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You know you’ve got a heart (or at least I think you do). You know you have lungs. You know you possess a spine (well, at least some people do …). Kidding aside, these organs permit your body – and you – to function. Respectively, they are part of your circulatory system, your respiratory system and your nervous system. I’m going to tell you about another bodily system that is also integral to you.

It is called the “endocannabinoid” system (ECS), pronounced [en‧duh‧kuh‧nab‧uh‧noid].

I’ll bet you’ve heard of marijuana. No? Do you have a brain? Our favorite herb is often referred to by its scientific name: cannabis. It’s an ancient plant species that has followed mankind from prehistoric times through the present and will continue onward through millennia so long as there are humans. Its ties bind plants, mammals and mankind together.

Marijuana is a compound of over 450 chemicals. The 80 that are unique to the plant are each termed a cannabinoid. [pronunciation: “can-na-bin-oid”] 

Things are going really well for the Democrats. And none of it is thanks to them. They are headed for significant victories at the end of the year and all without crafting progressive legislation or discussing the biggest issues on the campaign trail. The Republicans are imploding and continuously feeding the Democrats ammunition to use against them. Then there is the new wave of activists whose baby steps and half measures are straight out of the Democratic playbook. All the gutless liberals must be positively tumescent at how the past two weeks have turned out.

The good news: By 2045, Columbus has bucked its opioid addiction. The bad news: It’s replaced it with something far worse.

Our hometown is depicted as the headquarters of a virtual playground called the Oasis in Ready Player One, Steven Spielberg’s new sci-fi blockbuster. So seductive is this escape from reality that most of the world’s population spends its days donning interactive gear, creating avatars and sending them off on mind-blowing adventures.

The phenomenon has turned Columbus into the planet’s fastest-growing burg, but the growth spurt has been a painful one. Many residents—including our teenage hero, Wade (Tye Sheridan)—live in the “Stacks,” a slum consisting of mobile homes piled on top of each other. Impoverished by the Oasis’s demands on their time and money, they have little hope of ever bettering themselves.

We enter this dystopian future at a time when the mogul behind the Oasis, a man named Halliday (Mark Rylance), has died after launching a contest to choose his heir. Wade, with the help of his avatar, Parzival, is confident he’s up to the challenge.

At this time of every school year, most seniors across the country are itching to bust out of high school and into their own independent lives. This feeling is commonly known as “Senioritis” and lucky for me, I haven’t spent the last nine weeks cooped up in a calculus class fantasizing about what comes after graduation. I’m on a semester long service learning project called Walkabout. It’s a project that develops the skills, attitudes and values of responsible adulthood. The test of Walkabout, and of life, is not what a student can do under a teacher’s direction, but what he or she can do as an individual. So instead of dealing with daily tests and assignments, I’ve been working for a local community radio station called WGRN.

Naomi Klein, author of This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate, says that if everything is changing, everyone must be part of the change. Fair enough, but what can one person do?

Actually, you can do a lot right here in central Ohio. Simply Living members have been challenging the status quo since our founding in 1992. It’s not just about recycling, switching to LEDs, and starting a vegetable garden.  We can and should do those things because they are the habits of a new, mindful, ecologically-aware culture that will supplant the current consumer culture.

Ready Player Oneis based somewhere in Columbus, Ohio during the year 2045 and is directed by Steven Spielberg.

Steven Spielberg began his career directing Rod Serling's “Night Gallery,” a late 60's-Early 70's show after Twilight Zone. Night Gallery is actually more unsettling than Twilight Zone. I feel like Spielberg's films like Gremlins and Back the Future figured out how to tweak Rod Serling's surreal, and supernatural feel into mainstream family accessible blockbusters. Spielberg directed the Twilight Zone movie in 1983.g the life and enduring legacy of

What does Columbus, Ohio look like in 2045? Somewhere between watching video games at your friend's house, the industrialized graffiti coated districts near the East River in Williamsburg, the junk yard near Frank Road and a nightclub. Essentially Ready Player One is Night Gallery meets Avatar. Ready Player One is a Major Motion Picture being shown around Columbus Movie Theaters

My Lazy Earth Day Future

Tuesday, April 3, 7-9pm
485 E Livingston Ave.
No matter your craft or skill level, show up and show off your talents. Open art studio will be in the back! 
Art will be for sale in the studio store which is all handmade by local artists with disabilities.
Live DJ, coloring activities and play-dough will be on deck to keep you in good spirits throughout the night.

One of my local favorites is Big Mama’s Burritos, on the corner of Grandview Avenue and Third Avenue. Big Mama’s has highly accessible hours and affordable pricing, which is helpful when I don’t want to spend a lot of money and want to get really full on a delicious, giant vegan burrito. That California girl in me has a real soft-spot for Mexican food.

For a while, refried beans seemed like they had disappeared and the only burritos you could get came with either black beans or whole pintos. I’m so glad a buddy of mine turned me onto this great place. While the building of the burrito is not done right in front of you, you still have a lot of say as to what goes into it.

Their guacamole is fresh and delicious – I really do rate Mexican food on their beans and their guacamole. They have interesting salsa options (mango!) and while their corn tortilla chips are not made in house, they are good. Next time you are ravenous, you can get a decent sized vegan burrito there for under $5.

As Americans start to celebrate, commiserate and commemorate the 50th anniversary of 1968 -- arguably one of the most tumultuous years in U.S. history, both politically and socially -- others are asking if the millennial generation will be able to pick up where the activists of 1968 left off. After all, America remains a nation divided between old and new ideas, cultures, policies with serious social and economic impacts and our military is again marred down in foreign conflicts that seem to have no end in sight.

Monday, April 2nd 2018 from 6:30pm to 8:30pm
Rm 100 Northwoods Bldg, 2231 N High St., Columbus 43201
We are working to protect Columbus Water, to keep it safe from Frack Waste Injection wells, and landfill dumping within our City and Watershed, and We stand for our inalienable rights for local self governance to protect our community. We have just 3 1/2 months to deadline to turn in our petitions. This is it! All Folks who are committed to helping get the Columbus Community Bill of Rights on the November 2018 ballot, will meet to Kickoff this final Push to get the 12,000 signatures we need before July 1, 2018. Come have a bite to eat, meet the team, get your petitions, post cards, get a short training if you are new or rusty, pick up an awesome T shirt and our new yard sign.