Franklin Park - Open Up the Gates!

Iron gate with grass and trees on one side and big building with a lot of windows on the other side

I attended two of the three Pro Musica concerts held in the Franklin Park Conservatory gardens over August 8-11. Both concerts were lovely and distinct. The weather, the moon, stars and the jewel-like lighting in the glass conservatory building behind the stage created a magical, exquisite experience.

I want to thank the Franklin Park Conservatory, Pro Musica leaders, musicians and sponsors who made this event free and open to the public.

You see, the last time I attended this music series, there was no tall, black cast-iron fence surrounding the gardens of the Conservatory.  And if you are like me, the fence/wall came as a fist in the gut.

The first time I saw the fence/wall, I was shocked, angered and saddened at the same time.  It circles the conservatory, encompasses the entire west garden, the silver sails fountain and extends all the way back to the Adventure Center parking lot.  It appeared at the same time POTUS was trumpeting his border wall to lock out “criminals”.

Mini-Farm Stand to Raise Funds for School in

Lots of young Guatemalan girls in colorful dresses

Sundays, August 25, September 15, October 6, 27, 2019, 10:30 AM - 1:30 PM
Buy local to support a good cause: Herbs and vegetables from local urban gardens, Home-made baked goods, Hand-made crafts from Guatemala. 100% of sales goes to support The New Dawn Middle School:  Education for Maya Youth in Guatemala.  More info?  contact Heather at copalaa2003@yahoo.com.  
Location: Oakland Nursery, 1156 Oakland Park Ave, Columbus 43224.

Columbus Vegan Festival

Two young women in the foreground walking through a line of tent booths on a blue-skyed sunny day

Saturday August 24, 2019, 11:00 AM – 6:00 PM
Spend a day with friends, enjoy music, education, dynamic speakers, or just perusing vegan owned businesses and sample local vegan eats! 

THIS IS NOT BERLIN (ESTO NO ES BERLIN) Film Review

What I loved about director/co-writer Hari Sama’s This is Not Berlin is that it immersed me (and I suspect most grinning Gringos and other non-Mexicans) into a world I’d never encountered before. Set in Mexico City in the mid-1980s, Sama depicts the punk rock scene, counterculture and gay “subculture” of the Mexican capital of that era. It reminded me of the ultra-cool Andy Warhol “Factory” world in Manhattan during the 1960s and 1970s, with the kind of wild parties that Rico Salvatore Rizzo, aka Ratso (Dustin Hoffman), walked out of in 1969’s Midnight Cowboy, denouncing the revelers as “wackos, they’re all wackos.”

 

Our Vanishing World: Glaciers

Something is causing the worlds glaciers and mountain ice fields to melt. And, despite your first thought, it is not the ongoing climate catastrophe.

 

It does not matter where on Earth the glaciers and mountain ice fields are located, they are all melting. Moreover, the projected timeframe for some of them to disappear altogether is ‘imminently’; that is, within years. And for the rest: a few decades (although that projection is being routinely revised downwards, depending on the glacier).

 

African American Cultural Festival

Friday, August 23-Saturday, August 24 (Fri 4-9pm) (Sat starts at 11am)
Mayme Moore Park, 867 Mt. Vernon Ave.
The Columbus Recreation and Parks Department, with support from the Department of Neighborhoods, present the third annual African-American Cultural Festival Friday, August 23 and Saturday, August 24, 2019

Hosted in the heart of the Historic Bronzeville District, a variety of live music, spoken word and dance performances highlight the third annual African-American Cultural Festival. Visual artists, a kids’ fun zone and more will help round out the day. Admission is FREE.

This year’s African-American Cultural Festival will feature entertainment and live performances, education, health and wellness, the cultural corner and main stage performances. Our main stage will enjoy great performances by several groups, including the Urban Jazz Coalition, the Paragon Project, Mark Lomax, MojoFlo, ZuZu Acrobats and Rose Royce.

Main Stage Schedule:

Friday, Aug. 23:
4 p.m. Opening Ceremony
4:15 p.m. The ReDO
7:30 p.m. The Urban Jazz Coalition
Tribute to Sly and the Family Stone

Participatory Evolution

The big black pickup truck plunged into the protesters blocking the parking lot and I cringed, viscerally, as though I could feel it myself — this merciless crush of steel against flesh.

Columbus Teach-In: Bans Off My Body

Words Bans Off My Body

Thursday, August 22, 6-8pm
The People's Mansion, 394 E. Town St.
Make no mistake: our right to control our bodies, our ability to access health care, and our basic autonomy are at risk like never before.

Ohio had passed 22 reproductive health bans and restrictions since 2011, including the Near-Total Abortion Ban this past April. This year, we've seen an unprecedented number of attacks on our reproductive rights in Ohio and across the country.

Join us for a teach-in to hear from leaders in Ohio's reproductive rights movement and learn how you can help us fight back.

We'll hear from panelists from:
- Planned Parenthood Advocates of Ohio
- New Voices for Reproductive Justice Cleveland
- NARAL Pro Choice Ohio
- URGE Unite for Reproductive & Gender Equality
- Women Have Options Ohio
- Ohio Women's Alliance
- Equality Ohio

The “Future of Virtual Healthcare”, as Envisioned by the Current Crop of Big Pharma’s Profiteering CEOs

When corporations in capitalism-run-amok societies like the United States are run primarily for financial gain and achieving ever-increasing shareholder value, ethical considerations and the spiritual and environmental costs to society are disregarded. In such societies, it is considered normal for corporations to regard profits, especially short-term profits, as the main criterion for decision-making - and NOT the well-being of the workers or the environment.

 

As long as they can “get away with it”, sociopathic corporations, just like their cunning, human counterparts, can be expected to use lies, cheating and stealing as acceptable business tactics in their day-to-day operations as they seek to fatten the “bottom line” for their shareholders.

 

FRANKENSTEIN Theatre Review

A Noise Within’s Frankenstein is one of the most unique plays I’ve ever seen. Using British playwright Nick Dear’s adaptation, the drama opens with one of the best “jump cuts” I’ve seen since that ape-like being in 2001: A Space Odyssey tossed his bony weapon into the air, which transitions to a spacecraft in the heavens. Dispensing with lots of exposition this stage production cuts right to the chase, presumably because most theatergoers are already familiar with the world famous story, as related in Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s immortal (no pun intended) 1816 Gothic novel, and in countless retellings, most notably in the still unsurpassed 1931 James Whale movie of the same name starring Boris Karloff.

 

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