Echo Magazine - Arizona LGBTQ Lifestyle - June 2020 by OUTvoices Phoenix (former Echo Magazine)

TIME WARP: FAYETTE HAUSER This original member of The Cockettes talks to Echo about her new book

LGBTQ NEWS, VIEWS AND ENTERTAINMENT | Vol. 31, #9 | Issue 729 | June 2020 | COMPLIMENTARY

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ISSUE Issue 729 | Vol. 31, #9 | June 2020

NEWS 8

Editor’s Note

12 News Briefs

COMMUNITY 32 Without Reservations 34 Opening Nights 36 Bands

Two local healthcare providers want the LGBTQ community to know about their telehealth services Tom Reardon talks to medical professionals from Arizona Gynecology Consultants and Bayless Integrated Healthcare. Each outlines the respective tele-health services oﬀered at their multiple Valley locations.

38 At the Box Oﬃce 40 Recordings 42 Between the Covers 44 Talking Bodies 46 Not That You Asked

ON THE COVER Fayette Hauser Photo by Roger Anderson.

Drinks with Destiny Tim Rawles got on the horn with this Detroit drag queen who is providing cocktail-fueled fun during the COVID-19 pandemic.

WEB EXCLUSIVES

MEET JOANN MICHAELS Logan Lowrey-Rasmussen helps us get to know this local performer. Visit echomag.com/jamichaels-2020 for the scoop.

TIME WARP: MEET FAYETTE HAUSER

This original member of the '60s & '70's performance group The Cockettes talks about those glittery days in her new book LGBTQ NEWS, VIEWS AND ENTERTAINMENT | Vol. 31, #9 | Issue 729 | June 2020 | COMPLIMENTARY

JUNE 2020

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JoAnn Michaels; photo by Logan Lowrey-Rasmussen

Peaches Christ by Jose A. Guzman.

Peaches Christ’s creative life in Queer Quarantine

Drag performer, actor, and filmmaker are just a few of this unique, longtime artist’s talents. Her latest eﬀort is WQUR: Queer Quarantine Radio, a collaborative podcast. Jason Kron talks to her about this and more, including her take on the current state of the world.

Mental illness is biologically based: It’s time to end the stigma Kimberly Blaker tackles the prevalent misconceptions about mental illness.

Courtesy of Pride & Joy Foundation.

Fayette Hauser; photo by Roger Anderson.

Pride & Joy Foundation

Fayette Hauser guides us through a wonderland of acid & glitter in her new book on The Cockettes

In 1969, psychedelic theater troupe The Cockettes came to life in San Francisco. Original member Fayette Hauser has a new book out, The Cockettes: Acid Drag & Sexual Anarchy. Ashley Naftule chatted with her about the book, the group’s history, and theater’s inﬂuence on the counterculture.

Michelle Talsma Everson talks with motivational speaker, author, and activist Elena Thurston about the Pride & Joy Foundation, a new organization dedicated to building selfawareness and safety in LGBTQ families and their allies.

Nicole Maines courtesy of The CW Television Network.

MORRIS KIGHT: HUMANIST, LIBERATIONIST, FANTABULIST Author Mary Ann Cherry’s new book fills us in on Kight’s journey as a gay rights pioneer whose eﬀorts began in the 1930s. echomag.com/morris-kight-2020. Courtesy of Feral House.

CW’s Supergirl breaks ground with first trans superhero on TV Actress Nicole Maines talks to David Elijah-Nahmod her history and experiences as a trans woman and what kind of superhero role model she hopes to be. ECHOMAG.COM

30 JUNE 2020

EDITOR’S NOTE By Amy Young

ne thing hasn’t changed since I was penning this note for the last issue — all of us here at Echo are thinking of you and hoping you are safe and strong as we continue to face COVID-19 and all of its attached challenges. We still want to hear your related stories, so please continue to send them to editor@ echomag.com. If there are resources you need and can’t find them, please reach out, and we can try to help you obtain that information. If you’re in need of medical services and aren’t able to leave your residence, tele-health could be beneficial. In this issue, Tom Reardon talks to two Valley providers with multiple locations who specifically want the LGBTQ community to know about their options. We also discuss mental health in this issue, particularly the stigmas and misconceptions that many have to face while also trying to figure out a wellness path. On the cover, that’s Fayette Hauser. One of the original members of The Cockettes, she’s got a new book out about San Francisco’s psychedelic, gender-bending performance group that started in the late ‘60s. Peaches Christ is another subversive performer that hails from the Bay Area. She’s been shaking things up through drag shows, acting, and filmmaking since the ‘90s. Read interviews with both of these revolutionary, influential folks. Echo has talked to Elena Thurston before — in large part about her inspirational Ted Talk where she discussed overcoming the horror of conversion therapy. She recently founded the Pride & Joy Foundation, whose mission is to raise self-awareness and break

negative cycles in LGBTQ+ families and their allies. If cocktails stir your interest, Detroit drag queen Destiny talks about her online show. Get entertained while she guides you through new drink recipes. You just might learn something and you’ll definitely be treated to a fantastic fashion show. Nicole Maines stars on CW’s Supergirl. The first trans superhero on a TV show, her journey as a trans woman began, for her, internally, at age three. She talks about her struggles and activism. Our columnists also give you a lot to ponder: Which one of Tom Reardon’s reviewed albums do you want to listen to first? Will Jeff Kronenfeld’s review of Chula’s Uptown help you choose between grilled oysters or the green chile tuna melt? In his Not That You Asked column, Buddy Early offers a powerful take on the difference between being a patriot and a flag-waver. We also wanted to let you know that while our July issue usually features winners of the Echo Reader’s Choice Awards, we’re putting that on hold for a bit. Given the current circumstances, we’ll be moving that to an issue later in the year. We will keep you posted. Stay safe out there!

LGBTQ NEWS, VIEWS AND ENTERTAINMENT PUBLISHER: Bill Orovan ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER: Bill Gemmill EDITORIAL MANAGING EDITOR: Amy Young CONTRIBUTORS: Kimberly Blaker Grace Bolyard Edward Castro Jenna Duncan Buddy Early Michelle Talsma Everson Melissa Fossum Justin Keane Jason Kron Jeff Kronenfeld Laura Latzko

Logan Lowrey-Rasmussen Tuesday Mahrle Judy McGuire Ashley Naftule David-Elijah Nahmod Tia Norris Timothy Rawles Tom Reardon Terri Schlichenmeyer Colby Tortorici Megan Wadding

ART DEPARTMENT PHOTOGRAPHY: nightfuse.com. ADVERTISING DIRECTOR OF SALES AND MARKETING: Ashlee James

Amy Young is the managing editor of Echo Magazine. A longtime journalist, her work has appeared in numerous publications, regional to international. Please contact her at editor@ echomag.com.

ECHO READERSHIP: 50,000 SUBSCRIPTIONS: $29/year ACE PUBLISHING, INC.

MEMBER:

Echo Magazine is published by ACE Publishing, Inc. Echo is a registered trademark of ACE Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved. Written permission must be obtained in advance for partial or complete reproduction of any advertising material contained therein. Opinions expressed therein are not necessarily those of the publisher or staff. ACE Publishing, Inc. does not assume responsibility for claims by its advertisers or advice columnists. Publication of a name, photograph of an individual or organization in articles, advertisements or listings is not to be construed as an indication of the sexual orientation, unless such orientation is specifically stated. Manuscripts or other materials submitted remain the property of ACE Publishing, Inc. 8

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of PEPFAR, which significantly expanded the funding and targets for treatment, care, and prevention of HIV/AIDS and repealed a statutory ban on visas for people who were HIV-positive. As Vice President, Biden continued his decades-long fight for LGBTQ hate crime prevention playing an integral role in passing the landmark Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act. He played a leading role in repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and opening service for transgender people giving LGBTQ service members the visibility and respect they deserve. In 2012, his support for the freedom to marry marked a major turning point for the marriage equality movement, contributing to a sea change in public opinion that ultimately culminated in a Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v. Hodges that made marriage equality the law of the land.

Human Rights Campaign endorses Vice President Joe Biden for President Courtesy of HRC

n May 6, HRC announced its endorsement of Joe Biden for President. HRC’s Board of Directors, comprised of 26 community leaders from across the nation, unanimously and enthusiastically voted to endorse former Vice President Joe Biden for President of the United States. The endorsement comes on the eighth anniversary of Biden’s endorsement of marriage equality in an interview on Meet the Press.

“Vice President Joe Biden is the leader our community and our country need at this moment,” said HRC President Alphonso David. “His dedication to advancing LGBTQ equality, even when it was unpopular to do so, has pushed our country and our movement forward. This November, the stakes could not be higher. Far too many LGBTQ people, and particularly those who are most vulnerable, face discrimination, intimidation, and violence simply because of who they are and who they love. But rather than have our backs, Donald Trump and Mike Pence have spent the last three and a half years rolling back and rescinding protections for LGBTQ people. Joe Biden will be a president who stands up for all of us. HRC and our more than three million members and supporters will work day and night to ensure he is the next President of the United States.” From his advocacy for strengthening hate 12

JUNE 2020

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crime laws in the late 1980s to championing landmark non-discrimination legislation such as the Equality Act, Joe Biden’s decades-long record supporting LGBTQ people is both strong and multifaceted. Few other national politicians have such a long record of acting on behalf of LGBTQ equality. Throughout his campaign, Biden has committed to advancing LGBTQ equality as President. In 2019, just weeks after announcing his candidacy, Biden committed to passing the Equality Act as President at the 36th Human Rights Campaign Columbus Dinner. His campaign’s LGBTQ platform is the most comprehensive LGBTQ equality plan by a presumptive presidential nominee in our nation’s history. As a Member of Congress over 36 years, Biden championed dozens of pieces of legislation providing greater protections for LGBTQ people. His support of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) advocated for our dignity in the workplace. And his courage to do what’s right, even though it may be unpopular, twice stopped two constitutional amendments enshrining marriage discrimination as the law of the land. Biden’s early support for HIV/AIDS resources helped establish the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program. While as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Biden helped secure the reauthorization

Throughout his career, Biden has been ahead of the curve on expanding protections and rights for transgender Americans. In 2012, he called transgender rights the “civil rights issue of our time” articulating a truth that many — even in his own party at the time — left unaddressed. He reiterated that statement when launching his LGBTQ platform earlier this year. He worked with President Obama to install transgender Americans throughout the administration including to positions within the White House. Throughout his campaign, Biden has elevated the need to address the epidemic of violence facing the transgender community — especially transgender women of color — and articulated a strong plan to empower transgender Americans in the workforce to help combat conditions that lead to that disproportionate violence. In 2020, our engagement and mobilization efforts will only deepen. HRC has elevated Texas to a top-tier target state, growing our top targets to seven states: Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania Texas and Wisconsin. Across our 7 target states, HRC has identified 3.4 million Equality Voters at risk of not turning out — these voters will serve as our central focus in the months ahead of Election Day. HRC will have at least 45 fulltime staff in these seven priority states and an additional 20 staff focused on a second tier of states and districts. - Paid for by Human Rights Campaign PAC. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s agent or committee. Read the complete article at hrc.org. About HRC: As the largest civil rights organization working to achieve equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer Americans, the Human Rights Campaign represents a force of more than 3 million members and supporters nationwide — all committed to making HRC’s vision a reality. NEWS

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Two local healthcare providers want the LGBTQ community to know about their tele-health services By Tom Reardon

s a society, the way we interact with medical professionals is at a turning point. Before the pandemic, if we felt badly emotionally or physically, some of us would call our healthcare provider and make an appointment to go into the office and see what was happening in our minds and bodies. For others, this might be a trip to an urgent care or clinic where a cash payment was an option, as the luxury of decent insurance may not be available. Either way, seeing a healthcare professional face to face for non-emergency services has been part of our culture since before we were all born. Today, though, we are being told to not go to the doctor unless it is an emergency. Depending on which news sources you read, watch, or listen to, you may have heard that healthcare, outside of treatment for COVID19, is not readily available. Nothing could be further from the truth, though, and there is good news in this arena. “There is access to care right now. Telemedicine is a platform for the future. Any

JUNE 2020

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For those unfamiliar with tele-health (or tele-medicine as it is sometimes referred to), it is the practice of having a visit with a healthcare professional using technology. This could be a phone call, a video chat (using Facetime, for example, or something akin to a Zoom meeting), or even using an internet chat service. Courtesy of AGC.

practice that doesn’t do this now is going to be behind the eight ball. I think we are coming into the new paradigm of what medicine looks like after this,” says Dr. Kelly Roy of Arizona Gynecology Consultants (AGC) who have five Phoenix area offices and offer a wide variety of virtual gynecological services. In addition to Arizona Gynecology Consultants, Bayless Integrated Healthcare (BIH), which has multiple Valley offices, is also stepping up their tele-health game. Both are local healthcare providers that are known for working with the LGBTQ+ community and are offering tele-health services to anyone in need of care.

