Christmas Lights & Tradition in the Time of COVID (Crane-Spotting Edition) “What if everyday was like Saturday morning?”—Dive-By Truckers** . A TWISTED TALE OF TRADITIONI walked a bitter cold block upriver Tuesday morning for my first-ever glimpse of the gingerbread houses display the RiverCenter always hosts during the holidays. It was weird. And a lil’ bit sad.This is not...
Executive Director, Dragonfly Trails Network Why is bicycle infrastructure—from both a commuting and recreational standpoint—important to economic development?“Take the Riverwalk for example, designed to be a really beautiful service road for our Combined Sewer Overflow [CSO] system. Cities started building trails for recreational purposes and then noticed people were using them to get to work...
Managing Producer, Columbus Ballet’s ‘The Masked Nutcracker”Faculty, CSU Youth Dance Conservatory Why is “The Nutcracker” such an enduring Christmas classic? “It’s such a sweet tradition for so many people. In general, it’s very classic. There are a lot of people out there trying to make “The Nutcracker” into something else. But what I have found is people love the...
Director, StartUp Columbus Why has Columbus struggled in recent decades to foster small businesses and entrepreneurship?“There are a lot of different reasons that people have given for it. I have my speculations, which are that we’ve had a lot of really successful large businesses. For the population, we probably have more Fortune 1,000 companies than any community our size. the size of our city...
Georgia Political Director for Biden/Harris 2020 Campaign Were you surprised that Joe Biden won Georgia? “No. We had a tremendous campaign with volunteers giving up their time and driving all over the state to encourage voter turnout. This was positive and important work for the [Democratic] Party. Plus all the voter registration efforts of Stacey Abrams and the Fair Fight organization...
Plant Manager, Goldens’ Foundry & Machine Co. After Golden’s filed for bankruptcy back in 2009, what changed as far as your business model to foster the type of success the company has today? “Not really anything changed as far as our business model. To go back a little further, in 2001 we made a massive investment in the Columbus plant. We put in a brand-new molding operation...
Songwriter Julianna Money sings of her journey to find home on debut album, In the Valley. True to her troubadour nature, it wasn’t until Julianna Money set off in search of new horizons that she finally appreciated home. She left the nest at age 18, heading to Athens to enroll at the University of Georgia upon graduating from Columbus HIgh School. Having earned a degree in Economics, she...
Director, Illges Gallery, and Professor of Art, Columbus State University Advocate, We Cannot Walk Alone What is We Cannot Walk Alone and what inspired it? “We Cannot Walk Alone Is a group that got together sometime in June in response to the George Floyd incident. It has since grown into a much bigger discussion about social injustice, racism, and all the other issues that history has...
In a sense, Scott Phillips has been prepping for this role his whole life. The esteemed local film critic, recognized to most by his columns (The Local, Columbus & the Valley), WRBL series “The Screen Scene”—in addition to moderating Way Down FIlm Festival panels and serving as the Film Society’s president. Next, he’ll judge entries into the Pop Up Video Film Festival in November. “I...
A Columbus-based Registered Nurse shares their observations from the frontlines in the fight against COVID-19. Due to the sensitive nature of their job—and to speak without the filter of administrators and attorneys—this established local RN was granted anonymity for our interview. What have you personally encountered while working at the hospital during the pandemic?“In my six years as a nurse...