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Spirited back-to-school giveaway

My church in Columbus, Ohio, Vision of Breath with Life Ministries, hosts an annual back-to-school giveaway in August on the far east side of town, in the Leawood neighborhood. The need for assistance with school supplies, clothing and food in this area is great, as the poverty rate is just over 18%. Parents of school-age children living in this residential section are definitely feeling the economic pinch as school supply prices have risen. Even the basics like pencils, erasers, glue sticks, scissors and notebook paper have gone up. According to the Groundwork Collaborative and The ...

Be sure to do your homework before you cast votes this fall

Earlier this week, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose urged voters to do their homework ahead of the November general election — not regarding a person, but regarding State Issue 3. Full text, official ballot language, certified explanation and arguments for and against have been made available at OhioSoS.gov, for the measure proposing a constitutional amendment to require voters to present photo identification when voting. “Transparency matters, and Ohio voters deserve to have all of the facts before deciding whether a photo ID requirement for voting should be included in the ...

Postpartum depression spirals into sensationalist clickbait

Two stories have dragged the subject of postpartum depression into the center of the national conversation this week. First was the death of actress Hayden Panettiere at the age of 36, not long after speaking openly about her struggle with postpartum depression following the birth of her daughter. Second was the trial of Lindsay Clancy in Massachusetts for the horrific killing of her three young children, with her defense claiming that she had been suffering from severe postpartum psychosis. And inevitably, social media has responded in the way social media always does: Everyone is ...

Prison Fellowship turns gold

Golden anniversaries used to be special celebrations in the days when people got married and stayed married. This year marks the golden anniversary, not of a married couple, but of an organization that invests in the lives of people whom politicians largely ignore. It’s called Prison Fellowship, and it was started by Charles Colson, a top aide to President Richard Nixon. Colson served seven months in federal prison for pleading guilty to obstruction of justice in the Watergate affair in the ‘70s, which led to Nixon’s resignation. When he was released, Colson, who had become ...

Can AOC be taken seriously?

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has begun the process of freezing her eggs for future childbearing. Not only does AOC talk about it, she shares Instagram videos of her getting hormone shots in her belly. AOC is 36, approaching her later baby-making years. Frozen eggs can later be fertilized with sperm in a lab to create an embryo that could be transferred to the uterus, the result being a child. Surely, I’m not alone in feeling squeamish at references to AOC’s reproductive organs. Many women have eggs removed from their ovaries for later use but generally do so in private. ...

Ohio should continue its reading push for children

Education officials in Ohio have done an excellent job focusing on improving literacy for younger students, with the implementation of the third grade reading guarantee and the science of reading. Now a report by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute urges them to keep pushing. Combining intervention and support for younger students with reading deficiencies with the science of reading has produced impressive results. Among the improvements highlighted in the report are elementary schools transitioning to higher quality literacy programs, educators receiving support in implementing the ...