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No doctor awakens in the morning determined to discriminate against patients of color, yet their daily clinical decisions too often have that result. Implicit bias—unconscious assumptions and stereotypes—often cause the harm. The failure to ask the right questions, listen closely and reserve judgment can sabotage communication in any patient/physician encounter, but it wor...
Democracy is in danger, not only in foreign places where autocrats rule, but also here at home. We are divided between those who would let the people rule and those who would allow rule by the powerful, greedy few. Defending our democratic system takes a new kind of democratic practice. It’s not only the practice of communal celebration; it’s the cultivation of self. Presi...
Clint Smith is a high school educator, a Harvard PhD candidate, and a slam poet. In a series of spoken-word performances, Smith confronts inequality in American society. His poetry touches on black parenting, social justice, and violence against kids of color. Following his performance, three high school students from the South Washington, DC, area are interviewed about ho...
Our country’s social fabric is badly frayed by distrust, division and exclusion. But across America, people are quietly working to end loneliness and isolation and weave together inclusive communities. Meet some remarkable ordinary Americans who are “weaving” every day — swimming against the current of hyper-individualism and doing their part to put trust, empathy, connect...
Creative expression takes many forms. Through history, art has provoked a range of feelings: emotion, empathy, fear, surprise, joy, compassion, anger. Now, amidst a time of national angst, where many in society might not hear the voices of those who don’t agree, a group of remarkable artists and political strategists are imagining ways that art can be used to catalyze dif...
The Aspen Challenge presents three high school teams from Dallas and one team from Philadelphia who developed innovative solutions to issues that have chronically impacted their communities. See these young change-makers take to the stage to prove that entrepreneurial community solutions can be created at any age. Learn how Emmett Conrad and Sunset High schools are fosteri...
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...
Where does classical liberalism come from? What comfort and lessons are we to take from our forebearers? In the aftermath of the 2016 election, acclaimed author and essayist Adam Gopnik traced the moral and philosophical trajectory of liberalism as a way to contextualize the election for his daughter. Gopnik takes the audience on a tour of the great places and people who c...
What’s the state of this historically fraught relationship? Do today’s politics and rhetoric around the Middle East, immigration, and national security constitute a unifying force, or a divisive one? Are we entering a time of particular challenge, or one of opportunity?
Born out of gospel, R&B, and jazz in late 1950s America, soul has permeated music culture so thoroughly that its influence can be heard everywhere from modern country music to rock and hip-hop. So what is it about soul, and how did it become a soundtrack to some of our nation’s most defining moments? The New Yorker’s Adam Gopnik and Grammy Award-winning artists share —...
Valerie Jarrett shares advice on stepping out of your comfort zone, her favorite memories from inside the White House, and how we can empower women and working families.
Javier Zamora’s migration journey took him from El Salvador to the United States by foot at age nine, while Jamie Ford’s great-grandfather emigrated from China to Nevada to mine. Both authors reflect on the ways in which migration has shaped them, unpacking what it means to be American and exploring the meaning of home.
After decades of urban depopulation, US cities are experiencing a reversing of that trend, led by millennials, 40 percent of whom say they plan to live their lives in urban settings. But families and empty nesters are moving to the city too, and for the first time since the 1920s, population growth in US cities is outpacing the growth of the suburbs. What will this reshapi...
Meet Patience Lee, a 2023 Aspen Ideas: Health Fellow who’s building cultural awareness into mental health support services for unaccompanied refugee children in the United States.