While Arizona Gynecology Consultants specialize in gynecological services for women (minus the obstetrics side), Bayless Integrated Healthcare offers a wide variety of health services, including family health, emotional and behavioral health, addiction services, and virtual health services which they have been offering since before the pandemic. Both providers offer a wide range of tele-health services, so patients who may be nervous about going into a healthcare office for non-emergency services can take advantage of tele-health offerings. Women in need of services for breast pain or discharge, for example, or frequent urination, sinusitis, heavy or irregular menstrual bleeding, and depression, to name FEATURE STORY

Bayless takes an integrated approach to healthcare; photo courtesy of BIH.

a few, can simply call Arizona Gynecology Consultants or visit their website to set up a consultation. If necessary, an in-person visit will be arranged as certain gynecological examinations require a more intimate approach, but many services can be provided via tele-health. Dr. Kelly Roy is a founder and director of Arizona Gynecology Consultants which opened its doors in 2006 and is excited about the possibilities that tele-health brings, but also understands that many patients have concerns or doubts regarding this practice that is rapidly becoming part of the new “normal” in our society. “When we first started this about five or six weeks ago, telemedicine was not at all part of our offering. Less than 1%. We really had no formal system for how to do this. We needed to contact our patients, though, so we launched into this,” says Dr. Roy over the phone. At first, there were challenges with technology as Dr. Roy and her team were using multiple methods including facetime, WhatsApp, and good old-fashioned phone calls. Currently, they are using an application called NextPatient for video visits and, according to their website, there are other methods of making virtual contact. Dr. Roy believes this type of interaction between doctor and patient will require more innovation because it is not going away anytime soon. “We go a long way to try and help patients. If they have difficulty, we walk them through the process before they even get on the

visit with the physician, so they don’t feel pressured,” says Dr. Roy before continuing:

and have some flexibility to offer services at sliding rates (BIH) or delayed payments (AGC).

“As innovation continues in this space, figuring out how to have a consistent platform for patients is just as important as figuring out how to prescribe narcotics. It almost has to be a federal or state-backed way for us to have more consistent, more available, and the technology has to be something that anyone can get on to, especially Medicare patients.”

“We have a cash price that is at our lowest rate that we can charge. We have ways to help out patients who self-declare that they are having difficulty paying such as delayed billing because we do not want anyone to not get care because they can’t afford it. I’ve done this forever in my practice. We’re an urban, downtown practice for the most part. We care for patients from all different economic backgrounds. That part wasn’t hard for us, and it shouldn’t be an obstacle for care for patients,” says Dr. Roy.

Dr. Nadia Ledesma of Bayless Integrated Healthcare also sees amazing possibilities for helping patients with tele-healthcare. Dr. Ledesma has been seeing a number of patients virtually for some time now and more recently has been working with trans patients in need of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) virtually. “I do hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for the trans population. The trans population works a lot by word of mouth. I’ve been doing this for the past two years. In the last few months, I’ve gotten five or six new patients that I started on HRT through tele-health. Just because we’re going through this pandemic doesn’t mean I’m not going to start your HRT because we’re seeing each other through tele-health. We have to keep moving forward and embracing who you are as a person,” says Dr. Ledesma. In fact, Bayless has been doing tele-health for some time now, so the transition has not been felt as much by Dr. Ledesma and her peers. “With Bayless, we’ve been doing telehealth since before the pandemic began. We are grateful and thankful that we’ve already had these services and (are now) trying to vocalize that we have tele-health available. These resources are beneficial (to patients). I’ve spoken to many of my patients and just to hear somebody’s voice or just to see them on the other side of the screen, you can still develop that trust, that relationship with the patient. It makes a big difference to being able to provide tele-health services,” says Dr. Ledesma. Patients who do not have adequate insurance or any insurance at all, for that matter, will not be turned away from either healthcare provider. Each offer cash payments

Both Dr. Ledesma, who has been with Bayless for four years now, and Dr. Roy recognize the challenges that we are all facing because of the pandemic. There is so much misinformation out there about what we are supposed to be doing to stay safe and how we can help each other through this. “I think the biggest thing is to keep practicing social distancing, vigilant handwashing, and keeping your area as well protected as possible. Also, common sense. Utilize your mask if you’re going out. We have to keep in mind that not everybody is healthy in our population. We have to protect the other people who are more vulnerable. I’m not sure that is the message that is getting out there, but that’s what we practice here at Bayless so that we don’t expose others,” says Dr. Ledesma. Dr. Roy also included some media related advice, as well, for those who are doing their best to stay healthy and limit daily stress. “Limit your exposure to the news. I say that tongue in cheek, but I think the stress of the news is hard for people. I’ve been a follower of the consolidated news lately,” says Dr. Roy. Other advice offered by Dr. Roy was to stay up-to-date on your prescriptions and tele-health is a great way to do this and to practice some social distancing while being out exercising, even in the open air. Dr. Ledesma also talked extensively about not skipping a visit (virtual or otherwise) with your doctor if you have health concerns that are causing you stress and discomfort. Contact Arizona Gynecology Consultants at 602-358-8588 or visit azgyn.com. Contact Bayless Integrated Healthcare at https://www.baylesshealthcare.com/contact/. Tom Reardon loves to write about people who are doing something to contribute to our community in a positive way. He also loves his family and family of friends, his pets, music, skateboarding, movies, good (and bad) TV, and working with children to build a better world. Tom’s favorite movie is Jaws, his favorite food is lasagna, and he loves to play music with his friends. He’s a busy guy, but never too busy to listen to what you have to say so tell him a story.

Photo courtesy of BIH. FEATURE STORY

ECHOMAG.COM

JUNE 2020

Meet Destiny This drag queen is shaking up social distancing one quarantini at a time By Timothy Rawles; photos courtesy of Destiny

JUNE 2020

ECHOMAG.COM

FEATURE STORY

during her senior year. Whether she said it aloud, or it was just a state of mind, her daily mantra was sown: “I’m gay and I’m here to stay.” “I even took a guy to my prom, and spray dyed my hair blonde. Let me remind you, this was in the suburbs of Texas, i.e. ultraconservative.” Today, with self-identity firmly intact, the performer has no hesitation when you ask her where she falls on the LGBTQ spectrum. “I put the G in the LBGT,” she laughs. Underneath all of the padding, the expensive gowns, and contour, Destiny says she is male and definitively gay. Just ask her husband.

f there is anything this quarantine has taught us it’s that we have time to learn a few new things: Romantic language, a new recipe, or even how to make a great cocktail all by ourselves. Well, almost. Meet Destiny (her drag name), a drag queen who has turned stay-at-home into slay-at-home by hosting a virtual mixology class on social media. The idea came to her one day while taking note of what her favorite reality shows weren’t doing. “I love to drink, and I love food and drink shows, and watching all my favorite shows made me realize that I hadn’t seen a drag queen doing that,” Destiny said. “When people think of a drag queen, they just think of a performer. I want to do more than just perform by taking drag to another level.” Originally from Dallas, Destiny now resides in what she calls the “cold tough city of Detroit.” She says she has been doing drag on and off for about 16 years. It was her ex, a drag queen himself, who taught her the ropes and some basic makeup techniques. “Another friend of mine knew how to sew, so he helped making outfits for me.” The drag name came from a roommate who was also a DJ, “All of us friends came together, and Diva Destiny was born.” As with a lot of gay male drag performers they go by the pronoun “she” while in costume. Destiny is no different, “while out of drag I identify as a male, so I prefer ‘he.’” For the purposes of this article, we will refer to Destiny as she because that is the persona being featured. Growing up wasn’t easy for the performer and like a lot of LGBTQ youth Destiny fell victim to hatred and prejudice in her hometown. “I was bullied for being gay and since I have a lighter more feminine voice, they used to call me a hermaphrodite or he-she and would write ‘f*g’ on my locker.” Destiny recalls finally having enough of all the bull and gathering some self-confidence FEATURE STORY

Jeff is a true source of inspiration. They have been married for four years and even though drag isn’t an aspiration for him, he helps with other things, probably the most important part, finding her light. “He is actually the cameraman, helps with drink concepts and design. He is truly a gem,” Destiny explains, though Jeff’s response to his husband getting into character as a woman is a bit more subdued, “He will also say, ‘you look okay” and I’m like ‘just okay?’ Overall, he prefers me as a guy.” That might mean different things to different people but for Destiny, it’s about unconditional love, something her hero RuPaul has been saying “Amen” to for over three decades.

speaking, things you think are too different might be the ones you end up loving the most. “Some cocktails, like rum & Coke, are just soooo boring,” she laughs. “I want people to watch because making drinks can be fun and doesn’t have to be intimidating.” Dressed in a Louis Vuitton bodysuit, hair teased to the rafters and a homemade Crown Royal facemask, a recent video gave viewers a lesson on making a Quarantini, a libation made from Hypnotiq, lemon juice, and berry flavored Ciroc Vodka all blended together in a gemencrusted martini shaker. There’s a lot of flair in her deliveries. “My saying is ‘Life is too short for a boring cocktail.’ I love making people laugh and giving them party ideas,” says Destiny. “I post twice per month on Facebook and YouTube … hope your readers will like, follow, and subscribe.” As of this writing, the world is getting a little stir crazy and cities across the country are putting some ordinances in place for the public to come out to work — and play — a little. It might not be the same world we knew a month ago, but at least Destiny has a plan once the all-clear is given. “I want to go out and give all my friends and bartenders a big hug because this has been a hard time for everyone,” she says. “Going through this pandemic has made me appreciate my friends, and family a lot more.” You can follow Destiny at Facebook.com/ drinkswithdestiny and on her YouTube channel.

So, it’s no surprise that Mama Ru, the “Supermodel” herself is a hero of hers. Ru’s autobiography Letting It All Hang Out has a double meaning, the most important being to express yourself no matter what. The book is something Destiny still holds on to, most likely within reach for those times when a few words of inspiration are needed. Destiny recites one of her favorite passages, “’If they aren’t paying your bills, pay those bitches no mind.’” She adds, “RuPaul helped me love myself more and made me realize being different or feeling differently isn’t a bad thing.” But when the world has you tethered to your house for weeks because it decided to have a pandemic, there isn’t much to do but work on yourself. It will probably be the first time in modern history when people are forced to quit pleasing others in public and start examining their own lives. Which is what Destiny has been doing this whole time. She is putting together a new season of Drinks with Destiny, creating new cocktail ideas, “stoning dresses, and many other things.” It seems the saying “never drink alone” does not hold true for casual drinkers of 2019. The thirst for projects seems to have surpassed the need for downtime in a normally busy world. Getting back to mixology, it’s one of Destiny’s passions. She doesn’t want you to be afraid to try new things. Metaphorically

Timothy Rawles is an award-winning journalist and California native who moved to Arizona with his husband and two children in 2019. He attended San Francisco State University many years ago and somehow managed to pass math and continue pursuing his journalism degree. His story is not as interesting as the people he writes about, but Timothy has discovered that everyone has one, and good or bad, they all share the same thing; heart. ECHOMAG.COM

JUNE 2020

Photo by David Ayllon.

Race) and BenDeLaCreme (who should’ve won season 3 of Drag Race All Stars but left midway through the season because she felt she had accomplished all that she needed to?! What?!?!). Collaborating from four different cities, they’ve concocted a brilliant throwback to the style of 1940s radio, from voice inflection to wacky sound effects. Subject matter gravitates from detective noir to old-timey sitcom to murder mystery, with fake commercials throughout that are only slightly weirder than real commercials from that time. Naturally, everything is seasoned with delightful crassness that would make your grandparents go on a tirade about Godlessness in our world, which is always a sign of quality art. Residing in San Francisco, Peaches has spent decades directing campy horror movies, creating drag-centered stage show remakes of the best films of yesteryear (Sister Act, Hocus Pocus, and Grey Gardens being amongst them), hosting film nights that honor the best of trash cinema, creating immersive theater projects, and a plethora of other projects that are out the window for the time being. But like other drag performers, it didn’t take long for her to utilize the potential of our current technology to keep making her work available. Being obsessed with both horror and drag, I hold Peaches Christ in the highest possible regard and was pleasantly nervous to interview her face-to-face via Zoom. As a nerd myself, it was refreshing to have a conversation with someone who’s such an enthusiastic nerd about what she loves, and someone who can eloquently explain how those things have saved her life and can save others as well. Echo: What initially got you into drag?

Peaches Christ’s creative life in Queer Quarantine By Jason Kron

enturies from now, when schoolchildren are learning about the weird period of isolation in which we live and the art that came out of this time, they will learn about heroic drag performers who worked their butts off to keep us in decent spirits. While we’re all still dealing with the initial shock of having to stay indoors for god knows how long because life has turned into The Stand, entertainers are amongst those who’ve had to deal with the additional stress of figuring out how to make a living. As Peaches Christ (aka Joshua Grannell) points out in

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this interview, drag performers were one of the first groups to zero in on streaming productions. RuPaul’s annual DragCon was online this year and drag performers across the world have collaborated on recurring shows, each individual performing from their own homes and providing us with irreverent joy when we need it most. One of the shining achievements of this wave of creations is WQUR: Queer Quarantine Radio, a podcast that’s narrated by musician/writer/performer Major Scales, and stars Peaches Christ, Jinkx Monsoon (who won season five of RuPaul’s Drag

Peaches Christ: I’ve always been a flamboyant kid, and I got into drag after already expressing an obsession with horror and with anything unusual. I grew up loving Elvira, which I look back on and say, “Oh, that was drag!” But it wasn’t until going to junior high in Maryland that I discovered the movie Hairspray. It was so mind-blowing that this group of people was making movies in the town that I grew up in. Hollywood seemed a million miles away, and meanwhile here was this larger-than-life character called Divine who everyone was celebrating. It was something for Maryland to be proud of. Then I discovered The Rocky Horror Picture Show. So for me, Divine and Frank N. Furter were my gateway into the world of drag and defined what it was. When I started doing drag in college, it was completely inspired by cult movies. What was the creative process for the Queer Quarantine project like? Jinkx, Ben, and I were rehearsing for a stage show called Drag Becomes Her at The Castro Theatre. On March 12 we found out that we weren’t going to have our show on March 14, since they were shutting everything down. FEATURE STORY

Who were your influences for this project? Did you have any influences from that particular era of old-timey radio?

