‘Care fractures after birth’

Mother sitting on the bed with her young baby, looking troubled and stressed — ‘Proposals to cut nearly a trillion dollars’ from Medicaid ‘threaten to sever coverage at the very moment women are most vulnerable’

(Image credit: Vera Livchak / Getty Images)

‘As a neurologist, I know the brain. Then my postpartum psychosis began.’

Barbara Decker at USA Today

After being “seized by an overwhelming, unwanted compulsion to throw myself and my baby into oncoming traffic,” says Barbara Decker, “I was diagnosed with postpartum obsessive-compulsive disorder and psychosis.” American mothers “die at three times the rate of women in other developed countries,” and “mental health complications are now the leading cause of pregnancy-related death.” But “effective treatments exist. When recognized early, most women fully recover.”

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‘The housing market is moving in favor of Gen Z’

Conor Sen at Bloomberg

“Like previous generations, most young people are going to end up owning homes,” says Conor Sen. The “buyers’ strike of the past three years is producing results” and “by 2027, the U.S. will probably have more existing homes for sale than it’s had in a decade.” Although “starting affordability is worse,” baby boomers were a “headwind for millennials, whereas they are a tailwind for Gen Z. Additionally, politicians across parties are talking about making housing more abundant and affordable.”

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‘Why we fall for narcissistic leaders, starting in grade school’

Adam Grant at The New York Times

Throughout history, the “greater the societal instability, the more people wanted a leader who projected physical dominance and strength,” says Adam Grant. Today, conditions are “fertile” for “authoritarians who promise to restore order to chaos and narcissists who exude intoxicating levels of confidence.” While a “little grandiosity can be conducive to big, disruptive ideas,” the “evidence is abundant that people with high levels of narcissism make for worse leaders.”

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‘What kind of skilled immigrants does America need?’

Youyou Zhou at The Washington Post

The H-1B skilled worker visa, the “most popular route for foreign workers seeking nonseasonal employment in the U.S.,” is “facing an overhaul,” says Youyou Zhou. The decision to “change the random lottery to a weighted lottery will award visa applicants paid at higher wage levels a higher chance of winning.” But “does an experienced exercise physiologist at wage level four deserve three more times the chance of getting selected than a software developer at wage level one?”

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Anya Jaremko-Greenwold has worked as a story editor at The Week since 2024. She previously worked at FLOOD Magazine, Woman's World, First for Women, DGO Magazine and BOMB Magazine. Anya's culture writing has appeared in The Atlantic, Jezebel, Vice and the Los Angeles Review of Books, among others.