ABSTRACT
It was nine o'clock on a summer's evening when my research assistant arrived at Sarah Stanley's door prepared to interview her about her life as a single parent. 1 A petite, brown-haired, thirty-four-year-old woman, Sarah cheerfully greeted Carol and then, as she set about preparing two glasses of iced tea, apologized for having to meet so late. She explained that she wanted her children to be asleep before she began to describe the events that had landed her in a small town in Vermont.
