Navigating Public Policy, Technology, Health, Data, and Innovation for a Fairer Future
There are moments in a long project when it is worth pausing to look around and take stock of who is still standing with you. This is one of those moments. With this note, we also close Season 2 of “What Still Works in America.” The idea behind the series has remained simple. The country Read More “The Things That Still Work and the People Who Keep Them Working”
Every generation is convinced that the arts are in decline. People say nobody goes to plays anymore. Nobody listens to real music anymore. Nobody watches serious movies anymore. Technology changed everything, attention spans are shorter, and culture is supposed to be collapsing under the weight of its own distractions. Complaints about the state of the Read More “The Show Must Still Go On”
There is a certain kind of American story that never quite makes the front page. It has no villain, no scandal, no moment of dramatic collapse. It is a story about thousands of people who simply decided to build something together and share what they made. It turns out that story, quiet as it is, Read More “The Knowledge We Build Together”
Artificial intelligence now shapes decisions about jobs, loans, healthcare, and education. When those systems carry bias, the consequences are real for the people affected. One of the biggest obstacles to fixing that problem is surprisingly basic: everyone uses different language to describe it. Researchers, policymakers, auditors, and educators often mean the same thing but talk Read More “The Missing Language of AI Accountability”
There is a phrase that lands differently depending on where you sit in the American political conversation. Say “social engineering” to a conservative and you will see a familiar tightening around the eyes, the look of someone who has just caught a bureaucrat in an admission. Say it to a progressive and you will see Read More “What We Quietly Teach Ourselves”
The game unfolds the way it always has, without apology, without hurry, without the slightest concern for what the rest of us have decided constitutes progress. A pitcher works through his ritual. A batter steps out, adjusts his gloves, steps back in. The crowd murmurs rather than roars. This is baseball, which is to say, Read More “The Ninth Inning of American Patience”
In 2020, Kanye West tried to get on the presidential ballot in Wisconsin. He needed 2,000 signatures. He submitted 2,422. Election officials ruled that he had fallen 14 seconds short of the 5 p.m. filing deadline. Fourteen seconds. The decision was appealed, litigated, and ultimately upheld. Whether you think Kanye West should have been on Read More “The Machinery of Democracy: Literature as a Software Service and a Public Good”
A weekday afternoon in a public library offers a small, revealing portrait of the country we actually live in. A high school student spreads out notebooks at a corner table. A job seeker scrolls through postings on a public computer. A retiree settles into a chair with the newspaper. A parent guides a toddler toward Read More “The Library as a Blueprint for a Better Society”
Evening light spills across the parking lot of a community college as classrooms begin to fill for the night. Students arrive carrying backpacks that look a little more worn than the glossy ones in admissions brochures. Many come straight from work. Some have already put children to bed. A few will leave early if a Read More “America’s Most Underrated Engine of Opportunity”
Tuesday mornings in shared workspaces look the same across the country. Coffee cups gather beside laptops. Notifications blink with quiet urgency. Someone posts a job opening and hopes for the best. Another forwards a résumé that seems good enough to relieve the pressure of being short-staffed. Familiar phrases slide into place. Bachelor’s degree preferred. Five Read More “Adaptive Hiring: A Human-Centered Way to Build Future-Ready Teams”