#5SmartReads - April 2, 2021

Today’s regular contributor to #5SmartReads is Kate Slater! See the questions below to get to know her a little better, and don’t forget to check out her anti-racism roadmap.

Q: What is a book that you’ll never get tired of reading?A: "Wow, No Thank You" by Samantha Irby

Q: Favorite gift you’ve given someone else?A: Last year, I bought my husband tickets to the Westminster Dog Show. It was the best weekend of our entire relationship.

Q: What talent would you most like to have?A: I want to be able to do the two-finger ear-splitting whistle.

Motherhood in America is a Multi-Level Marketing Scheme (Medium)

I've wrestled with feeling like motherhood is one big "Hey babe" Facebook message from a girl I disliked in high school. We're sold a narrative of 'having it all', but in reality, we're at the whims of major systemic and structural shortcomings that keep us from being able to thrive as mothers.

To Narrow Inequities, Some Colleges Invest In Minority-Led Funds (WGBH)

College endowments represent $600 billion in wealth in the United States. Some colleges are making good on their commitment to racial equity by investing portions of their endowment in Black-owned funds as a means of redistributing wealth and uplifting BIPOC communities.

Private Schools Have Become Truly Obscene (The Atlantic)

As a former employee of one of the richest private schools in the country, I've rapidly come to the same understanding as Flanagan did. The opportunity disparities that are augmented by the embarrassment of riches at private schools are indefensible. This is a long read, but well worth it.

Pandemic periods: why women's menstrual cycles have gone haywire (The Guardian)

The pandemic has left us all stressed beyond belief, which results in heightened levels of cortisol. This can impact our reproductive hormones, leaving us with far more intense period symptoms. Such an interesting article about how our loss of coping mechanisms during the pandemic has left many women's hormones out of whack.

From Civil Rights to Black Lives Matter: The Power of Social Justice Movement (Scientific American)

"Social movements have likely existed for as long as oppressive human societies have, but only in the past few centuries has their praxis—meaning, the melding of theory and practice that they involve—developed into a craft, to be learned and honed. The praxis has always been and is still being developed by the marginalized and has of necessity to be nimbler than the scholarship, which all too often serves the powerful." An absolutely fascinating read into the science behind social movements.