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LGBTQ kids need protection from bullies and violence, not adults targeting and bullying them too
This commentary originally appeared in the Ohio Capital Journal. I grew up in a struggling, post-industrial Ohio town in the 1990s where ignorance and intolerance often reigned. I stood up to bullies my whole life, and when put under physical threat, I fought them. No bully can intimidate me, and so even though I was […]
The Ghost of an Idea: A reflection on Charles Dickens and the history and meaning of the season
This commentary originally appeared in the Ohio Capital Journal. Since the stone age, winter festivals have bestowed their warming glow of fire and light and bountiful feast in nearly every culture of human civilization drudging through the cold, dark, biting months surrounding the solstice. Using the stars and sun as a guide for monitoring the […]
J.D. Vance: Ohio’s new servile, self-seeking sycophant of a U.S. Senator
This commentary originally appeared in the Ohio Capital Journal. After two years of relentless lies from Donald Trump about the 2020 Election — lies that precipitated a deadly assault on the U.S. Capitol to try to overturn a free and fair American election — Ohio’s newly elected U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance says it’s not the […]
Studies show gains against childhood hunger were lost after child tax credit ended
This story originally appeared in the Ohio Capital Journal. An article in the Journal of the American Medical Association in October confirmed previous research that food insecurity increased substantially after the expiration of federal monthly advanced child tax credits on Jan. 15, 2022. The study looked at the period between January and July of this […]
A Republic, if we can keep it: Now is not the time for despair, but renewed and relentless action
This commentary originally appeared in Ohio Capital Dispatch. Most of us have heard the tale: As Benjamin Franklin walked out of Independence Hall after the Constitutional Convention in 1787, someone shouted out, “Doctor, what have we got? A republic or a monarchy?” Franklin is said to have responded, “A Republic, if you can keep it.” […]
We have the tools to build an extraordinary civilization. We ought to use them.
This commentary originally appeared in the Ohio Capital Journal. Too often sharing the news feels like being a messenger of madness. Every day, foundational democratic institutions suffer sustained assault while a corrupt, extremist right-wing tyranny over Ohio politics and policy reigns. As important as it is to chronicle the “first draft of history” by finding […]