This is where I write about the race, the district, the 17 counties I’m running in, the fights I’m running on, and the work as it happens. Field notes from the trail. The math of an outsider campaign in real time. What I get right, what I get wrong, who I meet, what I learn. No PR voice, no consultant tone. Just me, telling you the truth about how this actually goes.
My older national and cultural writing lives at rachelandthecity.com. Both feeds go out through the Substack if you want them in your inbox.
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The IRS built a free way to file your taxes. Then it got killed.
Let’s talk about taxes! Fun! In 2024, the IRS built something useful. A free online tool called Direct File that let you file your federal taxes straight with the government. No fees. No upsells. You enter what you made, it does the math, you’re done. It’s gone now. As of this tax season, you can’t…
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Your Social Security check is getting cut. A millionaire stopped paying into it in March.
Let’s talk about Social Security. A report went around this week. If nothing changes, Social Security’s trust fund runs dry at the end of 2032, and everybody’s check gets cut about 24 percent. That’s around 500 dollars a month – gone – for the average retiree. The checks don’t stop. They just shrink. And for…
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Let’s Talk About Data Centers Like Adults
This should be fun. Let’s talk about data centers. Like adults. It seems like whenever anyone talks about one – they’re picturing a warehouse full of chatbots. And sure, they do power those. But the data center streaming your Netflix or YouTube, backing up all those emails you haven’t opened, managing your bank account, streaming…
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Regulating Data Centers is Important – But So Is This
Okay – let’s talk about AI. I have a 10 part series that breaks down how I see the xAI issue – and my take on data centers and AI use. But this is not that – it’s coming – but this issue – the one I’m about to explain – in my opinion –…
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It’s time to rewrite the 2007 law hiding in your gas tank
There’s corn in your gas, and a story behind it. How a law from 2005 wastes water, weakens your fuel, props up the wrong crop, and keeps groceries expensive – and what we could actually do about it.
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Less judgment, more help: why diversity built this country
A Pride Month reflection on the American bargain – you be you, I’ll be me.
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I’m Going Big or I’m Going Home
Why I’m running for Congress in TN-5, and why I won’t run the campaign everyone expects.