Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories

What is your take?

Question mark
diyun Zhu/Getty Images

Last week, The Fulcrum introduced "What is your take?" This biweekly feature where we will ask our readers a question or two.

We look forward to engaging with our readers as we share your responses and create a dialogue around different topics and issues that are important to all of us.

Today's question is: One of the most popular songs in the Broadway show "Hamilton" is "My Shot." As we strive to help protect and improve democracy in America, what do you see as "Your Shot" to make a difference?


Please share your responses by emailing to pop-culture@fulcrum.us.

In the meantime, let's look back at The Fulcrum's first question: What piece of art, music or theater has enhanced (or detracted) your connection to the work you do?

We were overwhelmed by the number of responses and thank everyone who participated. The responses showcase our belief that the arts have the power to break down boundaries and overcome distances between people.

Below are a few of the numerous responses we received speaking to the power of the arts to connect us as a people.

Responses

  • "The Peace Train" by Cat Stevens. I've always loved that song even without knowing all of the lyrics. I wish we all spent more time on the "peace train" and less time on the "crazy train!" — Mary Gaylord.

patriotic artworkwww.educatingforamericandemocracy.org

  • What a neat new idea! I saw the above piece from the Educating for American Democracy team. The category was civic honesty, reflective patriotism and the artist was in the 10th grade. It reminds me that we can touch democracy from many different angles and if the youth of today demonstrate this democratic beauty — then we must be creating "a more perfect union". — Sara Gifford, ActiVote.
  • Suzanne Brennan Firstenberg's installation on the National Mall of 690,000-plus white flags representing lives lost to Covid reminded me of the incredible power of art. This dramatic installation, "In American Flags," is providing both an opportunity for national recognition of the massive loss we have all experienced and personal acknowledgement for those who have lost loved ones. Absolutely incredible. — Liz Harvey, American Promise.
  • I was totally surprised and enchanted by the Wind Circle Peace Sculpture at the Devil's Tower National Monument. The Mobius Strip was by the community college where I taught as a symbol of paradox and unification. We had different fields (sometimes competing for resources) as well as a very disparate student body, and we were trying to unite and work together without discounting any of the components. The history behind the Junky Moto's Circle of Smoke Peace Sculpture reinforced my faith and hope. — Anonymous

When we asked our first question, we said we expected the answers to run the gamut from exasperated to humorous to anxious to hopeful. We were not surprised.

We are more convinced than ever that by engaging our readers through music, theatre, poetry, dance and all the arts, The Fulcrum can help us all find our shared humanity despite the sharp elbows of the day-to-day in American life and politics. And by doing so we hope to build upon The Fulcrum's mission of being a place where insiders and outsiders to politics are informed, meet, talk and act to repair our democracy and make it live and work in our everyday lives.

Thank you.
David L. Nevins
Co-Publisher, The Fulcrum

Read More

Making Eye Contact & Small Talk With Strangers Is More Than Just Being Polite - The Social Benefits of Psychological Generosity

Eyes down, headphones on – what message are you sending?

Getty Images, simonkr

Making Eye Contact & Small Talk With Strangers Is More Than Just Being Polite - The Social Benefits of Psychological Generosity

How much do you engage with others when you’re out in public? Lots of people don’t actually engage with others much at all. Think of commuters on public transportation staring down at their phones with earbuds firmly in place.

As a professor of social psychology, I see similar trends on my university campus, where students often put on their headphones and start checking their phones before leaving the lecture hall on the way to their next class.

Keep ReadingShow less
Public Health: Ban First, Study Later? The Growing Assault on Fluoridated Water

Someone getting tap water.

Getty Images, urbazon

Public Health: Ban First, Study Later? The Growing Assault on Fluoridated Water

On May 15, Florida became the second state in the nation to ban fluoride from public drinking water. The bill, signed by Governor Ron DeSantis, is set to go into effect on July 1. Utah’s Governor Spencer Cox enacted a similar ban that went into effect this May. Five other states—Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Nebraska, and South Carolina—have introduced bills that aim to ban fluoride in public drinking water.

Fluoride is a mineral that, in small quantities, has proven to be effective against tooth decay, caused by bacteria that form in the mouth when we eat or drink. The American Academy of Pediatrics states on its website that studies have shown water fluoridation, an intentional treatment process of public drinking water, reduces tooth decay by about 25% in children and adults alike.

Keep ReadingShow less
POLL: Americans Wary About The President Taking Unconventional Actions
APM Research Lab

POLL: Americans Wary About The President Taking Unconventional Actions

Americans show a strong preference for their elected executives — governors as well as the president — to achieve their political goals through conventional, sometimes slow, procedures, according to the McCourtney Institute for Democracy’s latest Mood of the Nation Poll.

Results showed marked partisan differences. For example, 26% of all survey respondents rated a presidential action of firing all recently hired federal employees as “very appropriate,” including only four percent of Democrats and just over half of Republicans.

Keep ReadingShow less