Morning Brew - 🦠 The traveling variant

Time-saving tools and products we’re really into rn.

• If you want to protect and secure your preplanned holiday getaway, check out this guide for tips on traveling safely by car, train, or plane, and find out when you should consider signing up for travel insurance.
• Use the Washington Post’s interactive site to receive personalized travel recommendations for navigating the now-chaotic holiday season.
• Avoid waiting in long Covid testing lines before heading to your holiday destination by picking up one of the 11 at-home tests recommended by The Strategist instead.

What’s top-of-mind at the watercooler.

The unpaid internship has typically served as the unofficial rite of passage for every young adult that’s looking to break into a new industry. Most of these unpaid programs involve doing the work of a full-time employee…for free. Though many view unpaid internships as paying your dues before officially landing a role, others argue that their existence is exploitative in nature. And while it may be nice to think that times have changed and unpaid internships are less common these days, an August 2021 CNBC report sadly found that more than 40% of internships are still unpaid.

Rakshitha Arni Ravishankar, in a fiery Harvard Business Review essay, advocates for ending the practice of unpaid internships once and for all. Ravishankar calls herself a former “serial intern” but admits she soon came to see how frequently the labor of interns is exploited. Furthermore, in expensive cities or in situations where interns have no other income, unpaid internships can serve as a barrier for those who can’t afford to work for free.

As someone who held several unpaid internships over the course of my college career, I can’t help but agree with Ravishankar. While it can be great to learn more about the work you want to do and don’t want to do through hands-on experience, it can be exhausting to have to take on a job to support yourself while also working for free for several hours a week.

Thankfully, in the current work climate, there are more remote internships available now than ever before. This removes other barriers, such as figuring out how to pay for transportation and food, from prospective interns’ plates. Some companies have opted to restructure their internship programs to include a one-time stipend, or to pay interns based on projects they complete during the course of the internship. Still, progress on the issue has been slow to come.

Do you view unpaid internships as a must-try before entering the workforce, or do you think that they typically exploit the students and young adults who work in them? Let me know in the inbox!

Your punch list for when you punch out.

Read: It may be time to rethink those grand post-pandemic plans and strap in for the Covid variant-filled reality that is here and likely ahead.

Watch: If you have time off for the holidays, you’ll want to spend at least one of your lazy couch days chipping away at this list of the 101 best NYC-based movies.

Eat: Go big or go home with a holiday roast feast from online Asian grocery store Umamicart.

Burning questions of our time.

We’ve reached that lovely time of the year where many of us will pack up and head out to our family members’ homes and celebrate the holiday season. This year, like the last, Covid numbers are steadily rising, leading many to once again question if making the trek is potentially more risky than good. Luckily, though, we do have one glimmer of hope on our side this time: vaccination. Though we’re all aware of the risks that come with indoor gatherings of the vaccinated and unvaccinated, having serious vax status conversations with your loved ones can be nerve-wracking. Are you potentially walking into a mixed-vaccination holiday gathering this season? Are you going to inquire about people’s statuses before you get there? Or did you already ask for everyone’s status? Hit reply and let me know!