There was trouble at the University of Cincinnati the night of Aug. 6, 2011. Real, life-and-death trouble.  

WEDNESDAY JAN. 23:  State Board of Education President Debe Terhar has made some folks not so happy. She shared a link on Facebook from some pitiful source who posts things like photos of our president with the caption “Where’s Lee Harvey Oswalt when you need him?” (their misspelling, not ours).    

My main issue with the idea of social media has always been that I’ve never felt that my experiences or the running commentary in my head should define any given moment in pop cultural history. I hear what I’m thinking 24-7.  

In line with the country’s increasing energy usage trends, statistics from the U.S. Energy Information Agency found that China now uses 47 percent of the world’s coal; its usage grew by 325 million tons in 2011. WORLD -1    

Patsy looks too young to have a small son. In fact, I didn’t know she did. I met him one afternoon two weeks ago. I wasn’t supposed to meet him at all, but I’m glad I was the one who was here to look out for him when he found himself with no family members around.  

 We can wake up and be poor, under-educated and -employed, invisible during the “conversation” around representation in the rarified air in corporations, education, sports management and ownership. Meantime, we’re constantly being objectified.
  

WEDNESDAY JAN. 16: Newport on the Levee has added a new wrinkle to the movie-watching experience. The seldom-used arcade has been replaced by MacGuffins Bar & Lounge, which is now open and serving drinks that can be brought into the movie.   

In Afghanistan, violence against women is becoming increasingly brutal and is on the rise by 22 percent, according to the country’s independent Human Rights Commission. WORLD -1    

Seems thugs took “Pause for the Cause,” talk radio host Nathan Iverson’s Jan. 9 anti-violence tête-à-tête with Police Chief James Craig, as a green light and not the intended inward-loo  

Jose Canseco owes my friend Jarrett an apology and an audiobook.  The former Major League Baseball player/steroid user/reality TV weirdo last March posted a series of tweets aimed at schooli  

WEDNESDAY JAN. 9  As a sign of growing maturity and responsibility, WWE! is going to refrain from making some sort of poop joke about the proposal to install new public toilets downtown.
  

I swear there are days when it would be best to turn off the television, stay away from computers, the Internet and smartphones, maybe just remain in bed with the covers firmly clasped over my head to silence the ignorant noise spewing out of the mouths (and from the furiously tweeting thumbs) of politicians, commentators and lobbyists.    

Colorado gun retailer Jax Mercantile has officially halted sales of assault rifles and high-capacity magazines in the wake of several mass shootings over the last several months: Company president Jim Quinlan has “no regrets” about the change, even though it’s angered a good chunk of customers and reduced profits. WORLD +1    

Ohio’s own, U.S. Speaker of the House, John Boehner, told Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to “go f— himself” at a White House meeting last week after Reid publicly accused him of running the House like a dictatorship. CINCINNATI -2   

It’s 2013 already. The rate at which calendar pages blow past means there’s not enough time to school you on the ever titillating suffixal differences — which are also cultural and racial — between the -er and the -a. White folks want to say the word soooo badly it’s funny.