#5SmartReads - June 10, 2022

Hitha on January 6th, an unseen problem in current gun control policies, and the benefit of being a hot mess

June 10, 2022

January 6, 2021 feels like a lifetime ago.

But a lot has happened since that tragic day, in terms of investigation (as the primetime hearings began yesterday) and in the charges filed against the insurrectionists.

Most of the 300+ guilty pleas have been for misdemeanor charges. Seditious conspiracy, however, is a serious charge that 3 members of the Oath Keepers have plead guilty to.

Even though time has blurred the details of the day, it bears reminding that there was an attempted coup against our government less than two years ago, and we stand to face future challenges to our democracy if we forget what happened on that day, and don’t stay engaged in this ongoing investigation and story.

When I have a beauty question, the first person I turn to is Brooke DeVard Ozaydinli and her phenomenal podcast, Naked Beauty.

I go to her microblading artist, cover my undereye circles with Kosas concealer because of her, and have bookmarked all her Istanbul recommendations for that day in the future I finally get to visit.

I’ve also bookmarked every single product she mentions here, because if I have to wear makeup, a no-makeup bronzy glow is exactly the look I want.

Come for the great product recommendations, stay for Brooke’s commentary on the science and culture of beauty (and subscribe to her podcast while you’re at it).

COVID is a part of our daily lives, and will be yet another virus we live with alongside the cold and the flu.

How we live with COVID (and also develop a standard of care for those with long COVID - another story entirely) is something the FDA and public health officials are focused on, and the FDA’s advisory committee hearing on June 28th to discuss variant-specific boosters is going to determine where we go.

Based on the limited data released by Moderna, their bivalent vaccine (which contains mRNA coding for the spike protein for both the original strain and the Omicron strain) looks effective.

As always, I will wait for the full data to be released and the assessments by wise friends like Liz and Laurel, and will look to see if these boosters are distributed and administered equitably and that they are funded by the government for every resident to receive one.

How many fellow millennials are self-proclaimed hot messes? *raises hand*

It’s not just you. It’s actually psychology.

“It is a well-studied phenomenon in psychology that if a person is healthy and normal—not a narcissist or a sociopath—she tends to focus more on her worst characteristics than her best. Most people experience self-criticism in two ways. First, there is comparative self-criticism, in which they contrast themselves negatively with others, whom they conclude are superior. Second, there is internalized self-criticism, in which they don’t live up to their own high personal standards and expectations and thus experience a lot of daily failure.”

I feel both attacked and comforted that I’m not the only one and that this is something I have to unlearn. But once I do, I apparently will enjoy my life more.

And I WANT THAT.

I will leave the wise Arthur C. Brooks to explain this in greater detail.

“After the recent shooting in Uvalde, Texas, the state’s Attorney General, Ken Paxton, recommended arming teachers as the “best answer” for preventing tragedies like that one. Rather than pass common-sense gun reform, they pass off the responsibility of protection onto each person, individually. But that doesn’t work for people like me, and other disabled people, who cannot protect themselves.”

If there’s one article you read today, make it Heather Tomko’s important essay about how our current gun control policies - and honestly, so many things we accept as normal - are ableist.

And go follow her on Instagram, because she’s brilliant and wonderful and I adore her.

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