People

Whenever you hear something repeated, it feels more true when you hear it repeated. In other words, repetition makes any statement seem more true. So anything you hear will feel more true each time you hear it again.

Each of the three sentences above conveyed the same message. Yet each time you read the next sentence, it felt more and more true. Cognitive neuroscientists like myself call this the “illusory truth effect.”

Illusory truth is one consequence of a phenomenon called “cognitive fluency,” meaning how easily we process information. Much of our vulnerability to deception in all areas of life revolves around cognitive fluency.

Director Emeritus, Kent R. Beittel, passed away October 16 at the age of 72. His efforts, passion and accomplishments in helping the homeless and marginally housed were unmatched and his legacy will live on at The Open Shelter. Kent and his wife Mary Beittel (who passed in 2017) were honored with community activism awards at the Free Press 2004 annual awards event as champions for the homeless. Often bucking the establishment coalitions in Columbus, Beittel was a strong and effective advocate for people caught up in societal injustice, addiction and poverty.

Friends of Kent and Mary Beittel told their stories about their relationships with Kent and Mary Beittel.

If you missed the fun October 10 from 7-8:30pm on Zoom, there is a video you can view of the event.

The Columbus Free Press celebrated our 50th anniversary with a slideshow of images of people and Free Press covers throughout our 50-year history.

When Adrienne Hood joined protests on the downtown streets in the wake of the George Floyd murder, she was there mainly for her son, Henry Green, who was killed by two plainclothes Columbus police officers in 2016 who remain on the force.

“When I go into those spaces, I try to mentally prepare myself in the event I do see them. Because you just never know,” said Adrienne to the Free Press. “I don’t get into things just for the sake of being in something. I am looking to push this needle to where we need to be.”

Adrienne spent several nights and days downtown this summer protesting for her son. She has remained strong and resilient despite the tragedy her family endured four years ago. She has moved from protest to using her power to make positive change. This spring she joined #RepYourBlock and was elected as a Franklin County Central Committee member representing Ward 54.

I want to review an amazing little book called WHO MOVED MY CHEESE? By Dr. Spenser Johnson. It’s about change and how to deal with it effectively. The 4 characters are 2 mice, Sniff and Scurry, and 2 Littlepeople called Hem and Haw. They live in a maze and spend their time looking for and eating cheese. The gist is that the cheese supply at Cheese Station C dwindles and dies. The lesson lies in what the 4 do about it. How do they deal with change? (Cheese, is obviously a metaphor for anything. Use your imagination to fill in that blank.)  Sniff and Scurry run off into the maze to find new cheese. They eventually do after several days of hunger and uncertainty. Hem isn’t moving anywhere. He’s staying at Cheese Sta. C until more cheese arrives. Haw finally faces his own fears and ventures into the maze in search of cheese. The following are his insights that he writes on the wall along the way.

1              having cheese makes you happy

The documentary, recently acquired by HBO, doesn't premier nationwide until March 2021, but we've been granted early access by the filmmakers.

Here is my story, my vision of a possible future. I encourage you to think about and write down YOUR vision for the future. How would you create the future if it could be any way you liked? We can create a future utopia if we focus our thoughts, energy and passion on it. And work for change now.

And so it began: the SHIFT, the change, the transformation that we all created together. It is precious and powerful, peaceful and strong.

The new matriarchy is a return to the rule of women, the mothers, nurturers and healers. After millennia of men making a mess of the world, women were going to put things right. Women’s priorities are to provide the basic necessities of life: food, shelter and love.

Dear Editor,

As COVID-19 continues its spread, one thing is clear: Ohio and the nation need paid family and medical leave.

As a mother of two, this need was front and center for me after the birth of my second daughter Ellie. Home alone with Ellie a week after giving birth, I became so sick that I couldn’t get out of bed. I had no way to take care of her, let alone myself. My husband and parents had either exhausted their paid leave and vacation time or simply had none. Things escalated when I had to go back to the hospital for treatment, forcing my husband to come home from his job to help get me there.

During that time I felt so alone, frightened and frustrated. I was told by well meaning people — who couldn’t help because they had no time off left — to just stay in bed all day. That’s a fine option for someone who has adequate assistance at home, but I had a newborn and myself to care for alone. How was I supposed to eat if I couldn’t make it downstairs to get food? How was she supposed to eat?

I have been a spiritual seeker over the last several decades.  Along the way, I have studied a variety of teachings from different traditions, spiritual masters and accumulated wisdom. For many years I attended a psychic development class. I trust in things I can’t see or prove except in my own experience, in my gut.

In this program, I will share those influences on my understanding of the nature of reality and the many paths to the goal of “Conscious Creation.

In this inaugural program I am reading one of my favorite sources, channeled wisdom form a group of ascended masters transmitting as Emmanual.

“Whenever the feeling comes over you that you have no choices, I urge you to call a halt to everything. This is a trick you play on yourself to avoid the responsibility and therefore the joy of life.

Envision, instead, what it is you truly want. Test it. Be careful of this, my friends, because if you envision something quite casually, even though you may not be sure you want it, it will manifest.

This is neither magic or false hope. It is the REALITY OF THE POWER OF YOUR CREATIVE IMPULSE.

Kevin Zeese was a major constant reliable presence in the movement for peace and justice. He used writing, editing, online and all other forms of communication. He organized events, protests, occupations. He risked arrest. He ran for office. He was an attorney and used the courts and shared his expertise. He thought independently. He acted collaboratively. He maintained good relations with those he disagreed with — even those he disagreed with over that most disagreeable of topics in a collapsing oligarchy: elections.

Kevin and his partner in recent years Margaret Flowers combined art, civil resistance, music, journalism, radio, and coalition building to cross issue areas and energize. Losing Kevin is a horrible blow, but nobody can say he didn’t put his time to good use. Nobody can say that if thousands followed his lead we wouldn’t have a world transformed. Nobody can say that he didn’t make a major difference, exposing injustice and changing public policy and culture for the better.