Land was on SEVEN different government assistance programs. filming for the series took place on Canadas Vancouver Island. Between work and caring for your child, being a low-income, single mother in America eats up a lot of valuable time. Even though her advisor at the local community college told her, What youre trying to do here is pretty much impossible, referring to the course load along with being a single mother who worked full time, she found that being a student helped her case. 2023 BDG Media, Inc. All rights reserved. She began journaling everything she witnessed, which turned into a small piece, then a viral essay, and eventually, a bestselling memoir. They had only known each other for four months. I feel like asking them: why on earth would I want that? [10][11] In January 2008, Land broke up with her boyfriend and moved to a homeless shelter with her then nine-month-old daughter. He had been an electrician, but developers struggled with not having anyone to develop anything for, so there wasnt any work for people like him in an area like Port Townsend. Stephanie Land is the author of Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother's Will to Survive, out in January 2019 Topics Divorce Domestic violence Relationships features Reuse this content During the series, we don't see Alex at the grocery store often. Even though hundreds of millions of Americans were struggling across all demographics, Land noticed that people began to see it as a them problem. "It made me feel kind of less wanted." But if you're not making it, then [people] think you're just not working hard enough. Featuring a foreword from Nickel and Dimed author Barbara Ehrenreich, the memoir begins when an unplanned pregnancy upsets the then-28-year-old Lands college plans, forcing her to spend her days as a domestic worker and attend night classes to continue pursuing her degree. I didnt want to let all the people who were so happy for me down. The police officers left me and the girls just after midnight. The real-life Alex is now a New York Times best-selling author. Yes, Land was loaned a car by someone she had been on a date with, but not a place to live. She lives with her husband, Tim Faust, and their children in Missoula, Montana. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. She said that while she was worried about the situation she'd be bringing her own child into, she always wanted her daughter Mia. A Maid fact-check reveals that the real Stephanie Land was 28 when she was pregnant with her daughter Mia (today, Mia goes by her middle name, Story). Her daughter was constantly in and out of doctors offices for chronic ear infections and upper-respiratory infections, but she personally couldnt afford to see a doctor for her chronic pain, sinus infections, and constant coughs. As my platform has grown and the reach of my audience has grown, I have continued to be very raw. When she first started working as a maid, Land says that she didn't snoop. This is where she learned about the Womens Independence Scholarship Program, a scholarship specifically for survivors of domestic violence, which she received $3,000 through. Readers may remember the book on which Netflixs new limited series is based: Stephanie Lands bestselling 2019 memoir, Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mothers Will to Survive. From hair trends to relationship advice, our daily newsletter has everything you need to sound like a person whos on TikTok, even if you arent. Although Stephanie Land spent several years living below the poverty line in her late twenties as a single mother, the Maid true story reveals that she had actually grown up in a middle-class family. Your IP: Before meeting Faust, Stephanie Land had rekindled an abusive relationship following the events of the series. By far. One year later, she published an essay about working as a housekeeper inVox (opens in new tab), which went viral and led to her getting a book agent. I think there was a lot of voyeurism there. [28][29] They both have two children from previous relationships. For example, there was the Porn House, named for the numerous issues of Hustler in the nightstand and the bottle of lubricant that sat by the alarm clock. Throughout this whole process of giving my story to the hands of strangers, Land wrote in a recent Instagram post, I had to force myself to trust theyll do it justice. Yes. In The Missing Piece, the reader follows a simply drawn line throughout the pages. It made the lie that Id been living, for the last year, parading us all over social media and town as this loving couple, it made that gaping wound hurt all over again. But it starts rolling too fast. Performance & security by Cloudflare. We follow it as it scoots along, singing this silly song about searching for the piece thats missing, while it meets frogs and butterflies and stops to look at flowers. Click to reveal -NPR, Yes. The wife and husband slept in separate rooms and there was a magnet on the fridge that read, "We're staying together for the cat." But after all that she had been through, Land desperately wanted to give back. I felt like I was a leech on society, honestly. The action you just performed triggered the security solution. Was it important to show how difficult emotional abuse can be to categorize? Maybe that made them too nervous about their situation.. [27], Stephanie Land is married to Tim Faust and they live as a blended family with four children. He and his wife couldnt make ends meet in the economic collapse, leaving Land and her daughter without support. Discover unique things to do, places to eat, and sights to see in the best destinations around the world with Bring Me! However, Mia's father began to call repeatedly, telling Stephanie he wanted to come back and fix the window in the door, which he had punched a hole through. -NPR, Yes. Hi, I'm Stephanie Land. I think we all deserve the same amount of dignity. "[20] Kirkus Reviews concludes that Maid is "[a]n important memoir that should be required reading for anyone who has never struggled with poverty. By Monday, when detectives knocked on my door for further questioning, they measured the circumference of my neck with a string. During their time there, her daughter Mia was very sick with constant sinus infections, ear infections, and pink eye. There typically arent any magical, wealthy benefactors waiting to make your life easier. My desire for that happy ending especially as a woman whod been a single mom for almost a decade was a rushing current too strong to fight. There is strength in community. Timothy Faust is a professional Air Force Veteran. However, Land and Jamie's story is different than Alex and Sean's. Whereas Alex met Sean after an open mic, Land met Jamie while she was walking home after a shift at the . The next morning, I couldnt get out of bed, but a voice rose up and said no with such agency. And its because they took a true interest in learning, and used their own experiences, to truly understand how it feels to be food, work, and housing insecure. After a few failed attempts and adventures, it finds a piece that fits. All I have to do is