Knowledge is Power: One Year Anniversary! Robert Putnam and the Upswing

Hard to believe it's been ONE YEAR for our little Knowledge is Power club! What a great year it's been! For our one year anniversary, we will be having a celebration! One of our members has offered to host at a rental home she owns. So, please be aware: WE WILL NOT BE AT ENDEAVOR BREWING. Never been?? Come begin again with all of us! Knowledge is Power is an inclusive and accessible group of progressive learners who are working to educate ourselves about the issues facing us today. From Central Ohio politics to climate change, we are arming ourselves with knowledge to actively work to better our world. More importantly, we are building community and supporting each other in these challenging times! YOU ARE INVITED TO JOIN US! We meet monthly in Central Ohio to discuss a topic chosen by the group members. We offer multiple ways to access materials for each topic, from books and articles to podcasts and documentaries– because everyone learns best in different ways! January of 2025 was a tough time inside my head-- trying to figure out how it had all gone wrong and if there was anything at all to be done. One day I was listening to a podcast a friend had recommended, Trevor Noah's "What Now?" Noah's podcast was tailored for my state of mind at that moment, since he is specifically looking to explore why we're here, how we got here, and how to move forward in a more positive direction. His interview with sociologist Robert Putnam was the reframe and guidance I needed. Putnam gives a specific answer to the question, "How do we move American society in a more positive direction? And how did we get to such a dark place?" He says we lost community and we need to rebuild-- AND BETTER YET he has the sociological data to back up that opinion. Long story short, I started a club for worried nerds like me! And I've loved every minute of it! For this meeting, we will be reading excerpts from Robert Putnam's 2022 book The Upswing: How America Came Together a Century Ago and How We