By Josh Spring Homelessness and poverty in this city (and country) are major issues of race and racism. In almost every building we go in to work with Residents to organize and fight to save their homes, probably 98% or more of the households in the building are Black. In nearly every case where we have seen buildings emptied and gentrified, nearly all of the Residents are Black and almost all of the people who eventually move into the emptied buildings are white. Seventy percent of people in the shelter system are Black. Certainly the majority of people in the largest, yet uncounted and predominately unassisted, group of people experiencing homelessness; people bouncing from couch to couch to unfamiliar and unsafe couches; are Black. Most people waiting hours in the lobby at the Hamilton County Jobs and Family Services office are Black. The majority of people sitting in Hamilton County eviction court are Black. The unemployment rate for African Americans in Cincinnati is quadruple that of whites. Seventy-six percent of households experiencing poverty in Cincinnati are Black. In Cincinnati Black people have a significantly shorter expected lifespan than whites. This list could keep going with more examples. Despite all sorts of rhetoric over the years meant to convince us that we have improved so much or that the local government or local companies or local civic groups care about equal opportunity and justice, Black people in Cincinnati bear the weight of generations of a racist city. As soon as some white people read a sentence like that, they get angry and talk about their supposed personal beliefs and stances, etc. But, while we can deny the truth and choose to look at our city through lying lenses, we are still wrong. In my experience it is much harder for people who have more access to opportunity and means to see the big, systematic picture, because they have rarely or never needed to band together or struggle to change an oppressive situation or policy. Let’s be honest; a city in which Black people are evicted, displaced, live in unhealthy conditions, experience homelessness, are unemployed, are experiencing poverty and will die sooner than white people is a racist city. There can be no logical debate on this matter. What would it take to fix this problem? Often when this question is asked politicians and businesses like to “answer” it by gathering financially-well-to-do people together to “figure out” the causes and create flashy, fluffy “solutions”. They do this to distract from what the problems and solutions really are. They do this - to in a masked fashion - blame Black people. They do this because the real solutions require massive change that would significantly decrease their power, influence, finances and comfort. The solution includes an end to gentrification and displacement, living wage jobs, a focus on employee wages and citizen affordability over profit, the construction of affordable housing, access to healthcare, taxing of stock options, neighborhood-serving and run businesses over luxury bars and eclectic furniture stores, major “criminal justice” reforms, campaign finance reform, just cause eviction law, local hire requirements, etc. We don’t need more flashy, puffy, fake ideas. We don’t need more super wealthy white people putting together another “plan” instead of repenting and turning from their oppressive, systematically racist ways. Here is the thing, the super wealthy white people are not going to turn from their oppressive systematically racist ways on their own or by choice. This has to be forced by an overwhelming push of the People. And by the way, the often-heard statement that goes something like this when weakly referring to corporate CEO’s who receive tens of millions in salaries each year and how they should change: “Well there is nothing wrong with making a lot of money, I am happy for them, but they should…” is total BS. A person receiving millions in salaries each year is wrong and is oppressive to so many other people. Any effort to combat homelessness and poverty in Cincinnati that does not work to topple the racist structures in this city, will not ever work.

By Bill Woods Hillary and Bill We're forced to chill The work of their foundation. No more foreign donations, Or close government relations, If Hillary wins the election.

