I am an attorney and guardian ad litem (GAL) in Columbus, Franklin County, Ohio. An important part of my job is protecting the rights of adults and minors who live in Ohio, and in my city.  Every day I strive to advocate for the best interest of children, and protect the Constitutional rights of parents and children in Ohio.  

My work is not easy and it does not pay well. I do not have benefits, and for many years I could not even get health coverage. I am not really complaining; I love my work as well as my freedom and independence. I love representing everyday people from my city. As a GAL and defense attorney I see people on the worst days of their lives and try to give them hope that things are going to get better. They often do. I visit my clients in prison, jail, mental institutions, and in their homes. My clients are babies, school aged kids, teenagers, trafficking victims, parents, adults with misdemeanor and felony cases.

JP Morgan Chase is one of Central Ohio’s largest private employers with over 20,000 workers, and several told the Free Press they’ve been told to expect raises and a one-time cash bonus this year as a result of the tax bill corporate giveaway. Fifth Third Bank and Wells Fargo have also promised to boost salaries and issue bonuses, and even Walmart has said it will increase its starting hourly wage from $9 to $11, which as far as the Free Press is concerned, is still peanuts.

Nevertheless, it’s a start. But other industries have been deafeningly silent about raising pay, such as the fast-food industry. There are nearly four million fast-food workers nationally, and in Columbus they account for about seven percent of the employment or about 80,000 workers, this according to the progressive non-profit Policy Matters Ohio.
 

The recent reshuffling of candidates around the Ohio Republican Party’s statewide slate isn’t just the usual face-saving, self-serving game of political musical chairs that we’ve grown accustomed to from our state’s longtime ruling party. It’s another clear signal from the Buckeye contingent of the GOP that they intend to protect their power at all costs and procure more of what they’ve given us for over twenty years -- the same.

Wednesday, Jan 31, 7-9pm
Summit on 16th United Methodist Church, 82 E 16th Ave.
You don't set 10,000 people free without training a few volunteers. If you're ready to stop ~talking~ about making change and start taking ACTION, this is for you. 

The Ohio Student Association and partners are launching a ballot initiative that would change felony drug possession charges to misdemeanors and make it possible for thousands to apply for release from prison, get their records expunged, and return to their jobs and families. The savings from not locking up people who are addicted to drugs will be invested in drug rehab programs that are actually proven to work. 

We want a criminal justice system that is aligned with our values and ACTUALLY rehabilitates people into society, but we're not going to get that without a fight. 

We need 600,000 signatures across the state to get the Safe and Healthy Communities Initiative on the ballot in November 2018, and we can't do it without you. 

There's a simple fact about geek media that's well-known to every woman, every person of color, every queer person who has ever been a fan, but which seems to completely escape an awful lot of the cishet white men, something which the rest of us have simply lived with all our lives but which some guys just can't handle:

Sometimes things aren't for you.

Sometimes the target audience for something is actually, amazingly enough, not cishet white men. It's rare, but it happens!

That doesn't mean you can't enjoy them. Whole fandoms have been built on adults enjoying cartoons that were created for children. And people of color and women and queer folks have been enjoying movies and comic books and novels about cishet white male heroes all their lives. They kind of have to, since that's the bulk of what's out there. (Thanks, gatekeepers!) They understand that stories about people who don't look like them are still stories about humanity, and that makes them worth experiencing (except when they're just objectively terrible). They know that something doesn't have to be about people who are just like them to be good – though it sure is nice when it is.