Peaches Christ; photo by Ash Danielsen.

The three of us were talking in our text thread about being in this weird state of not knowing what to do, and our friend Major Scales is the one who had the idea to do an old-timey radio show that we can record in our individual spots. We each took a stab at writing a different script, then we’d rewrite each other’s work, so we each had a hand in every show.

I’m not as familiar with the actual radio shows from the era, but I am obsessed with movies, and am familiar with movies like Radio Days, so I have a romantic idea of what it would be like to create those kinds of shows. Film noir also plays a part, and the next episode goes in a much spookier direction, inspired by ‘40s horror. How can horror help with coping with the current state of the world? I was drawn to horror as a kid who was bullied, and at least for me, horror served as a safe place to exorcise fear and anxiety. Some people think that obsession with horror is unhealthy, and I would say that it’s actually the opposite. The genre really helped me fantasize safely about dealing with bullies and monsters, and also romanticized the power of the female lead scream queen. As an effeminate kid, I really identified with the girls in horror movies, the strength of a girl like Jamie Lee Curtis in Halloween. I think those movies do wonders for kids like myself. It’s when you don’t have those outlets that things become a little more problematic. Same question but related to drag. How can the aesthetic and philosophy of drag help people deal with what’s going on? Both horror and drag both offer escape and fantasy, and a revisionist idea of what the world can be like. A lot of the great drag numbers I’ve seen lately deal with the quarantine and the anxiety of what we’re dealing with but using comedy to wink at the audience and say, “Hey, we’re all in this together.” There’s this joy that drag can bring to an ugly situation. I’ve been around long enough to remember that even when people were dying of HIV in the ‘80s, there was a way that drag brought comedy to the situation. I remember having straight friends once be mortified by this queen Timmy Spence who went on this rant about AIDS, but this was a person who had been in the hospital three times on her deathbed and survived, and then she would do a character called Dina Aids. For that audience of gay men who were struggling, that kind of laughter and cathartic release was really healthy and special. I think drag really allows for that. With these digital drag shows, I feel like drag performers were the first people to say, “Oh we’re stuck in quarantine? Okay, well we’re going to have a fucking show online.” They figured out a way around it immediately. FEATURE STORY

Can you explain the importance of trash? In the pop culture lexicon of films and music, I think “trash” movies are often misunderstood, and I think those films and books and music are the things that speak to us weirdos. People hated Showgirls when it came out, but then there was this other group of us who thought it was amazing. So in that way, I feel like trash offers an inside joke and a community to people who don’t see things through a mainstream lens. Keeping in mind that it’s difficult to plan anything right now, what are your future artistic plans? As far as stuff that’s going on while all of this is happening, now that everything’s gone online, my friend Vinsantos and I are going to launch a new film festival called Dead Carpet, and it’s us wanting filmmakers to make movies now, alone, in quarantine. We hope to put a submission call out soon, and then host a film festival of work made while we’re all stuck at home. I don’t think live events are going to be back to normal for a long time, which is how I make a living. I’ve been writing two different movie scripts and one TV show, and that’s the best I can do right now. What should we do to fight for what’s right? I am so disillusioned by the Democratic Party right now. I’m definitely a believer that anything is better than Trump, but in this rock-bottom moment that the whole world is in together, my hope is that there’s some sort of revolution, because the American Status Quo is not working, Republican or Democratic. There are 75 billionaires in San Francisco, and none of them have done anything for COVID relief, even though this city is being destroyed. I don’t know how a revolution will take place, but it will take more than just ousting Trump. We’ve got to fucking destroy everything and start over. We can’t go back to normal. I’m not saying we should go out and start Civil War, but my hope is that there’s a groundswell of intelligent rallying around

dismantling the system we have. There are some decent politicians and there are decent groups like The Justice Democrats who vet these politicians, so we can elect people like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. We can align ourselves with politicians who actually are working in the people’s best interest, and one way to do that is to follow the money and realize that corporations are the problem. People aren’t able to apply critical thinking to their situation. We’ve raised generations on shitty television, so people believed that a reality TV star had real brains or power, but really all he did was fire people. We’ve shortchanged people by underfunding education and by not valuing critical thinking. Look at the queer movement of the ‘80s, when people were dying of AIDS, and how much thought and organization and dialogue there was around anything an ACT UP meeting did. We don’t have that now, people freak out on the internet and twenty-four hours later they’re onto the next thing. We need to sit and organize and be thoughtful about it. Finally, do you have any life advice? I have too many friends who let go of what their interests were in exchange for some sort of job security, and now we’re in a pandemic. One thing I’m grateful for is that I’ve never pursued the plan that other people thought I should. I’ve always just gone with my heart and have no regrets there. I never set out to have a career, I just did what I wanted to do, whether it was performing or making movies or putting on a stage show with friends. Follow what you love, and if you’re passionate and excited about it, things will work out. Life is short, so do what you want. Fuck this idea of needing to worry about the status quo. It’s very irresponsible advice! Jason Kron is a Phoenix-based writer, music teacher, Devo cover band singer and VHS enthusiast. His work has been published in YabYum and De’Lunula. ECHOMAG.COM

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Register for Fall Make it happen at Maricopa enroll-maricopa.com 10 COLLEGES | CERTIFICATE AND DEGREE PROGRAMS | UNIVERSITY TRANSFER | AFFORDABLE TUITION The Maricopa County Community College District (MCCCD) is an EEO/AA institution and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, disability, or national origin in their programs or activities. For Title IX/504 concerns, call the following number to reach the appointed coordinator: (480) 731-8499. For additional information visit: www.maricopa.edu/non-discrimination.

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Fayette Hauser by Clay Geerdes.

“I’m a shipping clerk now: that’s my new job,” Hauser says with a sardonic tone over the phone. After years of carrying the torch for The Cockettes’ legacy by hosting lectures and participating in art exhibitions dedicated to their work (assisted on occasion by fellow Cockette Pam Tent), Hauser has created a gorgeous historical record of the Cockettes’ acid-drenched era to celebrate the group’s 50th anniversary. Out now via Feral House, The Cockettes: Acid Drag & Sexual Anarchy is a coffee-table sized hardcover jam-packed with stunning photographs of The Cockettes in action (along with interviews conducted by Hauser with artistic peers like Peter Coyote and John Waters). “It was really too bad that it came out right at the beginning of this pandemic,” Hauser says. “I had a lot of live events planned for it — I was all set to travel and we had two exhibitions planned. But it’s not like the book is going to become untimely anytime soon: it’s evergreen.” Unable to tour the book, Hauser the shipping clerk has been signing copies of the tome and selling them online. Hauser’s book makes a compelling argument for The Cockettes as an inspirational hub for the underground. Their groundbreaking drag shows, full of Brechtian theatrics, public nudity, silent film-inspired costuming, and radical political actions inspired generations of glam, disco, and punk artists. But while the countercultural history is absorbing, the star of the show in Hauser’s book is the photographs — glitter-drenched snapshots from an age where it seemed like everything was permitted. “Our look — the visual language we created — that’s our legacy.” Echo: It’s fascinating to see how long a shadow The Cockettes have cast over the underground. You count folks like Sylvester and Tomato du Plenty from The Screamers among your members. What was it about the Cockettes that could inspire people who’d go on to blow up in such disparate scenes as disco and punk?

Fayette Hauser guides us through a wonderland of acid & glitter in her new book on The Cockettes By Ashley Naftule

ayette Hauser has worn many hats throughout her long, strange trip down America’s psychedelic rabbit hole. One of the founding members of avant-garde drag/hippie theater group The Cockettes, FEATURE STORY

Hauser has been an actress, a drag artist, a costume designer, a lecturer, a curator, and a writer. In the midst of the COVID-19 outbreak, she’s taken on a humbler, more nuts & bolts role.

Fayette Hauser: All of those groups were part of what I consider the entire counterculture movement — which went from the Beats all the way up to the punks. Many of the same people that were doing things during the hippie movement went on to do glam, then went on to do things in punk. There was a very, very deep common thread. Even though the manifestations seemed different, the core element was the need to be authentic. It was really about being authentic to your art and to your soul. This was your soul’s expression. It was very different and completely disassociated with the mainstream. That was a real strength for us because we didn’t have anyone to please but ourselves. It wasn’t about the money — it was about the challenge of coming up with something new. What would be the next idea? That’s what made it grow so quickly. The energy, the challenge, was in the ideas. ECHOMAG.COM

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Do you think it’s possible to achieve that same level of authenticity today? We live in an age where art seems inextricably linked to marketing — all of us encouraged to build our brands and relentlessly sell ourselves. It might seem hard, but it’s just a slight turn in your mind. It’s a consciousness expansion that needs to happen now so that people don’t have to keep following the money. A lot of people that were born after the counterculture movement think that’s the only way to live. That’s another reason why I wanted to do the book: I wanted to show people that this is not how you have to live. You can create a different life like we did. Being more authentic and really meaning what you say and putting out your soul’s desire — I really think that’s going to come back. Now that we’re in a pandemic and people are dying and people are staying at home, I think they’re going to realize there’s no time to waste. Even though there’s a very high price to pay with this current situation, I think it’ll make people think in a different way and things will get better. We won’t be bought off so much.

There were all these arthouses around in the Sixties, so you could go to film houses and see old films, silent films, French New Wave films. So I was watching George Melies movies while I was in school in Boston. And old musicals: the Busby Berkeleys. My feeling is that what we were into was also what was going on in the ‘20s and in the pre-war movements happening in Europe. Dada, Melies, Jean Cocteau — all those artists were very appealing because there was this level of consciousness being explored in the early part of the century, a consciousness that got interrupted by World War Two that we ended up picking back up. We were kind of on the same wavelength as those artists — we were just bringing it forward into the future. A lot of our outfits were influenced by things from the deep past. We weren’t looking at the now, we were looking at everything. We developed a palette of different references that we would mix together with our personalities and our own interests. I like to say that we had one of everything in the pocket! That was the magic when we put it out on the stage: we’re this very divergent group of people, everyone has their own idea of how to do drag, and it all comes together. It was only three years, but we came a long way in our expression and got our art honed to a really great place.

The way we mixed things and put them back together in a whole new way influenced a lot of people — from the Rocky Horror Picture Show all the way to Gucci. It’s interesting to consider how often theater doesn’t get the credit it deserves when it comes to influencing the counterculture. Groups like the Cockettes, Theatre of the Ridiculous, and The Living Theatre helped influence countless artists but they still struggle to get the credit they deserve in cultural histories and retrospectives. Why do you think that is? Theater is live, it’s in the moment, and you have to have a theater to do it. Whereas if you make a film, you can show it everywhere. But there’s an isolation to theater that those other mediums don’t have. Once you do a show, only the people that were there at the time actually see that show. When you go to the theater or to the opera or to the ballet, it’s a very moving experience. It’s a synergy that can only happen in that space. It was very important for us to have that symbiotic energy going on — what passes back and forth between the audience and the stage. We learned that from The Living Theatre. That’s what’s great about theater: you have to be there. It’s what happens at concerts and anybody who’s lucky enough to see their favorite band in a small venue where you can really feel it. It’s fabulous. There’s nothing like it, absolutely nothing on Earth. Cockettes at the airport; photo by Clay Geerdes.

One thing that really struck me about the book was how timeless the Cockettes’ aesthetic was. So many of the photos in the book feel like they could have been George Melies film stills or lifted from a book on Weimar cabarets or Dada cafes. Was that a deliberate effort on

your group’s part, to achieve that kind of timeless look by mixing so many different vintage and modern styles together?

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FEATURE STORY

Cockettes at the park; photo by Fayette Hauser.

You’ve been doing lectures and Q&A’s about the counterculture for a while now. What’s the biggest misconception that people seem to have about that era? When they come see you, what are the questions that come up time and time again?

that time people were trivializing the hippies. ‘Hippies are layabouts and pot-smokers.’ And then they demonized it with Manson, saying that Manson killed the counterculture. They couldn’t wait to get rid of us, frankly, because we were socialists.

When I first started doing Q&A’s, the first question people would ask was “how come it failed?” Because they thought the counterculture was supposed to create a perfect society and hand it over to the next generation. It puzzled me when people would ask that because I felt like we succeeded to a tremendous degree. But we were socialists … once, the youth were really supported by grownups when I was young. The generation after the war. They wanted everybody to travel and go find yourself and go out and make the future. But they just didn’t like the future we created because it was basically socialist.

I think people now are starting to learn the lesson that capitalism isn’t going to keep you alive, much less make you happy. Right now, the capitalists want to kill you. So the other question that kept coming up was ‘how did you do it? How did you live?’ Like, ‘how did you sleep together?’ They wanted to know the specifics of how we lived in the house. Because that kind of communal living was so very different from your mom’s house.

