#5SmartReads - May 8, 2023

Zara Hanawalt is a freelance journalist covering parenting, women's health, culture, and more. She has written for outlets like Parents, Elle, Shape, Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, Glamour, and more. Zara is a mom to four-year-old twins and a passionate advocate for maternal rights and health. In her spare time, she enjoys travel, cooking, reading, and watching lots of TV.

Do It. Go On A Mom Trip. (Romper)

I've been a mom for four years, and I haven't taken a single mom trip. Trust me, it's not because I don't want to. I'd love to spend a weekend reconnecting with friends in a way that's only truly possible when you're not chasing your young children around in the middle of each conversation.

Yet somehow, every time I even think about planning a trip, I'm overwhelmed by the mental work of planning out logistics and checking schedules (ugh, schedules). Apparently, I'm not the only one who feels this way.

Hopefully this article inspires you to finally plan a mom trip for yourself.

Indian Matchmaking’s “Third World” Montages Highlight What’s Wrong With Representation Today (Vogue)

Indian Matchmaking holds so much promise where representation of South Asians, who are still woefully underrepresented in American media, is concerned. But of course, representation doesn't always mean representation done right.

There's a lot I don't love about this compulsively watchable show — like some of the messages it sends about a country that is so much more than it appears on the show.

In this piece, Darshita Goyal says it best: "Despite this honesty, the series makes a scathing error in its restrictive visual portrayal of India, especially when placed in contrast to the rose-tinted skyscapes of the featured Western cities."

Is Therapy-Speak Making Us Selfish (Bustle)

When did self-preservation veer into selfishness?

I'm not sure, and as a child of immigrants, I've always had a complicated relationship with American hyper-individualism. It's something I've both marveled at and been quite turned off by, sometimes simultaneously. But right now, I feel confident in saying that hyper-individualism has gone too far — and I think therapy speak has something to do with that.

See: The examples in this article.

The New Face Of Alzheimer’s: Early- Stage Patients Who Refuse To Surrender (Washington Post)

There isn't a lot you can do when faced with an Alzheimer's diagnosis. Or is there?

This article shows the nuances of the disease, which doesn't always look the way it does in movies, by highlighting the ways in which some early-stage sufferers are facing Alzheimer's on their own terms.

In Defense Of Birthday Monsters Everywhere (Wondermind)

As a kid growing up in a Muslim family, I didn't celebrate holidays like Christmas or Easter at home. The holidays that held significance within my family weren't even acknowledged by the outside world. But I always had my birthday, and I celebrated the heck out of it.

Now, I keep birthday celebrations simple and certainly don't extend the celebrations beyond that one day, but I do like to feel special on my birthday and I love make the people I love feel special on theirs. That's not a bad thing. So let's stop shaming 'birthday monsters', okay?