Why "Made You a Map?"
I got here because people helped me, and because what I trusted started to come apart, and I needed to understand why.
I grew up in South Oak Cliff, daughter of a Texas public school teacher and a pawnshop owner. Pregnant at 17. I made it through on Pell Grants and borrowed faith.
I definitely worked extremely hard while raising a young family. But in America, we’re susceptible to a particular kind of bootstrap myth that can promulgate patterns of toxicity we have to break. And I simply couldn’t have gotten here by pulling myself up all alone. I got here because people helped me — and because what I trusted started to fall apart, and I needed to understand why.
This newsletter is how I want to work through that.
I’m writing this so I can try to see things more clearly. I want to name what I’ve learned, work out what I still don’t know, and strategize with you about what’s worth our time and energy.
Made You a Map isn’t a slogan. It comes from something I’d do with Matt, my husband, whenever we needed to make sense of something, some pattern, some story hidden in some data that might be tied to a particular place — and we found that a lot of times, viewing things that way helped someone else make sense of it too.
I don’t want to be right about everything. I don’t think that’s my job. But I do think that saying something clearly — without spin, without fear — is.
Most of what passes for politics now feels like shock theater. Loud. Shallow. Reactive.
“Here’s my video reacting to someone’s YouTube reaction to a comment on Reddit.”
I don’t think that’s the best use of your or my time.
We need to look hard at what’s broken, name what might still be possible, and decide what’s worth our energy.
And if you’re trying to find your footing in all this too, I’m making you a map.
This newsletter is free, and it always will be.
It’s meant to help us focus on what matters most: systems that our lives shape and that in turn shape our lives, the stories we tell about them, and what’s worth building together.
Here’s an example of the kind of work I mean:
If you want to go deeper, paid subscribers get access to more: the breakdowns, the frameworks, the annotated data, and the tools I’m using to track what’s shifting.
Last week, that included a private walkthrough of how I mapped the cuts, followed the money, and traced the vote pattern back to who benefits:
Founding members get something else entirely: my number.
It’s a way for us to share deeper strategy in an encrypted channel. To flag when something’s off. For when you know a strategy would work if the status quo could get out of its own way and scale it.
No pressure. Just an open way to connect directly in a secure channel.
After clicking, just choose the “Founding Member” option — it’s listed right below the standard plans.
Thanks for reading, and talk soon.
— Julie