Issue 114
Hello friend, welcome to Scrap Facts. I’m Katherine, and I’m glad you’re here.
By day, I write stories about U.S. health policy. In my free time, I write essays to better understand the world around me.
As I’ve been walking around my neighborhood these past few weeks, it’s been tempting to resent the winter. All the other seasons fight for our attention: Spring flaunts new life, summer boasts lavish flowers, and autumn insists on going out with a bang.
But winter doesn’t try to impress. In fact, it does the opposite: It humbles me with bone-chilling wind and cold mornings that remind me we are all inherently fragile and rather needy life forms.
Underneath winter’s gray skies, I’ve been thinking about what is true in the long term versus what feels true in the moment, and how those things can be related — or not. Some days, I look at myself in the mirror and feel like a champion. I push my shoulders back and think I am smart and gorgeous and finally, at 30, fully grown. But then, sometimes within hours, I find myself repulsive and question how anyone can stand to tolerate me, let alone enjoy my company.
Of course, I am neither of these extremes (and frankly it would be incredibly boring if I were done growing as a person). I know that I am somewhere in between — in the gray space — tied up in this wonderfully complex knot of good and bad and smart and idiotic and beautiful and terrible in so many different ways.
Most things in life occupy this gray space. They fall within a normal distribution curve. Our absolute best and worst moments hit the tails, but thankfully, they are few and far in between.
But even though I understand that logically, I don’t like it. For me, holding nuance is hard. I’m impatient, and I want to just be able to understand something all at once; I don’t want to have to look at all of its sides. It’s much easier to define myself and my experiences in absolute terms so I don’t have to continually wrestle with juxtaposition.
Winter’s skies hold nuance, though. They remind me that the world in gray scale is so much more expansive than it is in its extremes. The highs are not nearly as vibrant as I hope they’ll be, nor the lows as dark. Instead, all those bright spots and dim moments happen concurrently, making life of tiny ripples and instead of waves.
Gray skies give us respite, too. They provide a blanket of rest as the plants and animals around us go dormant or migrate away, and give us all the opportunity to do the same — to really relish rest — before the rush of the warmer months where pressure mounts for us to be out and about.
And they promise potential. Winter shows us the world with a clean slate. We know the vines will grow in the spring, but we can’t predict their patterns. The season gives us a chance to imagine all the possibilities of future beauty to come.
Maybe you’ll find more peace in the gray spaces with me this year, dear reader. Or, maybe not! You are your own person on your own journey, and I’m honored to be a small part of it.
Either way, enjoy this photo of my two kitties, Crab Rangoon (left) and Weener (right) as they give each other a little kiss.
What else have I been up to?
After a month of resting my feet, I’m slowly coming back to running. It’s hard not to dive in immediately with as much force as I’m used to, but I know that I’m building strength and sustainability over time.
I’m grateful for the November Project community, where I’ve been able to convene with community multiple times a week as I recover. You can find more information about November Project DC here, and join us any time for the best sunrises the city has to offer. Not in DC? Check out all the November Project communities at your disposal.
A selection of my work for POLITICO from the last few weeks (if you’re unable to access and would like a PDF, reply to this email):
Alzheimer’s drug news: Leqembi (formerly lecanemab) receives FDA approval, but as of now Medicare won’t cover the $26,500 drug for beneficiaries (paywall). Patient advocacy groups like the Alzheimer’s Association are not happy (paywall).
Over-the-counter naloxone probably won’t help those most at risk of experiencing an overdose (paywall).
Listen on POLITICO Pulse Check: I talk with my colleague Rush Reader about what we can expect from AI in health care this year …
… and my colleague Alice Miranda Ollstein breaks down the influx of demands anti-abortion groups are bringing the new GOP-controlled House of Representatives.
Subscribe to Prescription Pulse for twice-weekly FDA news, delivered to your inbox.
That’s all for now. Stay curious, friend! ❤️
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