Join or Die

There is an epidemic ravaging our nation - but it isn't what you might think. It's not a virus. It's not obesity or addiction. It's the epidemic of loneliness.

According to recent Harvard research, 61% of Americans between the ages of 18-25 report feeling lonely either "frequently" or "almost all of the time." 51% of mothers with young children report the same. More people report being lonely than the number of people who have diabetes, receive cancer diagnoses, or who smoke. U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy calls loneliness a "dark thread" running underneath the whole of our culture.

Over these last few decades of increased loneliness, political scientist and researcher Robert Putnam--called by some the "poet laureate of civil society"--has thoroughly researched our culture, and he believes the fate of lonely Americans rests in one arena: social involvement.

Join us for our screening of the South By Southwest award-nominated film "Join Or Die," which overviews America's civic unraveling through Putnam's journey; the film not only exposes the pervasive loss of community through civic engagement, but also lights a path out of our democracy's current crisis.