the economy, emergency departments, and two small things to do for yourself
#5SmartReads - April 16, 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.
What Trump’s Tariffs Mean for One Small Business ()
Politics doesn’t usually come up in the parties I attend. But last week, as we gathered to celebrate Mom Curious’ fourth season, tariffs were the main subject of conversation.
We shared our worst case scenario plans, vented about the recklessness of how these tariffs were introduced, and commiserated. These tariffs will destroy so many small businesses and hurt the economy at all levels.
Just ask Emily Ley, the founder of Simplified. She breaks it all down with
, from how her company first started (and her attempts at domestic manufacturing from the beginning), to how tariffs have impacted her business from Trump’s first term to today.This quote is a heartbreaking one - and the reality for so many business owners in our country right now:
“On a human level, it’s devastating. It’s impacting nine women, many of whom are mothers, who work for a company that they love and that they care about. We have these beautiful quality products that we do really good things with. To me, it feels like the death of my American dream and a whole lot of other people’s.
I had an opportunity back in 2008, to say, “I have this really cool idea and I know it’s going to be a journey to make it, but I’m willing to do the work because I know it’s possible.” I feel like I can’t look at my kids now and say, “Anything is possible.” It’s not with all this.”
I’m proud of Emily for joining the lawsuit filed by the New Civil Liberties Alliance against the Trump administration, specifically on the invalidity of these tariffs (which require Congressional approval in an non-emergency situation - Trump is citing an emergency power in the institution of these tariffs).
If you have funds to spare right now, please consider supporting small businesses whenever you can.
Prompt 331. Five Years Already ()
Last week I had one of those ‘I can’t believe this is my life’ moments. I got to journal with
, one of my favorite writers, at a small book launch pre-party for The Book of Alchemy.I read
for years as I figured out my own journaling practice. There’s something beautifully vulnerable about each post - Suleika’s own reflections about the prompt, meeting incredible people through the prompts, and sitting down with a blank page to let the words flow through me.I remember this prompt from 5 years ago. I was too overwhelmed by the early days of the pandemic - adjusting to remote learning, wondering if our company would survive, the numbing mundanity of every day feeling like the one before - to sit and write this prompt. This prompt found me twice last week - as I was flipping through Suleika’s new book, and again during my Substack reading catchup.
Since then, I’ve been journaling with this prompt a few times. I wrote a letter to one of the fathers I see every Sunday, while our kids are doing karate. I wrote a letter to a elderly couple I passed during a walk in the park.
When I write with this prompt, I feel a gentle wave of empathy washing over me. I feel like the state of things today has hardened my heart and made me more impatient and dismissive, qualities that I don’t recognize and don’t really like about myself. Writing these letters to strangers gently fans the tiny flame of kindness and grace that I’ve hidden deep inside.
Journaling has kept me grounded, but I love that it can catalyze the qualities that I want to cultivate and grow for myself. This prompt is one I’ll be revisiting often, in addition to these:
#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):
Emergency care is at risk: RAND report (Axios)
There is a safety net for healthcare access in the United States - the emergency department.
The Pitt is a fairly accurate portrayal of how emergency departments are delivering a level of care well beyond their expertise and their resources. In addition to tending to urgent cases (heart attacks, accidents), they also deliver care to victims of gun violence and patients with complex mental illness and opioid addiction (many who come through an emergency department regularly).
Despite their growing mandate, staffing, investments and reimbursements for emergency departments are shrinking. These departments are mandated by law to provide care to all that seek it, even if care can be sought elsewhere for a specific medical condition.
Emergency departments are doing a lot more, for a lot less. And given their vital role in our healthcare system, this is very much a life-or-death matter.
So what exactly can we do?
Maryland’s global hospital budget, where the state sets the prices that hospitals can charge for medical care, has shifted the mindset from keeping hospital beds full to keeping them empty. This focus has improved public health investments and expanding programs in the state, and has encouraged greater collaboration among the healthcare sector as a whole. They’ve built upon this program with a total cost of care model, which aims to “reduce hospital visits for six common health issues — substance use disorder, diabetes, hypertension, obesity, smoking, and asthma — in hopes of lowering health care spending overall.”
Public health programs have become a key partner in lowering health care costs. A hypertension patient’s stress skyrocketed because of massive water bills (thousands of dollars a month) she couldn’t afford to pay. When her water was shut off, her stress was at a level that put her at risk for a heart attack or stroke. A local group, Housing Upgrades to Benefit Seniors, sent a plumber who fixed the leak that was the reason behind her water bills.
This program isn’t perfect, but it provides a blueprint for that can be adjusted for any state. And I don’t think we - our society as a whole, and our emergency departments in particular - can afford to wait.
6 Small, Everyday Things Dietitians Wish You’d Stop Doing With Breakfast (SELF)
Prioritizing breakfast has annoyingly improved my quality of life.
I firmly believed that my usual oat milk latte (okay…2 of them) suited me just fine. I still enjoy one first thing in the morning, curled up in bed with a book.
But I also make sure to get one of my fixation breakfasts in my stomach shortly after (jump to the end of this commentary for them).
The health coach I worked with last year was the person who urged me to make breakfast a priority. She rightfully noticed that I tended to miss my protein and fiber targets and that I tended to crave simple carbohydrates by the end of the day.
“Just start your day with something,” she recommended. And her advice is consistent with that of the registered dietitians who were interviewed for this article.
A breakfast that’s high in protein and fiber helped me start my days stronger (with good energy, less brain fog), and I was more likely to hit my macronutrient targets by the end of the day.
Breakfast has also become our family meal of the day. Once my kids have tucked into theirs, I throw mine together and enjoy the morning meal with them (punctuated by the “please sit back down” and “stop torturing your brother”).
Again, I’m annoyed that breakfast has made my days better. Here are some of my favorites (quick, delicious, and make me feel better):
Chobani less sugar yogurt cup with a tablespoon of chia seeds + a bowl of Rice Krispies with 2% milk
Savory yogurt bowl (1 cup of Greek yogurt, 1 tablespoon of chia seeds, 1 AFAR bar, crumbled up and mixed into the yogurt)
A smoothie (1 Blender Bomb, 2 cups protein powder, 1 scoop of AG1, a handful of frozen berries, 2% milk + water)
2 hard boiled eggs topped with chili crisp + furikake, 1 slice of toast with a cottage cheese dip (I blend a container of cottage cheese with whatever flavors I’m craving - kimchi, a dill ranch, salsa) spread on top
Dinner leftovers
A historic Black church took the Proud Boys to court. Now it controls their trademark (Associated Press)
Is there a better example of FAFO? I can’t think of one, nor can I think of something so karmic.
he Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church (Metropolitan AME) is an American institution. The church was founded in 1838, and other AME churches donated funds to construct the Washington church as their national cathedrals. The church has hosted multiple presidents, held the funerals of Fredrick Douglass and Rosa Parks, and now owns the trademark to Proud Boys.
Yes, that Proud Boys. The far-right, neo-fascist militant organization burned down two of the church’s Black Lives Matter banners in December 2020. It was an action that mimicked the cross burnings of the past.
Metropolitan AME bravely sued Proud Boys, and were awarded $2.8M in damages. The militant group naturally refused to pay, and lost their trademark in the process. The church now sells merchandise that mimics the Proud Boys branding emblazoned with “Stay Proud, Stay Black” and continues to pursue their rightful award (only $1,500 has been paid, and the money owned is now $3.1M with interest).
The photographs in this article show a Sunday sermon at Metropolitan AME - both the joy of the weekly service and the sad reality of the church needing continued police and security protection.
Everyone should be free to worship freely and safely, and for their First Amendment rights to be protected. Metropolitan AME fights for the former and bravely demonstrates the latter, with a new Black Lives Matter sign standing boldly in the front of the church.
Now this is America.