I felt we were really successful in creating something and that we were also such a small group of people. When you look at how many people were involved in that society compared to the population of the country it is very small. We were on a trajectory that was far away — we were in a parallel world. But at a certain point, everybody had to go out into the world and you had to stay strong. And that was difficult because by FEATURE STORY

Are there other books you’d recommend to people who want to find out more about The Cockettes? Flower Power Man by the Harris family (ed note: Mary Lou Harris, Jayne Anne Harris, Eloise Harris). It’s about the life of Hibiscus — George Harris. He was just the greatest theater person. He used to tell me ‘theater is the blood in my veins.’ He was a whirling drama in himself. Everything was about drama and high emotion with him. He would weep and then he’d laugh hysterically. He was so fabulous — he changed the energy in the whole house when he came in. We were

all creative: we would do things together, we’d all dress up and go out to the Fillmore. But we didn’t have a focal point, a single trajectory. When he came in and proposed the theater, that’s when it became focused. He’s a big star in our universe and he needs to get recognized more as the genius that he was. When he came to San Francisco and became Hibiscus, it changed my life completely. Changed all of us. Once we became Cockettes, there was no turning back ... Now I can meet people and sometimes I can see the Cockette in them. It’s a certain element that you recognize in people. And people need to let that freaky side out more. We need a resurgence of freaks in the world. That’d be so nice. It’d be great to go back out at the end of all this and go out into a freaky world. The Cockettes: Acid Drag & Sexual Anarchy is available now via Bookshop.org. Ashley Naftule is a writer and theater artist from Phoenix, AZ. His work has been published in Pitchfork, Vice, Bandcamp, Phoenix New Times, Popula, Longreads, The Outline, SYFY Wire, AZCentral, and Java Magazine. He’s a resident playwright and artistic director at Space55 Theatre. You can find him at @Emperor_norton on Twitter. ECHOMAG.COM

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Mental illness is biologically based: It’s time to end the stigma By Kimberly Blaker

early one in five American adults experience mental illness in any given year, according to the National Institute of Mental Health — and one in 25 experience a serious mental illness (SMI). Those with an SMI consist primarily of schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder, and severe major depression. Unfortunately, people with mental illness experience a high degree of stigma. They often experience discrimination in the workplace and their personal lives from those who see someone with a mental illness as odd or flawed. This often results from a misunderstanding of mental illness and not recognizing that it’s a medical condition. In recent decades, the stigma surrounding mental illness has improved slightly. Yet it persists. Part of the problem lies in that it falls under the field of psychology, the study of human ‘behavior.’ Much of society doesn’t understand mental illness often has biological and genetic roots. So people often see mental illness as indicative of personality flaws or learned behavior and think someone with mental illness should be able to just ‘snap out of it.’ Many experts and advocates recognize this problem and have called for biologicallybased brain diseases to be reclassified into more appropriate fields of medicine such as neurology. This move would go a long way

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toward reducing stigma. Reclassification would also help to ensure those with brain illnesses can get insurance coverage and adequate treatment.

Unlike the occasional sadness or blues many people experience, MDD is a persistently low mood that interrupts daily living. In the meantime, what can be done to reduce stigma? Educating society on what mental illness is and is not, is vital. When people with a mental illness brave coming out and telling their personal stories, more people hear the message. Celebrities sharing their own personal experience has been particularly helpful. The public is often more receptive when admired stars share their trials and tribulations. The following illnesses qualify as serious mental illness. You’ll also discover some celebrities who’ve been diagnosed with each. Major depressive disorder (MDD): In any given year, 6.7% of the population will experience MDD. A smaller percentage suffers from severe MDD. Unlike the occasional sadness or blues many people experience, MDD is a persistently low mood that interrupts daily living. Symptoms

include changes in appetite and sleep, lack of energy, difficulty concentrating, feelings of hopelessness and worthlessness, loss of interest or pleasure in usual activities, ruminations about death, suicide attempts, and in severe cases, psychosis. The exact cause of MDD is unknown. What is known, though, is that a variety of factors can contribute to the disorder. These include biological changes in the brain, genetics, hormones, and brain chemistry. Some people with MDD might experience a single bout. Yet for others, it’s chronic. Fortunately, antidepressants are effective for most people. Though some are treatmentresistant leading to long-term disability. Ashley Judd, Owen Wilson, Gwyneth Paltrow, Heath Ledger, and Winona Ryder are among the many celebrities who’ve battled major depressive disorder. Bipolar disorder (BD): This disorder, affecting 2.6% of the population, is marked by emotional extremes ranging from depressive symptoms, as described above, to mania or hypomania. During manic episodes, sufferers experience a decreased need for sleep, extremely elevated mood, and increased energy or agitation. They’re also easily distracted, may have racing thoughts, and take foolish risks. For some people with BD, delusions, and hallucinations accompany mania. Though the exact cause of bipolar is FEATURE STORY

unknown, it’s biological and often genetic. Bipolar is highly treatable, though some people experience treatment resistance. Also, during manic episodes, people with BD are typically unable to recognize their illness. Left untreated, it can be a very debilitating disease. Some celebrities known to have bipolar disorder are Demi Lovato, Charlie Sheen, Mel Gibson, Carrie Fisher, and Sinead O’Connor. Schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder: These two diseases affect 1.2% and .3% of the population, respectively. Schizophrenia is the most serious mental illness of all. It’s marked by symptoms of psychosis, which are paranoia, delusions, and hallucinations. Disorganized thinking, speech, or motor movement is also present. What fewer people are familiar with is what’s known as ‘negative symptoms.’ These prevent a person with schizophrenia from functioning. Those with schizophrenia often have poor hygiene, withdraw socially, and have a symptom known as avolition, which is a decrease in motivation. Despite new and improved medications for this disease, only one-third of sufferers can lead a relatively functional life. Another one-third is treatment-resistant, with the final third receiving a degree of relief. As a result, two-thirds of those with schizophrenia are dependent, or often homeless or housed in America’s jails and prisons — known as today’s new mental health institutions. Schizoaffective disorder is marked by features of both bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. While the cause of these two disorders is unknown, researchers believe genetics, biology, and environmental factors combined ultimately contribute to these brain diseases. Finding celebrities with these two diseases is rare because schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder typically strike during the late teens to the early 20s resulting in moderate to severe disability. However, John Nash, Lionel Aldridge, Calen Pick (nephew of Glenn Close), and Eduard Einstein (son of Albert Einstein), all suffer, or suffered, from schizophrenia. Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD): This perplexing disorder, which affects 1% of the population, is marked by obsessions and compulsions. Obsessions are most commonly seen in the form of fear of contamination or harm to self or others, excessive concern with order or bodily symptoms, or intrusive religious thoughts. In turn, those afflicted with OCD act out compulsions to alleviate their fears or thoughts. This is done through repeated acts of checking, organizing, washing, or senseless acts of tapping, counting, or repeating words. Medication combined with therapy helps treat OCD, though the prognosis is better for those with milder symptoms. Many FEATURE STORY

people with this disorder experience severe debilitation. The cause of OCD is understood to be a combination of genetics, biology, and environmental factors. David Beckham, Marc Summers, Howie Mandel, and Fiona Apple are known to suffer from OCD. Panic disorder: One in 10 adults experiences a panic attack every year. Panic disorder, however, affects only one in 33 people. With this disorder, people experience sudden and repeated bouts of extreme fear that lasts at least several minutes, if not longer. The symptoms include shortness of breath, racing heart, trembling, weakness, dizziness, chest pain, tingling or numbing of hands, stomach pain, and nausea. Sufferers may also experience fear of dying, going crazy, being out of control, or impending doom. Panic disorder often results in the avoidance of things or places where attacks have previously taken place.

As a result, two-thirds of those with schizophrenia are dependent, or often homeless or housed in America’s jails and prisons — known as today’s new mental health institutions. Panic disorder is highly treatable with a combination of medication and psychotherapy. It’s believed to be biological and genetic in nature. It’s unclear whether the following celebrities have been diagnosed with panic disorder. Still, they’re known for experiencing panic attacks: Johnny Depp, Princess Diana, John Mayer, and Emma Stone. Anorexia or bulimia disorder: These two eating disorders combined affect one in 40 Americans, mostly women, and share many of the same symptoms. These include the absence of periods, slow heart rate, swelling, dizziness, constipation, hypotension, hair loss, and more. Treatment consists of medical care, nutritional counseling, psychotherapy, and medication. Prognosis varies by the particular illness, among other factors. Still, a significant percentage do not reach full recovery, sometimes resulting in death. It’s believed genetics combined with psychological and sociological factors contribute to eating disorders. Sadie Robertson, Gabourey Sidibe, Zayn Malik, and Beverly Johnson have all struggled with eating disorders. Autism spectrum disorders: These disorders affect one in 68 children.

Symptoms include repetitive or unusual behaviors, intense interest in particular topics, making little eye contact, facial expressions and gestures that don’t match what’s said, an unusual tone of voice, and difficulty understanding other points of view. Other social, language, cognitive, behavioral, and emotional deficits are present as well. Treatment for this developmental disorder includes behavior interventions and medication. Prognosis is dependent, in part, on early diagnosis and intervention. Though the cause of autism spectrum disorders is unknown, genetics and environmental factor appear to contribute to its development. Celebrities diagnosed with these disorders include Dan Aykroyd, Courtney Love, Daryl Hannah, and Paddy Considine. Other disorders: Numerous other mental disorders afflict millions of Americans as well. Other depressive disorders, dissociative identity disorder, anxiety disorders, personality disorders, and attention deficit disorder are but a few. Each has the potential to be disabling, and those who suffer from these disorders sometimes experience stigma as well. The end of stigma: As more people who suffer from mental illness open up, hopefully, we can reduce the pervasive stigma that surrounds mental illness. Particularly crucial to ending stigma, however, is ensuring those with the most severe brain diseases (SMI) receive appropriate and adequate treatment. Individuals with mental illness are more likely to be victims of violence than to commit violence. That said, the subset with SMI that’s untreated does have higher violence rates resulting from psychosis. By ensuring they receive humane medical treatment to manage their brain disease (and improve their quality of life), the violence that contributes to stigma will be diminished. Just like any other organ of the body, our brains are prone to medical conditions. The brain is the most complex organ of our bodies. So it only stands to reason it’s subject to a variety of biological conditions. As researchers come to understand our brains better, more sophisticated diagnostic tools will be developed for a more definitive diagnosis. In the meantime, we should treat those with mental illness with the same dignity, respect, and empathy we treat someone with a physical disability, heart condition, stroke, or Alzheimer’s disease. Kimberly Blaker is a mental health writer. She was diagnosed with major depressive disorder at the age of 27 and has a son with schizoaffective disorder (schizophrenia and bipolar). As a mental health care advocate, she played an instrumental role in moving the mental health care portion of what became the 21st Century Cures Act through congress. ECHOMAG.COM

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can adults. By practicing the following, you can foster yours or your child’s ability to empathize. Active listening. This is a crucial component of empathy. Practice really listening to each other and trying to understand the other’s perspective. Active listening includes paying close attention to body language and facial expressions, so you can better understand the other person. It also requires refraining from interrupting. Parents’ modeling of active listening with their kids is particularly crucial to kids’ development of this skill. Give back. Think about the experiences, feelings, and needs of those who are less fortunate. Consider various forms of adversity, such as kids with a terminal illness, the homeless, poor families, and those in nursing homes. If you have kids, ask them open-ended questions. Have them consider how it feels to be in those other people’s shoes. Then make a plan to help out in some way.

Empathy is hardwired, but few maximize it: Seven ways to develop empathy to its full potential By Kimberly Blaker

mpathy is the ability to put yourself in another’s shoes. It’s similar to sympathy but with an important difference. To sympathize is to care about and understand the suffering experienced by another. When you sympathize with someone, you feel sorry for them. Sympathy gives you the ability to say the right thing to comfort another.

But empathy goes a step further. It’s the ability to actually experience or relive the feelings of another. When you empathize, rather than focusing on your own feelings about the other person’s situation, you’re able to focus on the emotions of that person. When you empathize, the other person can tell you’re really listening to them. Furthermore, empathy increases your ability and likelihood to help the person with whom you empathize. According to neuroscientists, the vast majority of us are born with the brain wiring necessary to empathize. Psychopaths make up about 1% of the population and are the exception, according to a 2013 study by neuroscientists at the University of Chicago and the University of New Mexico. Still, among the 99% of us who are born with this capacity, most don›t fully develop or use it to its potential. 26

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Benefits of empathy Empathy is beneficial in several ways, according to Katherin Sears, Ph.D., in “Why Empathy Benefits Everyone.” It provides us the ability to act kindly toward others, to forgive family and friends, and to bond with others over their ups and downs. Without the ability to empathize, it would be difficult, if not impossible, to form and maintain friendships. In fact, we’d have difficulty getting along with others at school or work and in society. Satya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft, in an interview with CBS Good Morning, revealed another vital benefit of empathy. Without it, she says, “there is no way we could innovate.” This makes a lot of sense. Although some people would still have the desire to innovate for personal gain, innovation would be far more limited. People would lack the motivation to innovate to help others unless it offered a reward for themselves. The field of medicine is a perfect example. Many strides have been made in medicine over the decades, much of which has resulted from human empathy. How to improve empathy Experts believe, based on a large body of evidence, that empathy can be shaped. Not only can kids learn to empathize better, but so

Commonalities. Despite the ability to empathize, studies have found people are often less empathetic toward those of other races or who are stereotyped in some way. Consider all the things you have in common with those who are different to improve your ability to empathize with them. Also, talk about these commonalities with your child. Then ask what your child has in common with someone of another ethnicity or race. Lose yourself in fiction. It’s a great way to experience and understand another, even though the characters are fictitious. This will improve your ability to empathize in reallife situations. It’s a great way to teach kids empathy, too. Children’s books commonly have characters faced with adversity or dealing with challenging situations. Practice reading faces. People often don’t share what they’re feeling or experiencing. Yet, it’s often written all over their faces. Pay attention to people’s expressions and try to understand what they’re feeling. Look for opportunities to care. Every day there are people all around us in need. So, practice empathy regularly. If an elderly person is struggling to load heavy groceries into their car, quickly put yourself in their shoes. Then offer to help. This also sets an excellent example for kids. They can also practice looking for ways to care (while also adhering to safety rules with strangers). Share in excitement and joy. Empathy isn’t only about understanding people’s downs. It’s also the ability to share in their happiness. Regardless of how busy you are, when someone is excited about something, take a moment to really share in their enthusiasm. This is a particularly good way to model empathy with kids, too. Likewise, share your own joy with your child. Kimberly Blaker is a freelance family writer. She also does blog and content writing for a variety of industries and is an expert in on page SEO. FEATURE STORY

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JUNE 2020

Elena Thurston; photo by Amy Lizzi.

oming out as a member of the LGBTQ+ community is often never easy at any age. Coming out as a lesbian at 38 to your four children and husband after 18 years of marriage and 22 years of being an active member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints poses a myriad of challenges. This is the case for Elena Joy Thurston, a motivational speaker, author and activist, who is using her own experiences to help members of the LGBTQ+ community and their allies. “Coming out to my children remains the scariest experience of my life,” Thurston explains. “It was literally easier to say, ‘I’m gay’ to a massive live audience in my TEDx talk than it was to tell my four children whom I had raised to be Mormon and to believe that acting on same-sex attraction is a sin.” Once Thurston realized her sexual identity, she thought that conversion therapy might be the answer, so she went through the traumatic process. Now, on the other side of that experience, she spends her time speaking out against conversion therapy, and about emotional intelligence and life transitions. Like many motivational speakers, she uses her own life experiences to showcase her messages. Through meeting those she has spoken to, she realized that there was a need to build self-awareness and safety among the LGBTQ+ community and its allies. “When the novel coronavirus hit, in this four day period, it was as if life had shut down,” Thurston shares. “All of my speaking engagements were canceled, and I began receiving all of the messages on my professional Facebook page from kids reaching out. LGBTQ+ kids who hadn’t come out yet were now quarantined with their families, and they needed support. They needed to find each other.” The idea for her new organization, the Pride & Joy Foundation, began here.

