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Seth Jones of the Columbus Blue Jackets

Seth Jones a black hockey player

When Columbus Blue Jackets defensemen Seth Jones was traded to Columbus two years ago hardly anyone took notice because the team was in their usual mid-season funk and headed for another year out of the playoffs.

But now the entire city is beginning to jump out of their seats – even African-Americans, a group not often associated as hockey fans because almost all NHLers are white. They’re taking notice because Seth Jones is black and a star-in-the-making. He made the NHL all-star roster this year. Better yet, he embraces the fact he’s an African-American role model in a sport that has slowly warmed to African-Americans. In a way, he’s a pioneer for the 21st century.

“There have been a few African-American kids who have come up to me and said, ‘You’re my favorite player,’ ” said the 22-year-old Jones to the website The Undefeated recently.

Columbus in the past has been labeled a “Black middle-class” capital of the world. Yet many young African-American children have lamented the city lacks a “pro team.” But there is a pro-team and local African-American children are starting to take notice.

Reviews: Grief-stricken mom at center of Almodovar’s latest and I Am Not Your Negro

Black and white photo of protest in streets from 50s with sign saying something about race mixing

Do you prefer to have your cinematic guilt and grief delivered with a Boston accent? If so, you might enjoy the Oscar-nominated Manchester by the Sea. (Well, maybe “enjoy” is the wrong verb, since Jimmy Fallon accurately described it as “the only thing from 2016 that was more depressing than 2016.”)

If, on the other hand, you prefer to have your guilt and grief delivered in Spanish—and leavened with a faint ray of hope—you might try Pedro Almodovar’s Julieta. It’s not a great film, and it’s certainly not the director’s best, but it does have its charms.

Fans of Almodovar (Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown) won’t be surprised to learn that the central character is a woman going through a very rough time. They also won’t be shocked to discover that the film shows the influence of an earlier filmmaker—in this case, Alfred Hitchcock. Many scenes are tinged with a feeling of ominousness that’s reinforced by Alberto Iglesias’s relentlessly Hitchcockian score.

Socially Just Dining: Oddfellows Liquor Bar

Pictured (Flynn 2016): Gingerbread French Toast, Chocolate Chip Pancakes, Rosemary Garlic Potatoes, Biscuits and Gravy, Kale and Quinoa Salad and Corn Chowder.

Oddfellows Liquor Bar in the Short North launched into the scene and created more vegan community buzz for bar food options. Cara Woodhouse has made great strides in developing a surprisingly comprehensive vegan brunch food selection in her “Classy Brunch Party” buffet for an affordable $8 that runs 10am to 3pm on both Saturday and Sunday. You can find uncommon vegan options that include home fried potatoes, pancakes, French toast, biscuits and gravy, and if you need a gluten-free accommodation, there is a quinoa and kale green salad and often a soup or chowder.

InfoSec for protestors

Big blue apostrophe-looking symbol with a key hole in the middle

For a lot of IT geeks, information security – InfoSec – has been little more than a hobby that lets us delve into the world of online spy tech. Most of us haven’t been doing anything any more illegal than the occasional movie torrent or text to a pot dealer, and the average InfoSec geek has traditionally been more likely to be a Breitbart-reading Reddit troll than someone who is actually part of a marginalized group.

That’s got to change, and soon, because the Breitbart-reading Reddit trolls are now running the asylum, and the only free speech they actually care about is their own.

In December’s issue I went over some basics: turn off geotagging, use encrypted cloud services, use the Tor browser whenever you can. But those were kinder, gentler days, when we didn’t yet know that we were walking right into the worst case scenario, as much as we may have suspected it.

Sugar fueled buzz sparks schizophrenic screed on Material Girl, or what makes Johnny Go

Madonna in orange pants and black bots dancing outside

Yes, Officer, I am under the influence.

Of the following:

Two cups, Bigelow's peppermint tea, probably four full teaspoons white sugar.

Two fat Stauf's porcelain cups, moka java coffee, ten packets (at least) brown raw sugar.

One 12-oz.can Mountain Dew.

Two king-size Reese's Cups.

