{"id":839682,"date":"2026-06-02T18:27:38","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T18:27:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/839682\/"},"modified":"2026-06-02T18:27:38","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T18:27:38","slug":"the-monthly-mailbag-with-kelsey-dallas-kelsey-dallas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/839682\/","title":{"rendered":"The Monthly Mailbag With Kelsey Dallas – Kelsey Dallas"},"content":{"rendered":"

At the beginning of every month, a different\u00a0Dispatch\u00a0staffer fields questions from members and compiles his or her answers in a\u00a0mailbag\u00a0a few weeks later. This month, it was\u00a0SCOTUSblog managing editor Kelsey Dallas\u2019 turn. To ensure you\u2019re able to submit questions for June\u2019s Mailbag<\/strong>, click below to become a full\u00a0Dispatch\u00a0member.<\/p>\n

Thanks for the great questions! Let\u2019s dive in.\u00a0<\/p>\n

WBM: Do you have a favorite story, or type of story, to cover? What are the downsides to covering the religion beat?<\/strong><\/p>\n

My favorite type of story to write is an explainer<\/a>, in which I unpack a complicated issue and make it easier to understand. Explainers are often structured as a series of questions and answers, and they help readers quickly catch up on the context behind something in the news. I like this type of project because it plays to my strengths (researching and summarizing) and makes it so that more people can participate in important debates.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As to your second question, what makes covering religion difficult (although I\u2019m not sure it\u2019s fair to call this a downside) is that it\u2019s incredibly complex. There are many different religions, many different faith groups within a single religion, and many different interpretations of each group\u2019s teachings and practices. I still cringe thinking about times when I wrote about a religious holiday or faith-related policy debate and missed some of the nuances just because I interviewed three people instead of six (or six instead of 10!)\u00a0<\/p>\n

I like to say that the main thing I learned at Yale Divinity School is how much I don\u2019t know about religion. This humility made me a better religion reporter, but it wore on me over time. Now, don\u2019t get me wrong, there\u2019s plenty I don\u2019t know about the Supreme Court and legal world, but I\u2019m more confident about where to turn for answers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Aylene Wright: Fascinating CV, Kelsey! First of all, I do wonder, are you yourself a member of the predominant faith of <\/strong>Deseret News<\/strong> subscribers, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, aka the Mormon church? If not, what were the challenges of covering religious stories about a faith that wasn\u2019t your own?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Does your experience on the religion beat now help you on your current beat? I assume it does when the court takes up cases related to religion. But how about other cases?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019m not a Latter-day Saint and, as far as I know, did not meet a Latter-day Saint until I went to grad school. But my lack of knowledge about the church was not a problem when I interviewed for a job at the Deseret News, because they were looking for a religion reporter to cover essentially everything BUT the LDS church. (There was already a reporter assigned to that beat.) I sometimes added references to LDS church history into stories about broader religious themes, but my (Latter-day Saint) editors would help me with that. As you noted, Latter-day Saints comprise a significant portion of the Deseret News\u2019 readership, and I really enjoyed writing for an audience of people who took faith seriously and were passionate about legal issues related to religious freedom.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Speaking of religious freedom, you\u2019re right that what I learned at the Deseret News while covering religion cases serves me well now that I\u2019m at SCOTUSblog. But to be clear, it serves me well across the board, because Supreme Court cases involve the same types of briefs (and same formatting within the briefs) no matter what legal question they raise. In other words, I learned to speak the Supreme Court\u2019s language while covering religion cases, but I can use those same language skills when covering cases about immigration law<\/a>, pesticide labels<\/a>, or the postal service<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Chipwatkins: Did you live in Utah? If so, why did you move to Madison?<\/strong><\/p>\n

John Williamsen: As a born and raised Wisconsinite, I\u2019m interested in why you chose Madison as home.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yes, I lived in Utah for eight years, from 2014 to 2022. I moved there for a Deseret News internship and stayed when Deseret offered me a full-time job. About a year later, in April 2015, I met my husband, Mike, who had moved to Utah in high school from the Midwest and then stuck around for college and the start of his financial career.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mike and I both loved our jobs in Utah, but it never really felt like home. We weren\u2019t as outdoorsy as typical residents, and we also weren\u2019t members of the LDS Church, which was the center of many of our neighbors\u2019 lives. After having our first son, we became less and less satisfied with short trips to see loved ones in Illinois.\u00a0<\/p>\n

