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In the second season of Severance, theres an unexpected character: a child supervisor named Miss Huang, who matter-of-factly explains shes a child because of when I was born. Miss Huangs deadpan response is more than just a clever quip. Like so much in the Apple TV+ series, which has broken viewership records for the streaming service, I think it reveals a devastating truth about the role of work in the 21st century. As a scholar of childhood studies, I also see historical echoes: What constitutes a childand whether one gets to claim childhood at allhas always depended on when and where a person is born. An age of innocence? Americans are deeply invested in the idea of childhood as a time of innocence, with kids protected by doting adults from the harsh realities of work and making ends meet. However, French historian Philippe Aris famously argued that childhood, as many understand it today, simply did not exist in the past. Using medieval art as one resource, Aris pointed out that children were often portrayed as miniature adults, without special attributes, such as plump features or silly behaviors, that might mark them as fundamentally different from their older counterparts. Looking at baptism records, Aris also discovered that many parents gave siblings the same name, and he explained this phenomenon by suggesting that devastatingly high child mortality rates prevented parents from investing the sort of love and affection in their children thats now considered a core component of parenthood. While historians have debated many of Ariss specific claims, his central insight remains powerful: Our modern understanding of childhood as a distinct life stage characterized by play, protection, and freedom from adult responsibilities is a relatively recent historical development. Aris argued that children didnt emerge as a focus of unconditional love until the 17th century. Kids at work The belief that a child deserves a life free from the stress of the workplace came along still later. After all, if Miss Huang had been born in the 19th century, few people would question her presence in the workplace. The Industrial Revolution yielded accounts of children working 16-hour days and accorded no special protection because of their tender age and emotional vulnerability. Well into the 20th century, children younger than Miss Huang routinely worked in factories, mines, and other dangerous environments. To todays viewers of Severance, the presence of a child supervisor in the sterile, oppressive workplace of the shows fictional Lumon Industries feels jarring precisely because it violates the deeply held belief that children are occupants of a separate sphere, their innocence shielding them from the dog-eat-dog environs of competitive workplaces. Childhood under threat As a child worker, Miss Huang might seem like an uncanny ghost of a bygone era of childhood. But I think shes closer to a prophet: Her role as child-boss warns viewers about what a work-obsessed future holds. Today, the ideal childhoodaccess to play, care, and a meaningful educationis increasingly under threat. As politicians and policymakers insist that children are the future, many of them refuse to support the intensive caregiving required to transform newborns into functioning adults. As philosopher Nancy Fraser has argued, capitalism relies on someone doing that work, while assigning it little to no monetized value. Child-rearing in the 21st century exists within a troubling paradox: Mothers provide unpaid childcare for their own children, while those who professionally care for others childrenpredominantly women of color and immigrantsreceive meager compensation for this essential work. In other words, economic elites and the politicians they support say they want to cultivate future workers. But they dont want to fund the messy, inefficient, time-consuming process that raising modern children requires. The shows name comes from a severance procedure that workers undergo to separate their work memories from their personal ones. It offers a darkly comic version of work-life balance, with Lumon office workers able to completely disconnect their work selves from their personalities off the clock. Each is distinct: A characters innie is the person they are at the job, and their outtie is who they are at home. I see this as an apt metaphor for how market capitalism seeks to separate the slow, patient work required to raise children and care for other loved ones from the cold-eyed pursuit of economic efficiency. Parents are expected to work as if they dont have children and raise children as if they dont work. The result is a system that makes traditional notions of childhoodwith its unwieldy dependencies, its inefficient play, and its demands for attention and careincreasingly untenable. Capitalisms ideal child Plummeting global fertility rates around the world speak to this crisis in childcare, with the U.S., Europe, South Korea, and China falling well below