A TV documentary based on Nickel and Dimed, titled Wage Slaves, aired on the A&E cable channel this past Labor Day. The book has also been optioned for a made-for-TV movie.

Ehrenreich, a Montana native, graduated from Reed with a double major in chemistry and physics and holds a Ph.D. in biology. She has taught at the State University of New York and the College at New Rochelle. Since her graduation from Reed College, Ehrenreich has turned some of her intellectual gifts towards the literary field. She has worked as editor of Seven Days magazine. She has published 12 books, and her essays have been published in Harper’s, Time, the New York Review of Books, and the Nation, among many other journals and newspapers.

Joan Holden graduated from Reed with a degree in general literature. She has enjoyed parallel careers as a translator and adapter of comedies (including works by Dario Fo, Beaumarchais, Goldoni, Jonson, and Molière) and a partner in international collaborations, creating work with companies in Israel, the Philippines, Hong Kong, and Nepal. For three decades she has been a spokesperson for political art, a theorist on popular theatre, and an activist in local and national arts politics. “What I learned at Reed was to not be afraid of asking tough questions,” she said. “To follow the truth wherever it led.” These days Holden, whose daughter, Lily Chumley, attends Reed, combines the intellectual rigor she learned at the college with her social activism. “There’s not a contradiction between passion and critical thinking,” she points out. “You really can be passionate and keep a clear head at the same time.”