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Now that the gubernatorial primary is over, the policies pursued by the two major party candidates for Ohio’s chief executive office indicate we’ll have boring, middle-of-the-road corporate status quo. It looks like Ohioans’ choices will be between a third party woman and two male candidates racing to the wishy-washy center.

Richard Cordray’s already running as a centrist shunning the progressive democratic left and staking out territory to the right of John Kasich – particularly on the health care issue. The Dispatch spelled it out in a recent headline: “Cordray bashes House GOP, praises Kasich.” Mike DeWine’s campaign commercials emphasize that he has a large family. He’s also opposed to opioids. Like, who isn’t? This creates space on the Left for progressives to push for universal single-payer health care in Ohio.

Also, Cordray is afraid of legalizing marijuana which gives a tremendous boost to the Green Party, the only other party on the ballot for governor.

Whit’s Frozen Custard in Clintonville just entered the vegan non-dairy frozen dessert market this spring to the excitement across Columbus of vegans and those who are allergic, lactose intolerant or otherwise need to avoid dairy products. At this time, the Clintonville Whit’s offers one option: coconut-based vanilla. (Note: not all Whit’s locations are on board yet, so call ahead, verify, and ask them to carry it at their location near you if they don’t already have it.)

Whit’s also carries flax milk for those who enjoy shakes. The cool thing about Whit’s is that you can make their frozen dessert into whatever wondrous variety your taste buds are inspired to create. They have a fantastic assortment of fruits and berries as well as staples like peanut butter and Oreo-style cookies that are vegan.

The physical toll that football takes on athletes has been a source of controversy in recent years. A new and offbeat movie looks at the toll paid by an athlete who practices an even more dangerous sport: rodeo.

The Rider has garnered attention not only because of its absorbing tale but because the cast consists of people who experienced nearly identical events in the real world. Rather than relying on professional actors, writer-director Chloe Zhao tells her fictionalized version of Brady Jandreau’s life with the help of Jandreau and his friends and family.

Jandreau plays Brady Blackburn, a Native American horse trainer and bronco rider who suffered a nearly fatal head injury after falling under a horse’s hooves. We meet him as he’s attempting to get his life back—to the extent that’s possible. Providing a mixture of encouragement and insults is his alcoholic father, Wayne (Tim Jandreau), while more consistent moral support is offered by his intellectually challenged sister, Lilly (Lilly Jandreau), and a host of friends.

You’re in good company. Maybe you don’t know any vegans personally – except maybe Eriyah, but here’s the names of some famous vegans you may already admire:

Stevie Wonder

Dennis Kucinich

Joan Jett

Angela Davis

Jessica Chastain

Coretta Scott King

Ariana Grande

Joaquin Phoenix

Jennifer Lopez

Erykah Badu

Ellen DeGeneres

Woody Harrelson

Barry White

Peter Dinklage

Moby

Chaka Khan

Morrissey

Grace Slick

Bryan Adams

Russell Simmons

James Cameron

Ellen Page

Al Gore

Jay-Z and Beyonce

Alanis Morrisette

Peter Max

Betty White

Stevie Wonder: "We have to be about making our planet more greener, the urban areas more sustainable for the children. We can't just talk about it, we have to be about it."

Jessica Chastain: “I guess it’s about trying to live a life where I’m not contributing to the cruelty in the world. … While I am on this planet, I want everyone I meet to know that I am grateful they are here.”

Joaquin Phoenix: “It takes nothing away from a human to be kind to an animal.”

This is a little weird so bear with me, folks.

I'm gonna write you about the best night o' music I've had so far this year--the Andyman tribute a month ago at the Little Rock Bar on N. Fourth Street by the Joe Peppercorn congregation. Joe and bros performed their original music as The Whiles and then a solid couple of hours of stuff by a quaint if daftly named British boy band from yesteryear and Liverpool called The Beatles.

But first, my short essay on the first 16 seconds of the first song on the third Black Sabbath album and what that precious quarter of a minute has spawned, like a cross between a supremely fertile devil rabbit and a bat-eating alcoholic slob with a fantastic lashed-to-the-mast voice.

The song: Sweet Leaf.

The album: Master of Reality.

