Riverfront Times, May 13, 2020 by Chava Communications

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People Watching

WE READ TONS of data about transmission rates, confirmed positives, rolling seven-day averages and, sadly, mortality rates. But nothing hits home like a well-told story about the people those numbers represent. One of St. Louis’ finest writers, Jeannette Cooperman, brings us one of those stories this week with a profile of Courtnesha Rogers and her three kids — the young mom’s “Angel Gang.” They’re living through the pandemic with the added hurdles of their ZIP code, where the average life expectancy is nearly two decades less than it is in Clayton. Faced with a new danger, Rogers tells Cooperman she draws on a life of pushing away fear. The story is part of a new collaboration between the Riverfront Times and the 63106 Project, and we’re looking forward to publishing more installments as Cooperman continues to follow the family. The here-and-now peek into the Rogers’ life is complemented well by a feature by researchers Chelsey Carter and Ezelle Sandford III, who walk us through the impact the Spanish flu of 1918 has had on race and class in St. Louis, while identifying echoes in today’s COVID-19 response. It’s especially poignant as the city and county prepare for a partial reopening. Both pieces are grounded in facts and data culled from research, but they aim to connect us with what matters most: The people of our city. — Doyle Murphy, editor in chief

TABLE OF CONTENTS CAN’T

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Publisher Chris Keating Editor in Chief Doyle Murphy

E D I T O R I A L Digital Editor Jaime Lees Hero In A Hot Dog Suit Daniel Hill Contributors Cheryl Baehr, Trenton Almgren-Davis, Jenna Jones, Monica Obradovic, Andy Paulissen A R T

& P R O D U C T I O N Art Director Evan Sult Editorial Layout Haimanti Germain Production Manager Haimanti Germain M U L T I M E D I A A D V E R T I S I N G Advertising Director Colin Bell Senior Account Executive Cathleen Criswell Account Managers Emily Fear, Jennifer Samuel Multimedia Account Executive Jackie Mundy

COVER

C I R C U L A T I O N Circulation Manager Kevin G. Powers

‘It’s the Scariest Thing in This Life’

E U C L I D M E D I A G R O U P Chief Executive Officer Andrew Zelman Chief Operating Officers Chris Keating, Michael Wagner VP of Digital Services Stacy Volhein www.euclidmediagroup.com

Raising three preschoolers in a pandemic, with a home business on hold and health care costs out of pocket

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WILEY PRICE

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INSIDE Hartmann News Feature Feature

Race, class and reopening St. Louis

Short Orders Culture Savage Love 4

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HARTMANN Stealth Fighter U.S. Attorney Jeff Jensen Survives Trump Travesty Unscathed BY RAY HARTMANN

was wrong about U.S. Attorney Jeff Jensen. On February 26, I wrote in this space that Jensen — the top law enforcement official in our region — might regret having been tapped by Attorney General William Barr for a terrible mission: going to Washington to do Donald Trump’s dirty work by springing one of the many convicted criminals in his orbit, General Michael Flynn. Noting that Jensen had established a fine reputation in the local

legal community for honesty and fairness, it seemed no good could come of such an inglorious assignment. I concluded my column with this not-at-all-prescient assertion: “Jeff Jensen has built himself a fine reputation in St. Louis. But if he fulfills the mission for which Barr has tasked him, he might find himself coming home without it.” OK, I was partly correct. Jensen’s mission was to wrong a judicial right. He was there to free a guilty man because that’s what Boss Trump demanded. But I’m not sure it hurt his reputation nearly as much as one might expect. Flynn had been one of Trump’s sleaziest enablers after the 2016 election. Right after the outgoing Obama administration belatedly slapped sanctions on Russia for meddling in our election, Flynn, Trump’s incoming national security adviser, was tracked down by his Russian pal, Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, for assurance that Putin-Poodle-Elect Trump would not annoy the home office in Moscow

