#5SmartReads - March 9, 2023

Hitha on the electrical grid, broken heart syndrome, and Black teen girls' brilliance

March 09, 2023

Dr. Shirlene Obuobi is one of those rare people who not just understands all my jobs, AND plots world domination with me on all things publishing, representation, and health.

Women’s cardiac health, specifically.

Takotsubo (also known as broken heart syndrome) is a condition we should all be aware of. It’s diagnosed in up to 10% of women who present with heart attacks and while it’s considered rare, Dr. Obuoubi has seen it several times in the past four years.

Please read (and share!) this article to learn more about this particular cardiac disease, as well as Obuobi’s advice on how to describe your pain to your physicians or in an emergency setting for yourself or the elder women in your life.

And please get a copy of On Rotation, Obuobi’s first novel which is SO SO GOOD.

This is one of the best celebrity profiles I’ve ever read. It’s raw, incredibly vulnerable, and shows the whole Hayden - not just the sliver she (or her publicist/studio) wants to show.

“In therapy, I kept wanting to go back to the beginning of the period of time where I was really happy and healthy,” she says of reprising her role as Kirby Reed in Scream 6. (Hayden has fond memories of filming Scream 4 in 2010 and says she’s still on a text thread with her costars from the movie.)

This time around, though, she and her character have something in common: They’re both survivors. “We saw Kirby get stabbed, but we never saw her die. We didn’t see her rescued either,” Hayden says of her character’s fate. “She has that human trauma, and it’s changed her. That’s something I can obviously relate to.”

Vera did a phenomenal job on this feature, from the writing to creating a safe space for Panettiere open up and share her story openly. I can’t wait to see what Hayden does next.

I had been thinking about the intersection of clinical data, government pressure, and shareholder interests when it came to Walgreens’ announcement that they would not dispense mifepristone over the counter in 20 states - including states where abortion remains legal.

Meg Conley tied these seemingly random threads together into a tight, smart analysis that answers any questions you may have, and presents the case in a unique story that will also enrage you with performative actions at the expense of the reproductive health of Walgreens’ customers with uteruses.

“Walgreens withholding mifepristone from women increases the pain they’ll experience. Women who have medicated abortions using only misoprostal report more vomiting, sometimes to the point of blood vessels bursting in their faces and eyes. But they are still able to have safe abortions. That means that the pain is the point. That pain is induced by a two step protocol of Republicans and Walgreens executives. That induced pain should be included in every single reported piece. When it’s not, every reader should be asking the journalist why they left it out.”

While this decision may impact your choice on which pharmacy to use, I’d love to champion your local, independently owned pharmacy. Capsule is another option I’ve had a great experience with, and it was co-founded by my friend Sonia (one of the smartest people I know).

“Black teenage girls are the invisible tastemakers creating and popularizing some of the biggest trends simply by being their authentic selves. It’s the everyday Black girl, without a platform or the machine of capitalism behind her, who exudes cool without having to try. A tongue-in-cheek line from “Best I Ever Had,” the song that catapulted Drake to the mainstream, is “When my album drop, bitches’ll buy it for the picture, and ni**as’ll buy it too and claim they got it for they sister.” This line encapsulates a pattern in American culture that eventually defines the zeitgeist but is rarely correctly credited.”

Nothing I say about this article will do it justice, so please just read it for yourself.

Here I am, once again, on my soapbox talking about the precious state of our electrical grid in this country.

Like most issues, our grid’s reliability and security has both energy and national security implications, and the recent attacks on the grid show its vulnerability and how primed it is for physical or cyberattacks.

And while local lawmakers are moving rather swiftly in states where their grid has been attacked, Congress is not acting fast enough on something that should get every single member’s vote.

This article is an excellent primer on this topic, and something everyone should read and share because our very lives depend on having reliable electricity.

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