#5SmartReads - April 5, 2022

Hitha on Pakistan, the price of bacon, and Lara Condor

April 05, 2022

I do want to remind you that there are still significant funds from the American Rescue Plan still in the hands of local and state governments for COVID response, so check to see if public hospitals are still offering free testing and libraries and other public places are giving away tests - I know they are in New York City!

That said, we are still very much in an active pandemic and the BA.2 subvariant is driving a new wave of infection, and it’s high time that local and state governments invest these funds in a robust response, especially to the communities most in need.

And truth be told, much of the federal response to COVID is unwinding due to new funds not being authorized by Congress, and those most in need will feel it the hardest.

I’ve often wondered how Eva Chen does all the things she does - her senior role at Instagram, writing the books that my kids and I love reading, and parenting her three children.

Thanks to Verywell Family, I have all the refreshingly frank answers and a much-needed reminder that this season - the toddler & kid season, the scaling a business season, the ‘still figuring out what I want to do when I grow up’ season - has a magic that I will miss out on if I keep waiting for some arbitrary day in the future.

Also, starting to make overnight oats and investing in more soups.

How much do you pay for your food? I think a lot more about the total cost of my food - the farms it was grown on and the people who work to grow and harvest that food, how it’s transported, and finally packaged and sold - thanks to my friend Jonah.

And this difficult - but incredibly important - article.

“I won’t be happy until this industry makes some significant changes where no one has to live under these kinds of conditions, where we can’t just simply enjoy our God-given rights, our right to clean air and clean water, the right to eat safe food,” Herring told me about a year before she died.

We all have a right to these things - and they should be equitable, not just equal in rights alone. And for so many people of color, that equity is what’s missing.

While most of the world was swooning over Noah Centineo with the release of To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before, I found my younger self (albeit one with far more game) in Lana Condor.

Whatever she is in, I will watch. And I was absolutely delighted by her latest film, Moonshot.

A space rom-com? Yes, and it was excellent and what Passengers should have been. The film relegated the men to one-dimensional tropes and reserved the hilarious one-liners and deeper characters for the women (which was refreshing, and a little jarring). And Lana shined.

Read this (spoiler-free!) interview before you watch the film, which was a joy.

While our attention is drawn to books being banned, whole existences being denied to be discussed in certain states, critical healthcare rights about to be denied to over 50% of the United States, and a sovereign nation fights of a bloodthirsty tyrant…

Well, we have Pakistani Prime Minister doing everything he can to stay in power, despite increasing opposition to his remaining in power.

Just another day on Earth in the 21st century…

Reply

or to participate.