Wright State University (WSU) teachers returned Monday morning at 9am to the picket line for the second week one day after Ohio’s State Employment Relations Board (SERB) rejected the university’s claim that the strike is unlawful. In a rare Sunday meeting, SERB found “the strike is authorized.” The next day by 9:30am 75 strikers had already assembled at the university’s main entrance.

The American Association of University Professors-Wright State University (AAUP-WSU) Contract Administration Officer Professor Noeleen McIlvenna, who has acted as the de facto communications director for the strike campaign said last week people “were feeling a little nervous” to be seen supporting the strike. Support grew throughout last week as people saw others were participating. “Once the SERB declared it bogus the last fear is gone. Now it feels like the world is supporting us,” McIlvenna said.

“ALL tailings ‘ponds’ are a problem. If they don't breach and spill massive amounts of toxic sludge into the environment like at Mount Polley, they leach that contamination slowly, poisoning the waters and lands (and aquifers) around them for centuries.” – Quote from: http://canadians.org/blog/update-mount-polley-mine-disaster-imperial-metals-and-government-focus-covering-instead. ______________________________________________________________________________

No, An Inspector Calls does not refer to the three most terrifying words Roger Stone, Donald Trump, his children or other purported co-conspirators could hear, nor is the titular character supposed to be Special Counsel Robert Mueller. Rather, the eponymous inspector is spectrally named “Goole” (Liam Brennan) and the title refers to a British drama originally written in 1945 by J.B. Priestley that has been revived by the National Theatre of Great Britain in an award-winning production directed by the celebrated English helmer of stage and screen, Stephen Daldry.

An Inspector Calls is set in 1910 at Brumley, a fictitious industrial city in Yorkshire, England. Calls is genre defying, sort of as if a Christian medieval morality play meets a whodunit meets proletarian drama meets a far out Outer Limits episode. However, whereas Britain’s postwar cycle of hard-hitting Kitchen Sink plays prominently featured proletarian characters, with the exception of Inspector Goole, Calls’ five other main human characters are all members of Britain’s upper crust.

Despite the fact that Stephen Spiegel portrays a character named Booth, the actor does anything but phone his performance in. Indeed, Spiegel kills as America’s archetypal assassin in An Evening with John Wilkes Booth. Co-written (with Clinton Case) and directed by Lloyd Schwartz, this one-man show explores the co-conspirator who shot Pres. Lincoln as a celebrated actor, ladies man, individual and, oh yeah - as a homicidal maniac and drunken sot.

Upon entering Theatre West, a recording of “Dixie” was played to set the mood - it’s certainly a very catchy tune, especially if you happen to be a neo-nazi. Along with some racial slurs, this - plus the delirium of a megalomaniacal murderer eloquently spewed by Spiegel - are among the challenges 21st century theatergoers must endure to experience this excursion into the mind of the man who murdered Abraham Lincoln, arguably our greatest president.

Stan & Ollie is an entertaining story for all viewers, but it’s a special treat for anyone who’s seen old Laurel and Hardy flicks. Besides being physically transformed to look like these iconic comedians, stars John C. Reilly and Steve Coogan do a great job of incorporating the pair’s mannerism into their portrayals.

Reilly’s Oliver Hardy is especially spot-on, right down to his eye-rolling exasperation at his friend’s antics. Coogan’s Stan Laurel is slightly less recognizable, but that’s partly because he’s revealed to be the duo’s leader, the hard-working guy who creates their routines and arranges their business deals. It seems the real-life Laurel had little in common with the simpleton he played in films and onstage.

Screenwriter Jeff Pope bases the story on an actual tour Laurel and Hardy undertook in the UK in 1953, a few years after their cinematic career had faded to black.