Local
Tuesday, May 10, 2022, 5:00 PM
Last convened as a Commission in 2014, the Charter Review Commission reviews the Columbus City Charter and may recommend changes. The Commissioners are now holding a hearing to receive comments from the public on the topics and proposals discussed thus far and to come. Topics include the initiative petition process, open meetings by public bodies, and who may serve as acting mayor. Any resident seeking to submit written testimony should submit their testimony to the Commission.
Written testimony must be received two hours prior to the start of the hearing on the day of the meeting and should be emailed to John Oswalt at CRC2022@columbus.gov. Any resident wishing to appear via WebEx to provide testimony during the hearing should email John Oswalt at CRC2022@columbus.gov the day prior to the hearing to request a WebEx panelist link.
If you look at the steroid epidemic that has plagued the United States and the rest of the world for over 40 years, it is easy to see it was caused by what has been a bipartisan failure since the days Arnold Schwarzenegger opened the Arnold Sports Festival in Columbus, Ohio in 1989.
It began as just a bodybuilding contest back then but has expanded to become the largest public event in Columbus every year.
Many of the events at “The Arnold” are made up of youth competitions, but his core events cater to what I call “Steroid Nation.”
Strongman, bodybuilding and most powerlifting competitions at “the Arnold” have no credible testing for steroids. These freak show events dominate his advertising.
“The Arnold” steroid events have qualifiers in virtually every state in America. These local competitions are run by federations loosely aligned with “The Arnold.” I have seen myself that these events are where many young athletes are introduced to the “Dark Side” of steroid use.
Tuesday, May 10, 2022, at 7 p.m.
Zoom - register here
Simply Living is excited to host Mike Hogan and learn about urban farming and the developing food systems in central Ohio. Mike will share a slide presentation and entertain our questions.
Mike Hogan is a longtime educator with the Ohio State University Extension in Franklin County. He contributes to Edible Columbus and the Columbus Dispatch, and shares his knowledge of food and agriculture throughout Ohio.
I wrote a column titled "Sherrod Bets It All On Nan" last month.
On Tuesday May 3, Sherrod won his big bet. What follows is my take on the election outcome and what it means for the future.
1. Sherrod Brown is the both the king and king/queen-maker of the Ohio Democratic Party. The U.S. Senator made a brilliantly executed television commercial for Nan Whaley that saturated the airwaves, gave her instant name recognition around the state, and, more than any other factor, is responsible for her one-sided victory over John Cranley in the Democratic primary for governor.
2. Now the challenge for Sen. Brown is to get Whaley elected governor. She has about 1 chance out of 10 of knocking off incumbent Gov. Mike DeWine. Brown will have to orchestrate several effective TV ads, some of them negative against DeWine, in order for Whaley to have a chance. He will have to help her raise $50 million because DeWine has access to $100 million, if he needs it, to hold onto his job.
Doors open at 5:30pm. Performances begin at 6pm and include:
Wednesday, May 11 - Bobby Floyd Trio
2020 Grammy Award nominee Bobby Floyd performs on his classic Hammond B3 organ with Derek DiCenzo on guitar and bass and Reggie Jackson on drums, creating the perfect mix to provide an unparalleled evening of live jazz.
Wednesday, June 15 - Mark Hampton Quartet
Reemerging at the top of his game, jazz bassist Mark Hampton’s grooves are organically earthy, telling a story and giving jazz a conscience.
Wednesday, July 13 – Robert Mason Trio
Jazz educator and musician Robert Mason performs with his personal trio, featuring a blend of jazz and soulful sounds that mindfully infuse traditional and modern elements of jazz.
Wednesday, August 10 - Midwest Modern Jazz Quartet
Given the rhetorical prominence that right-wing Ohio Republican candidates for U.S. Senate and House districts gave to the 45th president's erroneously titled "America First" agenda--not program or policy--in their election campaigns, it's time to revisit the absence of an actual platform and the "Agenda's" consequences.
J.D., or J.P aka J.D. Mandel according to 45, Vance should be asked by all, especially our media, to explain and justify the true content, contradictions, and failed results of "America First," which played out often as "America Last."
Here is my column “America First: An Excavation of Trumpism and the Trump Agenda,” Busting Myths, Columbus Free Press, Oct. 24, 2021 which was shared across the U.S.:
Surveying the terrain and scratching the surface
Saturday, May 7, 2pm
Ohio Statehouse Rotunda
A leaked memo from the US Supreme Court has confirmed that the ruling class intends to overturn Roe vs. Wade. It's time to mobilize! Fight for abortion rights, right now and everywhere!
Amidst the craziness of the 2022 election season, we are doing another screening of our hit short documentary How America Killed My Mother at the historic Studio 35 Cinema & Drafthouse this Friday, May 6! Doors open at 11 PM, the screening starts at 11:30 PM and will be followed by a Q&A with myself and more, so please see the details below and let us know if we can get into your outlet's weekend list of activities, etc as y'all see fit:
Ticket link: How America Killed My Mother - Fri 6 May 11:30 PM - Studio 35 Cinema & Drafthouse
When we doubt that swift and dramatic change is possible, what we really mean is that we haven’t seen much swift and dramatic change for the better lately. There’s actually no disputing that massive and almost instant change is perfectly possible. For example, in a matter of days, the unified voices of virtually every television network, newspaper, news website, and entertainment outlet in the United States took millions of people without a thought about foreign policy in their heads or any idea even where on the Earth Ukraine is located, and gave them all passionate opinions about Ukraine right at the very top of their awareness — the first thing they would mention, bumping the weather down to second place in the rankings as a topic for random conversations. You may think that was a very good thing — in fact, I can almost guarantee that you do. That’s sort of the point. But you can’t deny that it was fast or significant.
Senior Crawl is this thing where graduating Ohio State students all wear white shirts, and walk from the various bars while signing each other’s shirts.
I didn’t graduate college so it’s usually this thing where you analyze the idea of signatures. As a graffiti writer, the idea of writing your name seems relevant. But because booze is involved, writing on a drunk college girl’s shirt seems problematic.
While I will quickly respond I-O if someone yells O-H…I wasn’t a senior graduating from Ohio State.
Interacting with normal people used to be a sort of exoticism for me.
Awhile ago, a white sorority girl was crying out of empathy for some things she had heard had occurred to me. The fact a white sorority girl even knew I existed….
The weirdest thing about this conversation. I told a white sorority girl she had been the first white sorority girl I’ve interacted with to my knowledge.
Many Black women leaders are from sororities so interacting with Black sorority members isn’t all the unusual. Black Sorority Life exists in my interactions because of Hip Hop as well as female leadership.