Bowling Alone

Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community is a 2000 book by Robert D. Putnam. It was developed from his 1995 essay entitled “Bowling Alone: America’s Declining Social Capital“. Putnam surveys the decline of social capital in the United States since 1950. He describes the reduction in all the forms of in-person social interaction upon which Americans used to found, educate, and enrich the fabric of their social lives. He argues that this decline undermines active civil engagement, which a strong democracy requires.

To illustrate why the decline in Americans’ membership in social organizations is problematic to democracy, Putnam uses bowling as an example. Although the number of people who bowl has increased in the last 20 years (1980-2000), the number of people who bowl in leagues has decreased. If people bowl alone, they do not participate in social interaction and civic discussions that might occur in a league environment.

Abstract from 1995 essay:

“The US once had an enviable society, but over the last two or three decades this civic society has shrunk, and more people are watching TV. Possible explanations for this trend include more women in the workplace, increased mobility of families and changing demographics.”

(Full Essay Here)

Big 10 Consortium’s New Play Initiative

The Big 10 Schools are united by their large Division 1 sports teams and their geographic location, stretching across the midwest and mid-Atlantic. The Big 10 Consortium actually comprises 14 schools:

• Indiana University
• Michigan State University
• Northwestern University
• Ohio State University
• Pennsylvania State University
• Purdue University
• Rutgers University
• University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• University of Iowa
• University of Maryland
• University of Michigan
• University of Minnesota
• University of Nebraska–Lincoln
• University of Wisconsin–Madison

This sports consortium has led to corresponding academic consortia between the 14 schools, including the Big 10 Theatre Consortium. In 2014 the Big 10 began a New Play Initiative for female playwrights to create plays with a substantial number of developed young female characters.

Each year the Big 10 commissions one female playwright to create a new work that the schools have the exclusively right to produce for one year, and the right to produce it royalty-free for the first three years.

The works produced by this initiative:

• Good Kids, by Naomi Iizuka – 2014
• Baltimore, by Kirsten Greenidge – 2015
• Twilight Bowl, by Rebecca Gilman – 2016
• Companion Animals, by Madeleine George – 2017