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Yesterday afternoon after our customary Wednesday morning conclave of the Panera Posse,  ...one of the Posse members and myself headed across town to the Columbus suburb of Worthington to the office of our district Congressman Pat Tiberi  ...to join in a protest outside Congressman Tiberi's office calling for Congress to pass stricter gun laws. This week the Ohio Coalition Against Gun Violence (OCAGV) has been coordinating events across Ohio as part of anti- gun violence campaign called Ohio Sit-In to #DisarmHate. Yesterday, in tandem with our demonstration in Worthington,  ...people also came together throughout the day to protest gun violence in the cities of Norwalk, Bowling Green and Cincinnati.  The Worthington protest was scheduled to take place between 1:00 to 2:00 pm, though by the time my friend and I arrived at 1:00 several dozen people already lined the sidewalk outside Mr. Tiberi's office at 250 East Wilson Bridge Road waving signs, some provided by the OCAGV,   ...and some home-made.   From time to time we broke into a chant of "Disarm Hate!" or "Ban AR-15's",  ...or "What do we want? Gun control! When do we want it? Now!"  One of every few cars that passed us by honked in support, though one youngster driving a Jimmy John's delivery vehicle slowed down to give us the finger, and another guy shouted as he drove by, "Why don't you get a job?!" Which sent a ripple of laughter thorough the group as most of the demonstrators were obviously retirees.  The local TV station was there and interviewed my Posse pal.  I got into a conversations with several of my fellow protesters, including a lovely lady named Elicia L. Finnell,  ...who founded the Jobs for Columbus Initiative,  ...which is promoting a tax-ballot issue to raise the Columbus tax rates by 1/2% to fund job-training internships "to keep residents from falling off the financial edge while waiting out the economic recession and the return of higher paying jobs into our cities." After we'd been outside for about 50 minutes a representative from the OCAGV led us across the parking lot, 
 ....which we were allowed to enter, and where we staged a sit-in, though Congressman Tiberi was, we were told, out at a scheduled appointment. We sat in for a symbolic 8 minutes since an Ohioan falls victim to gun violence every 8 hours.  Pat Tiberi's office released the following statement in response to the sit-in: “Congressman Tiberi supports the Second Amendment and preserving the constitutional rights of law-abiding Americans. Regarding expanding background checks, Congressman Tiberi believes we need to ensure current laws are properly enforced to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and terrorists, while also ensuring we are protecting the rights of responsible and lawful gun owners.” Which was basically saying nada. But that's okay, it's not over yet. There's going to another Ohio Sit-In to #DisarmHate demonstration tomorrow at Congressman Steve Stivers' office.  The address is 3790 Municipal Way, Hilliard, OH 43026. Anybody else want to join me? http://www.10tv.com/article/dozens-protesters-picket-rep-tiberis-office-hoping-stricter-gun-laws
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Yesterday afternoon I asked one of my piano students if she was excited about starting middle school. She said she was, and was especially looking forward to having a locker even though at her first middle school orientation a few weeks ago she had a really hard time with her locker, couldn't get the lock to cooperate and then she had to yank and pull at the door to get it opened. I chuckled that it sounded like lockers hadn't improved since I was in high school. But then it hit me: is it possible that lockers really hadn't improved since I was in high school? I asked my student what lockers look like nowadays and how you open them. Along with her description she drew me a little illustration of the locker.
Nor does the modus operandi used to open a school locker in 2016 appear to have evolved since my day. According to my student you still have to: 1. Twirl the dial half a dozen times to the right to clear the lock's brain and get it in the mood, then 2. Twist the dial to the right, stop on the first number. 3. Twist the dial to the left past the first number then stop on the second number. 4. Twist the dial to the right and stop on the third number. 5. Yank the handle up and pull open, unless you've been cursed with a moody or recalcitrant locker - as my student was on her maiden locker experience - in which case you must: 6. Yank the handle up and pull again. 7. Repeat numbers 5 and 6 several times, moan, then 8. repeat numbers 1 through 7 until the door finally gives and opens a little,
And so one must ponder that well into the 21st Century, when schools are such avid consumers of cutting-edge technology,
...some ambitious entrepreneur has not come up with a more high-tech - and user-friendly - school locker design, like maybe one that uses a key pad, or a swipe-card, or one that take commands from an ipad, or something.