By Michael Earl Patton Indians built one of the largest mounds in the shape of an animal in the world, inside an ancient large meteor crater about an hour east of I-275. Many people have heard of Serpent Mound, the mysterious earthen mound built centuries ago. Far fewer have heard that it is inside a crater that was formed by a meteor that struck about 300 million years ago. The crater itself is hard to see partly because it is so big – about 5 miles across. It is also badly eroded and woods often prevent one from seeing landscape that far away. I was at Serpent Mound this past August 20 during its annual “Archaeology Fair” where I got a chance to see the Mound and the small museum at the site, talk to some very knowledgeable collectors of Indian artifacts that can be found in this area, and listen to a couple wonderful talks by experts. One of the experts was Keith A. Milan of Ohio University, who has studied the meteor crater for years. But first, a little bit about the Serpent Mound itself. Although Serpent Mound may have been an important site during Indian times, today it is fairly remote from major roads and cities. I think the easiest way to get there is to take Ohio 32 east to Ohio 41, which goes to Peebles, Ohio. There is a sign on Ohio 32 alerting visitors that this is the way to Serpent Mound. Drive through Peebles and turn left onto Ohio 73 at the next town, Locust Grove. The entrance to the historical site is a few miles on the north (right) side of the road. When Serpent Mound was built and what Indians built it is debated back and forth, with proposed construction dates ranging from about 300 B.C. to 1070 A.D. Likewise we do not know why it was built or how it was used. There are no burials in the mound, so possibly it was used for ceremonial purposes. We do not know how it was used because the site was abandoned by the time settlers of European descent arrived in the area. The Indians who were in the area were probably not direct descendants of those who built the mound. And above all, the population of Indians in what became the United States appears to have been decimated due to some great calamity shortly before the arrival of European settlers, probably due to smallpox and other diseases brought by the first explorers. Because of its size and that the ground slopes down by its tail and its head, it is impossible to obtain a photograph of the entire serpent from the ground or even from the observation tower. Visitors are asked not to walk on the mound, but there is path encircling it. There is a small museum at the site which explains a little about the culture and daily life of the Indians who built the mound. The museum itself is little more than a single room, but worthwhile and the attendant is helpful. A painting in the museum shows a reconstruction of an Indian village. Dr. William Kennedy of the Dayton Society of Natural History was another of the interesting speakers at the archaeology fair. He talked about trying to reconstruct how such a village looked when there are virtually no historical records. He especially talked about thatching the roofs, which today is almost a lost art. We know the Indians in this area used thatch, and even the type of grass used, due in part to an accidental survival of a mud wasp nest. The nest was built in the thatch, which later caught fire and baked the nest to a kind of low-grade ceramic. An imprint of the thatching was found on the nest, and from that archaeologists could show that the Indians used a type of prairie grass that was once common in the area. That was the easy part to figure out. How to properly thatch a roof and what it probably looked like was much harder. I have shown the apparent size of the crater as about 5 miles across, which is what most sources use. Dr. Milam explained why he thinks it could possibly be twice as large, based on comparisons of the central peak with the overall crater size on the Moon and other bodies in the Solar System. And there are other geological features that far out which may have been shaped by the meteor impact. Extensive erosion makes the work of deciphering all of this difficult. In fact, some scientists do not even call the remains a crater but an “astrobleme.” This is a rather poetic name which literally means “star wound.” But rather than use a word which almost no one knows what it means, and which one has little chance to use elsewhere, I will continue to call it a crater. At this point we do not know what hit. Dr. Milam, in his Guide to the Serpent Mound Impact Structure, South-Central Ohio, gives a couple possibilities. One is a comet traveling at 31 miles/second, another is an asteroid traveling at 11 miles/second, both about a half-mile in diameter and impacting the Earth at an angle of 45 degrees. The resulting explosion would have been over 2 million times that of the atomic blast at Hiroshima. He cautions that these are only two of the many possibilities. I bought the guide at the museum gift shop. Although it is only 40 pages and cost $20 (Dr. Milam said even at that price he doesn’t get any royalties), for me it was worth it as the guide contains a wealth of technical information, clear photographs, and charts. I thoroughly enjoyed my day at the Serpent Mound Archaeology Fair. The presenters and exhibiters were all very knowledgeable and enthusiastic about their subjects. It was an example of what good science education can be. I will certainly be back for the fair next year if at all possible.

