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Free at Bexley Library Adventures in Ecological Horticulture with Rebecca McMackin Wednesday, March 18 1:00pm - 2:30pm Gone are the days when a garden could be ornamental alone. We now recognize the impact that our land care practices have on the ecosystems around us, and can see the importance of encouraging biodiversity. Thankfully, we do not need to sacrifice beauty when we invite butterflies and songbirds into our gardens. Rebecca McMackin has cultivated gorgeous landscapes in the toughest environments possible: urban parks, school playgrounds, and the sidewalks of New York City. She will take lessons from her work at Brooklyn Bridge Park, the Brooklyn Museum, and decades of research to share how those of us who are fortunate enough to care for land, can do it beautifully and ecologically. Rebecca McMackin is an ecologically obsessed horticulturist and garden designer. She writes, lectures, and teaches on ecological landscape management and pollination ecology, as well as designs the rare public garden. She is currently Lead Horticulturist for the American Horticultural Society, an Associate with the Harvard Divinity School’s Thinking with Plants and Fungi Initiative, and Consulting Arboretum Curator for Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, NY. Rebecca spent a decade as Director of Horticulture of Brooklyn Bridge Park, where she managed 85 acres of diverse parkland organically. Their research into cultivating urban biodiversity and ethical management strategies has influenced thousands of people and entire urban parks systems to adopt similar approaches. She has been published by and featured in the New York Times, Gardens Illustrated, on NPR and PBS. Her garden for the Brooklyn Museum recently won the PPA’s Award of Excellence and her TED Talk has been viewed over a million times. She holds M.Sc. from Columbia University and University of Victoria in landscape design and biology and recently completed the Loeb Fellowship at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. This program is presented in partnership with Rooted in Bexley and generously funded by the Bexley Community Foundation and Bexley Community Author Series Fund.

**Our March pick is *God of the Woods* by Liz Moore.** **This month’s novel is an award-winning literary mystery that blends family drama with psychological suspense. It explores women’s voices and relationships while delivering an exciting, eerie, and deeply suspenseful story. The book is 576 pages in print or 14 hours and 35 minutes on audiobook.** Early morning, August 1975: a camp counselor discovers an empty bunk. Its occupant, Barbara Van Laar, has gone missing. Barbara isn’t just any thirteen-year-old: she’s the daughter of the family that owns the summer camp and employs most of the region’s residents. And this isn’t the first time a Van Laar child has disappeared. Barbara’s older brother similarly vanished fourteen years ago, never to be found. As a panicked search begins, a thrilling drama unfolds. Chasing down the layered secrets of the Van Laar family and the blue-collar community working in its shadow, Moore’s multi-threaded story invites readers into a rich and gripping dynasty of secrets and second chances. It is Liz Moore’s most ambitious and wide-reaching novel yet.

Join us as we get together to see Ryan Gosling and Sandra Huller in the highly anticipated sci-fi adventure, PROJECT HAIL MARY! The film is based on the best-selling novel of The Martian and follows a man who awakens on a spacecraft before realizing his mission to save Earth. Here’s a description, trailer and plan for this event: DESCRIPTION: A science teacher wakes up on a spaceship, light years from home with no recollection of who he is or how he got there. As his memory returns, he begins to uncover his mission to save the Earth. The film is directed by the filmmaking due Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (21 and 22 Jump Street, Into and Across the Spider-Verse) and is based on the 2021 novel by Andy Weir (The Martian). The film stars Ryan Gosling, Sandra Huller (Anatomy of a Fall, The Zone of Interest), Lionel Boyce, Milana Vayntrub and Ken Leung. TRAILER: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VYsnngkS_U BUZZ AND REVIEWS: The buzz and reviews for PROJECT HAIL MARY are off-the-charts good! The film is earning a 95% Certified Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, where critics call it an “old school blockbuster crowd-pleaser” and “a new sci-fi classic!” It’s “deeply hopeful,” well-acted,” funny,” “dramatic,” and “exceptionally rousing throughout!” Others call it “something truly magical” and one that “we’ll be talking about this one for decades to come!” And I believe Slashfilm says it best: “It will lift up and squeeze your heart, crack you up with laughter, and give you a sense of hope and wonder in a way that few movies have been able to inspire.” MOVIE PLAN: Please purchase your ticket for the 2:30pm SuperScreen DLX showing and meet in the lobby area between 2:05 and 2:15pm! Tickets already on sale and will likely move fast for this hot ticket / opening weekend showing so advance ticket purchase as soon as possible is advised! Once you have yours, please list your seat number in the Comments section of this event. As a head’s up, this is a longer movie at 2hrs 36mins. DINNER PLAN: Dinner immediately following the movie at 5:30pm at group favorite, FUGU SUSHI, located just next door! Separate RSVP required for the Dinner / Movie portions of this event. An RSVP here means you're signed up for the MOVIE! This portion will be open as long as seats remain. If you also plan to join for dinner, please also RSVP in the separate event listing for the dinner portion of this event. Should be a good one, Dan

