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Welcome to the Sound of Ide from Ideastream Public Media. I'm Stephanie Haney. Thank you for being with us. This Saturday is America's two hundred fiftieth birthday. It's a time to look back at our nation's history and reflect on where we are today as a country. The Declaration of Independence, which was signed in seventeen seventy six listed our collected rights as equality, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, theoretically , for all, based on core democratic principles. Is America today living up to the promise of its founding? Do citizens today have equal rights and opportunities? Some will say, absolutely, but for others, it's a bit more complicated. In a recent report, Pew Research Center found that a majority of people, sixty nine percent, were dissatisfied with the way things are going in the U. S. and fifty nine percent said our best years are behind us , though most people said they feel hopeful when they think about the future . Today we're convening a panel of Northeast Ohioans with a diverse range of perspectives and lived experiences to hear what life is like for them in this country ahead of its two hundred fiftieth anniversary and whether they like the direction the country is going at this moment in time. So joining us today in studio we have Neil G McCormick, retire of Cinecraft Productions, Neil, welcome to the show. Good to be here. Also with us we have doctor Puja Ji Takyra, psychiatric physician. Puja, welcome back to the show. Thank you . We've also got Michelle Weiss, who's the mayor of University Heights, Michelle, welcome. Thank you . And Dominik Harrison, junior accounting student at John Carroll University, Dominic, welcome to the show. Thank you for having me. If you're joining us today, we'd like to know how you feel about the progress of the country at two hundred fifty years. You can give us a call at eight five seven eight zero nine zero three . You can also email us at SOI at ideas stream. org or you can message us on Instagram at the sound of ideas. Now, we want to give our audience members a sense of who we all are here with us today. So I'll go around the table here and I'll ask you to share your age, your political affiliation, if you have one, a little bit about your background just so we can get an idea of where we're all coming from today. So Neil, I'll start with you, please. Well, I see I'm the old person representative on this panel. So I'm seventy three years old , born and raised in Cleveland. Grew up on the east side and now live on the west side so, I'm, you know, very diverse in that way. Indeed. And married , I have an adult son and grandchildren, and life has been good. I will put it that way 'm and a con Icer vative, so I generally vote on the R side of things . They have to earn it . And we like to say experienced not . Okay, yes, yes. Well, thank you for just dusting that and moving it up a little higher. We appreciate it. Thank you for sharing with us, Neil Puja. Can you share with us your age, your political affiliation, if you have one and a little bit about your background? Sure . So I'm twenty seven years old . I don't currently have a political affiliation . I was born in Singapore and came to the States when I was two and a half. I was raised by a single father had been in Cleveland basically my whole life and I'm gladly the first physician in my family . So I currently am a psychiatrist at Metro Hol. Wonderful. Thank you for sharing that with us Puja. And Dominik, let us know as well, your age, your political affiliation, if you have one, and a little bit about your background. Of course, I am nineteen years old. I do not have a political affiliation . I grew up in Shaker Heights and now actually reside in Yercy Heights . Yeah . Okay, thanks very much for sharing Dominic. We'll get to know more about you as we continue this conversation. Michelle, can you please share with us age of political affiliation and a little bit about your background? Sure. So Michelle Weiss, Mary University Heights. I'm fifty one . I am a Republican , but a moderate at that. I really vote for the person, not the party. I think that's really important. I'm married, I have three children. They're all married also. So I have grandchildren as well, thank God . And I'm an accountant by profession . And something that's interesting is that I am Orthodox Jewish . So that plays a very important role in my life. Thank you for sharing that. And we should share. It is America's birthday on the fourth of July. It's also Dominik's birthday on the fourth of July. Yeah, happy early birthday to you, Dominik. Can I ask you, how do you feel about having a july fourth birthday? How has that felt over time and how does it feel now? It's always been really fun . I always get a nice fireworks display as well on my birthday . So I can never really complain. You always have the red, white and blue theme streamers and whatever. So it's always a good time. Everywhere you go, it's decorated. Literally. Okay, let's get into some of our questions here about the mood of the country right now, the mood of Northeast Ohioans right now. Puja, the American dream has inspired people all over the world to move to the United States and pursue their dreams. And you're a second generation immigrant, you share that with us. What does the American Dream mean to you? I would say to me it means that you can come to this country, you can put in hard work and you can make anything possible . So I would say for myself , you know, I'm twenty seven, yet I have graduated from residency. That's something a lot of people cannot say and will be an attending psychiatrist in just a couple days . And I think that's really something that you see very commonly in America or people achieving their dreams or being able to do things that nobody thought was possible or thought was very unlikely. Okay. And Michelle, your husband is an immigrant here to the United States. What does the American dream mean to your family? Yeah, I very much agree . You know, the United States has opportunities that I think most other countries do not have , and it's something to really be proud of . You know, it's been the United States is made up of immigrants and it's something that we capitalize on because they are have been the history of America and you know, they can be the future as well. Dominic, do you believe that there are opportunities in the United States for everyone to succeed regardless of religion, gender, and racial identity? I