Local
Back in 2008, when the Ohio State University began to rumble that sophomores would be required to live on campus, eight of the largest off-campus landlords commissioned a study to assess what could happen to their rental market. The study hypothesized if OSU were to pull the trigger it could lead to a “long-term collapse of the area,” and result in a “doomsday scenario.”
The landlords were talking about their own rental properties. And the trigger has indeed been pulled as starting next school year OSU is requiring all sophomores to live on-campus.
What the landlords and others didn’t see coming was that running parallel to the sophomore requirement is seismic change off-campus. Changes initiated over two decades ago by the city and university partnership that is Campus Partners, which redeveloped south campus by turning it into South Campus Gateway.
Columbus lost two prominent local business leaders last year, each embodying one of the three basic principles of environmentalism: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Championing the recycling movement, there was Dan Weisenbach, 53-year-old owner and President of Weisenbach Recycled Products. And, not often thought of as an environmentally-friendly business, but clearly advancing the re-use of items in the spirit of “one man’s trash is another’s treasure,” was Gary Chasin, of Uncle Sam’s Pawn Shop.
Dan Weisenbach, Recycling Superhero
Weisenbach pioneered the production of eco-friendly promotional products made of recycled scrap materials. “Everyone knows Dan was a dogged champion of recycling since he was a teen and convinced the family to create Weisenbach Recycled products,” said Chuck Lynd of Simply Living.
Black Americans spend over $1.2 trillion dollars every year – making Black America one of the largest economies in the world. Out 196 countries, Black America would rank 15th. However, currently only 3-5% of Black dollars are spent with Black businesses. This revelation is stated on the blackoutcoalition.org, a website promoting the new Black Power movement as an “economic revolution.”
There’s a resurgence of Black rights movements some of the largest and most militant since the 60s-70s? Proclaiming that Black lives matter is not only a demand for justice following police abuse and murders of Black citizens, but a call to the general society for economic justice in the Black community.
My wonderful, wonderful mother died on November 30, 2013, after a long battle with leukemia. One of the things I miss the most is her voice, which was melodious and cheerful. I had purchased a recordable book a year before her death, but I kept putting off having her read it. In my mind I always thought “Maybe she’ll feel better tomorrow.” That never came and I will kick myself the rest of my days. Steel tells a similar story about the loss of her paternal grandmother in 1994. She has, however, found a way to fill the void in her heart and mind by photographing and recording women of her grandmother’s generation in her adopted state of Mississippi. She calls these women Delta Jewels.
“The billionaire class and their representatives in Washington are so powerful that the best president in the world cannot defeat them alone,” said Bernie Sanders at a rally in Minneapolis last June. “We need a mass movement of millions of people.”
Taking their cue from the presidential candidate, on January 23 many thousands of supporters turned out for a #March4Bernie in more than 35 U.S. cities.
In Chicago, where much of the outrage against corporate-backed Democrats has been focused on Mayor Rahm Emanuel, more than 2,000 Sanders supporters marched from Daley Plaza to the Chicago Board of Trade. Many of the marchers carried signs demanding Emanuel's resignation. Activists have alleged a city-wide cover-up of the police killing of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald.
Witness is an eclectic, five-night series exploring the African American independent filmmaking scenes in New York, Los Angeles, and beyond. Witness offers a much-needed focus on the pioneers who created landmark, often radical films with meager resources: from classics by Charles Burnett, Kathleen Collins, Spike Lee, Spencer Williams, and Billy Woodberry, to more recent works by Arthur Jafa and Khalik Allah. Spanning more than 70 years, the series explores a wide range of subject matter—poverty, faith, civil rights, and cultural identity—as told through a variety of distinctive directorial perspectives. Made at a time before African American directors received Hollywood support, the films featured here are not just major works of cinema, but vital acts of honesty, defiance, and in some cases, creative revolt.
http://wexarts.org/series/witness-black-independent-film
Thursday, January 21
7 pm: She’s Gotta Have It, Spike Lee, 1986
8:35 pm: Field Niggas, Khalik Allah, 2014
As someone who has a doctorate in American history, it always makes me nervous to hear people declaim that the United States was founded as a Christian nation and the First Amendment guarantees freedom of religion. It is all I can do to hold my tongue when folks say that the Constitution guarantees the separation of Church and state, and when they start talking about a Constitutional amendment requiring prayer in the public schools–as long as I’m a professor, students will be praying in school!–well then, Katie bar the door! The first assertion is an oversimplified story about Pilgrims, Puritans and the Mayflower Compact, written in 1620. The second statement is flat out wrong, and the third one, well whatareyagonnado?
Mon, Jan 18, 8am-12noon, First AME Zion Church, 873 Bryden Rd.
Police Officers for Equal Rights sponsors the annual Martin Luther King Jr. holiday event. Free breakfast from 8-10am. Gospel music, videos, and keynote speaker, Reverend Arthur L. Holloway II in the sanctuary, 10am-12noon. The theme of the breakfast is “Is Racism Terrorism?” Free Press Editor Bob Fitrakis will be one of the speakers. Tyrone Thomas, 614-668-4837. Please send check or money order donations to: Police Officers for Equal Rights, P.O. Box 27040, Columbus, OH 43227.