In fact maybe a bit of old-school experience is a valuable part of the learning process.
"First came the shock. Then fear..."
But those words were in fact the opening line of a New York Times article that also came out on Friday, the day after Britain voted to break with the European Union,  ...which action economists, world leaders, and human beings around the globe fear may have the opposite effect of saving the world, which was in essence the original, though not-yet achieved, purpose of the European Union. So now the spirit of accord, common economic and social good and peaceful co-existence that has ruled Western Europe since World War II,
...has been fractured by the small majority of Britons who voted for Brexit. By Friday evening when I was sitting in a movie theater,
...global stock markets had already taken a similar smashing earlier in the day.
What the long-term effects of Brexit will be for the rest of us on the planet has yet to play out. 
But as I sat in that movie theater caught up in the fantasy of a world where all people could come together to defeat* against all odds and hope an exponentially stronger enemy, where Blacks, Whites, Asians, Americans, Europeans, Africans, Middle-Easterners, young folks, old folks, 
... could all set aside their differences to unite for the survival of our planet, it occurred to me that maybe what our planet really needs
* I don't believe that it's a spoiler to share that the humans defeat the aliens in this movie. After all, does common sense not beg the question that if earth were destroyed in this sequel, how could there then be a 3rd, 4th, and 5th Independence Day sequel?
Reference: http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/merkel-sees-no-need-to-rush-britain-into-quick-eu-divorce/ar-AAhD9TS?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=UP97DHP At long last some backbone! At long last some cojones! Yesterday just before noon a group of Democratic congressmen and women led by Georgia Representative and civil rights leader John Lewis cried "enough already!" and began a 1960's-style sit-in on the floor of the House of Representatives to demand a House vote on banning persons on the "no fly" list from buying guns.  Defying Speaker Paul Ryan, over 170 Democrats from the House and the Senate have since joined the sit-in, and though their protest has brought all legislative business to a halt they've declared that they will not move until a gun-control bill is brought to the floor. 21 hours later as I write this they continue to sit in protest. 
And I'm so excited I'm ready to jump out of my fleece! Because after so many years of believing that the primary concern of every member of Congress was the advancement their own career, I'm suddenly enkindled with a spark of hope that among those we've elected to be our voice there are some who actually care; because those with the power to do something about the lethal epidemic of gun violence raging across our country are - glory hallelujah! - doing something!
From your lips to God's ears, Representative Butterfield; may your act of civil disobedience be just the beginning of a movement that sets this country on fire to stop gun violence.
I'll bring snacks and posters. References:
1. http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/22/politics/john-lewis-sit-in-gun-violence/index.html 2. http://www.11alive.com/news/local/john-lewis-holds-sit-in-on-house-floor/252394135 3. http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/22/politics/john-lewis-sit-in-gun-violence/index.html 4. http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/house-democrats-sit-in-over-gun-legislation-shows-no-signs-of-stopping/ar-AAhtdIZ?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=UP97DHP ...Continued from yesterday: Last February Tom and I spent a few days at the Berlin Resort in Berlin , Ohio,  
 Among the many charms of this family-friendly hotel we discovered an enchanting miniature village on the grounds that made us long to return there with our grand children as we envisioned their delight in this imaginary child-sized town.  And so last week while our daughter and granddaughters were in town we planned a one-night trip to the Berlin Resort. We left on Thursday afternoon for the lovely 2-hour drive from Columbus to Berlin, through small towns and the rolling farmland of Holmes County.      By the time we arrived at the Berlin Resort the clouds were hanging low in the heavens*,  ...and rain was in the forecast, so we quickly checked in,  ...then hurried outside to beat the rain, which, happily, we did. We did a turn around the grounds,    
 ...have a look at the koi pond, 
 ..all of which activities we enjoyed, but which were only a prelude to the main attraction: The Children's Village.  My granddaughters were totally captivated by the miniature make-believe businesses, each of which was a playhouse, including a pet shop with stuffed animals, a dance studio, a school house, a grocery store, a theater that showed real movies, a church, and a beautiful playground.  When dinner time arrived it was no small feat convincing the children that it was time to leave the village.  For dinner we drove into town to The Farmstead, one of the several Amish restaurants in the area.   