Pride & Joy Foundation Breaking the cycle through learning and self-awareness By Michelle Talsma Everson 28

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“The Pride & Joy Foundation is dedicated to building self-awareness and safety in LGBTQ+ families and their allies,” Thurston describes. “The idea came from realizing we have many traumatized LGBTQ+ adults in our society, damaged from childhood experiences, societal experiences, etc. Now they’re adults who are productive members of society and trying to have their own families while still navigating relationships with their families of origin. At the same time, we have current-day LGTBQ+ youth who are trying to navigate their way as well and are at risk of becoming damaged adults themselves. Thus, the cycle repeats. The goal of the Pride & Joy Foundation is to break the cycle. We believe that is most effectively accomplished through learning and integrating self-awareness.” The Pride & Joy Foundation is a virtual community where LGBTQ+ youth and adults, their families and their allies can come together and network. The organization, which is currently working toward nonprofit status, has three branches: FEATURE STORY

Thurston at a retreat in Payson.

Community: This is a virtual space where LGBTQ+ youth and adults can join together with allies to learn and network. “In Community, we have a virtual community that creates a sense of belonging, a place for straight parents of LGBTQ+ kids to offer

support and information, a place for LGBTQ+ kids [ages 13+] to commune with others about the complexity of having straight parents, not to mention a place for LGBTQ+ parents to navigate parenthood with straight kids,” Thurston shares.

Education: Thurston shares that the concept of mindfulness (a word she uses interchangeably with ‘emotional intelligence’ and ‘self awareness’ depending on her audience) helped her to heal on her journey. Because of this, the education branch of her organization has mini courses on topics like Self-Awareness 101, a self-awareness journal, digital meditations to download, and more. Voice: Finally, the voice arm of the Pride & Joy Foundation, is where Thurston uses her speaking experience to go to schools, organizations, and businesses to share her experiences and help educate. “The entire concept of the organization is to let members of the community know that they are not alone,” Thurston says. “Hopefully, this helps to reduce the risk of suicide and conversion therapy.” While the organization just launched, Thurston would like to organize community members into a yearly summit — the first being virtual. “I want everyone to be able to join and build a community where both LGBTQ+ youth and adults, and their allies, are valued,” she says. To learn more about the Pride & Joy Foundation, follow Thurston at facebook. com/ElenaJoyExperience or e-mail her at elenajoythurston@gmail.com. A website is coming soon at www.PrideandJoyFoundation.com. Michelle Talsma Everson is a freelance writer, editor and PR pro. A graduate of NAU, she’s been writing for Valley publications for more than a decade. You can find out more at mteverson.com.

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JUNE 2020

CW’s Supergirl breaks ground with first trans superhero on TV

Maines stars as CW’s Supergirl.

By David-Elijah Nahmod; photos courtesy of The CW Television Network

JUNE 2020

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FEATURE STORY

he CW’s Supergirl has amassed quite a sizable following over the years. Most recently the super-heroine series has attracted some attention for presenting the first transgender superhero on prime time television. In an entertainment landscape where trans characters are all too often played by cisgender actors, Nia Nal, aka Dreamer, is being portrayed by twenty-two year old Nicole Maines, who is herself transgender. Maines, assigned male at birth, knew she was female from as early as when she was three years old.

“I recognized at a very young age that something didn’t feel right with the body I was in,” Maines tells Echo. “I went to my parents at three or four years old and told them that I was a girl, and of course that did not make any sense to them.”

we won,” she said. “It was a landmark case, it was the first time a state supreme court ruled in favor of a transgender family. It wasn’t the first time something like that had come up, but it was the first time that the court ruled on the family’s side. It was groundbreaking, not just for us, but for everyone.” Maines recalls the experience as feeling “spectacular.” She acknowledges that issues remain with enforcing non-discrimination laws. “To this day I hear about kids in middle school and high school whose principals will not let them use the right bathroom,” she said. “Even after the Maine Human Rights Act, even after my family’s case had been settled and won, and all the press, there are still schools who refuse to let trans kids use the right bathroom.”

But Maines was persistent, and her parents slowly came around. It was in elementary school that she began her transition. “We did a very gradual transition so as not to shock anybody,” she recalls.

“Each year with a new rung of the ladder,” she said. By the time she was in the fifth grade she had totally transitioned. At first her classmates accepted her, but later in her school career she did experience some bullying.

Her family filed suit for unlawful discrimination against the school district — since 2005 sexual orientation and gender identity have been a protected class under the Maine Human Rights Act, which means that the school did not have the right to do what they did. “It went to the highest court in the state and FEATURE STORY

“She has this courage to her and this drive to protect other people,” she explains. “Her character is so dedicated to truth and standing up for the little guy. It’s then revealed that she is half alien and that she is a descendant of the planet Naltor, a planet where people have the ability to see the future in their dreams.” As Maines explains it, the dreaming powers are passed down to one woman per generation. Nia’s older sister, who was born as a biological female, was expected to inherit the powers, but the powers recognized that Nia’s destiny was to be a woman, and so the powers were bestowed upon her.

The real world trans community has embraced Maines and Nia — Maines noted that she hears from trans people all the time.

“Bigotry is something that’s learned,” she said. “When kids are taught that something is wrong, that’s where bullies come from. They’re taught that difference is bad. I was different. But the support far outweighed any bullies I was having. But that’s not to say that it didn’t have its effect on me. I was in counselling at a very young age. It got to the point where I wasn’t able to ride the bus, but I had many more supporters than I did harassers.”

“The school buckled,” she recalls. “So they pulled me out and stuck me in the staff bathroom and gave me a bodyguard to make sure that I was using the right bathroom. They told me it was for my protection.”

Maines also spoke of the role she plays on Supergirl. Nia Nal, she explains, is a cub reporter — she’s just come from Washington DC where she was a speechwriter at the White House. It’s soon revealed that Nia is transgender.

“She embraces these powers and she takes up the mantle of Dreamer and she joins Supergirl as a superhero protege,” Maines said. “And now, in season five, Dreamer has become this beacon for the trans community, and she’s just become a superhero all her own. It’s really been great to see her journey.”

One year she started wearing pink T-shirts, and the following year she grew her hair out.

She began making history while still in her youth — Maines was referred to as Susan Doe in the landmark Maine Supreme Court case Doe vs Regional School Unit 26, an antidiscrimination case in which Maines won the right to use the girl’s restroom in her school. It was the first case in which a state court ruled that denying a transgender student access to the bathroom which matches their gender identity is unlawful.

on TV as a superhero, that visibility is radical. Visibility in any form is activism. We make them see us. We deny them the opportunity to erase us.”

“It’s so amazing to get to see how many people are being validated by seeing a trans superhero on television,” she said. “I always try to make clear is that I’m in the exact same boat — I’ve never had a trans superhero before either. And so, for me getting to see the finished product on television, for me getting to see Dreamer, is just as affirming, just as important.” While Maines feels that it’s important for people to be out, she notes that it’s also important to do so safely. “A lot of trans kids have to stay in the closet to protect themselves from their parents, from their families, from their communities,” she said. “So as important as it is to be out and proud, do it safely. And I think that’s why so many of these online communities have become such safe havens, because a lot of these kids aren’t in a position where they can do it safely yet.” But, she points out, if a person isn’t in danger of being kicked out of the house, or of facing physical or verbal abuse, then by all means come out. “In an environment where the administration is actively trying to erase our identities — they took queer people off the 2020 census — you fight against erasure with visibility,” she said. “And that’s why I’m so proud to be an actor and to have the platform that I do, to be on Supergirl, and to be in people’s living rooms

Maines is now being told that she’s a role model. She modestly hopes that it’s true. “I hope that I have been able to show young trans kids that that being trans is not an inhibitor, that it does not keep you from doing anything that you want to do in the world,” she said. “Being a superhero is where the bar is set. If you can be a superhero, everything else is within arms reach. So if a trans person is able to be a superhero, we’re able to do anything. And that’s what I want young trans kids to take away. That being trans does not keep them from any want, desire, dream that they may have.” Supergirl has been renewed for a sixth season by the CW Network. David-Elijah Nahmod is an American-Israeli writer who’s lived in New York City, Tel Aviv and is currently based in San Francisco. He’s been published in LGBT publications, monster magazines and SF Weekly, and can be reached on Facebook as David-Elijah Nahmod, Author and on Twitter at @DavidElijahN. ECHOMAG.COM

JUNE 2020

WITHOUT RESERVATIONS

I arrived was caught in that very same vessel. A major part of Chula’s success is this boat-to-table philosophy. Several times a week the day’s catch is offloaded in San Diego and sent zipping east in a little over five hours. I could almost taste the salt air through my facemask as I greedily eyed the hefty slabs of yellowfin tuna and swordfish. Items like Faroe Island Salmon or Alaskan Halibut are flown in directly from friendly ports. Following Chula on social media is a great way to keep an eye on what has been biting. Some items get snatched up surprisingly fast, pandemic or no pandemic. Chula Scottsdale — the company’s first brick and mortar — opened in October of 2016. Both locations serve as restaurants and fish markets. The Uptown spot has a larger kitchen and menu, but there is a lot of overlap as well. Juan Zamora is the executive chef for the overall culinary program, but his duties at Chula’s separate wholesale location keep his knives very busy these days. Thus, he has handed the reigns to Kyle Kent and his sous chef, Jade Montoya.

Phoenix’s inland sea: diving into Chula Seafood Uptown Story and photos by Jeff Kronenfeld

hen Chula Seafood Uptown opened last February, it brought the ocean a little closer to Phoenix. This is something of a mission for its co-owners, the business throuple of Mandy Heflin, her husband Jon, and Hogan Jamison. Despite COVID-19, their precious sea-to-desert pipeline still flows, ensuring a steady supply of fresh, sustainably caught seafood. If the lockdown wiped out your plans for a trip to the beach, at least Chula can give you a taste of the briny deep from

the comfort of your landlocked living room. Mandy and Jon Heflin started fish mongering in late 2015 at farmers markets around the Valley. They also sold directly to area restaurants, making Chula synonymous with the best seafood in town. Chula can mean a variety of things in Spanish, but we choose to translate it as beautiful woman. The restaurant is not named for this flattery, but rather the Heflin family’s Hoquiam harpoon boat. Indeed, much of the rainbow of seafood gleaming in the glass case when

A Chula po’ boy. 32

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Chula has been expanding its delivery service in response to the lockdown. They offer two types of fish taco kits, sashimi platters and family meals including a pound of ready-to-cook fish with two sides. They also deliver fish by the pound, Noble Bread loafs, a number of sauces and even kits for making your own bloody marys or spiked limeades. They require 24-hour notice and 50 dollars minimum for these direct home deliveries, but what you get is well worth it. I picked up one of Noble Bread’s crusty loaves when I was in store and was not disappointed. It served perfectly not only for dipping in clam chowder, but also as buns for some very juicy burgers. I also grabbed some of the Kyle’s Candy variety of smoked salmon, which can be ordered by delivery as well. This pink salmon jerky is sweet and savory at once. You can practically feel your IQ boosting as you

Grilled oysters. DINING OUT

Green chile tuna melt.

absorb the tender pink meats so rich in Omega-3 oils. We ordered a seafood feast that sustained our two-person quarantine crew for days. It also unlocked a primal desire in our cat that sadly, for him, went unfulfilled. I opted for grilled oysters as our appetizer. They come bathed in butter, dusted with basil and on top of a thin toasted slice of Noble Bread. Lemon slices are also provided. These were cooked just lightly enough to preserve an almost raw tenderness, which I loved. The meaty globule was well-sized, a perfect mouthful. When I slurped the oyster off the shell like a hungry otter, the butter, citrus and other flavors melted together in the little sea of my mouth. They are three dollars a pop with a minimum order of three, which is what I went for. I wished I had more by the end, so keep that in mind. For the main course, I went for the Chula poâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; boy. The pillow soft Noble Bread baguette comes stuffed with plump fried shrimp on top of a bed of tomato slice, coleslaw, remoulade and a homemade pickle. The shrimp were juicy and tender inside, but still crispy on the outside, even after the 20-minute drive home. The coleslaw was on the drier side, perfect for a poâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;boy since the sauce and shrimp brought plenty of moisture. The only negative was that the bun got a little waterlogged during the drive and subsequent photoshoot, so this sandwich is best enjoyed as quickly as possible. Normally it comes with chips, but I upgraded to fries. They were exquisite, airy inside, crispy outside and clearly never reconstituted. My shelter buddy ordered the green chile tuna melt, which we both agreed was really something special. The thin slices of crispy bread stayed crunchy and intact despite how much time elapsed from pick up to eating. Between these slices were Hatch green chiles, spiced Oaxaca cheese, chimichurri and, of course, plenty of freshly shredded DINING OUT

tuna. There was no mistaking it for the stuff that comes out of a can. It was tender but not overly moist, with that almost steak tartar-like fleshiness of good tuna. Each bite was a satisfying blend of flavors and textures, the kind best enjoyed with closed eyes. It comes with a lemon and dipping sauce. The sauce was reddish and oil-based, with plenty of chopped basil thrown in. It added an almost nutty smoothness to the already lively mashup up of flavors. The sandwich was so good in fact we split one today, our hunger spurred by the pleasant memory. This too normally comes with chips, but we subbed a cup of clam chowder.

