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Carolyn on the right, blonde woman with maroon winter hat and glasses standing next to car with Native American woman on right

Some of you may already know that Carolyn Harding of Columbus traveled to Standing Rock this week to stand with the people in that community standing up to protect their water and their community. Carolyn was one of the final arrests made. Carolyn has posted many pictures and accounts of her experience on her Facebook page.

Chelsea Clinton wearing red at a microphone

The only section of the New York Times I consistently enjoy is “By the Book.” It is a quick read that offers a glimpse into the reading habits of writers, musicians, and other public figures. When I came to the latest edition with Chelsea Clinton I expected to read a vacuous interview that served no purpose other than to sell a few extra copies of her recent book. But that was not the case. It wasn’t an interview with a writer; it was with a politician.

Cover of New Jim Crow book with hands on bars like in a prison

Saturday, February 25, 2pm
Columbus Metropolitan Library - Northern Lights Branch
4093 Cleveland Avenue, Columbus, Ohio 43224
We've marched, we've called, we've written, we've donated, we've knitted...or maybe we've done all or none of these things. Now let's read! We can keep the spirit of the historic #womensmarch alive with a monthly book group. Our first book is The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander.

Don't have time to read the whole thing? Here's an article by the author describing the topic: http://prospect.org/article/new-jim-crow-0

The militarization of police forces in the U.S. has come under increasing scrutiny, including the effect it has on the psychology of police. Equipped with military-grade weapons and body armor, police have been conditioned to view citizens as enemies, instead of human beings whom they are bound to protect and serve.

Wearing face shields or gas masks has the psychological effect of deindividuation: a feeling of anonymity that curbs police officers’ sense of personal responsibility for their actions.

These effects played out in downtown Columbus on the evening of January 30 as a demonstration against President Trump was winding down. About 3,000 protesters were marching from the Franklin Country Courthouse back to the Ohio Statehouse, as police attempted to keep them off High Street by forcing them onto the sidewalk.

Somalian women in Somalia wearing headresses standing in line waiting for food

Friday, Feb 24, 7 PM - 9 PM
2439 Fuiji Dr, Columbus, OH 43229-2847

SPAG and READ HOA have teamed up to provide aid to Somalia's drought and famine. We have raised over 80% of our $10,000 goal and hope to continue the momentum until the end of the month!

This celebatory gala will provide valuable information about the current famine in Somalia & building sustainability. There will be live entertainment provided by spoken word artists and wadani singers. Dinner will be graciously catered by Lavash Cafe.

The cost to attend is "pay what you want." Donations will be taken at the door. Seating is limited so please be sure to RSVP: https://goo.gl/q73ntN

Gray haired woman holding protest sign above head asking for Health Reform

Approximately 30 activtists staged a demonstration Wednesday, February 22 outside Senator Rob Portman's office in downtown Columbus. Debbie Silverstein, Single Payer Action Network Ohio State Director, illustrated the devastation an illness without access to medical care can bring, told of breaking her leg* years ago -- she then just lay on the floor and cried and cried, desolate because she knew that she could not afford the needed medical treatment.  Advocating militancy, Silverstein said that we have learned our lesson -- compromising in the struggle over the legislation that resulted in the Affordable Health Care Act did not serve the movement well.  "Instead of retreating in the face of Administration threats to abolish the Affordable Care Act," she declared, "now we are demanding more -- Medicare for All!"

Very young blonde girl looking tough holding a sword

When Tierna Oxenreider of Reynoldsburg told her parents she wanted to take up a sport that allowed her to use a sword, her parents let her chase her dreams like any loving mom and dad would do.

And while they were surprised their daughter was eager to embrace a mano-a-mano sport, what was more startling was how old Tierna was when this combatant epiphany struck her.

She was just four at the time. “I want to do a sword sport,” she told her parents.

Eight years later, after her parents decided the sport of fencing was a perfect fit, the now 12-year-old Tierna has become one of the top-3 fencers nationally in her age group. She’s scheduled to compete at her fifth Arnold Classic where she’s won seven gold medals. In 2015 she won the North American Cup Tournament for her age group.

Family and coaches alike say Tierna is mature, humble and beyond determined. The future could be golden for this pre-teen who has set her sights on the ultimate fencing prize.

“That’s my goal right now, to compete in the Olympics eight years from now,” says Tierna, who incredibly is a first-generation fencer.

Liberals are supposed to be antiwar, right? I went to college in the 1960s, when students nationwide were rising up in opposition to the Vietnam War. I was a Young Republican back then and supported the war through sheer ignorance and dislike of the sanctimoniousness of the protesters, some of whom were surely making their way to Canada to live in exile on daddy’s money while I was on a bus going to Fort Leonard Wood for basic combat training. I can’t even claim that I had some grudging respect for the antiwar crowd because I didn’t, but I did believe that at least some of them who were not being motivated by being personally afraid of getting hurt were actually sincere in their opposition to the awful things that were happening in Southeast Asia.

The performances and much of the music in Richard Strauss’ Salome are the most melodramatic of any opera I’ve ever experienced. But this is to be expected since, as that old expression goes, “consider the source”: The New Testament. However, as with Mel Gibson’s dark, despicably dreary, sadistic 2004 The Passion of the Christ, the operatic version of John the Baptist’s (Icelandic baritone Tomas Tomasson plays the prophet called here Jochanaan) disastrous encounter with Salome (New Hampshire soprano Patricia Racette) is derived from brief Biblical passages.

 

enator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) would do well to embrace our early American hero Pocahontas. She might even thank Donald Trump for making the link.

With his signature sneering, leering sexism and racism, Trump refers to the Massachusetts senator with the name of this real-life historic figure as if it were a put-down.

But Pocahontas is a true American icon. Unlike Trump, she was greatly loved by her people, and her character was impeccable. She was deeply admired in England, where she travelled with her husband and young son and then tragically passed away, having barely turned twenty.

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