By Steve Sunderland, PhD Dear Friends: As I think about what is important to say to this year's entering class of medical students, I think about what we most need from doctors in our near future: we need allies for patients. By allies I mean people who are ready to open their eyes and hearts to the healthcare calamity facing millions of people in our country and thousands here in Cincinnati. The opening process, enlightment, will require action, a different and exciting evolution of our moral behavior. The medical profession has not been a good friend to the poor, to the black, and to women. Every major review of the health realities facing our neighbors shows astounding disparities in healthcare and shocking outcomes in terms of mortality. This is not new. America's health professions have fought against, in one way or another, compassionate and equal care for those at the bottom of the economic ladder, those who are black, brown, and red, and those who are disabled. One statistic from the most recent Ohio 2016 State Health Assessment: "In 2012-13, African American Ohioan’s had 10,749 years of potential life lost before age 75, far exceeding the number for any other racial or ethnic group." (p. 19) You inherit this legacy of what some people call the shame of healthcare. You are now participants in the presence of this enduring disaster, just as I am. You may feel like an observer or a by-stander at a car crash of cars that you were not driving. And, you may walk away thankful that you weren't in the cars. But now, at this moment, you are in the driver's seat, deciding if you and your efforts will avoid another crash by taking a different path, a direction that you navigate toward greater justice, less injury, and more survival. I want to take just a few minutes to describe a journey you can join me on starting right now. It will be an exciting one, and sometimes a thankless one, but most times, an inspiring one. If, at the end of my tale, you feel you would like to know more, or, better, you would like to join me, then please email me at steve.c.sunderland@icloud.com I retired two years ago from the University of Cincinnati after 35 years as a professor of peace and I fully expected to continue my work for peace within educational settings, maybe even creating a new form of professional education. Cancer rose up and changed my course direction. Two members of my family, my wife and older brother, both were told that they had cancer. One was in its earliest stage, the other in stage four colon cancer. I live in Cincinnati and my brother lives in a suburb of New York City. Our families' trip through the cancer world involved shifting doctors, confusing half-steps in terms of understanding treatments, choice-less choices of unpredictable treatment options, and, all of our steps were marked by isolation from both knowledgeable physicians and from understanding the texture of what cancer does to a life. We, like many cancer victims, were alone in our ignorance. We missed people, professional and lay, that understood the experience of having cancer and fighting the uncertainties. Our network of support had conflicting advice, although offered in a kind way. Our conversations with physicians were rarely what we would call compassionate, although one surgeon, the one my wife chose, did carefully review the MRI record with us. My wife's operation was a "success" according to the surgeon. Checking back to see her condition, her surgeon refused to answer questions about why he chose the method used. My brother had a similar experience with discussions at some of the leading cancer hospitals in New York City. As we were going through this critical stage, I asked myself the question: "If I am having these problems with doctor-patient communication, and difficulties with understanding the choices facing us, what must people new to healthcare, new to insurance, and new to cancer be experiencing. I went to find out. I visited every cancer hospital in Cincinnati and asked whether there were cancer education programs or processes for low income, newly insured, and minorities to learn the realities of cancer care. Every hospital said, in one way or another, "It's not our job." I persisted in asking just how people could use their new health insurance if they were afraid of how to use it, especially people in areas where their life expectancy was low. I knew that certain neighborhoods had a 20 year less life expectancy than other neighborhoods. Often, the neighborhoods with the lowest survival rates were next to a hospital. It didn't matter to the hospital. This was unacceptable to me: no one should be denied education about cancer because of the refusal of hospitals. I began to research just where and how cancer mortality could be reduced and I came across the work of Harold Freeman, MD. Freeman, a surgeon, trained at Howard, and arriving at Harlem Hospital in New York City, found that his surgeon's skills were largely useless since most people came to see him when the cancer had so advanced as to be inoperable. Freeman decided to try and change the time when people came to see him; he invented a new position, a patient navigator. The patient navigator was a trained community person who would go into communities and educate people about cancer and, equally important, agree to accompany people to their screenings and, if necessary, to treatment. In five years Dr. Freeman totally reversed the numbers of people coming for screening and treatment and, therefore, their survival rates. Freeman's ideas spread around the country, became the basis of legislation for research, and, finally, became one of the requirements for accrediting cancer hospitals. No cancer hospital in Cincinnati had a patient navigator program. And, cancer mortality amongst low income and minorities from cancer was the greatest in Cincinnati. Working with the United Way, the American Cancer Society, Tri-Health, and the Peace Village, I called a meeting of all the hospitals and invited Dr. Freeman to share his research and his ideas about how Cincinnati might implement his ideas. Following the conference, no hospital agreed to start a navigation program. I went to the churches and other agencies that were in our low income and minority community, many of them were attendees at the conference. I asked them to join an association, a Cancer Justice Network, that would work to share information about cancer with low income people and, following Dr. Freeman's model, provide navigators to accompany people to screening and treatment. Many agreed. Several physicians agreed to join us and provide education about cancer in general and the fundamentals of screening and treatment in specific. The Cincinnati Health Department agreed to be sites for screening as did Cris Collingsworth Proscan and the Women's Center at Jewish Hospital. Xavier University's school of nursing decided that many nursing students might make great navigators. The University of Cincinnati's school of social work also felt that students in their program might be interested in being navigators. We also found a small number of community organizers who agreed to join us as navigators, some of them cancer survivors. We had almost all the key elements. Now, we are on the edge of beginning our program. We are selecting people for navigation training. We have identified churches and other social agencies interested in being the first sites for cancer education. We have built relationships with Medicaid insurance companies to assist people in getting insurance. We are working with Crossroad Health Center to accept people without insurance for screening and referral for treatment. We have financial support from Christ Church Cathedral, Molina Insurance, the Cincinnati Academy of Medicine, and the Order of St. Joseph, enough to offer stipends to some of our navigators. We are at the crossing place, the spot where ideas get transformed into action and a new effort of compassion is created, shaped, defined, and sustained. The navigator role is new to cancer care and has deep roots in healthcare, social work, the ministry, and social action. Being a new role means we need time to make sure that we care for its first growths. So many of us will be walking into the light of helping, leaving the shadows where cancer patients face their future alone and frightened. Our agencies, also new to cancer help, will be adding their special ingredients to the mix of compassion as we, together, support more and more people on this shaky journey. This is where you come into this story. Learning how to be and become doctors has little to do with staying with the patients as they go through each obstacle. There are time pressures, loan pressures, memorization pressures, and many personal pressures on each of you. The culture of medical school is designed to increase the intensity of time spent in learning. More stress is seen as "good" stress. We are offering you a chance to take a different educational and life journey. This is really a chance to practice medicine as an art of caring, a chance to touch your own hearts and the hearts of strangers with the special talent you bring. You can break out of the shell created for you in medical school, whether by your faculty, your peers, your parents or by some picture of a heroic doctor. Leaving the security of the phantasy doctor and entering into the unknown edges of your profession requires a commitment to the human community first, your deepest sense of how medicine is to call on healing powers, and, lastly, to call out your brave and emerging self. It does take courage to take off the white coat and show your hearts to your patients, to your colleagues, and to this community. It does require a new breath of hope to be an ally of the sick, the frightened, and the lonely as they face the cancer scares. Yet, I have faith in you because I have met some of you, been taught by some of you, and have seen you grow into maturity because of your character. So, won't you come and join us in this significant change in direction? And, bring your poetry, your songs, your myths, and your fears. These are the contact points that light up those with cancer. Together we can change ourselves, our neighbors, and cancer.

