Opinion
If you missed the fun October 10 from 7-8:30pm on Zoom, there is a video you can view of the event.
The Columbus Free Press celebrated our 50th anniversary with a slideshow of images of people and Free Press covers throughout our 50-year history.
The cutting edge nonfiction film Totally Under Control co-directed by Oscar-winner Alex Gibney, Ophelia Harutyunyan and Suzanne Hillinger documents the Trump regime’s tragedy of errors and terrors in its catastrophic reactionary reaction to the coronavirus. Indeed, Control is a veritable cinematic Nuremberg trial convicting Trump and the psychopath’s sycophants of crimes against humanity and mass murder of 215,000-plus Americans by systematically undermining science to enable Covid-19 to wreak havoc across the land they were sworn to protect.
Control takes its ironic title from one of Trump’s invariably wrong plague pronouncements and predictions. Instead of Nostradamus, the buffoon who keeps prognosticating that the virus will just “go away,” when it gets warm (hey’ how’d that work out for you this summer?), etc., and other fantasy flights of fancy should be called “Nostra-Dumb-Ass.” As this doc shows, Trump is to prophecy what Casanova was to monogamy, Pinocchio to honesty and Louis XVI to good governance (and hopefully he’ll meet the same fate).
America is currently experiencing a historic surge of protests igniting a cultural awakening and racial reckoning. As what has been called “Columbus Day” arrives, shorts, documentaries and features by and about the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Islands are being given their day in the sun as part of 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.
After viewing the first US Presidential debate on September 29, one is left with no doubt about the degenerating political discourse among America’s ruling elites.
Following the debate between US President, Donald Trump, and Democratic Presidential nominee, Joe Biden, most analyses focused mainly on the personal insults and name-calling, which, deservedly, earned the event the title ‘worst Presidential debate in recent memory’.
Supporters of both parties, however, rushed to minimize the damage inflicted by the poor performance of their candidate, elevating certain points and conveniently omitting others.
However, some issues were thoroughly discussed, thus allowing us to formulate educated opinions on both candidates’ stances on certain subjects, such as racism and police brutality.
What if we stopped separating the looming national chaos into separate categories —racism, climate change, war, vote suppression, election theft, pandemic, science denial, white supremacy, police brutality, etc. — and tried looking at it all at once?
This may be the legacy of Donald Trump, our first corkscrew-in-chief: He has popped the cork on who we are and reality, so it seems, is gushing uncontrollably like never before. Trump, with his defiance of political correctness and the norms of the status quo, not to mention his desire to be the American Mussolini — unchallenged in his leadership either by election results or medical consensus — has created much of the chaos on his own. But the bulk of the chaos is simply America the Terrible emerging from the shadows: our real history suddenly visible.
When Adrienne Hood joined protests on the downtown streets in the wake of the George Floyd murder, she was there mainly for her son, Henry Green, who was killed by two plainclothes Columbus police officers in 2016 who remain on the force.
“When I go into those spaces, I try to mentally prepare myself in the event I do see them. Because you just never know,” said Adrienne to the Free Press. “I don’t get into things just for the sake of being in something. I am looking to push this needle to where we need to be.”
Adrienne spent several nights and days downtown this summer protesting for her son. She has remained strong and resilient despite the tragedy her family endured four years ago. She has moved from protest to using her power to make positive change. This spring she joined #RepYourBlock and was elected as a Franklin County Central Committee member representing Ward 54.
Columbus City School Families and Teachers Call on Superintendent Dixon to improve communications, collaborate with the teacher’s union and school staff, and deploy a comprehensive survey to student caregivers before finalizing plans.
A large group of concerned parents and caretakers, including Columbus City School teachers and staff, are calling on Superintendent Dixon and the school board to reconsider their current plan for school reopening. Most concerning is the lack of communication that the Columbus City School Board has demonstrated with their recent announcement to return to school on October 19, 2020, earlier than originally announced in July and without approval from the Columbus Education Association, the local teacher’s union. This has not gone unnoticed in the district community, and caregivers and parents of CCS students are actively organizing a petition and social media campaign to amplify individual concerns and demonstrate collective support for teachers and the CEA.
I want to review an amazing little book called WHO MOVED MY CHEESE? By Dr. Spenser Johnson. It’s about change and how to deal with it effectively. The 4 characters are 2 mice, Sniff and Scurry, and 2 Littlepeople called Hem and Haw. They live in a maze and spend their time looking for and eating cheese. The gist is that the cheese supply at Cheese Station C dwindles and dies. The lesson lies in what the 4 do about it. How do they deal with change? (Cheese, is obviously a metaphor for anything. Use your imagination to fill in that blank.) Sniff and Scurry run off into the maze to find new cheese. They eventually do after several days of hunger and uncertainty. Hem isn’t moving anywhere. He’s staying at Cheese Sta. C until more cheese arrives. Haw finally faces his own fears and ventures into the maze in search of cheese. The following are his insights that he writes on the wall along the way.
1 having cheese makes you happy
The documentary, recently acquired by HBO, doesn't premier nationwide until March 2021, but we've been granted early access by the filmmakers.