Robin Garr, Jeff Polk, Tracy Heightchew, Iyana Glaze for BLM, Melissa Gaddie, Dan Savage, Rob Brezny
Marc Murphy
Chief
Chris Keating
Vice
Digital
Stacy Volhein
Elizabeth Knapp
Chief
Guillermo Rodriguez
MARC MURPHY
MY FREEDOM, YOUR MORALS, OUR AMERICAN CROSSROADS
BY ERICA RUCKER
I’ve got a couple of things to say about freedom and about family, and those who want you to believe they hold a moral high horse on two things ruled by the choices and morals of the individual.
First, America has never had a single morality, religion, or system. Since Europeans stormed the banks of this land, the societies that existed and operated on collective morality and communal care, were removed. The very act of colonialism destroyed any idea that America was a thing of such singular action or thought. The hubris of taking someone’s land, murdering their people, then setting up systems that routinely cost the life of those whose land was stolen, and those who were stolen from their land to build this nation — and then asking those very people to accept and live by a set of rules that are never followed by the asker— is amazing. The distortion in Republican thinking is peak cognitive dissonance.
The history of white Christianity is a bloody one. The amount of blood spilled in the name of Christ is astronomical. Probably more so than any other religion. This morality is artifice, a performance, because (en masse) the practice of Christianity has not been one for salvation, it has been the practice of superiority and a desire to claim superiority. For weeks now, we’ve seen clips of JD Vance dogging childless women and anyone who hasn’t brought a child directly into the world. In the same span of time we learned that former KY Governor Matt Bevin abandoned one of his adopted Black children in Haiti. This is the pro-life, pro-family party. They are on the same side.
One, Vane, condemns our nation because, as he claims, it is being run by Democrats, corporate oligarchs, and “a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too.”
But his party has a troubled history with family, and the other, Bevin, highlights this in big gross detail.
First, family-making is a choice. You have kids if you desire. You have pets if that’s more your speed. It’s the beauty of freedom. You’re free to decide. However, should you decide that family is a thing you want to have, abandoning that family when it gets tough for you is reprehensible, and highlights a need for children, particularly in cross-cultural adoptions, to have access to a community like their own. It gives the parents support and the child support and the cultural reference points they need to understand themselves better.
Bevin’s abandonment of “Noah,” puts this into
glaring perspective. Bevin should have built this child a network while he was having his powerpoint presentations for Kentucky and crying about the mean ladies who tweeted about him.
While it is unknown why Bevin or his ex-wife left the child in an abusive boarding school, it is clear that they were ill-equipped in their family-making to offer a healthy home to this child. It certainly makes their decision making ability come under question. What risks do they pose to their other adopted children?
Now, I’m not passing that judgment but it does give pause.
It’s here that we zoom in on the idea of freedom and choice. Bevin, Vance and their fellow Republicans want you to believe that family is a duty and that the only choice is the one that fits the imaginary family structure that serves to churn out workers for the next generation. However, Republicans frame this duty as somehow linked to good Christianity.
Basically, Republicans are in a full panic about having more children because having children means having more workers and consumers, and that, in turn, keeps capitalism fed and happy. The tricky thing about freedom is that it works in a couple of ways. It isn’t just a slogan. It means that if you want to have freedom, you need to be able to handle it responsibly. Freedom doesn’t exist without responsibility. That’s recklessness.
To continue calling ourselves free, we need to see that our duty to children is to love them through their struggles and not to leave them abandoned. We need to see our duty to each other to both mind our own business and be of service if we can. Both can exist at the same time. Our freedom cannot come at the expense of the rights of others to live as they wish.
To raise a cross over the idea of family is to imagine that somehow your idea of family is superior to the myriad of ways that humans have and do make family.
Whether these values line up with your own is none of your concern. As Minnesota Governor and prospective VP Tim Walz has been saying on the campaign trail with VP Kamala Harris, “Mind your own damn business.”
Bevin should have minded his and that of this abandoned child. Vance should and Trump should. None of these people hold any moral high ground and it’s time to squash these arguments about good or bad “family” values because fiction is best on the bookshelf for reading but not as policy for human lives.
Erica Rucker is LEO Weekly’s editor-in-chief. In addition to her work at LEO, she is a haphazard writer, photographer, tarot card reader, and fair-to-middling purveyor of motherhood. Her earliest memories are of telling stories to her family and promising that the next would be shorter than the first. They never were.
DON’T CALL THE POLICE
BY IYANA GLAZE
What comes to mind when you hear “Defund the Police,” and/or Police Abolition? You would probably make distinctions/correlations with the Black Lives Matter movement. People who want to defund the police are often called “cop haters” but that is far from true.
What information do we want people to know about police abolition?
What is Police Abolition?
Police abolition is a process of reallocating resources, funding, and responsibility away from police, and toward community-based models of safety, support, and prevention. It is ongoing organizing that can shift to more procedures to help the people. By doing this, it is community-based and community-led services for policing.
1,186 people have been shot and killed by police in the past 12 months in the US. The number of fatal police shootings has risen drastically in recent years. Police killed the highest number of people on record in 2023. Since 2015, The Washington Post has logged every person shot and killed by an on-duty police officer here in the United States. Black Americans [6.1 per million per year for a total of 2,351] are shot and killed at much higher rates than White Americans [2.4 per million per year for a total of 4,450]. The rate per million for white Americans is half that of Black people in America. Black Americans are shot at a disproportionate rate (police also kill Hispanic Americans at a disproportionate rate). As well, most of the victims are young, more than half of the people shot and killed by police are between 20 and 40 years old.
When it comes to the phrase “Defund the Police” it is a demand to cut funding and resources from police departments and other law enforcement and invest in things that make our communities safer: quality, affordable, and accessible housing, universal quality healthcare, including community-based mental health services, safe living wage employment, education, and youth programming. To minimize crime, more police on the force shouldn’t be an option increasing jobs, educational opportunities, arts programs, community centers, and mental health resources.
In Louisville Jail, Louisville Metro Department of Corrections averaged three prisoner deaths per year. In 2022, there were 12 deaths in ten months in the Louisville, Jefferson, Co jail. Police are funded via city and county budgets, state funds, federal grants, fines and fees, assets forfeiture,
contracts, and collaborations with private and public institutions like private clubs or Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE).
In mental health crises, we have seen time again why police should not be called.
The recent murder of 36-year-old Sonya Massey from Springfield, IL. is a prime example. Massey was killed by Sangamon County Police officer Sean Grayson on July 6. Sonya had a diagnosis of schizophrenia.
In a recent death at Louisville Metro Department of Corrections, 34-year-old Richard Graham, was found unresponsive in the inmate housing area from a suspected overdose. Richard’s death is the first at LMDC in nearly 18 months, but he also had several reservations about the police, including that they were intimidating him.
What are alternatives [resources, organizations] to 911 calls when meeting mental health needs, etc?
Instead of calling the police, here are resources and organizations that can serve as an alternative:
Housing
Healthcare for Homeless Veterans, they connect eligible veterans with healthcare, transitional and permanent housing (502) 287-4278
Mental Health
Centerstone Mental Health Crisis Hotline
Confidential 24/7 crisis hotline provides mental health counseling and referrals; rapid assistance through the crisis line.
Kentuckian services for rape crisis or intimate partner violence.
1 (844) 237 - 2331
https://www.thecnteronline.org/
Safe Harbor of Northeast Kentucky
Safe Harbor of Northeast Kentucky is an emergency shelter and advocacy center that provides confidential, caring, and supportive services to all domestic violence victims in Boyd, Greenup, Carter, Lawrence, and Elliot counties. Safe Habor’s services are free to all victims of domestic violence.
Housing support and advocacy services and referrals, focused on young adults ages 18-25 and their children
(502) 548-7605
https://www.kyhousingadvocates.com/
Veterans National Homeless Hotline 24/7 Hotline connecting callers to free services in their area
1 (877) 424-3838
Volunteer of America - Eviction Prevention Program
Volunteers of America’s Eviction Prevention Program stabilized resident families and individuals living in Louisville Metro Housing Authority properties by preventing evictions through financial assistance, crisis intervention, mediation, and collaborations with other service providers. (502) 568-1438
https://www voamid.org/ectionprevention
LGBTQ
The Center for Women & Families
Kentuckian services for rape crisis or intimate partner violence. Specialized services for LGBTQ+ intimate partner abuse
1 (844) 237-2331
https://www.thecenteronline.org/get-help/ lgbtq/
Clark County Youth Center & Family Services Crisis intervention is provided in person at the Shelter or by telephone 24 hours per day, 365 days per year. Contacts or calls may be from youth or adults concerned about a youth.
(812) 284-5229
https://www.ccysfs.org/
YMCA Safe Place Services of Louisville Street outreach, trauma-informed care, family meditation services, and youth mentoring. Confidential resource for youth, teens, and young adults.
(502) 635-5233 pr text SAFE and your current location to 69866 for the location of the nearest physical Safe Place 24/7.
It is an ongoing process, that can shift procedures to help people and keep our communities safer. This won’t get rid of police but can assist in supplanting oppressive police systems that do not hold our best interest.
“I am no longer accepting the things I cannot change. I am changing the things I cannot accept.” — Angela Davis
Louisville Community Bail Fun Summer 2024 intern Iyana Glaze Courtesy photo
LOUISVILLE’S LATEST FLOOD WALL MURAL
PROJECT INTERSECTS CULTURE AND CREATIVITY
LEO sat down with the project’s founder to hear about the latest program
BY CALEB STULTZ
Louisville’s cityscape is getting a touchup, particularly on the 10th Street flood wall and MSD pump station.
The pump station will also serve as an entryway to Waterfront Park’s Phase IV, bringing a colorful entrance to an all-new area being worked on right now.
This initiative, according to the Louisville Commission on Public Art, aims to invigorate publicly accessible spaces
around Louisville with murals covering flood walls along the Ohio River.
LEO Weekly sat down with Jessica Bennett Kincaid, the project’s founder, to learn more about the flood wall and what Louisvillians can expect from the project, and why it was started in the first place.
Some portions of the interview with LEO and Kincaid have been altered for clarity.
LEO: What kinds of themes are you aiming for with this initiative?
