THE MADWOMAN OF CHAILLOT Theater Review

In The Last Tycoon F. Scott Fitzgerald rather famously quipped, “There are no second acts in American lives.” But I’m glad this isn’t true about drama, because I started drifting off during the first act of A Noise Within’s production of Jean Giradoux’s 1943 The Madwoman of Chaillot. I found Act I, which takes place at Angela Balogh Calin’s rather airy set for Café Chez Francis, to be too talky. But I decided to stay for the duration - and ended up being very happy I did, because the second act was quite gloriously delirious.

 

Incoherent President Reassures UN That US Policy Is Insane

“If the righteous many do not confront the wicked few, then evil will triumph.” 

– Minority President Donald Trump, September 19, 2017, addressing the United Nations

 

Franklinton Garden's 3rd Annual Fall Festival

Two young white boys and two men working outside with some sort of garden device

Saturday, Sept 30, 12-3pm
Franklinton Gardens
Facebook Event
Franklinton Garden's 3rd Annual Fall Festival is coming up! 
The event will be held in the outdoor space with benches across the street from St. John's Episcopal Church on Avondale and Town St. 
We will be making cider on-site with a ciderpress and distributing it to guests. Free food will be provided by Abe's Kitchen, and Jenni's has graciously agreed to donate some icecream.
Local band Blue Spectrum will be providing the tunes, along with local rapper Frances. Activities such as pumpkin tossing, corn hole and face painting will be put on as well.
It's tradition that farms celebrate their harvest, and what better way to usher in the fall harvest than bringing the community together around our food? Hope to see you there! Bring your friends! Free.

 

Black Sabbath: The End of the End

Movie poster with words Black Sabbath the end of the end and them playing in their band on stage in front of a crowd

Once had friend tell me he could not stand to hear Black Sabbath albums, covered sampled or remixed, because they were perfect. Now, I love Black Sabbath as much. However, growing up writing graffiti, you embraced Black Sabbath aura.

Obviously this is the most dominant aesthetic in music. 

My friend’s sentiment had a valid point.

Jack White and the Black Keys are both examples of how difficult it is to filter the blues and gospel into rock in roll without sounding like a complete cornball. My assumption regarding the mediocre current state of mainstream rock music is that most people who want to start bands probably haven’t gone thru the processes that Jack White or the Black Keys have so they just can’t….

Ok...so we know Black Sabbath is amazing. How is the movie?

Well, the best way I can explain is this: Ozzy Osborne obviously is most famous member of Black Sabbath. Black Sabbath is where the antics that made Ozzy a reality show spectacle are removed, and he is known more for important artistry.

This documentary is for the fans that want to enjoy the high quality of the group they love. It’s a film of mutual respect.

Sol-con: Brown & Black Comics Expo 2017

People of color posing as group

Friday, Sept. 29, 9a,-4:30pm
Frank Hale Cultural Center, 153 W 12th Ave, Columbus, Ohio 43210
Facebook Event
SÕL-CON: Brown & Black Comics Expo that offers a venue every year at OSU Campus's Hale Hall for Latinx and African American comic book creators to come together to change the lives of K-12 youth of color in Columbus. Panels. K-12 Comics and Zine Workshops. Talk-Backs. Expo.
Free.

The Courage to Kneel

Kneel, touch the earth. 

“Oh say can you see . . . ”

The anthem starts. I can feel the courage . . . of Colin Kaepernick, the (then) San Francisco 49ers quarterback who refused to stand for the national war hymn, not when one of the wars was directed at Americans of color. Occupying the public spotlight that he did, Kaepernick risked — and received — widespread condemnation. Rabid fans burned replicas of his jersey. I’m sure as he knelt that first time, as his knee touched the earth, he had a sense of what he was setting off.

This is patriotism. 

Let’s Put to Rest These Myths about U.S.-North Korea Relations

Not even a year has passed since Donald Trump’s election victory. Yet already, his over-the-top, pugnacious rhetoric and actions have exacerbated Washington’s conflict with North Korea to the point where some observers are comparing it to the 1962 Cuban missile crisis.1 But how are people being educated and informed about this crisis in the mass media? We are shown bountiful coverage of North Korean problems, such as Kim Jong-un’s own over-the top rhetoric, his government’s human rights violations, rapid development of nuclear missiles, and soldiers goose stepping, but hardly any coverage of American problems, such as our history of aggression on the Korean Peninsula, the “Military-Industrial Complex” that President Eisenhower warned about in 1961, and the ways in which Washington has been intimidating Pyongyang. Below is an outline of some myths that must be dispelled if Americans are to gain some basic understanding U.S.-North Korea relations today and if they are to feel motivated to pressure their government to negotiate a diplomatic solution to the crisis.

Myth Number 1: North Korea is the aggressor, not us; they are the problem

Take a Knee for Freedom of Religion

What is freedom of religion? It is not actually or directly freedom to think or not think religious stuff, not to the extent that one can, or chooses to, keep one’s thoughts secret. Rather, it is the right to display or to refuse to display religiosity.

If you have freedom of religion, as I think everyone should, and if we all have the right to our own lives and well-being, as I think we should, then as long as you’re not hurting anyone else, you have the right to hold various things sacred: books, statues, symbols, buildings, trees, whatever. And everyone else has the right not to hold those things sacred.

In Saudi Arabia, if you do not act as if you hold certain objects and words and behaviors sacred, your life is in jeopardy.

In the United States, what puts you at the greatest risk of unpleasant repercussions is not the practicing of any particular religion, with the possible exception of Islam or anything that people might mistake for Islam. What the most factors conspire to compel you to in the United States is this: flag worship.

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