Join us for Columbus’ citywide Kwanzaa celebration. Kwanzaa is a week-long celebration of family, community, and culture. From December 26, 2021, to January 1, 2022, there will be activities and events celebrating the principles of Kwanzaa. Vendors can apply to be a part of the vendor marketplace; you can place an advertisement or acknowledgment in the annual Kwanzaa souvenir book or donate to this year’s celebration honoring 55 years of Kwanzaa. Partnership with Ohio History Connection and Tawi Family Village.

Courage – Year in review – Statute to SoS – MMCP expansion – Give!

Selected bites of fresh cannabis news sliced from the headlines, with a legislative flavor and sweet Ohio twist. Sources are linked.

Courage in Cannabis

Courage in Cannabis, a groundbreaking collection of short stories, has earned the Amazon Rank of #1 New Release, #1 Best Seller in Herbal Remedies and International Bestseller.  The collection features inspiring authors who are doctors, lawyers, activists, caregivers and pioneers in the cannabis industry with unique experiences and perspectives that have led them to the plant. The authors come from across the United States and Canada featuring some of the greatest changemakers in the hemp, CBD, and cannabis industries. I’m proud to be one of them.

On Sunday, Dec. 5, dozens of theater lovers gathered at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium’s Africa Event Center to hear about the strange connection between the 9/11 terrorist attacks, a remote Canadian town and the zoo itself. In a related activity, some of them also gathered outside an animal habitat earlier that afternoon to watch the playful (and often X-rated) antics of the little-known apes known as bonobos.

What brought both humans and apes together was Come From Away, a touring production that will play the Ohio Theatre Feb. 8-13. The Broadway musical tells what happened when the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks halted all air travel and forced 38 planes to make unscheduled landings in Gander, Newfoundland. There, about 7,000 travelers became the guests of the town’s 9,000 residents, who helped to feed and house them until they were allowed to continue on their way several days later. 

“This is about what happens when people take care of other people,” Sue Frost, the show’s producer, told the Dec. 5 crowd. “It is really a tribute to humanity.” 

It is arguably the most significant image from Columbus in the year 2020, and that’s saying a lot. It’s not an actual photo, but a screen shot of a video, one which went viral.

The man throwing up his arms (“Don’t shoot!”) is 31-year-old Randy Kaigler, a State Tested Nurse Aide, a father who loves to play with his kids, do family activities. He actually shouted, “I can’t breathe!”

It was Saturday, May 30, 2020, the same day when City Council President Shannon Hardin and US Rep. Joyce Beatty were sprayed.

“He (the officer) literally looked me in my face, laughed, and sprayed me in my face,” said Kaigler, who says it was his dad who called him that night asking if this was him in the disturbing photo.

Kaigler claims he was not a bad actor that day or other days he was downtown. “I saw a lot of people during the protests do a lot of dumb shit.” Instead, he had pleaded with others to not damage property.

“It’s just the little things for me,” said Kaigler. “I’m a happy person. I try to remain positive and use that not only to help myself but others as well.

What’s your story?

We tell stories, which evolve into myths — and myths are what hold us together. They create the collective entity known as the human race.

And myths evolve.

At least, good God, I hope they do.

We’re stuck, right now, in the myth of collective suicide, more generally known as the myth of the conquest of good over evil. And since history is told by the winners of humanity’s wars, those currently in power are always — always! — the good guys.

David Suzuki puts it this way: “As dictators have shown throughout history, collective narratives are often successful when they have a bad guy, someone or something that is ‘other.’”