5SR - January 22, 2024

Today’s #5SmartReads contributor is Marisa, a corporate account executive by day, a freelance writer and #5SmartReads contributor by night, and a mom 24/7. She writes and shares about parenting and policy as well as travel and all things local to her adopted hometown of Kansas City, Missouri, which lately means ESPECIALLY Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce (can't say you weren't warned).

Intrigue’s 2023 in Review (Intrigue)

I like to take stock of things in January - not just my own personal and professional life in a "new year's resolutions" kind of way, but also the world at large - where we've been and where we are and where we might be going.

For 2023, this summary from International Intrigue is a good place to start - it highlights news from the past 12 months that isn't necessarily dominating the current news cycle, and helps you place current news in the context of broader categories for the year.

Rizz, the word of the year, explained (Vox)

You really can't make this stuff up: "rizz" is the word of the year, according to none other than Oxford University Press. But if you're sitting solidly in your late 30s like yours truly, you probably have no idea what it means. Now you do. You're welcome. :-)

How Taylor Swift & Travis Kelce’s Romance is Boosting Kansas City’s Economy (Billboard)

This might be incredibly niche content, but I. AM. (unapologetically) HERE. FOR. IT. Seeing the way the Taylor Swift/Travis Kelce relationship has enlivened this city is absolutely one of the highlights of my year - and as our great mayor Quinton Lucas put it,

The Rise of the Accidentally Permissive Parent (The Cut)

Ooooof... my husband and I were just chatting about this because (and this is the nicest way I can put this)... my five year old daughter can be a bit... ahem..."unruly."

We started out with the best intentions to offer firm boundaries with freedom inside those boundaries a la "Bringing up Bebe" and have found ourselves sandwiched somewhere with Dr. Becky and Big Little Feelings on one side and a very stubborn, selectively deaf child on the other. I have no answers to this conundrum, for myself or for you, but I guess it's nice to know that you're not alone???

‘I guess I’m never going to see you again’: How I learned to appreciate last moments (The Guardian)

Speaking of that unruly (but truly beloved) child, she told me last night that she doesn't want to eat breakfast with Daddy anymore, she wants to eat by herself... because she's a big kid now. This is the first time she's verbalized a concrete finish for one of the many "lasts" that occur with parenthood, and her doing so was incredibly bittersweet and poignant.

These are things I think about a lot in relationship to parenting, but this article made me think about it more broadly - was my last time bopping from my hotel at 47th and Lex to Grand Central my last time in New York... EVER? Was my only trip to Paris, in 2014, the only one I will ever have? Was my last happy hour with friends the final time that specific group will be together? And so forth and so on, which is good food for thought as we close out last year and begin this one.

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