Take a

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I ordered a cup of the creamy stew as well. We both saved ours for the next day. Even reheated in the space oven, it brought to mind the feeling of sitting by a warm hearth after a cold, foggy day on a barren coast. It came with hearty chunks of potatoes and plenty meaty, fresh clams. Its texture was silky and smooth. The bacon added a deep savory quality, that balanced the butter, cream and salty notes. They sell this stuff by the pint too. That and a load of bread is a solid meal on its own. We only scratched the surface of what Chula had to offer on our first visit. We did not even get to try the fish tacos, poke, sushi or fish and chips. Since then, I have already been back once, this time popping into the Scottsdale location. That time I tried the spicy tuna bowl, which was everything I hoped for. If you are a pescatarian, seafood aficionado or even consummate landlubber, you can hook a big one anytime with at Chula Seafood Uptown. Jeff Kronenfeld is an independent journalist based out of Phoenix, Arizona. His writing has been featured in Java Magazine, the Arts Beacon, PHXSUX, and the Phoenix Jewish News, where he received the Simon Rockower Award for excellence in news reporting from the American Jewish Press Association. Links to his previously published work are available at www.jeffkronenfeld.com. ECHOMAG.COM

JUNE 2020

OPENING NIGHTS

falling into, a decade later.” With five full-length plays completed and saved somewhere in his hard drive, Ashley has brought three of them to the traditional stage, while a fourth, Radio Free Europa is getting a non-traditional production through real-time digital media. A fifth has also been picked up. “Radio Free is coming out this month as a remote radio play production, and Peppermint Beehive will be produced and mounted next spring as part of Space55’s 2021 season (presuming, of course, society hasn’t completely collapsed into a Mad Maxian hellscape by that point).” A Mad Max dystopian setting, it seems, is a place Ashley might prefer over the tepid, staunch multiplicity of the status quo if only in a sartorial sense. His preferred pronouns are he/him/his which many misinterpret because of his first name, ultimately he identifies as queer. “I’m attracted to women, but I enjoy wearing their clothes and makeup too much to comfortably fit into a straight and narrow box,” he explains. “Going back to the name thing — having the ‘wrong’ name growing up was really freeing.”

Space55 at the 2019 Zoni Awards, including Radio Free Europa castmates. BJ Garrett (top right square), Aleks Hollis (center right), Dennis Frederick (bottom right), Ashley Naftule (center).

Ashley Naftule’s timely play Radio Europa opens to the streaming community By Timothy Rawles

here might be nothing more fitting this year than a theatrical performance about an alien invasion played out through the interface of a communications app. Stay-at-home orders have turned face masks, binge eating, and computers into necessities, all of this not really conducive to a traditional on-stage theatrical production. Enter computer screen left, theater ensemble Space 55, and playwright Ashley Naftule’s Radio Free Europa.

His name should sound familiar to Echo readers — he has been a frequent contributor for the last two years. Ashley has lived in Arizona his entire life, which is becoming a rarity as people like myself from border states like California are finding the state to be extremely hospitable for its cheap housing, gas, 34

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and endless supply of fast-food chains. “The rest of my family are from France; for some inexplicable reason, they crossed the sea and decided to put down roots here,” Ashley says. I asked Ashley about his first passion, which, having done some rudimentary research, I thought was acting. “I do act on occasion, but at this point I identify primarily as a writer (which was my first passion),” he explains. ”I grew up reading books by Philip K. Dick and Roger Zelazny, and Kurt Vonnegut and dreamed about one day writing huge sci-fi epics. I really had no theater ambitions at all until my late twenties when I (for shits and giggles) took a playwriting workshop by Kim Porter and that sent me down this rabbit hole that I’m still

Freedom from labels gave him power to disassociate from the restrictive societal gender tag everyone gets at birth. “Being told constantly I wasn’t a man gave me permission to not worry about living up to accepted standards of masculinity. But I don’t have much interest in embracing feminine ideals, either. I just find the either/ or approach to gendered behaviors and aesthetics to be regressive and limiting. And limiting not just on a personal level but a political level: how can we work towards creating a new, better world when we’re still confining people to this hoary, dull binary?” Good question. Although he has come to terms with who he truly is, as with any good story there is conflict. And as with most queer stories that conflict comes from childhood. He was bullied constantly from kindergarten through his freshman year, “but that’s because I embodied pretty much every trait bullies look for in playground marks: I was fat, nerdy, shy, effeminate, had a stutter, a girl’s name, was well-liked by the teachers, dressed poorly, etc.,” Ashley recalls before telling me that it wasn’t until his early 20’s that things began to change, “I started really questioning my identity and experimenting with makeup and clothes. By that point, I wasn’t getting bullied anymore.” Except for one time at home when his mother, unsettled by his use of eyeliner and mascara, “freaked out, and splashed a full bottle of makeup remover in my face.” Genesis Breyer P-Orridge was a controversial artist who dabbled in a little bit of everything, including the occult, ENTERTAINMENT

finding them was life-changing for Ashley, “it exposed me to concepts like ceremonial magick, body modification, and other writers like Robert Anton Wilson that have had a huge impact on my life. There are many things I’ve done (like taking psychedelic drugs or doing flesh suspensions) that I never would have were it not for being exposed to Genesis’s philosophies.” Although Ashley also lists Aleister Crowley as a hero, he says both of these people were flawed and put themselves ahead of everyone else but, in terms of “creative pursuits and intellectual achievements, they are definitely north stars.” Speaking of celestial beings, his Radio Free Europa might have a few. The play takes place in present-day Nevada, the epicenter of UFO lore. “It focuses on Delilah Peel, the host of Midnight Wildlife: AM radio’s secondmost popular late night show,” Ashley explains. “Callers from across the country dial in to share their personal stories about encountering UFO’s, Chupacabras, dead pop stars, Sasquatches, and other inexplicable phenomena. Delilah (Del to her fans) juggles answering calls while dealing with her burning train-wreck of a personal life. But when her equipment starts picking up ominous transmissions from beyond the stars, Del starts to worry that she might be turning into one of her own paranoid callers.”

Naftule with Ernesto Moncada and Dennis Frederick in a cast & director photo for a previous show, Paul Auster’s Laurel & Hardy Go To Heaven.

Wanting to distance himself from writing another character-heavy work, Ashley says he wrote Radio Free taking a more “rooted approach.” “For this play, I really wanted to stay in one location, a single reality, without breaking out into other dimensions.” The late American broadcaster Art Bell also inspired Ashley to write this one. Bell was famous for taking calls on his radio show from people with weird tales to share. “What I really found fascinating about Bell was his lack of judgment: he wouldn’t screen callers; he wouldn’t call them out as liars or fabulists or lunatics. He let people play out their strings, he let them share their lives, and he did it with this agnostic patience and openness that I found refreshing.” During this time of quarantine, Ashley is still working a full-time job, catching up on the Criterion Channel, exploring sexuality in RPG gaming, and writing as much as he can, “I’ve got a draft of a new play, Sawdust Angels, that I’m about halfway through and I’m working on a series of pieces to put out via my newsletter, Chris Gaines Fanclub.”

Radio Free Europa poster by Dain Quentin Gore. ENTERTAINMENT

When all of this over Ashley will still distance himself, but this time in a crowd of people who share his subversive interests, including manicures. He’s going “to any underground/ new wave/goth dance night that’s still in

existence and dance until I dissolve into a puddle of sweat and black nail polish.” But for now, Radio Free Europa is at the forefront. As for reasons why you should tune in, Ashley gives a few: “It’s an original story told by local artists. It won’t be a static cold-read: this is a fully rehearsed radio play production with sound effects, music, and visual art to complement and enhance the narrative. It’s a full theatrical run, so it’s not a one-night-only-blink-and-you’ll-miss-it production. It’s a funny, thoughtful play full of mysteries to ponder and weird shit that’s drawn from real-life incidents.” And it’s free. Performances will be live-streamed midMay through Sunday, June 7. Friday and Saturday showings are at 7:30 pm, Sundays at 2 pm. It’s free to “attend” the show, but donations are appreciated. Visit space55.org. Timothy Rawles is an award-winning journalist and California native who moved to Arizona with his husband and two children in 2019. He attended San Francisco State University many years ago and somehow managed to pass math and continue pursuing his journalism degree. His story is not as interesting as the people he writes about, but Timothy has discovered that everyone has one, and good or bad, they all share the same thing; heart. ECHOMAG.COM

JUNE 2020

Photo by Magdalena Siwicka.

BANDS

on tour and we were very tired. I hated that session so much. It’s crazy how in life, a lot of things that you hate at first you end up liking a lot. I’m glad that everyone likes it. That’s where some of the best rock and roll comes from, right, those moments of pure passion? It was definitely a rock and roll day. That was shot in France in an empty warehouse. It was cold as fuck. It was raining. It was crazy. The night before, we were going absolutely mad. We played a super cool festival and we drank way too much. I watch it now and I like it. Two years, when we shot it, I didn’t want it to come out. It was still a painful memory at that point. Having been in a few trios in my life, when the energy isn’t good in a three piece, it’s hard, isn’t it? The reason why Husky Loops is a threepiece is we believe in simplicity. We have always been about, literally, drum, bass, and melodies, which, in this case, is my vocals and my guitar. For us, that’s the only way we can keep it minimal. I’m a huge fan of the White Stripes and I’ve always loved how Jack White says “simplicity is a key of life.” In his music (with the White Stripes), that means it will only be Meg and him.

U.K rockers Husky Loops explore multiple genres to create their unique sound By Tom Reardon

ier Danio Forni from Husky Loops was about ready for teatime when we chatted via Zoom recently while he was in his hometown of Bologna, Italy. The songwriter/ producer, whose band hails out of London, England, decided to pandemic in his hometown and was kind enough to talk a little music with Echo as he waits for the borders to open so he and his bandmates, Pietro Garrone (drums) and Tommaso Medica (bass) can get back to the business of being one of the most exciting up-and-coming bands in the world right now.

Combining the post-punk attack of a band like Gang of Four, the hip/hop influence of Kanye West, and the lush sonic landscapes of a band like Happy Mondays, Husky Loops defies conventional music stereotypes and creates a new sound altogether. Fans of many different genres will find something 36

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to latch onto while listening to the band’s debut record, 2019’s I Can’t Even Speak English and in many cases, will not want to let go. While the band hasn’t made it to America yet, there is hope that one day they will be able to traverse the Atlantic and make their way to a venue near us sooner than later. We need Husky Loops in Phoenix right now, Danio. We’re ready. We were meant to plan a U.S. tour and obviously this thing started out. Yes. I was watching your YouTube video from the KEXP session and it rips! Oh, thank you. That went over very well in America and gave us more of a fan base over there. It’s funny. We all look very gloomy in that one. That day we were arguing. We were

In our case, it is a little bit more, with one more (member) but that’s not too different from what we see. We feel like that if we can make all of this noise and all of this music, it’s going to better with three than if it were five or six (members). You guys certainly put out a wall of sound for three people. The energy is a major thing with a threepiece. It’s more angular, or in this case, triangular (laughs). You can feel that in Husky Loops. It gets quite punky. I feel like when everyone tries to push in different directions, it is still quite vibe-y. If there were seven or eight people in the room, pushing in a different direction, I feel like it would be chaos. When it’s three, it still works. Do all three of you write for the band? It’s very different for each song. From the beginning, we’ve been a very prolific band. It’s a slow journey for this band because we do many different things. It’s hard to pigeonhole what we do, even for ourselves. Every song has had a different start. Our last album (I Can’t Even Speak English), which just came out, is kind of like our debut album. I wrote all the songs. I’m the main songwriter, but it doesn’t always work like that. Songs like “Temporary Volcano,” which we all wrote together jamming, it’s very different. After the pandemic ends, we want to go back to the studio and experiment more with writing from whatever point of view or inspiration. Sometimes a song can start by just looking at a picture. ENTERTAINMENT

Photo by Jordan Logan.

