#5SmartReads - January 28, 2022

A gentle reminder that you can join the conversation of the day’s reads by clicking the title above and add your thoughts in the comments! My goal for #5SmartReads has always been to start conversations and share our thoughts and perspectives. I hope to see you there!

Patchwork system for rationing a Covid drug sends immunocompromised patients on a ‘Hunger Games hunt’ (STAT)

I have so many conflicting feelings about this article, the strongest being the complete abdication of guidance from our government’s health authorities.

Which sums up healthcare in these United States of America.

I’m still dumbfounded at how a clinic like iCare received so many more doses than major health centers, who’ve had to ration the Evushield (the prophylactic treatment of COVID antibodies for immunocompromised patients), and was quick to judge until I read some of the glowing testimonials for those who were only able to get this therapy through iCare (who are now limiting the therapy to Florida residents only).

This is a pretty significant example of the complicated bureaucracy of this country’s healthcare system, and any major reform needs to untangle these messes very carefully before new policies can actually take effect and achieve what’s intended.

What We Know About the Death of Lauren Smith-Fields (The Cut)

When Gabby Petito disappeared, it dominated the news cycle for days, even up to a week.

Lauren Smith-Fields - who was tragically found dead in her apartment after a date over a month ago - barely garnered any coverage. Until now, as her family seeks justice for what they view as a bungled investigation by law enforcement and are demanding the same attention be given to missing and dead Black and indigenous women as White women receive.

I’m complicit here as well. I didn’t know much about the case until others shared it on social media. This well-reported piece is worthy of your time, attention, and social shares.

Honduras: can first female president usher in a new era for women? (The Guardian)

I certainly hope so.

President Xiomara Castro is taking the helm of a country with the highest rate of femicide and anti-choice reproductive rights in Latin America.

She knows a thing or two about the political climate (her husband, a former president of Honduras, was removed by a military coup). President Castro’s first actions are to undo a ban of emergency contraception, and to begin to restore abortion rights in the country.

I’m going to need the biopic, the television show adaptation, and a book trilogy inspired by President Castro. She’s got a huge job ahead of her, but I’m hopeful she’ll be successful in making Honduras a safer, more secure, and healthier country.

Especially for Honduran girls and women.

Let's Make Sensitive the New Strong (Marie Claire)

There’s a Gloria Steinem quote that’s been my motherhood North Star:

I suspect Emily Tisch Sussman feels the same way about these words as I do, and her essay on how to raise our sons made me feel so seen.

We’ve made great strides to give our girls the books, films, television shows, and role models that show what it means to be strong and ambitious and assertive (I credit Rainbow Brite with much of my early feminist training).

But our boys? Not so much.

I don’t have books to read my sons about how being a sensitive boy is a superpower the way being an ambitious girl is. Jurassic World Camp Cretaceous does have some good role models for him (justice for Ben Pincus and Bumpy the ankylosaurus), and I have problem that he watches it over and over again.

Hey Emily - feel like creating a media empire for our kids?

In one small prarie town, two warring visions of America (Associated Press)

In my fairly liberal bubble in New York, everyone that can be vaccinated and boosted is. We wear our masks, test before gathering, and meet in the frigid temperatures to sip a rapidly cooling coffee or resort to Zoom.

Part of me wonders if these precautions are still necessary, given Omicron’s decline (but a quick chat with my wise friend Dr. Hidalgo reaffirms the need for these measures).

On a macro level, I’m fully aware of the people who think COVID is a hoax and believe vaccines, not the virus itself, cause death. But this article showed me the personal issues that the truth and misinformation have exacerbated.

I really hope we can find a way back from this, where scientists and their decades of experience are respected, that we acknowledge that the only constant in science is CHANGE and to welcome new information, and take care of one another.

A woman can hope.