definitely believe that there are more than ample opportunities out there for everyone. I think it's more of a access to resources. , and you think maybe that's something. How do you feel about the access to resources right now? Do you think that's something we need to work on as a country? Definitely. Okay . Neil, for you, what do you think of the American Dream as it relates to your own life and maybe young er generations. Do you think that younger generations today have the same opportunities that maybe you had or more or less? Or what do you think? Things were always changing, of course, right? So the nature of the opportunities are different , I was a product of blue collar folks who were both union members. And so I grew up a staunch Democrat. I voted for McGovern. I thought he could win. Kids don't even know what McGovern was , but he ran for president . He won one state , not his own . So and I'm now a conservative, you know, but I think the opportunities for people are still what you make them. You have to one learn something, learn how to think , maybe learn something about history because history teaches us how did we get here and then and apply those and be good at something. Be good at something. Be good in your heart, but be good at something, and you're going to find yourself employable. If you're just joining us here on the Sound of Ideas, we are talking about the upcoming two hundred fiftieth birthday of America, and we're talking about the mood of the country right now and the mood here in Northeast Ohio. We've convened a diverse panel of Northeast Ohioans here to sort of tell us their perspective on how they're feeling about things , what is being done well, what could be done better. If you want to be part of this conversation, the number is eight six six five seven eight zero nine zero three. You can also email us at SOI at ideastream. org or you can send us a message on Instagram at the sound of ideas. We have a call now from Mark in Akron. Mark, welcome to the Sound of Ideas. Please go ahead, Mark. Yes, thanks for taking my call. My mood is very somber and particular with the decisions that's coming out of the Supreme Court , with the gutting of the Voters Rights Act lately, with the decision on immigration , I'm just curious to see how your panel feels , especially the young lady that says her parents wasn't immigrants themselves, how she feels about the current state of affairs that's coming out of the Supreme Court. Thank you thank you for taking my call. I wish I could be Kumbaya, but times are getting real. So thank you for taking my call. Have a good day and I'll take your comments off there. Thank you . Thank you very much, Mark for Macron. We appreciate it. Puja, do you have a response to Mark's comments there? Yeah, I would say that our country has gone through rough times before and we've been able to get through it and come out on the other side better . So I remain hopeful and optimistic for the future. However, I will share that I've had several patients come in scared, worried with the current political climate and with some of the speech that is going out there . You know, my dad does immigration laws, so even though that he's an immigrant, he still sees this on a daily basis . I always hear stories from either him or my own patients. So I think there's still a lot of work to be done, but I'm still optimistic for the future. And give a little context there to some of the things Mark was talking about in his call. We know with one of the recent rulings from the United States Supreme Court related to temporary or protective status that will have a direct impact here in Springfield, Ohio, where Haitians who have been living there under temporary protected status will no longer have that protected immigration status that will be taken away. So we know that is something that will be happening directly here in Ohio. So thank you for the call and the comment mark. Now, Michelle, people may not know this, but you are the first Orthodox Jewish woman to be elected mayor in the United States . And we've had conversations here on the San of Ideas about the rise of anti Semitism in recent years. I'd like to know what you think about the state of tolerance in the country today, especially when it comes to religion . Yeah, thank you for that question. You know, currently, I feel that the right and the left extremes are dangerous. And really people have to come into the middle and learn to talk to each other and learn to collaborate with each other and respect each other . You know, the rhetoric on both extremes are damaging. They're damaging to our country, and they're damaging to individuals. Myself as a Jewish woman , the rise of anti Semitism is very, very scary . I do feel that there's hope and that the country is generally good and can come back from this . But people have to speak to the issue and not the person because when hate rhetoric starts happening , that's when some people can take it to the extremes. Pujit, we had a previous conversation with you here on the Sound of Ideas about religion and the different religions that are prevalent here in Northeast Ohio . And we talked about how the Sikh community is frequently targeted in hate crimes. So how are you feeling right now about the current state of affairs when it comes to tolerance? Yeah, I would say I agree with the mayor. I think that you're seeing a lot of hate speech coming back . That I think there was a time when it went away , it wasn't as bad as it currently is or it wasn't as bad as it was in prior times in history . I'll say that there are Sikhs all across this country that still continue to run for office and you'll see the comments in their social media would be like we don't need towelshe.ad We don't need people who are not from this country to be elected officials We don't need terrorists. And so that speech you see coming back. And I think that's something that's really sad , but I still remain optimistic and I still remain hopeful . Dominic , we just had a segment about june and an African American historian came on the show and she had said she had considered not celebrating epend Indence Day this year because of the current state of division of the country and also the history of the country related to enslaving people . What does thinking about this milestone mean to you and what do you think about equality today I'm honestly quite happy with how far it's come along . I think there's an issue with, of course , access to resources for individuals in my community. But