with such nonsense. That message was received loud and clear by Flynn, but not so much by Vice President Mike Pence, who flew into a rage after looking foolish for proclaiming there had been no talks between Flynn and Kislyak. Flynn had told him that, and in the infancy of the Trump administration, that sort of thing was still called a lie. Long story short, Flynn got visits from FBI agents wondering if he was a Russian asset (which he may well have been) and whether he was carrying out some nefarious deal between Trump and Putin to ease sanctions (which he almost certainly was). One thing led to another, and Flynn lasted just 24 days as national security adviser, slightly longer than caviar keeps in the White House fridge. One of those things was Flynn’s guilty plea for lying to the FBI. But none of that matters in 2020, because Trump has been unchained by beating the impeachment rap, so it’s jailbreak party time for the

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legions of convicts like Flynn surrounding him. Enter Jensen, with the solemn duty to “review” the FBI’s questioning of Flynn. Twenty minutes later, the answer was obvious. A perfectly innocent three-star general had been tricked into thinking he was actually a guilty man for having lied about his interaction with Kislyak, despite his own extensive background in military intelligence. Hey, it happens every day: An honest man gets confused that he’s guilty, so he tells a judge under oath that he lied to the FBI. Then, at sentencing, he tells the judge again that he’s guilty of having lied, but in so doing demonstrates that he’s telling the truth the second time about lying the first time. As all good Americans know, the tie goes to the runner. So, the man must go free. Jensen did the deed perfectly, apparently without leaving much of a public paper trail of his own. It was Barr who released a houseof-mirrors equivalent of a brief so

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heinous that I’ve taken the liberty of restating it for lay people: “On behalf of the federal government, your honor, we’d like to assert that we have no idea what we were thinking by having brought this successful case against a great man like General Flynn, and we wish to apologize to him and to condemn ourselves for the unacceptable success of our prosecution. We hate ourselves for this. Sorry.” So, ensen hopped the first plane out of town. Astonishingly, he had pulled off what he always pulls off: He takes part in a major story, and before you can grab your reporter’s notebook, everyone’s looking for the Invisible Man. Jeff Jensen is uncanny. As an FBI agent in the ’90s, he played a key role in solving one of the greatest crimes in St. Louis history: the flight of brothers lan and arold Lieberman to Santiago, Chile, after absconding with $25 million in the proceeds of real estate fraud. It was a huge story of intrigue: They were the most famous international fugitives of their time. And Jensen helped capture the bad guys (except Harold, who jumped off a building in Santiago). But he didn’t take a bow. Not long after that, FBI agent Jensen was again successful in gaining justice in another titillating federal crime story, the bizarre case of violin dealer Keith Bearden, who ripped off St. Louis Symphony members and others in a wacky violin Ponzi scheme. Big success, no victory parade. A far more prominent case for which Jensen is somehow not remembered was his prosecution as assistant U.S. Attorney of the popular former St. Louis Blues owner Michael Shanahan Sr., who pleaded guilty in 2008 for backdating $80 million in stock options in his company Engineered Support Systems. Shanahan was given three years’ probation and community service and had to return all the money. At sentencing, Jensen said Shanahan’s crime was “greedy to say the least ... the average investor doesn’t get the advantage of time travel.” Shanahan died in 2018. As a civil attorney, in 2012, Jensen was tangential to still another famous case: the Ponzi scheme that sent Anglican Bishop Martin Sigillito to prison for life, first reported by the RFT in 2010. Jensen was listed among five attorneys defending an investment advisor and attorney who worked with Sigillito, Paul Vo-

