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Feminism has a crucial role to play in modern life, but I sometimes wish it would leave our fairy tales alone. The results of its revisionist meddling are too often unconvincing and unsatisfying.
Remember last year’s Maleficent? It turned an age-old story on its head by revealing that the fairy (Angelina Jolie) who turned a princess into a “Sleeping Beauty” was not evil at all. No, she was merely wronged and misunderstood. Worst of all, we learned that the somnambulant princess could not be awakened by a kiss from the handsome prince, but only by a motherly peck from that same fairy.
How heartwarming. And how utterly unromantic.
Thank goodness Disney’s new live-action version of Cinderella doesn’t wear its feminism on its sleeve. It has nods to modern sensibilities, to be sure, but they’re handled with a lighter touch.
Vada Azeem is from Columbus, Ohio. I don’t where Vada went. Vada rapped under the name Le For The Uncool then the Columbus rapper changed names into Vada. Vada still rapped.
I liked Le For The Uncool’s The Measure in 2010.I liked the Anti-Parachute Theory and The Monster on Maple Street. I liked Vada. Vada rapped with a nasal voice with an Islamic perspective in the hype beast era.
In an instance all the Sole Classic rappers disappeared except Rashad, and Jay Swifa. Franz relocated to Baltimore and won Grammys with Turnstile.
It’s kinda like Donald Trump decided he was wanted become president and a bunch of smart and cool people were deported to LA, and Maryland.
In 2026, I was streaming my program and eating a meal. I found Vada Azeem’s new ep The Difficulty Crossing A Field streaming from my Apple Music.
Vada reappeared earlier this year rapping with J-Swifa for a song called Funeral. Vada’s Funeral verse threatened Mike Dewine with repercussions.
It was standing room only Monday, March 23 as over a hundred motivated voters gathered to learn how to pass a needed ballot issue. Was this just an angry and disorganized mob of disgruntled voters?
After the last city charter review, your city rulers responded to criticism by finally moving to a district system. But those in control left themselves a “backdoor” to gerrymander every election. All the votes are counted at-large. The whole city gets to vote on each district.
We are the only major city in the country that has this voting system.
Read that last sentence again.
Nobody else uses this system since it promotes city leaders to ignore the needs of the citizens. In other words, it works exactly as designed.
Another problem is that as an at-large election the effort needed to run for office comes down to big money and “who you know” within the Franklin County Democratic Party.
Wednesday, March 25, 2026
6:00 PM 8:00 PM
The Olde Oak, 62 Parsons Avenue, Columbus, OH, 43215 United States (map)
Join Green Columbus and Keep Columbus Beautiful at The Olde Oak for a fun night of Trash Trivia! Test your knowledge, learn about local waste reduction and litter clean-up efforts, and discover how you can get involved!
Keep Columbus Beautiful is the City’s community improvement program and a national affiliate of Keep America Beautiful, focused on litter prevention, recycling, and beautification.
Bring a friend and come ready to talk trash (for a good cause!)
As we approach our Statewide Day of Action on March 28, we believe this perspective on Ohio's own Ulysses S. Grant and the "Right to a Remedy" is vital for your readers in Columbus and beyond.
From 1871 to 2026:
Ending the Era of Immunity and Unconstitutional War
To the Editor and the People of Columbus,
Michelle Alexander once famously wrote that we have not ended racial caste in America; we have merely redesigned it. Today, we are facing the "redesigned" face of systemic discrimination. We may have defeated the original Jim Crow, but we are now wrestling with his son: James Crow Jr., Esquire.
At the federal level, Politico reported on the growing support of a data center moratorium in Congress following Senator Bernie Sanders’ announcement that he will be introducing legislation to put a moratorium on data centers. While this legislation has not yet been filed, we are keeping an eye out for it. In addition, legislation was introduced by Representative Bonnie Wattson Coleman that would study the environmental, economic, and public health impacts of data centers.
Read the Columbus Dispatch story here or here (behind paywall).
The Columbus Dispatch exposed the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office’s booking policy and how jail officials work with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Despite the City of Columbus declaring itself welcoming to immigrants, the County Sheriff is going above and beyond what is required in federal law, and feeding people to ICE who may be U.S. citizens or otherwise not deportable.
Leslie Wexner made his fortune selling underwear. Something most of Central Ohio weirdly took pride in, but now it is unraveling, and it was the Free Press’s Bob Fitrakis who was first to question how an underwear salesman could become one of the world’s richest men.
Wexner and Epstein’s connection to “Spook Air” – a CIA-linked airline that had run cocaine from South America – may have played a pivotal role helping this dangerous duo acquire their billions. Put mildly, it may not have been just underwear this airline was flying in and out of Columbus.
What Fitrakis uncovered years ago was how Wexner, with Epstein playing a pivotal role, convinced a questionable airline – Southern Air Transport – to relocate from Miami to Columbus in 1995. Specifically, to Rickenbacker International Airport, south of town. The airport has become one of the planet’s largest trade hubs and was once home to a squadron of the Tuskegee Airmen.
On March 18, the House Natural Resources Committee heard testimony on Senate Bill 219, which purports to revise the law on oil and gas wells in Ohio. In reality, it’s 87 pages of favors for the oil and gas industry – starting with fracking of Ohio’s state parks and public lands.
If SB 219 passes, every stage of the process to frack public lands would drastically speed up – putting the Ohio Department of Natural Resources on tight deadlines to act quickly on fracking nominations, bids, leases, and permits.
Following a series of historic actions on March 4th and 5th, a unified coalition from Washington County held a press conference and delivered a letter to Governor DeWine and the Ohio Legislature asking for a three year moratorium on Class I and Class II wastewater injection wells in the county. This movement has gained significant traction as local leaders and residents highlight the staggering volume of waste being pumped into the region and the risks to public health.
This unprecedented joint action represents an alignment of nine local authorities: the City of Marietta, the Village of Beverly, Muskingum and Waterford Townships, and the Warren, Putnam, Little Hocking, Highland Ridge, and Tri-County water boards. Together, these entities represent the water safety and infrastructure of over tens of thousands of residents who rely on local aquifers. They began the two day escalation by hosting a press conference at the Armory in Marietta on March 4th.