Brutus!

After kicking off the college tour leg of our 30 Million Jobs campaign in Lexington, we made our way to the great city of Columbus, Ohio. Here’s what we did while we were there.

If you haven’t guessed, the whole team at The Dylan Ratigan Show can’t get enough of being on the road. Maybe it’s escaping New York for a few days that we like, but most of all, it’s getting to see cities we haven’t been to.  Meeting new people. Supporting some fantastic independent bookstores (like this one, and this one), and having an opportunity to talk and debate real issues with folks we meet on the road.

To kick the day off, we did an early afternoon Greedy Bastards event at Book Loft of German Village.

Book Loft of German Village

If you’re ever in Columbus, you have to come check the surrounding German Village neighborhood out — it’s walkable and has lots of independent retail spots, with loads of beautiful historic beautiful homes and buildings to walk around and see.  The weather was nice(ish), so we held our Book Loft talk outside. (You can check out all the photos on our Facebook page.)

Dylan at Book Loft!

After the Book Loft talk wrapped up, we stopped by local coffeehouse Cup O’ Joe right next door to have a quick dose of caffeine — another business that is highly plugged in to its community.

Stopping by Cup O' Joe...

While we were there, we met up with some folks who were at the book event. It’s not like we are ever at a loss for words, so…

After Book Loft wrapped up and we got our needed caffeine, it was time to head over to The Ohio State University, just a short drive away. We taped our show at their new Ohio Union, which was completed three years ago. We even had the most famous of all Buckeyes stop by — the one and only Brutus. Dylan got to talk to Brutus about why a Buckeye is called a Buckeye. Here’s the video:

We had a blast at the Ohio Union and met some incredible smart, motivated and cool students while we were there. Here are some more photos of the show and some folks who came to visit us. The entire set is up on our Facebook page here.

Loving that Buckeye spirit!
O-H-I-O!!!

As we wrapped up, we also had a visit from OSU president Gordon Gee (@presidentgee). He had the time to have a quick chat with Dylan. Here’s the video:

After that, we found out that our flight to Chicago was cancelled due to weather.  With our fearless leader leading the way (Executive Producer Steve Friedman, of course), we hopped in a car and drove 356 miles from Columbus to Chicago. A little weather report calling for 5″ of snow isn’t going to stop us! (It didn’t end up snowing, by the way.)

We ended our day with one quick “breakfast for dinner” pit stop at the unofficial favorite road-trip restaurant of the DR crew, Bob Evans.   Sometimes, after a long day on the road, you just need a biscuit. (And some gravy. Lots of it.)

What’s Up Next: Today we’re in Chicago with two fantastic events. We’ll be at 57th Street Books at 11:30AM CT, and a show taping at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business at 3PM CT. Here’s the full schedule, with addresses and other info.

We fly back to New York tonight… much too quick of a trip to Chicago, but we WILL be back!

Here’s a list of everywhere we visited in Columbus, OH, with links to their websites. Say hi to all these great venues on Twitter!

Book Loft of German Village – 631 S. Third St. (at Sycamore Street), Columbus, OH 43206

Cup O’ Joe – 600 N High St (btw Russell St & Goodale St), Columbus, OH 43215 @cupojoecoffee

The Ohio State University “Ohio Union” 1739 N High St. (at W 12th Ave.), Columbus, OH 43210 @ohiounion

Bob Evans – 670 Brandt Pike (Rt 201), Dayton, OH 45424 @bobevansfarms