波士顿市长吴弭怀孕，预计 1 月份生第三个孩子
【中美创新时报2024 年 7 月 22 日编译讯】（记者温友平编译）波士顿市长吴弭怀孕了，计划在 1 月份迎来她的第三个孩子，一个女孩，她在周一接受《波士顿环球报》的独家采访时宣布了这一消息。吴弭的竞选团队周一晚上向支持者发送了一封电子邮件，分享了这一消息。
《波士顿环球报》记者妮基·格里斯沃尔德（Niki Griswold）对此作了下述报道。
吴弭说，她、她的丈夫和两个年幼的儿子很高兴能扩大他们的家庭。吴弭是第一位当选市政厅领导的女性、有色人种和母亲——也是近一个世纪以来最年轻的——39 岁的吴弭强调，她的怀孕不会影响她明年竞选连任的决定。
“我计划参选，我们会在适当的时候宣布正式启动竞选活动，”吴弭说。“但还有很多工作要做，如果说有什么不同的话，那就是这个令人兴奋的消息给了我更多的动力和决心，让我们展示波士顿的可能性，而此时此刻，我们的行动需要成为我们城市之外的榜样。”
吴弭说，这次怀孕比她以前的经历更困难。在怀孕的前三个月，她忍受的晨吐比生布雷斯（Blaise）和卡斯（Cass ）时要严重得多。
最近进入怀孕中期，她得到了缓解，而且不仅仅是身体症状的缓解。吴弭说，在生下小儿子 Cass 和这次怀孕之间，她和丈夫经历了两次流产的心碎。吴弭从未正式与公众分享过她的流产经历。
“前两次怀孕相对而言非常轻松、非常顺利。两次都来得很快，而且就在我们希望的时候，”吴弭说。 “我现在感觉很幸运，尤其是我知道了另一种选择……从某种程度上来说，正因为如此，我既兴奋又紧张。”
担任公职的同时还要抚养年幼的孩子，这对吴弭来说是熟悉的领域。她是政治界女性先锋的一员，她们不顾要求她们隐藏性别和母性的陈旧规则，以免疏远那些习惯于只将某一类候选人视为可当选的选民。
相反，吴弭在她的整个政治生涯中，一直以自己作为母亲和照顾者的经历为中心，包括在市议会会议期间母乳喂养刚出生的儿子，以应对职业母亲面临的挑战。这种强调已成为她政治身份和政策平台的一个关键组成部分，推动她努力扩大儿童保育和育儿假的覆盖面，解决波士顿公立学校长期存在的问题，并为在职父母和家庭提供更多支持。
“多年来，全市居民都看到我以各种方式兼顾一切，这是许多家庭必须找到兼顾和平衡的方法的经历，”吴弭说。
20 多岁时，她首次成为一名看护者，当时她母亲的精神疾病促使吴弭承担起照顾她和两个妹妹的责任，包括成为她最小妹妹的监护人。2014 年底，她生下了第一个儿子，现在 9 岁的 Blaise，这是她担任波士顿市议员的第一年。第二年，她成功地带头推动了一项运动，即在生育或收养孩子或经历流产后为市政府员工提供六周的带薪育儿假。
在担任市议会主席期间，吴于 2017 年生下了第二个儿子，现在 7 岁的 Cass。大约四个月后，她赢得了市议会第二任期的连任。
“拥有强大的支持网络和身处这座神奇的城市，这一切都不同了，”她说。 “在生完孩子后的一年内，我参加了两次全市范围的活动，结果都很好。”
吴弭说，就像她的两个儿子出生一样，她不打算休产假，尽管她努力让市政工作人员可以选择休产假。她说，儿子出生后，她“马上就回到了工作岗位”，及时赶上下一次议会会议。在她赢得市长选举后，她的丈夫康纳·佩瓦斯基选择辞去银行社区贷款人的工作，留在家里照顾孩子。吴弭作为市长的年薪为 20.7 万美元。
“考虑到工作性质和工作内容……我计划继续担任这一职务，并与我的团队合作，以便我们能够做出可能需要的任何调整，甚至是细微的调整，”她说。
在担任市长期间，吴弭女士推出了一个网站，帮助家庭在波士顿寻找和报名参加儿童保育服务，扩大了学前班和青少年就业计划，并投资了波士顿公立学校的暑期和周末计划。
吴弭说，她试图获取或利用这些资源的个人经历对她作为城市首席执行官的工作方式产生了很大的影响。
“任何民选官员的工作都是试图真正了解选民的经历，并尽可能将其转化为我们可以通过政策、资源或其他行动实现的改进，”吴女士说。“当我听到妈妈、爸爸和家人的故事时，我确实产生了特别的共鸣，他们愿意分享他们所经历的事情，因为他们知道我理解他们，这可能是这份工作最有意义和最令人谦卑的部分。”
吴弭女士说，她试图在所有问题上采取以家庭为导向的政策，甚至包括交通、住房和公共安全。她的办公室最近与当地供应商合作，为想要参加警察学院的在职父母提供儿童保育服务。
“以前从未有人考虑过担任这种工作，担任这种角色，但能实现这一点令人兴奋，”她说。
虽然没有对手在明年的选举中正式发起反对吴弭的竞选活动，但关于谁会这样做的猜测让谣言四起。亿万富翁爱国者队老板罗伯特·克拉夫特的小儿子乔希·克拉夫特的亲信表示，他正在考虑挑战，并将寻求建立一个对吴弭最近的一些举措感到失望的团体联盟，例如她最近的财产税分类提案。
“他们是小男孩，他们更感兴趣的是解释帆船训练营的情况，[或者]我们今天是否可以去 Y 游泳。这在他们日常生活的大部分时间里并不重要，”吴弭笑着说。“但我知道他们会成为非常棒的大哥哥，他们似乎也对这部分感到兴奋。”
她说，她的小儿子卡斯对即将到来的变革的一个特定方面很感兴趣。
她说，他“有点厌倦只做弟弟，所以他期待着获得额外的头衔。”
题图：吴弭市长在米高梅音乐厅发表市情咨文之前，在后台看着她的儿子 Blaise（右）和 Cass 玩弹球。DANIELLE PARHIZKARAN/GLOBE STAFF
附原英文报道：
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu pregnant, expecting third child in January
By Niki Griswold Globe Staff,Updated July 22, 2024
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu is pregnant and planning to welcome her third child, a girl, in January, she announced in an exclusive interview with The Boston Globe Monday. Wu’s campaign later sent out an email to supporters Monday evening sharing the news.
