate work of nonfiction". Durif went on to describe Day's writing as "observant and respectful" saying "[Day] never denies her assumptions, but she also doesn't trust them. Her book is propelled by curiosity — about herself as much as others". [9]

Shift toward socialism

In an interview with Columbia Journalism Review, Day said she first encountered Jacobin magazine while living in Turkey during Gezi Park protests where she "start[ed] to see the importance of class division and of class conflict everywhere, and was finding that left-liberal media was insufficient to explaining the world." The magazine began to influence her political viewpoint, but it wasn't until the 2016 presidential run of Bernie Sanders that she joined the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), an experience that she described in Jacobin, The Harvard Political Review, and elsewhere as being formative for her. [7] [10] [11] [4]

Political commentary

In 2017, the year after she joined and became active in DSA, she officially joined Jacobin [5] part-time, [12] and soon became the magazine's first full-time staff writer. [7]

She first received media attention for her writing in Jacobin when she was invited in 2018 to be interviewed on The Michael Brooks Show , which she would later say became the start of a friendship with the host, Michael Brooks. [12] [13] Day began to appear on Michael Brooks's show regularly, along with other podcasts and YouTube shows, to provide left-wing commentary on American politics.

In 2018, Day and Jacobin founder Bhaskar Sunkara were invited to stand in for the New York Times opinion columnist David Leonhardt for one week. This resulted in the publication of five op-eds. The topics included the need for Medicare for All, [14] the importance of labor unions, [15] the need to end cash bail, [16] how to combat the rise of the far right, [17] and the need to overhaul the US constitution. [18] The latter drew criticism from right-wing commentator Rush Limbaugh. [19]

Also in 2018, Day published an article in Vox titled "Democratic socialism, explained by a democratic socialist." [20] The conservative commentator Glenn Beck read from and condemned the article at the 2019 Conservative Political Action Conference. [21]

Day's work was cited in the Trump White House's report on the dangers of the growing American socialist movement. [22]

Day openly supported the nomination of Bernie Sanders during the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primary. [23] In 2020 Jeremy Cliffe, writing in the New Statesman while writing in support of Joe Biden during his general election campaign, used Day's writing to show how the former Vice President was not "exactly the preferred Democratic presidential candidate of progressives in the US" going on to say she "spoke for many on the left". [24]

Bigger than Bernie (2020)

In 2020, along with co-author Micah Uetricht, Day published the book Bigger than Bernie: How We Go from the Sanders Campaign to Democratic Socialism. In an interview with the Washington Post co-author Uetricht said they had written the book to speak to a combination of socialists, people who liked Bernie Sanders but didn't consider themselves 'activists', and those "who want to understand what at least one wing of this newly reborn socialist movement in the United States thinks."

Day also mentioned in that interview that the way they approached the book was to ensure it would be useful no matter how the then-ongoing Democratic Party primary turned out, and so when writing about their ideas had "tried to boil it down to basics". [25] Elsewhere Day has also said that her motivation for writing the book was because "forces were amassing on the left that had great potential, but that there was not really a roadmap for what to do with that potential after the Bernie moment was over." [5]

Rick Perlstein, when talking to The Boston Globe, mentioned the book as one of many "popularly oriented books on socialism" also mentioning The Socialist Manifesto by Bhaskar Sunkara , How to Be an Anticapitalist in the 21st Century by Erik Olin Wright , and The Sinking Middle Class by David Roediger. [26]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bernie Sanders</span> American politician and activist (born 1941)

Bernard Sanders is an American politician and activist who is the senior United States senator from Vermont. Sanders is the longest-serving independent in U.S. congressional history, but maintains a close relationship with the Democratic Party, having caucused with House and Senate Democrats for most of his congressional career and sought the party's presidential nomination in 2016 and 2020.

Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist and democratic approach towards achieving socialism. In modern practice, social democracy has taken the form of predominantly capitalist economies, with the state regulating the economy in the form of welfare capitalism, economic interventionism, partial public ownership, a robust welfare state, policies promoting social equality, and a more equitable distribution of income.

<i>Jacobin</i> (magazine) American socialist magazine

Jacobin is an American socialist magazine based in New York. As of 2023, the magazine reported a paid print circulation of 75,000 and over 3 million monthly visitors.

