People
Along with a few dozen Columbus-area residents of diverse age, occupation, gender, and race, my wife and I delighted in the monthly First Things event on Saturday, March 18.
Sponsored by Four Seasons City Farm—“one organization, many growing sites”—First Things is a monthly “fund raiser and friend raiser” using the exceptional, truly historic rooms of the landmark, all but forgotten Old First Presbyterian Church on Bryden Road in Old Town East, Columbus.
First Things calls us to celebrate Columbus’ best preserved, if neglected, historic area. Missing from the embarrassing AIA Guide to Columbus, the church—the oldest in Columbus—was founded in 1806.
Now on the third Saturday of each month, from 7-11 pm, the church is home to First Things.
The March 2023 Free Press Second Saturday Cyber-Salon happened on Zoom and Facebook Live on March 11, facilitated by Free Press Board member Mark Stansbery.
International Women’s Day was March 8 and Mark pointed out how women are the backbone of all peace organizing and he talked about women organizing in Sudan.
Cathy Cowan Becker spoke on the timeline and issues surrounding the East Palestine train derailment in Ohio. She mentioned a group operating in East Palestine, River Valley Organizing, a labor and environmental group who wanted the area called a disaster area, but Biden has not done it yet. She showed a detailed Powerpoint presentation on the timeline from the day of the derailment.
She noted that the rail industry blocked safety regulations that may have prevented the derailment for many years. The cover-up after the derailment has been obvious, especially when a reporter at the scene was arrested and charged with trespass, though charges were finally dropped.
City of Columbus mayoral candidate Joe Motil states, “Incumbent Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s runoff election loss yesterday is part of a pattern across the country. In one term, she lost the unprecedented diverse backing that elected her four years ago. Voters in cities east and west, north and south, large and small are rejecting new leaders and handpicked politicians who are joined at the hip with developers and corporations. Chicago voters overwhelmingly made it clear that those who are not delivering on their promises to provide safe neighborhoods, truly affordable housing, fixing our crumbling infrastructure, solving homelessness, and quality of life for all no longer will remain in office.”
Motil says, “Last year’s Los Angeles, California mayoral election loss by businessman Rick Caruso, who spent over $100 million on his campaign, is also a sign that money by itself isn’t going to fool Columbus voters. We see similar patterns in New Orleans, Atlanta, San Francisco, even Cleveland and Cincinnati.
On the occasion of the Board of Trustee’s February 2023 meeting, Ohio State’s shortest serving, and soon-to-be unemployed ex-president, millionaire Kristina Johnson broke two-and-a-half months of ignoring repeated calls from faculty, students, and the community by launching an anti-factual and myth-making campaign for face-saving and rehabilitation. (In general, see my “The Ohio State University: Not ‘a failed presidency,’ by itself, but a failing university, Part One,” Busting Myths, Columbus Free Press, Jan. 7, 2023. See also my “The United States’ most disorganized university? Ohio State’s ‘5½ D’s’: Disorganization, dysfunction, disengagement, depression, dishonest, and undisciplined, Part One,” Busting Myths, Columbus Free Press, Aug. 28, 2022; “The United States’ most disorganized university? Ohio State’s ‘5½ D’s’: Disorganization, dysfunction, disengagement, depression, dishonest, and undisciplined, Part Two,” Busting Myths, Columbus Free Press, Aug. 31, 2022: “The OSU Way: Slogans over Truth and Honesty in Graduation Rates and Student Well-Being,” Busting Myths, Columbus Free Press, Oct.
Our recent elections delivered a setback to Donald Trump, his allies, and their corporate-based campaign of racism/misogyny/homophobia, division, across our nation. It broke my heart, but didn’t surprise me, that my state of Ohio bucked that positive trend.
As national pundits cite Ohio as a “Red” state (not in the “good way”), it’s important to understand that it wasn’t always so and begin to understand why.
What Union Density Looks Like
When I hired in the Lorain US Steel mill a half century ago and joined up with the Steelworker’s Union (USW), Ohio was trusted to be a union-voting “Blue” state, especially its northern industrial section. Workers voted for those who delivered on our list of worker/people friendly issues. It wasn’t that right-wing Republicans didn’t float racist, misogynist, homophobic or other divisive issues, they did. It was that Unions were in place, represented/stood up for and educated workers on where their interests did/didn’t lie. Workers knew they weren’t alone, had people just like them to help them sort issues out.