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gel, in a civil suit related to the case. Vogel was accused “among other things, of falsifying a due diligence report in exchange for a $500,000 loan for his condo development at the Lake of the Ozarks and pocketing more than $150,000 by recruiting lenders,” according to the St. Louis Business Journal. It was one of multiple suits settled by Vogel — all without admission of guilt — and he claimed that he and his wife Lynn Ann Whaley Vogel, president of the Missouri Bar in 2011-12, were victims of Sigillito. Jensen made the news, without fanfare, as defense attorney in still another high profile case, when two young assistant circuit attorneys were forced to resign for allegedly covering up a city police beating of a handcuffed suspect. Jensen’s client was assistant circuit attorney Katherine “Katie” Dierdorf. Her law license was suspended last year. On the other side of the case, prosecuting Dierdorf, among others, was Assistant U.S. Attorney Hal Goldsmith, the prosecutor who Jensen would bring in four years later to prosecute County Executive Steve Stenger for corruption. Small world. Technically, the Stenger conviction — a major achievement — belongs at the top of Jensen’s resume. Though he had to recuse himself — for reasons never discussed publicly — he could have taken more of a victory lap than he did when Goldsmith sent Stenger to prison. Few folks had any idea that Jeff Jensen — the most powerful man in St. Louis right now (just ask Stenger) — had a role in all these high profile cases. nlike certain local attorneys who would trample people between themselves and a microphone, Jensen does that rideinto-the-sunset thing. It’s as refreshing as it is bizarre. That may come in handy right now. Our U.S. Attorney — widely viewed in the legal community as a straight shooter and a man of integrity — just let himself get pulled into one of the most malevolent legal exercises in U.S. history. But he floated in and out of ashington almost unnoticed. He appears completely unscathed. Nobody but Jeff Jensen could have pulled that off. I don’t know how he does it. But I wouldn’t underestimate him again. n Ray Hartmann founded the Riverfront Times in 1977. Contact him at rhartmann@sbcglobal.net or catch him on St. Louis In the Know With Ray Hartmann and Jay Kanzler from 9 to 11 p.m. Monday thru Friday on KTRS (550 AM).

NEWS

[CRIME]

Dog Years Suspect in dog abuse case gets ten years on gun charge Written by

DOYLE MURPHY

aul “Paco” Garcia was sentenced May 7 to ten years in federal prison on a gun charge — and he still faces charges in a horrific case of animal abuse. he year old Barnhart man was arrested by efferson ounty Sheriff deputies in February after a dachshund named Flick was found dumped in a ditch in mperial. Flick s mu le and legs were bound in duct tape, and investigators believe the dog lay in the free ing ditch for twelve hours. etectives were able to trace a fingerprint on the tape to arcia, who

Paul Garcia was arrested in February 2019. | COURTESY JEFFERSON COUNTY SHERIFF told them he thought Flick had been sent to spy on him, authorities say. arcia, a meth dealer, e plained that he believed Flick was e uipped with a law enforcement camera. So arcia tied him up, put him in a bucket and drove him to a deserted area near a rock uarry, where he threw him out the window, authorities say.

This is how Flick looked after he was found in a ditch. | COURTESY JEFFERSON COUNTY SHERIFF week after his arrest on state animal abuse charges, the .S. ttorney s ffice filed federal charges, accusing Garcia of illegally possessing a gun as a felon. e had been stopped in September by police in efferson ounty, who were investigating him for trafficking meth. ccording to court documents, police searched the car and found metal

[LOVE AND MARRIAGE]

Altared Plans Couple livestreams nuptials after COVID-19 interrupts big day Written by

JENNA JONES

piano version of Ed Sheeran’s “Perfect” starts to play. The church fills with music as the parents of the bride walk down the long aisle. Then, the flower girl and ring bearer are waddling down the aisle with the energy only small children can possess. Next, the bride makes her entrance. But there’s no one in the pews. No heads turn, no one stands as she and her father make their way down the aisle to a new future. Instead, the livestream floods with comments. Katie Hawkins and her new husband Zach were just one of the couples set to get married this spring when COVID-19 restricted gatherings of more than ten people, effectively canceling any celebrations that anyone had planned. The couple faced the same options

