![Dr. David Orr, a professor emeritus at Oberlin College and Conservatory talks about the Democracy Unchained conversation series project and its goals. [Billion Photos / Shutterstock]](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/78a367e/2147483647/strip/true/crop/3000x1800+0+0/resize/840x504!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Flegacy%2Fuploads%2F2020%2F10%2F06%2Fshutterstock_1148551286.jpg)
Early voting begins in Ohio today and we are less than one month away from the November 3, General Election.
The election will take place during a global health pandemic, an economic crisis created by the pandemic and efforts to control it, and rising racial unrest and calls for racial equality.
American voters remain divided as polarization deepens.
Is there still a "we" in the We the People?
A multi-part conversation series currently being produced takes a look at how we can rebuild democracy and government to serve all Americans. The State of American Democracy Project—a non-partisan group of individuals and organizations—created the Democracy Unchained series.
The project grew out of a conference in 2017 at Oberlin College and led to a book by the same title.
But first up on The Sound of Ideas, a week ago, all eyes were on Cleveland as President Donald Trump and challenger Joe Biden met for the first presidential debate of the 2020 election. The Cleveland Clinic and Case Western Reserve University stepped in to bring the debate to the Samson Pavilion on the Health Education Campus after the University of Notre Dame backed out.
But in the days after the debate, President Trump announced he had tested positive for the coronavirus. He was taken to Walter Reed Hospital for a few days of experimental treatments for COVID-19. The President returned to the White House last night. First Lady Melania Trump also tested postive and in the past few days a number of Trump associates and staffers have also tested positive. Joe Biden and his wife Jill have tested negative.
This has renewed focus on the President's trip to Cleveland for the debate and the health protocols put in place to ensure the safety of those participating and attending.
Later a new photo exhibition features images of battered buildings with flaking paint and broken concrete.
It's called "Eroded Beauty." But these pictures of deterioration have a deeper… spiritual… meaning for photographer Tracey Lind.
She served as Dean of Cleveland's Trinity Episcopal church for nearly two decades before stepping down four years ago due to a diagnosis of early-onset dementia. Ideastream's David C. Barnett recently spoke with Lind about the connections between her life and her photography.
Tracey Lind's photographs of "Eroded Beauty" are now on view at Foothill Galleries in Cleveland Heights. Take a video tour of the exhibit Friday night during Applause at 8:30 on WVIZ PBS ideastream.
For More Information:
Lisa Ryan, Health Reporter/Producer, Ideastream
Anna Huntsman, Health Reporter/Producer, Ideastream
David Orr, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus of Environmental Studies and Politics, Oberlin College and Conservatory
Tracey Lind, Photographer, "Eroded Beauty" Exhibit
