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A central motif of the new horror film 28 Years Later is its statement about what normal looks like. From the outset, normality is encoded in the battle between normal humans vs abnormal, zombified ones. But another subtler message also makes itself known: normal isn’t about diversity. The film ministers to the idea of the ‘unwelcome other’ by apparently only casting people of colour in the role of zombies. And so, the real horror is in the thinking that seems to have informed the casting.
The film re-centres whiteness, under the guise of genre convention and nostalgia. In so doing, it echoes a lingering cultural mood that quietly reinforces exclusion. I should know. I’m Black and I’ve seen this mood afoot in many instances of procedural fluency - that automatic application of actions and behaviours that, in the case of race, leads to exclusion.
Congressional passage of Donald Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill” provides the latest evidence that human greed, despite its primitive nature, remains alive and well.
Perhaps most noticeably, the legislation provides for over $3 trillion in tax cuts that disproportionately help the wealthy and their corporations. This largesse is facilitated by slashing over $1.4 trillion in healthcare and food assistance for low-income Americans and increasing the national debt by $3.3 trillion. Estimates reveal that at least 16 million Americans will lose health care coverage and 7 million people (including 2 million children) will lose food aid or have their food aid cut significantly. Meanwhile, according to the Yale Budget Lab, the nation’s top 0.1 percent―people with an annual income over $3.3 million―will receive tax cuts of $103,500 on average. Condemning the legislation, the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops declared simply that it “takes from the poor to give to the wealthy.”
Saturday: July 5th 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm and 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm
Sunday: July 6th 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm
*Doors open ½ hour before each performance time.
Tickets: Early Bird: $10.00 At Door: $15.00 Youth (10 to 16)* At Door Only $5.00
Ticket Link: www.mine4godproductions.com
For more information on group rates or questions www.mine4godproductionsllc@aol.com
Columbus City Council last Monday awarded more money to the beleaguered Franklinton “harm reduction” drop-in center Sanctuary Night yet gave nothing to 1DivineLine2Health, the original and competent West Side drop-in center started by Esther Flores.
Flores, a registered nurse, is a Columbus pioneer. She was the first to open a drop-in center – a much-needed safe house – for the addicted “street sisters” of Franklinton, the Hilltop and the rest of the West Side, for that matter. She took it upon herself in 2015 to create what amounts to a brave and gutsy grassroots movement, risking everything to take care of thousands of sex-trafficked and homeless women and their children. Flores, a Catholic, has earned the nickname “The Saint of Sullivant Avenue” from the Free Press and was the news org’s Libby Award winner for 2021.
The Fourth of July offers a grand teachable moment for educators, especially progressive ones. As an assignment for my summer sociology classes, I would typically have students read Frederick Douglas’ “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?”; listen to Paul Robeson sing “Ballad for Americans”; and ask them to identify what a citizen’s duty is as explicitly mentioned in the Declaration of Independence. This assignment would likely get me reprimanded, if not fired, today. Yet the liberating truth revealed in these works is more vital today than ever.
Just about everyone is familiar with its opening statement about the self-evident truths that all men are created equal, that they are endowed … with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. But far too few pay attention to, let alone act upon, what follows: that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and institute new Government… Yet the 56 signers this revolutionary Declaration did not stop there, but amplified the urgency to confront tyranny by making it a call to duty:
The world-renowned Doo Dah Parade is returning to the streets of Columbus on July 4, 2025, Rain date July 3rd. The 42nd Annual celebration of Liberty and Lunacy Freedom of Speech through Humor will be satirizing the world LIVE from the Fabulous Short North starting at 1 p.m.
The world needs a good laugh or two. Doo Dah Parade Disorganizers are unplanning for a groups of marchers to wind their way through Victorian Village and along High Street in Short North. Overseeing it all will be Doo Dah Less-Than-Grand Marshal: NBC4 News Queen Colleen Marshall.
Disorganizers also emphasize that the best way to experience Doo Dah is to be IN the parade. Get your humor out and create a memorable entry! No registration is necessary; all you have to do is show up. Line up for parade participants begins at Noon on Park Street (Enter from Goodale.)
Friday, July 4, 12-4pm
Ohio Statehouse, Broad and High Streets, downtown Columbus
This Fourth of July, we're reclaiming America's promise; Freedom for all! Justice for all! NO KINGS! What started as a local protest is now a nationwide movement. This isn't about left vs. right; this is about the people vs. power unchecked. No more leaders above the law. No more silence when rights are stripped away. No more fear, manipulation, or false patriotism. From coast to coast, city streets to small towns, we're raising our voices: Against authoritarianism, corrupt leadership, racism, xenophobia, and injustice. For the rights of immigrants, workers, families, and everyday Americans For truth, transparency, and equality under the Constitution.
WHO'S INVITED? Everyone who believes in liberty - true liberty, not just the brand sold during election season.
This is for the silenced. The forgotten. The rising generation. This is for YOU.
WE ARE NOT BACKING DOWN! We are not celebrating freedom while people are still in cages. We are not pledging allegiance to leaders who want to rule rather than serve. We are not staying quiet when justice is on the line.
The devastation embedded in the Trump-Republicans big bad budget bill for lower income families has been a drum that I’ve been beating for weeks now, but as it nears the finish line additional impacts are becoming clear. This bill has become a “whose on first, what’s on second” house of horrors. Like many other initiatives of this administration, most of its consequences are intended when it comes to its war on the poor, minorities, women, and others, but some are even surprising its fanboys, like the former Trump BBF Elon Musk, and not at all because of deficits. Ideology, not common sense or basic prudence is now running the government.
US REP JAMIE RASKIN & THE ATTACK ON US DEMOCRACY & ECOLOGY
We begin GREEP Zoom #229 with citations for “The Choreography of War” by our Poet Laureate MIMI GERMAN, whose latest poem is compacted into a brilliant three lines.
Green Party Presidential nominee HOWIE HAWKINS discusses the nitty-gritties of Ranked Choice Voting & instant runoff.
The great MARIANNE WILLIAMSON gives us a brief hello & a promise to come visit us again soon.
Beyond Nuclear’s KEVIN KAMPS reminds us about how powerful is the rise of renewables worldwide along with the demise of nuke power.
Co-host MIKE HERSH gives us a stellar introduction for US REP JAMIE RASKIN.
Rep. Raskin provides a brief excursion into the dire damage being done to our electoral system through the widespread assault on the Voting Rights Act, emphasizing the powerful impact of the No Kings Day marches..
The great RAY MCCLENDON of the Georgia-based Communities United for Justice connects with Rep. Raskin, sharing concerns about the mass disenfranchisement being imposed on the national electorate.
Many factors explain the demise of earlier civilizations, but not one collapsed as a result of deliberate decisions by a top political leader who wanders about destroying the pillars of his country’s greatness. Donald J, Trump, however, does so—endangering not only the United States but also U,S. allies and others previously inspired by America’s example.
The United States has long suffered from many of the challenges that brought down earlier political systems—from Uruk in Mesopotamia to Mayan Chichén Itza to the USSR. These problems included myopic leadership, rich-poor enmity, widespread corruption; racial and religious conflict, environmental abuse, overextension and unnecessary warring—all made worse by inflation and deficit spending.