I continue my examination of The Ohio State University. In this essay, I focus on several dimensions of public health. Ohio State has a large medical center and various public health programs. Yet they are not involved with the university’s public health endeavors. See my previous essays: “Colleges can learn from sports figures about mental health,”Inside Higher EducationSept. 13, 2021; “For Ohio State, bigger is not better,” Columbus Free Press, Sept. 16, 2021; “The decline of a once vital neighborhood: Columbus’ University District,” Columbus Free Press, Sept 14, 2021; “Columbus’ University District: Students and the institutions that fail them,” Columbus Free Press,Oct.

Julie Whitney-Scott is the founder/Artistic Director for Mine 4 God Productions (M.4.G.P.) www.mine4godproductions.com and the Columbus Black Theatre Festival that will celebrate its 10th year July 8th – 10th, 2022 at the Columbus Performing Arts Center and July 16th – 17th, 2022 at The Abbey Theater of Dublin

Let’s Talk Theatre: Why did you start the Columbus Black Theatre Festival (CBTF) in Columbus, Ohio?
Julie: I started the CBTF because I wanted to see the stories of Black/Brown people on the stage. As a Black female playwright, myself, I found that there was no place for my work to be produced by the, what seemed to be, traditional theatre companies in Central Ohio. As I began to produce my own plays, I wondered how I could make a difference in my theatre community that would provide a place for other Black/Brown artists work to be seen, heard, and produced so that others could see themselves and the people that they lived with in society on the stage. The goal was to share their stories.

Older adults are experiencing more mental health issues like health-related anxiety and depression amid another wave of the coronavirus pandemic. With getting active being one great way to boost mood, the upcoming winter season can make things much more difficult.

The Biden administration is blocking transfers from the roughly $9.5 billion in Afghanistan Central Bank accounts in the U.S. This is to punish and put pressure on the Taliban. But many independent analysts are doubtful that withholding aid and funds can significantly change the Taliban's calculations. The Taliban is a brutal and oppressive movement but destroying the entire nation's economy is not the best way to address that. Meanwhile, there is growing and vivid evidence of the human pain this policy is causing in the hospitals of Kandahar and around the country. At the very least, the U.S. must follow the recommendations of many aid and human rights groups and disseminate Afghan assets parked in the U.S.

Thursday, December 2, 7-8:30pm, this on-line event requires advance registration

This fall, the Tilted Scales Legal Collective (a group of dedicated anarchist legal support workers who have spent years supporting and fighting for political prisoners, prisoner of war, and politicized prisoners), published Representing Radicals with the goal of demystifying common political defense strategies and equipping criminal defense attorneys with the tools to better understand and support their radical clients’ legal, personal, and political goals.

Join members of the Tilted Scales Legal Collective as they share their work in conversation with two movement defense attorneys: Lauren Regan (founder, executive director, and senior staff attorney at the Civil Liberties Defense Center); and Joshua Raisler Cohn (public defender at the Committee for Public Counsel Services and Mass Defense Co-Chair at National Lawyers Guild Massachusetts).

This event is sponsored by the National Lawyers Guild’s National Office, the National Lawyers Guild Harvard Law School Chapter, and the Institute to End Mass Incarceration.