Hi everyone, this is Rachel Vindman and I'm on Red Wine and Blues first ever troublemaker

tour. I'm sitting down with suburban women in Michigan, Ohio, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania

to hear about what matters to them. Welcome to my kitchen table conversations.

Hi everyone, this is Rachel Vindman and I am on the fifth stop, my third state on my troublemaker tour.

I am sitting in a kitchen in Kerry, North Carolina, which is a suburb of Raleigh, and I'm joined by two teachers.

Kim and Lisa, thank you so much for joining me today.

Kim, can you introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about whatever you want us to know about you?

Sure. I'm Kim Mackie. I teach at a local high school. This is my 18th year of teaching, so I've been

teaching as long as my students have been alive. And what do you

teach? I teach civics and economics. Excellent. And I also am the mom of two students who are seven and

10. Okay, great. And Lisa? My name is Lisa, and I live here in Carrie. I was born nearby. I live

about a half hour from where I was born. And I am a

former teacher. I taught middle school life skills, also known as Homek. I was a lateral entry teacher.

It was not my first career. And then when I had children, I stopped teaching because my salary was

less than the cost of daycare. And I've gone back to work in nonprofit work,

and I substitute teach in all the schools, grade K through 12, throughout the county when I have a

chance. So nonprofit work pays more than teaching? Yes, absolutely. I work for an education-focused

nonprofit as a professional fundraiser and grant writer. That's amazing.

What's the hardest part about being a teacher lately?

I think the most challenging part about teaching is we just emerged from this period where

people realize just how difficult teaching is.

And yet we're still returning to the old bad habits of not listening to the folks on the ground

...