Local

Thursday, September 22, 3-6pm
925 Mt Vernon Ave

Our theme: Sharing the Wealth refers to the wealth of the land and the community. BGM@MPACC reserves space for Ohio farmers/growers, as well as cottage food operations and small processors that source ingredients locally and local craft artisans.

The market encourages the following: developing and niche farmers; farmers/urban gardeners practicing organic farming methods and season extension; producers that source locally; community gardens and producers eager to educate consumers about their products.

Bronzeville Growers Market @MPACC's Box Park
occurs every Thursday
July 7 to September 29 | 3 - 6 pm
at 925 Mt. Vernon Avenue, corner of 17th.
Free parking is located across from the market.

Ah, the children!

They belong to us, sayeth the Department of Defense. At least some of them do.

It’s a little more complicated than it used to be, thanks to one of the changes that occurred back in 1973, a year of startling historical significance. That was the year of the Roe v. Wade decision and, oh yeah, the Watergate hearings (remember those?). But there was more. The United States, tangled militarily in the quagmire of Vietnam and increasingly torn apart on the home front by protests, was on the brink of conceding defeat in Nam and getting the hell out of the ravaged country. Before that came about, the military-industrialists made a pragmatic decision. They got rid of the draft.

The idea was to shut up the protesters by taking away their personal stake in America’s militarism. The term that was then emerging was “Vietnam syndrome” — people were sick of war. Uh oh! Big problem for the defense industry and all the groveling politicians indebted to it. Patriotism itself had become poisoned. People began calling for profound national change, including (God help us) an end to war. Was the antiwar movement becoming the new patriotism?

Jean-Luc Godard: “Beauty is composed of an eternal, invariable element whose quantity is extremely difficult to determine, and a relative element which might be, either by turns or all at once, period, fashion, moral, passion.

Pusha T: “Shorty in my ear say she got a thong on.”

Jean-Luc Godard died at the age of 91. Upon hearing of the French New Wave’s director’s death, I rode COTA to the Columbus Metropolitan Library’s website and requested as many movies as possible. I spent my weekend bumping Pusha T’s latest album while watching Breathless.

I thought: Godard lived until 91. He did something correct.

I aligned my Flex Beats headphones with my iPhone and jumped on the 31 from Lane and High. I transferred and boarded the number 8 via Neil Avenue from South Campus.

I jumped the COTA and walked two minutes until I was standing looking at Pusha T’s name from Kemba Live’s sign.

I set my Flex Beats headphones, writing utensil, wallet, Futura Lanyard, and iPhone on a tray. After the metal detectors, I was frisked, and I walked towards the stage.

Opener IDK was playing a set which sound like a mixture of southern rap, and Odd Future.

WHAT LED YOU TO THE OPEN SHELTER?

“I asked some homeless guys where to get stuff at and they told me the location. They showed me where to go and ever since I have been coming here. It was about eight or nine years ago. I didn’t have anywhere to go. I didn’t want to live with my family. I needed to go away and get my stuff together. There was drama. I wanted to be by myself. I was staying in a tent in downtown.”

“I would get up at 7 in the morning. Trying to find places to eat, get clothes and stuff I need. I never had any real problems except for the city coming down and tearing people’s tents down for no reason. I lost a lot of things. Sometimes other campers won’t tell you if the city is coming. So if you go away for a couple of days, your stuff could be gone.” 

United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) 1059 told local Kroger members earlier this week: “To this point, there is no firm commitment from Kroger to return to the bargaining table, but we expect further communications from the Company this week.”

Since this letter, Kroger employees told the Free Press that 1059 has alerted union stewards they may give authorization to strike, which could occur today (Wednesday). UFCW 1059 represents 12,500 Kroger associates in 84 stores. Some are part-time, such as teenagers and those on the autism spectrum.

But there’s the difference – the majority of 1059 members work full-time and are longtime veterans of Kroger, like the 40-year union steward we spoke with, or those who stock our freezers for hours on end, drive a forklift in warehouses, or man the registers eight hours a day.

One thing the pandemic proved is that every community has a far greater dependence on fulltime grocery store workers than was once apparent.

Wednesday, September 21, 6pm

North High Brewing [Short North], 1288 N. High St.

This month’s “Ales and Climate Tales” will present local beekeeper Luke Howard and his work on local environmental education for Columbus businesses.

Hosted by Citizens Climate Lobby [Columbus Chapter].

Facebook Event

In the past few months, I have renewed my love for all-things Star Wars, watching and re-watching the movies, TV shows, and limited series. While this franchise takes place in a galaxy far, far away, one scene from Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith feels as if it is happening in Ohio today. 

As the democratic Republic is transformed into the evil Galactic Empire, amid the rancorous cheering of fellow senators, Senator Padmé Amidala exasperatedly comments, “So this is how liberty dies, with thunderous applause.”

While it might seem reductive to apply the events of a science-fiction movie to the politics of our own state, Ohio Republicans have gerrymandered their way to veto-proof supermajorities in the State House and State Senate in a manner that threatens our own democracy. 

"Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul" is based on Writer/Director Adamma Ebo's short from 2018 with the same name, inspired by her complicated relationship with organized religion. Ebo's screenplay critiques the current status of Black churches, but it comes from a place of love.

The film is done in an "Office" styled mockumentary that follows Pastor Lee-Curtis Childs (Sterling K. Brown) of a fictional megachurch and his devoted wife and first lady Trinitie Childs (Regina Hall). Their church was highly successful and once served a congregation in the tens of thousands until Lee-Curtis found himself in a sexual misconduct scandal, which drove away most of his large congregation and inevitably caused those precious donations to disappear. Trinitie stays by his side as they try to rebuild their church and reputation for the Lord, but in reality, to maintain their extravagant lifestyle.

The duo hires an award-winning documentarian to make a film about the weeks leading up to their megachurch's grand re-opening. Of course, their attempt at documenting their comeback journey does not quite go as smoothly as they had planned.

Homebound Entrepreneurs Against DeWines goes after Republican Governor Mike DeWine for avoiding former President Donald Trump, embracing President Joe Biden

To keep the general election season interesting, the anti-DeWine PAC Homebound Entrepreneurs Against DeWines has released another quirky ad called “Democrats for DeSwine,” which takes on Governor Mike DeWine’s real relationship with President Joe Biden. The ad features the vocal talents of comedian James Adomian.

JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon recently claimed that returning to the office will help improve diversity. And if he’s right, that’s an important argument for office-centric work. After all, extensive research shows that improving diversity boosts both decision-making and financial performance.

Yet does office-centric work really improve diversity? Meta Platforms - the owner of Facebook and Instagram - decided to offer permanent fully-remote work options after COVID hit.