Now, having said that you’re a three-piece, you have done some collaborations lately. Didn’t you guys record something with Jim Eno of Spoon recently? Jim is great. Jim is a legend. We toured with Spoon in Europe. That’s how we became friends. Jim mixed our debut album. So, who engineered and produced the record if Jim Eno mixed? The last record was all produced and engineered by me. It’s a crazy thing. Who’s this arrogant guy who works on his own (laughs)? I’m glad that people like it because it proves you can do things on your own if you want to. Do you enjoy the knob-twiddling aspects of the production side of music? Production and songwriting, to me, go hand in hand. The way my brain works, I’m a very ‘arrangement’ kind of guy, so it is the same thing. In 2020, especially. In the hip-hop world, everyone calls those guys producers, but they’re not really producers, they are more like writers. I curate the sounds and I love doing that. Engineering can be stressful, but at the same time, if you can do it, or barely do it like me, and you have a vision in mind, and you feel like know one is really going to get it accept yourself, I would suggest to just do it because there is nothing to lose and when you get too stressed out like I did, you can always find someone like Jim (Eno) from Spoon who is going to mix your record very well and finish it for you. ENTERTAINMENT

To me, the idea of sitting behind the console seems like hell. I’d much rather play the music. I’m not going to lie. With this album, I kind of lost it. I became a bit crazy because of that and also because I always want everything with Husky Loops to be live. Because I was doing everything on my own this time, I had to record drums and bass first and then my parts later. That became a bit frustrating. I wanted the album to be a bit more live. I like engineering and touching all the compressors and such. God bless you for that. Someone has to do it. I’m a big analog guy and as an independent musician, it’s a challenge to do that. I would always record everything live and analog, if possible, if money wasn’t such a big part of it. That’s my favorite thing to do. I still own a tape machine, but I don’t think people really get it. I think people don’t really get it, though, when you bring out the tape machine. They think it is going to make you sound vintage, and that’s not really what it’s about. I’m glad you brought up being an independent musician. Prior to this last record, you guys tend to put everything out yourselves, correct? Yeah, for sure. I think it’s important for us to show people you can do it on your own. It’s more of an empowerment message more

than anything. We live in an age where everyone has access to all types of culture and it’s important to remind people that we can do the same things if we want to and build on something amazing. We can follow our dreams and beautiful stuff on our own. That’s always kind of been our thing. We wanted to show people you can quality stuff on your own. You guys definitely do that. You’ve taken genre-bending to the next level. I feel like you are more of a genre-smashing band. I see that. You know how people often talk about crossovers with rock bands. I’ve never really liked that name. What we do isn’t really about mixing things together, we just make the music that we would like to listen to. Because we like everything, that’s just what comes out. I just do what I feel, and it comes out. I just want to do what I like.

Tom Reardon loves to write about people who are doing something to contribute to our community in a positive way. He also loves his family and family of friends, his pets, music, skateboarding, movies, good (and bad) TV, and working with children to build a better world. Tom’s favorite movie is Jaws, his favorite food is lasagna, and he loves to play music with his friends. He’s a busy guy, but never too busy to listen to what you have to say so tell him a story. ECHOMAG.COM

JUNE 2020

AT THE BOX OFFICE

Columnist Tuesday Mahrle shares four personally influential movies I

n my 33 years, it’s difficult to calculate how many movies I’ve watched, re-watched, or watched more times than I’d like to count. Films have the ability to make us laugh, teach us a lesson, change global mindsets, or simply help us escape from the day-to-day monotony. While my list of favorite movies is a mile long, these four movies truly influenced me as a child and continue to play a huge part in my life today.

By Tuesday Mahrle

To Kill a Mockingbird Premiered 1963 | Not Rated | 129 minutes | Crime, Drama

As a young child, I knew little of what my father did as an attorney. I knew that people were different but not that a black man could never have a fair trial in the South. Relating myself to the tomboy character Scout, who is also the narrator, this movie taught me about my family, race relations, injustice, poverty, oppression and how judgement should land on someone’s character and no other trait. I would later learn that a book is always better than the movie.

A League of their Own Premiered 1992 | Rated PG | 128 minutes | Comedy, Drama

Growing up with an older brother, I followed close in his footsteps. If he played t-ball, I played t-ball. If he liked basketball, I liked basketball. Sadly, at a young age, I was almost always the only girl on the team and as thus, relentlessly teased. I would cry on the way home from practice because no one wanted to pass the ball to the ‘stupid girl on the team’. This movie taught me I could be tough and there was definitely “no crying in baseball.”

American History X Premiered 1998 | Rated R | 118 minutes | Drama

Dead Poets Society Premiered 1989 | Rated PG | 140 minutes | Drama, Teen

Why yes, young Tuesday, high school does suck, no matter where you go. Overbearing parents, weighing the pros and cons of following your true passions, checking off the list of extracurriculars in hopes of being just ahead of someone else for an Ivy League college spot. With all that said, one teacher can change not only your point of view, but life as you know it. I strive to be that as a professor. Plus, Robin Williams... 38

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Hate is real and it is taught. No child is born knowing how to hate. In the same vein, hate can be unlearned and no one is too far gone. One of my favorite films cinematically, its use of toggling between color and black and white filming screams the underlying themes and concepts without being preachy. Sadly, although American History X premiered over 20 years ago, the topic is relevant, if not more relevant, today than it was then. Also, Edward Norton... Tuesday Mahrle is a film critic and host of “Whiskey and Popcorn,” a Phoenix-based movie podcast. ENTERTAINMENT

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JUNE 2020

RECORDINGS

he quarantine. The search. The silence amidst the noise. Welcome to summer in Phoenix, friends, and welcome to the strangest time of our lives all official like. Thank the giant space pasta god or whoever you worship for music. Love it or hate it, it makes you feel. Feel these with me, if you will.

By Tom Reardon

X — ALPHABETLAND JJCnV — Stays Up Late EP Hailing from the lower east side of planet Chandler, an often sleepy suburb of metropolitan Phoenix, the skronk (see: choppy, angular guitar melding with deft bass lines and frequent horn blasts over a propulsive drumbeat) worshipping suburban demigods known as JJCnV have blessed us with another noisy, hook-filled gem. I may be biased here, because I generally think the kids in JJCnV are pretty darn brilliant, but this new seven song offering, Stays Up Late, is crafty, kooky, and fucking good. “The Balloon Mistook For A Man” might be my new favorite opening song title, maybe ever, and the song itself does not disappoint. I love that JJCnV is not afraid to mix up the sounds, adding bits of tastefully “come fuck me hard” horn work, heavy effects-laden low end, and the layered vocals on “Seed Saw” are cosmic. Before the good Lord and heaven above, people, I shout to you to pick this record up like right now. If we’re ever allowed to congregate again, put seeing a JJCnV show on the top of your wish list for good, clean, fun. All killer and no filler here. Viva Stays Up Late for local Phoenix record of the year. On a scale of social distance, I say this record is worth cozying up to without a mask (but please, wear your masks, and live to rock another day).

The first new X record since dinosaurs roamed the earth, or at least it seems that way, is good. A snarkier reviewer might say it was also “nice” and a downright mean reviewer would say that it doesn’t live up to their late 70s and early 80s material, but for those who have been hoping for a solid record from some legends like X are probably happy as heck. It is a good record. Not a classic or something that is going to open new doors for anyone, but it’s good. John Doe (bass) and Exene Cervenka are in fine voice and Billy Zoom (guitar) and DJ Bonebrake (drums) are rockin’ as usual. It’s hard to pick one standout track, though, and that is kind of disappointing although “Cyrano deBerger’s Back” is pretty damn fine and funky and makes me wanna go skinny dipping. There are moments on some songs (“Water & Wine” and “I Gotta Fever”) that are reminiscent of classic X tracks, and even a weird (maybe unintentional) nod to The Stooges on “Strange Life,” but I would be lying if I said that anything on the record makes me hope that the next time they come to town they will play anything in particular off of ALPHABETLAND live. On a scale of social distance, I would say it’s okay to have beers on the porch with this record but stay a safe distance away and you’ll be fine. If you’re an X fan, you’ll definitely enjoy this record and if you’re new to the band, you might just want to dive in a little deeper and grab a copy of their seminal work, Los Angeles.

The Chats — High Risk Behaviour Sign me up for whatever chemicals the kids are getting off on in Australia these days because this record kicks all kinds of ass. Imagine if the Ramones would have had a foul-mouthed version of Robyn Hitchcock (Soft Boys/Robyn Hitchcock and the Egyptians) on vocals and you have The Chats. High energy stuff from Down Under that picks up where 2017’s Get This In Ya (If you haven’t heard “Smoko” go listen now!) left off and is probably even better. This is a party record, friends, and full of short, fun, memorable punk rock songs. “Identity Theft” has a brilliant guitar lead, for example, that when you listen to it closely shows that these young Australian dudes have the chops to go along with an incredibly deft sense of humor. Lyrically, The Chats are capable of creating catchy, singalong choruses while dropping bits of social commentary that will make you smile and frown at the same time. Listen to “Keep The Grubs Out” or “Stinker” and try not to laugh, but there is also a deeper meaning as well about the struggle to fit in when people tell you that you don’t belong. On a scale of social distancing, prepare to dance and just remember to shower as soon as you get home, because you might forget to stay six feet away. Tom Reardon loves to write about people who are doing something to contribute to our community in a positive way. He also loves his family and family of friends, his pets, music, skateboarding, movies, good (and bad) TV, and working with children to build a better world. Tom’s favorite movie is Jaws, his favorite food is lasagna, and he loves to play music with his friends. He’s a busy guy, but never too busy to listen to what you have to say so tell him a story.

JUNE 2020

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BETWEEN THE COVERS

By Terri Schlichenmeyer which caused scandal and titillation for much of her life and which leads to questions of gender fluidity today. There are so many instances where truth differs from legend, in fact, that we may never know the whole story about her. It’s this aspect of Calamity that will keep you on your toes: as author Karen R. Jones sifts through the myths and mysteries of Martha Canary’s life, we, too, begin to see not just a complex woman but also fascinating (for a western-novel fan) slices of fiction-crushing facts about the Old West.

Calamity: The Many Lives of Calamity Jane by Karen R. Jones c.2020, Yale University Press $28.00 / higher in Canada 303 pages

ou can call yourself whatever you want.

Nobody says you can’t have a different name every day if that’s your wish. Reinvent your life, create a new past, change your birth year, and tell new stories, nobody cares if you do. Become whoever you want to be but just know that, as in the book Calamity: The Many Lives of Calamity Jane by Karen R. Jones, the truth might catch up. When one thinks of women of the Wild West, the list is short. It’s likely that Calamity Jane is toward the top. Born the first of May in 1852, or possibly 1856, Martha Jane Canary was the oldest child of a “gambler and a ‘woman of the lowest grade,’” says Jones. Her parents left Missouri when Martha was a child and moved to Montana to take advantage of the gold rush there, but they didn’t even get a taste of its wealth before they both died. Martha was a teenager then, and, to her credit, she did whatever was needed to survive, never staying in one place for very long, living hand-to-mouth in what became a “pathologically itinerant lifestyle” that she maintained on and off for her whole life. It’s how she likely got her nickname: calamity followed her from campsite to saloon to jail cell. By the time she was out of her teens, Calamity Jane’s reputation was as wide as the prairie. She boasted about having been a “female scout” but some claims don’t follow facts. Canary said that she drove stagecoaches and rode for the Pony Express, but dates don’t always match up. In early adulthood, she got into a habit of wearing men’s clothing,

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Perhaps not surprisingly, much of the former centers on Canary’s cross-dressing, which Jones admits was common in Canary’s day, and not just for her; the difference, perhaps, is that she was unabashed about it. Because she was an anomaly by way of reputation and fame, Old West denizens gossiped about Canary; newspaper accounts mention her mode of dress quite often, and Jones hints at unknowns in her gender identity. Since Canary loved to embellish and because she seemed comfortable with a foot in many worlds, concrete evidence either way is elusively slippery. Hollywoodization aside — and there’s plenty of that, when it comes to Calamity Jane — it seems that the question may remain open. As for something that pulls this tale all together, though, and offers tantalizing reading, find Calamity and call it good.

an you name them in chronological order?

The first one might be hard: you were small when you loved that dog. Later ones recall easier and, naturally, you remember the first pup that was all yours. Think: the names come one after another because there was always a dog and in Good Boy: My Life in Seven Dogs by Jennifer Finney Boylan, there was always love. Like any other history, your life can be separated into “B.C.” and “A.D.” That’s before canine and after dog or, as Boylan says, “My days have been numbered in dogs.” For her, before James Boylan became Jennifer, there was a dalmatian named Playboy, a “troublesome hoodlum” and escape artist who seemed mostly to ignore Boylan. Playboy showed that it’s possible to love someone, despite their faults. On James’s eleventh birthday, Penny entered the family. She was also a dalmatian, and an overeater who grew sausage-like, drool-y, and messy, but Boylan adored that chubby dog until childhood things were put aside, and Penny resignedly went with them. There was Matt the Mutt, an out-of-control mongrel who taught Boylan that “sometimes the happiest people are the ones that cause the most pain to everyone around them.” An

Good Boy: My Life in Seven Dogs, A Memoir by Jennifer Finney Boylan c.2020, Celadon Books $26.99 / $36.50 Canada 272 pages “adorable brown fluff ball” named Brown showed that scars can be healed “if you know love.” Alex was not Boylan’s dog at first, and he almost never was. The Gordon Setter’s heart had always belonged to Boylan’s best friend, Zero — although Alex was there when Boylan fell in love, and again when James Boylan revealed that he was transitioning to fully be Jenny. Then there was Lucy, who disliked everyone; and Ranger, the last “family” dog. “When I was young,” says Boylan, “I was haunted by the person I imagined I could never be.” The surprise was that the boy and the man she was “still live within my heart, along with every last dog that ever helped them on their way.” Not to quibble, but Good Boy is not just about a good boy. It’s also about a couple of bad boys, a few good girls, a host of hilarious family stories, and author Jennifer Finney Boylan’s life, told without any dark corners of insincerity. So, it’s not about a single “Good Boy.” S’okay, we’re good. You won’t even mind that you sometimes forget dogs are supposed to be the reason for this book but that they’re hijacked by Boylan’s most delightful memories, many of which are so evocative and universal, they feel as though they were pulled out of some kind of Late Baby Boomer Handbook. You might not even notice that dogs are just half this book, the other half being a funny, awkward hike toward insight, love, and love of. This is the sort of book that you want to last just a few more pages. It’s trite to say that ENTERTAINMENT

that at the end of servitude, she’d become a full and equal member of the village, with cows, goats, acreage, and a home like everyone else’s. Alas, William Bradford and his soldier, Myles Standish ensured that that didn’t happen, and though Eleanor chafed, she worried more about John. She’d seen the dangers beyond the colony’s fence. She knew what was inside the compound could be worse. For weeks now, you’ve been stuck inside, and you’ve read everything from serial to cereal box. You’re antsy. You’re restless. So, here’s your next book.

