Ovi magazine; Saturday October 28th, 2023

The articles, the opinions, the stories, the poems, the thoughts, the reviews, the photos, the paintings and the cartoons Ovi magazine covers for Saturday October 28th, 2023

---

Asperger’s Syndrome by Abigail George

Elon Musk has admitted to having Asperger’s, a form of Autism Spectrum Disorder. Many people have speculated that he may be on the autism spectrum based on his behavior and communication style.

There are many celebrities who live with Asperger’s syndrome.
There have been geniuses, thought leaders and visionaries who have had Asperger’s Syndrome. Some Aspergers investigators hypothesize that well-known figures, such as Thomas Jefferson, Jeremy Bentham, Albert Einstein, Isaac Newton, Glenn Gould and Ludwig Wittgenstein had Aspergers because they showed some Aspergers-related tendencies or behaviors, such as intense interest in one subject, and/or social problems.

The majority of children and adults with Asperger syndrome live well and are able to enjoy life and do many things that neurotypical people can do. Many people will have some level of difficulty with some daily tasks or interactions.

Continue reading HERE!

---

The moon, the wolf, and the darkness #poem by David Barger

“I had just taken my nightly dose of medication
As I waited for the effects to sit in,
And decided to go outside
Out into the neighboring slumber
To sit while smoke filled my lungs.”

Continue reading HERE!

---

Maples & Oranges #12 #cartoon by Thanos Kalamidas

For more Ovi Cartoons, HERE!

---

Ovi magazine
We cover every issue!

Ovi magazine; Friday October 13th, 2023

The articles, the opinions, the stories, the poems, the thoughts, the reviews, the photos, the paintings and the cartoons Ovi magazine covers for Friday October 13th, 2023

---

Blue Light, Green Blood: Edifice Politics for Israel by Dr. Binoy Kampmark

t has been a few days of slaughter-filled accounts.  Starting on October 7 on the Jewish day of Simchat Torah, the State of Israel has faced assaults from hundreds of Hamas militants.  Directed from southwards in the country, the mayhem has rattled the security and intelligence establishment smugly convinced in their reading of Palestinian motivations and capabilities.But outside the conflict, the commemorations for the dead are to be held according to a specific blueprint.

Across a slew of Western capitals and cities – self-described their presses as The World, blue and white lights have splashed buildings, offering a plaster of virtue over the policies of a state.It would be futile, and tiresome, to document each example of such selective privileging.  But for those countries aligned or sympathetic to Israel, some particularly reluctant to decry policies that have violated, with breezy disdain, the dictates of international law, you will not see buildings illuminated by the flag colours of Palestine.

Continue reading HERE!

---

Unknown Poet from Rue Montpelier #poem by Michael Lee Johnson

“I warned you darts with advice
strong words tripping over emotions
like an imbecile-
so you think you’re Leonard Cohen
loving some naked Nancy in a cluttered
matchbox apartment overlooking
European culture simulated,
above some obscure narrow
Montreal street?”

Continue reading HERE!

---

Maples & Oranges #11 #cartoon by Thanos Kalamidas

For more Ovi Cartoons, HERE!

---

Ovi magazine
We cover every issue!

Ovi magazine; Thursday September 28th, 2023

The articles, the opinions, the stories, the poems, the thoughts, the reviews, the photos, the paintings and the cartoons Ovi magazine covers for Thursday September 28th, 2023

---

And the brontosaur laughed by Theodore K. Nasos

Heavy shudder shook the windows as it rained. Drop after drop fell decimating the sight of the city in the far. A letter that would never reach no one. A ribbon that would never tie. Birthday presents anonymous.

Jerked a cloth from the draw and ran it over the mirror, a reflection of abandonment. The rushing of the rain, the quickening of the clouds. The aging arthritic fingers.

“I had a terrible dream,” he said out loud. “I was standing in the front lines of the never started war, looking at the ruins left behind from apocalyptic bombs. The sky was orange and land black and somebody brightly blazed in azure waters.”

Continue reading HERE!

---

Strictures Of Stability #poem by Jan Sand

“To surmise surprise in exuberance of excellence
Clothed in beauty, horror, joy or simple efficiency
Is to steal relevance from vast fields of continuity,
Make prominence in peak glories of delight
To defeat time’s bland dry desert sterility.”

Continue reading HERE!

---

Maples & Oranges #010 #cartoon by Thanos Kalamidas

For more Ovi Cartoons, HERE!

---

Ovi magazine
We cover every issue!

