Saturday, July 9, noon
Ohio Statehouse
In the past year, Ohio’s legislature has produced a litany of legislation whose purpose is to inflict pain upon the state’s minority communities. HB 327 focuses on race, stating any discussion of “divisive concepts”- like the role of white supremacy in American history- would lead to the school district having its funding withheld by the Department of Education.HB 616 prioritizes gender identity and sexual orientation, saying no school can “teach, use, or provide any curriculum or instructional materials on sexual orientation or gender identity” for grades kindergarden- 3rd, and if a teacher is discovered doing so in grades 4-12, an individual “may file a complaint against a teacher, school administrator, or school district superintendent”, causing the district to lose funding, and teachers to lose their teaching license.HB 454 would ban gender affirming medical care for trans teens, endangering the very children the law’s sponsors allegedly hope to protect. And HB 151 threatens the trans community once again, banning transgender athletes from women’s sports.

“No War 2022, July 8 – 10,” hosted by World BEYOND War, will consider major and growing threats faced in today’s world. Emphasizing “Resistance and Regeneration,” the conference will feature practitioners of permaculture who work to heal scarred lands as well as abolish all war.

Listening to various friends speak of the environmental impact of war, we recalled testimony from survivors of a Nazi concentration camp on the outskirts of Berlin, Sachsenhausen, where over 200,000 prisoners were interned from 1936 – 1945.

As a result of hunger, disease, forced labor, medical experiments, and systematic extermination operations by the SS, tens of thousands of internees died in Sachsenhausen.

Like its sister holiday 4/20, the origins of the 7/10 holiday are somewhat up for debate. What we do know for sure, though, is that 710 when turned upside down reads OIL, and that’s how it’s suspected that the connection to cannabis oil happened. 

Carmen Szukaitis, a 21-year-old transgender fashion model attending Ohio University, will be profiled in Here-TV’s upcoming docuseries, Road to the Runway, premiering this August 5th.

The series profiles twenty hopefuls competing in this year’s annual Slay Model search. Slay Model Management is the premier management company representing transgender fashion talent.

Cameras followed the twenty women to their hometowns, including Athens, Ohio, to uncover their roots: the environments they were reared in and the circumstances that helped shape them into the beautiful, statuesque, fashionable young women they are today. 

Rural Ohio and transgender people go together like oil and sweet water. But thankfully this is Athens, an island of open mindedness.

Nonetheless, Szukaitis, who was raised in Wooster, has faced a lifetime of scrutiny and judgement no “cis” could ever imagine. But after all the sour glances and cold shoulders, she suddenly finds herself on the cusp of stardom.

This column is painful to write. I have been putting it off.

Please understand that the minute I complete writing a column, I begin thinking about the next one. I do not immediately face deadline pressure because I only write once or twice a month. Imagine what it is like for a columnist or newsletter writer who files once a day. There is immediate, mind-numbing deadline pressure.

The late Mike Royko, who wrote several columns a week for the Chicago Tribune, was asked late in life by TV interviewer Larry King what his favorite column was. Royko replied, “The last one.”

I always have my next column in the back of my mind and have the luxury of having two or three weeks of contemplation time. Sometimes the idea for my next column will come to me while mowing the lawn, while falling asleep, while driving, or while having a conversation. I often scribble the idea on a piece of paper and put it where I keep my stack of clippings and printouts that become content for my next column.

Today’s column idea came to me at one of the most peaceful places on earth: Lake Tahoe.