the birth rate required to replace the existing population. Even as Elon Musk frets about women choosing not to have children, he seems eager to restrict any government aid that would provide the time or resources that raising children requires. Accessible healthcare; affordable, healthy food; and stable housing are out of the reach of many. The current administrations quest for what it calls government efficiency is poised to shred safety net programs that help millions of low-income children. In the midst of this dilemma, Miss Huang offers a surreal solution to the problems children pose in 2025. She is, in many ways, capitalisms ideal child. Already a productive worker as a tween, she requires no parents time, no teachers patience, and no communitys resources. Like other workers and executives at Lumon, she seems to have shed the inefficient entanglements of family, love, and play. In this light, Miss Huangs clever insistence that she is a child because of when I was born is darkly prophetic. In a world where every moment must be productive, where caregiving is systematically devalued, and where human relationships are subordinated to market logic, Miss Huang represents a future where childhood survives only as a date on a birth certificate. All the other attributes are economically impractical. Viewers dont yet know if shes severed. But at least from the perspective of the other workers in the show, Miss Huang works ceaselessly and, in doing so, proves that she is no child at all. Or rather, she is the only kind of child that Americas economic system allows to thrive. Anna Mae Duane is a professor of English at the University of Connecticut. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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In the wake of Donald Trumps reelection as U.S. president, a growing chorus of voices is calling on liberals to toughen up and tone down the moral high ground. If the left wants to claw back power, they argue, its time to play dirty. Enter: dark woke. The term began circulating online soon after Trump was sworn in for his second term. A video of someone sprinting up to a Cybertruck and spraying its silver shell with spray paint? Dark woke. New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez calling the new Republican government rapists and, in response, telling critics to cry more? Dark woke. #DarkWoke is rising. pic.twitter.com/2taP6TzHo2— Right Wing Cope (@RightWingCope) February 3, 2025 Even elected Democrats seem to be testing the waters. California Representative Robert Garcia recently claimed hes borrowing from House member Marjorie Taylor Greenes playbook by bringing a dick pica photo of Elon Muskto a Department of Government Efficiency subcommittee meeting. Its not just a terminally online trend. TikToker and self-described Regina George liberal Suzanne Lambert echoed the sentiment in a CBS interview, urging Democrats to be meaner. Her reasoning: You fight fire with fire: I want people to feel more comfortable fighting back, and I want them to see someone fighting for them. Its the latest evolution of what was once known, during Trumps first term, as the dirtbag lefta label for young progressives who ruthlessly mocked their political enemies. During the 2024 election, then-President Joe Bidens campaign also briefly embraced the Dark Brandon meme, which reimagined the 81-year-old Democratic nominee as a cooler internet alter-ego. I think the dark woke stuff had to happen eventually because the liberal side of the culture war has not been overtly cruel enough to fit into American politics, one X user mused last month. I think the dark woke stuff had to happen eventually because the liberal side of the culture war has not been overtly cruel enough to fit into American politics— Liv (@Liv_Agar) February 1, 2025 However, one interpretation of dark wokeism essentially boils down to slurs but said in a leftist way. On X, this is framed as a backlash against the namby-pamby language policing that no one likes in liberal politics. Most people think dark woke just means using slurs/adopting inherently regressive right wing positions, journalist Taylor Lorenz posted on X. Most dark woke types have just adopted conservatism but refuse to acknowledge that bc they are nominally against Trump or want to think of themselves as good ppl. Most people think dark woke just means using slurs/adopting inherently regressive right wing positions. Most dark woke types have just adopted conservatism but refuse to acknowledge that bc they are nominally against Trump or want to think of themselves as good ppl— Taylor Lorenz (@TaylorLorenz) February 2, 2025 This shift toward meaner, nastier politics isnt exactly surprising. Trumps risebuilt on a strategy of saying absolutely anything, no matter how offensive or plain wrongdidnt just win him a second term. It set the tone for global politics. For now, dark woke is more gallows humor than any kind of serious organizing force. Whether it becomes something more? That remains to be seen.