**New Dojo Location!** **Buffalo Wild Wings in Grandview** 968 W 5th Ave, Columbus, OH 43212 We're going to try a new dojo location for a few weeks and see how it works Dojos are informal Python group study sessions where everyone interested in Python gathers to learn about Python, help others with Python, or just hang out. Everyone is welcome from Python beginners to experts. Bringing a laptop is encouraged (we'll have extension cords and power strips). If there's something you want to learn leave a comment on this invite so we can plan ahead. We're looking for topic suggestions and people interested in presenting at our monthly meetings. To this end we've set up a survey form at [https://docs.google.com/forms/d/15eBKF1nQQ2XS5gzD4rvhVRHMBEj7lJtHuA9wXupS3Uc](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/15eBKF1nQQ2XS5gzD4rvhVRHMBEj7lJtHuA9wXupS3Uc)

A great movie deserves a great dinner! Join us after PROJECT HAIL MARY for another fun and tasty dinner at a CMG-favorite restaurant, FUGU SUSHI! RSVPs are limited for the dinner portion of this event! Here are complete details: FUGU SUSHI: Fugu Sushi offers a truly authentic experience that keeps customers (and the Movie Group) coming back for more. They offer an extensive menu with a delightful array of options and something for everyone! From their top-rated sushi, to tasty appetizers, soups, salads, bento boxes, tempura, delicious teriyaki dishes (including chicken, shrimp, salmon, tofu, vegetable and more), and vegetarian and vegan options, you’ll be certain to find something you love! MENU: https://www.fugusushicolumbus.com/menus RSVP: An RSVP here means you're signed up for the DINNER portion of this event. Seating is limited. If you also plan to join for the movie, please also RSVP in the separate event listing for the movie portion of this event. For the movie, we'll meet in the theater lobby at 2:10pm for the 2:30pm SuperScreen DLX showing. Advance ticket purchase for the movie is advised. Please RSVP in both events, if you plan to attend the movie and dinner. Look forward to seeing you there, Dan

OpenClaw, NemoClaw, personal assistants, 24/7 agents. What does it all mean? How does it all work and what should we know about it? Whether you’re deep in the field or just getting curious, come connect with others building and exploring AI in Columbus. Sponsored by [Transform Labs](https://www.transformlabs.com/services)

This is an in-person meeting. Did you know that unwanted emotions like loneliness, sadness, hopelessness, anger, fear, anxiety, or feelings of irritation don’t just fall on you for no reason. They are not random occurrences that simply happen to people's minds. They are definitely not chemical imbalance in your brain due to some nebulous chemical reactions by chance. Your negative emotions are the symptoms of the painful experiences that you have which are not healed, and which are still affecting you. The effects of these painful experiences are exacerbated by the pressures or difficulties of the other problems in your life. For instance, let's say you are already carrying a huge load on your back, then you cannot take on much more, but, let's say something else happens to you, such as the difficulties from the Pandemic, then the resultant combined weight on you can take you over the edge, kind of like the straw that break the camel's back. When this happens, people's attention usually goes to the straw that was added, but actually the majority of the weight had come from the huge load that were already there, holding a person down and causing a person issues. So how do you remove the huge load that was already there? How do you lighten them up? Is it possible to get rid of them? That is what this meeting will be all about. Come to our Meetup, where we can introduce you to some of the knowledge, tools and techniques of the breakthroughs in the field of the mind that we can apply to this ever important area of life. Be sure to click on the red "Attend" button below to come to this local event. We look forward to seeing you there. This group is created by the Dianetics and Scientology Life Improvement Center of Central Ohio.