By Willa Denise Jones Intoxication is being drunk if only for a little while Intoxication can become a bad habit with a crooked smile Being high and drunk all alone really makes no sense Being homeless, a panhandler and a drunk can be a bad defense The fear of not knowing what your next move can possibly be Can be intoxicating without a drink, please believe me The fear of failure constantly day in and day out Can be an eye opener to a drunk to make a change, no doubt Once you realize that there is another way to live everyday To work, maintain your money and eventually find a place to stay Things start to fall in order for you surely but slowly As you start to make a change in your life ever so boldly Intoxicating thoughts will no longer be able to hold you back Understanding that with the help of God you can get your life on track So don’t stay intoxicated by the fears of the world today Go to church, read the bible and get on your knees and pray!

By Willa Denise Jones Believe it when you see someone bundle up sleeping in the street Believe it when you see someone looking in the garbage for food to eat Believe it cause all of these things are real and none are made up Believe that there are many men, women and children who are down on their luck Believe that with the economy all twisted and headed straight to hell Believe that there are many who just give up, commit suicide or take leave for a jail cell Believe that to the homeless, jail with three hot meals, cell buddies for friends and a cot Believe to some may mean nothing but to the homeless means one hell of a lot Believe with faith all things are possible for all including you and me Believe in God, have faith, and pray then change will come all you have to do is believe