overall I feel, I'm quite happy that the nation is taking some time to recognize this big milestone for my community. Recognize the milestone of june. Juneteenth. Does it have is there any conflicting feelings there for you celebrating two hundred and fifty years of America when America for much of its history was not treating people equally. Or is that something that you are able to celebrate when you think about the democratic principles of the country today . I feel that people as well as countries and governments do evolve and grow. So I feel like that's something that we need to recognize as the US has come a long way. And they've definitely made a lot of steps to make things right. Okay . Neil for you, what are your thoughts about the reserv ations that some people in the country have about celebrating America's imperfect foundings? Well, it's always had issues, right? From the founding, you know, the founders didn't agree with each other, you know, and wrestled to come up with the founding documents, you know? And you know, we have the British to thank for slavery, you know, so it was a good reason to get rid of them, I think, back in seventeen seventy six. It just took a long time to break down the results of what they brought to the new world . So and we're going to continue to have differences of opinion, you know ? And it's been the history of the country. But there's also some sort of balancing agent that seems to happen with the country over time. We swing to the left, we swing to the right, you know , you could finish the chair if you wanted to stand up sit down. Let's not fight. But so I'm hopeful that the young people will do what young people do. They'll challenge certain things that need challenging. And then maybe as they mature, they'll find that, well, some of those weren't bad ideas after all, you know , my parents weren't as wrong as I might have believed when I was younger . So I'm optimistic that the country will regain its footing, that the extremes will eventually just turn we them'll off . just We st'opll listening to them and try to find common ground to move ahead because that's how things get done is when you get the majority of people to say, That's a good idea. Let's spend our tax dollars on it or that's a bad idea. Let's stop spending our tax doll ars on it. So I'm hopeful . The reason we started this show asking about political affiliation if we do have one is because a lot of times you'll see dissatisfaction with a country might be split along party lines and it might be based on who is in office. For example, right now there is a Republican in the presidency, Donald Trump. And so I just want to follow up on one question for you, Neil, about since you shared that you were raised Democrat, but are now conservative. I want to ask you what it was for you that switched that political affiliation, if you can recall. Jimmy Carter , you know, he was incompetent. He was a wonderful guy, but he wasn't competent. And the country suffered, you know, stag weg had lation at that time. You know, the first house my wife and I bought was like fourteen percent interest, you know , that was not easy . And you know, the whole experience with Iran during Carter time',s I was just like , this isn't right. And this, you know, great B movie star governor became president and he turned out to be not so bad, you know? And so that's when I began to shift to think that, you know, maybe more government isn't good, maybe letting people decide what to do with their money and not turning into tax dollars and coming up with another government program that's going to be inefficiently delivered . We should avoid that, which so that was my transition a long time ago. Okay. Question for Puja and then Dominic, you're politically unaffiliated at the moment. Can you give us a little bit of insight into that choice to not be politically affiliated? Puja, I'll start with you . Yeah, I would say that I think sometimes people get into this very tight framework where they feel like no matter what they have to go along a certain party. So I know we've already panelists today have already talked about how they talk they think about the person and not the party when voting . But I'm not sure if this is something shared with many other Americans. So I would say for myself , I like to think about the person about the, issue . And I think many of the issues that I'm passionate about happen to be nonpartisan issues. Okay. And Dominic, for you, you're nineteen. So you'll be coming up on the ability to vote in an election. I don't know if you voted in a previous election. I'm not sure exactly actually I do know when your birthday is. It's july fourth now that I think about it . But can you tell us what plays into your decision to be politically unaffiliated at this moment? I grew up as a Democrat Definitely, you know, with all the left leaning issues , but in my experience in life a lot of times nothing is black and white. There's no left or right. Everything's almost in the middle. There's a middle ground that can be found . A lot of times you have to work to find that with people. Okay. And Michelle, what plays into your decision to be politically affiliated as you are? So first of all, I really have to just say that I'm so heartened that my younger colleagues over here are really taking heart and looking at the person, looking at the issue and not, you know, and really being independent thinkers . You know, I have to tell you, I would say that growing up, my parents were a Democrat, and they actually that was the turning point also when Reagan came into office . I saw that I saw that that shift. I have to tell you, Israel is very important to me as a Jewish person . And in this past election , I was hyper focused on that. That was the issue for me , and Donald Trump was the one that was going to get the hostages released. And I've been very open about this. You know, there's no one that's perfect. There's no president that's perfect. So you have to take everything in and figure out what aligns best with you. And it might not be the same party every time , but you know, for that's why I love city most cities are non partisan and that's the beauty of it because you can get unified around that. Nominic, can you share a little bit about what issues are important to you as a young person Honestly, I feel like the school systems to me are everything. My mother is a teacher down in East Cleveland and I've been in her schools all my life. So I've seen resources be given and taken away from children