Discover Kiro, AWS’s innovative development environment that adapts to your workflow. Whether you prefer specification-driven development or a more intuitive, vibe-based approach, Kiro empowers you to build applications your way. In this session, speakers will explore Kiro’s core functionality and its evolution through re:Invent 2025, along with demonstrations of prompts used to create APIs, hooks, and steering documents. In the latter part of the session, watch as we build a complete example from scratch, showcasing Kiro’s agentic AI workflow in action for spec-driven development and vibe coding. What You'll Learn - Core Kiro concepts and development philosophy Feature evolution: pre and post re:Invent 2025 Practical examples: API creation, hooks, and steering docs Live coding demonstration with real-time problem solving Who Should Attend - Developers, solutions architects, and technical leaders interested in modern AWS development tools and AI-assisted coding workflows. **Speakers Bio:** Matthew Jorat: Matthew Jorat is a Customer Solutions Manager at AWS with nearly three decades of expertise in AI, cloud transformation, migration, modernization, IT, technology, and business. His career spans infrastructure engineer, solutions architect, security auditor, customer success director, support and services director, and operations officer. He was an early adopter of AWS services as a customer, and his current role at AWS uniquely blends his technical and business skills as he partners with executive teams to translate strategic priorities into measurable business outcomes through cloud adoption, AI implementation, and operational excellence. Matt leads end-to-end AI initiatives for enterprise customers, identifying high-impact use cases and maintaining relentless focus on measurable ROI. He holds eight AWS certifications and serves as Adjunct Professor at Franklin University teaching cloud computing and AWS architecture. His expertise encompasses GenAI, agentic AI systems, migration, modernization, and optimization strategies that drive transformation at scale. [https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattjorat/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattjorat/) Girish Bhatia: Girish Bhatia is a seasoned technology delivery leader with deep expertise in cross-domain program management. He holds multiple AWS certifications, including AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate, AWS Certified Developer – Associate, and AWS Generative AI Practitioner, and is also an AWS Community Builder. Girish brings over two decades of experience in the information technology industry. Throughout his career, Girish has led major technology-driven business transformation from modernizing on-premises applications to driving large-scale cloud migrations. His work includes API-based integration platforms, data-center and mainframe modernization, and enterprise cloud adoption initiatives. Based in Columbus, Ohio, Girish works at a tech-forward fintech company. He is passionate about AWS serverless architectures, Generative AI and emerging cloud technologies. An avid learner and builder, he continues to explore and apply the latest innovations in AWS to help organizations accelerate their digital transformation. https://www.linkedin.com/in/girishbhatia/[https://www.linkedin.com/in/girishbhatia/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/girishbhatia/) **THANK YOU** *Franklin University* for hosting our meetup! To learn more about *Franklin University*, please visit their website: https://www.franklin.edu/ **DIRECTIONS** Franklin University Fisher Hall 300 E. Main St, Columbus, OH 43215 Map: https://maps.app.goo.gl/jxjBA2hUmS5qrvhq8 Parking is FREE! Please park in Lot C in front of Fisher Hall. See attached map. NOTE: Map the address only. When mapping with Google Maps it may use the Fisher Hall at OSU, which is NOT correct. **Want to sponsor the pizza and/or bar tab?** Please contact me if you would like to sponsor this meetup's pizza and/or bar tab: angelo@mandato.com

Seed Starting Workshop with Licking County Master Gardener Volunteers What: Ready to get a jump on your summer garden? Join us for a hands-on seed starting workshop hosted by the Licking County Master Gardener Volunteers as part of their Gardening Through the Year series. You’ll learn how to start seeds indoors for vegetables and flowers — and get them ready for transplanting when the weather cooperates. Master Gardeners will provide potting soil and expert advice. You bring: clean planting flats + seeds of your choice. When: Saturday, March 28, 2026 | 10:00 – 11:00 a.m. Where: The Polyhouse, Learning Center for Gardening at OSU Extension — 771 E. Main St., Newark, OH Cost: Free Family Friendly: Yes! If bringing used planting flats, please disinfect with bleach or alcohol beforehand. Learn more at fourseasonsgardening.org or find them on Facebook: Master Gardeners of Licking County OSUE

So this month's prompt is more general. I think we can all agree that we are living in "unique" times that require coping skills. I think that one role and/or purpose of philosophy is to help us deal with our daily lives and our "unique" times. So, let's share our feelings and thoughts about which philosopher/philosophy we turn to in order to deal with our crazy events. Who/what helps you stay focused in your daily life and helps you sleep at night. I find that Stoicism with a little philosophical pessimism mixed in goes a long way in helping me deal with what I see as very destructive, fearful and mean spirited public policies at both the state and federal levels. Hope to see you on March 28th!

**Improving Office in Franklinton** Physical location: Improving Office 330 Rush Alley Suite #150 Columbus, OH 43215 Schedule: 6:00 p.m.: Socialize, eat, and drink. Improving will be providing pizza and beverages. 6:30 to 8:00 pm. Main meeting and presentation(s). Topic: Type Annotations with John Cassidy We meet on the last Monday of each Month. Presentations are given by members and friends of this group. If you would like to do a presentation (small or large) on a python topic, please contact Central OH Python at centralohpython@gmail.com

Want to be a speaker? submit your talk to our Call for Presenters!!! https://sessionize.com/cbus-hug-2026/