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- 5SR - October 13, 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.
I’ve purposefully selected today’s reads to hopefully lighten your heart and mood. If that’s what you need, I hope you enjoy them.
More than anything, I hope you take some time offline today and do something restorative for yourself.
No matter what happens in Game 4 of the NLDS (I wrote this before the first pitch), I am so grateful for this particular Philadelphia Phillies team.
Megan’s and my Phillies’ fandom is nearly identical - captivated by the 1993 World Series team, loyal to the team and can also recognize the toxicity of our earlier team.
We also see this particular Phillies team - as athletes and as men - for the role models they are, especially to our sons. It brings me such joy to tell my sons about Bryce Harper, Jose Alverado, Nick Castellanos, and Trea Turner.
Megan said it better than I ever could, but these words summed it all up:
“It’s hard for me to put into words what it means to me that baseball, thanks to this Phillies team, has sailed with flying colors through the filter of What I Know Now. It feels good to root for guys that kids can be inspired by, without reservation or compromise. This is still not a given. In Houston, they cheat. In Atlanta, they won’t give up their racist chant. Here in Philly, our kids get to see what it means to be passionate, vulnerable, tough, loving, creative, expressive and still fun as hell, at the same time. As far as I’m concerned, everyone should want to be us when they grow up.”
We scroll mindlessly on the most mundane of days. I shudder to think of my screen time statistics this week.
I have been trying to do some app swaps to preserve my peace. I give myself 5 minutes to scroll (setting the timer and all) and switch to my Kindle app if I still want to consume. The same goes for YouTube - most of the time, I just don’t want to be in silence. And when the timer goes off, I switch to Spiritune.
I’ve watched my friend Jamie build Spiritune, from an idea to the app that has really been a solace this week. The latest productivity trend is to manage your energy instead of your time, but I would argue that managing your mood is just as important, which the app does with its prompt (how do you feel? how do you want to feel?).
If you need to break your doomscroll habit after this week, this might be the app swap you need. It certainly has been for me.
Lupita has the best book recommendations (follow her if you’re not already). And while these particular recommendations are in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, I hope we heed her words on reading diversely year-round.
“I didn’t discover the magical feelings that come with reading a book in which you see yourself and your community reflected on the page until I was well into my 20s. Since then I’ve tried to inhale as many books as possible by Latinx authors. Though I consider myself someone that celebrates and reads Latinx-authored books all year long, Hispanic Heritage Month is my favorite time of the year to amplify, spotlight, and uplift the vast spectrum of Latinx storytellers writing our stories.”
Art has the power to change minds and move hearts in a way reporting or nonfiction works sometimes fall short. Fiction opens a door to a different world that allows us to learn and value experiences that aren’t our own.
I’ve loved every book that I’ve read on Lupita’s recommendation, and I can’t wait to work my way through this list.
The Perfect Fit (Essence)
Some reads are for vibes only - it’s light, happy, and leaves you feeling really good.
This is a “just vibes” read, highlighting two incredible souls (Keke Palmer and Sergio Hudson) and their beautiful friendship.
Pay parity is sadly still a battle for most women’s sports. If you want to support a league and athletes with these values, I invite you to watch cricket with me and my father.
The WPL (women’s cricket premiere league) announced that women and men cricketers would be paid the same match fee, and the league has the second highest value of any women’s sports league (the WNBA is first).
I love that women cricketers have the opportunity to play professionally and be compensated fairly. But how do these athletes get to the WPL?
Gulab Singh Shergill is focused on just that, in a rural village in Punjab where girls usually leave school by 10th grade and then tend to the home until they’re married.
Bollywood commonly adapts American films, and I’m sincerely hoping this story inspires a Sandlot-esque adaption to shine a light on Shergill’s work.
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