#5SmartReads - January 5, 2022

This Self-Taught Vegan Chef Applied Her Travels Toward Her New Cookbook (Forbes)

Are you following Priyanka Naik?

The woman has multi-hyphenate GAME.

She works full-time at a technology company, is a self-taught vegan chef who has won multiple competitions, brings delicious vegan recipes and accessible sustainability advice to her Instagram, AND she just published the most delicious cookbook.

Plus, she’s really, really cool. And the way she speaks about her heritage - and being Maharashtrian, specifically (India is a big country) - has really inspired me in opening up more about being Telugu and my husband being Tamil.

I’m thrilled to see her rise documented in this thoughtful interview, and cannot wait to see what she does - or cooks! - next.

Also, please get her cookbook (and then leave it a review!). It’s the most delicious way to add more plant-based meals to your diet.

The Good Coup (The Bulwark)

It’s not an understatement to claim that we very nearly had a coup in our last presidential election.

Had Peter Navarro’s - the former advisor to the former president - plan been followed, just a few states could have not certified their electoral college vote, denying Biden-Harris those votes. And what happens then?

The House of Representatives decides. And not one vote per representative, but one vote per state’s delegation.

And if you read Carpenter’s analysis of Navarro’s own words - from his book and interviews he granted - that was the whole point. To pursue a good coup, which he blames the insurrectionists for foiling.

This is what worries me about the next election…and the one after that…and the one after that. What happens when we have a competent autocrat?

The big-ticket drugs that have higher prices in 2022 (Axios)

A gentle reminder that list prices are not the same as what or your insurer or their pharmacy benefits manager pays (though more transparency would be a welcome and what I hope a bipartisan change).

What’s newsworthy about this is actually nothing at all - this happens every single year, but you may not necessarily hear about it.

With the exception of OxyContin (which, after reading the Sackler book, I’m disgusted by), these medications are biologics that have development budgets in the upper hundreds of millions of dollars (along with this same figure spent for programs that fail throughout the development cycle).

This is not a rationalization - especially in a time when Epi-Pens and insulin are priced for shareholder benefit and not patient benefit), but an explanation on why drug prices go up.

These are complex drugs to manufacture. Raw material costs, manufacturing costs, and even the costs of vials and filling needles and packaging have all increased in the past year. I hope this sheds some light on a really complicated industry that is obscure by design - and if you have any questions about it, click over to the #5SmartReads site and leave them in this post’s comments. Always happy to help.

Rhode Island lawmakers vote to spend pandemic relief funds (AP News)

As schools and businesses scramble for tests and facilities upgrades to protect their residents against Omicron, you might be wondering where the funds from the American Rescue Plan are.

For some states - like Rhode Island - they’re being decided on how they should be used.

If you’re aghast at your local community or state’s response to Omicron, your local and state representatives are the ones to ask. Do a quick Google search to see how much of the COVID relief funds have been distributed - if only some or none have made it to the people who need it, this is where your voice - and the voice of your neighbors and friends - matters.

And this is why it’s important to vote in every single election, local to presidential. ESPECIALLY the local ones, which affect your daily life a lot more than what happens in Congress or the White House.

What Happens When You Stop Multitasking (Goop)

My friend Thatcher - who I was honored to join in Boulder last month - wrote a book that will change your life.

I’m serious.

The Twelve Monotasks is a actionable, simple approach to stop being a slave to your devices and to start living your life.

I can attest to this first hand, having spent time with Thatcher before and after our event. He was fully present, asked really insightful questions, remembered random details I mentioned later in our conversation, and made me feel important.

Isn’t that how we all want to feel?

I admittedly can’t break my multitasking habit when it comes to walking (I watch an episode of Succession while on the treadmill every day), but I do monotask my reading time, my play time (I love my crafts!), and increasingly my listening time (I try to close out of all windows and apps during a Zoom call and take handwritten notes if I hear something I want to follow up on or recall).

Eating…I could use some work on. Baby steps.

Enjoy this excerpt of this smart book, and order (and review!) your copy here. You can also follow @monotasking.tips for more advice on how to monotask better.

If you read We’re Speaking (and hopefully loved it!), PLEASE leave it a review! Reviews influence purchasing decisions, which affect rankings which are deeply superficial but somehow still matter to me. I’m not that evolved (and the 1 star review that 7 people found helpful still stings). Please leave a review on Amazon and Goodreads, if you can!