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After reading “Painting the City Red,” (Feb, ’18, Vol 6, Free Press—Pranav Jani) I wanted to thank the author for the article, but to also correct the record.  While a decent piece, outlining activities of three of Columbus’ socialist groups in the recent period, left out was the revolutionary workers’ organization with, by far, the longest, deepest history here.  The Communist Party, USA (CPUSA) has been active here since the 1930’s, a previous period, like today, of massive people’s upsurge.  Central Ohio’s communists were then in the middle of the historic struggles to organize unemployed workers, for relief, to organize the huge new industrial unions.  Communists here, and across the nation, played a central role in the fight for democracy and the defeat of Nazism/fascism.  CP members were here, actively organizing, fighting alongside regular people, during the Civil Rights struggles, peace actions in the 60’s and had activists, leaders, of the huge Rank & File Movements in organized labor a decade later.          

Saturday, March 10, 6:30-11pm
1021 E. Broad St., east side door
Parking in front, rear lot, or side driveway
Free. No RSVP required.
Join progressives for socializing, refreshments from Acre to Go, music, art, and a presentation on Move to Amend and women's history by Sandy Bolzenius.
colsfreepress@gmail.com

ENOUGH: National School Walkout
Wednesday, March 14, 10am
Various schools across central Ohio
Details at: https://www.actionnetwork.org/event_campaigns/enough-national-school-wa…

Youth EMPOWER is calling for students, teachers, school administrators, parents and allies to take part in a #NationalSchoolWalkout for 17 minutes at 10am across every time zone on March 14, 2018 to protest Congress’ inaction to do more than tweet thoughts and prayers in response to the gun violence plaguing our schools and neighborhoods. We need action. Students and allies are organizing the national school walkout to demand Congress pass legislation to keep us safe from gun violence at our schools, on our streets and in our homes and places of worship.

Students and staff have the right to teach and learn in an environment free from the worry of being gunned down in their classrooms or on their way home from school.

Parents have the right to send their kids to school in the mornings and see them home alive at the end of the day.

Wriply, Ashley and Kendall of the #BlackPride4 were recently tried and found guilty of six out of eight of their heinous trumped-up charges stemming from their peaceful protest at 2017 Columbus Pride. After a week-long jury trial in Franklin County Municipal Court, a jury decided the following in three of the four #BlackPride4 cases:

Wriply Bennet:
  Disorderly Conduct – Guilty
  Failure to Obey – Guilty
  Resisting Arrest – Guilty
Ashley Braxton:
  Disorderly Conduct – Guilty
  Failure to Obey – Guilty
  Resisting Arrest - Not Guilty
Kendall Denton:
  Disorderly Conduct – Guilty
  Failure to Obey - Not Guilty

Now these folks have a quickly approaching sentencing date of March 13, with the threat of jail time looming heavy overhead. Wriply Bennet, a beloved Black trans activist and artist, was convicted of the most charges.

It was fun.

Backstory: I've been taking February vacations in Puerto Rico 20 years now. Normally I'd leave 'round the beginning of the second week so upon return half of the most evil of months would be behind me. It'd bust up winter something wonderful, outflanking the blues and the winter blahs and often preserve my health. I usually don't get the flu when I do this. Usually.

But the urge came urgently on Thursday, February 1st. I was pedaling up the hill behind my house from the coffee shop when I snapped. Winter's teeth had me grinding mine. Inside it was Leon Russell's tightrope – one side hate, the other hope.

By the time I got to the top of the hill the decision was made: Puerto Rico or bust--now.

American Airlines had a $387 round-trip ticket in 2 hours and 5 minutes. My $422 travel voucher left over from Iraq took care of that. Yellow Cab got me John Glenn Space Monkey International airport with half-an-hour to spare.

I landed in San Juan 12:30 a.m. post-hurricane time. Ahhhhhh.....

The advent of #MeToo has revealed so many sexual predators who used some form of emotional abuse or manipulation to get what they truly want, perhaps we should begin thinking of new laws to protect women from predators who spring emotional traps to have sex.

