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Featured speakers for Gift To Be Simple include:
Here’s what happened at the October Free Press Second Saturday Cyber-Salon on October 9.
Free Press Board member Mark Stansbery kicked the salon off by announcing it was the Free Press’ annual “Libby” award ceremony.
Free Press volunteer Suzanne Patzer explained who Libby Gregory was – she was aformer 70s and 80s era Free Press Editor and tireless activist for environmental, peace and women's issues. She was also an entrepreneur -- starting the first vegetarian restaurant in Columbus, the King Avenue Coffee House; Tradewinds (one-time home of the Free Press); and Byzantium, colubus’ premier bead store. She was tragically killed in a 1991 plane crash. The Free Press honors her memory by giving the Libby award each year to honor our local community heroes, who promote alternative paths and are helping to give birth to a better world.
Sunday, October 10
Today’s the day! People across the country are ready for our annual ADL Walk Against Hate. They will be raising awareness that hate has no place in our communities, and many are raising money to expand ADL’s work towards a world with no antisemitism, bigotry and bias.
As a retired Ohio State University professor and 17-year homeowner in Columbus’ University District, I have encountered the steadily increasing numbers of undergraduate and graduate student renters for years. This year, my wife and I interact with our student neighbors and other students (especially those walking their friendly pandemic dogs) we encounter on our regular evening walks. When we wear our matching “Octo-Hug” T-shirts, many students express their enthusiasm and compliments! These interactions create powerful impressions.
The Columbus Free Press Libby Award for Community Activism for 2021 honors Esther Flores, born for such a time as this.
Esther Flores is a registered nurse fiercely committed to restoring the dignity and health of women who have been thrust onto the streets of Columbus by sex trafficking, addiction, and domestic violence. Through her harm-reduction non-profit 1DIVINELINE2HEALTH, she offers support and services to the women she calls “Street Sisters.”
Esther says, "They are not prostitutes. They are ‘Women Who Haven’t Been Loved Enough.’ “
This week is your last opportunity to sign up for the 2021 Race For Repro Freedom which kicks off this Saturday, October 9 and runs through Sunday, October 17th. This is a virtual 5k race that is open to EVERYONE! Not sure how to sign up? Watch this quick video and sign up today. Dont' forget to support our amazing teams and check out the prizes below, too!
A recent article and a recent book have raised this familiar topic anew for me. The article is a super uninformed dud of a hatchet job on Michael Ratner by Samuel Moyn, who accuses Ratner of supporting war by trying to reform and humanize rather than end it. The critique is terribly weak because Ratner tried to prevent wars, end wars, AND reform wars. Ratner was at every antiwar event. Ratner was at every panel on the need to impeach Bush and Cheney for the wars as well as for the torture. I’d never even heard of Samuel Moyn until he wrote this now widely debunked article. I’m glad he wants to end war and hope he can be a better ally in that struggle.
It’s bad enough that mainstream news outlets routinely call the Pentagon budget a “defense” budget. But the fact that progressives in Congress and even many antiwar activists also do the same is an indication of how deeply the mindsets of the nation’s warfare state are embedded in the political culture of the United States.
The misleading first name of the Defense Department doesn’t justify using “defense” as an adjective for its budget. On the contrary, the ubiquitous use of phrases like “defense budget” and “defense spending” -- virtually always written with a lower-case “d” -- reinforces the false notion that equates the USA’s humongous military operations with defense.