Opinion

This article first appeared on Substack

We are opening submissions for gINKgo, the LGBTQIA+ Zine. Sponsored by Westerville Queer Collective.

Our submission window is open until February 14, 2026, which is a long time from now but time does slip away!

Westerville Queer Collective's gINKgo is a community zine that features LGBTQ+ community members and allies, centered around their written and visual creations that uplift and empower the realities of LGBTQ+ people and their stories. Its first publication launched in 2025 with each following volume being released annually each summer. gINKgo's purpose is to empower and lift voices who speak for and about LGBTQ+ people, communities and culture in an intentional way; including all people under the LGBTQ+ umbrella and their supporters. 

We are looking to gather more voices and creations from different community members around central Ohio.

We have an optional theme this time around “Resistance, Resilience, Utopia.”

It has been another exciting week in and around Washington. The murder of Charlie Kirk has produced speculation that has resulted in all the loonies and haters coming out from their various hidey-holes. This has inevitably included the chorus of knuckleheads that makes up the Donald Trump cabinet. Since Kirk’s death, Republican conservatives have called for a crackdown on the left, though it is by no means clear that any identifiable left-of-center group was in any way implicated in the killing.

In several influential European countries, solidarity with Gaza and the Palestinian people is finally translating into action. Though such action may seem belated to the tens of thousands of lives lost in the genocide-stricken Strip, it is, nonetheless, critical for the future of the Palestinian cause. 

 The political shift underway in Europe is a development of strategic importance. This is not because Europe’s voice carries a higher value on the scale of global solidarity, but because of the central role the continent has historically played in the inception of Israel, as well as the sustained political and financial support for its settler-colonial project.

If you care about Central Ohio sustainability or environmental activism, chances are your journey has been touched by Marilyn Welker. As one of Simply Living’s co-founders and a past Executive Director, Marilyn’s gentle wisdom and steadfast commitment to justice helped shape Simply Living’s history and the broader
sustainability movement in our region.

Marilyn traces her values to her parents’ quiet resilience. Before her birth, her mother contracted German measles while pregnant with Marilyn’s older brother, who was born with disabilities and passed away at only 6 years old. Her mother embraced spiritual growth, home gardening, and prioritizing organic foods as acts of love and self-reliance. Her choices were one of Marilyn’s earliest lessons that compassion and resilience are
cultivated through action. Her parents welcomed three more children. Growing up as the youngest of three, she absorbed those lessons deeply.

I had just finished this cartoon and was waiting on one of my proofers to give it the all-clear from typos when the news about Jimmy Kimmel came down.

The fuckers canceled Kimmel. The news is new, and I’m going to draw on this tomorrow, but I’m going to write a little about it now. I’m pissed. Is our democracy over?

Nexstar, one of the biggest owners of local TV stations in the country, including 28 ABC affiliates, said it will pre-empt Jimmy Kimmel Live! for the immediate future because of comments Jimmy Kimmel made during one of his monologues.

Federal Communications Commission chair Brendan Carr threatened to “take action” against ABC affiliates because of the comments. Now, ABC has “suspended” Kimmel’s show indefinitely.

Carr issued a statement to The Hollywood Reporter, saying, “I want to thank Nexstar for doing the right thing. Local broadcasters have an obligation to serve the public interest. While this may be an unprecedented decision, it is important for broadcasters to push back on Disney programming that they determine falls short of community values. I hope that other broadcasters follow Nexstar’s lead.”