Ovi magazine; Wednesday September 13th, 2023

The articles, the opinions, the stories, the poems, the thoughts, the reviews, the photos, the paintings and the cartoons Ovi magazine covers for Wednesday September 13th, 2023

---

Assert of an earthshake by Theodore K. Nasos

he dark Minotaur is back, puffing in the mountain’s chest again. Tore through the air and ripped a space between the canyons of nothing there. Overriding any other natural force. And horror. Shaking the rocky bowels, shaking the spirits, shaping tectonic yesterdays. Assert an earthshake.

Blur water. A jug of it set on the side of the lake. A griffin of horrible things homing inhuman instincts overdosing any other force to survive. Beams of desperation in faces of the non-found. The non-alleviated pain of an earthquake. The empty depravity of the land.

Screaming mythological creatures shake factual land, unwelcome tyrants tantalizing the guards of breaths and life. The griffin earthquake.

Continue reading HERE!

---

The Heart Cries #poem by Bohdan Yuri

“The heart cries,
Its voice muted.

Eyes well, spine wilts,
Bloodflow, aimless.”

Continue reading HERE!

---

Maples & Oranges #009 #cartoon by Thanos Kalamidas

For more Ovi Cartoons, HERE!

---

Ovi magazine
We cover every issue!

Ovi magazine; Tuesday August 29th, 2023

The articles, the opinions, the stories, the poems, the thoughts, the reviews, the photos, the paintings and the cartoons Ovi magazine covers for Tuesday August 29th, 2023

---

The Armed Forces and the War on Terror by Kola King

Terrorism has bared its fangs once again with the killing of 36 soldiers in Niger State on August 13, bringing to the fore the devastating effect of the war on terrorism on both the military and the civilian populace. This is a stark reminder that the battle against terrorism is far from over despite the government’s repeated stance that the terrorists have been degraded and that the armed forces have won the war against terrorism.

Over the past twelve years, the armed forces have faced a toil of sweat, tears, and blood in the ongoing war against terrorists. Apart from the toll on the armed forces, terrorism has also resulted in the deaths of thousands of civilians in the past ten years with the attendant consequence of millions being displaced from their ancestral homelands. There are an estimated 2 million people in Internally Displaced Persons, IDP camps in the Northeast and Northwest as well as the North Central states due to terrorism.

Continue reading HERE!

---

Lay your wreath #poem & #painting by Amir Khatib

“Lay your wreath on the heads of the departed hours
towards yesterday,
We are filled with your glory, sorrow
The moonlight will break the loaf of the lake
Away from the window, a stone falls asleep in the mind.”

Continue reading HERE!

---

Edward Carpenter and the Healing of Nations by Rene Wadlow

Edward Carpenter (1844-1929) whose birth anniversary we note on 29 August, was an English writer, educator and pacifist, socialist reformer. Carpenter came from a middle class intellectual family and studied at Cambridge University. As with some of his fellow students who were interested in philosophy and ideas, he was ordained in the Church of England hoping that its outlook and theology could be widened from the inside.  However, once inside, he realized that the broadening goal would take a long time.  Thus by 1874 he left the church for a new field − university extension courses − a program of night school education for the “working classes”.

Just as he was about to become a Church of England cleric in 1869, he discovered the poems of Walt Whitman which became the inspiration for his own poems as well as for an opening to a cosmic consciousness that Whitman manifested.

Continue reading HERE!

---

Maples & Oranges #09 #cartoon by Thanos Kalamidas

For more Ovi Cartoons, HERE!

---

Ovi magazine
We cover every issue!

Ovi magazine; Monday August 14th, 2023

The articles, the opinions, the stories, the poems, the thoughts, the reviews, the photos, the paintings and the cartoons Ovi magazine covers for Monday August 14th, 2023

---

Tinubu’s Jumbo-Sized Cabinet by Kola King

The Senate has concluded the screening and vetting of ministerial nominees. Whether the screening was adjudged comprehensive or not remains a moot point. But it is clear that the screening excercise conducted with the speed of light, as it were, has cast a shadow on the senate as a major safeguard for the advancement of good governance. The senate leadership has shown that it’s eager to genuflect and do the bidding of the president. A pliant and malleable senate is a far cry from what the electorate envisaged. For most observers the screening excercise was more of a charade than a sober and serious undertaking. The whole excercise was perfunctory. Be that as it may, the upper chamber of the legislature has forwarded the verified list of ministerial nominees to the president. By the recokning of the senate 45 nominees received a clean bill of health, while three others were placed on hold for further security clearance.

