From the Editor - The LocaL

CineForge Co-op: A (bit of) Hollywood Comes Home

Posted on April 6, 2026April 6, 2026 by Editor - the Local

By Andy Carpenter In 2022, just as I was beginning to take screenwriting seriously, I saw my first locally shot feature film: The Greatest Inheritance. I was invited to the premiere by a friend, and at the time, I knew nothing about the film or its cast. After the screening, a heartfelt story of a family learning to accept one another, forgive, love, and embrace their differences following their mother’s death, several actors and the…

‘Chicken & Biscuits’ Serves Up Big Laughs at the Springer Opera House

Posted on April 6, 2026April 6, 2026 by Editor - the Local

A Funeral, A Family, and No Filter By Jhai JamesContributor It can be argued that Southern culture is the cornerstone of civilization, and families are the backbone of its society. Southerners have perfected the art of emotional warfare. (“Bless your heart,” anyone?) Food equals love and fellowship. And church is more than an expression of faith. Combine those traditions with a family that puts the fun in dysfunction, and you’ve got the premise for the…

Mixed Doubles

Posted on March 5, 2026March 5, 2026 by Editor - the Local

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…

Jerry Farber Turns 88 at The Loft

Posted on March 3, 2026March 3, 2026 by Editor - the Local

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…

How Do You Build a Man Like Calvin Smyre?

Posted on February 18, 2026February 18, 2026 by Editor - the Local

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…

We Are the Drum and the Scribe

Posted on February 12, 2026February 12, 2026 by Editor - the Local

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…

Stirrup Trouble

Posted on February 6, 2026February 6, 2026 by Editor - the Local

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…

From a Mustard Seed

Posted on February 3, 2026February 3, 2026 by Editor - the Local

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…

Westville, Still Here

Posted on January 13, 2026January 13, 2026 by Editor - the Local

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…

Raise a Glass to 2026

Posted on December 16, 2025December 17, 2025 by Editor - the Local

The 18th Amendment’s Bootlegger’s Ball Is the Place to Be This NYE By Monica Jones There’s something about The 18th Amendment that separates it from every other bar in Columbus—and it’s not just the dim lighting or the polished wood or the fact that it’s a speakeasy hiding in plain sight. It’s the way the place feels when you step inside, like you’ve slipped past the noise of the world and into a pocket of…

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