How I Got Radicalized

My Mother Risked It All on the Beanie Baby Boom

She was a Mormon homemaker who just wanted to take part in the market economy. Then it all came crashing down.

Meg Conley
GEN
Published in
8 min readMar 19, 2021

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An illustration of a Beanie Baby with a star print and the U.S. flag on its chest. Behind the beanie baby is a generic stock market image.
Photo Illustration: Save As/Medium; Source: Getty Images

Welcome to How I Got Radicalized, a series from GEN that tells the story of a cultural moment that made you drastically rethink how

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Meg Conley
GEN
Writer for

✒️Women’s work, economic justice and the home. Work in Slate, GEN, Medium + my newsletter, homeculture. Subscribe at megconley.com