Katie and Zach Hawkins stand in front of a crowd of friends and family who had surprised them. | COURTESY KATIE HAWKINS others did: cancel the wedding or follow restrictions. Though it wasn’t what they’d initially imagined, the two decided to continue with a wedding on May 2 and to celebrate at a later date this summer. They created a Facebook event in order to invite friends and family to celebrate with them. “Who would have known something

that started out online five-ish years ago would end up back here for a wedding?” the digital invitation read. “We don’t want to wait another second longer to become Mr. and Mrs. So, find your favorite place on the couch or wherever you may be, put on your lazy Saturday best and join us as we begin the start of our forever.” As the ceremony unfolded, 100-plus

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knuckles and a ock sland rmory . caliber revolver. arcia has multiple convictions for domestic abuse, along with convictions for trespassing and possession of chemicals used to make meth. So he s not legally allowed to have a gun. e remains in custody in rawford ounty ail. n people were on the livestream at times, from all around the country and world. “As much as we wanted our family and friends there in person, we also knew we could be in the same situation in July as well,” Katie Hawkins says. “Now, we’ll get to celebrate two days. How cool is that?” Exactly ten people comprised the wedding party itself, including the priest at St. Francis Borgia in Washington, Missouri. During the 30-minute ceremony, the priest talked into a mic, allowing livestream viewers to hear every moment. Comments flowed in with words of encouragement and congratulations. “Today, we prove that nothing can separate or keep us apart,” Father Mike Boehm said as he married the couple. Outside, friends and family had a surprise waiting for the newlyweds. Guests had arranged themselves in the parking lot to follow social distancing rules. There were balloons, signs, music, bubbles and plenty of cheering in the parking lot. As the wedding came to an end, the couple had a drive-by receiving line for the couple. People shouted their congratulations from their cars as the Hawkins waved them on. “Zach and I joke around that the whole experience kind of felt a little royal-wedding-esque,” Katie Hawkins says. “It was such a fairytale-like feeling, as cliché as that sounds.” n

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[PRESS CLUB]

No News Is Bad News Surprise yourself with the unpredictable Riverfront Times Written by

JEANNETTE COOPERMAN This is one in a series of essays from Riverfront Times readers in support of our recently launched Riverfront Times Press Club.

Playgrounds, gyms and large venues remain closed under St. Louis and St. Louis County orders, but other businesses can reopen May 18. | DOYLE MURPHY

[ C O R O N AV I R U S ]

Rules of Reopening St. Louis and St. Louis County reveal new orders as they prepare to lift coronavirus restrictions Written by

DOYLE MURPHY

t. Louis city and county officials are edging toward lifting stay-at-home restrictions and “reopening” next week. There are still unanswered questions, but we’re getting more info about how that’s supposed to work. Starting last Friday, St. Louis County Executive Sam Page and St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson delivered some of the specifics still no big venues, playgrounds or gyms. But restaurant dining rooms and hair salons can reopen on May 18 if they follow new safety precautions. In the city, bars can start slinging drinks at that time. In the county, they can only open their interiors if they serve meals. “We’re going to crack the door open,” Krewson said during an interview Friday on St. Louis on the Air. “We are going to open it a little ways — 25 to 30 percent of the way open — so that we can ease into this.” The city and county have since late March been under stay-athome orders that effectively shut down or severely restricted businesses to “essential” services. As a

limited number of businesses are allowed to reopen, they’ll have to comply with new rules, such as requiring employees who interact with the public to wear face masks. The county will limit them to 25 percent capacity, and the city will mandate social distancing, including spacing dining-room tables six feet apart. Daycare centers, which have been closed except to watch the children of first responders, could also reopen if they follow safety guidelines, Krewson said during her radio interview. Neither the city nor the county have hit one of the early benchmarks experts and the White House had suggested for reopening fourteen consecutive days of decreasing cases. But Krewson and Page say they’ve been paying attention to the number of hospitalizations, given that COVID-19 testing continues to lag, making it a less-than-reliable measure. Dr. Alex Garza, who is leading the regional response as incident commander of the St. Louis Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force, said during a briefing last week his team has been tracking a seven-day rolling average in the data sets. The task force pays particularly close attention to hospitalizations as they try to assess transmission rates. The region was averaging about 39 new patients per day last week, “which again is pretty low.” “This is a trend,” Garza said. “We’re going to keep our eye on it, see how it changes going forward, but it’s another positive sign that we’re really headed in the right direction.” He attributes that to people generally following stay-at-home orders and taking other precautions.

