#5SmartReads - March 21, 2022

Hitha on hate crimes, the impact of new voting laws, and a Grey's Anatomy episode come to life

This week’s #5SmartReads is sponsored by Blue Apron.

DOJ: More police departments declining to report hate crimes (Axios)

“Submitting hate crime data is voluntary, and some cities, including Los Angeles and New York, have improved their reporting, Brian Levin, the director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism, California State University, told Axios.

The disparity in reporting makes it appear that Los Angeles is a city filled with hate crimes while Miami is safe from hate, Levin said: "Go ask a gay person in Miami if they think that's true."“

I don’t have anything to add to these quotes - only a heart that grows heavier.

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At 28, Kelly Bishop Was Wearing Hot Pants & Preparing To Leave Her First Husband (Bustle)

I have a deep, deep love for Emily Gilmore (and my recent rewatch of the show has me viewing Lorelei as the villian and Kelly the true heroine of the show).

I think I love Kelly Bishop even more. This interview - focused on her life when she was 28 - is such a fun read, and I hope to be as bold and full of life as I turn 38 this year, and every year after that.

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10 strangers come together for a life-changing kidney swap (NPR)

This reads like an episode of Grey’s Anatomy (and the show may have you thinking that kidney swaps like these are far more routine than they actually are).

In truth, they are incredibly rare - but life-saving all the same.

For the people whose only options were dialysis or death, these transplants both saved their lives and the quality of those lives.

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Stacey Abrams and Lara Hodgson on Entrepreneurship and Self-Doubt (Harvard Business Review)

Stacey Abrams is on my mind, given her incredible appearance in the finale of Star Trek: Discovery and for her gubernatorial campaign underway.

And because I have to get my hands on her new book with Lara Hodgson and Heather Cabot, as this interview piqued my interest even more about the lessons we can all learn from it.

Especially if you are considering starting a business, and with a friend to boot.

I downloaded the audiobook immediately after finishing this, and I can’t wait to finish listening to it this week.

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Texas mail ballot rejections soar under new restrictions (AP News)

“Roughly 13% of mail ballots returned in the March 1 primary were discarded and uncounted across 187 counties in Texas. While historical primary comparisons are lacking, the double-digit rejection rate would be far beyond what is typical in a general election, when experts say anything above 2% is usually cause for attention.”

So much for the promise of making it “easier to vote and harder to cheat.” These new voting laws make it even harder to vote, and less transparent over one’s place on the voting rolls and how to submit a mail-in ballot accurately.

And if you think this was consistent among every county within Texas…well, think again. "…the rejection rate was higher in counties that lean Democratic (15.1%) than Republican (9.1%).”