that really need them and deserve them. So I feel like that's something that I personally feel very tied to . If you're just joining us here on the sound of ideas, we are talking about America's upcoming two hundred fiftieth birthday and the state of how people are feeling about the country at this moment, whether people are in the mood for celebrating or whether people believe that more work needs to be done and maybe that's a cause to take a pause on celebrations. If you want to be a part of this conversation, the number to call is eight, six, six, five, seven, eight zero nine zero three. You can also email us at SO I at ideas stream dot org or send us a message on Instagram at the sound of ideas. We have an email in now from David B in Cleveland Heights. David writes The main point is that I don't think it's accurate to ask people how America is affect ing them. For me, I'm doing okay and I've had opportunities, but I see all around me many people who don't, and it only makes our society worse economically and less safe. Right now, I'm not optimistic, but I have lived through really trying times before and I am not hopeless about the current administration that has really damaged what this country stands for. David Bean Cleveland Heights, thank you for the comment. I'd like to ask you now , do you think that there are advantages to living in the United States today compared to previous generations? I do think so. I think that as their generations have gone on and as the years have gone on, we've become more accepting of new people, of different voices . I think even with the current political climate and the hate speech that we see , we often still see wins. We see many first across this country, people getting into office or getting certain positions or becoming certain things that were never possible in generations before us.. Now as a young person here in Northeast Ohio, what opportunities have you seen for high school and college students that might be different ? Yeah, I would say that in Northeast Ohio, we have several hospital systems and I think through those hospit al systems , there's many opportunities for high school students and college students to get involved. I would say like that was how I started getting involved was volunteering at different hospital systems. I remember going to the Veterans Affairs hospitals on Saturday and Oh no and getting to do things with different patients like even something as simple as bingo and that was something that was really cool to me and it expose me to a different patient population and actually first started getting me thinking of the mental health of our veterans. . I would like to keep the focus on young people for a mom ent here and I'll go back to Neil. Are there ways that the country can work to increase opportunities for young people in terms of career finding and building wealth? Do you have any thoughts on that? Well, my wife and I owned a business for some almost forty years and as a part of that, you know, there's always the need for fresh blood and internships, which I think are a great way for young people to see what the world of work is like and begin to develop those skills to communicate or to, you know, hone their actual technical skills or whatever. You know, we were a production company film and video. And so you know, it was exciting to have the next generation of kids coming into your studio and some of them came back after they were through with their education and became long term employees. And so some great relationships and friendships that lasted a lifetime. So the established business owner, small business, or large need to take that step to help with the transition to skill develop, you know. And that'll be good for the business, of course, too . What's for us. Sure. Michelle, what do you think about that? Are there ways that we could be working to increase these opportunities for our younger people? Yeah, I think internships and getting students involved at an early age is great. I also think especially with the onset of AI that VoED is really, really important right now . You need plumbers, you need A vacuum, you need electricians. That's not going away . A coding might be, right ? So we need to, you know, shift our mindset and say, hey those are really important jobs that have really bright futures . And they can be entrepreneurs by doing that. Sure. Dominic, what would you like to see in terms of increasing opportunities for young people? I feel like it's so important for there to be open opportunities for young people. I started my freshman year in high school and internship at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. I can completely say that changed my life. I really appreciate all my experiences there, whether it was interviews or panels that I stood on there. It really made a difference in who I am today. And how did you come across that opportunity? Did you seek that out or was it presented to you? It was actually presented to me from a fifth grade science teacher at Shaker, so I really appreciate him for looking out for me in that sense. Okay . Is that something you may not be able to answer this question, but is that something you notice with your peers? Have they had similar situations where they were presented with opportunities, do you think that that should be happening more? I think it definitely should be happening more across all communities. I feel like we don't help each other enough in just getting each other to the point where we can go and succeed. All right. If you're just joining us here on the Sound of Ideas, we are talking about the mood in the country and here in Northeast Ohio as we looked ahead to America's two hundred fiftieth birthday coming up this weekend. We have a diverse panel with us here of Northeast Ohioans and we also want to hear from you. We want to hear the opinions and the thoughts of the people here in the Northeast Ohio area about how you're feeling right now. So if you want to be part of this conversation, you can call eight six five seven eight zero nine zero three. You can also email us at SO I at ideas stream. org or send us a message on Instagram at the Sound of Ideas. We have a call now from Todd in Ward one. Todd, welcome to the Sound of Ideas. Please go ahead. Stephanie , to this to the group focus your answer based on this . This is the two hundred and fiftieth year of an established government and the two hundred fiftieth year of established citizens . What in your personal life experience as adults separate from