What finally pushed us to get serious about moving was a summer road trip through Nebraska. I remember being so happy to see green grass; it made me realize that I was sick of living in the desert, where the grass is brown for much of the year. Mike began applying to a variety of jobs within two or three hours of our families and got an offer from a company in the Madison area. Even though we knew next to nothing about the city, we did know we loved the Wisconsin Badgers and Green Bay Packers, and that was enough for us.\u00a0<\/p>\n

We\u2019re still not as outdoorsy as most of our neighbors, but we\u2019ve fallen in love with this area over the past four years. More importantly, we are now close enough to both of our families that we see them almost once a month.\u00a0<\/p>\n

JohnM.: What are the downsides (if any) to working remotely?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

There are definitely downsides! First and foremost, I am never more than a few steps away from my \u201coffice,\u201d and that blurs the line between my work life and home life. I regularly respond to emails or dive back into writing projects while cooking dinner or after my kids\u2019 bedtimes, and, in general, it\u2019s hard for me to shut down the part of my brain that worries about upcoming deadlines.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I also miss the small talk and casual celebrations that come with office life, like joining a colleague for a quick lunch or sharing donuts for someone\u2019s birthday. Sure, the silence of my house helps me focus, but it can also get lonely. I try to work from a coffee shop once or twice a week to get my fill of noise and chaos.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jacob Barger: What are the best parts of live blog days on <\/strong>SCOTUSblog<\/strong>, and what parts do you find most challenging?<\/strong><\/p>\n

My answer here is related to my answer about the tough parts of remote work: I love live blog days because they\u2019re an opportunity to interact with lots and lots of people! Our SCOTUSblog live bloggers are smart, curious, and funny, and it\u2019s a joy to both learn from them and help them understand the court\u2019s work.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The most challenging part of live blog days is that I have to wear many different hats. I am helping to lead the conversation, posting about new opinions on SCOTUSblog\u2019s social media accounts, updating SCOTUSblog\u2019s case pages, and watching for tech issues on our website and live blogging service\u2014all at the same time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re reading this and have never taken part in an opinion day live blog, plan to join us for one in June! You can find information about upcoming chats on this page<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

H.W.: I\u2019d like to know why you can\u2019t quit watching reality TV. Do you view it as a guilty pleasure or do you watch it unabashedly?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t think of reality TV as a guilty pleasure. I think of it as a hobby and conversation starter. Many of my friends watch the same shows and we discuss them, and I also listen to podcasts that bring the shows into conversation with cultural trends.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Come to think of it, my relationship with reality TV is very similar to my relationship with sports. Both are enjoyable to watch, and both are fun to talk about after the fact.\u00a0<\/p>\n

J. Eric: Do you have any pets?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yes, some (including my parents) might say I actually have too many pets.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mike had a cat (Marvin) when we met, and then we adopted another cat (Gus) together a few months later because we were worried about Marvin being lonely. Marvin is very mellow and cuddly, while Gus is slightly insane, especially when you have food that he wants.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A year after we adopted Gus, Mike surprised me with our first dog, a chihuahua mix named Cheeto. She is my little shadow and is extremely anxious. A few years ago, she had to have some of her bottom teeth removed, and now her tongue hangs out of the gap when she sleeps.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And finally, in 2019, we adopted another chihuahua mix (Franklin) when I was trying to get pregnant and needed something to focus on besides pregnancy tests. He became my second shadow, much to my husband\u2019s chagrin. (It\u2019s okay, Mike. We both know you\u2019re Marvin\u2019s favorite.)<\/p>\n

Thanks for reading this month\u2019s Mailbag<\/strong>! To ensure you\u2019re able to ask questions of podcast and video editor Peter Bonaventure<\/a> next month, become a member today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At the beginning of every month, a different\u00a0Dispatch\u00a0staffer fields questions from members and compiles his or her answers…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":839683,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5135],"tags":[5229,1596,29364,358,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-839682","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-america","tag-dallas","tag-mailbag","tag-texas","tag-tx","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116681929540800575","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/839682","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=839682"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/839682\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/839683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=839682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=839682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=839682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}