Local

Kylie Dreamz, LLC is a girl’s apparel and accessory line with the purpose of empowering little girls of color who are often underrepresented. The new business is owned by seven-year-old Kylie Scroggins; a second grader in Galloway, Ohio. Kylie officially launched her business on August 17, 2019.

According to Kylie, she “Does not see a lot of brown girls on shirts in the stores.” Kylie’s mother, Kortney Ester, also shares her daughter’s frustration with the lack of representation for girls of color and suggested to Kylie that she starts her own clothing line. Mainstream clothing lines are getting better with including African-American girls, however the race is so broad and unique in shades and features, that it seems that only the more popular characteristics make the cut, which is unfair  and sends a negative message to girls who have opposite features. Kylie is doing something about that.

If an organizing committee is at the heart of building a community organization, how do you find the people who will join that committee? This definitely is not simply “add water and stir!”

Assuming we have already identified and defined the community, for an organizing committee to be effective, it will have to be representative of that community. All of the community!

If the community is geographical, that means ideally that the organizing committee will include active members from all points of the compass. Furthermore, the committee will also have to reflect the diversity of the community, racially and ethnically for sure, but also in terms of gender and possibly religion.

While the exact origins of rap and hip-hop music are debatable, what was once an underground genre within New York City hit the mainstream in 1979 with the release of “Rapper’s Delight” by The Sugarhill Gang. In the following four decades, rap music grew from relative obscurity into a cultural juggernaut, influencing everything from films to fashion.

Since 2017, when it pushed past rock ‘n’ roll to become the most popular genre in America, rap music has helped lead the charge in the realm of digital streaming. In 2018, rap and hip-hop made up 31% of the total streaming market, compared to rock’s 23%. And while strong beats and catchy lyrics are a cornerstone of the genre, so are political messages.

Saturday, September 14, 2019, 6:30 – 11:00 PM
Come to network and socialize with progressive friends with refreshments, live music by Golden Ratio and a presentation about Senate Bill 33 - that criminalizes protest by Joan Van Becelaere, Executive Director, Unitarian Universalist Justice Ohio.  Free, no RSVP required. colsfreepress@gmail.com or 614-253-2571.  Location:  1021 E. Broad St. in the backyard, weather permitting. 

Thursday, September 12, 2019, 2:30 – 4:00 PM
Roundtable discussion on fighting gerrymandering.  All On the Line OH and Innovation Ohio are co-hosting what we hope will be the first of many similar discussions of progressive partners who are integral to achieving fair maps in 2021. We'll be hearing from national leaders from All On the Line and the National Democratic Redistricting Committee and from the Redistricting Reform Project, from in-state leaders from the Fair Elections coalition, and will lay out some of our initial thoughts on strategy to get fair maps.  Please RSVP here!  Location:  Ohio Education Association's downtown office (225 E Broad St, Columbus, OH 43215).

Help protect democracy in Franklin County on Election Day this fall. The Free Press and WGRN/WCRS community radio are teaming up to provide all-day live coverage from the polls and commentary on the Free Press Network and radio. You can help by being a polling site correspondent or in the studio. Video the vote needed as well. CONTACT: colsfreepress@gmail.comif you are interested. Put “Election Protection” in the SUBJECT line.

Poor Mitch. It must be tough being the self-described grim reaper of the U.S. Senate. The ruler who, with a slash of his scythe, can deliver death to gun control, secure elections, criminal justice, Medicare for All and Green New Deal. Under Senate rules, he has sole discretion over of what comes before that body.

As the longest serving Senate Majority Leader in history, Mitch McConnell is one savvy politico. He has a reputation for pissing off both friends and foes, progressives and conservatives. A recent poll found him with an approval rating of just 36 percent in his home state of Kentucky. His prime motivator is said to be “electoral self-preservation … with no clear purpose.” In other words, it’s first about power, then about reelection.

You’d think this powerful politician would cheer the drug war rant and pander to prohibition. After all, a raft of reefer madness machinations kept cannabis off the Republican Party platform in 2016. Surprisingly, the opposite is true.

Tuesday, Sept 10 - 8-10pm
Art Outside the Lines, 485 E. Livingston
Join us for BQIC's monthly fundraiser, BQIC speak up! Spoken Word and Open Mic. Come out and share your poems, songs, monologues, inner musings, and good encounters, bad days, good dates etc on the mic! LGBTQIA+ people of color takes priority within the space!

Entry is $5 suggested donation! We will have beverages and snacks for suggested donations as well! Please also consider donating to Art Outside the Lines which provides great art programs for people with disabilities.

We will have Tempestt Young Mcee debut so you GOT TO COME THROUGH! The amazing DJ Aloha will be spinnin those beats!

Hit us up beforehand to sign up to perform or sign up at the door!
 

Monday, September 9, 6:30-8:30pm, First English Lutheran Church, 1015 E. Main St.

Please join us as we continue the conversation on how we can best support Miriam Vargas and her family.

Únase a nosotros mientras continuamos la conversación sobre cómo podemos apoyar mejor a Miriam Vargas y su familia.

Hosted by Miriam in Sanctuary.

TEGNA has taken over WBNS-TV from the Wolfe family. Get ready for big heads to roll.

Jerry Revish, the premier TV news anchor in the Columbus market, already announced his impending retirement.

TEGNA paid more than half a billion dollars for Channel 10, its two sister sports-talk radio stations and a TV station in Indianapolis.

The third largest television chain in the country did not get big by being sentimental toward its employees, like the Wolfe family was. It will relentlessly increase revenue and cut costs.

Several major air personalities are likely to depart because they do not fit in with TEGNA's hard-hitting investigative journalism and aggressive promotion of dynamic on-air personalities.

Yolanda Jackson, Revish's co-anchor, never really fit in at Channel 10 and likely will be let go. Jackson's peppy, tabloid style that led her to prominence at Channel 6 and fit that station's audience, but it turned off Channel 10's more refined viewers.

Scott Light, whose anchoring and Sunday public affairs work might be described as light weight, probably will not be around much longer.