People
Progressives and lefties fully embrace joining and supporting unions, but how do we deal with a union that continuously encourages members to approve contracts they don’t want?
There are roughly 12,500 Kroger United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) 1059 members. Most are in Central Ohio, and during the pandemic they risked their lives to meet the community’s needs. They were never furloughed, didn’t receive a dime of unemployment, and were paid an insulting extra $2-an-hour or given a one-time modest bonus.
Keep in mind Kroger UFCW 1059 members are the adults who work fulltime. They toil day-in-day out stocking fridges and shelves, working the cash register, or unloading trucks in the backend. And every three or four years their contract with Kroger comes up for a vote.
The laughs return to Columbus in September from Thursday, September 4 through Sunday, September 7 when the city hosts 100+ comedians for four days of events during the second annual Columbus Comedy Festival. National headliners, regional performers and local talent will take the stage at venues including The Columbus Funny Bone, Palace Theatre, Shadowbox Live, Maroon Culture Lab, The Attic Comedy Club, MadLab, The Nest Theatre, The Hashtag Comedy Company, Don’t Tell Comedy: Columbus, Leisure Club, and more.
"As Columbus grows, so does the importance for quality, live entertainment in the city,” stated Hannah Romes, performer, producer and co-owner of Hashtag. “We are incredibly lucky to have such a strong pool of comedic talent in Columbus, which has been a bit of a secret until recently.”
This year’s list of headliners and four-day schedule includes Jeremiah Watkins, The Second City, ALOK, Shadowbox Live, Sam Tallent, Maddie Wiener, Geoffrey Asmus, Kasaun Wilson, James Adomian, Ric Diez, Katie K, Aiko Tanaka, Chad the Bird, Henry Allen, Curtis Cook, Gwen Rose, Jordan Conley, Sean Reilly and many more.
This article first appeared on Simply Living.
At 91, Ellen Baumgartner speaks with a quiet grace and a deep well of wisdom that comes from a lifetime of caring for people, for community, and for the Earth. As one of Simply Living’s early founding members, Ellen helped shape the organization’s spirit of grassroots action and connection.
Roots of Compassion
Ellen grew up in Montclair, New Jersey, where her father served as a Congregational minister. Diversity was a natural part of her childhood — a third of her graduating class in 1952 was black, and prejudice was never part of her family’s values.
An emergency "pop up" protest brought nearly 200 people to the Ohio Statehouse this afternoon to condemn Governor Mike DeWine's announcement that he's sending 150 of the state's National Guard to Washington DC. Since August 13, National Guard troops in D.C. have taken over the police department because Trump claims there's a crime increase, although data shows crime is down in the nation's capital. Ohio now has the dubious distinctionf of joining West Virginia and South Carolina as states supporting the action.
The impromptu rally today mirrored the large ongoing Washington DC protests against the unprecedented National Guard mobilization. Speakers at the event chastised DeWine for capitulating to Trump's power grab, pointing out that the troops will target immigrants, the homeless and people of color.
People in cars passing by honked and waved to the protestors. An impressive number of demonstrators showed up and spoke out, with signage ready to denouce DeWine's decision. One memorable sign stated, "Trump said he couldn't call the National Guard on Jan. 6."
Earlier this year when Kaufman Development sold one of its “Gravity” apartment buildings in Franklinton, it was another canary-in-the-coal mine moment for a West Side activist. Just a month prior, the Columbus-based developer had sold the nearby Idea Foundry and Gravity Park Experience, which is best described as a playground for adults with its pickle ball courts.
“They are cheap-ass apartments from what we’ve seen at Gravity,” says Rebecca Hunley, a Franklinton homeowner and also the current chair of the Franklinton Area Neighbors Civic Association, an organization she founded. “Yet I don’t see anything telling me, or anybody from our neighborhood, we can move in. I have never paid a mortgage like what they are asking for rent. Gravity, the great flop that it is. It’s a failure.”
Whatever you think you know about the relationship between gas and oil fracking and increased cancers, contaminated air, water and soil, and the acceleration of climate change, chances are you don’t know enough, say environmental advocates at Save Ohio Parks.
The statewide 501(c)4 organization dedicated to educating the public about the health, environmental and planet-warming effects of fracking under state parks and public lands announces a new public education service: in-person or virtual presentations on the facts about fracking.
The meetings include a Power Point presentation and audience Q&A on topics including:
To a Land Unknown is a film shaped by its director’s dual allegiances.
As a man of Palestinian descent (though he now lives in Denmark), Mahdi Fleifel is devoted to telling the stories of his people. But as a cinephile, he seems equally devoted to recreating the magic of the American films he watched growing up in the 1980s.
The result is the story of two Palestinian refugees that combines the unvarnished realism of a documentary with the kind of alternately warm and testy relationship you might find in an American “buddy flick.”
The tale’s setting is Athens, Greece, where Chatila and his cousin Reda (Mahmood Bakri and Aram Sabbah, both excellent) are barely scraping by with the help of petty thefts and, in Reda’s case, paid sexual trysts. Their situation is desperate, but they see it as temporary.
If they can save up enough money, they plan to purchase fake passports and make their way to what they see as the greener pastures of Germany. Once there, they hope to open a café with the help of Chatila’s wife and son, who are now living in a refugee camp in Lebanon.
"How many times does one person have to safe his own life before he can stop moving, and live in peace?" asked Lynn Tramonte, Executive Director of the Ohio Immigrant Alliance. "How much good does he have to put out into the world, before Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will just let him be? Imam Ayman Soliman was arrested July 9 at the Cincinnati ICE office, despite having won his asylum case years ago, despite being a comfort to so many children and families, and Ohio became a poorer, sicker, dimmer place because of it."
Dr. Bob Fitrakis and Dan-o Dougan find the best songs about automobiles and tell stories about their car follies.
Listen live at 11pm Friday, June 27 and July 4 streaming at wgrn.org or on the radio at 91.9FM
and
Monday at 2pm streaming June 30 and July 7 at wcrsfm.org or on the radio at 92.7 or 98.3FM
Ahmed Gallab’s Parliament meets Radiohead band Sinkane exists as exemplification of the potential of a Columbus artist. Sinkane’s latest release City Slang We Belong is a scorcher which anyone that likes Parliament, Prince, and LCD Soundsystem would find pleasing.
Ahmed attended OSU. Ahmed played at Cafe Bourbon Street, and the Legion of Doom. Sinkane has performed on Democracy Now and several other TV shows.
Which is the selling point for We Belong? Beastie Boys or Okay Afrika? Sinkane’s We Belong is co-produced by the Beastie Boy’s sampling into live instrumentation guru Money-Mark.
Sinkane’s We Belong features a crooning from Bilal. Features don’t overshadow Sinkane but Soulquarians’ Bilal does indicate Sinkane’s musical altitude. Bilal singing does signify Okay Africa press is an underrated music accolade.
Sinkane lives in New York City where he has shared stages with both Pharaoh Sanders, and Femi Kuti. Sinkane makes world music that people who love Bad Brains would appreciate.
Sinkane’s next Columbus Concert is June 30th at Natalies.