The state attacks its young people: Why? Of what are the state legislature, the majority on the State Board of Education, the governor, the secretary of state and attorney general afraid? What fears of losing power and control motivate them to institutionalize infantilization and its consequences of infanticide and stunted growth, all threats to the wholeness, wellness, and maturity of our nation? Why do they act unconstitutionally, against recognized modes of child development, with ignorance of the history and books they anti-democratically and inhumanely seek to ban?

This essay builds on my recent writing in Publishers Weekly and elsewhere on book banning as “the new illiteracy” and my testimony in the American Civil Liberties Union case suing a Missouri school district for its unconstitutional removal of books.

Sunday, March 6, 5:30pm
Washington Gladden Social Justice Park, northeast corner of E. Broad St. and Cleveland Ave.

We will be gathering this Sunday [3-6-2022] at 5:30pm at the Washington Gladden Social Justice Park for an interfaith service to pray for peace.

At 6pm, we will move to the steps of the church to set up flags of Ukraine and peace flags with sunflowers.

The second part will be led by interfaith youth.

Please join us as your schedule permits; please pass the message to others as well.

Hosted by Faith in Public Life Ohio.

The title “Shen Yun: China Before Communism” above an image of a sprawling dancer was the first thing seen when picking up the February 13 edition of the Columbus Dispatch. Vague quotes of the “life changing experience,” connecting “heaven and earth,” and “explosive athleticism” littered the double-sided foldout advertisement. Tickets start at $80 for the March 5-6 performances here in Columbus. Noticeably absent from the ad was any mention of the religion behind it, Falun Gong – a racist, homophobic, anti-science, right-wing cult founded in the 1990s.

The Shen Yun Performing Arts organization was established in upstate New York in 2006. The six theater troupes of Shen Yun, including dancers and a full orchestra, train at the tightly restricted 427-acre Dragon Springs compound, headquarters of Falun Gong and their leader, Li Hongzhi. Shen Yun claims that they rebirthed five thousand years of China’s history there in upstate New York, “bringing back the rich and beautiful culture that the communist regime has been eroding.”

Rally outside the Arnold Sports Event 

Saturday, March 5, 12noon [during the Arnold Sports Festival], Greater Columbus Convention Center [near the Arnold Schwarzenegger Statue], 400 N. High St.

Please come out to support Ukraine, protest the war, and protest the violence and Russian aggression.

Let’s not repeat the mistakes of the past. Putin will not stop with Ukraine. He will move further just like Hitler did. Please come out and help. Show that American people are not indifferent to unprovoked aggression, human suffering, and the fight for freedom.

Hosted by Ukrainian Cultural Association of Ohio.

Saturday, March 5, 1pm, intersection of N. High St. and North Broadway