It’s quite a high hurdle to appeal to a country that’s been militarily invaded — after decades of military defense (and offense) preparations and the accompanying cultural indoctrination in the supposed necessity of military defense — to appeal to said country to construct on-the-fly an unarmed civilian defense plan and act on it despite near-universal lack of training or even comprehension.

We’re finding it to be a high hurdle just to get access to bring in an unarmed team to defend a nuclear power plant in the middle of a war.

A more reasonable proposal is for national governments that are not at war to learn about and (if they really learned about it then this would necessarily follow) establish departments of unarmed civilian defense. World BEYOND War is putting together both an annual conference in 2023 and a new online course on this topic. One place to get the very beginning of an understanding that unarmed actions can repel militaries — even without serious preparations or training (so, imagine what proper investment could do) — is with this list of nearly 100 times people successfully used nonviolent action in place of war.

Thursday, February 23, 12noon-1pm, this on-line event requires advance registration

Ohio Voice’s February “Lunch and Learn” is all about abolition! This is back by popular demand. Black Queer and Intersectional Collective (BQIC) organizers will give an outline of how the police grew into an institution in the United States, situating its legacy within our country’s violent history of chattel slavery, genocide, and capitalistic greed. They will then define what police and prison abolition is, why it’s necessary for creating a free world for the most oppressed, and how we can continue working towards it here in central Ohio with BQIC’s #12ToAbolish12 demands and supporting other abolitionist organizations and efforts.

BQIC Bio:

Black Queer and Intersectional Collective is a grassroots community organization that works towards the liberation of Black queer, trans, and intersex people from all walks of life through direct action, community organizing, education on our issues, and creating spaces to uplift our voices.

Confession: I have a few books out there that no one knows about because I haven’t written them . . . well, finished them.

I’ve talked in previous columns about “wrestling with infinity” — the match I always lose — by which I mean, picking a subject too large to reduce to words and eventually getting hopelessly lost in it, e.g.: shifting human consciousness, transcending what we think we know, truly creating peace (whatever that is).

So welcome to my latest attempt to circumvent infinity. The book I’m aiming at is a collection of the poetry I’ve written over the past two decades, but not exactly. It’s not really a “collection” of anything — art objects on display in glass cases, meant to be admired — and the poetry (and other stuff) I would include I think of essentially as “soul fragments”: bleeding pieces of personal truth.

And the point of the book is to enter the present moment with the reader, to revere life together, to tremble at its wonder, to look into the eyes the unknown . . . with the help of something I call the Blue Pearl.

On the occasion of the Board of Trustee’s February 2023 meeting, Ohio State’s shortest serving, and soon-to-be unemployed ex-president, millionaire Kristina Johnson broke two-and-a-half months of ignoring repeated calls from faculty, students, and the community by launching an anti-factual and myth-making campaign for face-saving and rehabilitation. (In general, see my “The Ohio State University: Not ‘a failed presidency,’ by itself, but a failing university, Part One,” Busting Myths, Columbus Free Press, Jan. 7, 2023. See also my “The United States’ most disorganized university? Ohio State’s ‘5½ D’s’: Disorganization, dysfunction, disengagement, depression, dishonest, and undisciplined, Part One,” Busting Myths, Columbus Free Press, Aug. 28, 2022; “The United States’ most disorganized university? Ohio State’s ‘5½ D’s’: Disorganization, dysfunction, disengagement, depression, dishonest, and undisciplined, Part Two,” Busting Myths, Columbus Free Press, Aug. 31, 2022: “The OSU Way: Slogans over Truth and Honesty in Graduation Rates and Student Well-Being,” Busting Myths, Columbus Free Press, Oct.