No doubt, the Federal Executive Council when eventually inaugurated would turn out to be the largest assemblage of that august body since the return of civil rule in 1999. The jumbo-sized cabinet trumps President Muhammadu Buhari’s cabinet of 42 members constituted after he won reelection in 2019.

Continue reading HERE!

---

Where it came from #poem & #painting by Amir Khatib

“No one knows where it came from,
and where he goes;
Time owns the place!
is it our time,
Or when did we change…”

Continue reading HERE!

---

Maples & Oranges #007 #cartoon by Thanos Kalamidas

For more Ovi Cartoons, HERE!

---

Ovi magazine
We cover every issue!

Ovi magazine; Saturday July 15th, 2023

The articles, the opinions, the stories, the poems, the thoughts, the reviews, the photos, the paintings and the cartoons Ovi magazine covers for Saturday July 15th, 2023

---

Alcohol And Substance Abuse Will Not Take Away Your Fears by Stan Popovich

Using drugs and alcohol will not take away your problems and fears. In the short run, they might make you feel better, but in the long run these addictions will only make things worse.

As a result, here are eight tips on how to manage your persistent fears and anxieties without using drugs and alcohol.

1. Take it one day at a time: Instead of worrying about how you will get through the rest of the week or month, try to focus on today. Each day can provide us with different opportunities to learn new things and that includes learning how to deal with your issues. In addition, you will not feel overwhelmed with everything if you focus on one thing at a time.

Continue reading HERE!

---

A Bond #poem by George Cassidy Payne

“As lemongrass holds the river’s first shimmer of morning light,
you possess me. Drifting in the marsh, my fingertips dipping in the water,
    like a luminous blue god”

Continue reading HERE!

---

Maples & Oranges #05 #cartoon by Thanos Kalamidas

For more Ovi Cartoons, HERE!

---

Ovi magazine
We cover every issue!

Ovi magazine; Friday June 30th, 2023

The articles, the opinions, the stories, the poems, the thoughts, the reviews, the photos, the paintings and the cartoons Ovi magazine covers for Friday June 30th, 2023

---

Canada Decodes Law and Justice to Torture Prisoners in Solitary Confinement by Dr. Habib Siddiqui

Imagine that you are incarcerated for 20 years of which you had spent 1400 days in a solitary cell having no contacts with anyone except your prison guard. Imagine that while serving the time in a federal prison you were viciously attacked by fellow inmates in which major parts of your body got burned and yet no investigation was conducted on the matter, and you were, instead, confined to a solitary cell – the price of being attacked by other inmates. You wonder how could this happen in Canada, especially when you have not committed any terrorist act! Itmust be your worst nightmare when you realize that Canadian government wants to set an example in punishing you for your alleged involvement with terrorism.

Well, 9/11 has set new standards in justice in anti-terrorism, especially, when the alleged terrorist is a Muslim. As Glenn Greenwald (“New York Top Court Highlights the Meaningless Menace of the Term Terrorism.” The Guardian: December 16, 2012), a lawyer and internationally known American journalist who also exposed the Edward Snowden-episode to the global community, had assessed: “But that’s what has happened in the post-9/11 era: a whole new system of ‘justice’, with all new rules designed to ensure convictions and long prison terms, have been invented exclusively for those facing ‘terrorism’ charges. And since the term ‘terrorism’ has no discernible meaning other than “acts of violence committed by Arabs and/or Muslims against westerners”, this illustrates why New York Times editorial page editor Andrew Rosenthal was exactly right when, under the headline ‘Liberty and Justice for non-Muslims’, he wrote:[I]t’s rarely acknowledged that the [9/11] attacks have also led to what’s essentially a separate justice system for Muslims. In this system, the principle of due process is twisted and selectively applied, if it is applied at all.”

Continue reading HERE!

---

Dawn Rising #poem by Mbizo Chirasha

“I see many voices rising with the sun
sharp spears of the sun ,undulating with coming freedom
mother was there during liberation
i will be there for the other liberation
a revolution of million voices
voices of children of song
children of the soil
children unborn, children born”

Continue reading HERE!

---

Maples & Oranges #04 #cartoon by Thanos Kalamidas

For more Ovi Cartoons, HERE!

---

Ovi magazine
We cover every issue!

