What does International Holocaust Memorial Day every January mean to you and the congregation here at Temple Israel? “In the spring, within the Jewish world, there is an observance called Yom HaShoah, That is timed to coincide with the uprising at the Warsaw ghetto uprising. That’s mostly observed within the Jewish world, but World Holocaust Memorial Day makes everyone stop and think about their...
“Maybe everyday is Saturday morning.”—Drive-By Truckers** One Christmas when I was in junior high, I asked my cool, young Uncle Garrett to give me N.W.A.’s album Straight Outta Compton, at the time making headlines /infuriating Whitey for its track, ‘Fuck tha Police.’ Uncle G came through. But he wanted to listen to it with me, pointing out its Parental Advisory...
Executive Director, Chattahoochee River Conservancy What is the biggest threat to the health of the Columbus stretch of the Chattahoochee River?“The biggest threat we see on a regular basis is the litter. The amount of litter we pull from our trash traps as well as our watershed clean-ups — it’s just atrocious.Micro-plastics are becoming a problem as well. And smaller plastic pieces—fish, animals...
“Maybe everyday is Saturday morning.”—Drive-By Truckers* BURN, BABY, BURN I’m way too ADD to meditate.I’m well aware of meditation’s many-fold miracles and how it would especially serve to benefit someone as whack as me. Science has shown that this sacred ancient practice increases gray matter in the brain. Specifically, mindful meditation thickens gray matter in the prefrontal...
Chair, Friends of Ma RaineyCommunity Liaison, Muscogee County School District Is the legacy of Ma Rainey adequately preserved and presented here in Columbus, Georgia?“We’re getting there. We’re on a journey but I do think we’re getting there.We have the house here. The movie [Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom released on Netflix in December] helped.Ma Rainey is known probably all over the world better...
“Maybe everyday is Saturday morning.”—Drive-By Truckers* A STAR IS BORN One of my favorite new traditions at my church, First Presbyterian, is the celebration of the Feast of the Epiphany — climax of the Christmas season often brushed aside by Protestants but embraced by Catholics happy to keep their holiday lights bright on winter nights — when the Three Wise Men finally found Jesus...
“Maybe everyday is Saturday morning.”—Drive-By Truckers* A couple of decades before we declared We Do Amazing, good ole Columbus, GA boasted a fairly fitting slogan: ‘What Progress Has Preserved.” While still a solid mantra for our small big city / big small town—with genuine historic Southern charm churning inside an economic engine, with bold, visionary civic leaders as...
Executive Director, Keep Columbus Beautiful Commission Is Columbus, Georgia a beautiful place?“It is a beautiful place. But I think we could do a better job keeping it beautiful and making itmore clean. We have to make sure that we’re pushing things to keep people from littering and keeping our city clean. Because Columbus is a beautiful city.Littering is such a habit for people—to flick...
My Year in Screenshots “What if everyday was like Saturday morning?”—Drive-By Truckers** Looking back at the past year ain’t a pretty picture. While I can’t tell y’all exactly why my 2020 was such an ugly scene—statute of limitations dictates we’ll have to wait about 4 years to spin that year—social-media algorithms reveal a lot about my journey these last 12...
Program Manager, Georgia Center for OpportunityAdmin, Columbus Community Resource Network What exactly is the Georgia Center for Opportunity?“The Georgia Center for Opportunity Is a wonderful organization. I’m so blessed to work there with people who have the heart that they have for others and the purpose that they have to make our communities better. It’s an organization that’s been around in...