Kincaid: On the flood wall, we specifically do have a little bit more of some thematic or conceptual framework that we hope artists will propose designs. That corridor, that 10th Street access point, has been the focus of a couple of different cultural activation initiatives in the last 10 years. We did the Connect/ Disconnect temporary public art exhibition along that site as well back in 2016 I believe it was.
Now to see waterfront park phase four in development there, and thinking about how it’s really kind of drawn, showing this connection between either side of the interstate off ramp, and that flood wall gateway, is really going to be the welcoming access point to this intersecting space.
We wanted to continue to build on this idea of connection both to the natural environment via the waterfront connection to recreation and activity within our city through the waterfront park space they’re building. I’m hoping that designs underscore connection to civic infrastructure, social infrastructure and sort of this natural landscape.
Is there a story behind you getting this project together?
The work towards being able to activate our flood walls in this way precedes me. So this has been a conversation that started even before Covid (19), to explore that possibility. When I took this role, I wanted to revive that conversation and see what might be possible, and the timing was just right. So we’re very excited to again pursue that opportunity, and hopefully it grows into a full program.
It may be structured similarly to our creative crosswalks program, where Metro creates a workflow and a process and helps steer and navigate the project. There are a lot of different civic organizations and regulatory organizations involved in producing a project like this. And it’s not so intuitive
necessarily to even very capable, experienced mural artists. But we’ll create the path, and the goal is to make this space accessible to the community for creative expression.
What does it feel like to know so much art will adorn this open mural?
It’s really exciting. I think that Louisville has a very unique identity in terms of their creative expression. I think a couple of people have asked, “Oh, is the goal to replicate things that you’ve seen in this city or that city?” And the answer is no, we want to do our own thing. We want it to be unique to Louisville. And obviously it’s not so unique that we would do a flood wall mural as I mentioned, there are murals on flood walls all over the country, and other cities have robust mural programs in their own right. So in that sense, there is commonality.
But the great thing about public art is that it’s really, really successful. Public art is site specific, and so we’re figuring out what that means for Louisville. This is just the beginning of a lot of different types of public art that we might see emerge throughout our community, beyond murals and some different types of art forms that are currently represented in our city. So that’s really exciting to think about.
What kinds of opportunities does this give to local artists in Louisville?
This mural is the sort of largest canvas. It will probably be the largest public art project to date that we’ve seen produced in our city. And it was important to my office and to the Commission on Public Art to make sure that this opportunity was focused towards Kentuckiana artists. Because, again, calling back to that site-specific piece of public art, and how this is really centered or anchored in what will be a great community asset. We wanted to make sure that it was produced by an artist who, or artist teams who have a sense of this community and have a connection here, and is going to really authentically reflect the identity of our place.
The deadline to apply for the flood wall mural project is Sept. 1.
Photo: Louisville Commision on
FALL ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT CALENDAR
BY MELISSA GADDIE FOR LEO
Ambo Dance Company
812 Clarks Ln.
The Graham Cracker: A Nutcracker Parody - December 8-10
Louisville Ballet
315 E Main St.
Studio Connections - September 13-22
Triple Take - November 1-3
The Brown-Forman NutcrackerDecember 13-24
The Brown Theater
315 W Broadway
I’m Glad About It: A Celebration
Of Louisville’s Gospel HeritageSeptember 28
Liverpool Legends - October 5
Reduced Shakespeare Company’s The Complete History Of America (Abridged) - Special Election Edition!October 9
Ballet Hispanico - October 12
Lewis Black: Goodbye Yeller Brick Road, The Final Tour - October 17
An Evening With Ira Glass - Seven Things I’ve Learned - October 19
Tower Of Power - October 23
Danae Hays - October 25
Gillian Welch & David RawlingsNovember 20
Nate Jackson: Super Funny World TourNovember 22
Rocky Mountain High Experience® - A John Denver Christmas - November 29
The Hip Hop Nutcracker - December 3
A Charlie Brown Christmas: Live On Stage - December 6
The Jinkx & Dela Holiday ShowDecember 7
Samara Joy ‘A Joyful Holiday’ Ft. The Mclendon Family - December 8
Mike Birbiglia: Please Stop The RideDecember 9
Beat - Belew/Vai/Levin/CareyDecember 10
Jim Brickman - Comfort & JoyDecember 14
Bourbon & Beyond Music Festival
937 Phillips Ln.
September 19-22
Chamber Music Society Of Louisville
Comstock Concert Hall 105 W Brandeis Ave.
Music From Copland House - October 20
Danish String Quartet - November 17
Kentucky Center
501 W Main St.
Dave Barnes With Special Guest Steve Moakler - August 25
Palette - August 30
The Gertrude Polk Brown Lecture SeriesThe Age Of Grievance - Author Frank Bruni - September 4
Jorge Luis Pacheco - September 27
Tartan Terrors - September 29
Haunted Objects Live! - October 1
Girls Night: The Musical - October 5
That Mexican Ot - October 8, 2024
An Evening With Justin Furstenfeld Of Blue
October - October 18
Piano Men: Generations - October 24
Sugar Skull! A Dia De Muertos Musical Adventure - October 26
Take3 - October 27
Avatar: The Last Airbender In ConcertOctober 29
Craig Ferguson: Pants On Fire - November 2
Twin Flames - November 8
Paul Thorn - November 8
Ranky Tanky - November 8
Taikoproject - November 10
An Evening With Chevy Chase - November 24
A Magical Cirque Christmas - December 1
The Kentucky Gentlemen - December 7
Christmas With C.s. Lewis - December 22
Mannheim Steamroller - December 20
Kentucky Opera 315 W Broadway
Bravo Time @ The Opera Center - August 14, Bravo Time @ The Opera Center - August 17
Freedom Summer @ All Peoples - A Unitarian Universalist Congregation - August 22
Production Sale - August 24-25
Amplify Freedom Songs: Celebrating Fannie Lou Hamer - October 6
Madama Butterfly - November 15, 17
Amahl And The Night Visitors - December 13, 22
Louder Than Life Music Festival 956 Phillips Ln.
September 26-29
Louisville Orchestra
501 W Main St.
The Planets - September 14
Music Without Borders : Across The DivideOctober 5
Brahms X Radiohead - October 12
Family Spooktacular - October 13
Carmina Burana - October 19
(Un)Silent Film: Nosferatu - October 23
Star Trek: Musical Voyage Through The Stars - October 26
Rick Steves’ Europe: A Symphonic JourneyNovember 9
Ray Chen Plays Barber - November 15November 16
The Nightmare Before ChristmasNovember 23
Handel’s Messiah - December 5-7
Santa’s Symphony Spectacular - December 14
Holiday Pops - December 14
Louisville Youth Orchestra
Sandy Allen Performing Arts Center(Ballard High School) 6000 Brownsboro Rd. and 315 W
Broadway
Classical Series Concert I - November 17
Classical Series Concert Ii - November 24
Discovery Concert - November 25
Holiday Pops Concert - December 15
Old Forester’s Paristown Hall 724 Brent St.
Iron And Wine - August 23
Tna Wrestling - Emergence & Tna Impact!August 30-31
The Labor Day Weekend Show - Jimmy Buffett Tribute Festival - August 31, September 1
The Louisville Fitness Passport FestivalSeptember 7
“Heart Strings” Film Premiere - September 7
Restless Leg String Band - September 20
Paristown Flea - September 21
Paristown Fall Art Fest - September 27-29
Violent Femmes - October 4
Pups In Paristown - October 5
Coin: I’m Not Afraid Of Tour Anymore W/ Aidan Bissett - October 9
Afro-Cuban All Stars - October 16
Liam Purcell & Cane Mill Road - October 18
Paristown Flea - October 19
Ken Carson Chaos Tour - November 6
Actors Theatre
316 W Main St.
Crip Camp Film Screening - August 14
Dracula: A Feminist Revenge FantasyOctober 2-20
Hershel And The Hanukkah GoblinsDecember 11-22
Broadway Louisville
501 W Main St.
Les Misérables - October 1-6
Mamma Mia! - December 3-8
Bunbury Theatre
604 S 3rd St #301
The Ferryman’s Daughter - September 6-8,12-15,19-22
Bridge In The Distance/Dead PeopleSeptember 27-29, October 3-5
The Gift Of The Magi/The Last LeafNovember 15-17, 20-24, 27-29
Centerstage
3600 Dutchmans Ln.
Classics In Concert Series: Music ManAugust 15-18, 22-25
Bent - A Special Collaboration With Drag
Daddy Productions And Louisville Pride Foundation. September 11, 12, 15, 19-22
You’re A Good Man, Charlie BrownNovember 7-10, 14-17
The Chamber Theatre
236 Woodbine St.
The House Of Bernarda Alaba/La Casa De Bernarda Alba - August 22-31
2025 Season Announcement In September
Clarksville Little Theatre
301 E Montgomery Ave.
Dracula - October 4-6, 10-13
A Christmas Carol The Musical - December 6-8, 12-15
Company Outcast
Potus September 20-29, 2024
Titus Andronicus October 11-20, 2024
Derby Dinner Playhouse
525 Marriott Dr., Clarksville
Jersey Boys - August 14-September 29
Karen Hester As Dolly - August 26
Chris Collins & Boulder Canyon Presents A Tribute To John Denver! - September 16
Dracula - October 3 - November 10
The True Story Of The Three Little PigsOctober 5-November 9
A Wonderful Life - November 13-December 31
A Fairy Tale Christmas - November 16-December 21
Floyd Central Theatrearts 6575 Old Vincennes Rd., New Albany
Mama Mia - November 8-10, 15-17
Kentucky Shakespeare 616 Myrtle St.
Untimely Ripp’d - October 2-27
Little Colonel Players
302 Mt Mercy Dr #8020, Pewee Valley
Ken Ludwig’s The Three MusketeersSeptember 27-29, Oct 3-6
It’s A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio ShowDecember 6-8, 12-15
Louisville Fringe Festival September 12-15
Mind’s Eye Theatre Company
Art Sanctuary 1433 S Shelby St,
Evil Dead The Musical - September 7-9, 12-14, 16, 19-21
Pandora Productions 604 S 3rd St.