the vote and separate from freedom of religion , have you found that you appreciate appreciate on a high level by being a citizen of the United States that you didn't necessarily think you would have if you were so in another country . Okay, thank you for the question. Todd, Neil, do you have a response to that? Well, we have freedom. We can move from where we are to somewhere else and look for an opportunity . And we do have the ability to vote out our elected officials if we don't like how they're doing, which is a wonderful thing. Now, we might not always like the choices if there's only two on the ballot, but it's still wonderful wonderful that we have those . And we're still attracting people who are, you know , fighting or dying to get into this country. And so that says something . You know, people vote with their feet or is an expression that's been around a long time, but people wanting to immigrate to this country still looking for opportunity. And so I think that's a little litmus test that tells us it's still worth I would not want to be anywhere else, you know? And I know I have friends to move to Europe. Okay, have fun, you know? So I think we're blessed to be here. Pudra, what do you think as Todd asked, aside from the ability to vote, aside from the freedom of religion , what is it that you appreciate about being a citizen of the United States? So when Todd was talking, the first thing that came to my mind was freedom of speech . Even being here and being able to say our true opin ions and our experiences is something that is not necessarily the most common outside of the United States . And we're able to share our true thoughts even if it comes to elected officials . And that's something where in other countries you could lose your job or you could lose other opportunities, you could even lose your house. And so I think being able to speak freely about any topic is something very unique to America that I'm very grateful for. Okay. How about for you, Dominik? I completely agree with Todd and Punja . I completely enjoy the opportunity that I get to wake up in the morning and go wherever I'd like and to go and experience whatever I would like to. We can really enjoy all that our country has to offer and not a lot of people can say that. And Michelle, how about for you? Yeah, actually. Act fuallyreedom of speech was my top . Most other countries do not have the right in the breadth of freedom of speech that we have. And also our democratic values, democracy is very different than United States democracy than other countries . It's a whole different world here and people want to come here because of the opportunities that we have that other countries do not . This will be a question for the panel when we talk about the democratic principles. A democracy isn't directly mentioned in the Declaration of Independence , but it is established on the core tenets of democracy. So I'd like to ask the panel and I'll start with Michelle and then we'll work our way this way for Dominic Puja and Neil about how we're feeling right now . President Donald Trump has been criticized for bringing in elements of authoritarianism into the United States. So how do we feel right now on this panel about the strength of our democracy, Michelle? So the beauty of our democracy is we have checks and balances. That's why we have the Senate. That's why you have the House. That's why we have the Supreme Court, right ? So it's not one person. There is always that checks and balance. The president does have certain , you know, freedoms and things that he can do, however, you have the Senate and you have the House . And that balance is so important. I would like to ask a follow up question about that right now, because one piece of criticism that is also happening in the country today is the fact that the House and the Senate are controlled by the same party as the president. So it's not clear to everyone that those checks and balances are working as we might hope they would right now. Do you have a thought about that, Michelle? So if you look back in history, it kind of sways, right? That first term of president is usually it's the same Senate or House, right? That's that's kind of how it's been going. People I think, you know , they're a little distraught. They might vote another part y, then again, they might switch like it switches back and forth , but it switches , right? I think moderate is the key to getting things done in this country , and that's where both Houses and the President need to get together in. Dominic, how are you feeling right now about the strength of our democratic principles in the country right now as we think about these concerns that people have raised about authoritarianism creeping in. I am quite proud of the checks and balances that have been finally used in our government There has been a lot of concern, at least at least for me. It's definitely been a lot to watch just with everything that's been turning over in the government, but the fact that our federal judges are finally putting their foots down and stopping whether that's just absurd spending or anything of that sort, I'm quite happy to finally see that. Okay, so you're confident right now in the judiciary and that's something that you're happy with. I'm happy that they're finally getting their feet up on another ME. Puja, how about for you? Yeah, I would say I agree with the sentiment about checks and balances. I think also anything in our government will take time. And when you see somewhere as big as our country, that's of course going to take some time. So I still remain positive about the future. I think that right now is still a scary time for some individuals from certain backgrounds. And so what I would say for those individuals is even though it's very hard, you know, we have to still remain faithful in our democracy because otherwise we wouldn't have gotten into this state . And Neil for you. Well , I think Michelle is right on the money, so to speak, that the pendulum swings, you know, and Donald Trump got reelected and went very fast to get as much done as possible and he would take anything that uses whatever authority he had or could imagine and try to make the changes that fit whatever image he had. But what's going to happen in September is of course or November , a little early . November is there'll be another election and the pendulum's going to swing. We're going to have a Democratic House and maybe a Democratic Senate and he's going to spend two years dealing with , you know , probably