Saraga International Grocery is an expanding local trove of the exotic foods of other global cultures. As an American, even one who has served overseas for three years, I admit how ignorantly sheltered I’ve been from many palatal possibilities and abundant produce varieties in the standard flavors and diverse nutritional food profiles around the planet (in spite of unprecedented marketplace access available today). For those who do not concern themselves with organic certifications, the pricing here makes many of our more familiar fresh produce items affordably accessible.

Last month, on September nineteenth, in Orlando, Florida, a six-year old girl was arrested, put in handcuffs and in the back of a police car with the intent of arresting her and charging her with “battery.” It appears that another child, eight-years old, was also arrested on the same day at the same charter school, by the same School Resource Officer (SRO). 

 The school resource officer just so happens to be a retired Orlando police officer who spent 23 years on the force before retiring in June of 2018. It’s reported that in 2016 this officer received a written reprimand for excessive force after he tasered a man five times, twice when the man was already down and no longer resisting arrest. His reward for retiring – being assigned to the Reserve Officer Program with other “retired” officers.  His new job? Arresting your children in school. 

The first bullet entered under her left arm. The second bullet entered her left breast – inches from her heart – after grazing her hand which required microsurgery, collapsed her lung, and chipped her rib.

Diona Clark suffered this gruesome attack from her ex-boyfriend September 2005. Miraculously, she survived and is organizing the Fourth Annual Speak Up Speak Out: Domestic Violence Survivors Conference October 26 from 10am-1pm at the Columbus Health Department at 240 Parsons Road in Columbus.

Her ex, Larry Belcher, was sentenced to three years in prison this May, for nearly killing her 14 years ago. Clark told the court, “I don’t think he is remorseful for what he has done to me.” The judge rejected Belcher’s assertion that he may have been the victim, since Belcher had brought his gun to her house upset because she broke up with him.

Clark said Belcher showed her the gun. He said he would kill himself. Clark tried to persuade him not to kill himself, and then to let her go. He shot her as she tried to leave, and then shot himself as she ran calling for help.

Giacomo Puccini’s 1896 La Bohème is the beloved archetypal opera about Parisian artistes and their lovers set in mid-19th century France. Based on Henri Murger’s semi-autobiographical 1851 book, with a libretto by Giuseppe Giacosa and Luigi Illica, this musical masterpiece opens in the attic of an apartment house in Paris that serves as the studio and living space of four young struggling starving artistes.

Rodolfo (Albanian tenor Saimur Pirgu) is a wannabe poet. Marcello (South Korean baritone Kihun Yoon) is a striving painter, although in this production helmed by Australian Barrie Kosky the dauber also dabbles in daguerreotypes, the then-emerging new photographic medium. Philosopher Colline (Alabama bass-baritone Nicholas Brownlee) and musician Schaunard (New York baritone Michael J. Hawk) complete the foursome. The relationship of these artsy friends living an unconventional bohemian lifestyle is characterized by great bonhomie, camaraderie and good humor. Indeed, this inseparable

garret quartet could be called “Les Bro-hèmes.”

October 2, 2019, 7:00 – 8:30 PM.  Prospects for peace in Israel/Palestine: Deal of the Century or End of the Road? - A talk by Khaled Elgindy. Khaled Elgindy is the author of Blind Spot, America and the Palestinians, from Balfour to Trump. He is a nonresident fellow in the Foreign Policy program at the Brookings Institution, where he was a resident fellow from 1020 to 2018. Prior to that, he served an am adviser to the Palestinian leadership in Ramallah on permanent status negotiations from 2004 to 2009 and was a key participant in the Annapolis negotiations held throughout 2008. Books will be available for sale at this event. Visitor parking available in the South Ohio Union Parking garage, 1759 N. High St. and West Lane Ave. garage, 328 W. Lane Ave.  JVP Central Ohio will reimburse parking for anyone requesting it.  Sponsored by Students for Justice in Palestine OSU, Jewish Voice for Peace Central Ohio, and Central Ohioans for Peace.  Location:  Houston House Building 1102, 97 W.