The guitarist: three-fingered Tony Iommi.

The chord pattern: bow-bow/babba-bow/bowww/bow-bow!

Repeat. Again.

Bang head on study hall table. Do it in detention six hours later. Never stop. Never give in. Sabbath rules.

As we go to press, dozens of farmworker women and men from Florida and scores of clergy, students and consumer allies from around Columbus and the country plan to converge at Wendy’s Dublin, Ohio headquarters on Tuesday morning, June 5 at 9am, 1 Dave Thomas Blvd. off of 161, to protest Wendy’s deafening silence in the face of a growing national boycott of the fast-food retailer.

As a colorful public protest draws attention outside headquarters’ Thomas Conference Center, a farmworker delegation plans to enter the meeting to directly address Wendy’s Board and leadership on the company’s failure to join McDonald’s, Burger King, and 12 other retailer peers in the Fair Food Program. The workers and consumers will decry Wendy’s choice to abandon Florida farms participating in the Fair Food Program in order to source tomatoes from Mexico, where egregious rights violations like sexual assault, child labor, and modern-day slavery are commonplace and well-documented.

Even though The Ohio State University has researched cannabis to discover new therapeutic benefits, the university is refusing to test cannabis for The Ohio Medical Marijuana Control Program.

State law says medical marijuana, like other agricultural products, has to be tested for quality and levels of pesticide, for example, before being sold to the public. And when Ohio legalized medical marijuana in 2016, state lawmakers mandated they would only allow public universities during the program’s first year to test the medicine.

OSU is not alone when it comes to researching cannabis but at the same time refusing to set up a testing lab. The University of Cincinnati and Ohio University are researching cannabis for medicinal uses, to help epileptic children, for example, but have also turned a cold shoulder to the state program.

What’s more, could this double standard by state universities delay the program?

Bob Bridges, the patient advocate on the state’s medical marijuana advisory board, recently told the Columbus Dispatch he doesn’t have confidence the program will be up-and-running for its designated “fully functional” date of September 8th.

Sun, June 5, 12pm
61 Jefferson Ave.
This is our June Crafternoon event!

Help us get ready for PRIDE season!! We've got white tank tops AND t-shirts that say PRO CHOICE AF for you to tie-dye! The cost is $15 and it includes either a t-shirt or a tank top and whatever colors (and materials) your heart desires for your tie-dye!

It'll also be a potluck! Bring something summery and we'll try to cook out! 

Make sure to wear clothes you're okay with getting dye on - accidents happen after all. :) 

We *should* have enough dye for some individual projects if you want to bring your own stuff, but we hope you like us enough to wear a NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio shirt that you've dyed yourself! 

These will also double as our summer tabling shirt, so we hope you love us enough to volunteer with us this summer, too!!

Saturday, June 2, 10pm-2am, The Summit, 2210 Summit St.

It’s summertime, we chillin’ in the sun (finally), and Community Pride is about to JUMP OFF with four QTIPOC DJs from Columbus and Cleveland: Adab, Fana, A.S.L. Princess, and Noided.

Bring your best LOOKS and get it JUMPIN’ to club, techno, disco beats, and more. Instead of buying into sponsored parties or crowded, expensive bars, let’s start Pride right: alongside our own community!

Unfortunately, you must be 18 or older to attend this event. Check our calendar at the end of the description for all-ages events!

Visual ASL Interpreters will be provided for all Community Pride events. Please contact the interpreter coordinators at cbuscommunityprideinterpreters@gmail.com to request close vision or tactile interpreters for all Community Pride events.

Near the end of his life, Dr. Martin Luther King came to some radical conclusions about the fundamental root of oppression. “Why are there forty million poor people in America?” he said in 1967. “When you begin to ask that question, you are raising questions about the economic system, about a broader distribution of wealth. When you ask that question, you begin to question the capitalistic economy.

“We have moved from the era of civil rights to the era of human rights, an era where we are called upon to raise certain basic questions about the whole society,” he said in a report to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. “We have been in a reform movement…. But after Selma and the voting rights bill, we moved into a new era, which must be the era of revolution. We must recognize that we can’t solve our problem now until there is a radical redistribution of economic and political power.”