“I don’t have to put my child in pageants now.”

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Monika Bauerlein,
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Editors’ note: Mac is spending a month in her home state of Ohio, reporting on the Wisconsin-style showdown involving Republican Governor John Kasich, public employees, unions, teachers, students, and struggling middle-class families.

Meet Erin Rodriguez, the 31-year-old I’ve been living with in Ohio this month. Her husband, a state employee, got laid off the week before last, the source of a lot of worry around the couple’s newly purchased first home, as well as the source of a sad running joke that their 11-month-old is going to have to enter beauty pageants to earn money. Erin got some news yesterday. I’ll just let her tell you.