Local
Wednesday, July 15, 2020, 4:00 PM
It was spring 1970, the world was ablaze with anti-establishment expression: free speech, women’s rights, civil/human rights, anti-war were all movements of the day. On the Ohio State University (https://library.osu.edu/site/dissent/), Kent State (https://www.kent.edu/may-4-1970), and Jackson State (https://www2.kenyon.edu/Khistory/60s/webpage.htm) campuses, like many other campuses across the globe, there was active student rebellion. While the “don’t trust anyone over 30” motif was prevalent, the movement gained support from many communities in Central Ohio, especially OSU students, faculty, and administration. In historic moments, however, the OSU administration had to be challenged to meet student, faculty, and community demands. In 2020, OSU administration was presented with over 500 faculty member signatures concerned by the re-opening of the OSU campus among COVID-19 pandemic and racial justice issues.
Monday, July 13, 2020, 5:00 PM
Franklin County’s health department made national news in May after apologizing for issuing mask-wearing guidelines widely denounced as racist. The story was carried in newspapers from the Washington Post to the Seattle Times, in the national magazine The Week and by CNN.
A place the story didn’t make big news, though, was Franklin County itself. Neither the county’s daily newspaper, the Columbus Dispatch, nor the city’s television stations covered it. WOSU Radio carried a small story, for whatever tiny percentage of the county’s residents follow that.
The guidelines stemmed from the April 3 announcement by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) encouraging the public to wear masks to contain the spread of COVID-19. Some racial minorities voiced concerns they could be profiled by wearing masks. Their anxiety presented the health department with an opportunity to educate central Ohioans to shun racist attitudes.
The department instead told racial minorities they were the ones needing to change, advising them:
Saturday, July 11, 7-9pm
Join Zoom Meeting
https://zoom.us/j/222255972
Meeting ID: 222 255 972
How do protesters move from our downtown streets to force real change in Columbus police?
It is a daunting challenge when you consider over the previous decades all the promises Columbus police, the Mayor(s) and City Council members have made to end police brutality.
Promises they never or couldn’t keep – since 2013 Columbus police have killed 40 people, 27 of whom were black, but only one case of police misconduct over the previous 20 years (within the now-disbanded VICE unit) has resulted in any indictments.
Mayor Ginther, Chief Quinlan and his commanding officers have chosen to sit down three times over the previous weeks with one protest group in particular. But we refuse to name this group because there questions as to who they exactly are.
Saturday, July 11, 9am
Ohio Statehouse
Mi gente, don’t forget to save the date:
Defund I.C.E! No more separation, free our kids, unite families!
In a recent “Dilbert” cartoon, the hapless title employee talks about his hope of hooking up with a woman he’d met through virtual contract negotiations—even though, as it turns out, he’s seen only the part of her face that wasn’t hidden by a mask, a shower cap and an eye patch.
For those who lack a regular partner, a pandemic-induced quarantine is hardly the ideal environment for romance. And yet, people can’t turn off their libido simply because it’s not convenient. Recently, the New York City health department acknowledged this fact by releasing guidelines for how to deal with intimacy while minimizing the risk of contracting COVID-19.
One suggestion it missed: Have a romantic encounter while separated by a thick window several stories above the street. That’s the situation described in Squeegee, an 11-minute film written and directed by Morgan Krantz.
The 8th Annual Columbus Black Theatre Festival (CBTF) is this July 10th thru July 12th!
The festival will be presented as a free live streaming event this year due to COVID-19 social distancing restrictions in Ohio. The CBTF theme is "INCLUSION" which is very appropriate at this time in our society.
The CBTF team received plays from playwrights across the states between November 2019 and February 2020, and through a “blind read process” selected the plays and monologues to be presented, and notified the playwrights on March 1, 2020 that their plays would be produced by Mine 4 God Productions, the producers of the CBTF, at the July festival.
On March 5, Ohio was informed that they would be on a mandate order to stay at home, close up shop, shut down the schools and go out only when necessary. COVID-19 had arrived and everyone, every business, every person had to make an adjustment to the current situation. The CBTF had to also make adjustments to how and if they would be able to present the theatre festival amongst the pandemic.