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In aggregate, men in America are suffering. As many as ten million are missing from the workforce; jobs their fathers and grandfathers held have been automated and outsourced. Millions fewer boys are enrolling in college. Tens of thousands perished last year, victims of the opioid epidemic. One in ten black men in his thirties is incarcerated. What is the story behind all...
If we just do enough yoga, cleanse with the optimal juice fast, and buy products designed to help us meditate or foster positive thinking, we’ll feel better. That, at least, is what the $650 billion wellness industry wants us to believe. But what’s making us ill, argues Kerri Kelly, author of American Detox: The Myth of Wellness and How We Can Truly Heal, can’t be cured by...
American women have lived their daily lives — before and after the epic election of 2016 and its accompanying drama — up against a set of structures, barriers, and mindsets that rarely make the headlines. What it is like to be a woman in America today? Which circumstances and experiences bind us together — and which ones tear us apart? Leaders share the experiences they l...
Over the past decade, levels of anxiety, depression, self-harm, and suicide have increased dramatically, but the causes are more nuanced than the headlines suggest. This session unpacks the data and real-world learnings to shed light on the changes — at the policy, family, school, and community levels — that have the most potential to improve kids’ well-being.
Most people now agree that climate change is real and that humans are causing it. But that’s where the consensus stops. Political pollster and strategist Frank Luntz, known for pioneering political focus groups, believes there is a better way to reach more people, more effectively in order to mobilize real action on climate change. In this highly interactive talk, he’ll sh...
From purple mountain majesties to cities built on coastlines, American landscapes are as diverse as the people that inhabit them. How does our relationship to the outdoors define us as individuals and as a nation? In his new PBS show “America Outdoors with Baratunde Thurston,” comedian and civic educator Baratunde Thurston explores this question, uncovering America’s compl...
“I spent the first half of my life being afraid,” says Jennifer Finney Boylan, author of the bestselling memoir of transgender experience, She’s Not There, “and the second half telling people to be brave.” Boylan, who’s also known as the “voice of reason” on TV’s “I am Cait,” talks about living life as a father for six years, a mother for twelve, and neither for a few year...
Stocks go up, GDP goes up, employment goes up, yet the United States is sliding in the global rankings on real quality of life. Why? Are we really experiencing economic progress if our social standing suffers? In this talk, Michael Green from the Social Progress Index shines a light on America's social slide. What's causing it and what are the solutions for this major dich...
NBCUniversal News Group recently announced the honorees for its prime-time special, “Inspiring America: The Inspiration List.” NBC News’ Tom Llamas brings this conversation featuring Americans making a difference to Aspen. The panel includes environmental and climate justice activist Catherine Flowers; Susan Burton, creator of the nonprofit A New Way of Life; and actor Joh...
What should every American know? This question has long been debated, discussed, and deliberated. Amidst giant demographic and social shifts, it is more important than ever to define some common knowledge — cultural, pop cultural, historical, civic facts, memes, and references that every American should know. Answers need to come from all of us, not just a powerful few. Th...
We don’t need fewer arguments in American civic life today, we need less stupid ones. That means we need arguments that are more emotionally intelligent and more deeply rooted in our history. It also means recognizing that America is an argument: between liberty and equality, strong national government and local control, color blindness and color-consciousness, pluribus an...
The United States, long grounded in the idea of individual liberty, also boasts a deep, cross-partisan history of national service. Building on a belief he first shared at the 2012 Aspen Ideas Festival, retired General Stanley McChrystal recently called on the president to invest in national service for one million young Americans annually “to ensure the strength and secur...
Language is a subjective thing, but one so deeply ingrained in our consciousness that accepting linguistic change brings out the conservative in all of us. But language is fundamentally and necessarily flexible, and aspects of modern America are making it imperative that we open up some big changes, particularly in relation to euphemism, profanity, and the use of pronouns...
Has America lost its voice? For better or worse, our policies, protests, and pop culture have traditionally had a deep impact both abroad and at home. Do the voices we elevate today amount to a collective identity? Should they? Who lays claim to America’s voice, and what happens to the voiceless? Creative Tensions is not a panel — it’s a conversation that moves. Participan...
For many Americans, faith is the animating force behind their beliefs and actions, yet that aspect of identity is often deeply misunderstood or goes ignored. Faith communities are locally embedded and incredibly networked — there are about three times as many congregations as there are schools, colleges, and universities combined in the United States. America’s long tradit...
Based on his extensive reporting on the Trump administration’s policy of separating migrant children from their parents, Soboroff, an NBC News and MSNBC correspondent, exposes both the details of the program and its devastating consequences. This unvarnished depiction of the conditions under which separated children were detained won him the 2019 Walter Cronkite Award for...
These journalists have made careers out of asking questions and listening to American voices. Especially over the past year, when we’ve so often been described as deeply and hopelessly divided, what have these keen observers gleaned from thousands of conversations and interactions with individuals around the country? Do they agree with this assessment? What do they find ar...
Since 2016, we’ve watched women rack up unprecedented wins in statehouses, city halls, and even Congress — and thousands more are throwing their hats into the ring. How did factors like Donald Trump’s win and #MeToo influence this wave, and why does the movement seem to be taking hold now? We’ll take a look at the different governing styles and priorities women exhibit com...
Although death is every bit as much a part of life as birth, we pretend it isn’t there. Perhaps it’s time that changed. The soon-to-be released HBO documentary Alternate Endings: Six New Ways to Die in America, tackles this final taboo. Join the filmmakers for a sneak peek and a frank discussion about end of life options. How might we design more meaningful deaths?
Many Americans worry that our country is hopelessly divided — that we lack even the most basic common experiences, beliefs, or traditions, resulting in a society devoid of empathy and factions unable to work together in our republic. One idea to address this critical challenge is gaining momentum, including increasingly getting mentioned on the 2020 campaign trail: making...