ost newspapers, you read already knowing what you will find. Not the RFT. It’s the difference between opening the sweater your grandma buys you every December and opening a surprise bought by a friend who gets your sense of humor, knows you’re smart and appreciates your delight in the unusual, the quirky, the deeply human. The RFT surprises us. It does not hold back, mince words, defer or suck up. And if ever we needed that kind of candor, it is now, when people know only what their friends know and nothing more, because the “other side” feels too far from our “truth” to even engage in discussion. In the decade I wrote for the paper, not once was I censored or told to take a different tack. Not once were the facts … softened, shall we say, or rearranged to be less confrontational. Even in their heyday, their Woodward and Bernstein glory days, newspapers were never as objective as they claimed to be. They have often protected their own sacred cows, be they publishers’ friends or major advertisers. At

Determining when it’s safe for businesses to reopen is trickier, though. A lot of it depends on those businesses making changes to minimize transmissions. He gave the example of grocery stores, which have put up spittle-blocking barriers along their checkout lines and created new cleaning procedures. Policing businesses has become easier said than done. House of ain gyms in hesterfield and Maryland Heights opened last week, despite the county’s prohibition, KMOV reported. And the City of St. Louis is facing a lawsuit filed on behalf of another gym and antique shop over its orders. hat has left elected officials to figure out how to respond if more businesses and their customers decide to go rogue.

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COURTESY JEANNETTE COOPERMAN the RFT, what I wrote lost us several accounts. My editor did not flinch; nor did the reps who lost commission. We knew what we were about, and it was more than money. (Note the paper’s current continuation, at huge personal cost to those putting it together.) A friend of mine stands about 180 degrees from me on most topics, and he is quick to characterize the RFT as a liberal rag — meaning it questions established authority and convention and looks out for those who have no other voice. Yet my friend reads the paper religiously. Why? Because it makes no pretense, and he always knows where he is. He values the honesty of a newspaper that is neither courting advertisers’ favor nor second-guessing the political winds. The beauty of this freewheeling alt-newsweekly has always been that you don’t have to agree with it to cherish it. You just have to let it surprise you. Jeannette Cooperman is an author, journalist, editor and former Riverfront Times staff writer.

“We’re already beginning to see more violations than we saw a week or two weeks ago,” Krewson said on St. Louis on the Air. “What we have to do is allow some easing of these restrictions and put others in place, like wear a mask.” But counting on people to take even basic precautions, such as wearing a mask, is less than dependable. Since the start of lockdown orders, even weak ones such as Missouri’s, there have been organized protests and “patriots,” often breaking along political lines, who’ve refused to comply. “For me, it’s not political at all,” Krewson said on the radio. “It’s just common sense. You don’t want to get sick, and you don’t want to get someone else sick, so just as sort of a good neighbor, a good person, you should wear a mask.” n

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This story is part of the 63106 Project and was produced in partnership with the Pulitzer Center. Additional support was provided by the St. Louis Press Club.

ourtnesha ogers first hint of pandemic was the day she showed up at the Flance Early Learning Center to pick up her daughter, Angele. “Hey, you can’t go any farther,” she heard someone yell. A table with bottles of Germ-X was set up outside, and she had to sanitize her hands before she could enter the building. What? Then she was told she could not bring Angele a My Little Pony cake with four big candles for her birthday. And then she heard that her father’s best friend had died. He was 36.

