The shape of things to come
My (finally settled) plans for this Substack, plus: Happy New Year!
After a couple months of dithering about what to do with this Substack now that Untrustworthy is out in the world (buy, review, request at your library … you know the drill), I’ve settled on a plan.
From here on out—or at least until I have another book contract and a new research process to share with you, the timing of which is TBD and depends a lot on how well Untrustworthy sells—here’s what you can expect:
Updates weekly, typically on Wednesday morning
Five items per post:
A brief take I haven’t written elsewhere
What I’m reading this week (maybe a book, maybe an article)
Something I recommend (a recipe, show, Substack, whatever)
A roundup of my recent work
Miscellaneous item of my choice
Given this greater time commitment, I’m turning on paid subscriptions and will paywall every other post. As I’ve previously only emailed about twice per month, if you decide to stick with the free subscription, you’ll receive just as many free emails as you always did. But, if you like my work, are willing to support it directly, and would like to get all the emails, please subscribe!
I’m offering a 25 percent discount for the first year (on both monthly and annual subscriptions) if you subscribe by the date of the first paywalled post, which will be Wednesday, Jan. 11.
The rest of this post is the inaugural update per the new plan.
1. A take I haven’t written elsewhere
Baby formula tariffs are a garbage policy that harms literal infants
By the time you read this, Congress will have gone home for Christmas. The legislative year will be over. January will be just four days away. And that means the deadline has passed for our lawmakers to extend (or, better yet, make permanent) their summer suspension of tariffs on baby formula.
I realize formula use is controversial in some circles, and I’m not interested in litigating that here. Sometimes it’s necessary. We had to use it for about eight months with our twins, partly to make sure they got adequate nutrition and partly to allow me to feel like a human being. And we specifically had to use a European-made, goat milk-based formula. This was not optional. Even other high-end, organic products would instantly make them uncomfortable—spitting up more, congested, and so on. I’m not sure what the relevant ingredient difference was, but it was definitely relevant.
Anyway, the American stuff is expensive, and the European stuff is extra expensive. You just pour dollars down these kids’ throats every day. But here’s the thing: A large portion of the cost of imported formula is federal taxes. It’s import tariffs in the neighborhood of 25 percent.
And contrary to how protectionists claim tariffs work, those costs are not being paid by the foreign manufacturers. They’re passed on to the American consumer, who—in this case—often can’t switch to a cheaper domestic product unless they want miserable babies on their hands.
You can’t coerce Made in the USA! patriotism when the product is formula. No one loves the American dairy industry so much that they’re willing to make their baby sick on its behalf. (Maybe if we had a Congress in which the average member was young enough to recall their own childbearing years rather than in the hoary dreamland of long-distance grandparenting, someone would realize this.)
This is why it’s not merely disappointing but downright pathetic that Congress has allowed these formula taxes to snap back in the new year. Even if Washington’s insistence on taking a 25 percent cut of the cost of feeding your baby doesn’t cause a fresh round of shortages—which is certainly possible—it will unquestionably add to millions of families’ financial strain. This is a garbage policy, and our legislators should be embarrassed they’ve allowed it to return.
2. What I'm reading this week
Where Prayer Becomes Real: How Honesty with God Transforms Your Soul, by Kyle Strobel and John Coe. An excerpt:
For a good portion of our Christian lives, prayer did not make much sense. But that wasn’t our main problem. Our problem was that we weren’t being honest about it. We pretended that prayer made sense, but it didn’t. Prayer was dry, boring, and, while we’re being really honest, something we avoided at all cost. Prayer at meals was fine. A quick prayer for others was great. But being with God in the deep realities of life felt like wandering in a desert. Oddly, we never considered telling God how alienating prayer seemed.
Read a longer sample here (PDF).
3. A recommendation
The Resort, among my favorite shows of 2022, and short enough to watch over a week or two around the holidays without completely shirking your responsibilities:
4. Recent work
30 proverbs on justice, power, and politics for America in 2023 | Christianity Today
Posting about politics makes it harder to change our minds | The Daily Beast
Golden-age whodunits are back—and a sign of our times | The Daily Beast
Trump doesn’t respect (or even understand) the Constitution | The Daily Beast
What do Republicans want to prosecute Fauci for, exactly? | Reason
We should all be nervous about killer police robots | Reason
5. Miscellaneous
Christianity Today’s 2023 Book Awards were announced this month, and I was delighted to find Untrustworthy was given the award of merit in the Politics & Public Life category. It’s an honor to be included in the shortlist at all—usually there are just four per category—and landing runner up was a very nice surprise.
(Though I write for CT, I was not involved in the awards process this year. I did serve as a judge for the 2020 awards. It’s an interesting process and a difficult choice!)
Here’s the blurb for my award:
There is a discernment crisis in pulpits and pews across the nation: We have lost the ability to name truth. In a climate where conspiracy theories and half-truths abound, Kristian writes with piercing insight into the epistemological crisis facing the church and the broader society. She examines the issues that have brought us to this state of affairs and offers wise counsel for navigating our current media and information environment. — Kathryn Freeman, writer, speaker, and cohost of the podcast Melanated Faith
See the rest of the awards list here.
That’s all this time. I’ll be in touch again next Wednesday, Jan. 4, with one more free post before the alternate-weeks paywall starts on Wednesday, Jan. 11.
In the meantime, Happy New Year! I’ll be celebrating with our annual cocktail party. What are your plans?
Best,
Bonnie