I served in Iraq and was the only female in my platoon. We faced constant threat by the enemy, and I faced daily misogyny and sexual tension from my fellow soldiers. Eventually I was raped by another soldier and now suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). My predators never faced any consequences. I served my country and survived to advocate for other female soldiers, and now for #MeToo.

You may not be in the know, but what follows is a short list of dangerous and abusive ways to emotionally manipulate women or men, for that matter. Emotional abuse leaves no physical scars, but can be devastating to a person’s psyche causing years of anxiety and depression. And now that our dating scene has been aggrandized, simplified and hyper-sexualized by Tinder, Grindr, and the like, perhaps it’s time emotional abuse is treated by the law in similar ways physical abuse is treated.  

Most of us believe what we read, especially when it comes from a reliable source. What we often miss is the real meaning of the news item. In this month's column, I am going to help you, dear readers, to understand what is behind several recent stories.

WHAT WAS REPORTED: Neither the Republicans nor the Democrats will field a woman candidate for governor in 2018, a year when female candidates and female activism are surging. Connie Pillich, the last Democratic woman standing, quit the race, and Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor is facing a one-sided defeat in the Republican primary.

WHAT IT REALLY MEANS:Constance Gadell-Newton, the Green Party nominee, now has 51 percent of the electorate, the women's vote, all to herself. The noted Columbus attorney, inspirational speaker, and social justice activist could be a threat to the major party candidates if she gets the coverage she deserves.

REPORT:Ohio House Republicans proposed a major reform of education that would combine governance of K-12, higher and vocational education into one agency.

Love is more important than art, a character proclaims during a key moment from An American in Paris. While that’s undoubtedly true, it’s art that makes the musical so memorable.

Christopher Wheeldon’s direction and choreography combine with Bob Crowley’s set and costumes, Natasha Katz’s lighting and, most of all, George and Ira Gershwin’s ageless jazz tunes to create multiple gifts for the eyes and ears. As for the love story at its center, it mostly amounts to the colorless glue that holds it all together.

Based on the 1951 film about an American (Gene Kelly) who woos a reluctant Frenchwoman (Leslie Caron), the musical took an unconventional path to its 2015 Broadway premiere. It debuted in late 2014 in Paris, where it created a stir despite the language barrier. In addition to its glorious musical numbers, Parisians likely were attracted to its rejiggered plot and setting.

As a child, John Lyon, also known as Southside Johnny, believed Billie Holiday would come into his room at night and sing him lullabies. The front man of Asbury Jukes remembers hearing bars of “Strange Fruit” and “Ain’t Nobody’s Business” wafting into his room and serenading him to sleep.

“When I was baby, we had no heat upstairs, so my parents would leave the doors open so the heat would come through,” Lyon said in a telephone interview from New Jersey. “My parents would come home and put on Billie Holliday.

“I always loved her voice. When you heard Billie’s voice, you knew everything was going to be all right.”

Lyon and Jukes saxophone player John Isley recently completed the side project, “Detour Ahead: The Music of Billie Holiday” before embarking on a jam-packed tour with the Jukes this March. The New Jersey band begin their tour in Northfield, Ohio on March 2 and perform March 9 at the Southern Theatre (21 E. Main Street in downtown Columbus. The Jukes swing through Sweden and Norway toward the end of the month, and then conclude the month’s leg with a March 29 show in Clearwater, Fla.

Last month, Ohio’s lieutenant governor Mary Taylor made headlines by not getting the endorsement for governor from her state party and subsequently putting them on blast for doing so. In a speech madeto the Ohio Republican Party’s State Central Committee on February 9, Taylor – who is up against Ohio’s attorney general Mike DeWine for the gubernatorial nomination following months of reshuffling within the party– did not hold back. She opened her remarks by calling the venue “Mike DeWine’s living room,” thanked the press for coming so they could televise DeWine’s “coronation,” and went on to slam his campaign for its “air of inevitability” as well as the Ohio Republican Party for “all of the good ol’ boy bullying and backroom deals that have gotten us to this point.” By the end of her speech it was clear Taylor wasn’t actually gunning for the endorsement, nor did she want it in the unlikely event she received it.