#5SmartReads - March 10, 2023

A frequent Smart Reads contributor, Shibani is an avid reader. Romance is her favorite genre although she does enjoy a good litfic [literary fiction] and thriller every now and then. She reviews her reads on her blog.

The Mystery of North America’s Missing Eastern Dinosaurs (BBC Future)

This is a slightly long read, so get your favorite beverage and get comfortable.

"Hidden beneath North America is a secret past. For 27 million years in the Late Cretaceous, it was cleaved into two pieces. In the west was the ancient continent of Laramidia. In the east, the long-vanished continent of Appalachia. Between them was a shallow, predator-infested sea, the Western Interior Seaway." This is a story of lost dinosaurs!!! Science is so cool!!!

Is ‘Quiet Thriving’ The New Workplace Trend We Should All Be Channeling (Glamour)

After "quiet quitting" and "quiet hiring" and "quiet firing", finally a "quiet" trend I can get behind.

Coined by psychotherapist Lelsey Alderman in an article for The Washington Post, the term quiet thriving means actively making changes to your work day in order to shift your mental state and help you feel more engaged in your job.

The High Cost Of Conversation From Cuyahoga County Jail (The Marshall Plan)

Ever since I watched 13 and listened to season 3 of Serial, I’ve become more aware of and attentive to our Criminal Justice System. Some parts of the system as unnecessarily cruel, and the exorbitantly high cost of phone calls is one of those things.

Stepping Into The Uncanny, Unsettling World Of Shen Yun (The New Yorker)

It's the time of year when you're seeing the Shen Yun flyers everywhere!! They always make me think of Episode 1 of Sherlock (the BBC version), and although I've never been, I'm fascinated by it.

What it is really about: Is it a dance troupe? A cult?

 The Seven-Decad-Old Miss Universe Pageant Tries To Turn Over A New Leaf (Yahoo! Finance)

As always, I like to end these with something fun, and this new direction for Miss Universe, now under new ownership, is a reason to celebrate!

The pageant was bought by Thai media tycoon Anne Jakkaphong Jakrajutatip, a trans woman who is the CEO of Thailand-based media distribution company JKN Global Group.