imagine him walking around the house and my body begins to show the symptoms of a panic attack. Heres what you should know before watching Maid on Netflix: The basics of Lands memoir remain unchanged in the new Netflix series. We had our own place in this old house next to downtown and we'd go for walks to the park and the river. It is a picture of the soul-robbing grind through poverty that millions live with every day. This differs from the memoir, in which Stephanie Land describes her mother as living much farther away. "Five Takeaways from Stephanie Land's Memoir, https://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=689611873, "She Used to Scrub Toilets for $9 an Hour. She began working as a freelance writer and became a writing fellow at the Center for Community Change. June 8, 2017 at 7:00 a.m. EDT (Getty Images/iStockphoto) Gift Article. Theending ofMaid (opens in new tab)shows Land's fictional avatar Alex moving to Missoula, Montana, to study creative writing in college. Netflixs Maid isnt a one-to-one recreation of the source material, but that doesnt mean it isnt true to Lands experiences living in poverty. (Stephanie's ex-partner is referred to as Jamie in her memoir. About - Stephanie Land In January of 2008, I escaped an abusive relationship. Author Stephanie Land is one of the women who have experienced non-deadly strangulation at the hands of her partner. Netflixs Maid is now streaming, and it could not have come at a better time. When I finally asked him to leave, it was in an almost primal push for survival. However, she had dreamed of becoming a writer since she was 10 and knew she wouldn't be a happy mom if she gave up that dream. When I was on food stamps, there were a lot of talks and memes and hatred on social media about how we need to drug test people on welfare. The agency only permitted her to work up to six hours a day, reasoning that due to the exhausting nature of the work, she could risk injuring herself. ", "I Spent 2 Years Cleaning Houses. Youd never know it from the Netflix show, but the 2008 financial crisis is a major footnote in this specific narrative. Stephanie Land (born September 1978) is an American writer and public speaker. My goal was to one day be off of government assistance, be a contributing member of society. The Mountbatten-Windsors have been recastagain. The dog was still losing her mind. Abuse doesnt always develop over long periods of time. "I looked for secrets in the nightstands, for the story below the American dream. Peoples prejudice against those who are low income makes their already difficult lives more difficult, which we do not really see in the Netflix drama. [7], In her late twenties, she lived in Port Townsend, Washington, where she had her first child and became a single mother who worked maid service jobs to support her family. She also thanked the show's team for their work on the show. Similar to home health agencies, house cleaning agencies keep more than half of what they charge clients, then their employees get what's left over. Id spent Mothers Day weekend in a dark motel room after that. Land told NPR that she did volunteer at a center, but she didn't meet with too many clients. He thought he'd never have to work again."This was the attitude of Stephanie Land, whose estranged husband has tried to prevent her from writing about him. And it really affected me for a really long time. Especially to me. I hated it that Id done that, that Id kept what hed done to me hidden as much as possible. I isolated myself from my community. (In one episode, a fellow resident at the battered women's shelter gives Alex and her daughter hundreds of left-over My Little Pony dolls. I am not an angry person, I try to avoid it as much as possible, but the more I spoke in public speaking events, not only the book tour audiences but the public speaking audiences, they were mainly White people who maybe had house cleaners of their own. He was renamed Sean in the Netflix series and played by Nick Robinson). In reality, there are A LOT more requirements to meet when you are poor. Not only are hours lost to filling out paperwork and waiting in offices, but time is also spent going to required classes and seminars on how rental assistance works or how to use electricity most efficiently. The series follows Alex, a hardworking mother played by Margaret Qualley, who grapples with leaving an abusive relationship as she struggles to survive in a system that seems destined to fail her. Todd Grisham later worked as a professional wrestling . I really didn't think that people were going to listen to that or care about it because I had lived such an invisible life. Weve all heard it before: Social media is the downfall of society. Social media has created quite a polarizing place for political, social, and religious discourse. She reaches up to dig her hand into my armpit, and I let her, because its something shes done practically since birth. By subscribing to this BDG newsletter, you agree to our. As a single mother enrolled in school, Land was able to find creative ways to supplement her income. Eventually, Land made too much money (let that sink in) to qualify for Medicaid, leaving only her daughter insured by the program. National Domestic Violence Hotline received more calls in the month after Maid premiere than any other month in its entire 25-year history. While they were arguing, he would punch the couch right next to her head. Land has remarried and lives with her husband, Tim Faust, and their blended family in Missoula, Montana. Both the show and the memoir depict the harsh realities that many Americans living in poverty face. In a 2021 interview with The Washington Post, Land said:[32]. In that same conversation, almost a year after it happened, he still blamed our bad relationship on him hurting me. I thought they did really well with showing that this person who is totally charming on the outside and everybody else thinks is this wonderful guy, everybody's heartthrob, can be really violent at home and just kicks you down in so many ways. [4] Land has also written several articles about maid service work, abuse and poverty in the United States. A post shared by Stephanie Land (@stepville) A photo posted by on She's now living in Missoula, Montana, and working on a new book. A post shared by Stephanie Land (@stepville). "[12], After six years of cleaning in Washington and Montana, she was eventually able to use student loans and Pell grants to move to earn a Bachelor of Arts in English and creative writing from the University of Montana in May 2014. Land was living in Port Townsend, Washington when she became a single mother and worked maid service jobs to provide for her child. It costs a lot to be poor (in dollars and time). While the waterfront community of Port Townsend from the memoir is hard to distinguish from its fictional counterpart Port Hampstead in the series, other characters and locations were changed more significantly. Editor's Note: Stephanie Land is the author of the bestseller "Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother's Will to . 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