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I was literally ill the day after the presidential election of 2016, and two days afterward, I called in black. I still can scarcely believe the results, and often wonder if I’m in the Twilight Zone, on Candid Camera, or dead and in purgatory. 

I watched the primaries, and I kept telling people the man who currently occupies the White House could not possibly win; his early supporters were a tiny minority of a minority within the Republican party. Of course with fourteen candidates in the race, there was bound to be winnowing out, and some of those names were not unexpected–e.g., Carly Fiorina. When the current president was the last man standing, I was still a long way from worried. After all, what sane, thinking person could vote for this man? He was–and still is–a liar, openly racist, sexist, homophobic, Islamophobic, misogyinistic, rude, incredibly thin skinned, a self-admitted sexual predator, public adulterer, thrice married–his evangelical supporters have some explaining to do–and just plain not nice. And that hair.

Sunday, January 28, 2018, 1:00 – 4:00 PM

Friday, January 26, 2018, 7-9pm
Columbus Mennonite Church, 35 Oakland Park Ave.
Edith Espinal is one of the many immigrants who has chosen Sanctuary as a form of resistance against deportation-- Join ISO Columbus and co-sponsors at a space of resistance: Columbus Mennonite Church, where Edith is in Sanctuary. This will be a unique event as Edith invites you to that space to share your music, share your art, share your stories-- while raising funds for Edith's legal fees. We'll be here to support Edith, her resistance and the broader movement for immigrants' justice. 
There will be an open-mic open to all to share their experiences and struggles that intersect with immigrants' justice. If you are interested in donating/selling artwork and/or food, please fill out these forms

Engagement with the 2018 Women’s March was strong in Washington, Las Vegas, and about 250 other U.S. cities. On January 20 about 3,000 marched from the Greater Columbus Convention Center to the Ohio Statehouse. With this year’s Power to the Polls theme, organizers sought to channel energy from the #MeToo revelations and President Trump’s low approval rating among women into electoral gains for women and progressive candidates in the midterm elections.

“Last year was a historical moment,” said Rhiannon Childs, Executive Director of Women’s March Ohio. “This year we’ve turned that moment into a movement. We wanted to take our collective power, unleashing our ability to organize and mobilize, and take that same energy to the polls to get more women and progressive candidates into office.”

As often happens with mass social movements, debate has erupted among groups and individuals engaged in it. In Ohio there is controversy over the narrow focus on electoral politics, and claims that the voices of women of color and other marginalized groups have been excluded from the Women’s March since its inception last year.

Thursday, January 25, 2018, 7-9pm
St. Stephen's Episcopal Church and University Center, 30 W Woodruff Ave, Columbus, Ohio 43210
Join us for the fourth and final installment of our Marxist Classics Study Series, as we read and discuss Friedrich Engels' "The Origins of the Family, Private Property, and the State." Engels' work is foundational for Marxist theories of state as well as women's oppression.

The full work is available for free on the Marxist Internet Archive: 

Wednesday, January 24, 2018, 6:00 – 8:30 PM.
Social hour: Meet & greet fellow Sierra Club members, activists, staff, and volunteer leaders. Beverages (soft drinks & some wine) and light appetizers included. Green goody baskets will be available for raffle chances. Review Sierra Club Central Ohio Group's 2018 accomplishments and discuss the challenges, plans, and volunteer needs for 2018. Please bring your questions and suggestions. Location: OSU Northwood-High Building, 2231 N. High St., Columbus. First Floor, Room 100.   Free parking available in the rear of the building off of Northwood Ave. Please park in spaces labeled "R" to avoid parking violations; or use metered spaces along High St. or take COTA bus #2 or #31.  RSVP if you can via FaceBook.  Northwood Building, 2231 N. High St., Columbus 43201. 

Brett R. Joseph, LL.M., Ph.D.today announced his decision to run in the Ohio 2018 mid-term election as the Green Party's candidate for Lieutenant Governor, joining on the ticket with Columbus attorney and social justice activist Constance Gadell-Newton, who announced her candidacy for Governor of Ohio in late May, 2017.  

Dr. Joseph (or Brett as he prefers to be called) is an organizational systems design consultant, attorney, community action researcher, and environmental educator.  He serves his native northeast Ohio as a sustainable agriculture program coordinator and permaculture instructor at the Lorain County Community College.

This week was the first of the year where we all knew what was going to happen. We sat waiting for the inevitable shutdown to begin. We were on tenterhooks over who would be the next to leave or be fired from the government. We soiled ourselves as the results of the president’s medical were released. It all sounds like enthusiastic anticipation, and it was. All of us living in Central Ohio do what we can to create a modicum of excitement.

The shutdown of the federal government overshadowed everything else this week. Otherwise noteworthy stories barely received any attention, and nothing else happened at the national level to generate news. That is no complaint; the reasons for the shutdown and the effects it will have over, at least, the next few days deserve to have the huge spotlight on them.

Saturday, January 22, 2018, 7-9pm
Columbus Mennonite Church, 35 Oakland Park  Ave.
Central Ohioans for Peace Meeting. Speaker Julie Hart, Pathways to Peace. Julie Hart will speak about her book Pathways to Pacifism and Antiwar Activism among U.S. Veterans: the Role of Moral Identity in personal transformation. Details to follow. For questions about Central Ohioans for Peace, please send email to: cohioansforpeace@gmail.com.
 

Constance Gadell-Newton, Esq., is a social justice activist, Attorney at Law and Guardian ad Litem for abused and neglected children in Columbus, Ohio.  She graduated from Bishop Watterson High School in Columbus, has a B.A. from the Ohio State University in Philosophy and Women’s Studies, and a J.D. from the Pennsylvania State University Dickinson School of Law, where she studied International, Criminal, and Public Interest Law.     

Constance is committed to promoting the wellbeing of all Ohioans- no matter what happens in Washington, D.C.  Constance will stand up to keep families together in the face of recent changes in U.S. Immigration Policy. Constance wants to make sure that all Ohioans have their needs met for health care and education. She supports universal health care for all Ohioans and free public education from pre-school to college. Constance stands with workers in the fight for a living wage and wage equality for women and minorities.