“He got the virus, and he already had a low immune system,” she tells me via Zoom. “He did have a lot of sickness. But my dad was around his friend, so now we’re not really going around my dad. That’s why I’m so scared now — I’m at the peak of being scared. I’m scared of contracting the virus, I’m scared of my kids contracting the virus, and my loved ones — anybody, really.” She is quarantining in her apartment, near St. Stanislaus Polish Catholic Church, with her three little ones and a friend who just lost her job. Rogers has a cosmetics line but shut down her website “because it’s not essential. We couldn’t sell things from home.” This Continued on pg 12

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COURTNESHA ROGERS Continued from pg 11

month she starts a health care administration degree — online, thank God. Meanwhile, she is trying to keep her kids busy. For Easter, they painted bunny faces. On nice days, she says, “I take them out and let them do chalk on the ground, and bubbles, and we have kites.” On rainy days, they draw or play on their tablets. But they’re scared, too. “It’s really hard to explain to two- and four-year-olds that this is something that is killing people,” Rogers sighs, “and we can’t see our family, and everyone is on ‘shakedown.’ They want to be around people. They don’t understand why they can’t see their friends.” The school Zoom meetings help — and they’ve been an eye opener. “My kids listen to their teacher better than to me!” she exclaims, laughing. “And you see how smart they are. Angelo has a global developmental delay, but he has gotten so much better. They are pushing him up to regular classes. He just was really behind in speech. Now he knows his colors and shapes and everything.” After working with the kids herself, Rogers has a profound new appreciation for all teachers: “It’s like, ‘Whoa, we need a lunchtime, like, now!’” Still, teachers get to go home. For a 24-year-old single mom, there’s no break. “I think they get a little tired of me, too!” she remarks. “Sometimes when I don’t let them get their way, they’re like, ‘I want to go to school!’” When Rogers was younger than they are — two years old — her mother was killed by a drunk driver. “I never really got to meet my mother,” she says, “but people tell me she loved fashion, the way I do. And I have pictures — I look just like her.” It was Rogers’ father, Courtland, whom she was named for, but she grew up without feeling close to him. “He would drive trucks on the road and leave me at home with his wife, or he’d drop me off at my grandma’s house. She was the one who got us ready for school.” Rogers made good grades at first, but nobody seemed to care. She hung with the wrong crowd, focused on fun. She was a party girl, she decided. Junior year, she dropped out altogether. She was seventeen. She could get a job and find herself a nice apartment. “And I did that,” she says. Soon after, though, she and her first real boyfriend moved in together. She was sure she loved him. Now

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Courtnesha Rogers has her hands full with her children home during the pandemic. From left they are: Angele, Angelino (foreground) and Angelo. | WILEY PRICE/ST. LOUIS AMERICAN

“It’s really hard to explain to two- and four-year-olds that this is something that is killing people. They don’t understand why they can’t see their friends.” she knows how vulnerable she was, how eager to be loved. “He would take my phone and lock me in the house; once he locked me in a closet. I started studying for my GED when I was pregnant, and he would get so mad, he’d shut off the electricity.” He was jealous, she realized. “He didn’t want me to know more than him or do more than him.” Rogers did not leave him then; she stayed until after the birth of their next child, a daughter. Then their life together became intolerable. She still sees his family — “his mother, his sister. They never miss a beat of the kids’ lives. He’s just not mentally prepared to be around at this point.” Sensing that was what had sent her back for her with the first pregnancy. School now had more obvious advantages, because it could help her earn enough money to take care of herself and her baby. So she signed up for classes at St. Louis Community College – Forest Park and kept studying. “The

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whole time I was in labor, I was doing practice tests,” she recalls. “I kept saying, ‘I have to pass this thing!’ When my baby was three weeks old, I was not even supposed to be out the bed, and I went and took the test.” It would have been nice, she thinks now, to have had parents who said, “Why don’t you think about this school?” or “When you go to college…” the way she’d heard her friends’ parents say. When her dad moved the family to Hazelwood, her friends all seemed “rich, with big houses” and parents who cared about the details of their lives. “I was responsible for myself,” she says. “That’s how I just kind of branched out in the world, from myself.” Rogers and her father get along better now that she’s older, but she never felt like a Courtnesha, so when she set out to make an album and needed a rapper name, she had fun picking one. “I always had a lot of angels around me,” she thought. She would be Angela Sky. “We’re all