Madonna's 1989 hit, 'Express Yourself" which she performed at the Women's March last Saturday.

Becalmed, I am ready to start my column.

Having finished consuming caffeine, chocolate and sugar only a few minutes ago, Express Yourself has been mentally greeting me every morning since last Saturday. And why not? It's a really good, maybe even great '80s Madonna pop song, catchy as a cold on a rainy day and way more enjoyable. The chorus flows, the messages are good. Hey, I was an '80s feminist once upon a time!

Baby

B-b-b-baby

Do you believe in love?

 

Come on, girls!

I've got something to sing about

and it goes something like this...

 

Call 911, but get a 187: What happened to Jaron Thomas

Young man with wire rimmed glasses and goatee

On January 14, 2017, 36-year-old Jaron Thomas called for help, as he had done several times before by the advice of mental health professionals. Jaron, diagnosed with schizophrenia, was struggling with hallucinations. He was a gifted hip-hop lyricist, having at one point worked with well-known artist Bizzy-Bone. He knew that he needed help and had calmly asked for a medic on the 911 call obtained by the family. He expected to be admitted for treatment, in his hometown of Columbus, but the response he received instead was from officers with the Columbus Police Department. It is unclear what transpired, but the result was inexplicable injuries and brain damage.

According to the family’s legal team Walton and Brown, LLP, “Several Columbus Police officers responded to the scene. Jaron was hospitalized with severe brain damage, head contusions, a blood clot near his sternum, at least one broken rib and other injuries.”

Surrounded by his close-knit family and a host of loved ones and friends, this loving father of three fought for his life. He lost the battle on January 23rd, roughly one week after his brutal and tragic encounter with police.

Bamboozling Black Folk: The Silent Conspiracy to Maintain Columbus’s Discriminatory At-Large City Council Elections

harriet tubman

Columbus Oligarchy and Franklin County Democratic Politicians Defend Our Racially Biased System – Embracing Racial Superiority as “The Columbus Way”

In recognition of Black History Month, as Board Chair of The Columbus Free Press, I explore the racist origins and dubious legality of Columbus’s at-large system of electing its city council, in hopes of educating Columbus citizens about the current environment.

In August 2016, Columbus residents placed on a Special Election ballot a citizen-initiated proposal to change the form of our government from an at-large city council, where all council members are elected in citywide elections, to a form with a mix of council members elected at-large (three) and by district/ward (10). While the Columbus city charter has been amended over 70 times, each time the amendments have been requested by Columbus City Council. This marked the first time citizens had ever successfully placed a charter initiative of our own making on the ballot. And the vitriol of the ruling class to this display of citizen disobedience and imprudence came out immediately.

Does Love Trump Hate? Report from the Women’s March on Washington

Young woman holding Love Trumps Hate sign

The day after inauguration day, on January 21st, over one million people converged on the capitol to make their voices heard at the Women's March on Washington.

I went there to inquire what some of them thought about loving kindness. I suspect that if politically-organized loving kindness is espoused and carried out, activism becomes more immune to infiltration, cooptation, and in-fighting. A social movement based in loving kindness makes it harder for the corporate media and authoritarian politicians to convince the general public we are to be feared, hated and repressed. This article also asks some important questions of our readers.
 

The Next Step in Caring

Airport resistance is the biggest step forward by the U.S. public in years.

Why do I say that? Because this is unfunded, largely unpartisan activism that is largely selfless, largely focused on helping unknown strangers, driven by compassion and love, not political ideology, greed, or vengeance, and in line with activism around the globe. It's also targeted at the location of the harm, directly resisting the injustice, and achieving immediate partial successes, including very meaningful successes for certain individuals. It's gaining support from people never before engaged in any activism. And it shows no signs of any significant undesirable side-effects. This is a movement to be built on, and I have an idea what a next step should be.

Letter to Trump: End U.S. War in Afghanistan

Prominent Americans, peace activists, and organizations have created an open letter to President Donald Trump asking him to end U.S. war in Afghanistan. It reads:

The U.S. war in Afghanistan is well into its 16th year. In 2014 President Obama declared it over, but it will remain a political, financial, security, legal, and moral problem unless you actually end it.

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