BANGKOK, Thailand -- Thailand's coup-installed Defense Minister Prawit Wongsuwon will be in Washington from April 22-27 to meet Defense Secretary James "Mad Dog" Mattis, boosting the junta despite demands for elections, human rights, democracy and Mr. Prawit's resignation for alleged corruption.

"The U.S. needs to counter China's increasing rise in interests and influence in Thailand, and in Southeast Asia by extension, and deepening already deep military-to-military relations is one way to do that," Benjamin Zawacki said in an interview, describing retired army general Prawit's visit.

"Thailand's government is -- as all Thai governments have been since the turn of the century -- pro-Beijing. And until Trump came to power, it was anti-Washington as well," said Bangkok-based Mr. Zawacki, author of a new book titled, "Thailand: Shifting Ground Between the U.S. and a Rising China."

American Spring, the fourth live stage show by Artists Rise Up Los Angeles since the Trump regime took power, rocked Atwater Village Theatre with a moving matinee on April 14 meant to raise consciousness and funds. Largely using spoken word, in a series of one-person presentations, a dozen mostly female and/or nonwhite thesps gave a voice to those whom the Trump-sters seek to render voiceless and Ralph Ellison-like invisible, thereby shining the spotlight on the so-called “least” of these among us during ARULA’s 90 minute production, co-directed by Mapuana Makia and Jose Restrepo. Here are some highlights:

African American women led the way, as some observe Black females are doing offstage, too, in terms of activism. FreXinet freely floated from one female character to another a la Anna Deavere Smith to answer the probing question she posed: “What does it take to be Black in America?” The braided-hair actress wrote and acted out the various dramatic personae, demonstrating her range and talent.

MakerX: The Columbus Maker Expo will be held on April 21. MakerX is a public festival of digital design and creation with over 60 exhibits and activities for all ages. The event will feature drones, robots, 3D printing, virtual reality and game development, electronic music and more. 

MakerX has been planned by an all-volunteer committee of educators from Columbus area schools and universities. It will take place from 10am to 5pm at the Performing Arts Center of Reynoldsburg City Schools (8579 Summit Rd, Reynoldsburg) on the 21st.

 “Maker festivals have been popular all over the world for more than ten years” said Dr. William Ball of Capital University and leader of the planning committee. “MakerX is the Columbus area’s maker festival with a distinctive focus on high technology designed to appeal to all ages. Additionally, the festival is being driven by schools and universities in the Columbus area, although there will be many exhibitors from community maker spaces, companies, professionals, clubs, and home workshops.”

It’s easy to nowadays to casually flip through the newspaper, “Such a shame,” we say. Crying babies and images of ICE agents cover the front page. “Too bad, those poor kids.” And yet we turn to the next page; these are only problems in border states. Besides, it doesn’t affect us...right?

Each day, it seems, new foreign policy changes appear in the newspaper headlines: increased border security to deter Central American illegal immigration, harsher and speedier deportation laws, the end of the DACA program, as well as the proposed travel ban which would limit travelers and immigrants from Chad, North Korea Venezuela, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen.

We skim these headlines, our eyes glancing over writers addressing important questions; What would America be without its immigrants? More importantly, how would the immigrant policies affect our local communities?