gonna match,” she told her babies. “We’re the Angel Gang!” Having children, she says, is what taught her “how to share. ow to sacrifice, give up things wanted. How to cherish moments. And more importantly” — a wide, lit up smile finally felt loved. If Rogers does come down with COVID-19, she’s nervous about what will happen: “I think they will still send you home to fight it. I would have family for my kids to go to, but they won’t know how to be without me. My kids don’t spend the night without me; I’m never away from them for more than six or eight hours. We would have to do this thing together.” And it would be without insurance, unless she can get her Medicaid back. She had coverage, but it was canceled, “maybe because I was earning too much? So I’ve been paying out of pocket for everything, and it’s killing me. My baby’s asthma medicine alone cost almost $300.” That’s next on her list: reapplying, hopefully online. ualified for food stamps, so shouldn’t I be eligible?” What bothers her most about the pandemic isn’t even these practical, everyday fears, though. It’s that “there is no cure. It’s the scariest thing in this life. I just feel like it’s wiping the world out, like this is what’s going to kill the world, and this makes me so sad.” Every time she goes to the grocery store, she prays. “I don’t wear gloves, I don’t do any of that, because I just feel like, if that is God’s Continued on pg 14

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COURTNESHA ROGERS Continued from pg 12

plan for me, it’s not something I’m going to necessarily try to avoid. I’m just taking it straightforward. If I feel like I have a fever, then I will cover up with a mask, but I haven’t done that. We’ve been going places daily, and we are very healthy. And you can still get it with the mask and the gloves. A lot of people you see still touching their faces and using the same gloves and pulling the mask on and off of their mouths. You can try to be a germ freak and go OCD with this whole thing, but if it wants to strike, it’s going to strike. And if it’s in the air, you have to breathe.” This is not a new way of thinking, born of the pandemic. “It’s

FOCUS ON 63106

closer look at these two zip codes uncovers what we call the “social determinants of health.” Though we often think about access to health insurance and medical care as driving health outcomes alone, it turns out that factors like education, employment, income, wealth, and neighborhood status have significant impact on how well and how long we live. By way of example, 63106 has 6 times the unemployment rate, almost 8 times the poverty rate, and a quarter of the median income of 63105. It also has more than 10 times

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how I live,” she says with a shrug. “I live like that daily.” Before she was able to buy a car, she was “pushing three babies in a stroller down the street, and at night I’d try to get inside fast, before some man could come up.” For courage, she’d remind herself, “If anything is supposed to happen to me, it will happen.” Still, she was scared. And now she’s even more scared. She knows she lives in 63106, the ZIP code where people’s lives average eighteen years shorter than those of people in 63105 (Clayton). The difference, she figures, is because there is no hope. There is no money, so that changes hope. You get stressed. There’s a lot of drugs, a lot of alcohol. People turn to different ways to try to survive, and sometimes those ways are horrible.”

the African-American population. Boundaries: Grand Avenue on the west, St. Louis Avenue on the north, Interstate 70 as it wraps around downtown on the east, and Delmar Boulevard on the south. Population: 11,221 Living below poverty line: 50 percent Living with a disability: 18.7 percent Living w/o a vehicle: 45.3 percent Number of COVID-19 cases: 76 (as of publication date) Features: • Future home of National Geo-spatial

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She pauses to answer Angelino: “It’s a monster! Oh, my!” Then she resumes: “There are programs; the government does eventually reach out. But it’s hard. Say a girl is going to school, and her brother’s in gang violence, and he dies. You just can’t even focus.” ogers does focus she finds every possible opportunity for her kids, and she was just starting to have real dreams for herself. Now, this. She pulls Angelino close, patting his bottom. “I just want them to find a cure. feel like, if we can wash our hands with soap and water, they can find a cure I know we’re against China, but I feel like we really need to pay attention to what China does. First of all, they built a whole hospital for the virus, to contain the virus.”

agency • The old Pruitt-Igoe site, where a small hospital/clinic has been promised. • Several St. Louis Public Schools including historic Vashon High, the Flance Early Childhood Center and a number of charter schools. • Affordable housing developments, including Carr Square Village, Preservation Square, Murphy Park and Cochran Plaza. • Numerous churches, including Calvary Missionary Baptist Church, Faith Temple, Progressive Missionary Baptist Church, St. John Missionary Baptist Church and St. Stanislaus Kostka Church.