 ...though the children were less interested in the food than the scenery outside the restaurant.  After dinner the children wanted to return to the village, but moments after we arrived back at the hotel the heavens, as they'd been promising all afternoon, finally opened with a downpour so we made do with a swim in the pool then an exploratory expedition up and down the halls of the hotel, during the course of which we discovered a door inexplicably decked out in Christmas decorations which enthralled my granddaughter, who kept wanting to go back and look at the Christmas Door.  The rain finally stopped, and from our hotel room we could see the Children's Village lit up for the evening. The children lobbied to go see the little city lights. So we did. And, to our happy surprise, the interior of each building lit up when the door was opened to facilitate night-time playing.  "My dreams have come true!" proclaimed my 5-year-old granddaughter. Mine, too, thought I.   *To all you Edgar Allen Poe aficionados: yes, I did filch that metaphor from the opening line of "The Fall Of The House Of Usher".
I don't believe that all Christians favor discrimination against members of the LGBTQ community. In fact I'm willing to believe that individually, most Christians favor LGBTQ equality under the law, including but not limited to employment rights, the right to same-sex marriage, the right to purchase the services of a baker or photographer, the right to participate in Girl and Boy Scouting, the right to use the public restroom one is comfortable with, the right to be seen in public with one's loved one, and the right to peace and privacy in one's personal life. But those who oppose certain basic human rights for LGBTQ's, those mongers of fear, hatred and bigotry who are blind to the self-evident truth that all persons are created equal, invariably identify as Christian and support their small-minded prejudice with their belief that in their disapproval, harassment and/or persecution of LGBTQ's they are in fact carrying out God's will, and they're likely to back up their self-righteous anti-gay stand with "The Bible says", "The Church says", or "God says". Then last week gay-hate collided with ISIS-flavored mental psychosis and an assault rifle and left one hundred people dead, thousands more grieving, our nation traumatized, and anti-gay rights Christians in a dilemma. The Thoughts And Prayers crowd is having problems verbalizing how exactly they stand in solidarity with the people whom up until this point they've berated and called followers of a morally corrupt lifestyle, people whose very existence they've condemned. These self-proclaimed Christians are now tripping all over their tongues trying to say something compassionate and caring without sounding like blatant hypocrites. Some, like most Catholic Bishops in the U.S., have expressed condolences for the people of Orlando without specifically mentioning the LGBTQ community. The Reverend James Martin, editor of the Catholic magazine America called out the American Bishops for treating LGBTQ's as if they were invisible in this tragedy and called for the Bishops to stand in solidarity with the LGBTQ community at this time. But how can the Catholic Bishops now stand in solidarity with a group that they've always stood against? Uber-Christian homophobe Ted Cruz’s rather clever verbal tactic was to deflect his LGBTQ problem by pointing a finger at the Democrats and challenging them to show their support for gays by cracking down on – what else? – Radical Islam, while Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, who fought tooth and nail against the Federal mandate legalizing same-sex marriage in Florida, stumbled and stuttered her way through an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper, insisting that her now vocal public support of the Orlando LGBTQ community was not rank two-facedness, that in fighting against same-sex marriage she was merely upholding up the state constitution. As opposed, obviously, to the United States Constitution. The lamest effort of all to semantically piece together a right-sounding response to the Orlando murders from an anti-LGBTQ rights Christian came from conservative talk-show host Glen Beck who proclaimed that Jesus loved everyone, that true Christians love everyone, that nowhere does it say in the Bible that people should be rounded up and shot – but then had to admit that well, okay, it does in fact say in the Book of Leviticus that homosexuals shall be stoned…and he never finished that thought, but continued to insist that real Christians, like Jesus, love everybody. And so it appears to be true at this moment. But will that kind of Christian still stand up for the members of the LGBTQ community when they’re not being slaughtered?
