‘I recognise our privilege’: Woman responds after criticism over essay about leaving NYC for Boulder amid pandemic

She says of move to Colorado: ‘It was an opportunity for us to test-drive a new kind of existence, even be a different kind of family’

Woman says she ‘recognises privilege’ after criticism over article detailing move from Brooklyn to Colorado (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

A woman who moved from New York City to Boulder, Colorado, with her family at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic has acknowledged her “privilege and our outsider status” after being targeted by online trolls.

On 8 March 2021, Jennifer Miller wrote about the decision to move herself, her husband Jason, and their two sons, then four and 14 months, across the country from Park Slope in an essay forThe Washington Post Magazine.

As Miller wrote in the article, she and her husband, who lived “in a 1,000-square-foot apartment in the northern end of Park Slope, Brooklyn,” which she admits were “relatively spacious digs by New York standards,” said they were “among the roughly 420,000 New Yorkers who left town when the pandemic struck”.

According to Miller, the family decided to relocate in March 2020 at the urging of their families, and after it was announced that schools would be shutting down.

While their Brooklyn apartment had four rooms, Miller said it “was going to be terrible” with herself and her husband working from home while trying to juggle virtual school.

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In the article, Miller also describes life in Boulder, opening the article with an anecdote about a hike taken with the children in the spring of 2020, an outdoor activity that her “wailing” and distraught four-year-old son refused to partake in.

According to Miller, she couldn’t understand the child’s disinterest, writing that she asked herself why he “couldn’t he just be like a Boulder kid?” before answering her own question: “I knew the answer. This wasn’t his home. He was a Brooklynite, a boy who had been abruptly taken west at the onset of the pandemic.”

But despite the abrupt upheaval of her family, Miller maintained in the essay that it was the correct choice to temporarily move the family to Colorado, especially when comparing it to what they would have experienced had they remained in New York.

“Our friends back home were trapped in their apartments, their daily soundtrack filled with sirens. Sure, Boulder playgrounds were shuttered all spring, just as they were in Brooklyn,” she wrote. “But it didn’t matter because we had seemingly infinite space: plains to the east, mountains to the west, big sky overhead. In other words, an ideal place to ride out a quarantine.

“It was an opportunity for us to test-drive a new kind of existence, even be a different kind of family.”

Elsewhere in the article, Miller described food and beverage similarities between Brooklyn and Colorado, weekend trips to the mountains, the state’s weather, which she wrote is “hands-down the country’s best,” and the ability to “socialise safely even in winter,” before revealing that the family still intended to eventually return to New York.

On social media, the essay was met with overwhelmingly negative responses, with many accusing Miller of being “tone-deaf” and not recognising the privilege that allowed her family to move in the middle of a pandemic.

“Oh WaPo… this is beyond tone-deaf. What is it like to live in a bubble like these people?” one person commented, while another tweeted: “Wow this author isn’t nearly as apologetic for leaving New York City for Colorado last March as I was expecting (not at all apologetic).”

“This is one of the most embarrassing and privileged pieces of writing I’ve ever read,” someone else wrote.

Following the backlash, Miller addressed the criticism in an interview with Outside Magazine, where she revealed that she was not expecting the negative reaction - nor was she expecting that many people to read the piece in the first place.

“I honestly didn’t think a lot of people were going to read it. It’s a travel issue of The Washington Post Magazine - who even reads special issues?” the author said.

However, according to Miller, while she was expecting some pushback, “like, here’s this white, privileged woman writing about fleeing the pandemic,” she “didn’t think Boulderites would get really angry”.

“I thought they would understand that this was meant to be a fun fish-out-of-water piece,” she told the outlet.

In regards to the numerous responses from readers encouraging Miller to “check your privilege,” the mother-of-two said: “I would say that I do check my privilege in the piece. I even use the word! And again, it’s a travel story.

“The point of traveling is to try on a different existence. I think that’s something a lot of people might be interested in doing if they had the chance. Or if they were lucky - and privileged - enough to have family willing to take them in during a pandemic.”

Overall, Miller said that the experience has taught her to not read the comments, concluding: “Other than that, all I can say is that I recognise both our privilege and our outsider status. It’s all there in the story.”

As for the family’s time in Boulder, Miller said it showed them “a different kind of existence,” adding: “But we’re still going back to New York”.

The Independent has contacted Miller for comment.