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Please join me in calling and emailing your representatives and senators daily. Ask for an immediate ceasefire.  
Ask representatives to cosponsor H.Res. 786 calling for immediate de-escalation and ceasefire in Israel and occupied Palestine.  
The phone numbers and email forms can be found on each member’s website.  
Below are some quick messages you can send:

From the Rebuilding Alliance:  Open Call for Immediate Ceasefire: Urge Elected Officials to Sign 0n

Prevent a Humanitarian Catastrophe and Further Loss of Innocent Lives.  Take action here. 

Don’t Tell 

On the way to East High School, we stopped to pick up Annie at her house on Long Street. She used to live in an apartment in Poindexter Village, now she lived a few doors down from the Reverend Phale D. Hale, Sr. family. Another famous family on the East Side and in the state. Rev. Hale had been the President of the NAACP and was a member of the Ohio House of Representatives. I thought it was cool that he lived in my neighborhood. It showed where his heart was, with his people.

Annie was glad to see us, well, me at least. Jean didn’t particularly like Annie and made sure we both knew it. She wasn’t outright mean, but she insulted Annie every chance she got. Like the time when Annie got a new haircut. I thought it was cute, but Jean told her she looked like a black orphan Annie from the movie. When Annie and I entered the lunchroom that day Jean started singing “the sun will come out tomorrow” and everybody laughed and those that knew the song started singing with her. I was mad, but Annie wasn’t. She started singing it too.

In the last week, Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther shows signs of an incumbent in a tight race desperate to prove he deserves another shot at his job. If he were even slightly engaged with everyday people, he wouldn’t need the polling firm he’s hired to learn about what matters to people in the city he is paid to lead.

Selected voters in Columbus recently received a survey (or “push poll”) from a market research firm, EMC Research, paid for by the Friends of Ginther campaign ($55,000 paid to EMC Research on July 27, 2023). What these polls lacked in ethical research, they made up for in creative rewriting of history, attempting to create a fiction of Andy Ginther as having “worked tirelessly to fight crime” in Columbus with only two examples to offer the public of his effort.

In the last week, Columbus Mayor AndrewGinther shows signs of an incumbent in a tight race desperate to prove he deserves another shot at his job. If he were even slightly engaged with everyday people, he wouldn’t need the polling firm he’s hired to learn about what matters to people in the city he is paid to lead.

Selected voters in Columbus recently received a survey (or “push poll”) from a market research firm, EMC Research, paid for by the Friends of Ginther campaign ($55,000 paid to EMC Research on July 27, 2023). What these polls lacked in ethical research, they made up for in creative rewriting of history, attempting to create a fiction of Andy Ginther as having “worked tirelessly to fight crime” in Columbus with only two examples to offer the public of his effort.

Martin Scorsese paints a vast canvas of greed, betrayal, and twisted love in "Killers of the Flower Moon." This sweeping epic, a suspense-filled crime drama, is adapted from David Grann's acclaimed book, revealing a dark chapter in American history. It explores the Osage Nation in 1920s Oklahoma, who, after striking "black gold" (oil), faced mysterious murders. At 80, Scorsese still pushes cinema's boundaries.

After serving as a cook in World War I, Ernest Burkhart (Leonardo DiCaprio) returns to Oklahoma and meets his influential Uncle, William Hale (Robert De Niro), known as the "King," Hale's power in the Osage Indian Reservation comes from cattle ranching and deep community ties. Driven by greed, Hale persuades Ernest to marry Mollie (Lily Gladstone), an Osage woman with a potential oil inheritance. As tragedies strike Mollie's family, FBI Agent Tom White (Jesse Plemons) is sent to investigate the suspicious events.

Part One

The “city” of Columbus searches in vain for an identity and a history. Its basic identity is its lack of an established, broadly accepted identity, by any accepted definition, however contradictory that may seem. In fact, the more than two centuries old, state capital city’s best-known identity is its very lack of an identity.

Columbus is known for its exceptionality. But this is not a “good thing,” especially not a saleable product for the city that is for sale to private profiteers 24/7. Nor for the only city of its size that lacks a representative city government, functional public transit, and neither professional football, basketball, or baseball teams.

No college football team, especially one with a cartoon mascot, can compensate for these absences. Of course, Columbus does have a well-deserved reputation as the franchise restaurant, hotel, and shop capital of North America. Those qualities are known widely as The Columbus Way.

The October Free Press Second Saturday Salon was held on October 13 over Zoom.

Listen to the recording here.

Mark Stansbery of the Free Press Board, introduced the first speaker, Mary Jane Borden. She spoke about the current adult use marijuana legalization issue on the November ballot. If you are in agreement, she encourages voting YES on Issue 2. The link to her powerpoint is here.

Mary Jane also memorialized longtime cannabis activist Angelica Warren who passed away recently.

The next speaker was Lidia Garcia of the Ohio Immigrant Alliance. She spoke about the second book that is an anthology of migration stories of immigrants in Ohio.

Justin Steiner called attention to this Facebook page.  

Sunday, October 22, 2023, 2:00 – 4:00 PM
A coalition is hosting a protest event at the Ohio Statehouse asking all Ohioans and supporters to walk with us for accountability. Time is a factor!  

Whether we’re Black or white, Latino or Asian, Indigenous or newcomer, we want our families to be healthy and whole. All of us value the opportunity to live in safe neighborhoods, where kids and young people enjoy the freedom to grow in peace and pursue their goals. We know what keeps us safe: living in communities where people of every color and background have fair wages, great schools, and affordable healthcare, where we address problems with research-proven solutions like supporting our community instead of funding ever more militarized police.  

Location:  Ohio Statehouse, 1 Capitol Square, Columbus.   

Saturday, October 21, 1:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Online event, all attendees will receive a meeting invite
Register

2023 has been the hottest year in history. Extreme weather events, rising temperatures and economic uncertainty have created a large migration of people from the world's mid-latitudes to the northern regions.

But the global north is also suffering the effects of climate change. Food and water issues continue to arise as people deal with drought in the American West, while insurance companies refuse to insure homes in areas prone to flooding and fire.

Friday, October 20, 3:30-5pm
311 Denney Hall, Ohio State University 

What is the extent of the environmental crisis in India? What would it take bring communal harmony? How can we build solidarity between movements and people?

Join us for a talk and discussion with Rohit Prajapati, a lifelong environmental and social justice activist, and a member of the Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti and People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL).

Rohit Prajapati is an environmental and social justice activist based in Gujarat, India. He is a founding member of the Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti, a grassroots environmental group and a member People’s Union for Civil Liberties. Rohit works at the intersection of ecological-social-labor movements to create a broad-based environmental justice movement in India.

This event is free and open to the public. Co-sponsored by the South Asian Studies Initiative and the Humanities Institute. 

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