5SR - October 12, 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.

The goal with 5SR is to amplify underreported stories. What is happening in Israel and Gaza requires our attention, and there are important stories hrere that are not getting the attention they need.

With that said, there are some unequivocal truths I hold to be true:

• Hamas is a terrorist organization and there is zero defense of what they have done, to Israelis and Gazans alike.

• I stand in solidarity with Jewish people, Israel’s sovereignty and right to defense in accordance with the rules of war.

• I stand in solidarity with Palestinians (those living in Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusulem) who want to live in peace, with safety and dignity. I stand for a safe and secure Palestine.

• Anti-Semitism and Islamophobia have no place in the world.

• Populistic, religious fundamentalism is tearing the world apart. You can stand for people and oppose their leaders.

In times like these, there likely will be disconnects between what I say/my intention behind my sentiments and how you may perceive it. Whatever I share is rooted in the intentions I stated above.

Most of the reporting on these horrors are focused on a specific story or perspective. My truths, however, are intersectional and rooted in freedom, peace, and the desire to build a better world for us all.

Why So Many People Still Don’t Understand Anti-Semitism (The Atlantic)

Jewish people make up 0.2% of the world’s population, and 2% of the population in the United States.

So why are Jews the number 1 target for religious hate crimes, globally? And have we learned nothing from the horrors of the Holocaust?

Please read this. And please share it - it’s a necessary read right now.

Please denounce the evil that has existed for millennia - anti-Semitism. Please check on your Jewish friends.

Tashira Halyard and Margo Lindauer Are Here to Remind You That You’re More Than Your Work (The M Dash)

“Your work is not your worth, and only you can define what success means to you.”

This is the lesson I’m still learning from the pandemic. There are days when I’m full alignment with living my personal definition of success. And there are days I feel like I’m failing at everything - work, relationships, everything.

Just me?

I have a lot more work to do on disconnecting work from my worth, but there are so many pearls of wisdom in this interview with the hosts of justUs podcast, which I’m a new fan of.

I’m particularly obsessed with Tashira’s style and the incredible intention behind it:

Unintended pregnancies in SC drops over 40 percent, higher reduction for young women (The Post and Courier)

My trip to Charleston this week was on behalf of New Morning, an incredible nonprofit offering birth control to every South Carolinian in need (with a focus on uninsured women).

I’m so proud to be a small part of an organization that’s made THIS big of an impact in such a short time. For them to have bipartisan support in the state legislature is something we don’t often hear enough about in reproductive healthcare in the States these days, and it gives me hope that we can restore reproductive rights someday - and someday soon.

I’m especially thrilled that they’ve just announced a partnership with Julie, an emergency contraception medication, and is focused on distributing them BEFORE anyone will need it.

A Path to Well-Being: Embrace Silence for Stronger Mindfulness (Shondaland)

If you’ve been scrolling for hours a day and it’s making you feel awful, you need to read this.

Because it’s not just you. It’s that we, as humans, really hate being alone with our own thoughts and smartphones mean we never have to be.

My meditation practice is one I rely on to help quiet my mind, and I’m working my way back up to longer practices. But if you are convinced you can’t meditate, I offer you mindful moments to be fully present with whatever you’re doing - making a cup of tea, making your bed, doing your skincare routine.

The Pentagon runs the top performing school system in the U.S. (Axios)

The best-performing, publicly funded schools in the United States are run by the Pentagon.

And it validates what we know to be true - well-funded and supplied schools with well-paid teachers that are integrated significantly improve education outcomes.

Means testing is a term that’s largely been used to justify why we don’t invest in policies like these - the lack of data is reason enough for our elected representatives to not even consider these issues.

We have the data. Now we just need to have the desire - and the leaders - to invest in the most valuable population - our future and those who nurture them.