spending all his time avoiding trouble, you know? And so I think that will just kind of curb some of the craziness . And I'm a Conservative, I'm a Republican, but Donald Trump is a unique individual, you know, and maybe a reprehensible human being by most standards, but I think he's a savvy politician. And we may look back at him and say he was a pretty good president, you know, where Jimmy Carter was a great guy and not a good president, you know? Donald Trump may history depending, on who writes it, might say, you know, he did this, he did this, he did that. You know, peace in the Middle East that is still possible is going to be a legacy for him. And maybe the economy if things settle down and we start making oil less than three dollars a gallon again. People are talking about that. That's right . That's right. We have a call now from Iva in Garrattville, Iva. Welcome to the Sound of Ideas. Please go ahead. Well, I'm thinking that it's taken us two hundred fifty years to get to this point, and I'm afraid it's going to take us two hundred fifty years to recover from it and new youth persons there to be a major opportunity to return to the principles that we started with. We have a president that is teetering on the end of Alzheimer's or Dementia he's ignorant, arrogant , incompetent, and cruel. That's not a good combo . So where might be we're going to be we're losing people to science because he doesn't believe in it. It's pretty tough. Thank you very much for calling in, Iva. We appreciate you sharing your comments with us here on the panel on the show here on the Sound of Ideas as we're talking about the mood of the country as America approaches its two hundred fiftieth birthday. If you'd like to call in with a comment or a question, the number is eight six six five seven eight zero nine zero three . You can email us at SOI at ideastream dot org and you can send us a message on Instagram at the Sound of Ideas. We do have a call now from John in Novelty. John, welcome to the Sound of Ideas. Please go ahead. Hi, thanks very much. I appreciate the program today very much, and I appreciate your taking my call. So what I wanted to share, I don't really have a question for the panel unless you'd like to reflect on it. But I'm a member of a nonprofit group called the Braver Angels . And what the organization does, I found them because I was I had a lot of despair in the way our country was headed a few years ago. And what I found with this organization, the goal of the organization is to help reduce depolarization in the country through our interpersonal relationships. I felt like there was no sense of agency for myself as a voter, but I had very little influence anywhere else. But through this organization of Braber Angels, what I've found is being able to connect with my friends and neighbors with different opinions than I have about things . But instead of trying to change their opinions or see them as an enemy, it's more what can I learn from them? What's their story? How did they come to their position? And I find that I filled with hope from that kind of relationship and my sense of agency as an American citizen is restored. I just came back from a National Convention of the Brave Angels, which we held in Philadelphia to celebrate the two hundred fiftieth anniversary . And I was with nine hundred people of varying political persuasions and that sense of connection that we do have agency in our country, that we the people are in charge of things. It's we the people who are the ones who are going to make this change that we want. Our representatives need to represent represent what we want. But where it our's responsibility to come together to let them know what that is. So I just wanted to share that note , just let you guys know about this organization. I found it to be a great value to myself . So thanks for taking my comments . Thanks for sharing that with us, John. We appreciate it. I'd like to ask the group here, and I'll start with Michelle. This group, this panel, seems very harmonious . And I am wondering if we think that that is the state in Northeast Ohio, do we feel like Northeast Ohio despite our differences that people are seeing their similarities and are able to be in harmony? Michelle, I'll ask you the question first. University Heights is a unique space. It's a very diverse political area. You know, there was a previous person who was a Democrat that was the mayor before you came in with conservative leanings. So what do you think? Do you think Northeast Ohio is as harmon ious as we seem here today on this panel? I think Northeast Ohio is really divided actually, Cuyahoga County, especially . You know, Caihaga County is a big blue dot kind of in Ohio . I am so gratified that this group is harmonious because it's really important to talk about the issues and not the person. And I think that's where a lot of things have been led to and that's where this craziness has come about. In University of Heights, I'm actually sponsoring a civil discourse event. It's going to be a two part event moderated by John Carroll actually , to talk just about this. How do you unify people that have differences of opinions? And how do you get to a point like this gentleman said in his group where you can respectfully disagree . I think that is what's missing and that's where we need to get to. And that will make the country just so much better than where we are right now. Dominik, what about for you? I'm quite proud of our communities. I feel like we are definitely taking a stand to come together , especially right now, especially as young people . I believe our government may be a bit of a hindrance to that right now in the long run, especially with the current legislature that's being pushed through , especially what we're seeing in the immigration courts . We're not seeing a lot of connection and a lot of benevolence on the face of our country. So I feel like community wise, we're doing great, but things need to change. And Puja . Yeah, I would say our country or even our county is very divided, but I think we can always come to a shared goal. I think at the end of the day , most people and we're actually maybe all people do want what's best for this country, want what's best for each other . And I think with our differing opinions, we still have that end goal. But it's really hard sometimes to remember that. Neil, how about for you? Well, as Michelle said, you know, we have a two to one Democrat Republican registration of residents in the county. So you're going to get