5SR - October 5, 2023

Today’s #5SmartReads contributor is Madison T. Clark! She is a full-time freelance writer, part-time college counselor, and founder of the newly launched Grief Cards, a company that makes sympathy cards that don't suck.

She Wasn’t Able To Get An Abortion. Now She’s A Mom. Soon She’ll Start 7th Grade. (TIME)

When I was in seventh grade, my history teacher had a full-sized suit of armor outside of her door; I used a Halloween parade as an excuse to wear my competitive softball uniform to school; I was super into dissections in my advanced science class. My biggest concerns were peeking over at the brown-haired boy in my math class - and the debilitating cramps and severe nausea that came alongside my period each month.

I truly cannot imagine being pregnant at that age. And as much as I know that this, this archaic excuse for healthcare, is the reality of my home country today - it is still hard to process that this young girl not only experienced sexual violence, but also ended up pregnant because of it, and had no alternative apart from giving birth nine months later.

I Asked 65 Teens How They Felt About Being Online (The Cut)

Today, young people are the first generation growing up fully entrenched in social media - through their own decisions and/or the decisions their parents made during their childhoods. Since social media is often painted as wholly negative, the nuances of the topic are overlooked just as often, whether it’s for a platform’s use, application, dopamine delivery, etc.

I think it’s important to keep in mind that young people are thinking through the nuances of social media far more than society gives them credit for. Hearing directly from students, of varying ages and backgrounds, who are using social platforms for the full gamut of purposes - this is the level of nuance and perspective that I hope we add to every media conversation as we move forward.

What $500 Means To Zinida Moore (Publication)

Guaranteed income (also known as universal basic income or UBI) programs have the potential to change millions of lives across the United States - especially in cases where there are no stipulations for how the funds can be spent or saved. This theory is not new; it dates back to at least the 18th century, and a version of it is present in the Christian bible’s concept of a ‘jubilee year.’

Can UBI bring about the end of poverty in the U.S.? No. Does it have the potential to transform a financial situation from day-to-day stress to paying bills on time, setting aside savings, and being able to afford some so-called ‘non-essentials? Just ask Moore:

The Quest To Pick Up The Lost Lifting Stones Of Ireland (GQ)

Yes, I am grumpy that I didn’t know about the Lifting Stones of Ireland until recently, after having lived on that island for nearly three years. But I digress.

This piece is an engaging deep dive into the mission that ‘Indiana Stones’ has taken on: To not only hunt down the lost Lifting Stones, but to lift them himself, too. It reads like an ongoing adventure consisting only of side quests, complete with a supportive peanut gallery of people all over the island and internationally. It’s the perfect piece to read with a warm drink, reveling in how many histories exist that we haven’t individually learned about yet.

I’m A Great Cook. Now That I’m Divorced, I’m Never Making Dinner For A Man Again (Glamour)

Lyz Lenz’s newsletter, Men Yell At Me, is one of my favorite things on the entire internet. So when this 2018 piece of hers came through my inbox unexpectedly, I was SO excited to read it. I was definitely not disappointed, and this quote has stuck with me since: