5SR - April 15, 2024
Hitha on the trades, measles, and the fangirl economy
A quick refresher - I’m Hitha Palepu, the founder of #5SmartReads. If you’d like to connect with me elsewhere, I’m most active on Instagram and write a weekly newsletter about smart, random things (check out the most recent issue).
Trades make a comeback with Gen Z workers (Axios)
Here’s some hopeful news amidst the mess of the news cycle - the rise of Gen Z entering the trades.
Vocational programs enrollment increased by 16% last year, as enrollment in community and four-year colleges dropped. More importantly, trade workers have a median age of high 30s to mid 40s.
And with the rise of AI, these careers seem to offer more stability than office careers. And that’s the pitch that leaders in this sector are making:
His [Nick Largura, CEO of Superior Construction] pitch to Gen Z workers is two-fold: Construction, like many other trades, is an industry that isn't going anywhere, despite fears about how AI will wipe out jobs across sectors. And "you get to see a physical product at the end of the day as a result of your work."
Sorry, Wall Street: Fangirls Run The Economy (Bustle)
Ignore the infantilizing use of “girl” and come for this smart read, which demonstrates the power of this economic sector - and how they’ve wielded their power.
I appreciate that this article delved deeper than the economic impact of Beyoncé and Taylor Swift’s tours, and analyzed different fandoms that were created and supported by passionate women fans, from fanfic to lesser known music artists to authors.
More importantly, these groups of fans know how much power they wield, and are more critical than other high growth consumer groups. Beyond the artist and brand themselves, these fans are critical of the marketing and press surrounding the subject of the fandom (and the fandom themselves).
if your morning needs a boost, this playlist (which was from one of my favorite yoga practices with
) will put you in a happy, calm stateThe shadow war between Iran and Israel has been exposed. What happens next? (Associated Press)
Continuing with my “no commentary, please just read” policy on this subject. This is a very timely and important read.
If there’s a fangirl economy that I’m a member (nay, the leader of), it’s the
-verse and I’m the president, thank you very much.The Sicilian Inheritance is my favorite Piazza book (something I say every time she publishes a new book, but this truly is one of my favorite books - ever). She’s been relentlessly brilliant in marketing this book, and did not shy away from her goal of making the bestseller list.
When it didn’t happen, she didn’t hide under the covers and eat pints of ice cream like I would’ve. She wrote an incredibly healing piece on her Substack that I wish I had 3 years ago, when We’re Speaking came out:
“I know a lot of authors probably don’t want to talk about this, not hitting a fancy list, but we always see posts when authors make a list and not enough of them when they don’t.
Only seeing successes makes us feel even worse when we don’t hit those milestones, like we are the anomalies.
So that’s why I want to talk about it here.”
Here’s to normalizing being earnest and openly passionate about our goals, and being honest when said goals don’t work out like we’d hope. And please go get a copy of The Sicilian Inheritance - it’s truly the best book.
CDC warns that measles spike poses a 'renewed threat' to the disease's elimination (NPR)
When I try to get my head around news stories like these, I come back to this clip from Fareed Zakaria’s recent talk:
The nostalgia fallacy is a dangerous one, especially in public health. And this trend in measles data fits neatly with this fallacy, given how people have forgotten how dangerous the measles can be, both in transmission and if a case becomes severe.
That the United States is at risk of losing its elimination status for measles is mind-boggling to me. What’s worse is that I expect it to happen, and soon.
I think it has been so interesting to read about the "fangirl" impact. I even feel like it has happened with reading, too! Which is so cool. Maybe it is because it's so much easier to connect with like minded fans. Just like compound interest in finance, except it's compound interests.