mostly that kind of political leaning , but it's even within the county it's divisive. You know, we have all these communities in Cairo County and they don't agree on what, you know, should happen and what should get done in so many ways. So I think Michelle's idea of people coming together talking to each other face to face is a remarkable concept because it's really hard to be mean to someone face to face. You can't just, you know, you know, oh you could get on the internet and write some sc athing thing about them, but that's you're in a little isolated cell and it's not really human, you know? And so that's we have to stop doing that, you know, thinking with our thumbs and just talk to people more . This is a good idea . Well, we appreciate you being here for it, and we wish we had much more time. There are a lot of things that we could have gotten to that we just didn't have the time for. So I want to thank our panel for being with us. Neil G McCormick, retire of raft Cinnacions, Ne Pilroduct thank you. doctor Puja Ji Kirv, psychiatric physician. Thanks so much, Puja. Dominic Harrison junior at John Carroll University, Dominic, thank you, and City of University Heights Mary Michell maye Weiss. Thanks for thank being you with us. I appreciate your time today. Thanks for being here. We will now take a break, and when we come back, we'll learn about a new initiative from NPR's morning edition and Story Corps to Mark America's birthday. It's called Connect two hundred fifty. This is the sound of ideas . I'm Stephanie Hane, we'll be right back. Here with the Sound of Ideas from IdeStream Public Media, I'm Stephanie Haney. Thank you for staying with us. We've been spending our time together today reflecting on America's milestone birthday this week by bringing together Northeast Ohioans from different walks of life to hear what they think about the state of our country and its opportunities and challenges. The idea to have that conversation was inspired by a new nationwide initiative from the Oral History Nonprofit Story Corps and NPR's Morning Edition Together, they've recently launched the Connect two hundred and fifty project, this is pairing strangers from different parts of the country to record a conversation about their lives today and what America means to them. These forty minute long dialogues will be permanent ly preserved in the Library of Congress to serve as a time capsule about what life in America was like at two hundred and fifty years old. Last week I talked with StoryCorps founder and president Dave Is ay about this initiative. We'll share that conversation with you now. We can't take your calls for this part of the show, but if you'd like to weigh in, you can email us at SOI at ideas stream dot org or message us on Instagram at the sound of ideas. Here's my talk now with Dave. Dave Isay, founder and president of StoryCorps, thank you for being back with us here on the Sound of Ideas . Of course, it's good to be back. It's been a long time. Yeah, happy to have you back with us. And something interesting happening for StoryCorps right now , you know, StoryCore has built its legacy on intimate conversations between loved ones . But this project Connect two hundred fifty pivots to pairing complete strangers to build a time capsule for America's two hundred fiftieth birthday. Why did you decide on strangers rather than loved ones for this project? Well, we wanted to get as broad a spectrum of people as possible. We created, as you said, it's a time capsule for the two fif hundredtieth. It's kind of like, Hey, America, meet America. And the idea is to give thousands of people the chance to be in conversation with a stranger. We develop this feeling a little bit underwhelmed by what was going on for two hundred and fifty for the country. You know, there's not much. It seems it's kind of built to last. And about a month and a half ago started furiously building this platform give strangers across the country the chance to talk to each other. I mean, I think we live at a time where you know there's a lot of anxiety, a lot of fear. We know from, you know, polling that people are much less likely to to talk their neighbors to talk to strangers than they were in the past. And this is an effort to just kind of remind people who we are as Americans. So we're looking at in this project forty minute unedited oral conversations. So what can that capture about the human experience that things like expert accounts, data points, and historical archives might miss about this moment in time, Dave? You're making this easy for me. I love that. You're exactly right. It's the opposite of what data points and archives can capture. I mean, what happens in these interviews is that people and it's basically the way it works is that you get matched, you pick someone who you want to match with. It's kind of like a dating app. And you pick someone you write a little bio and you pick someone based on their bio. It starts with you reading your bio you reading your partner's bio to them and then reading your bio to you and then you answer storycore questions. And StoryCore is built to have for people to have a visceral conversation . You know, one of the kind of themes of story chorus is that listening is an act of love. And these questions are the opposite of small talk. It gets right to the heart of the matter. So you get to choose your questions and they're kind of scrolling on the screen and you can figure out what you want to talk about. But they're, you it know',s cutting right through asking questions like who is kindest to you in your life, how do you want to be remembered? Who are your parents? So I, you know, I found at StoryCorps, when someone leaves the company after ten or fifteen years, I'll do a story cor ner interview with them. And you know, invariably I know more about them after that forty minute conversation that I learned in the fifteen years that we've been working side to side . So it is it I'm a little bit like wary to call it like a dating app or the experience like speed dating , but it is very it's a very intense conversation and it's like incredibly fun You know, it you might be intimidated coming into something like this, talking to a stranger, but you always, always, we've tested this over and over and over again. Our hypocratic oath is to do no harm. And you know, when you come out of it, you come out of it with, you know, basically with someone who you feel close to . So it's it's it I guarantee it'll be one of the most rewarding hours of your year if you take