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- 5SR - August 1, 2023
5SR - August 1, 2023
Hitha on drug shortage legislation, Fall Out Boy, and mothering + working hard
Hitha Palepu
August 01, 2023
Today’s curator is the founder of #5SmartReads, Hitha Palepu. She’s a consummate multihyphenate - CEO of Rhoshan Pharmaceuticals, author of WE’RE SPEAKING: The Life Lessons of Kamala Harris and How to Pack: Travel Smart for Any Trip, and professional speaker. Hitha is an unabashed fan of Taco Bell, Philadelphia sports teams & F1, romance novels, and is a mediocre crafter. She lives in NYC with her husband and two sons.
Ballot initiatives have become sparks of hope in the battle for reproductive rights in GOP-led, anti-choice states. A measure has successfully qualified for November’s ballot in Ohio (though its chance of passage depends on the August special election to raise the threshold for amending the state’s constitution), and activists in FL are hard at work to get an abortion rights ballot initiative on ballot.
I hope the Democrats are paying attention to the way these activists are running this campaign, because it’s frankly what is needed to earn the support of these voters.
"“Just the [Democratic] party itself — it’s not seen as relatable and it’s out of sync with the community, especially Latinos,” Berrios said. “And still, the path to victory for those that support this amendment is there. It’s just not going to fall along strict partisan lines. We have to be strategic about who we talk to, how we talk to them and make sure we build a broad coalition of support.”
Berrios said that unlike efforts to raise the minimum wage or restore voting rights to people convicted of felonies, which had ample support among the communities they’ve been engaging with since 2021, the reproductive rights measure requires personal and nuanced conversations that go beyond digital or social media campaigns."
Non-white voters know when they’re being pandered to. Messaging and outreach efforts that speak to them as if they’re a monolith are harmful and ineffective. Communicating with each voter and getting to know them and their priorities before launching into a stump speech or a ballot measure’s bullet points is the way to go - for any voter, but especially those who often are seen as a statistic to win rather than a person with their own opinions and feelings.
What Mi Vecino and the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice are doing is powerful, and something I hope will help turn the tide in the fight for our reproductive rights in the states that are unconscionably revoking them.
Sarah Tupper | On What it Means to Mother Hard + Work Hard (Mother Untitled)
"My work is not a race; there is space for everyone and everything important to me.
I get the power to control my destiny and the way I configure my time and energy.
That is something I don't take for granted."
I wrote this quote in my planner and in my Notes app to remind myself of it this month, as I shift more into “mothering hard” during our August travels and as we shift into autumn and back to school.
It’s a life motto that I’m feeling very aligned to, along with much of Sarah’s advice in this interview.
I also appreciate Sarah’s honesty in sharing what her villages at home and at work look like, and how she compartmentalizes time but not herself (we all too often flip that script, which leaves us feeling small and frazzled and overwhelmed).
Humor me as I share what I think we need to do to overcome our perpetual drug shortage crises:
accelerate the review cycle of ANDAs for drug applications that have been on the drug shortage list sometime in the past 5 years (the current timeframe is 24-36 months, reduce it to 6 months and allow the sponsor to submit with 12M data (or 6M accelerated stability data for conditional approval for products currently in a shortage).
allow filing fee waivers for critical drugs in shortage (oncology, especially)
allow HHS to source drug shortage or likely to be in shortage drugs directly from sponsors and execute the same distribution plan that we did for the COVID vaccines.
To prevent future shortages, launch a public-private partnership between HHS, FDA, CMS, and generic drug manufacturers for proactive planning with commitments from HHS to purchase the necessary supply.
The individual legislation sponsored by both the Democrats and the Republicans will not resolve the drug shortage crisis, or even come close. It’s going to take significant investment and doing things differently to start resolving this crisis.
Either party - please take this idea and move it forward. Pilot it in oncology generics first. We can solve this crisis - but our refusal to do something different and bold is why we’re not solving this crisis.
The meteoric restoration of Fall Out Boy (The Line of Best Fit)
YOUR GIRL IS SEEING FALL OUT BOY TONIGHT AND IS STOKED.
In thinking about this band’s rise and evolution and recalibration, I can’t help but find parallels in the past two decades of my own life. I’ve had my own rises and falls, the delivering on what I think people want from me and finding peace in doing it my way (even at the expense of how the external world views success)…
This band has also challenged the old narratives of masculinity and have made an immense impact in their fans’ lives by being open about their own struggles - Joe Trohman’s previous opioid addiction and mental health challenges, (and stepping away from the band and tour to care for himself), Pete Wentz’s substance abuse battle during his divorce, Andy Hurley’s depression during the band’s hiatus, and Patrick Stump dealing with the pitfalls of fame while showing up for his bandmates.
They’ve also taken a line straight from The Happily Ever Playlist and returned to their original recording label, and you can tell. So Much (for) Stardust is equally familiar and fresh, with a maturity that comes with writing and performing for 20 years.
I love the album, love the band, and more importantly love how they’re redefining manhood in an empathetic, caring way.
And if you’re not on the FOB train yet, might I recommend my personal playlist?
If you wonder why “playlist” is a part of my daily #5SmartHabits, it’s honestly because I just really like music and am more productive when I have something playing.
But this discovery helped validate it:
“When you're listening to music that you really like, brain circuits involving parts of the brain called the amygdala, ventral tegmental area and the nucleus accumbens come on line, he explains. These are the same areas that get activated if you're thirsty and you have a drink, or if you're feeling "randy and have sex."
That triggers the production of brain chemicals that are involved in feelings like pleasure…
…Neurons in the brain even fire with the beat of the music, which helps people feel connected to one another by literally synchronizing their brain waves when they listen to the same song.
"What we used to say in the '60s is, 'Hey, I'm on the same wavelength as you man,'" Levitin says. "But it's literally true — your brain waves are synchronized listening to music."“
We all should be listening to more music. What’s a playlist that never fails to put you in a good mood? Share it on Instagram Stories, and please tag me in it!
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