By Dr. Mark Mussman In my last article, I used some of Melissa Mosby’s words to describe the situation that she saw while living on the streets. One thing that she describes is a “puffy pink cloud” that people want to live in that allows them to ignore reality. As we get closer to the election, I see more and more people encouraging people on the left to stop protesting and do something for their community. It’s frustrating to me, as someone who has seen the results of protest, that people would attempt to silence anyone – let alone people who are trying to get on even footing. It’s even more frustrating that when people who are speaking the truth are called “protestors” and “activists” when those who funnel money from our public wealth are called industrious or successful businesses. Someone who feels they are above the law and shouldn’t pay taxes, is not only short-sighted, but also ignorant of the benefits and opportunities our society has created for them. Other than the election, other events have sparked this conversation. People accused American football player Colin Kaepernick of being against the military when he didn’t stand up for the national anthem. This act of protest, which is exactly the type of protest that was written about 150 years ago by Henry David Thoreau, encourages people to think critically about what it means to be an American and what it means to live in a “free country.” At the time, Thoreau was upset by the institution of slavery and by the Mexican-American War. Through his writing, Thoreau has inspired countless others to do something – even to just speak their mind – when they witness or encounter injustice. Kaepernick’s act of civil disobedience sparked a wide discussion about what it means to be a patriot – but also what the writer of the anthem – a white person who lawfully owned people – meant when he wrote the anthem. While up to interpretation, there is a piece of the poem that isn’t sang in the anthem that references “slave(s)” and their inability to gain freedom: And where is that band who so vauntingly swore That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion, A home and a country, should leave us no more? Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution. No refuge could save the hireling and slave From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave: And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave, O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave. In 2003, my brother was sent to Iraq in the first wave of Marines who went to secure the oil fields for U.S. production interests. Since we were kids, my brother has been my best friend and someone who I look up to. When he joined the military in 2000, Clinton was president and no one thought we would go to war again for our own interests, so he didn’t think joining the reserves would put him in harm’s way. When he was sent, he fulfilled his duty, helped set up a police academy in Iraq on the border with Syria, during several deployments. When you have a family member in the service, so many things remind you of how much you miss them. For me, when I pulled into a gas station, I would become upset that this is why he was gone, for an unjust war to bring oil home from the Gulf. I couldn’t take it, so I got rid of my car and began to walk, ride my bike, and enjoy life more. It gave me a way to ground myself in my community – I couldn’t just jump in my car and go to another city when things were too much in Cincinnati. I was here, and this community was what I was going to make of it. Also during that time, I sat during every national anthem. Graduations – sat. Sporting events – sat. Political events – sat. It was difficult at first as I was glared at, but every time it got easier, and I was able to create in my head, reasons why it was my right to do this. I had felt my country let me down. And beyond the war, it has continued to let me down. We could be a country of greatness, but we are too concerned with protecting the rich and pathologicising poverty. Pushing people to the margins, and denying rights and services to people who don’t fit a certain mold. What this all boils down to in my mind is the differences in how we understand the word “freedom.” Erich Fromm, who witnessed first-hand the Nazi movement in Germany, notes that there is a difference between “freedom from” and “freedom to” and this difference, in my opinion, offers us an opportunity to critically think about what America represents to us and to the entire world. Do you think the world sees criticism of Kaepernick as more or less American than his protest? Do we provide a community that gives people the freedom to work, live, love in ways that are most beneficial to themselves, or do we only give people freedom from certain forms of overt oppression? We actively oppress people in this country through voter disenfranchisement, marriage laws, the preschool to prison pipeline, etc.; however, ultimately, we can never be truly free of our responsibilities to our families, communities, and our country. So how can we be free to reimagine what freedom looks like when the rules are so rigid? Much of the criticism thrown at Kaepernick has related his skin color, his family dynamic, and his wealth. People have said that he is ungrateful and doesn’t understand what he is doing. Another football player criticized him for not being “black.” This brought up a good point about advocacy, and how it relates to those of us in the Black Lives Matter movement who are white. This reminds me of Anne Braden, who fought hard to desegregate Louisville, who talked about why she got into the movement. It wasn’t because of how the system treated blacks, she said, but how it treated the poor whites. She knew in her heart that if the system treated them this badly, it would be much worse for her black neighbors. She understood advocacy and exercised her freedom to create a better world for her entire community. This came at a great cost to her, after having a cross burned in her front yard and later tried for sedition, she was blacklisted from employment and ostracized from her community. Her freedom “from” was not granted for many decades, and systemically the effect of redlining certainly continues to this day.