the time to do this . When we look at the way that this takes place, you know, there is a biography that each people write and then they share it. And then you pick your person, are you finding that people are tending to pick people that seem different than them or people that share similarities. What are you finding there? Well, we so the platform is still being built. So we're finding nothing so far . But it opens up on july seventh . And I think some people are going to my guess is that people are going to pick someone who's very different than them . You know, you know, one of the word that describes this is largely public radio. It's morning edition listeners, morning Edition is our partner on this . And the one word that describes public radio listeners and polling for as long as I've been in public radio, which is about forty years is curiosity. So I imagine that people are going to be curious and in this kind of dating app universe that they're in, pick someone who's very different than them, geographically age wise , interests and other wise and have a conversation that is , you know, really rich and as I said, like I think pretty meaningful . What do you think about the value that people will receive from this ? Whether that be value in finding common ground or value in disagreement . Do you think we'll see some of that? I don't think we'll see much disagreement . I think that what people will be reminded of is that the basic goodness of who we are as a country. You know, we've had we have the signature story corps has facilitators who travel the country bearing witness to these interviews. And when they come off the road, if you ask them what they've learned, everyone gives a version of the Anne Frank quote that people are basically good. So I think what you're going to be reminded of is the basic goodness of people. And I was talking to the person who was employee number one of Story Corps twenty three years ago. And he said, you know, when I asked you why you were building StoryCorps, you said, I used to make radio documentaries. You said, I want other people to know what it's like to be able to talk to a stranger and to ask questions that they'd never been asked before and to honor them by listening to them . So that's what I hope that because that is an as you know, that's an incredible like remarkable feeling. And I want as many people to have that experience as possible. And I think that's what's going to happen through Connect two hundred fifty . It will definitely be an interesting experience for sure. I look forward to seeing how it pans out. And if we look at how technology has changed and our methods of communicating, Dave over time, you know, now we've got YouTube, TikTok, artificial intelligence videos that make us question reality and we don't know what's what? A lot different from just the written word. Is there something that you're hoping people will take from this project one hundred years from now when they might listen to this audio archive . Well, you know , I you know, we think about the three hundred fiftieth and the question is like what do we want our great, great, great grandchildren to know about who we were on the two hundred fiftieth? And I think that, you know, Story Corps, as I said, is it's, you know, you have so much disposable stuff to Twitter and StoryCorps is built to last. And I also think StoryCore is built to be authentic, you know, people sometimes talk about crying when they hear story core stories even when they're not sad . And I think what we're surrounded by so much nonsense and BS and when you hear story core is the opposite of reality TV. Nobody comes to get rich, nobody comes to get famous. It's just an act of generosity and love. And when you hear a story authentically told, which is what you're going to hear in these Connect two hundred and fifty conversations, you're kind of walking on holy ground. There's just no question that there's no AI, there's no manipulation, there's just two human beings being real with each other. And I am, you know, I'm hopeful that when the people on the three hundred fiftieth anniversary of this country , when our descendants listen to this, they're going to hear that we're kinder , smarter and more decent than they might learn from the dots on a graph, as you said and from, you know, tapes of TV of twenty four hour television and from Twitter and Facebook and social media. It's just who we really are is just very different than that. How can people participate if they'd like to join Connect two fifty day ? So pre register now at connect two fifty dot org again , don't be scared. It's an amazing experience. It is totally kind of out there, but it's a really special thing to do for the anniversary of the country. Dave Isay, founder and president of StoryCorps, thank you so much for the time today. Thank you, Stephanie. Great to talk to you. Again, if you're interested in signing up for that project, it is connect two fifty. org that's the website. Now that wraps up our show for today. If you missed anything, you can hear a rebroadcast tonight at nine on eighty nine seven WKSU. You can also find every episode of the Sound of Ideas wherever you get your podcasts and on the IDEASTREM public media YouTube page. To get the last word on today's topics, you can email us at sOI at ideasream. org. You can also find us on Instagram we're at the Sound of Ideas. Tomorrow on the Sound of Ideas we'll learn about the major consolidation happening at Cleveland Metropolitan Schools with our education reporter Connor Morris and we'll hear some Esperanto the Uni,vers al language created to help foster global understanding and world peace. This is ahead of their American conference happening here in Cleveland over the next week. Looking a little further out in just a few weeks, we'll bring you the next sound of IDES Community Tour. This is happening Monday, july twentieth at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo. We're having a conversation about rising property taxes, efforts to reform them, and services that would be impacted by that reform . The event starts at six PM and is free. You can learn more and register at ideastream. org slash community tour. Again, the event is free, but we do need you to register so that we can be prepared for the amount of people that come , and we do hope that you will join us. I'm Stephanie Haney. Thank you very much for keeping the conversation going. I hope your week is off to a good start , and we'll see you back here tomorrow on the Sound of Ideas.