Little Shop Of Horrors - August 15-18, 22-24, 29-31
Monsters Of The American Cinema - Oct. 11-13, 17-20, 24-27
Yeti For Love - December 6-8, 12-15, 19-21
Redline Performing Arts
The Color Purple - November 15-24
Shelby County Community Theater
801 Main St. Shelbyville
The Wizard Of Oz - September 5-8, 12-15
Macbeth - October 18-20, 25-27
Ebenezer - December 5-8, 12-15
Soin To Shakespeare
820 E Market St. New Albany,
Appearing At The Monarch Festival At Art On The Parish Green September 7
Stage One
1129 Payne St. And 501 W Main St.
The Farces Of Chekhov - September 19-28
Night Of The Living Dead - October 31-November 2
Radium Girls - November 15-23
The Best Christmas Pageant EverDecember 7-8, 14-15, 21
Three Witches Shakespeare Much Ado About Nothing - November
University Of Louisville Theatre The Thrust Theater 2314 S Floyd St.
Saint Lucy’s Eyes - September 20-26
Miss Holmes - November 15-24
Art Sanctuary 1433 S Shelby St.
Devils Night Masquerade Ball - August 31
Dark Castle Fest 2024 - September 26-28
Va Va Vision With Va Va Vixens - October 11-12, 18-19
Ladies Sing The Blues 2024 - November 10
Art Sanctuary Surreal Soiree - November 16
Big Four Bridge Arts Festival
1101 River Rd.
September 7 - September 8
Ius Paul W. Ogle Cultural And Community Center 4201 Grant Line Rd., New Albany
Britbeat: The Immersive Beatles Tribute Experience - September 7 Ius Fest October 26
Some Enchanted Evening - October 30
Riders In The Sky - November 13
Holiday Pops - December 7
Josephine Sculpture Park 3355 Lawrenceburg Rd., Frankfort
Symphonic Stroll With Lexington Philharmonic - September 7 (Rain Date Sunday, September 8)
The Madison Chautauqua Festival Of Art
601 W 1st St., Madison
September 28-29
Old Lou Brew Craft Beer Festival
Central Park 1340 S 4th St.
August 23
Madison Ribberfest 601 W 1st St., Madison
August 16-17
Roots 101 African American Museum 124 N 1st St.
Sankofa - September 12, Thursday, October 10, November 10, December 8
Speed Museum
2035 S 3rd St.
After Hours At The Speed - August 16, September 20, October 18
Community Days - August 18, September 29, October 27
Fall Family Night - October 3
Vernardo’s Circus 1101 E River Rd.
September 19-29
Waterfront Botanical Gardens 1435 Frankfort Ave.
Tyler Lance Walker Gill & The WolfmenSeptember 4
Hot Sauce Brass Band - October 2
Carmichael’s Books
2720 Frankfort Ave.
Poetry With V. Joshua Adams And Jennifer Whalen - August 13
David Gushee Presents Defending Democracy From Its Christian EnemiesAugust 17
An Evening Of Poetry With Sarah Gotham And Jeffrey Skinner - August 20
Laurien Berenson Presents Peg And Rose Play The Ponies - August 22
David Buckley Presents Blessing America First: Religion, Populism, And Foreign Policy In The Trump Administration - September 3
Aiden Thomas Discusses Celestial Monsters With Christen Randall - September 7
Elias Eells Discusses Cocktails And Consoles With Lee Mandelo - September 10
Arlie Russell Hochschild Presents Stolen Pride: Loss, Shame, And The Rise Of The Right - September 12
Wes Blake Discusses Pineville Trace With Erik Rust And David Dominé - September 19
Jon Reynolds Presents Illuminating Nature.September 22
Alexis Stratton And Adam Polaski Discuss Trans Kids, Our Kids. - September 26
David Daley Presents Antidemocratic: Inside The Far Right’s 50-Year Plot To Control American Elections - October 3
Matthew R. Sparks And Olivia Sizemore Discuss Haint Country: Dark Folktales From The Hills And Hollers - October 8
Shannon Stocker Presents Stronger At The Seams - October 12
Harold Holzer At Farmington - October 24
Carmichael’s Creature Double Feature Halloween Party With Andrew Shaffer And Jordan Speer - October 26
Louisville Book Festival Kicc 221 S 4th St, October 18 & 19, 2024
Kentucky Author Forum 501 W Main St.
Amor Towles, Best-Selling Author With Nyt Book Critic Alexandra Jacobs - September 30, 2024
Jim Sciutto, Cnn Anchor And Chief National Security Analyst - November 25, 2024
Joan Baez, Singer-Songwriter, Poet, And Activist With Radio Host Diane RehmOctober 21, 2024
Kmac Museum
715 W Main St.
Kmac Poetry Slams - Last Saturdays August - December 2024
Graham Cracker Poster 2024 Ballet King Lear
Courtesy photos
ARTIST RICK GIDEONS FINDS HIS GREATEST SUCCESS IN HELPING OTHERS TO OVERCOME PTSD
BY JEFF POLK
There are a few things you’ll quickly learn when speaking with Charlestown, IN-based artist and Fifty Eleven Media founder Rick Gideons. The first is that with his upbeat, funny, easy-going personality, he will make you feel like he’s an old friend you’ve known forever. The second is how much of a loving husband he is to his wife and a doting father he is to his 8-year old son. But foremost, you’ll learn about how his PTSD almost destroyed him.
The National Center for PTSD estimates that around 6% of the U.S. population will develop Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) at some point in their lives. Rick Gideons is one of them. But far from suffering, he is surviving it and thriving through his artwork, and by sharing his story - inspiring others to do the same.
“That is and always will be my ultimate success, the number of people that I can reach and inspire to find the things they need to heal so they can live a life they love and deserve. That’s why I want to share my story, because it proves that nothing is impossible, including healing from the things that refuse to let you go. I want people to see that it’s okay to open up and be vulnerable, but I had to learn that myself first.”
Born in Louisville to a drug addicted, emotionally abusive father who, according to Gideons, used him to commit crimes and as emotional leverage to get what he wanted. His mother, on the other hand, was the exact opposite. “She had to work hard to support me, but she did everything she could to give
me the best life,” said Gideons. His parents divorced when he was 8 years old, but his father would come and go in his life over the next several years, continuing the emotional abuse. “I don’t think there is a year between the age of 6 -17 that I didn’t have to deal with some sort of massive trauma,” said Gideons.
In 2006 at 20 years old, Rick joined the U.S. Army Infantry in an attempt to better his life, only to be honorably discharged a year later due to his mental health. “I carried that with me for a long time,” said Gideons. “That was the first time I felt like a failure.” This was just one of what Rick says were “at least 3 or 4 times in my life I’ve had to essentially start over with nothing; no plan, no direction, nothing outside of a few personal things I had managed to hold on to.”
He began working for Emergency Medical Services in 2009, eventually becoming a paramedic. It was over those next few years that he met and married his wife and had a son. By all outward appearances, Rick Gideons’ life seemed to finally be on the right paththen came May 20th, 2019; the day when Rick broke both of his legs in a skateboarding accident. “I was bed ridden for 6 weeks and then had to use a walker for 3 months,” he said, “and they have still never fully healed.”
But Rick has a far different perspective on this event than you’d expect; “Breaking my legs was the best thing to ever happen to me. That was the single moment that turned the page to the next chapter in my life and led me to the path that I am on now. Without it, we wouldn’t be talking right now. It saved my life!”
While still healing from his injuries in
early 2020, Rick made the decision not go back to work in the EMS field, instead opting to focus on his mental health while being a full-time stay-at-home dad; but this proved to be a much greater challenge than he had expected. “It opened a lot of old wounds that I wasn’t ready for because I didn’t have any references of a father other than painful ones,” said Gideons. “All of this led me to the lowest point of my life where I was only caring about myself and what I thought my needs were. I was hurting everyone around me, just like my father had, and that’s what pushed me to find help. [The thought of] losing my wife, my son, my life, was scarier than anything I had run from in my past, because without them I couldn’t see a life worth living. So that’s when I made the decision to figure it out, to become the man that she deserves, and to
be the father I had always dreamed of. It was the hard decision that my father could never make, and that’s the moment our paths forked and I haven’t looked back since.” In late 2020, after having already tried numerous medications to no avail, Rick found a clinic in Louisville that specialized in ketamine treatments, and that’s when everything changed for him. He recalled; “I came home after my first treatment and took a nap. When I woke up, I stepped out into our sun room, and the first thing I noticed was how loud the birds were. I had never heard them so loud before in my life. Suddenly reality started to set init wasn’t that the birds were any louder than they normally were; it was that my mind was quiet! Nothing but the thought I was actively having - no intrusive thoughts, no constant stream of past memories being triggered, just silence. That when I realized that it was going to work! For the first time in my life, PTSD wasn’t behind the wheel.”
But after going through all of his health savings on the initial ketamine treatments, Gideons found that he could no longer afford them and was left to find a new way to cope. “January of 2021 is when I first picked up my tablet to start drawing. It was something that helped occupy my mind when I was younger and going through some of my hardest times, so I figured it would be worth trying again.” This would lead Gideons to an unexpected revelation; “I was actually pretty good, and it was amazing for my PTSD in so many ways I wouldn’t have thought of.”
Within a month, Gideons had created several pieces of art and decided to post them online. To his surprise, people really liked them, and within a couple hours he had been contacted by someone wanting to purchase the rights to reproduce his art as
pins. “I was shocked that someone would pay me for something I drew,” said Gideons. “That was what started my career as an artist, what showed me that it was possible.”
A self-taught artist, Gideons works digitally, but all of his art is painstakingly hand drawn. “That is something that I have really enjoyed, just allowing my style to develop naturally,” he said. “It’s been exciting to be able to finally devote the time to this part of myself that I have had to neglect for so long.”
And he has already built an impressive list of clients, having done work for the likes of Bad Daddy, Popo Medic, Two Dogs Dispensary, Ventura College Paramedic Program, Safe Medical Training Solutions, Faksy Art, as well as several names in the local music community such as Punk Rock Night Louisville, Indignant Few, The Response, and Goose Hydra. He’s also worked with a couple local nonprofits very near and dear to his heart: Code EMS Peer Support and Mindfulness Medic.
