Bakersfield in The Short North was a pleasant surprise for this Californian vegan on a hot summer’s day with their refreshing ensaladas “June” featuring that spicy, cruciferous, green known as arugula, complimented with juicy oranges, tangy jalapeno, and omega-rich pepitas (aka pumpkin seeds) with a cumin lime dressing (and avocados- my addition). Since they fry the tostada shells in the same oil they cook the once sentient, tortured and unnecessarily killed animal’s carcass in, I opted for the veganized (no queso) rajas and huitlacoche soft tacos. A nice detail about their lemonade: it is freshly-squeezed, as opposed to the nasty, “fountain-drink”, GMO, high-fructose corn syrup, chemical concoction many restaurants still serve.

My initial exposure to Columbus punk band Putrid Cause was a few weeks ago at a weeknight Bourbon Street Show. Putrid Causes’s front man Chuck F*ck took all of his clothes off during the bands blistering set.

The Messr’s had played earlier in the evening and set it off well. Bo Davis of the Messr’s was wearing a Deathly Fighter T-Shirt that had appropriated a 70’s punk Malcolm McLaren/Vivienne Westwood’s design which has has two cowboys exposing their male reproductive organs.

So when Chuck of Putrid Cause decided to be the human embodiment  of that t-shirt; it was somewhat of a powerful moment.

I met up with Chuck and the rest of Putrid Cause at their North Campus punk bunker that is located adjacent to a Halfway House that had police cruisers sitting outside. The point of sitting on their porch was learn about Chuck’s antics, Putrid Cause in general and their upcoming performance at the upcoming Pet Without Parent’s Hardcore/Punk Benefit on September 13th at the Bobo/Summit complex.

Columbus is a very geeky city — so geeky, in fact, that it’s home to not just one long-running annual anime convention, but two! Over the weekend between August 22nd and 24th, the Hyatt Regency Hotel played host to the smaller and younger but no less ambitious of the two, Matsuricon.

The Ohio Roller Girls closed out their regular season with a tough pair of victories over the Steel City (Pittsburgh) Roller Girls on Saturday August 30. This was easily one of the more physical bouts of the season. Both the All-Star charter team and Gang Green landed another point in the win column, with the All Stars advancing with a buy in the first round of the playoffs. The Eastern playoffs are a 16 team double elimination tournament to be held in Evansville, Indiana from September 19 through 21.

OHRG All Stars vs Steel Hurtin'

The charter team matchup between Columbus and Pittsburgh began without a whisper of points for our hometown heroines as Steel Hurtin's defense held the All Stars scoreless for first six jams. Ena Flash, a player not often seen in the jammer position finally got Ohio on the scoreboard for three points in the seventh. Ohio chipped away at Pittsburgh's lead for another two jams and until the Smacktivist took advantage of a power jam to land three grand slams and pull the All Stars ahead 28 to 24 at the end of the tenth.

President Obama has authorized surveillance drones over Syria, and is threatening to begin airstrikes in Syria, along with the ongoing strikes in Iraq. All without Congressional approval. The Syrian government has said that airstrikes in its airspace would constitute an act of aggression. Tell President Obama: Don’t bomb Syria or Iraq!

We’ve seen the pictures and read the news. ISIS is certainly frightening, and we’re deeply concerned about the people of Syria and Iraq. US military intervention in the region has historically been counterproductive. We've seen this from the 2003 US invasion of Iraq. What’s needed is a political and humanitarian solution to the crisis, not more violence.