Democratic socialism is a left-wing set of political philosophies that supports political democracy and some form of a socially owned economy, with a particular emphasis on economic democracy, workplace democracy, and workers' self-management within a market socialist, decentralised planned, or democratic centrally planned socialist economy. Democratic socialists argue that capitalism is inherently incompatible with the values of freedom, equality, and solidarity and that these ideals can only be achieved through the realisation of a socialist society. Although most democratic socialists seek a gradual transition to socialism, democratic socialism can support revolutionary or reformist politics to establish socialism. Democratic socialism was popularised by socialists who opposed the backsliding towards a one-party state in the Soviet Union and other nations during the 20th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Democratic Socialists of America</span> American political organization

The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) is a big tent, democratic socialist political organization in the United States. After the Socialist Party of America (SPA) transformed into Social Democrats, USA, Michael Harrington formed the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee (DSOC). The DSOC later merged with the New American Movement (NAM) to form the DSA. The organization is headquartered in New York City and has about 80,000 members. It leads organizing and protest campaigns, and has members in the House of Representatives, state legislatures, and other local offices.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bhaskar Sunkara</span> American writer

Bhaskar Sunkara is an American political writer. He is the founding editor of Jacobin, the president of The Nation, and publisher of Catalyst: A Journal of Theory and Strategy and London's Tribune. He is a former vice-chair of the Democratic Socialists of America and the author of The Socialist Manifesto: The Case for Radical Politics in an Era of Extreme Inequality as well as a columnist for The Guardian US.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carlos Ramirez-Rosa</span> American politician

Carlos Ramirez-Rosa is an American politician. He has served as the Alderperson for Chicago's 35th Ward since May 18, 2015. He was first elected to the Council in 2015, become one of the chamber's youngest members ever elected at age 26. He was re-elected in 2019 and 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kyle Kulinski</span> American political commentator (born 1988)

Kyle Edward Kulinski is an American political commentator and media host. Kulinski is the host and producer of The Kyle Kulinski Show on his YouTube channel Secular Talk and is a co-host with his wife Krystal Ball on the progressive podcast Krystal Kyle & Friends.

Matthew Bruenig is an American lawyer, blogger, policy analyst, commentator, and founder of the left-leaning think tank People's Policy Project. He was a blogger for the American think tank Demos covering politics and public policy and has written on issues including income distribution, taxation, welfare, elections, the Nordic model, and funds socialism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lee J. Carter</span> American politician (born 1987)

Lee Jin Carter is an American former politician who represented the 50th district in the Virginia House of Delegates from 2018 to 2022. A member of the Democratic Party, he defeated Jackson Miller, the Republican House Majority Whip, to win the seat. Born in North Carolina, Carter is an IT specialist and a former U.S. Marine. The first openly communist state delegate in the United States since 1929, Carter served on the Finance Committee and the Militia, Police and Public Safety Committee. In 2017, he was endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), of which he was then a member.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Julia Salazar</span> American politician

Julia Salazar is an American politician and activist. She is the New York State Senator for the 18th district, which covers much of northern Brooklyn, centered on Bushwick. She won the seat as a first-time candidate after unseating incumbent Senator Martin Malave Dilan in the Democratic Party primary in 2018. She attracted national media attention for her support for sex workers' rights and other views. A member of the Democratic Socialists of America, she became the first member of the organization to serve in New York's state legislature.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SEARCH Foundation</span>

The SEARCH Foundation is a left-wing, membership-based Australian not-for-profit organisation, with a number of high-profile members linked to the left of the Australian labour movement. SEARCH is an acronym for "Social Education, Action and Research Concerning Humanity".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Brooks (political commentator)</span> American talk show host (1983–2020)

Michael Jamal Brooks was an American talk show host, writer, left-wing political commentator, and comedian. While co-hosting The Majority Report with Sam Seder, he launched The Michael Brooks Show in August 2017 and provided commentary for media outlets, making regular appearances on shows such as The Young Turks. Brooks contributed to various publications, including HuffPost, The Washington Post, Al Jazeera, openDemocracy, and Jacobin. His book Against the Web: A Cosmopolitan Answer to the New Right was published by Zero Books in April 2020.

Hadas Thier is an American writer, journalist, and activist based in Brooklyn, New York. She has written articles for Jacobin, In These Times, Teen Vogue, Dollars & Sense, and The Nation, delivering information and analysis on issues such as economics, American politics, and the Middle East. She is the author of A People's Guide to Capitalism: An Introduction to Marxist Economics (2020). She is also a member of the Democratic Socialists of America.

Matthew Karp is an Associate Professor of History at Princeton University since 2013 and was an Elias Boudinot Bicentennial Preceptor from 2016 to 2019. Karp was also an instructor at the University of Pennsylvania from 2011 to 2012 and a Teaching Fellow at Rowan University from 2011 to 2012. Karp is a contributing editor for American socialist magazine Jacobin; his work has also appeared in American progressive magazine The Nation, The Boston Review, and The London Review of Books.