By Bill Woods 2016 is a critical year to know your voting rights. The opportunity to get the latest update concerning Hamilton County and Ohio will occur at the Peaslee Neighborhood Center on Tuesday September 20th. A Workshop featuring Camille Wimbish, Administrative Director of the Ohio Voter Rights Coalition, and Catherine Turcer, Consultant to Common Cause/Ohio will address the current laws and potential problems voters could confront this fall. Everything from registration deadlines, voter-ID regulations, early and absentee voting, and possible hitches at the polls on Election Day will be reviewed. The Workshop will also examine efforts to expand and protect voting rights and reforms that need to be promoted after this election cycle. Attendees will learn how they can be involved in the weeks leading up to November 8th. Sponsored by Applied Information Resources, the Cincinnati Interfaith Workers Center, Peaslee Neighborhood Center, the Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition, and the Woman's City Club, the Workshop is part of a project focusing on campaign reform with support from the Murray and Agnes Seasongood Good Government Foundation. The event begins at noon on September 20th and will conclude at 1:30. For further information or to order a box lunch, call 513- 381-4994.

By Key Beck Ella Baker, an African-American civil rights and human rights activist, whose career spanned over five decades was noted as saying, ““Oppressed people, whatever their level of formal education, have the ability to understand and interpret the world around them, to see the world for what it is, and move to transform it.” If we accept this to be true, which most of us social justice advocates do, then why are long-term residents disenfranchised and often not consulted. Why do “preferred developers,” community redevelopment funds, and port authorities have the final say of what happens to the urban landscape? It appears, at least to me, that the power to decide what is best for more than 48% of the city is left to the top ten percent of the population. That means even though little under half the city is living in poverty, public and private development is being managed with the upper half of society in mind. This takes the form of upscale dining, expensive boutiques, private parties on public land, and rising housing prices. Don’t even get me started on the consumption of public space by private organizations (I am looking at you outcroppings and gated off parks). There seems to be an idea that formal education and credentials gives one-person expertise over another. We, as citizens, are lead to believe that my neighbors experience living in Over-the-Rhine for over 30 years during all the changes is not as valuable (maybe economically strategic is a better word), as a developer who saw the potential of our neighborhood during a bar crawl, pedal-wagon, beer tour, etc. From this perspective, we are short-sighted and uneducated about the value of our “home,” so it is only “logical” that we should entrust our best interest to these developers, many of them from out of state or outside the city. This is something that I see in many classrooms, meetings, and speaking engagements. There individuals who fervently study racism, social inequalities and issues of injustice to better understand its impact, and others who live it every day. When they get into discussions about solutions to systems of oppression, the conversation turns into “who knows best” contest. Should we value the individual with the resources to study the problem from the outside, or do we value the emic view, or insider’s perspective, due to their actual lived experiences with the corruptive system? This is a common question for many scholars, academics and social justice leaders. To value someone’s perspective, we must be ready to acknowledge the things we don’t know and can’t understand. There are things you can learn in the books. And, there are things that you learn in the streets. It can also be said that in order to value the knowledge of others, we must be able to imagine walking in their shoes. Many of us call this act empathy. But, what does empathy have to do with rational, systematic thinking. Well, empathy is a tool to open your mind to other perspectives. This does not mean that you have to actually try to think like them, but consider the impact of your actions and words. In action, this looks like door to door marketing about proposed plans and remodels. This means having a safety meeting at a community school so you can engage parents who work multiple jobs. This means taking surveys at all the CRC’s to find out the rate of youth who can swim, then decide accordingly whether spray grounds will actually give kids a needed physical fitness skill. Yes, it means a lot of work. But, when you use empathy correctly, all the work is not on one person. It is shared with the community. That is how you accomplish shared interest and concern. And, I imagine that is what everyone wants out of life. Someone to share their concern and work towards finding solutions to everyday issues.

By Kim Green Looking out the window The rain is falling hard, and fast There are intervals of thunder Slashing ever so often And then it suddenly stops Until the next thunder slash appears It lets you know that God is, near So take heed Listen to his might Because thunder and rain, Will, be coming

By Kim Green No one asked. How are you today? No one asked, Because no one cared Maybe because everyone is too busy Someone went home today Feeling, sad and empty No one asked, No one cared Sometimes no one should have to ask. When was the last time you asked someone could you help them? It’s so sad when no one cares enough to ask!

By Bill Woods The Olympic Games came just in time To give us a break from campaign slime. Now we can focus on a gymnastic session, Instead of wallowing in campaign depression. It doesn't take a great deal of common sense To watch Phelps and Biles instead of Pence, And it's more fun to read about a record dash, Than Fat Cats pouring in more campaign cash. Who wouldn't rather hear our athletes panting, Than The Donald Trump raving and ranting.