#5SmartReads - November 9, 2021

Hitha on infrastructure, colorism, and what working motherhood really looks like

November 09, 2021

Filed under ‘good news you don’t hear about.’

Yes, supply chain issues still exist, which contributes to higher costs and lack of supply on a number of things, which is also driving inflation.

But here’s the rub - wages are up, more jobs are being created and the unemployment rate is below 5%, and more wealth is in the hands of those that need it the most.

But turn on the news and it’s all doom and gloom. Which is why I caution against watching the news, and to read it instead.

“I was well aware that the tips and tricks I dispensed were mere Band-Aids on a gaping wound in a country without paid maternity leave, paid sick days or affordable child care. But short of the revolution which has yet to materialize, something has to suffice for working moms.”

…and this was how Audrey Goodson Kingo felt BEFORE the pandemic. During (because we are very much still in it), it meant resigning from the publication that she had aptly run for years.

I want to scream.

Our infrastructure isn’t just old. It’s falling apart.

11/17 categories - including aviation, dams, roads, wastewater, and transit - were graded a D. And if this bill hadn’t passed, it would continue to grow the average $3,300 a family spends a year based on infrastructure failures.

Now, this bill will not singlehandedly fix our crumbling infrastructure. It’s insane to think we need more than $1.5 trillion to repair and proactively invest in projects before they crumble. And while that’s likely to not happen, this is a start.

Now fix the damn electrical grid please.

“Hollywood may think that colorism pays, but the truth is that it almost always compromises the authenticity of a project. In the case of The Harder They Fall, it takes away from the beauty of this rich celebration of Blackness, reminding us that even in the imaginary, dark-skinned Black women are considered replaceable. And ultimately, that is a fatal flaw.”

I’m glad we’re talking about colorism more, but I wish more was being done about it, by ALL.

The Harder They Fall is absolutely brilliant (speaking from someone who doesn’t watch too many Westerns), but in researching the incomparable Stagecoach Mary, I wonder if the film would’ve been stronger with an actress who looked more like her.

The devil is in the details when it comes to contracts, and Moderna was the big winner in negotiating a supply contract for its COVID vaccine with the Trump administration.

Specifically, the government agreed to granting Moderna full ownership of the technology (even though it had been jointly developed with the NIH and lucratively funded by the government - no profit share) and that the US government would not be able to share any of their doses with the rest of the world (meaning Moderna could negotiate its own prices to sell in international markets).

You know what happens next.

Now, Moderna has initiated technology transfer at manufacturing sites around the world to supply the rest of the world with their vaccine. But it also transformed from a company on life support to one valued at $140B.

Reply

or to participate.