Skip to content
Project 2025
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories
Governor Cox’s Prayer Wasn’t Just Misguided—It Was Dangerous

Governor Cox’s Prayer Wasn’t Just Misguided—It Was Dangerous

Charlie Kirk’s Death Sparks Martyrdom Narrative Amid Rising Political Violence

Charlie Kirk’s Death Sparks Martyrdom Narrative Amid Rising Political Violence

Donald Trump and the Rise of Political Violence

Donald Trump and the Rise of Political Violence

Supreme Court

MAGA Supreme Court Justices Show Their True Colors by Joining Trump’s Attack on the Federal Judiciary

Medicine Man: A light hearted song about Covid

Medicine Man: A light hearted song about Covid

Keb' Mo'


Juneteenth Unityfest 2021 / Contributor/Getty Images
The Fulcrum
By The FulcrumSep 20, 2021
The Fulcrum
The Fulcrum staff.
See More Writings by author

Covid-19 has taken its toll on the psyche of America. A medical problem has become a political issue, used to separate us from our fellow Americans. Covid has stressed us all out.

In the midst of our stress, singer, guitarist, and songwriter Keb' Mo' and his son, Kevin, offer the provoking but lightly humorous song "Medicine Man."

Keb' Mo' performed a set during a small fundraising concert in Venice Beach, Calif., and the words help soothe our soul:

Everybody's doin' the best they can.

We're all just waitin' on the Medicine Man.

Enjoy, and as always please send us your ideas as to how pop culture can bring us together as a nation.

https://playingforchange.com/videos/marks-park-ep5-keb-mo/?utm_source=Premium+Members&utm_campaign=6b62b99e57-marks+park+americana+night+%28members%29&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_9b70e99e0e-6b62b99e57-13410749&mc_cid=6b62b99e57&mc_eid=ff9c0516fe

Latest news

news app
Media & Technology

The Selective Sanctity of Death: When Empathy Depends on Skin Color

Following Jefferson: Promoting Inter-Generational Understanding Through Constitution-Making
Governance & Legislation

Following Jefferson: Promoting Inter-Generational Understanding Through Constitution-Making

A close up of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement badge.
Governance & Legislation

The Cruel Arithmetic of Trump’s Immigration Crackdown

Multi-colored speech bubbles overlapping.
Bridging & Common Ground

In the Aftermath of Assassinations, Let’s Show That Americans Overwhelmingly Disapprove of Political Violence

Read More

How Pop Culture Can Save Democracy: Lessons From Just Do It to Designated Drive

Shoppers stand in line at a Nike outlet store on May 3, 2025 in San Diego, California.

Getty Images, Kevin Carter

How Pop Culture Can Save Democracy: Lessons From Just Do It to Designated Drive

In the late 1980s, the Harvard Alcohol Project did just that. By embedding the term designated driver into prime-time television—from Cheers to L.A. Law—they didn’t just coin a phrase. They changed people’s behavior. The campaign was credited with helping reduce alcohol-related traffic fatalities by nearly 30% over the following decade. President George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, along with organizations like Mothers Against Drunk Driving, endorsed the movement, amplifying its reach.

They made sober driving socially admirable, not awkward. And they proved that when language meets culture, norms shift.

Keep ReadingShow less
La Ventanita: Uniting Conservative Mothers and Liberal Daughters

Steph Martinez and Rachel Ramirez with their mothers after their last performance

Photo Provided

La Ventanita: Uniting Conservative Mothers and Liberal Daughters

When Northwestern theater and creative writing junior Lux Vargas wrote and brought to life La Ventanita, she created a space of rest and home for those who live in the grief of not belonging anywhere, yet still yearn for a sense of belonging together. By closing night, Vargas had mothers and daughters, once splintered by politics, in each other's arms. In a small, sold-out theater in Evanston, the story on stage became a mirror: centering on mothers who fled the country and daughters who left again for college.

Performed four times on May 9 and 10, La Ventanita unfolds in a fictional cafecito window inspired by the walk-up restaurant counters found throughout Miami. “The ventanita breeds conversations and political exchange,” said Vargas.

Keep ReadingShow less
A Cruel Season at the Bus Stop

File: ICE agents making arrests

en.m.wikipedia.org

A Cruel Season at the Bus Stop

The poem you’re about to read is not a quiet reflection—it’s a flare shot into the night. It emerges from a moment when the boundaries between surveillance and censorship feel increasingly porous, and when the act of reading itself can be seen as resistance. The poet draws a chilling parallel between masked agents detaining immigrants and the quiet erasure of books from our schools and libraries. Both, he argues, are expressions of unchecked power—one overt, the other insidious.

This work invites us to confront the slippery slope where government overreach meets cultural suppression. It challenges us to ask: What happens when the stories we tell, the knowledge we share, and the communities we protect are deemed threats? And who gets to decide?

Keep ReadingShow less
© Copyright 2025