References:
1. https://www.facebook.com/FrJamesMartin/videos 2. http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/14/politics/pam-bondi-anderson-cooper-gay-rights-orlando/index.html 3. http://www.businessinsider.com/ted-cruz-statement-orlando-shooting-2016-6 Kalamazoo, Michigan, 2/20/2016, Colorado Springs, Colorado, 11/27/2015, Roseburg, Oregon, 10/01/2015 Charleston, South Carolina, 6/17/2015, Seattle, Washington, 6/07/2014, Isla Vista, California, 5/23/2014, Newtown, Connecticut, 12/14/2012, Oak Creek, Wisconsin, 8/5/2012, Aurora, Colorado, 7/20/2012, Seattle Washington, 5/30/2012, Virginia Tech, 4/16/2007, Columbine, Colorado, 4/20/1999, New York City, the summer of 1976, Northern California in the late 1960's and early 1970's, and The University of Texas at Austin, 8/1/1966, where a devout Catholic Eagle Scout decorated Marine veteran gunned down 46 people, killing 15 and wounding 31. My point is that all of the above mass murders were committed by non-Muslims. Which means that the anti-Muslim bombast of Donald Trump is not only hateful bigotry, it's stupid. If there were not one Muslim in the United States this country would still be the mass-murder capital of the world. Mass shootings: There were 372 mass shootings in the US in 2015, killing 475 people and wounding 1,870, according to the Mass Shooting Tracker, which catalogues such incidents. A mass shooting is defined as a single shooting incident which kills or injures four or more people, including the assailant. Source: The Mass Shooting Tracker. How many of us are sick to death of blood baths followed by knee-jerk moments of silence by hypocritical, jelly-spined members of Congress who bow their heads in pious mock sentiment for the dead then babble on about Radical Islam and every other pretext for the culture of gun violence in this country while they quake in their shoes and bow on bent knee to the gun lobby? When will our law-makers stop the babble, turn all those thoughts and prayers into action on sensible gun control, grow back bones and quit hiding behind the Second Amendment as cover for their fear of the NRA? Except for those who line their pockets by the sale of weapons of mass murder, is there any sane, decent American who really believes that the intent of the Founding Fathers would be defiled by a ban on the sale of assault rifles? And in the end, what does it matter if a mass shooter is a Radical Islamic terrorist, A Radical Islamic homophobic terrorist, a white supremacist terrorist, an anti-abortion terrorist, an anti-establishment terrorist, a Sikh-hating terrorist, a wife-hating terrorist, a mother-hating terrorist, a teen-aged social outcast terrorist, or a free-floating, unassociated terrorist? Because in the end all the meaningless babble and all the moments of silence in the universe won't bring back the dead or take away the grief of the living.  References:
1.https://www.google.com/search?site=webhp&q=how+many+mass+shootings+per+year+in+us&oq=\how+many+mass+per+year+in+the+US&gs_l=serp.1.0.0i22i30.13593.31183.0.33117.33.32.0.0.0.0.209.3774.5j 2. https://www.massshootingtracker.org/data The other day Cindy, one of my Facebook friends, wrote the following comment on my 6/8/2016 post calling out Bernie Sanders for not conceding the Democratic nomination to Hillary after she had clinched the requisite delegates for the nomination: Wow. You know absolutely nothing about this man, or what he stands for or why he is fighting so hard. He is not going to quietly fade away as you might like. In fact, the fight to reclaim our democracy from the plutocrats that stole it from us has only just begun. Please allow me to clarify, Cindy: I did not mean I wanted Bernie to fade away. I just meant he should go away, from the presidential race, that is, as it was the fair thing to do. I mean, fair in the sense that he was running as a Democrat, and in the end another Democrat won the primary. But fade away? Oh, no, I sure don't want Bernie to fade away. Au contraire. Now that he's found his public platform and a sphere of influence I'd be thrilled for him to join forces with Hillary, to bring to the election his vox populi, his ideals, the energy he's generated among the the millions, to be a righteous John The Baptist - forgive me, Bernie, I know you're an Atheist, I meant in the sense of a voice, but no longer crying out in the wilderness, to make straight the paths, to do the right thing. (And my simile stops right there, believe me). Anyway, what I'm saying is that Hillary and Bernie should now work together. And - oh happy day - it looks as if that is what's going to come to pass.
And today the outcome appears auspicious for a Bernie-Hillary alliance a week or so down the road, after the citizens of Washington D.C. have had their opportunity to vote in the primary, fair and square.
But there's hope on the horizon. Hillary and Bernie, your collective strength can accomplish greater things than either of you could have individually.