References

  1. ↑ "meagan day". Meagan Day. Retrieved November 5, 2020.
  2. ↑ "Bigger Than Bernie". Verso. Retrieved October 27, 2022.
  3. 1 2 Jones, Mother (December 29, 2016). "When Powerful Players Clash, We Need the Free Press More Than Ever". Medium. Retrieved November 5, 2020.
  4. 1 2 Winters, Joseph (March 2, 2020). "The Future of Left Politics: An Interview with Meagan Day". Harvard Political Review. Retrieved November 5, 2020.
  5. 1 2 3 Scheer, Robert; Day, Meagan (June 29, 2020). "For Many Young People, Socialism Is as American as Apple Pie". CityWatch Los Angeles. Retrieved November 5, 2020.
  6. ↑ "American Freight Awards Largest Deal Of Franchise Program To Date". Franchising.com. Retrieved October 27, 2022.
  7. 1 2 3 Baird, Robert P. (January 2, 2019). "The ABCs of Jacobin". Columbia Journalism Review . Retrieved November 5, 2020.
  8. ↑ Valley, Rebecca (March 23, 2018). "STICKS: Maximum Sunlight by Meagan Day". drizzle review. Retrieved November 5, 2020.
  9. ↑ Durif, Olivia (August 18, 2017). "The Last Bastion of Free America?: Meagan Day's "Maximum Sunlight"". Los Angeles Review of Books. Retrieved November 5, 2020.
  10. ↑ "Ten Jacobin Articles That Shaped My Thinking". jacobinmag.com. Retrieved November 5, 2020.
  11. ↑ "Why You Should Join a Socialist Organization". jacobinmag.com. Retrieved November 5, 2020.
  12. 1 2 "I Owe a Lot to Michael Brooks". jacobinmag.com. Retrieved November 5, 2020.
  13. ↑ Brooks, Michael (March 20, 2018). "TMBS – 32 – 15 Years Of Iraq & Peterson's Ongoing Meltdown ft. Meghan Day & Matt Binder". YouTube.
  14. ↑ Day, Meagan; Sunkara, Bhaskar (August 10, 2018). "Why America Needs Medicare for All". The New York Times. Retrieved October 27, 2022.
  15. ↑ Day, Meagan; Sunkara, Bhaskar (August 8, 2018). "Why You Should Care About Unions". The New York Times. Retrieved October 27, 2022.
  16. ↑ Day, Meagan; Sunkara, Bhaskar (August 6, 2018). "'Modern Day Debtors' Prisons'". The New York Times. Retrieved October 27, 2022.
  17. ↑ Day, Meagan; Sunkara, Bhaskar (August 7, 2018). "Fighting Bannonism at Home and Abroad". The New York Times. Retrieved October 27, 2022.
  18. ↑ Day, Meagan; Sunkara, Bhaskar (August 9, 2018). "Think the Constitution Will Save Us? Think Again". The New York Times. Retrieved October 27, 2022.
  19. ↑ "Evidence of the Left's March Toward Ending Elections". RushLimbaugh.com. Retrieved October 27, 2022.
  20. ↑ "Democratic socialism, explained by a democratic socialist". Vox. August 2018. Retrieved October 27, 2022.
  21. ↑ Uetricht, Micah [@micahuetricht] (March 19, 2019). "thinking about how Glenn Beck read from an essay by @jacobinmag's Meagan Day about democratic socialism for like two mins at CPAC a couple weeks ago https://youtube.com/watch?v=353epG-0ZTI" (Tweet). Retrieved October 27, 2022– via Twitter.
  22. ↑ "The Opportunity Costs of Socialism" (PDF). Council of Economic Advisors. Retrieved October 27, 2022.
  23. ↑ Arrieta-Kenna, Ruairí (December 8, 2019). "How the Cool Kids of the Left Turned on Elizabeth Warren". POLITICO. Retrieved November 6, 2020.
  24. ↑ Cliffe, Jeremy (October 28, 2020). "The best reason to root for Joe Biden and celebrate if he wins? Climate change". www.newstatesman.com. Retrieved November 6, 2020.
  25. ↑ Weigel, David. "Analysis | The Trailer: Is the president on protesters' side? They're on his". Washington Post. ISSN   0190-8286 . Retrieved November 6, 2020.
  26. ↑ Sutherland, Amy. "Rick Perlstein on reading, rereading, and writing history". Boston Globe . Retrieved November 6, 2020.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.