#5SmartReads - January 4, 2023

Hitha on the economy, why planners are magical, and Illinois' elimination of cash bail

January 04, 2023

You’ve probably seen at least one mention of Damar Hamlin on social media yesterday. Here’s some context as to why:

The safety for the Buffalo Bills suffered a cardiac arrest during the Monday Night Football game after a tackle, with both teams refusing to resume the game after CPR was administered to Hamlin to restore his heartbeat and he was taken to the hospital for further care.

If you want to understand how a tackle could trigger a cardiac arrest, I encourage you to check out Dr. Ali Haider’s Reel explaining commotio cordis and other conditions that could have lead to this heartbreaking event:

What I find alarming is that the NFL expected the game to resume after a short break. It was, in fact, both teams that refused to resume the game - only then did the NFL announce a suspension of the game.

I’m an ardent Eagles fan and have devoted hours of my life watching the NFL, but I have to say that the way the league treats its players in terms of their medical health (CTE is but one example), and that these players are predominantly young Black men, is really disturbing. These men deserve better, and Goddall’s leadership isn’t it.

As a passionate planner dabbler, I felt every single word of this article.

“The real magic in planners, to me, comes in the negative space where I reflect on the past and envision the future. Cracking open a fresh week's layout on a Monday morning and seeing the empty pages expand like a canvas waiting to be filled, the tone of the week yet to be set, the possibilities endless. Organizing disorderly thoughts into orderly lists in the blank space. Starting every year, month and week writing down goals and dreams without limits. Looking back on past victories and failures and memories that may get lost in the daily churn of life.”

Ariana, it’s like you’ve looked inside my brain and organized my feelings so eloquently. And has me putting a Passion Planner on my list after I’ve worked my way through my current Five Minute Journal and Full Focus Planner (pocket edition) - both which I also recommend.

What’s helped me a lot is to use my calendar retroactively, aside from meetings. Those are the only pre-planned things I have on there, and I add what I’ve done to the calendar at the end of every hour to have a clear record of how I’ve spent my time. But my planner and how I feel dictates what I choose to do or work on at the top of every day, and trusting my intuition has been extremely powerful.

Eliminating cash bail was a central tenet of Vice President Harris’ criminal justice reform platform when she was running for President. It’s really inspiring to see states take up that find on their legislative level to begin the slow work of remaking our system to be truly just.

And naturally, women led the fight on this particular win given how they are increasingly affected by cash bail.

““The rate of female incarceration in jails is rising at a much faster rate than we want it to be,” said Sarah Staudt, a former defense attorney who is now the director of policy for the Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts. “We know that bail reform is necessary in terms of making sure that women who are arrested for crimes and have not yet been convicted have access to freedom while they’re fighting their cases.” 

It is also often women — mothers, grandmothers, wives, sisters, girlfriends — who have to come up with the money for their jailed loved ones, which presents a financial burden.”

An equally important factor about this bill is educating the public about this law, which its supporters actively led in canvassing efforts:

““Even in conservative areas that people think are not going to be supportive of a law like this, if you go and talk to people face to face, and really come to them on a level of vulnerability and understanding and saying that you also care about public safety, and you understand their concerns are coming from a place of safety, that they’re really movable and willing to listen,” Lichterman said.”

If you have a book club, I’m nominating that you add You Were Always Mine to your spring selections. Jo Piazza and Christine Pride’s previous book was superb, and I know that this book will change how you see the world the way We Are Not Like Them shifted my own perspective markedly.

Culture has the power to shift public perception in ways that journalism (both reporting standards and the business of news media) cannot or will not. And Pride and Piazza are building on the conversations about race they initiated from their first book and adding the choice and circumstances of who becomes a mother and who does not to it.

But don’t take it from me. Take it from Christine:

“We want to get across just how much more complicated this decision is than I think typically gets presented, right? Because it does become such a binary choice: You become a mother, you don't become a mother. And we wanted to introduce all of the nuance and the shades of gray and get people talking about that. Because I do think that we get so wrapped up in the identity politics of this versus this that, that we don't keep the human being—the woman and child—in the conversation. We want to re-center the conversation on those two people.”

How will the economy fare in 2023? It depends on where you live, and for everyone the next 6 months are predicted to be tough.

But things are predicted to get better in the following six months - and hopefully continue on that path after that.

This article provides one of the best explanations on the state of the global economy and key regions, and what to expect and when. It’s a quick read, and one very worthy of your time. And if you need further explanations of these economic terms, I highly recommend The Balance (one of my favorite finance primers on the Internet).

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