Opinion

Before the fake holiday known as Columbus Day completely disappears for another year, I want to grab hold of it for a moment and look at what it really has to offer us: a dizzying dose of historical realism.

We’re not who we think we are. The social order in which we find ourselves is far more the result of dominance and dehumanization than principled integrity — a reality that demands deep introspection, not celebratory lies and a silent shrug as the worst of who we are continues.

The scariest part about the legacy of Columbus, and Europe’s “Age of Discovery” — ah, the white men break out of their cage and find the rest of the world — is that it’s still alive. And while there’s a growing demand that we should dump Columbus Day as a national holiday and replace it with Indigenous Peoples’ Day, I think something else is necessary as well: We need to look deeply at the legacy of Columbus and begin to own it. No more whitewash!

“Amy Coney Barrett claims to be religious; yet here she is perpetuating money grubbing entities who violate the commandments like “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s farm, thy neighbor’s ox or anything of thy neighbors”. How about thy neighbor’s right to 1 man - 1 vote?”– Anonymous

(28-minute lecture of Barrett from October 13, 2020): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjcXVKg43qY (331,263 views)

(20-minute questioning of Barrett on the next day of the hearings): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5-Snk_thAs (54,318 views)

America is currently experiencing a historic surge of protests igniting a cultural awakening and racial reckoning. Shorts, documentaries, animation and features by and about the Pacific Islands’ indigenous peoples are being highlighted at the 36th annual Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival (https://festival.vcmedia.org/2020/). Since 1983 Visual Communications, a nonprofit organization, has presented LAAPFF, dedicated to its mission “to develop and support the voices of Asian American and Pacific Islander filmmakers and media artists who empower communities and challenge perspectives.” This year due to the pandemic the Festival is online.

‘International law’ remains one of the most discussed terms in the context of the Israeli occupation of Palestine. It is almost always present, whether the discussion pertains to the Israeli wars and siege on Gaza, the expansion of illegal Jewish settlements in the West Bank or the encroaching apartheid throughout Israel and the Occupied Territories. 

“We’re number one!” The United States famously fails to actually lead the world in anything desirable, but it does lead the world in many things, and one of them turns out to be the poisoning of the Pacific and its islands. And by the United States, I mean the United States military.

A new book by Jon Mitchell, called Poisoning the Pacific: The US Military’s Secret Dumping of Plutonium, Chemical Weapons, and Agent Orange, tells this story. Like all such catastrophes, this one escalated dramatically at the time of World War II and has continued ever since.

Mitchell starts with the island of Okunashima where Japan produced chemical weapons during World War II. After the war, the United States and Japan dumped the stuff into the ocean, stuck it in caves and sealed them shut, and buried it in the ground — on this island, near it, and throughout various parts of Japan. Putting something out of sight was apparently going to make it disappear, or at least burden future generations and other species with it — which was apparently just as satisfactory.

How can you prepare for the US Presidential election resulting in a disaster?

Backstage at the Lincoln, the Lincoln Theatre’s local artist showcase series, offers audiences the extraordinary opportunity to be seated on stage for a uniquely intimate performance experience set against the hand-painted grandeur of the Lincoln’s rare, Egyptian Revival-style interior design. Per the Governor’s order, capacities will be limited to 15% of capacity and patrons will be asked to follow safety protocols including socially distanced seating and mandatory face coverings. Patrons can also choose to purchase a virtual ticket which will enable them to watch the performance online.

All performances begin at 7pm at the Lincoln Theatre (769 E. Long St.). The schedule is as follows:

October 22 – KaTanya Ingram

A self-professed street performer, KaTanya Ingram has been serenading the streets of Columbus for more than 11 years. She will share her personal journey through a set of select songs from some of her favorite musical influences including Whitney Houston, Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, Etta James, and more.

November 12 – Sydney McSweeney

National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
U.S Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

These are America’s prestigious medical research center, health protection agency, and the agency that controls and supervises our food safety, medications, and vaccines. They are three agencies within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), whose mission is to “enhance the health and well-being of all Americans by fostering sound, sustained advances in the sciences underlying medicine, public health, and social services.” They are three of the longest standing pillars of scientific strength, providing decades of comfort to Americans as voices of protection, research, and fact.

Fear and divisiveness have impugned these pillars of scientific strength, and have cast doubt upon their work.

Joe Motil's public testimony given at October 12 Columbus City Council meeting regarding the creation of a Northeast Community Reinvestment Area:

The creation of this Community Reinvestment Area (CRA) reeks of the same special treatment and sole purpose of giving a favored developer a tax abatement while trying to disguise it as a tool to encourage development in a risk-free area of Columbus. This CRA is similar to those given to luxury real estate developers Wagenbrenner for creating a CRA at the Quarry and Grandview Crossing and Preferred Living for the Kenny & Henderson CRA. All three are located in risk free development areas and were established for the sole purpose of providing developers an unnecessary 15-year 100% tax abatement for their new housing projects.   

The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved. So sayeth the book of Jeremiah, and this time I might even believe it. The chill has cut away at this most claustrophobic of summers, as an election puts a pit of dread in everyone’s stomach. As Dylan said in Desolation Row, when you asked how I was doing, was that some kind of joke? 

It probably isn’t fair to view music through the prism of the time you first hear it. Or even rational really. Your favorite winter album might have been written by the pool at Caesar’s Palace. But that’s how we hear music, and into this autumn of discontent comes Linden Hollow with their new release “Light the Lanterns.” 

The album is darkly lush, with brooding piano intros building to soaring choruses. Singer-Songwriter’s Rebecca McCusker’s keening lead vocals, often augmented by tight layers of harmony from Paige Vandiver and Emily Ng, run from childish curiosity to outright witchcraft. Ng’s violin adds haunting texture. But don’t write this off as folk music – when Vandiver’s drums kick in Linden is fully capable of rocking out.