5SR - February 12, 2024

Hitha on the southern border, democracy in action, and Alexa Martin

Author

Hitha Palepu
February 12, 2024

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.

For all the press coverage and partisan talking points that the surge at the southern border gets, I haven’t seen nearly enough reporting on why - and namely, what’s changed over the past 3 administrations and what hasn’t.

There’s a prevailing narrative that the majority of the asylum seekers at the southern border are from Central America, escaping an untenable and dangerous place to live.

And while that’s still true, the who and the why has significantly changed over the past 10 years. In the past few years, there’s been a huge uptick in Ukranian, Chinese, and Eastern European migrants seeking greater economic opportunities - and taking advantage of the robust smuggling networks that have grown over the past years with little effort to fight them.

It was exactly 5 years ago when I picked up Alexa Martin’s Intercepted, a romance novel following a team’s new quarterback and the woman who had gotten away (but in a long term relationship with one of his teammates).

I couldn’t put it down, and I quickly tore through the rest of the series. It’s one I re-read every football season or when I just need a pick-me-up. And if you read Fumbled and felt “TK feels familiar,” then you’ll certainly believe Martin’s a bit of a mastermind (the character was inspired by Kelce).

I’m thrilled to see Alexa’s books get this level of recognition and press, because they’re truly wonderful. As is this interview. As is Alexa.

Follow her. Buy her books. And if you’re enjoying the Taylor-Travis mayhem, soak in this joy and get offline if you find yourself getting sick of it.

It’s a love story. Baby, just say yes.

Voting errors are, for the majority, honest mistakes that were unintentional. What’s sad is so many of these small mistakes cause thousands of ballots to be tossed and not counted in every cycle, often with the voter never being aware.

And there’s no consistent protocol to fix one’s ballot. It often falls to the local elections commissioner.

If you live in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, you are incredibly lucky to have Neil Makhija and Jamila H. Winder as two of your commissioners. I’ve seen Neil’s passion for election participation firsthand, and I love the creativity he’s bringing to his new role to increase participation in the democratic process.

“Under his proposed mobile program, county election workers would flag and set aside ballots that come in with mistakes. Then, over a roughly three-week period—the early-voting window leading up to Election Day—they’d bring those erroneous ballots directly to voters, who could cure them on the spot without having to make their way to an election office.

“The idea that a county official would know a ballot isn’t going to be counted, and sit on it for weeks—that, to me, feels like you’re depriving a voter of their right,” he told Bolts. “One of our obligations in government is to help people enforce their rights.””

One of the countless reasons I’m a huge Eagles fan is how many women they have among their senior executive team, and the impact these women are making on and off the field.

In the case of Jen Kavanagh, it’s both.

This interview is a masterclass in leadership, impact, and storytelling. Kavanagh’s respect for her adopted home city and this team is palpable, and I’m obsessed with how she nurtures creativity with community to keep us fans connected to the team, but to welcome new fans in unexpected ways - like the Eagles Girls Flag Football League (and getting sports bras donated to keep this league growing).

I’ll leave you with a quote that feels so aligned with my own fandom of the Eagles:

“I think sometimes people have a tendency to look at sports and see a single dimension of it, which is that sports teams are all about winning championships. But in addition to that, you have to stand for something beyond the final score. So your values, in addition to your commitment to winning championships, matter almost just as much.

And so, whether that's supporting girls and their aspirations in sports or caring about the environment with our Go Green program, or dedicating our efforts to the autism community, all of those things matter because people are not one-dimensional. We are sports fans and we are fans of, "fill in the blank". So we take the opportunity to connect with people around their values and other common interests as much as we do football; we really like to be as multidimensional about that as possible.”

Meta’s plan is not just to “stop proactively recommending political content on Instagram or…Threads.” They’re also suppressing our reach and impressions, by a significant margin.

My average impressions on a post was 6,000-10,000. Right now? It’s about 1,000.

With consequential elections happening worldwide this year, suppressing news content in a blanketed manner is just bad.

Don’t take it from me. My friend Keith explains it better:

“The whole value-add for social media, for political people, is that you can reach normal people who might not otherwise hear a message that they need to hear, like, abortion is on the ballot in Florida, or voting is happening today,” he said. “There’s TV ads, but who watches TV anymore? Most people are on their phones, and Meta apps are where most people hang out.”

So what can you do, if you want to continue getting more political and news content on Instagram?

  1. Mark your favorite creators as ‘favorites’ (go to their profile, tap the arrow on the following button, and tap the star next to “favorite”

  2. Engage with their content proactively - like, comment, save, share.

  3. Tag them on your Story (Emily has been trying this with some success). If you really enjoy reading or sharing #5SmartReads on Instagram, please screenshot your favorite reads and post it to your story and tag me (and please also share your unique referral link so you can earn some perks).

I’m grateful to Taylor Lorenz and Naomi Nix for reporting on this. Democracy dies in darkness - and Meta’s move is a dark one indeed.

If you’re enjoying this newsletter, might you consider referring it to those who may as well? Referrals unlock perks such as merch, books, and mentoring sessions with our team!

Thank you for being a part of this smart community - it means the world to us.

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