We are excited to announce our first annual Leading Ladies Art as Activism Film Contest and Screening, an opportunity for creative high school students to express their views about important social justice issues. The top ten submissions will be screened at The Cabot in downtown Beverly in early 2022.

This is our second edition of “Staggering Statistics and Devastating Details.” This time we are focusing on guns – who has them and what happens because of their availability. We hope these facts will not only alarm you but also provide compelling “backup” when others oppose or question your position on issues. “The only thing that permits human beings to collaborate with one another in a truly open-ended way is their willingness to have their beliefs modified by new facts,” wrote author Sam Harris. “Only openness to evidence and argument will secure a common world for us.”

This week, we are focusing on reproductive rights, so clearly under attack right now while headspinning misinformation is being circulated about the place of abortion in our history and in the collective health of women.

Pew Research conducted a survey of more than 10,000 US adults last month to get their thoughts about COVID. Here are 10 facts that Pew discovered from this survey:

At the risk of being redundant, this week we are revisiting the subject of food insecurity on college campuses. As you know, we co-hosted a screening of the documentary, “Hungry to Learn,” at The Cabot in Beverly last Wednesday, followed by a discussion with Ann Ciaraldi, associate dean of student affairs at UMass Lowell, and Kathleen O’Neill, director of Single Stop at Bunker Hill Community College. Both women provide support at their colleges for students confronting food insecurity. The conversation expanded our knowledge and understanding of the problem and how we might take action to solve it.

What’s the difference between socialism and communism? We hear the terms conflated frequently in political discourse. What is a socialist democracy? Is the United States truly a democracy or a republic? Can it be both?

“As long as you have your health!” is a common refrain among friends, especially as we age and winnow our priorities down to the essentials. Yet, since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, we have become woefully aware of the unequal access to the means to stay healthy in this country.

In Manhattan, on one of the vertical LinkNYC digital billboards, you might see a new message that reads:

“Here’s an idea. Let’s ask everyone who is wondering if anti-semitism is real to wear a yarmulke for a week and then report back.”

The Senate filibuster — and whether it serves to advance or stymie democracy — is a hot topic of debate these days. Where you land in the argument frequently, but not always, coincides with your political party. Still, the issues and ramifications deserve reflection and consideration.

The term “climate change” sounds more benign than the truths held within it. In fact, the climate change we are experiencing — and will experience in the coming years — is an existential threat we can no longer ignore. And, since we are most attentive to what affects us most closely, we decided to take a look at the specific risks to the northeastern United States.

The US Government is sending money each month to families with children as part of its new American Rescue Plan.

The Olympics usually provide great entertainment, inspiration, and the kind of wow factor we all need these days. And while the appearance of Simone Biles and other luminaries may raise our spirits, we are confronted daily with the spectre of more and more athletes dropping out because of positive COVID tests. Instead of providing inspiration, the Olympics are bringing us face to face, yet again, with the dire reality that the pandemic is far from over.

The IRS began sending monthly checks to families with children in the US on July 15 — the official launch of President Biden’s American Rescue antipoverty program. The plan promises to halve child poverty, but only if the money actually reaches everyone eligible.

We decided to change it up this week. Instead of presenting an in-depth look at one issue, we are offering some staggering statistics and devastating details about a variety of social justice issues of concern to us. We hope you will find them as compelling as we do — and as clarion calls to action for all of us.

There’s a lot in the news right now about critical race theory (CRT). What is it and what is it not? And should it be taught in our schools?

As with many matters in our current media world, misinformation about CRT abounds on numerous platforms. In addition, organizations have sprouted up around the country…

A recent Pew Research poll on Americans’ beliefs about the death penalty shows that most Americans who are Christian are in favor of this form of punishment for people convicted of murder. The numbers in favor vary by religious affiliation, race, and age. The majority of atheists and agnostics are opposed to the death penalty.

“Mass shootings are now so frequent that it is hard to remember them all,” commentator Scott Pelley said on CBS’s “60 Minutes” earlier this month. Many of us can recall a time when we had never heard of a mass shooting, let alone a rash of them targeting people of all faiths and colors. Yet, here we are, facing a summer that many fear will bring a spike in senseless killings.

June marks LGBTQ Pride Month as well as Juneteenth, both celebrations of events and people notably absent from the history books of our 1960s and 1970s school years. Instead, we learned, by the omissions, that gay people did not live in our worlds and certainly did not contribute to our society in meaningful ways; and that the important people and achievements in history were all accomplished by white people, particularly men whose families came from northern Europe.

If passed, the For the People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, now before Congress, will combat the insidious voter suppression laws that are surging in many states and districts in our country, preventing citizens, particularly those of color and living in neighborhoods of poverty, from participating in the electoral process guaranteed by the US Constitution.

At last week’s kNOw MORE! Zoom discussion, climate scientist Dr. Tamara Ledley introduced us to the En-ROADS Climate Change Solutions Simulator which allows any user to manipulate the variables influencing climate and see what changes can yield significant results. Co-developed by Climate Interactive, Ventana Systems, and MIT Sloan, the simulator has been used by corporations, legislators, community groups, and individuals.