Ovi magazine; Thursday June 15th, 2023

The articles, the opinions, the stories, the poems, the thoughts, the reviews, the photos, the paintings and the cartoons Ovi magazine covers for Wednesday June 14th, 2023

---

That storm twenty years ago by Theodore K. Nasos

It was one of those moments when you walk by the river under the summer sun and in your mind you can only hear the Door’s Riders on the Storm. Morrison’s crossing the universe to remind you that nothing is just like it looks and the storm is just round the corner of a hot summer day.

A woman was talking to her teenage daughter about her new clothes and her taste in general and a man was eating a doughnut, his face full of life desires. There were also some ducks swimming by.
And yet, twenty years ago, today, I was happy.

I had a moment back then that impacted me so much that I still remember it and it was in the same exactly spot, by the river.

Continue reading HERE!

---

Wings Of Love #poem & painting by Nikos Laios

“Your voice 
Is perfume 
To my soul,
Your smile
Sunshine,
Your kisses 
A delight,
Your embrace 
A flowerbed.”

Continue reading HERE!

---

Maples & Oranges #03 #cartoon by Thanos Kalamidas

For more Ovi Cartoons, HERE!

---

Ovi magazine
We cover every issue!

Ovi magazine; Wednesday May 31st, 2023

The articles, the opinions, the stories, the poems, the thoughts, the reviews, the photos, the paintings and the cartoons Ovi magazine covers for Wednesday May 31st, 2023

---

Charisma and self-confidence: how it works by Joseph Gatt

A lot of the theory you’ll read out there goes: charisma and self-confidence are built by controlling your emotions and leading a healthy lifestyle. And lots of introspection.

Truth of the matter is, I see things differently. Simply put, I would tend to think that the more people you know, the more people you know at the deeper level, and the more stuff you can discuss with that crowd, the more likely you’ll naturally be charismatic and self-confident.

So, the recipe goes like this. Charisma and self-confidence are not gained overnight, but built over several years. You get a job, join different social circles, get to know people at the job and at the social circles. The more people you know, the more stuff you know, the more comfortable you’ll tend to be.

Charisma and self-confidence is also gained through trial and error. You could end up at the wrong conference, at the wrong job, or at the wrong social event. Happens all the time. And those one-time events could break your self-confidence, which is why it’s a good idea to have a crowd you can rely on in the long run.

Continue reading HERE!

---

At this table #poem by Bohdan Yuri

“Reservations at eight
at our favorite table,
you were fashionably late,
a less than cherished fable.”

Continue reading HERE!

---

Maples & Oranges #002 #cartoon by Thanos Kalamidas

For more Ovi Cartoons, HERE!

---

Ovi magazine
We cover every issue!

Ovi magazine; Tuesday May 16th, 2023

The articles, the opinions, the stories, the poems, the thoughts, the reviews, the photos, the paintings and the cartoons Ovi magazine covers for Tuesday May 16th, 2023

---

Aqueous Matters: Europe’s Water Crisis by Dr. Binoy Kampmark

Europe is joining a number of other regions on the planet in suffering a prolonged water crisis; and it is one that shows little sign of abating. To this can be added the near catastrophic conditions that exist in other parts of the globe, where ready and secure access to water supplies is more aspiration than reality.

Since 2018, according to satellite data analysed by researchers from the Institute of Geodesy at Graz University of Technology (TU Graz), the continent has been enduring increasingly dire drought conditions.  Groundwater levels have been, according to the institute, low, despite the occasional dramatic flooding event.  Even through winter, there has been no relief.

In a piece published in Geophysical Research Letters, Eva Boergens and her fellow authors picked up on sharp water shortages in Central Europe during the summer months of 2018 and 2019.“In the summer months of 2018, Central and Northern Europe experienced exceptionally dry conditions […] with parts of Central Europe receiving less than 50% of the long-time mean precipitation”.

In July and August that year, vicious heatwaves aided in inducing drought conditions.  Much the same pattern was repeated in 2019: below-average precipitation, beating heatwaves in June and July.  The consequences for such deficits in water, the authors note, are severe to “agricultural productivity, forest management, and industrial production, with the latter cut back by disrupted transport on inland waterways due to extremely low water levels.”Levels since have barely risen.

Continue reading HERE!

---

Wash the soot from my soul #poem by Bohdan Yuri

“Wash the soot from my soul,
I’ve burned too many
along the road.
there isn’t a war conspired
that will douse
the fires
of man’s
most hateful desires.”

Continue reading HERE!

---

Maples & Oranges #01 #cartoon by Thanos Kalamidas

For more Ovi Cartoons, HERE!

---

Ovi magazine
We cover every issue!