A Portrait of Connection at The Do Good Fund By Monica Jones There’s something powerful about walking into a gallery and realizing you might be part of what hangs on the walls. So this March, The Do Good Fund isn’t just presenting an exhibition — it’s inviting Columbus to step into it. From March 3–11, The Do Good Fund Gallery will transform into a portrait studio for Mixed Doubles, an ongoing photographic series by New…
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Still Boxing By Monica Jones Some people slow down at 88. Jerry Farber books another show. “I’m still in the ring,” he said. “It’s late rounds, but I’m still boxing.” He was in Atlanta for a run of shows when we spoke — quick, warm, already moving — still stacking gigs like it’s a competitive sport. That’s Jerry. When I asked him how he’s still doing it, he didn’t go for the easy line. No…
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When what is on screen ain’t what the real story is about By Andy Carpenter On a chilly winter morning, a group of filmmakers stood around a kitchen while cold rain pinged on the tin roof. Everyone tucked into their coffees, contemplating the day ahead. A mother of one of the actors preparing for his scene suddenly asked, “What is the story about?” It was a reasonable question; as the writer and director of the…
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By Monica Jones I caught him in the car. Between stops. Between obligations. Between fifty years of service and a television crew waiting downstairs. And somehow, in that in-between space, Calvin Smyre was calm. Grateful. Reflective. The Columbus Museum is currently presenting The Puzzle of Politics: Calvin Smyre in Service, 1975–2025, honoring fifty years of public service. Forty of those years were spent in the Georgia Legislature. He later served at the United Nations General…
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By Monica Jones You don’t have to know much about art to recognize when something is worth your time. You feel it when a room slows you down. When the work asks you to stand still. When beauty, history, and craft meet you without explanation and quietly say, stay with this. That’s what happens inside We Are the Drum and the Scribe, now on view at the Bo Bartlett Center. Drawn from the Black Art…
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Baddie, Spelled with a V By Monica Jones Some people leave Columbus and never look back. Most of us are not those people. Most of us are boomerangs – we go, we grow, we test ourselves somewhere bigger, louder, faster. Then, one day, we circle back to the place that built us. Not because we failed, but because we finally know what we’re building, and we want to build it here. That’s the energy behind…
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A Night Out with Riverdance By Monica Jones There are moments when we don’t need another obligation, another errand, or another item on the calendar. What we need instead is to step outside of our routine and into something that reminds us why we love being here at all. On February 10, Riverdance will arrive at RiverCenter with exactly that kind of invitation. For some, the name Riverdance brings up a set of familiar images:…
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How Sydney Helms Built a Growing, Glowing Local Empire Rooted in Community By Monica Jones There’s a verse in the Bible about a mustard seed. Tiny. Unassuming. Easy to overlook – and yet, when planted with care, it grows into something far larger than anyone expects. For Sydney Helms, the mustard seed wasn’t just a name for her shop. It was a philosophy. Long before she owned multiple businesses, before her spaces became known for…
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Why an Old Place Is Quietly Opening Its Doors Again By Monica Jones For a while, it felt like Westville existed mostly in memory. People spoke about it in the past tense. School trips. Blacksmith forges. Quilts, looms, and the smell of iron and wood smoke clinging to a warm afternoon. Then the pandemic came, and like so many cultural spaces built on shared presence, Westville went quiet. Now, quietly and deliberately, Historic Westville Village…
Read MoreThe Astrological Alchemy on 6th Street By Monica Jones The Vibe on 6th is a quantum leap for Columbus culture, forged in the fires of entrepreneurial necessity and guided by the lunar glow of the Full Moon Market. It’s a story the city needs right now—three titans of local hustle, each a veteran in the high-stakes game of keeping things interesting, finally joining forces to create a space so undeniably cool, it’s practically vibrating. Forget…
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