#5SmartReads - July 18, 2022

Marisa is a corporate account executive by day, a freelance writer and #5SmartReads contributor by night, and a mom 24/7. Right now she is focused on supporting The Brigid Alliance, Sandy Hook Promise, and Lucas Kunce for Senate and invites you to join her in making a meaningful donation of time and money to causes you care about!

You Shouldn’t Have To Ask Your Boss For An Abortion (Vox)

I was on vacation on June 24 when SCOTUS handed down the Dobbs decision, and it immediately became evident that corporate America was going to be something the conservative majority, and conservatives across the country, hadn't contended with. I work in employee benefits consulting and account management and have never had so many clients respond to something political as fast as they responded to this, and that includes many of the things that came out of the pan*em*c. This Vox analysis does a good job of talking about why, though welcome and well-intentioned, corporate allyship here is an imperfect solution to a very complex problem.

What HR Leaders Are Focusing On Post-Roe (Charter Works)

That said, given that in some states corporate allies are pretty much the only allies women have, what are companies doing to support employees in accessing reproductive healthcare in the days/weeks/months/years to come? This overview gives a nice glimpse into the conversations we have been having with clients and outlines some of the options that various employers are talking about across the U.S. today.

The Supreme Court’s Partisan Divide Hasn’t Been This Sharp In Generations (Five Thirty Eight)

This is a fascinating analysis of the evolution of the Supreme Court into the undeniably conservative activist organization it is today. Did you know that for years, going back to at least 1960, the vast majority of SCOTUS decisions were unanimous? Even Roe v. Wade itself was decided 7-2. Those days of a general consensus around guiding judicial principles are no more, with entirely polarized decisions making up a greater and greater percentage of opinions handed down in the last 15 or so years. This is a good read on how partisanship in the court has become one of its defining features, and why that's not likely to change anytime soon.

Post-Roe, Herding Ourselves Over Politics Will Do Nothing But Further Hurt Us (Missouri Independent)

Not only is partisanship alive and well on the court, it's alive and well in our state legislatures, not to mention our schools and workplaces and neighborhoods. I happen to have a truly despicable Senator (shoutout to Josh Hawley) who wants to exploit that to serve his vision of a socially conservative nation, and this write up does a really good job of talking through how that kind of polarization will do nothing but hurt us further. This reminds me of the talking points in one of my favorite opinion pieces ever, Go Midwest Young Hipster in the New York Times (link temporarily in my bio as a bonus read!) and is the reason why I am staying put in Kansas City for now - and why, as tempting as it is to flock to San Francisco or Chicago or New York, you should consider staying in Dallas or Harris County or Atlanta or Orange County or wherever you are, too - it's up to us to stay here and change the trajectory, not just for our home states but for our country as well.

We Can’t Upgrade Our Lives. We Can Only Live Them. (The Washington Post)

Every year when July comes around, I find myself revisiting my new year's resolutions and intentions, and this year is no different. But something someone said to me over the last six months really stands out to me: don't mistake self-flagellation for self-improvement. I don't know about you all, but I spend so much time trying to make myself better and improve myself (be more productive... write more... be more present... lose some weight..... adopt a new skincare routine... exercise more often... cut down on screentime... etc. etc. etc.) that sometimes it feels like all I'm doing is managing my own KPIs and forgetting to just live. This article is a good reminder of why that's not sustainable. After all, tomorrow and the better us isn't promised, and all we really have is the here and now. My wish for all of us is that we just be IN it!