5SR - September 28, 2023

Hitha on nursing, Stacy London, and the meaning of a meal

Author

Hitha Palepu
September 28, 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.

Some of the best climate restoration tools we have are the most simple - like planting more trees and protecting forests, restoring coral reefs and protecting healthy ones…

You know. The things we should be doing.

Monitoring is a necessary and underreported tool in sustainability efforts. In this case, satellite tracking of deforestation not only shows us where to focus our efforts, but also helps us monitor progress of ongoing efforts and show what’s working.

And the most simple actions - like planting more trees - are some of the most effective, as the proof shows.

Stacy London is my hero for a number of reasons.

She gave me the confidence to grow out my grays, to mix color and pattern, and she helped me feel less alone in my own perimenopause journey.

Perimenopause can begin as early as 35 (I was 36 when I began noticing symptoms), and it takes a massive mental health toll in addition to physical symptoms. I thought I was losing it.

Let me offer you the best advice from London if you’re in the same boat or just done living life according to someone else’s narrative:

“What did it get me? In society, we think that women over 40 are suddenly unf*ckable or invisible or irrelevant. All that sh*t disappeared for me. I went through perimenopause thinking, ‘I am invisible. Nobody will hire me. I have no relevance. I have nothing to say. I’m boring. I’m ugly.’ Then after, those perceptions are something you radically let go of. And that doesn’t mean you have to be the crazy lady in the purple hat. It just means you can be who you f*cking want to be.”

Stacy London

When you think of Florence Nightingale, you likely think of someone who brought respect and dignity to the profession of nursing, right?

“But while nurses were brought back into the health-care system under her leadership, she had a negative impact, too, says DiGregorio.

Nightingale viewed nursing as an all-female profession that's "subordinate to physicians," says DiGregorio, which "set up this idea that nurses are assistants to physicians.

She took her orders from the physicians and never challenged their authority.”

I spend a lot of time studying myths and narratives that have been taught to us as some objective truth, when the reality is not so clean cut and lives in nuance - particularly in things about or focused on women.

Nursing is a vital profession, who heal patients with medical and emotional care. I wish I knew more about the history of the profession and how to usher it into the future, and I cannot wait to read Sarah DiGregorio’s new book on the subject.

After three days away from home, all I want is pappu annam (plain yellow dal mixed with rice).

It was one of the only things I would reliably eat and request as a kid, so much that my parents started calling me pappu. It was a regular dinner staple, along with mac and cheese with avakaya (a spicy Indian pickled relish) mixed in. My mom’s bean dip was made with ginger and garlic paste, lots of jalapeños, and seasoned with ajwain and mustard seeds.

I didn’t appreciate my mom’s Indo-Western recipes until I went to college, where I would crave it so strongly that I went home most weekends. And I’m not alone.

This read is truly a love letter to South Asian moms who did their best - and delivered - when it came to their kids’ dinner requests. To have enjoyed Hetal’s dessert at a reception last year and to own so many of these cookbooks (I’m so excited to add Palak’s forthcoming book to my collection) is a gift to my home and to my family, who enjoy samosa grilled cheese and enchilada quinoa as much as I do.

Pappu annam may not be my boys’ favorite (they prefer naan pizza), but that it’s a part of their dinner rotation the way is one way we keep them connected to their culture - and for me, connected to my own childhood memories.

Speaking of food - this is huge news.

Federal agencies have quite a bit of autonomy (though their actions can and are often litigated in the courts). The Department of Agriculture just issued a new rule to expand free school lunch eligibility to about 3,000 more school districts.

“The new rule will expand access to universal meals through a program known as the Community Eligibility Provision, or CEP. Instead of requiring families to fill out individual applications for free or reduced-price meals, schools participating in the program receive federal funding based on income data, with local or state money filling in any gaps in the cost of offering meals to all students. Advocates say reducing administrative burdens like applications helps ensure children don’t go hungry.”

No child should ever go hungry. It’s heartening to see our government do something about it.

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