Quick Spin: NIH Chaos, Timber Execs, and a 15-Hour Flight
Taking off, emotionally and literally.
Hello, good morning, happy friday, I hope you’re having a glorious day. I’m off to India at 8P M (15-hour flight, my longest yet—wish me luck) with Intrepid Travel, a small-group adventure travel company. I traveled with them to Ecuador last year and loved the balance: supporting small businesses, eating incredible food, and staying at unique accommodations. This time, I’m most excited to stay at this “leafy resort” in Jodhpur, assuming the whole printing-out-my-visa thing doesn’t stop me from getting into the country. (I hate errands.)
Anyway, this week:
Elon’s budget cuts have had plenty of terrible repercussions, but the attempted $4 billion slash to the National Institute of Health (NIH) research funds might top the list.
Republicans targeted grant money “indirect costs”, basically anything that’s not researcher salaries or lab supplies (think: facility operations, hazardous waste disposal) claiming they’re unnecessary overhead. As if we needed any more proof that these cuts are being made by people who have no idea how government (or science) works.
The good news? A federal judge blocked the cuts yesterday. A temporary win! But this piece by Axios is a good reminder of how these decisions have fallout across way more sectors than you’d expect.
It’s not just the recent layoffs putting public lands in jeopardy. Trump is once again doing everything in his power (including this executive order) to open up the Forest Service and BLM lands to oil, drilling, and other resource extraction—this time by quietly appointing a timber lobbyist to run the Forest Service.
Former employees and public lands experts have been sounding the alarm, many turning to Substack to document how these moves seem designed to weaken these lands, declare them ineffective, and then privatize them.
It is terribly confusing why Republicans are letting him get away with this because public lands have overwhelming bipartisan support.
Trump slashed the Forest Service and put a timber exec in charge, Fast Company
Trump wants to use the ‘God Squad’ to increase logging, AP News
The NYC Marathon had over 200,000 applicants for the lottery—a 22 percent increase from last year, which is pretty wild. Does this mean more people than ever are running? Maybe!
Only about 2-3% of applicants will actually get accepted, so if you didn’t make it, you’re in good (and very large) company.
As the World Majors (Tokyo, NYC, Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago, Sydney) get increasingly impossible to crack into, I wouldn’t be surprised if we start seeing more people shifingt towards …. trail ultras?? What do you think, guys!! The World Trail Majors just dropped a “Short Series” in December to make things more accessible— 30 to 60 km instead of the usual 100 km or 100 mile races.
Okay, sorry, but just one more dystopian update: Texas lawmakers introduced HB 3399, a bill that would ban gender-affirming care for adults. Yes, adults. As The Cut senior writer Andrea González-Ramírez pointed out in New York Mag’s Dinner Party newsletter, “Even if the measure doesn’t become law, it’s a clear indication of conservative lawmakers’ endgame. They were never going to stop at minors or sports — the goal is to erase trans people from public life.”
Here are all of the anti-trans bills passed or introduced this year. This is all so exhausting—and I’m so sorry to anyone affected by these disgusting actions. These bills keep getting more extreme, more invasive, and more detached from reality, and yet here we are—again—watching politicians with no medical expertise try to control people’s bodies. Even if this doesn’t pass, it’s not just noise. It chips away at basic rights, creates fear, and wastes time and resources that should be going toward, I don’t know, literally anything helpful.
Things I Liked This Week:
🎥 I know this is REALLY old (from November ok), but the video of MT Pop at the Red Bull Dance Your Style comp has brought me so much joy this week. The crowd losing their fkin minds has me crying. I’ve probably watched it 15 times.
🎡 I just saw Luna Luna, the carnival art exhibit by Andre Heller from the 80s featuring work from Basquiat, Haring, Lichtenstein, Hockney, Dali, and other incredible artists. You couldn’t ride the carousel but you could walk through the house of mirrors. Definitely a once in a lifetime exhibit but I stayed less than an hour because it was small (but I was solo.)
🧘♀️ Headspace hosted a fabulous media dinner at OASES Restaurant in Flatiron (it’s beaaautiful) on Wednesday night and it was cool to meet the team who creates the sounds + voices the meditations, so I can’t wait to be lulled to sleep on the airplane tonight.
🌿 I’ve been using this rosemary oil on my hair because I’m paranoid that my hair is thinning? It’s not, but it’s also now been healthier than ever. Research has shown that it can be just as effective as minoxidil, a prescription hair growth drug.
🧠
broke down some of the shortcomings of health journalism in her recent Substack article, and I totally agree—the sensationalism is a problem. I’ve reported on research studies and had outside experts pointed out the limitations, only for editors to backpedal and reframe the story to make it sound more newsworthy.🚴♀️ My friend (and editor)
hosted a group bike ride last Saturday to the Little Red Lighthouse in Fort Washington. It was a fun, casual pace, so if you also love yapping and pedaling, follow to be in the know next time.
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The World Major acceptance stats are so disheartening!! I don’t have the answer, but it bums me out how many people will never get to experience the highs of New York or Chicago, let alone Boston.