His success has also encouraged him to embrace a passion he’s had for over 20 years; video production. He recently produced and directed the music video for Louisville punk rock band Godawfuls’ song “Her Dad Sells Pot”, shot promo videos for Punk Rock Night Louisville, and has recently started work on his own video series titled PRN [Dayshift].
Future plans include creating a children’s book about EMS. Said Gideons; “I am still very passionate about EMS, and as a child who had to experience some pretty traumatic situation that involved EMS, I want to create a children’s book based around helping children understand what’s going on during an emergency.”
When asked about what drives him to make his experiences with PTSD public, Rick
responded; “I want people to see me standing up for my PTSD and my treatments for it so it can inspire others to not be afraid of the stigma that comes with it. So sharing my experiences and publicly speaking out about it is something I have to do so others can see that they can too.”
He continued; “I have found my success in the success of helping others. That’s my real talent; everything else is just tools to help me to do that. I want to live a life that gives people that hope, not by telling them, but by showing them. Because you can’t tell someone how they need to heal, but you can inspire them to find the things they need to heal and show them it’s possible to turn your trauma into the reason for your greatness.”
And when asked about where he stands today with his PTSD, Rick said; “I have been able to make peace with the traumatic
relationship I had with my father. I can now see how both of our stories paralleled each other, and I was able to forgive him through understanding how he suffered. And I hope my father can find some peace in that I was able to overcome what he couldn’t. Being who I am now, loving life more than I have ever thought possible, I can finally find gratitude for the things I had to endure, the obstacles I had to overcome. I knew I wanted to be a dad before anything else, and I’m finally getting to experience what it’s like to have an amazing father by being one to my son.”
Gideons concludes; “I still have a lot of story left to live.”
To learn more about Rick Gideons, his art and his story, visit his website at: fifty-eleven.com
The Kentucky State Fair is back for the 120th year! Through various exhibits showcasing all of Kentucky’s culture, art, agriculture, and more, you can get a taste of what our amazing state has to offer. The Kentucky State Fair also has amazing concerts, delicious food, and fun rides kids, teens, and adults will enjoy. Don’t miss the second annual Beerfest on August 23!
—Malia Bowman
SATURDAY AUGUST 17
The SIP By New Albany Main St. New Albany Opera House Lot | 406 Pearl St., New Albany | Search Facebook | $45 | 3 –7 p.m.
Join local talent, businesses and good New Albany vibes for a day of good sips and fun in downtown New Albany. The SIP is a rain or shine event. No pets allowed and it’s 21+.
—Erica Rucker
SATURDAY, AUGUST 17
Punk Rock Night Louisville Presents: Godawfuls, Mommy’s Cigarettes, The Remote Controls, Tight Like a Tiger
The Alcove | 246 Spring St, Jeffersonville | thealcovebar.com | Free | 8 p.m. | 21 & over
PRN Louisville has a hell of a fun show lined up with this one! Godawfuls have just released their latest ep, Half Hot and Bothered, and will not only be bringing their brand of wild, fast, loud, rock & roll to the stage, but will also be premiering their latest music video, “Her Dad Sells Pot”, directed by Rick Gideons of Fifty Eleven Media, (who also did the art for the show flier). You’ll also get one of Louisville’s most entertaining bands: Mommy’s Cigarettes, as well as two of Indianapolis’ best punk rock bands: The Remote Controls and Tight Like a Tiger. This is definitely one you’re not going to want to miss! Plus it’s free, so you have no excuse!
—Jeff Polk
SATURDAY, AUGUST 17
The Shondas with The Southpaw Cigarettes
Seidenfaden’s | 1134 E. Breckinridge St. | instagram.com/ seidenfadensbar | Free | 8 p.m. | 21+
Punk rock not your thing? Well fret not because Seidenfaden’s has got your Saturday night covered with some rock and roll that will move your soul and get you moving on the dance floor! The Shondas - fronted by former LEO Weekly contributing writer David Serchuk - bring their diverse mix of classic rock, power pop, garage rock, Americana, folk, post-punk, rockabilly, and indie rock to the stage. I highly advise you to check out their recently released self-titled debut album. Plus you’re also getting the honky-tonkin’, bluesy country rock n’ roll of Louisville’s newest troublemakers The Southpaw Cigarettes. All of this for the low, low price of nothing! Bring yer dancin’ shoes!
—Jeff Polk
SUNDAY, AUGUST 18
Louisville Black Chef Showcase
Mellwood Art Center | $65 | eventbrite.com | All ages
The annual Black Chef Showcase event spotlights talents all over the city while celebrating Louisville’s Black chefs. This showcase celebrates culinary creativity and community within the Black community. There will be an array of small bites prepared by the chefs, with guests encouraged to indulge in a wide range of flavors.
—Caleb Stultz
MONDAY AUGUST 19 – 25
Louisville Wing Week
Various locations | wingweeklouisville.com | $8 wings
Louisville is home to some great spots for tasty wings, and with Louisville Wing Week coming up, you can try some unique wings for just $8. During this week, restaurants will be cooking up wings in secret sauces, and some may even have secret menu specialties only available during Wing Week. Wing lovers, you don’t want to miss this!
—Malia Bowman
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21
Funniest Person In Louisville Finals
The Caravan Comedy Club | $20 | redpintix. com | All ages
The 2024 Funniest Person In Louisville finals at The Caravan Comedy Club will feature comics from across not only the city, but around the region who have been through the opening rounds of this competition. Those who have successfully won their semifinal rounds will compete in Semi-Pro and Amateur categories against other comics to be named the Funniest Person In Louisville. You and your friends could help decide, since the audience makes the choice on who wins.
—Caleb Stultz
FRIDAY, AUGUST 23
Bonsai Weekend at Waterfront Botanical Gardens
Waterfront Botanical Gardens | $15 | waterfrontgardens.org | All ages
With dozens of bonsai on display, this weekend will include special guest artist and show judge Pil Malhiot, a people’s choice award, bonsai workshops and demonstrations with the Greater Louisville Bonsai Society, children’s programming, bonsai vendors, Asianinspired cuisine and more. If you get tickets before the event, you only need to pay $12. Those ages 16 and under get in for free.
The Summer of Soul features some of Louisville’s best voices singing in tribute to the legendary 1969 Concert and Documentary. Singers will include Kiana Del, Sheryl Rouse, Carly Johnson and more. This is an all ages event and one that any fan of soul music should definitely not miss. $2 from each ticket goes to The Center for Women and Families.
—Erica Rucker
SATURDAY, AUGUST. 24
Brew at the Zoo
Louisville Zoo | $125 | louisvillezoo.org | 21+
The annual Louisville Zoo fundraiser event boasts live music, drink tastings from craft breweries, a silent disco, and of course, exciting animal encounters and special engagements with zookeeper staff! Plus, there will be plenty of wine, oversized lawn games, and special late-night food bites. The fundraising event supports the advancement of special Zoo projects and initiatives that support species conservation and education.
—Sydney Catinna
FRIDAY, AUGUST 23-25
PopCon
Kentucky International Convention Center | 221 S 4th St. | popcon.us/ popcon-louisville | $60+
PopCon returns for its 2nd year in Louisville at the Kentucky International Convention Center. With a lineup of exciting events and experiences centered around movies, TV, anime, board games, cosplay, and more, it’s something no pop culture stan will want to miss with an unforgettable celebration of all things pop culture. From interactive displays to celebrity panels, there will be something for fans of all genres and interests.
—Sydney Catinna
SATURDAY, AUGUST. 24
91.9 WFPK Presents: King Buzzo and Trevor Dunn with JD Pinkus Headliners Music Hall | 1386 Lexington Rd. | headlinerslouisville.com | $22 adv/$25 day of show | All ages
Imagine The Melvins, Mr. Bungle, Fantômas, Tomahawk, and The Butthole Surfers all playing live together on the same stage here in Louisville! Would that not be a dream show? Well, that dream will become a reality…kinda. King Buzzo (Melvins, Fantômas), and bassist Trevor Dunn (Mr. Bungle, Tomahawk, Fantômas) have teamed up and gone acoustic to create a completely unhinged style of dark folk music. Check out the recently released, delightfully demented music video for “Eat The Spray” for a taste of their insanity. And let’s face it, there is literally only one person who could open this show: JD Pinkus, (Butthole Surfers, Melvins), whose “Space Grass” style of bluegrass-meets-folk-music-in-hell is the perfect appetizer. Fuck knows what to expect at this show, but I guarantee it will be amazing!
—Jeff Polk
NAT MYERS TALKS COUNTRY AND BLUES
BY BRYCE RUSSELL
Rising country music star Charley Crockett played a set of his brand of retro-country inspired music at Louisville’s Iroquois Amphitheater this Tuesday, July 30. With him, he brought Kentucky-native country blues artist Nat Myers.
Born in Kansas but raised in Northern Kentucky, Korean-American blues artist Nat Myers plays a back-to-basics blues approach, free from electric guitars, that brings with it a feeling of old pre-war race records, with inspiration from artists like Charley Patton and Louisville’s own country blues pioneer Sylvester Weaver. We were able to talk with Nat to discuss his music and Kentucky’s relationship with the blues.
LEO: I wanted to start these questions at the beginning, so what has your musical journey been like?
Nat Myers: My musical journey started out like most folks, playing to myself in my parent’s basement and in my bedroom. I started busking on the block for a while. I was selling weed for a while in New York for a bit, I had some close calls, and I just realized [that] wasn’t really the thing for me. I started going out on the block because I had all this music I was working on. I remember up in New York and people kept suggesting this place called the Jalopy and they kind of gave me some of my first gigs. My good friend Jay Skaggs, he’s also from Northern Kentucky, he gave me, I think, my actual first gig. Besides that man, I’ve been playing for about eight years now, but things didn’t start really kicking for me until about two and a half years ago, kind of in the middle of the pandemic people started getting wind of my music. I had some early supporters like G Love and Special Sauce, I remember they reached out to me when I really didn’t have nothing going on. Some good friends of mine like Nicholas Edward Williams, who runs the American Songcatcher Podcast, I remember he did a shoutout for me. I owe a lot, honestly, to this fella named Matt Eich, he makes these guitars called Mule Guitars up in Saginaw, Michigan and he posted my stuff and that really got the train started. But in terms of where I am
now, being able to open for amazing acts like Charley Crockett, I met my agents and you know, like a barbecue, just real kind of happenstance.