“Beheld: A Novel” by TaraShea Nesbit c.2020, Bloomsbury $26.00 / $34.99 Canada 275 pages you’ll laugh, you’ll cry — but you will. It’s one to read with a furry baby lying on your feet. For right now, Good Boy is good to order.

ither you are a Have ... or you are a Have Not.

If you Have, you feel secure, knowing that what you need is close. If you are in the latter category, you may want for much and own very little. It’s not fair, it’s not equitable, and in the new book Beheld by TaraShea Nesbit, it gets worse. She should have known it was coming. The signs were all there, but while Alice Bradford noted them, she paid little heed. With three small children to tend and a household to run, she had no time for worry — although worry crept into her mind often. It was “the year of our Lord sixteen hundred and thirty,” a decade since a small handful of English landed at Plymouth and the colony had first settled. Alice wasn’t among them then; she came later, after her best consort, Dorothy, died; and after Dorothy’s husband, William, called for a new wife. Life in Plymouth had gone well for Alice, although she missed the children she had by her first husband, boys who’d been left behind in Holland. William promised that both their sons would be brought soon; in the meantime, there was much to do — including things that, as the wife of the leader of the colony, were necessary but regretful. Alice did not want to confront her nearest neighbor’s wife, or to tell her things she must know. Like her husband, John, Eleanor Billington came to Plymouth as an indentured slave. For seven years, she dressed, fed, cleaned, and cared for the colony’s wealthier citizens, figuring ENTERTAINMENT

Don’t judge it by its cover, though. It may appear that Beheld contains healthy sips from a handmaiden’s novel and peeks of stuffy puritanical life but it’s really more of a mystery on top of a mystery on top of a feminist tale on top of a story of rich-versus-poor. Here, you’ll meet people that history treats with heroics, but that author TaraShea Nesbit makes relatable as humans who lie, cheat, abuse, lie some more, and act with lasciviousness. And that mystery ... ? From the first paragraph, you know something dreadful has happened, but Nesbit makes readers wait to find out, while a cold fog rolls over and skincrawling doom creeps in. That shivery-ness makes this a perfect staying-in novel. This is one of those gasp-y tales that can hold you enthralled until it’s time to shock you good, and if you need something different, find it. Indeed, Beheld is a book you must have.

ike nearly everyone, you’re on lockdown.

You can get out, strategically. Mostly, you stay home a lot, watching movies and doing more puzzles than you have in the last 10 years, combined. Your hands are raw from washing, and you’re wondering how this all happened. Author and physicist Paolo Giordano explains in his new book How Contagion Works. COVID-19 (or “Co V-2,” as Giordano refers to the disease) is unique, but not too much: SARS, for example, was a coronavirus, too, but Co V-2 is the “first virus to spread this quickly on a global scale.” It’s also the first virus to show us how we act as a modern social species. This virus takes us “above identities and cultures ...” That’s not to say that we can pretend this virus hates us; viruses don’t have brains, so we can’t make the mistake of blaming it as though it was a sentient entity. Co V-2, says Giordano, “Doesn’t care about us, our age, gender, nationality, personal preferences.” A virus like this just is. Epidemics, however, “are mathematical emergencies first and foremost” and contagion is a “chain reaction” that grows exponentially, and with speed. Scientists use the symbol R0 (pronounced R-naught) to indicate a level of contagion; to put Co V-2 in perspective, it’s R0 is 2.5. Measles has a R0 of 15. The Spanish Flu’s R0 was 2.1. The spread is halted when R0 is at 1.

“How Contagion Works” by Paolo Giordano c.2020, Bloomsbury $4.99 / higher in Canada 70 pages, e-book only Social isolation “equals dragging down the R0 value” and if we stop isolating too soon, there is a “high likelihood” that the virus will return. That’s hard to do; by nature, we hate altering our behavior and self-isolation is a big alteration but, says Giordano, we have two choices here: we either find a vaccine or we have patience. We are more connected than we realize, we move around too much, and “we know that the epidemic changes if we change.” And speaking of that, he says we should take a hard look at climate change because he blames a lot of this virus on “our aggressive behavior toward the environment ...” If we’re not careful, “what is happening with Covid-19 will keep happening more often.” Even as you read this review, says author Paolo Giordano, “the situation” is different than it was even yesterday. Some understanding of how we’ve gotten here is key to enduring and surviving this pandemic, and this book helps. It also helps that you don’t need a PhD to understand what’s inside this skinny book: filled with examples and stories, the science inside is broken down in steps that are graspable for anyone with even the slightest grasp of this virus. Giordano also addresses the myths and rumors of Covid-19, and he’s not afraid to upset his readers with truth. That means that there may be parts of this book that you might not like. There are also parts that’ll give you hope and blow your mind, too, and since well-informed is well-armed, read it. How Contagion Works is a book to lock down. Terri Schlichenmeyer, The Bookworm, lives on a hill in Wisconsin with two dogs and 13,000 books. She’s been reading since age 3 and, to this day, she never goes anywhere without a book. ECHOMAG.COM

JUNE 2020

TALKING BODIES

Staying on Track with Food During COVID-19 By Tia Norris

he times are definitely a-changin’… and we may be in this COVID-19 boat for a while still to come. There are projections that we could have waves of social distancing for over another year. Let that sink in for a moment. Some people have adapted well to the COVID-19 changes and have forged new fitness routines with corresponding success on their diet as well. Many people I know, however, have slipped on their discipline when it comes to both diet and exercise, in light of all the swirling uncertainty. It’s time to face the music: you need to adapt to the new normal, and get a grip on your diet, exercise, and wellness in this new temporary world. With no clear end in sight, it’s time to make a new plan to succeed with your health, now. 1. Move. Exercise must drive the engine. With thousands of free, easily accessible fitness plans now more available ever, there’s simply no excuse anymore for lack of movement. There is especially no excuse if you have basic equipment at home, and/or outdoor access for hiking, running, cycling, etc. My philosophy as a trainer is “exercise hard, diet moderate” for long term results. The more you exercise, the less strict you have to be on your diet, that’s a fact. Get moving to feel better and to enjoy more freedom with your food. 2. Use common sense. We might be in this scenario for a while. This is not an excuse to go off the deep end with daily drinking 44

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binges and dessert for breakfast seven days a week. It’s time to get back to normal with routine limits on indulgences. Remember, we have to connect food choices to outcomes: meaning, eating crap food and drinking too much, for too many days of the week, makes you feel bad; so, to avoid feeling bad, make different choices most of the time. Allow for the occasional deviation, but keep everything in moderation to feel, perform, and look your best. 3. Awareness is everything. Track food and make a plan to avoid mindless eating. One of the best ways to fail with food is to not have a plan. If you know what you’re doing, sit down and plan out variables like calories, macro’s, supplements, hydration, food quality, and meal timings. Of course, though, nutrition is complicated, and so if you feel overwhelmed, consider hiring a professional to help manage your program to suit your goals. 4. Take advantage of meal delivery options. Meal delivery services eliminate many of the pitfalls people fall into with food: the meals have fixed calories and macros, typically are of cleaner quality, and they take guesswork and cravings out of the equation. Many services are affordable and include a number of options to suit tastes, goals, and food allergies. By reducing the chance for impulse and temptations, meal delivery services ensure that you stay on track with your goals. 5. Don’t buy it if it’s not on your program. Most people will agree that if tasty treats are in the pantry, they will eventually get eaten.

That being said, one of the best ways to curb cravings is to simply not buy the treats in the first place. Grocery shop with a plan, not on an empty stomach, and keep your goals in mind as you’re placing items in your cart. 6. Use time-tested strategies to check cravings: drinking caffeine, drinking water, chewing gum, consuming straight up protein. Thirst cues are often mistaken as hunger cues. When you find your appetite running out of control, try hydrating first — have a big glass of water, wait 10 minutes, and then check back in with yourself. Another way to combat snacking when bored is to drink caffeine, a proven appetite suppressant. And don’t forget about chewing gum as a distraction to misplaced hunger. Finally, how about a protein shake? The protein is least likely to be stored as fat and is going to leave you feeling full for a while. Keep a high quality protein powder on hand for situations where you need to bridge the gap between meals. The key to navigating all of COVID-19’s changes is to find a new routine, a new normal. The truth is, we might not be back to fully normal for many months to come. Make a plan, and some backup plans, use your resources, and play your food smart to not only survive COVID but to thrive during it. Tia Norris is the president and head trainer at FitPro, LLC, a local fitness company. Find out more at fitprollc.com. HEALTH & FITNESS

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1610 West Glendale Avenue - Phoenix, AZ 85021 Beatitudes Campus is a not-for-profit life plan community founded by the Church of the Beatitudes.

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JUNE 2020

NOT THAT YOU ASKED

Their branding of the flag is based on us having more bombs than our neighbors, and not being afraid to use them. It means supporting sending young men and women to die in wars, without question. Their branding of Old Glory has made people like me make assumptions about anyone who displays the flag, even those with sincere intentions. Perhaps that’s some of you reading this. It probably is. It’s not fair.

You’re not a patriot; you’re a flag-waver By Buddy Early

The man who is always waving the flag usually waives what it stands for. — Educator and writer Laurence J. Peter

here’s something wrong with me.

I’m not talking about my inability to wink or my obsession with people fake-eating hamburgers in television commercials. (Those are well-established quirks and indeed topics for another time.) I’m talking about my reaction to seeing a pickup truck flying a giant American flag six feet above its cab. You see, I don’t see such a thing and think “Now there goes a true American patriot.” Rather, I profile them as a racist, probably sexist, anti-gay, anti-religious freedom, anti-immigrant …

It’s not like I don’t have plenty of valid reasons for making those assumptions — nor is it very likely that I am wrong. If I were to profile the owner of such a truck, I’d guess it is someone who: makes a decent living but certainly is not living high on the hog; lacks considerable education, formal or otherwise; is a bully; knows few people who are gay, black, Latino, Jewish or any other minority (and the ones they do know they do not respect); owns guns that one would never to need to protect oneself against an intruder or shoot wildlife; is gullible; and has never thought much about what the American 46

JUNE 2020

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dream is really all about, only that it implies we are the best country in the world! Oh, and we’ll put our boot up the ass of anyone who doesn’t agree USA rocks! *If you are offended or triggered or appalled by the profiling you just read, please send a letter of complaint to: spam@email.net. This type of flag-waving typically serves less as a symbol of pride in American values, and more as a warning to anyone who fucks with them and their narrow, misguided view of what makes America great. It’s a dare to anyone who might have a different, more optimistic view of our nation — a dare that is rarely (and shouldn’t be) accepted because to do so means you are against the stars and stripes, apple pie and our founding fathers. This is how these “patriots” have won. They have successfully branded the flag to represent the white race and Christianity, to represent the owning and aggressive wielding of AK-47s to intimidate, to represent the notion that government and law enforcement should not be criticized.

I suppose this is the part of the column where I state we need to “take back the flag” and “re-brand” it to represent what it really stands for. But the truth is: I’m not particularly patriotic. Never have been. I don’t put my hand over my heart when I hear the national anthem, nor do I sing it. In school, I stood for the Pledge of Allegiance, but I never recited it; I have always found both those things to be really fucked up. And I still do. And I’m certainly not patriotic when it comes to our capitalist economy — which has been perverted from a free market model to one that rewards greed and has led to embarrassing wealth disparity. There are times I do cheer for the flag (or for American exceptionalism). I am proud when a U.S. athlete brings home gold at the Olympics, a U.S. scientist wins the Nobel, or US Peace Corps volunteers make a different in a third-world country. Basically, it’s no different than how I might wave my college flag. So, while re-branding the flag may be an idea worth pursuing, I am without a doubt the wrong person to lead that charge. I know, I know — I am a left-wing commie who gives comfort to the enemy. I’ve surely been called worse (dumb, fat, standoffish, Patricia), so commie pig doesn’t faze me. Still, it shouldn’t be this way. I would love to get a warm feeling when I see our flag. But I’ve simply become so disillusioned by the co-opting of the symbol by hate groups and the illiterate that I’ve moved on. The truth is the American flag should invoke thoughts of everything this country stands for, and I should smile when I see it on display. But I don’t. To me, the flag should stand for the ability of all people to enjoy equality, the best education, terrific healthcare, and a guarantee of a livable wage. Right now, I don’t see how it stands for any of those things. Someone let me know if that changes. Buddy Early grew up in Tempe and has been involved in various communities across the Valley since. He is a former managing editor of both Echo Magazine and Compete Magazine. COMMUNITY

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