Wu said she, her husband, and two young sons are thrilled to be expanding their family. The first woman, person of color, and mother elected to lead City Hall — and also the youngest in nearly a century — Wu, 39, emphasized that her pregnancy would not influence her decision to run for reelection next year.
“I plan to run, and we’ll make an announcement when the time is right about the formal launch of a campaign,” Wu said. “But there’s a lot of work to do, and if anything, this exciting news gives me even more motivation and determination that we have to show what’s possible in Boston at a time where our action is needed as an example far beyond our city.”
This pregnancy has been more difficult than her earlier experiences, Wu said. In the first trimester, she endured much more intense morning sickness than she had with Blaise and Cass.
Entering her second trimester recently brought relief, and not just of her physical symptoms. Wu said she and her husband experienced the heartbreak of two miscarriages in between having their younger son, Cass, and this pregnancy. Wu has never formally shared her experiences of pregnancy loss with the public.
“The first two pregnancies were, relatively speaking, very easy and very smooth. Both kind of happened pretty quickly and right when we were hoping for them,” said Wu. “I feel so lucky now, especially that I know kind of what the alternative can be. . . . In some ways, because of that, it is both more exciting and also more nerve wracking.”
Navigating public office while raising young children is familiar territory for Wu. She is part of a vanguard of women in politics who’ve defied well-worn rules demanding they hide their gender and their motherhood, lest they alienate voters conditioned to see only a certain type of candidate as electable.
Instead, Wu throughout her political career has centered her own experience as a mother and caregiver, including breastfeeding her newborn sons during City Council meetings, to address the challenges working mothers face. That emphasis has formed a key component of her political identity and policy platform, driving her efforts to expand access to child care and parental leave, tackle long-standing problems within Boston Public Schools, and provide more support for working parents and families.
“Residents across the city have seen me doing the juggle for many years and in various ways, and it’s an experience that so many families have to find a way to juggle and to balance,” Wu said.
She first became a caregiver in her early 20s, when her mother’s mental illness prompted Wu to take responsibility for her and her two younger sisters, including becoming her youngest sister’s guardian. She had her first son, now 9-year-old Blaise, at the end of 2014, her first year as a Boston city councilor. The following year she successfully spearheaded a push to give city employees six weeks of paid parental leave after the birth or adoption of a child, or experiencing pregnancy loss.
During her time as City Council president, Wu gave birth to her second son, now 7-year-old Cass, in 2017. She won reelection for her second term on the council about four months later.
“Having a great support network and being in this amazing city makes all the difference,” she said. “I have been through two citywide campaigns within a year of having a baby, and both turned out great.”
As with the birth of her two sons, Wu said, she doesn’t intend to take maternity leave despite her push to make that an option for municipal workers. She said that after her sons were born she went “right back on the job,” returning in time for the next council meeting. After she won her mayoral election, her husband, Conor Pewarski, opted to leave his job as a community lender at a bank to stay at home with their kids. Wu earns an annual salary of $207,000 as mayor.
“Given the nature of the work and the job . . . I plan to continue serving in this role and working with my team so that we can make whatever adjustments, slight adjustments, might be needed,” she said.
In her time as mayor, Wu launched a website to help families find and enroll in child-care options around Boston, expanded pre-K and youth job programs, and invested in BPS summer and weekend programming.
Wu said her personal experiences trying to access or navigate those resources strongly influences how she approaches her work as the city’s chief executive.
“The job of any elected official is to try to really understand the experiences of their constituents, and wherever possible, to translate that into improvements that we can make through policy or resources or other actions,” said Wu. “It does bring special resonance when I get to hear the stories of moms and dads and families who feel comfortable enough to share what they’ve been going through, because they know that I get it, and that might be the most meaningful and humbling part of the job.”
Wu said she tries to take a family-oriented approach to her policies on all issues, even transportation, housing, and public safety. Her office recently worked with local providers to offer child care for working parents who want to participate in the police academy.
“It’s never been on the radar before for that kind of job, in that kind of role, but it was exciting to make that happen,” she said.
While no opponents have formally launched campaigns against Wu in next year’s election, speculation on who might do so has kept the rumor mill churning. People close to Josh Kraft, the younger son of billionaire Patriots owner Robert Kraft, indicate he is weighing a challenge and would seek to build a coalition of groups frustrated with some of Wu’s recent initiatives, such as her recent property tax classification proposal.
“They’re little boys who are much more interested in explaining how sailing camp went, [or] whether we can go to the Y to go swimming today. It doesn’t really register for most of their daily existence,” Wu said laughing. “But I know they’re going to be really wonderful big brothers, and they seem excited about that part of it too.”
She said her younger son, Cass, is keen on one particular aspect of the coming change.
He “is kind of tired of just being a little brother,” she said, “so he’s looking forward to getting the extra title.”
