Local
The good news
As 2019 is coming to an end, the 1DIVINELINE2HEALTH Love Tribe survived purely on faith, hope, and love. These key ingredients expose the human suffering on Sullivant Avenue by sounding the trumpet of injustice through the written word, media, and by exercising the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. As a result of the word of our services for the sick and victims of human and drug trafficking and injustices – both locally and globally – has been promoted, the Love Tribe has expanded.
Woodhouse Vegan Cafe and Space just launched in Italian Village on the corner of 4th and 1st off the 670 4th Street off-ramp in October. Their presence has transformed the vegan community restaurant footprint in Columbus with a level rivaling Los Angeles or New York City in a mid-century modern style with industrial flair, fresh-smelling immaculate restrooms, and sparkling dining ware.
The entire non-vegan neighborhood has embraced Woodhouse Vegan Cafe regardless of being a vegan establishment, due to the wide appeal of this socially conscious (nonviolent) sustainable, healthier take on traditional comfort food. The food is so delicious it doesn’t matter to the 30-40% of the nonvegan customers that it is 100% plant-based.
If you are craving a grilled cheeze sandwich, loaded nachos, an amazing South African peanut stew, caesar salad, mac and cheeze, pretzel bites, and or have a sweet tooth for some decadent rotating desserts such as brownies, pies, cupcakes and fudge – you can be satisfied! As the name indicates, they also offer private space rental in the upper level, for events.
Every Columbus progressive and lefty knows who Joe Motil is and thank goodness we have him. But with the City Council vote just days away, do you know Liliana Rivera Baiman? She’s one of three Yes We Can candidates seeking to unseat several incumbents, known by many as the endorsed Democrats.
If you are unfamiliar with Liliana, a former Dreamer from Mexico, one of the first things you should know is how her passion to organize and lead was inspired at a very young age when her family moved to the hardscrabble Texas town of Dickinson.
Her father was a construction worker, her mother a custodian. There were three siblings and several uncles, also from Mexico. At one point the family numbered a dozen. Even though all adults had jobs, they still needed to find something affordable.
So the extended family moved into a three-bedroom trailer where their next-door neighbor's house was the headquarters for a large and active chapter of the Ku Klux Klan.
I don’t smoke weed, instead I watch internet programming about marijuana. You know those Yule log videos? It’s kinda like the moment where the non-homeless learned their thermostats then watched TVs with fireplace images. While I would like to believe that this is funny…
Weed internet is flouring because medical marijuana opened the door for weed investors who can overpower previous monopolies.
I read High Times’ website because you're either gonna learn about the changing weed laws or read well-written news stories that are often funny because weed is the subject. I don’t smoke weed. I’m trying to figure out how to ride this economic wave. I never sold weed because I didn’t want to open my home to potheads.
Most weed dealers work 120-hour work weeks at commission rates from their living spaces. Allowing complete strangers who just want drugs into my home doesn’t appeal to me.
I’ve decided to write articles about social weed culture from the vantage of someone who doesn’t smoke, but understands music writers exist in the new legal weed economy.
Planning has officially begun for ComFest 2020
2020 will be the 50th ComFest event (for two years, there were two Festivals and one year there was no Festival). It's time to celebrate!ComFest is a great way to get involved in your community. There are lots of interesting and challenging jobs to take on. Volunteer with your friends as a group or volunteer and make new friends, ComFest is a wonderful way to give a little time back to your community and have fun doing it!
If you are interested in getting involved with the planning of ComFest 2020, please come to any of the General Planning Committee Meetings (see below)
Applications and deadlines:
(applications online at comfest.com)
ComFest Community Grants deadline: Jan. 20, 2020
Musicians, Performers, Speakers and Workshops deadline: Feb 1, 2020
Vendor Applications deadline: April 20, 2020
ComFest meetings
Shelterhouse in Goodale Park:
ComFest General Planning Committee Meetings
Thurs. Nov. 7th at 7:30PM, Sunday Nov. 17th at 1PM, and Thurs. Dec. 5th. at 7:30PM.
Free Press honors community activists
It's Free Press community awards time -- where the newspaper has the privilege of rewarding real grassroots activists with plaques and praises. All are invited to join us on Monday night, November 4 at Ace of Cups, 2519 North High Street, for a night of free food, local music and celebration. Our longtime supporter Donna Mogavero will be heading things around 8pm. See page 15 for details.
Dancing, punching cop
So, Officer Johnson -- the dancing cop -- was exonerated by other cops, many who couldn't dance. Local media like TV4 is infatuated with Johnson. He and his fellow cops still need to explain why they showed up two hours late at the wrong house on a call about shots fired. And why, while holding a shotgun, did Officer Johnson punch Jonathan Robinson, the innocent father of kids who were present, and then falsely arrest him. Fellow police officers not only know of Johnson's propensity for dancing, but also for a level four use of violence by punching citizens (he's done it before).
Let the people judge
Since Donald Trump first landed tweet-first in the Oval Office, armchair psychiatrists have been trying to figure him out.
Why does he have so little regard for the truth—or for anything outside of his own self-interest? Why does he work so hard to sow hate and controversy? Why, in short, has his presidency been an unending freak show?
While no theory can explain Trump entirely, director Matt Turnauer offers valuable insight with the documentary Where’s My Roy Cohn? Even though the titular subject is an infamous figure from the 1950s—and even though Trump himself doesn’t appear until an hour or so in—Turnauer makes it clear that the 45th president is his real target.
Roy Cohn was a whiz kid of an attorney who won fame by (1) helping to prosecute and ultimately execute suspected spies Julius and Ethel Rosenberg despite shaky evidence, and (2) serving as chief counsel to red-baiting Sen. Joseph McCarthy. In both roles, he established himself as a litigator who was ruthless in his quest for victory.
Hardly anyone wants to be on the Columbus School Board. This year, five of the seven slots are up for election but there are only six people running. The sad state of the Columbus City Schools has suppressed interest in serving on the Board for many.
The State Board of Education has given Columbus Schools a series of annual grades of “F.” Had they gotten just one more “F” this year, the State would have appointed an outsider to run the schools, removing the Board from any meaningful power. Two incumbents on the Board saw that coming and decided not to run for reelection. However, by providing tutoring to 26 kids who were most at risk, the school administration gamed the scoring system and got a “D” grade for this year.
Gaming the system has always been an activity undertaken by the school administration to make the schools look as good as possible. When I was on the Board (thirty plus years ago) the Superintendent announced Columbus had a 92% graduation rate! When I asked how they got that statistic I was told 92% of the students who started their last year of high school got diplomas.