The first bullet entered under her left arm. The second bullet entered her left breast – inches from her heart – after grazing her hand which required microsurgery, collapsed her lung, and chipped her rib.

Diona Clark suffered this gruesome attack from her ex-boyfriend September 2005. Miraculously, she survived and is organizing the Fourth Annual Speak Up Speak Out: Domestic Violence Survivors Conference October 26 from 10am-1pm at the Columbus Health Department at 240 Parsons Road in Columbus.

Her ex, Larry Belcher, was sentenced to three years in prison this May, for nearly killing her 14 years ago. Clark told the court, “I don’t think he is remorseful for what he has done to me.” The judge rejected Belcher’s assertion that he may have been the victim, since Belcher had brought his gun to her house upset because she broke up with him.

Clark said Belcher showed her the gun. He said he would kill himself. Clark tried to persuade him not to kill himself, and then to let her go. He shot her as she tried to leave, and then shot himself as she ran calling for help.

Giacomo Puccini’s 1896 La Bohème is the beloved archetypal opera about Parisian artistes and their lovers set in mid-19th century France. Based on Henri Murger’s semi-autobiographical 1851 book, with a libretto by Giuseppe Giacosa and Luigi Illica, this musical masterpiece opens in the attic of an apartment house in Paris that serves as the studio and living space of four young struggling starving artistes.

Rodolfo (Albanian tenor Saimur Pirgu) is a wannabe poet. Marcello (South Korean baritone Kihun Yoon) is a striving painter, although in this production helmed by Australian Barrie Kosky the dauber also dabbles in daguerreotypes, the then-emerging new photographic medium. Philosopher Colline (Alabama bass-baritone Nicholas Brownlee) and musician Schaunard (New York baritone Michael J. Hawk) complete the foursome. The relationship of these artsy friends living an unconventional bohemian lifestyle is characterized by great bonhomie, camaraderie and good humor. Indeed, this inseparable

garret quartet could be called “Les Bro-hèmes.”

October 2, 2019, 7:00 – 8:30 PM.  Prospects for peace in Israel/Palestine: Deal of the Century or End of the Road? - A talk by Khaled Elgindy. Khaled Elgindy is the author of Blind Spot, America and the Palestinians, from Balfour to Trump. He is a nonresident fellow in the Foreign Policy program at the Brookings Institution, where he was a resident fellow from 1020 to 2018. Prior to that, he served an am adviser to the Palestinian leadership in Ramallah on permanent status negotiations from 2004 to 2009 and was a key participant in the Annapolis negotiations held throughout 2008. Books will be available for sale at this event. Visitor parking available in the South Ohio Union Parking garage, 1759 N. High St. and West Lane Ave. garage, 328 W. Lane Ave.  JVP Central Ohio will reimburse parking for anyone requesting it.  Sponsored by Students for Justice in Palestine OSU, Jewish Voice for Peace Central Ohio, and Central Ohioans for Peace.  Location:  Houston House Building 1102, 97 W.

Local election season is in full swing and it seems like wherever you go in Central Ohio, alternative political candidates are shaking things up. Here in Columbus, the insurgent progressive group Yes We Can is challenging the unstoppable Franklin County Democratic machine, while down in Athens County, Democratic Socialist candidates are making local power players worried as well. Not to be outdone, a few Libertarian candidates are also running in Franklin County and just like their progressive counterparts, they’re causing quite the ruckus for local political establishments.

For the most part, theFreep supports Sen. Sherrod Brown and his daughter Elizabeth Brown, current Columbus City Council Pro Tem, or temporary council president, but this is no endorsement for re-election.

Mrs. Brown is an advocate for Columbus City Schools and a staunch fighter for women’s rights. She initiated the Columbus Families Together Fund, which provides legal help to keep local immigrant parents together with their children.

But when we reached out to her to see if she is actively pushing for air-conditioning in all city schools, the Freep did not hear back.

It makes us wonder whether her past position as an economic development manager with Columbus city government and her current position as chair of the city’s Economic Development Committee has anything to do with her silence on the sweltering issue.

Could the city have avoided this absolute embarrassment and shame, where our city’s marginalized children, who need the best educational system and setting possible, are instead treated like second-class citizens?