Your first full length album came out last year, this year your opening for Charley Crockett who has blown up recently and continues to get bigger. How do you think the response has been for your acoustic, back-to-basics kind of blues, where there isn’t a lot of that being played now?
It kind of meets the proportions of race records back in the 1930s and ‘40s, and that’s sort of my bread and butter, the sort of pre-war records. The pre-war music honestly wasn’t even being listened to much back in the day, there were a few upstarts that kind of crossed over, but for the most part the music was kind of like how it is nowadays, it kind of
gets overlooked. There’s plenty of blues labels, but there aren’t a lot of labels that have been kind of cut on country blues music, the acoustic blues music that I’m doing. [My label] Easy Eye obviously has been very receptive to stuff that has that retro or like you were saying that kind of back-to-basics mentality behind it, but for the most part all the larger labels stick to their bread and butter which is the electric blues. But it’s cool man, I’m kind of part of this burgeoning scene when it comes to this country blues music / country folk music. I think it’s really going on, but I think it kind of comes down to whether the actual powersthat-be want to pay attention to it. For the most part, I think the thing about country blues players aren’t held by the trends, they ain’t really sticking cameras in their faces. But for the most part I think it comes particularly to artists like Charley Crockett, anybody
kind of in this country revival that is happening from pop country to western country to what Tyler Childers would say, that being that Americana is just a costume for country music. You know, when all the water rises all the boats float, and I think I’ve found a lot of love from the country scene. I wouldn’t say I wasn’t getting any from the blues scene but it wasn’t until this past year I was playing my first blues festival and opening for blues acts.
That’s interesting you say the country music scene has been more receptive than the blues scene.
Yeah, [I think that’s because] when it boils down to it, the thing about a lot of these cats and the music their playing, their playing the five-bars or the twelve-bars but they have a little more draw, put a ten gallon hat on, and put some honky-tonk guitar behind it. For
“…I’m
not interested in shifting or adjusting. A lot of people may play this music for their fans or because whatever arrows of fortune point them to, but I don’t give a goddamn about any of that, truth be told. It’s just really awesome that some folks are giving a shit about it.”
me, I think some of the best blues players are folks like Charley or Neil Emerson. In terms of the country blues scene, I’ll shout it from the rooftops, I think Jontavious Willis is one of the best doing it right now. I think people are starting to get wind, and it’s going to continue to get proven that the excellence that comes out of the country blues scene will get acknowledged, or continue to get acknowledged.
You mentioned how the country music revival, moving away from pop country, is getting popular with folks like Tyler Childers, Charley Crockett, Sturgill Simpson, and Zach Bryan. How does it make you feel like a lot of that is coming from Kentucky with people like Tyler and Sturgill?
It makes me happy. Kentucky doesn’t really get talked about for country blues music, you know people think I’m from Mississippi or something when I play. I would say that’s a misnomer that shows the power and mainstay of what delta blues music or even piedmont has in the larger narrative of blues music. Kentucky has kind of got continuously annexed from that conversation. I think what’s interesting about Kentucky is it’s kind of its own thing and it always has been. Bluegrass and country, those exportations have always dominated the scene, but I think with country blues there is a deep legacy that occurs in Kentucky, primarily in Louisville. One of the first country blues guitar solos was done by a fella named Sylvester Weaver who grew up in Smoketown. I think there needs to be a better acknowledgement of country blues coming out of Kentucky. Again, it boils down to what exactly are the compartmentalizations you’re putting on the music, because a lot of the country musicians in the state are some of the best doing the blues right now.
I was just about to mention Sylvester Weaver when you mentioned Louisville. If I can just harp on Sylvester Weaver for a second. I’ve been able to get close with S.G. Goodman or Kelsey Waldon, two other really great Kentucky artists, and they come from Western Kentucky and have a very different ilk in terms of perception of what Kentucky
means. That part of the state they come from is right on the Mississippi river, the conduit of that river and the Ohio River continues to be one of the biggest arteries for country music. Talking to Kelsey Waldon or S.G. Goodman they really put into perspective that, regionally speaking we are this crossroads.
What are your major influences?
Oh man, those old chicken pickers back in the day. Some of those musicians [I listen to] now or are always on repeat. Sylvester Weaver is one. Charley Patton is one, they call him the “Father of the Blues.” Somebody I’ve really gotten into recently is Gene Campbell, he recorded a lot back in the 30s but he got kind of washed out as history went on.
How did you discover that sort of music? I remember learning about guys like that after my dad introduced me to Bob Dylan who is greatly inspired by those guys like Charley Patton.
Yeah, in terms of my musical legacy, my dad listened to a wide plethora of music. I remember being a little kid and he’d be playing old country blues compilations and then you watch old home videos you’d have arthur crudup or elvis playing in the background. He had such a wide variety of musical interests and I think that enabled me as I got older and became my own what I wanted to do with music. I never really wanted to play guitar except to play blues music, I’m not interested in shifting or adjusting. A lot of people may play this music for their fans or because whatever arrows of fortune point them to, but I don’t give a goddamn about any of that, truth be told. It’s just really awesome that some folks are giving a shit about it. What it boils down to is I’m going to be playing this music in my basement now, in the past, and in the future. It’s amazing to have an audience and I hope I can keep appealing to folks generally speaking. Those deep cuts though, that’s all I really care about man. And I love me some Bob Dylan too, man.
We kind of already discussed this, but overall, how do you think being from Kentucky impacts your music?
Everything, man. I was born in Kansas but I don’t know jackshit about Kansas. Everything I’ve known growing up has been Northern Kentucky and Louisville. I think it impacts everything I do, not just my music. Just my thinking, whether it be politics or just my way of living. I think my music definitely wouldn’t be the same if I wasn’t from Kentucky. It comes down to what we were talking about with country music, and what is the nature of authenticity. I think if we look at authenticity as a concept much more so than a true or false thing, then Kentucky really has this reputation that precedes itself, and I’m so lucky to be from a state like that.
Nat Myers
Jim Herrington
AMYL AND THE SNIFFERS TEAR IT UP AT MERCURY BALLROOM
BY BRYCE RUSSELL
Australian punk rock band Amyl and the Sniffers stopped by Louisville’s Mercury Ballroom during their U.S. tour, along with British punk openers Lambrini Girls.
Lambrini Girls set the feel for tonight, with raucous, abrasive punk rock with messages ranging from anti-government (“God’s Country”) to pro-LGBTQ (“Help Me I’m Gay”), as well as using their platform to speak on human rights issues across the world. A busted bass amp led to some improvisation, with singer and guitarist Phoebe Lunny jumping the barricade and entering the audience to start some crowd-created chants backed by a
broken, scuzzy sounding bass and explosive drums.
After Lambrini Girls’ opening set, Amyl and the Sniffers took the stage and launched into an electrifying set, immediately prompting people in the pit to start crowd surfing and thrashing about, much to the annoyance of security who were kept busy the entire night to ensure no one fell.
The crowd, made up of punk rock fans of all ages, fell in love with Amy’s energetic and fun-yet-angry attitude, singing along to songs like “Hertz” and “Guided By Angels.”
The punk music of Amyl and the Sniffers harkens back to the classic era of punk,
with echoes of legendary bands like The Damned and The Stooges, proving it’s a sound that continues to captivate newer audiences. Amyl and the Sniffers don’t just retread classic punk, but continue to help evolve the genre, with funky bass lines like that of their newly released song “U Should Not Be Doing That” (which they played for their encore), along with resonant subject matter like gender double standards (“U Should Not Be Doing That”) and gender related violence (“Knifey”).
The packed crowd at Mercury Ballroom left energized and ready to keep the show going, it’s a shame the show had to end.
Zac Bayly
IT’S HARD TO GO WRONG AT RELIABLE NAMNAM CAFE
BY ROBIN GARR
I really like little Namnam Cafe in St. Matthews, but to be honest, the last time I was there it wasn’t easy to concentrate my full attention on the fare.
What was the problem? That was in mid-March of 2020, just days before Gov. Andy Beshear ordered Kentucky restaurants and bars closed to indoor dining.
When we arrived just a few days before that, everyone was well aware of the coming pandemic, and not entirely sure if everyone was going to survive. I’m generally mellow, but just about everyone tenses up a bit when confronted with our own mortality.
So, although I enjoyed the experience and wrote about it fondly, it crossed my mind the other day that it wouldn’t hurt to take a fresh look without a flight-or-fight response going on in my head.
Namnam Cafe is comfort Vietnamese food for me. It has operated since 2011 in the tiny St. Matthews building that the original Simply Thai occupied for five years before moving to larger quarters across Wallace Avenue.
Namnam’s owners, Chef David Truong and family, have expanded the space by enclosing a roofed patio on the side to create a weatherproof back room. The result is, let’s say, lovably disheveled, with comfortable if saggy booth seats and portable air conditioners that struggle and hum on sultry days. I like to imagine Namnam as a tiny eatery in a rural Vietnamese town, in contrast with
the more urban Ho Chi Minh City vibe of Vietnam Kitchen, District 6, and other local Vietnamese favorites.
The menu is extensive, and it’s published almost entirely in English, without some of the Vietnamese names that we’ve learned over the years since our Vietnamese neighbors arrived. Pho is listed as soup, banh xeo as a crepe, and so on. Everything is excellent, though, and easy to figure out, so no harm done.
Eight appetizer rolls – two fried and six wrapped in rice paper – are priced from $6.75 (for crab rangoon) to $9 (for a beef summer roll stuffed with grass-fed locally raised tenderloin). Four variations on pho are $14.50 (for
veggie pho) to $16.75 (for bone-broth pho with Stone Cross Farm beef tenderloin).
A dozen entrees including noodle dishes, curries, stir-fries, fried rice, and a Vietnamese crepe, are almost all priced in the $14 to $16 range, with charges varying depending on your choice of chicken, pork, beef, shrimp, tofu, or veggies. A single outlier, shaking beef made with Stone Cross Farm grass-fed meat, is $22.75 plus a $2 surcharge if you wish a drizzle of duck fat.
