Local
There is a sanctuary as resistance movement across the continental United States, in Ohio and in Columbus. According to the newly emerging, Columbus Sanctuary Collective, this resistance will only Soon to be announced, a second church in Columbus will be sheltering a family into sanctuary. grow as a result of the deportation and detention machine built by former President Obama and now being exercised to its fullest by the Trump administration. With mass raids on businesses, deportations of longtime residents of Ohio and threats on legitimate green card holders, churches and organizers across the state are organizing to facilitate and initiate a sanctuary effort.
A second church in Columbus will be sheltering a Columbus resident into sanctuary in July. That will be the second case in Columbus of a person needing to be housed and protected from ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement). The Columbus Sanctuary Collective asked supporters, activists and the media to show up Monday, June 2 in solidarity with Miriam Vargas, a Honduran mother, as she enters sanctuary at the First English Lutheran Church in downtown Columbus.
The joke around town about personal injury attorney Scott Schiff is, if you need to find him, just wait around any car accident. Poof, he’s going to appear out of nowhere, and if you need a chiropractor, he’s probably one of those, too.
Columbus born and raised, Schiff has made a killing off traffic accidents and slip-and-falls. He’s even become a TV personality of sorts and went into real estate 30 years ago when he started Schiff Properties, now a family-run business and one of the largest owners of commercial property around Ohio State.
He’s omnipotence continues to fester and this is no surprise. We live in an age when personal injury lawyers, real estate developers, tech gurus, CEO billionaires and healthcare executives, have too much the power and our city government, so desperate for tax revenue and campaign contributions, caves to their every whim.
Brett Burlison.
Eddie Bayard.
Roger Hines.
Shane Willis.
Alex Burgoyne.
Folks, that is how you spell ‘beauty’ in this day and age of the Beast – those five jazz-men’s names.
And boy, did I soak up these marvelous jazz players’ collective and individual beauty at their last Wednesday night residency at Dick’s Den in June. I don't mean to be inarticulate, but you're going to hear a lot of the ‘b’ word in the next few hundred words.
From my notes:
First song, Charlie Parker’s Billie’s Bounce – great opening energy...saxist Bayard firing on all valves, his weathered tenor bell blasting brash...Hines on a stool, his big ol’ violin-shaped double-bass layin’ in his lap like a French whore left over from the German occupation getting tickled high and low...Burlison chording color...Willis’s ticking, tapping and timing on the drums, cymbals and foot-pedal was precision itself...can precision be creative? Willis’s, yes.
By song’s end, I was smoking hot.
And that was just their first song!
Passport 196 just launched in October 2017 in Upper Arlington on the corner of Fishinger and Riverside Drive (33). They serve an assortment of Caribbean fusion food with jerk seasonings. Azariyah Aiyetoro, the brother of Passport 196’s founder John Hudson, who manages the restaurant, recently made a vegan shift in consciousness and wanted to offer a more robust, full-service (appetizer to dessert) vegan menu in addition to their current conventional menu. These are exciting times for our Vegan Options Daily campaign as they consulted VeganShift.org’s concierge on the local market gaps and decided to include a vegan fishless (Gardein) sandwich, in addition to the grilled chickless (Gardien) sandwich, and vegan burger (Beyond Meat).
Monday, July 2, 2018, 9:00 AM
First English Lutheran Church, 1015 E Main Street, Columbus, OH 43205
Miriam Vargas, originally from Honduras, is a long-term resident of Columbus, OH, and mother of two U.S. citizen daughters. Her decision comes as she has received an order of deportation which would separate her from her children forever. This happens as President Trump has increased the cruel and inhumane policies of immigrant detainments and separation of mothers from their children. Through sanctuary at First English Lutheran Church, she hopes to find the legal and community support she needs to keep her family together. In Miriam's words, “I have no other choice but to enter sanctuary. I am doing this to keep my family together. My two children are what matters. I need to be with them”. It will be a rough road ahead with an uncertain timeline, but she will not be alone. In Columbus, she will join Edith Espinal who has been in sanctuary for over 9 months at the Columbus Mennonite Church and will become the 5th person in Ohio to be in sanctuary publicly.
To begin with let me give a disclaimer. This review is going to be really hard for me to do. I ought to admit that I really like the producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra's filmmaking sensibilities. When a movie stays with you for almost 30 years and if you still feel like you haven't gotten over it, like his film Parinda, then I guess you really like the filmmaker. If the only movie that you went to the theatre on two consecutive days, 3 Idiots, is made by the same filmmaker, then you really know that you really, really like this filmmaker.
My second reason is that I find it difficult to review someone's life. "Sanju," showing at AMC Village 18, is a movie based on a Indian actor Sanjay Dutt. Even though it is touted as a biography, it revolves only around two major life-altering experiences in the actor's life: his addiction to drugs and his legal battle for carrying illegal weapon.
Sunday, July 1, 3-5pm
North Congregational United Church of Christ, 2040 Henderson Rd.
Music that makes a difference – top Columbus songwriters present The Concert for Children at the Border. The event, hosted by North Congregational Church, is raising funds for Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services (RAICES), providing legal counsel for children incarcerated by Homeland Security on the border with Mexico.
Among the scheduled performers are:
- Shaun Booker and Sean Carney, winner, Memphis International Blues Challenge
- Rj Cowdery, winner, Kerrville New Folk Festival
- Arkadiy Gips, violinist on two world tours with Madonna
- TJ George, winner, Columbus Music Awards
- Eric Gnezda - Songwriter and Speaker, creator and host of Songs at the Center, the American Public Television Series
The mood was not only to vote but to resist. A massive crowd filled the Ohio Statehouse capitol square on Saturday morning June 30, 2018 for the Families Stay Together rally. The demonstrators were of two minds. the majority, working on behalf of the Democratic Party to create a blue wave around the immigration issue and the others a plurality of activists who want to defy and resist the Trump administration and are calling for direct action, civil disobedience and some to make the United States ungovernable unless Trump backs off on his militaristic border tactics. Many of the latter forces called for the abolition of ICE and had chants involving "Melt ICE" and Crush ICE."
The very diverse crowd listened to a number of speakers, many who were experiencing immigration issues, and the rally culminated in a march around the block. At the end intersection of Broad and High Streets some marchers shut down the roads for a short while. Police presence was minimal, the police were restrained in their reactions, and the march ultimately continued down West Broad Street to the ICE headquarters in the Leveque Lincoln tower.
Two Ohio Republican legislators recently introduced a bill that mandates all medical and mental health care providers, and teachers, disclose if the child they are working with identifies as LGBTQ - or else they’ll be criminalized as felons.
This bill turns care providers into spies, polices LGBTQ youth and puts them into dangerous situations. Suffering from gender dysphoria and seeking help is not a crime!
Sign the petition now to strike down Bill 658 and send a clear message to legislators: Stop targeting transgender youth
Many LGBTQ youth are homeless because of family rejection for their gender identity and sexuality. Transgender youth face added discrimination and violence. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Join us now to annihilate this bill that puts the safety and well-being of LGBTQ youth at risk.