 References: 1. http://www.newsweek.com/democrats-call-bernie-sanders-drop-out-concede- 468158?utm_medium=email&utm_source=Key-Sanders-Supporters-Say-He-Should-Concede-to-Cl&utm_campaign=newsweek_email_n 2. http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/09/politics/bernie-sanders-washington/index.html 3. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/10/us/politics/obama-hillary-clinton-endorsement.html?_r=0
Last week one of the Panera Posse members was a telling us about a little hidden gem of a Gahanna restaurant she'd discovered at a place called The Golf Depot. None of us had heard of this place but decided that we all wanted to check it out.
...and yesterday met up instead at The Golf Depot,
...are a couple of cute restaurants, Barry's Pub and Barry's Grill. In truth I'm not sure which one we sat down in, the Pub or the Grill, but it was a cute, rustic little room done in a train-station motif, 
...with a lovely outdoor patio,  
The menus are on a pad like a golf score pad. (Or so I assume that's what it is since I've never played golf).
...then fills in their name and their choices with the sharpie provided for that purpose.
...who will soon re-appear at your table to deliver your food. Among us we ordered several dishes to share:
...an order of waffle fries to share - these were the best waffle fries I've ever had. It was not only the flavor but the perfection of the crispness factor that made them so good. 
I had wanted to try the pretzels stix in beer cheese sauce, too, but they were all out. ( I will try again for the pretzels next time).
We all enjoyed the food at Barry's Pub (or Grill). But then maybe everything tastes extra-good when it's seasoned with friendship.   The time has come .
The time is now. Just go, go, go, we don't care how, Bernie, but it would be nice if you went with grace, positivity, and a proffered acknowledgement that the Democratic presidential nomination now belongs to Hillary Clinton. Because in the end Hillary did win the primaries fair and square. She won the popular vote and the delegates awarded based on the votes of the people. Even if there were no super delegates involved - super delegates being those who can vote for whomever they want at the Democratic Convention regardless of how the popular vote went - she'd have won, because if super delegates didn't exist she'd have needed only 2026 pledged delegates to win the nomination (see reference below). By last night she had won 2196 pledged delegates to your 1866. So, you see, Bernie, the super delegate system was not in fact rigged to Hillary. And yet after all your complaining about super delegates overruling the voice of the people, now that you've lost you insist that the election isn't over because, you say, there's still a chance that the super delegates who've pledged to Hillary - and who are not required to (but usually opt to) represent the voice of the people - might change their minds and come over to you and give you enough delegates to win the Democratic nomination. In other words, you seem to have no problem with the super delegate system overruling the popular vote if you could get that system to work for you. In other words, Bernie, you are now the one who's attempting to rig the system in your favor. Not cool, Bern. When Hillary lost to Obama 8 years ago - and in an even much closer race than yours and hers this time around - she graciously conceded and called on her supporters to now give their support to Obama for the good of our country. Your current behavior, Bernie, is more in line with the woman in the Bible story who, if she couldn't have the baby in dispute, preferred to have King Solomon cut the baby in half rather than hand it over to it's rightful mother (1 Kings 3:16-28). So what do you say, Bernie? Would you rather see our country thrown to the dogs than to hand Hillary her rightful victory? Or is there maybe some other dynamic going on with you? Bernie Sanders, years ago you left the noise, conflict, and social turbulence of New York City to settle in peaceful, quiet, white, affluent Burlington Vermont where you were elected mayor. Then you moved on to Congress where you were happy to let your fellow representatives duke it out while you stood stubbornly off by yourself on your principles and accomplished more or less nada. Nobody had heard of you before you came seemingly out of nowhere and jumped into the presidential race. Could it be possible that on some level, conscious or unconscious, your real reason for staying in your lost-cause of a race is because after all your years of anonymity now you can't bring yourself to give up the power, exhilaration, and roar of the adoring crowd? Best to go now, Bernie, before our love curdles. Reference: http://www.cnn.com/videos/tv/2016/06/08/what-the-democratic-race-would-look-like-with-different-superdelegate-rules.cnn/video/playlists/bernie-sanders-2016/ |
"Tropical Depression"
by Patti Liszkay Buy it on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BTPN7NYY 
"Equal And Opposite Reactions"
by Patti Liszkay Buy it on Amazon: http://amzn.to/2xvcgRa or from The Book Loft of German Village, Columbus, Ohio 
Or check it out at the Columbus Metropolitan Library
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