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As society becomes increasingly aware of peoples diverse needs, accessible design has become the hot topic. Years ago at Michael Graves Design, our president Donald Strum, our chief design officer Rob Van Varick, and I were reviewing student portfolios. All the designs were about sustainability. Today, we see a lot of focus on accessibility. We love it. This makes sense, because gaining empathy for your products future users is at the core of product design. The design community is ready for accessibility. Our challenge today is proving that it makes great business sense. At Michael Graves Design, we have long embraced accessible design; our North Star is activities of daily living (ADLs), a term used to describe the fundamental skills required to successfully live independently. Guided by our “Delight for All” philosophy, and with the ADLs prioritizing the most impactful objects to design, were dedicated to designing products that people love and products that enhance lives, regardless of age or physical ability. To do that, we look for product opportunity gapsunmet consumer needsand fulfill them with new product designs. By definition, this is pioneering, creating solutions that previously have not existed. We embrace pioneering as a cherished value that we want to share. Our true mission has been to design everyday objects in a way that works for the widest audience possible. At the same time, the products should look great and make users love them because the products enhance their lives. Brands want to make emotional connections with consumers and helping someone do something that was previously a struggle is the best way to fall in love. We understand that expanding the addressable market size is fundamental to growth and that people always want a better mousetrap. Were designing products that give equal focus to style and safety. Democratization of design Michael Graves, an esteemed architect and designer, founded our firm with a visionary mission to shift design from abstract modernism to a human-centered approach that puts the person at the center of all design decisions. This philosophy brought color and art back into the built environment, and prioritized human comfort, understanding, and joy. This approach provides cognitive accessibility. Later, Michael Graves Designs partnership with Target defined America’s expectation that great design should be affordable to everyone. Design became a corporate strategy. The democratization of design was born, and our company delivered financial accessibility. Over his last decade, after becoming paralyzed, Michael discovered the indignities the built environment imposed on people, and he became a passionate advocate among the disabled. This moved our company to focus on physical accessibility, directing the power of design to improve lifestyles and healthcare experiences for every body. Michael transformed the role of the architect in society and left the world a better place than he found it. Delight for All Now, our mission is Delight for All, to create moments of joy through products that are visually appealing, full of character and purpose, and designed to enhance peoples lives. We take pride in being one of the most accessible design brands, creating functional, beautiful products for every body and encourage other companies and designers to do the same. Weve brought over 2,500 products to market, from our iconic teakettles to healthcare products that transform the acute care experience, to home products that prioritize universal accessibility and appeal. We create products with purpose and personality, safety, and style, so that no one has to choose between living with one or the otherthe concepts can coexist harmoniously. This approach is rooted in empathy and an understanding of how profoundly good design improves quality of life, making everyday environments more intuitive and enjoyable for everyone. Design for All led to good design becoming a cost of entry consideration for most companies. Our brand ethos is now pushing other companies and designers to consider physical accessibility from the onset of their design processes rather than as an afterthought. Once this reaches critical mass and competition is everywhere, the promise of universal design will be achieved and we want to get there together. How is this done? To design any product with a Delight for All vision, a rigorous ethnographic research process, known as Design With, is essential to the discovery of novel functional enhancements. We start each design project by generating insights based on the lives of real people. We conduct interviews and observations with a diverse range of potential users, including older adults and individuals with disabilities. By understanding the unique needs of these communities, we ensure that our products are not only aesthetically pleasing but also practical and empowering, making them suitable for every body. Human-focused ethos This human-focused ethos guided our recent collaboration with Pottery Barn, where consumer preference testing feedback informed the designs for our new products. By prioritizing user feedback, companies can create designs that blend safety with style, showing that accessibility is as essential to great furniture design as are aesthetic considerations. Design has the power to enrich all of our lives and this collaboration allows us to make beautiful and purposeful furniture available to everyone. We also focus on collaborating with design schools and advocacy groups to raise awareness about the importance of accessibility in design, ensuring this ethos spreads. Our goal is to set new consumer expectations with products that seamlessly blend safety with style, proving to the world that accessible design makes great business sense by broadening the total addressable market. We remain committed to redefining accessible design, ensuring that innovation and empathy continues to shape a more inclusive world and want to see more brands do so with us. Accessible design is part of our ongoing mission: to create functional, accessible, and beautiful products that enhance the lives of every body, paving the way for a more inclusive world. Ben Wintner is CEO of Michael Graves Design.
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