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Emma Tattenbaum-Fine's Substack

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Emma Tattenbaum-Fine's Substack
Teaching Pixley to Read: A Story of Redemptive Babysitting

Teaching Pixley to Read: A Story of Redemptive Babysitting

Originally written in 2014, gut renovated/revised today. Dedicated to a FOUNDING SUBSCRIBER: Rae Tattenbaum!

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Emma Tattenbaum-Fine
Jul 13, 2021
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Emma Tattenbaum-Fine's Substack
Emma Tattenbaum-Fine's Substack
Teaching Pixley to Read: A Story of Redemptive Babysitting
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Illustration by Leah Rubin-Cadrain in 2014 (LeahAviva.com) 

The trope of the struggling artist is cliché, but when you actually are one, it feels remarkably specific, immediate and insulting.

Like many writer/performer hyphenate types, I was a babysitter from the ages of 24 to 29, a gig afforded me by permissive parents who did not insist that I get a “re…

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