Beverages include U.S. soft drinks, teas, fruit teas, bubble teas, and Vietnamese coffee drinks, plus a changing selection of beers. We started with a shared order of Buddha rolls ($7.50). Two very large rice paper-wrapped
Left Page: Locally produced grass-fed beef adds deep flavor to a rich, clear broth that elevates Namnam’s complex and satisfying pho.
Rotund as a traditional Buddha statue, Namnam’s Buddha roll carries a tasty load of noodles, tofu, and veggies tightly stuffed in its rice-paper wrapper.
Right Page: Spicy yellow curry flavors add modest heat to rice noodles and your choice of chicken, pork, beef, shrimp, tofu (pictured) or veggies.
Robin Garr
rolls were split into four chinks and plated on ridged green square plates that resembled banana leaves. They were loaded with cold rice noodles, slices of chewy grilled tofu, a few bean sprouts and bright carrot shreds, and crisp leaf lettuce. Each plate came with a small tub of tangy-sweet peanut butter and hoisin sauce topped with chopped peanuts. I’m pretty sure I could see the Buddha smiling as we mindfully enjoyed this simple treat.
Virtually all of our dishes were served in large, bright-red bowls. Pho with brisket ($14.75) was a delight, simply made and flawless. Crystal-clear beef bone broth boasted a deep beefy flavor heightened by subtle hints of anise. It cradled a bed of tender rice noodles, thin-sliced onions and snipped scallions, and about eight rectangular slices of flavorful Stone Cross Farm grass-fed brisket, cut crosswise and very tender. The traditional. pile of greens and herbs to be added as you like it came alongside: bean sprouts, Thai basil leaves, a slice of fresh jalapeño, and a lime wedge.
Pho with vegetables ($14.50) made a fascinating plant-based flip side to the beefy, meaty brisket pho. A nest of springy white rice noodles made a base for a produce stand’s assortment of veggies cooked crisp-tender, including snow peas, tiny carrots, thick mushroom slices, onions, and small squares of tofu. It all swam in a simple, savory broth that showed off enticing aroma
Saigon noodle tofu ($14.25) started with a ration of stir-fried rice noodles dosed with the bright yellow turmeric color and piquant bite of Southeast Asian yellow curry sauce, then added long carrot and onion shreds cut to match the noodles, bean sprouts, bite-size cabbage leaves, green onions, and chewy rectangles of pressed and baked tofu. Thanks to the curry, it’s not available with less than medium spice, and that was fine with me.
Lunch for three came to $54.06 plus tip. The share for two would have been $36 plus tip.
Noise Level: Despite parties at several tables and an air conditioner laboring next to our seats, noise levels remained in the 65dB range, posing no barrier to conversation.
Accessibility: Part of the restaurant is accessible to wheelchair users, but the entrance door is heavy, much of the dining area is down a short step, and a narrow hall back to the unisex restroom would be hard to negotiate in a wheelchair.
WHEN MOVIES WERE GREAT: POWELL & PRESSBURGER AT THE SPEED CINEMA
BY TRACY HEIGHTCHEW
What makes a movie not merely good or entertaining, but great? Great films are made by artists who lean into the unique facets of the art form and cast a spell using camera movement, special effects trickery, music, and controlled sound. They coax complex performances out of actors who practice their medium in the vacuum of a film set, reaching out for understanding from an audience they will never see. And great films often are a product of their time, an answer to the immediate needs of the world around them, but with insights into the human condition that transcend the time in which they were made. Great films, like myths and fairy tales, are timeless.
Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger understood that they were magicians, and lived their professional careers as brothers in film. The English Powell and the transplanted Hungarian Pressburger were stars of British World War II cinema, working under the title The Archers. Their early films “The 49th Parallel” and “The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp” went beyond wartime propaganda, and made them stars.The mass popularity of their film and their tireless commitment to pushing the art form afforded them early freedom and funding, and they made several masterpieces, three of which are playing the Speed Cinema in this limited retrospective run.
First came “Black Narcissus.” A luscious and hothouse nunnery drama set in the Himalayas, its’ incredible sets create an otherworldly and suffocating atmosphere of a secluded life on the brink of breakdown. It is an erotic masterpiece, lush in color, and full of rich performances that center the experiences of women. They followed up this hit film with “The Red Shoes,” an adaptation of Hans Christen Anderson’s tragic tale of a dancer who is betrayed by her magical ballet shoes. It is a film that explores the world of ballet, both backstage and on. Using elements that would later come to define magic realism, they created a film that is often listed as their best, a classic fairy tale that has influenced all dance films to come. The third movie in the retrospective, and the only film that is solely directed
by Michael Powell, is “Peeping Tom,” a film pariah hidden away for decades. It is a cult film and a legend for its luridness and the critical upset it caused in 1960 when it was released just months before Hitchcock’s “Psycho” changed the film landscape. The film follows Leo Marks, a cinephillic killer, obsessed with filming women as he murders them. “Peeping Tom” is a study in voyeurism and a direct challenge to the audience. It asks what responsibility does the director have for the magic they create, especially when it is a dark magic. It is a must see for horror fans and people who like to think about the function of film. It famously ended Michael’s Powell’s storied career, and it would not be until 1975 that audiences could see the film again, thanks to a super fan named Martin Scorsese.
Scorsese is the star film historian in the new documentary “Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger,” also playing the Speed Cinema. He first felt the spell of P&P as an asthmatic kid watching “The Thief of Bagdad” and “The Tales of Hoffman” on a tiny black and white television, both fantastic feats of technicolor dreams come to life. Even with these technical limits, Scorsese was imprinted by their work, and names them as major influences on his own work.
Ostracized by the film world after the release of “Peeping Tom,” Michael Powell was pulled out of oblivion by the young, hotshot director, just off the release of “Mean Streets.” Scorsese led the charge to remaster and re-release many of the films, and invited Powell to be an active player behind the scenes on set until Powell’s death in 1990. It was on set that Powell met his future wife, Scorsese’s longtime editor, the brilliant Thelma Schoonmaker, making this movie family even more official.
“Made in England” is a love letter to the unique relationship and career of Powell & Pressburger, and a study of their influence on Scorsese’s own work. Any doc that features noteworthy and beautiful scenes from the P&P films is well worth a watch, and the touching love that Marty has for his filmic heroes makes it a sweet endeavor too. It is essential viewing for any student of Powell & Pressburger, and important for
the cinephile who wants to understand better what makes a film great.
If you can make time over two weekends to watch four films in the cinema, please do. But, considering how short we are on time, and the hard choices we have to make, my cinematic advice would be see the documentary at home, preferably once you have watched as many Archer films as possible, from “A Canterbury Tale” to “A Matter of Life & Death.” I say this despite the fact that “Made in England” is a pleasure to watch and a rich piece of film scholarship. Rather, I am urging the cinephiles among us to go watch not one, but three films that were made with full
throated passion by artists at the top of their career. Don’t miss your chance to see great films on the big screen where their spell is most forcefully cast. It may be a lifetime before you get the chance again!
Martin Scorsese Michael Powell Thelma Schoonmaker Made in England Cohen Media Group
Karl Bohm in Peeping Tom
Courtesy photo
Kathleen Byron in Black Narcissus Courtesy photo
LOUISVILLE PRIDE FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES ITS HOMECOMING LINEUP
BY LEO WEEKLY
Louisville Pride Foundation has unveiled their 2024 Pride Festival lineup for this year’s “Homecoming”-themed event. On Saturday, Sept. 14, the festival will take place on Bardstown Rd., starting at Grinstead to Longest Ave. from 11 a.m. – 10 p.m.
Performances
by:
Marzz: A Louisville native, Marzz is a rising R&B sensation known for their deeply emotive voice and compelling storytelling. With a sound that blends contemporary R&B with soul and pop, Marzz has quickly become a local favorite and is set to deliver a mesmerizing performance.
DJ Kim Sorise: Renowned for her eclectic style, DJ Kim Sorise mixes a wide range of genres, creating an unforgettable audio experience. Her dynamic sets have made her a staple in the Louisville music scene, promising festival-goers an exhilarating
auditory journey.
DJ Warren Peace: Known for his infectious energy and seamless mixes, DJ Warren Peace has been a prominent figure in Louisville’s nightlife. His ability to blend different musical styles ensures a vibrant and engaging atmosphere.
Ahc (Annahelen Croce): An artist and producer from Louisville, Ahc brings a unique blend of house, hip-hop, and hyperpop. Her self-directed and edited music videos showcase her versatility and creative vision, making her a must-see act.
Jessica Leslie: A multi-talented singer and performer, Jessica Leslie captivates audiences with her powerful voice and stage presence. Her performances are both soulful and dynamic, adding a touch of elegance to the festival lineup.
The Daddy Sisters: Hailing from Bowling Green, The Daddy Sisters are known for their rock-infused sound and charismatic
performances. Their music is a vibrant blend of rock and roll with a modern twist, promising a high-energy show.
School of Rock Louisville: This talented group of young musicians is known for their impressive covers and original songs. Their performances are a testament to the thriving local music education scene and showcase the next generation of musical talent.
With showcases by local arts groups:
Redline Performing Arts: Known for high-energy and innovative dance and theater performances, Redline promises to captivate and thrill festival-goers.
Pandora Productions: Louisville’s only theater company dedicated to LGBTQ+ stories, offering thought-provoking and emotionally powerful performances.
Centerstage at the JCC: Presenting Broadway-quality musical theater, showcasing the immense talent within Louisville’s community.
The Mind’s Eye Theatre Company: Specializing in immersive and experiential theater, providing intellectually stimulating and artistically enriching performances.
The VaVa Vixens: Sensational burlesque and variety troupe known for extravagant costumes and sultry performances, adding glamor to the festival.
Time Slip Theatre: Explores the boundaries of time and storytelling with unique, narrative-driven performances that engage and enthrall.
Drag Daddy Productions: Spectacular drag shows celebrating the vibrant and inclusive drag culture of Louisville.
Actors Theatre of Louisville: Prestigious regional theater delivering powerful and transformative performances.
Voices of Kentuckiana: A diverse chorus blending voices to celebrate and inspire through the power of music.
