#5SmartReads - July 26, 2022

Hitha on the economy, one significant move to reduce intended pregnancies, and how to care less.

July 26, 2022

‘Weird’ is an understatement for the state of the economy. Paradoxical is more like it, and it may mean we have to update the traditional definition of recession (which is commonly defined by three consecutive months of declining retail sales).

Inflation is still high and the market is volatile, but consumer spending and job growth is strong - hence, paradoxical.

I think it’s prudent to assume that whatever we face, in terms of the economy and the market, can’t be as neatly defined as it used to be. While we may avoid a traditionally defined recession, I do think layoffs are looming and the market will continue to be erratic for some time. But the stabilization of oil and gas prices could harken a stabilization overall.

Time will tell, but I’ll be keeping a close eye on the economy and market over the rest of the year.

“As for whether they plan to start a family in the literal sense, they say, “We’ve already started our family.”

“When it comes to us bonding and creating a foundation, we’re already there,” says Raven. “When it comes to the traditional way of saying, ‘starting a family,’ we haven’t yet. The good thing about our relationship is that there’s no mistakes. There’s no, ‘Oops, I’m pregnant.’ It’s definitely a concrete decision. When we do decide to start, we will have built a nest that we feel is good for offspring of any kind.””

A child of the 80’s and who came of age during Disney Channel’s peak, I feel like I grew up with and both wanted to be Raven-Symoné.

Now, I just want to be her friend, and her wife’s friend (I love their YouTube channel, especially their Kitchen Witches series)

I digress. In “families all look different and deserve the support that straight, white, Christian two-parent households take for granted”, I give you Raven and Miranda and their beautiful life and honesty in showing families all look different, and all deserve the dignity and acceptance we typically reserve for straight couples.

The birth control pill may become prescription-free in the near future. But that’s not enough - it also needs to be free, especially to the people who live in contraceptive deserts and who’ve faced difficulty in getting a birth control prescription in the past.

The impact would be huge - such a pill and access would reduce unintended pregnancies anywhere from 7-25%.

My wise friend Halle makes the case for making the projected OTC pill free, both from a healthcare and an economic perspective. And I couldn’t agree with her more.

If you wonder what’s at stake in the midterms, this is one of those things. Democratic majorities in both the House and the Senate would be likely to pass a much-needed expansion of the Affordable Care Act, and include free access to an OTC pill as a part of it (along with subsidies and other unsexy things that actually reduce health care costs).

Or, you know, we can continue to see our rights stripped away. So please vote (and if you need a place to start, I Am A Voter is a resource to register, check your voter registration, and get your friends to do the same).

Where are my recovering perfectionists/people pleasers/overwhelmed/unfocused people at? This read is FOR YOU.

“Many people’s value and self-worth is intrinsically tied to their jobs. But if you zoom out and consider who you are outside of your job, you may realize other areas of life where you might be lacking, like spending quality time with family or practicing art or music — parts of life you decided you want to prioritize.”

I feel like I’ve been repeating “your worth is not solely your work” over and over again, and this article validates this constant refrain AND is filled with tactical tips to actually decouple ourselves from this narrative, for caring less and being good enough in the things that require them so we have more time and energy to do the things we actually WANT to do.

This is such an important read, especially with how burned out everyone seems to be (I have yet to find someone who isn’t grappling with an emotional tug-of-war or who isn’t at the end of their rope). Carve out some time to read this with your journal at hand, and begin writing what your priorities are, what you want to do, and more importantly what you want to stop obsessing over.

All issues are related. In this case, labor, immigration, and food supply and costs are intertwined in the Farm Workforce Modernization Act - and specifically in one section of the H-2A visa workers.

The fate of the bill has come down to a key issue - should H-2A visa workers be able to sue their employer if they believe labor laws have been broken?

There is a precedent for agricultural workers being able to file a lawsuit against their employer when they believe the law has been broken, as outlined in the Migrant and Seasonal Agriculture Workers Protection Act. But H-2A visa workers were excluded in that bill, hence the debate within this new bill.

Why does it matter? Because there are more H-2A visa workers than ever before, with the number of workers tripled in the past 10 years.

Bills like these rarely get the attention that inflation, the January 6th commission, or reproductive rights are getting right now. And yes, those stories are important and are affecting our day-to-day lives - but so is this. I have some confidence that this will pass with some level of compromise on worker protections, and I hope it helps us grow and harvest more food and give dignified work to those who deserve and have earned it.

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