Maggie R. Jones

I guess this is why my interlibrary loan request from Colby (Waterville) to Curtis (Brunswick) took a week.

A Chester in a window.

My great-great Uncle Ralph (Gould), author of Yankee Shopkeeper, left behind a letter to his sister in which he describes an assistant of some kind: “I feel he is an instance of God’s carelessness.” I can think of so many public figures I could apply this description to today.

Our fault: my husband and I went to see Interstellar in the IMAX theater in the Air and Space Museum, back row, raked seating, full theater. When the cameo happened, we looked at each other and shouted “MATT DAMON!” in our best Team America voices. All eyes on us.

It has been the honor of my life to serve as Commissioner of BLS alongside the many dedicated civil servants tasked with measuring a vast and dynamic economy. It is vital and important work and I thank them for their service to this nation.

The totally groundless firing of Dr. Erika McEntarfer, my successor as Commissioner of Labor Statistics at BLS, sets a dangerous precedent and undermines the statistical mission of the Bureau. For a full statement opposing this move, read:

Trump’s first BLS Commissioner, Bill Beach, calls today’s firing groundless and dangerous.
www.friendsofbls.org/updates/2025...

The Friends of #BLS protest the firing of BLS Commissioner Erika McEntarfer.

The rationale for firing her is without merit and undermines the credibility of federal economic statistics that are a cornerstone of intelligent economic decision-making by businesses, families, and policymakers.

With Trump about to try to fake economic stats, it's not very helpful for leftists to say they were already cooked. They're not. I follow this stuff very closely and have for years. They're very good and assembled by civil servants who take their jobs very seriously.

Taken just last night, Saint Andrew’s, NB.

So many protesters on the rt 1 bridge between Bath and Woolwich it was hard to find a place to stand at the rail.

Wake Up, You Lazy Skin Sack. I’m a Songbird and It’s 4 A.M. Wake up my sleepy mouth-breather, it’s 4:01 a.m. and I feel chatty! I might be small but I’m a warm-blooded lunatic and I’m right outside your bedr...

"I’m a hungry chickadee. I’m going to warble the hell out of this yard. Did you know sound travels twenty times faster at dawn? That means it’s going to pass right through your skull into the meat."

A heavy, fluffy, cream-colored cat on a victim’s lap.

Yup.

As I mentioned, we can’t compare outcomes for children of divorce versus children growing up in other toxic situations. We are not advocating for or against divorce. There is no doubt in my mind that divorce is better for children than a toxic marriage—but we can’t measure this directly.

Very importantly: we do not see other types of family breakdown, including unhappy families remaining intact, which may lead to similar outcomes. The timing of divorce is something we can observe fairly precisely in our linked tax and demographic data.

Our design uses a sibling model, where children in the family experience different exposure lengths to the divorce. Children who are exposed to divorce for longer have lower earnings, higher mortality, and higher incarceration.

Divorce, Family Arrangements, and Children's Adult Outcomes Founded in 1920, the NBER is a private, non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to conducting economic research and to disseminating research findings among academics, public policy makers, an...

New NBER working paper with Andrew Johnston and Nolan Pope. We examine family dissolution, proxied by divorce (an observable breakdown), and how family circumstances and children’s outcomes change. www.nber.org/papers/w33776

A Zed and Four Noughts

My MA alma mater! Congrats Barbara!

“Stately, plump Mrs. Dalloway came from the stairhead, bearing a bowl of lather on which a mirror and a razor lay crossed.”

A key item on my health “to do” list is to get my measles antibodies checked. Why? I had hemorrhagic measles when I was 6 and nearly died. Drs warned my parents that I could not be exposed again via vaccination. I don’t know what happens if I get exposed to measles in the wild. Vax your kids!

This sounds amazing

🚨 Thrilled that our 🆕 paper
“Age and Cognitive Skills: Use It or Lose It”
just came out in #ScienceAdvances @science.org

💡 Longitudinal evidence: age pattern of literacy+numeracy not as bleak as cross-section suggests + strongly differs by skill usage

www.science.org/doi/full/10....

🧵A thread
1/7

Lead poisoning

Venezuelan Migrant Sent to Guantánamo Bay Is ‘Not a Criminal,’ Family Pleads (Gift Article) Luis Alberto Castillo arrived in the United States so that he could “give everything to his son,” said his sister. Then, while scrolling on TikTok, she found out he was headed to Guantánamo.

We only know this man is in Gitmo because Noem tweeted a propaganda photo that included him and his sister saw it. He has no criminal record. He entered the US in January and immediately made an appointment with CBP to claim asylum. They sent him to a concentration camp bc of his basketball tattoo.

Ugh, I am so doomed.

Wow, this is Eva's JMP if I recall correctly. Great paper!

Manufacturing Towns Hit by the ‘China Shock’ Bounced Back. The Workers Didn’t. Retail and restaurants have helped communities that were hit by the tidal wave of cheap Chinese goods two decades ago. That doesn’t do much for former factory workers.

And WSJ coverage: www.wsj.com/economy/us-m...

Places versus People: The Ins and Outs of Labor Market Adjustment to Globalization Founded in 1920, the NBER is a private, non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to conducting economic research and to disseminating research findings among academics, public policy makers, an...

New NBER paper out with awesome trade shock team (Autor, Dorn, Hanson, Setzler): www.nber.org/papers/w33424

Photo of text states: Buffalo in herds, surround the most vulnerable to keep them safe from threat. The big bulls on the outside, horns pointed outward from the center. The matriarch females form another circle behind them. The youngest, the calves are in the center, protected on all sides. This is what was on my mind all day. Protecting the most vulnerable. Placing them at center. Circle up. Just thought I’d share that. 🦬

In my head all day.

‘What Do We Call You?’ The Many Names of Frances Perkins - Ms. Magazine Exploring the evolving identities and legacy of Frances Perkins, the pioneering labor secretary who navigated gender and politics.

I’m proud of the content & writing in this essay. publishing in @msmagazine.com has been a longtime goal of mine. And this essay is the first that I wrote from start to finish at my desk in my Providence apartment msmagazine.com/2025/01/26/p...