Louisville Orchestra Ensemble: A distinguished group bringing classical and contemporary orchestral music to life.
Festival visitors will have access to over 150 vendors, local eateries, retail and LGBTQaffirming businesses. Performances will happen across two stages.
The Healthy Communities Initiative will be there with their “Immunity in the Community” vaccine program, “Positive Vibes” HIV Support, and their LGBTQcentered harm reduction program, “Style & Substance.”
“This year’s theme, ‘Homecoming,’ is a celebration of our journey together as a community,” said Louisville Pride Foundation executive director Ebony Cross in a release. “Our mainstage lineup is packed with talent that truly embodies the spirit and diversity of Louisville. From stunning theater performances to electrifying drag acts and everything in between, there’s something for everyone to enjoy. We can’t wait to see the streets of Bardstown Road come alive with joy, pride, and unity.”
Don’t panic, there will be plenty of Queens and Kings making the rounds and performing.
Daddy Sisters
Courtesy photo
freewillastrology@freewillastrology.com
FREE WILL ASTROLOGY
Week of August 14
ROB BREZSNY
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Years ago, when I worked as a postal delivery person in Santa Cruz, California, I mastered my route quickly. The time allotted to complete it was six hours, but I could easily finish in four. Soon I began to goof off two hours a day, six days a week. Many great works of literature and music entertained me during that time. I joined a softball team and was able to play an entire game each Saturday while officially on the job. Was what I did unethical? I don’t think so, since I always did my work thoroughly and precisely. Is there any comparable possibility in your life, Aries? An ethical loophole? A workaround that has full integrity? An escape clause that causes no harm?
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): From an astronomer’s perspective, Uranus is huge. Sixty-three Earths could fit inside of it. It’s also weirdly unique because it rotates sideways compared to the other planets. From an astrologer’s point of view, Uranus symbolizes the talents and gifts we possess that can be beneficial to others. If we fully develop these potentials, they will express our unique genius and be useful to our fellow humans. It so happens that Uranus has been cruising through Taurus since 2018 and will mostly continue there until 2026. I regard these years as your best chance in this lifetime to fulfill the opportunities I described. The coming weeks will be especially pregnant with possibilities.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Mountaineer Edmund Hillary is renowned as the first person to climb to the summit of Mt. Everest. It happened in 1953. Less famous was his companion in the ascent, Gemini mountaineer Tenzing Norgay. Why did Hillary get more acclaim than Norgay, even though they were equal partners in the monumental accomplishment? Was it because one was a white New Zealander and the other a brown Nepalese? In any case, I’m happy to speculate that if there’s a situation in your life that resembles Norgay’s, you will get remediation in the coming months. You will receive more of the credit you deserve. You will garner the acknowledgment and recognition that had previously been unavailable. And it all starts soon.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): As an American, I’m embarrassed by the fact that my fellow citizens and I comprise just four percent of the world’s population but generate 20 percent of its garbage. How is that possible? In any case, I vow that during the next five weeks, I will decrease the volume of trash I produce and increase the amount of dross I recycle. I
encourage you, my fellow Cancerians, to make a similar promise. In ways that may not be immediately imaginable, attending to these matters will improve your mental health and maybe even inspire you to generate an array of fresh insights about how to live your life with flair and joy.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): The coming weeks will be a wonderful time to waste time on the internet. If you are properly aligned with cosmic rhythms, you will spend long hours watching silly videos, interacting with friends and strangers on social media, and shopping for products you don’t really need. JUST KIDDING!! Everything I just said was a dirty lie. It was designed to test your power to resist distracting influences and mediocre advice. Here’s my authentic counsel, Leo. The coming weeks will be a fantastic phase to waste as little time as possible as you intensify your focus on the few things that matter to you most.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Scientific research suggests that brushing and flossing your teeth not only boosts the health of your gums, but also protects your heart’s health. Other studies show that if you maintain robust microbiota in your gut, you’re more likely to avoid anxiety and depression as you nurture your mental health. The coming weeks will be a favorable time to focus on big-picture thoughts like these, Virgo. You will be wise to meditate on how each part of your life affects every other part. You will generate good fortune as you become more vividly aware and appreciative of the intimate interconnectedness that underlies all you do.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): The official term for the shape of a single piece of M&M candy is “oblate spheroid.” It’s rounded but not perfectly round. It looks like a partially squashed sphere. An Iraqi man named Ibrahim Sadeq decided to try the difficult task of arranging as many M&M’s as possible in a vertical stack. He is now the world’s record holder in that art, with seven M&M’s. I am imagining that sometime soon, Libra, you could achieve a comparable feat in your own domain. What’s challenging but not impossible?
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): I’ve heard many people brag about their hangovers. The stories they tell are often entertaining and humorous. One of my best laughs emerged in response to two friends describing the time they jumped on the roof a parked Mercedes Benz at 3 am and sang songs from Verdi’s opera Falstaff until the cops came and threw them in a jail cell with nothing to eat or drink for ten hours. In
accordance with astrological omens, Scorpio, I ask you to not get a hangover in the coming weeks, even an amusing one. Instead, I encourage you to studiously pursue extreme amounts of pleasurable experiences that have only good side effects.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Most famous musicians demand that their dressing rooms be furnished with specific amenities. Beyoncé needs rose-scented candles. Rihanna expects her preparatory sanctuary to have dark blue or black drapes topped with icy blue chiffon. Eminem insists on a set of 25-pound dumbbells, and the hip-hop duo Rae Sremmurd wants Super Soaker water guns. Since the coming weeks may be as close to a rock star phase of your cycle as you’ve ever had, I recommend you create a list of your required luxuries. This imaginative exercise will hopefully get you in the mood to ask for exactly what you need everywhere you go.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Sleep deprivation is widespread. I see it as a pandemic. According to some studies, over half the people in the world suffer from insomnia, don’t get enough sleep, or have trouble falling asleep or staying asleep. Most research on this subject doesn’t mention an equally important problem: that many people aren’t dreaming enough. And the fact is that dreaming is key to our psychological well-being. I bring this to your attention, Capricorn, because the coming weeks will be a favorable time to enhance your relationship with sleep and dreams. I encourage you to learn all you can and do all you can to make your time in bed deeply rejuvenating.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Only 47 people live on the volcanic Pitcairn Islands, which are located in the middle of nowhere in the South Pacific Ocean. Pollution is virtually non-existent, which is why the honey made by local bees is the purest on the planet. In accordance with astrological omens, I’d love for you to get honey like that in the coming weeks. I hope you will also seek the best and purest of everything. More than ever, you need to associate with influences that are potent, clear, genuine, raw, vibrant, natural, and full-strength.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Many Indigenous people in North America picked and ate wild cranberries. But farm-grown cranberries available for commercial use didn’t appear until 1816. Here’s how it happened. In Cape Cod, Massachusetts, a farmer discovered a secret about the wild cranberry bog on his land. Whenever big storms dumped sand on the bog, the fruit grew with more lush vigor. He tinkered with this revelation from nature and figured out how to cultivate cranberries. I recommend this as a teaching story, Pisces. Your assignment is to harness the power and wisdom provided by a metaphorical storm or disturbance. Use it to generate a practical innovation in your life.
Homework: What do you want but think you’re not supposed to want?
WHAT EATS YOU
BY DAN SAVAGE
Hey Dan: I’m a queer cis woman in my late 30s with a problem: I don’t like having my pussy eaten. This isn’t about me being uncomfortable with the way my pussy looks or smells or tastes. I just don’t like the sensation. At best, I get close but eventually plateau, which is frustrating. At worst, it feels slimy, like a slug exploring my genitals. Also, being on my back with my knees up reminds me of being at the gynecologist, which is not sexy. In the end, it’s just not my thing. But the actual problem for me is modern men. They are obsessed with eating pussy and get very pouty when you don’t think it’s the best. I like plenty of other things — being held and talked dirty to, light teasing with their mouths, fingering, etc. — but they all want to get me off orally. I get a lot of, “You just haven’t had it done right,” or, “Wait until I do it for you,” and then they get mad when (surprise!) I don’t like this thing I don’t like. I tried dating a couple of men who “don’t eat pussy,” but those men didn’t seem to care at all about getting a woman off. And while I’m queer, it feels like cunnilingus is even more important when you’re hooking up with other women/AFABs. Honestly, I feel like faking it with new partners and enjoying my actual orgasms alone would be easier than opening about this to new people. Being treated like a freak has turned sex, which is supposed to be fun, into something that makes me feel bad about myself.
Any advice would be appreciated. At the very least, Dan, maybe you could make a public service announcement telling people that being GGG for a cis woman doesn’t just mean eating her pussy, it means showing a genuine interest in who she is as an individual sexual being.
–Wish I Liked Licks
Let’s get that PSA out of the way:
Not everyone likes receiving oral! There are cis men who don’t like having their cocks sucked! There are cis women who don’t like having their pussies eaten! There are trans men who don’t like having their pussies eaten or their neophalluses sucked and trans women who don’t like having their cocks sucked or their neovaginas eaten and enbies who don’t like having their genitals — whatever form they take — licked or sucked! People are allowed to dislike things! Even things you’re good at! Even things most people like! Being GGG means listening to people when they tell you what they like! And doing those things! If they’re things you like too! It’s really not hard! I hope that helps, WILL, but since PSAs
never reach 100% of their target demo, you’ll still have to tell new partners you dislike receiving oral sex. Which means, if you don’t wanna spend the rest of your life faking orgasms before sneaking away to get yourself off (which sounds worse than having to explain that receiving oral isn’t what you want), you’re gonna have to use your words
Pro-tip: don’t string weak-ass words together into mealymouthed statements like, “Sometimes I get close from oral but I’ve never gotten off from oral and there are other things we could do if that’s okay?” The kind of guys you wanna fuck — who are, ironically enough, the kind of guys who do wanna eat pussy — are highly likely to interpret a statement like that as a cry for help. Many of them may have been with women in the past who were uncomfortable with their own genitals and/or had never been with a guy who loved eating pussy, WILL, and thanks to their persistence — in offering oral over and over again — dozens or hundreds of other women overcame their hangups and discovered that they loved being on the receiving end of oral sex. That is how it sometimes goes down.
