Orlando Weekly

As this year’s Come Out With Pride parade wraps its bedazzled head around a commendable and monumental tenth year, we shouldn’t be too quick to dismiss what an achievement the whole event is, and what it represents. Once upon a time, there were fights about rainbow flags on downtown flagpoles, protesters screaming death wishes at parade participants, warnings of tropical storms and other natural disasters out there designed specifically for punitive treatment of same-sex couples and those who love them.

It’s no secret that big-box stores are making it harder for local mom-and-pop shops to stay afloat. Wal-Marts, Home Depots and Barnes and Nobles have been blamed for putting local grocery chains, hardware stores and book shops out of business for as long as they’ve been around. But now there’s a retailer that’s making it harder even for the big box stores to make a go of it – Amazon.com

Watch films. Get involved. Change things. That’s the mantra of the Global Peace Film Festival, an annual Florida event that uses the power of filmmaking to change the world. Established in 2003, the little festival gives independent documentaries that don’t often see the light of day because they’re too controversial, underfunded or simply not sexy enough to bring in enough revenue to your local movie house. That doesn’t mean they aren’t worth watching.

Last week, in more than 150 cities across the country, masses of fast-food workers raised their voices and their employment risks in an attempt to make themselves heard.