It is in the spirit of these Black mothers I say Happy Mother’s Day. Keep fighting the good fight for social justice and change.

Recalling the events of the past year in which the COVID-19 global pandemic almost forced the closure of the nature preserve deeply loved by the community, Executive Director Nick Boutis laid out the picture from a year ago.

Caregiving is an extended lesson in patience that lives well beyond the moment — and in many ways is the ultimate life lesson in companionship combined with perseverance.

On Tuesday, Nov. 2, local voters will decide who will serve as Council members and mayor starting four-year terms on Jan. 1, 2022. Out of the five current Council members, three seats held by Laura Curliss, Kevin Stokes and Council President Brian Housh are in play.

Yellow Springers will soon be asked to support efforts to either build a new school or improve the structures that are already in place through a new school levy. Up until three years ago, a school levy passing in Yellow Springs had been a no-brainer for several generations.

The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated an already catastrophic healthcare crisis in Black communities across the United States. The conversation around vaccinations must extend beyond forced mandates or anti-vaxxer tropes.

At the virtual MLK Day event held on Monday, Jan. 18, via Zoom, Bomani Moyenda, a longtime local activist, was finally given the Peacemaker Award by the Yellow Springs Martin Luther King Day Planning Committee.

There is clear distinction between Gaunt’s humanitarian-based business structure, and the economic system of slavery upon which our mortgage system is based. Bundling enslaved people — captives — into securities had benefits for the slave owner.

And what would Cleola think of this iteration of kindness we are experiencing now? This market driven world of contemporary culture that has attempted to commoditize kindness into a kindness tourist destination trap.

A briar patch is a “thicket formed by any number of unrelated thorny parts.” The briar patch figures prominently in the escape route of “Brer Rabbit,” the trickster figure in African American folktales in the mid-1800s.