Is Said said
he dedicated his books
to dreamers while chasin a dream
and God bless the farmers.
Is Said said
lets drop our guns
and kill no more
and stop making life a mess
I got every right
to be a man
to search my soul
to understand.
Is Said said
help me thank God
for the teachings
of his love
so we might learn
something.
Is Said said
peace is the key
in the whole wide world
people is the answer
to all kinds of love cause
people love world peace.
Is Said said
there is love and peace of mind
to soothe the spirit of any kind
in our afrika
where peace is time.
Is Said said
my people’s skin
is black in color
but that don’t make them wrong
the ways of nature
have a blessing
and that’s what keeps
my people strong.
Is Said said
my life is in your life
my face is blocking your view
your time is running low
for change way over due
Is Said said
Legendary and much-loved Columbys poet Is Said passed away February 6, 2023
Author, mentor, community-based activist, and educator, Is Said provided sage leadership on a national level as well as in the greater Columbus arts community. He conceived, staged, wrote, and performed unique multimedia arts events, combining visionary, historical-based poetry or prose synergistically with high-energy African music and dance.
Founding the Columbus-based “Advance Party” in 1973, he brought to life a powerful, spiritual vision to inspire, inform, and empower diverse audiences. With an inclusive multicultural approach, Is Said served formally and informally as consultant to many arts agencies and individuals, seeking his wisdom born of a lifetime of community experience.
He shared his expertise with school-age or homeless youth, growing artists, and senior citizens, conducting educational workshops that foster literacy, creativity, performance skills, and, most importantly, self-awareness. Is Said received the King Arts Complex 24th Annual Legends and Legacies Award in 2011. Everybody will be equal after the bomb.
For the very first time
I watched that crime.
of stealing from
the hopeful youth
their breath
their dreams
their futures indeed
and just because
they’re
Black.
For the very first time
I watched that crime
Took me back
To 1991
When I first
watched that crime
on TV, horrified.
I watched that crime
Inching my way
Into the certain pain
Of watching another
Mother of a
Black Brother being
Murdered, killed
With no mercy
Crying out for his mother.
I watched that crime
And as a mother
Again I cried
For the pain
Of the mothers
Of Black sons.
As we add another
Name to the long
List of names
Of our sons who have
Died just because
They’re Black.
By the hands
Of the blue culture.
I watched that crime
I watched that beating
I watched that killing
Of Tyre Nichols.
I watched that crime
For the very first time
Again.
For the very first time
I watched that crime.
of stealing from
the hopeful youth
their breath
their dreams
their futures indeed
and just because
they’re
Black.
For the very first time
I watched that crime
Took me back
To 1991
When I first
watched that crime
on TV, horrified.
I watched that crime
Inching my way
Into the certain pain
Of watching another
Mother of a
Black Brother being
Murdered, killed
With no mercy
Crying out for his mother.
I watched that crime
And as a mother
Again I cried
For the pain
Of the mothers
Of Black sons.
As we add another
Name to the long
List of names
Of our sons who have
Died just because
They're Black.
By the hands
Of the blue culture.
I watched that crime
I watched that beating
I watched that killing
Of Tyre Nichols.
I watched that crime
For the very first time
Again.
Joe Motil, former Columbus City Council candidate and longtime community advocate who is submitting about 2,000 petition signatures to run for mayor in the 2023 May Primary election states, “On the eve of the trial of former Republican State House Speaker Larry Householders’ federal racketeering charges, statehouse Republican legislatures held a January 18th press conference to announce the introduction of an ethics reform bill. The proposals in this bill barely scratch the surface on corruption and the unethical behavior of elected officials, lobbyists and others. It’s hard to 'reform ethics' when there are none.”
Motil continues , “On May 10, 2016, Mayor Ginther signed an Executive Order on 'Ethics and Conduct: Accountability and Integrity for Effective Governance.' Just as leaders of the Republican state legislature attempting to save face because their former leader begins his trial in what is described as the 'largest corruption case in Ohio history,' Andy Ginther’s 2016 Executive Order on Ethics and Conduct stands as a page from the same playbook.”