Octavia Butler's prescience, ocean reefs, and the women defending Ukraine#5SmartReads - January 14, 2025
#5SmartReads is a Webby-honored weekly news digest that amplifies underreported news and underrepresented perspectives. My goal is to help you stay informed without being overwhelmed, and to embrace nuance and reflection over picking a side.
California overhauled its insurance system. Then Los Angeles caught fire. (Vox) I have deep, deep issues with insurance as an industry as a whole. And what we’re seeing with dropped or limited coverage in the face of major disasters (the devastation of Hurricane Helene), what’s happening in Los Angeles right now deserves a closer look on how public need and private enterprise is failing to properly serve their purpose. What was meant to protect consumers - California prohibited insurance companies from using catastrophe models to set prices, or to factor in the cost of reinsurance (the insurance bought by insurers to help pay out major claims) - has led to an exodus of insurers from fire-prone areas in California. As California works to bring insurers back to cover fire-prone areas, the reality is that prices will increase - the very issue the state tried to protect their residents from. It’s a terrible, awful paradox with no clear solution (and could get worse - an increase in major disasters could drive insurers to leave high risk areas again). While I wish there were better solutions at the macro level, there are small things you can do within your home - Heather and Douglas Boneparth (Heather is a former insurance attorney) outlines them here:  The Problem With The Title 'Stay-At-Home Mom' (Scary Mommy) “So what do you do?” It’s a loaded question for anyone. And to read how it flustered one of my most composed, confident friends made me feel less alone. It also underscored the need to do better in conversations with new people, and to openly do the work of dismantling old tropes and writing new narratives that accurately describe our reality. That friend I mentioned is Neha Ruch, and she just published her first book, The Power Pause (out today!) Don’t let the pastel cover fool you - this book is a powerful playbook to navigate the gray area of modern motherhood with dignity and ambition. My pauses for family life have been brief ones so far, but also some of the most clarifying and powerful moments in my parenting journey. In reflecting on these pauses and in reading Neha’s book, I can say that I continue to opt out of the mommy wars. I’d rather build in the gray area to support each other in downshifting and returning to work (however that looks for each parent). In equal measure, I will continue to advocate for common sense policies that support modern families (paid leave, affordable childcare and healthcare, clean water and air standards, safe public spaces). There’s beauty and power in the in between. I invite you to join me here (and to join me in conversation with Neha on January 30th, if you’re local to New York!). #5SmartReads is all about helping you feel smarter this week. If you want to feel better but feel overwhelmed on what to do, check out this month’s plan (mindfulness practices, workouts, meals, and more):
Keep reading with a 7-day free trialSubscribe to hitha to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives. A subscription gets you:
|
Octavia Butler's prescience, ocean reefs, and the women defending Ukraine
09:18
0