But that’s not how it’s gonna go down for you.
You don’t have issues with how your pussy looks, smells, or tastes and you’ve been with plenty of men who loved eating pussy. You’ve give it a try… again and again and again… and it’s not for you. So, when you’re with a new sex partner, WILL, you need to hammer that point home with a clear and emphatic statement like this: “You’re one of the good guys — I hate straight guys who don’t go down on women — but plenty of people who were really good at eating pussy have gone down on me and it does nothing for me. Not only doesn’t it turn me on, it turns me the fuck off. And that’s not what either of us is here for. So, about those fingers of yours…”
Zooming out for a second, WILL, you say you’re frustrated by modern men who seem to believe eating pussy is synonymous with meeting a woman’s needs — and you’re proof that isn’t true for all women — but you’ve found that retrograde men who loudly refuse to eat pussy are worse, as those men don’t care about getting a woman off. I have some good news for you, WILL: your choices aren’t limited to guys who won’t shut up about how much they love eating pussy and guys who won’t shut up about how much they hate it. Because
“As prices of admission go, ANAL, having butt sex that doesn’t feel good is too steep a price to pay. Going without anal sex, on the other hand, is a price many have paid to be with someone they loved.”
mixed into the pile of modern men who seem obsessed with eating pussy, WILL, you will find a small number of modern men who are only pretending to be obsessed. And in that pile of queer women (and AFABs) you might wanna fuck or date, WILL, you will find a small number of women (and AFABs) who enjoy everything about sapphic sex except the eating pussy part.
The kind of partner you want is someone who goes through the motions of pushing back when you say you don’t want to receive oral sex (“Wait until I do it for you!”) but who doesn’t push back for long. In other words, WILL, you want someone who’s relieved to learn they don’t have to eat your pussy but whose relief isn’t obvious. If you can own that — if you can admit to wanting a partner who either wants to eat your pussy but doesn’t insist on it or someone does a very good impression of someone wants to eat your pussy — you’ll have an easier time tolerating the pushback you’re inevitably going to receive when you share this fact about yourself.
Because that pushback is good sign, WILL, a sign that this person is worth the time and effort required to convince them that, no, you really and truly don’t want to receive oral sex.
Hey Dan:. My partner and I have been dating for almost a year, and everything’s been amazing—this is the best relationship I’ve had in a long time. We have a Dom/Sub dynamic, and he really wants me to get into anal play, something I’m new to. Early in our relationship, we tried, but I was on a medication that made me nauseous, so it was unpleasant. I’m no longer on that medication. He hasn’t
pushed the subject since, until the other day when he tried to insert a plug without much warning. I told him I need more comfort and preparation before we dive into that kind of play, especially since I’m a novice at anal. I also confessed I’ve been dealing with some GI issues. He made it clear that he eventually wants to fuck my ass with his giant cock, and he seems to think I’m just making excuses, and not trying hard enough. Which to be fair, I haven’t done much solo exploration with plugs. And while he hasn’t been forceful, he mentioned that not progressing with anal could be a dealbreaker for him. Is that fair? Can anal really be a dealbreaker? How do I navigate this without compromising my comfort while still being a good partner?
–Advice Negotiating Anal Leeway
Anal can be a dealbreaker — anything can be a dealbreaker — and Liz Lemon never said dealbreakers had to fair. But dealbreakers cut both ways. Meaning, your partner is free to say, “I’m gonna break up with you if I can’t fuck your ass with my giant dick,” ANAL, but you’re free to say to him, “If you pressure me to do things that don’t feel good — and trying to shove a plug in my ass without warning did not feel good — I’m gonna dump your ass before we can figure out whether your dick feels good in mine.”
As prices of admission go, ANAL, having butt sex that doesn’t feel good is too steep a price to pay. Going without anal sex, on the other hand, is a price many have paid to be with someone they loved. If your “amazing” new partner with the giant dick isn’t willing to contemplate going without anal for you — if he can’t even entertain paying that price of admission — he probably doesn’t deserve your ass.
P.S. To make someone feel excited about exploring anal sex — to get them to open up — you have to make them feel physically and emotionally safe. Shoving a toy into someone’s ass without warning is great way to make them feel physically unsafe; threatening to break up with someone if they can’t take your giant dick up their ass is a great way to make them feel emotionally unsafe. If your boyfriend can’t see that he’s doing this all wrong, ANAL, it’s not just your ass he can’t be trusted with.
Got problems? Yes, you do! Email your question for the column to mailbox@savage.love! Or record your question for the Savage Lovecast at savage.love/askdan! Podcasts, columns and more at Savage.Love
Academic Specialist – LEC. Advise prospective & current graduate students regarding enrollment & course schedules. Provide academic & vocational support. Employer: Campbellsville University, Inc. Location: Louisville, KY. May telecommute from any location in the U.S. Mail resume to J. Lawson, 1 University Drive, UPO Box 944, Campbellsville, KY 42718.
THE BIG FIVE-O
BY PAOLO PASCO
Puzzles Edited by Joel Fagliano
Paolo Pasco, of Brooklyn, is the games editor for LinkedIn. He is the current national crossword champion after winning the 2024 American Crossword Puzzle Tournament. In that competition, he solved a Sunday-size crossword in just under six minutes. Today’s puzzle came together on a cross-country flight during which all his electronic devices were close to dead. He took out a blank sheet of paper and started sketching, resulting in the theme here.
Across
1 Word following ‘‘push-up’’ thatanagrams to a word following ‘‘pull-up’’
4 Become subject to
9 Israeli desert
14 Substance in a bagel-making ‘‘bath’’
17 Wedding role or a description of 114-Across?
20 Artist’s diagram or one of five for 114-Across?
22 Multipiece furniture purchases
24 $$$
25 ‘‘Hold up!’’
26 Get hooked?
28 Rizal, national hero of the Philippines
29 Cornhole attempts
32 Compete like Sha’Carri Richardson
33 Snapple competitor
36 Detailed plan of action
38 Malevolent sorcery
40 Restaurant chain with an avian mascot
43 Lamb’s lament
44 M.D. spaces
46 One way to throw a baseball
48 Aptly named writers’ association
49 ‘‘Uno ____!’’
51 Resting places
53 Just scratches the surface?
55 Teletubby with a repetitive name
57 Very *now*
58 Musical composition like the Gauri in Sikh tradition
59 Obsolescent book
60 Brand in the frozen-food section
61 Dance related to the Tongan tau‘olunga
62 Worst of the worst
64 Reason to award two gold medals
65 Cheers, for one
68 Letters after Lucasfilm 69 Aid in seafloor mapping
70 Understood
71 Balance-beam gripper
73 Round up at the start?
76 ‘‘There it is!’’
78 Prereq for a Ph.D. program, maybe
79 Signature hit for Linda Ronstadt
81 Supreme pizza topping
82 ‘‘Danger! Danger!’’
84 Number for a letter?
85 Power sources for some electric cars
89 ‘‘Goodness me!’’
90 Spice up, say
92 ‘‘____ out!’’
93 Concerning egg cells
95 Bother, with ‘‘at’’
98 Results of some fouls in soccer
100 What has a lot of room to grow?
101 Playbill listing
105 Character appearing twice in ‘‘Dumb and Dumber’’?
107 Broadway passage
111 Move up
113 Chain that offers obedience-training classes
114 This puzzle’s subject
119 Fried rice add-in
120 ‘‘Drink,’’ so to speak
121 They ‘‘wait for no man,’’ in a saying
122 law (P = IV)
123 Certain coastal fliers
124 ‘‘Uhh no thanks’’
125 Scottish word in a holiday song
126 Shade of gray
Down
1 Penciled-in feature, perhaps 2 Poet Dove
3 Prefix with war or hero
4 Pioneer in computer chess
5 Largest labor union in the U.S., in brief
6 Sloping surfaces
7 Alpha Majoris (star in the Big Dipper)
8 Smacks (of)
9 ‘‘Oppenheimer’’ director
10 Carl’s wife in Pixar’s ‘‘Up’’
11 Sources of cashmere
12 Make a big splash in diving, say 13 Bugs, e.g. 14 Brick that doesn’t require mortar 15 Hankerings
Failing that 18 Crime boss John 19 Way shortened?
20 What corn holders are inserted into
Muslim head covering 23 Prized violins, for short 24 One of the stages of grief
27 Ultra-famous
30 Inside lane on a track
31 Ailment whose name becomes an actress when its vowel is doubled
34 Indulge (oneself)
35 Forever and ever
Like some Mideast nationalism
Cattle-driving dispute
Architect ____ van der Rohe
Rock climber’s handhold
What ‘‘Meow!’’ might mean
Manicurist’s creation
fly somewhere over the rainbow
Democratic stronghold
from, in a way
48 Raccoonlike mammal of China
50 Phenomenon allegorized in ‘‘The Crucible’’
52 Droop
54 Movie f/x
56 It’s not long.
57 Oyu, sixth-highest peak in the world
63 National park since 1872
65 Milquetoast
66 Character who’s told ‘‘We’re all mad here’’
67 Creedence Clearwater Revival song named after a place ‘‘where cool water flows’’
69 Dip made from tomatillos
72 Beat at an audition, maybe
74 Sushi eggs
75 Spice Girl Chisholm, casually
77 Acclaimed
80 Political slogan of the 2000s
83 Channel that gets audio only?
85 Backing
86 Connection at Frankfurt Airport?
87 Restroom in a pub
88 ‘‘Law & Order’’ spinoff, for short
91 Wooden shoe
94 Linguist’s concern
95 Part of a woman’s anatomy named for Dr. Ernst Gräfenberg
96 Jane Eyre, to the villainous Mrs. Reed
97 Change, as one’s clothes
99 ‘‘The true for .’’
100 Not at all light
102 Soul singer Baker
103 Adam of TV’s ‘‘Severance’’
104 Like the atmosphere after an awkward joke
106 Negative Nancy words?
108 Hoppy choices at happy hour
109 Sermon topic
110 Some TV screens
112 They may be renewed
115 Flirty thing to bite
116 Sumac a.k.a. the ‘‘Peruvian Songbird’’
117 Maya who designed the Museum of Chinese in America