(In fact, they built two in Wuhan alone, and more than 30 temporary hospitals.) “And they have been very strict. They have trucks that are sanitizing the air. Here, they had to come close everything down for us to even listen. And the U.S. is spiking numbers higher than where it started!” What would she say to the nation’s president? “Trump? Bless his heart,” she says, her soft smile hard to read. “Bless his heart. I would just tell him to think about the decisions he’s making for everyone. I’d say, ‘Would you want these same decisions to be made for you and your family?’ The Lysol? I thought that was like something a fifth grader would say. , so now you just really want us to die.” She shakes her head. “I just want to pray for him.” She thinks reopening is “a horrible idea, because this thing has not been contained. If we are going to reopen now, we should never have closed. It’s only been, like, three weeks, and we have done nothing to get it contained.” It’s not that she loves quarantine, mind you. “I miss being free,” she says, fervent as she’d be in church. “I miss being free, and my kids being able to see their friends and go swimming. I feel like we are caged in, and it’s like if you go outside you are going to die.” She shuttles between being terrified the world is ending and thinking the precautions are obsessive. “I don’t want it to hinder me. If I’m supposed to get the virus, then, ‘God, so be it.’ I don’t want to run from this thing; I don’t want to hide from it. But I also don’t want to not be smart.” What she did not know, until this interview, is that far more African Americans are being struck down by this virus than whites. (African Americans are dying at 2.7 times the rate for whites, according to data compiled by the APM Research Lab from states reporting by race.) Though Rogers had been cautious, in the back of her head there was always a tiny bit of reassurance: On social media, in the early weeks, she says she saw again and again, “‘Oh, Black people can’t get it.’” n Before Ferguson Beyond Ferguson, a nonprofit racial equity project, is telling the story of families in 63106 one by one over the course of the pandemic. Courtnesha Rogers’ story is one of as many as ten that will be shared with a handful of St. Louis media outlets for what will likely be months to come. You can watch this space for further episodes in her life and find an archive of other family stories at beforefergusonbeyondferguson.com.

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MAY 13-19, 2020

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From Spanish Flu to COVID-19 Race, Class and Reopening St. Louis

BY EZELLE SANFORD III AND CHELSEY CARTER

s the novel coronavirus and its associated disease COVID-19 burst onto the global stage, its seemingly indiscriminate rate of infection caused some to label it the “great equalizer.” While the virus has the potential to infect anyone, alarming new demographic data demonstrates that while the virus itself may spread indiscriminately, it exacerbates existing social disparities.

African Americans bear a significant burden of the disease and resulting fatalities. As CNN contributor Van Jones put it, “It’s an epidemic jumping on top of a bunch of other epidemics already in the black community.” St. Louis city illustrates this very conundrum. Like COVID-19 today, the Spanish flu pandemic occurred at a pivotal moment in St. Louis history, not only in terms of public health policy, but also in terms of municipal race relations. While St. Louis led the nation in implementing “social distancing” policy in 1918, it contributed to a retrenchment of racial policy fueling the implementation of racial segregation. This century-long history, between 1918 and 2020, has contributed to COVID-19 hitting those traditionally marginalized communities extra hard. he Spanish flu pandemic, of unknown national origin, was similarly seen as a “great equalizer” and remains the prominent comparison point for the contemporary COVID-19 outbreak more than a century later. That early-twentieth-century crisis impacted tens of millions around the world, as the “Great War” came to a close. Among major cities in the United States, St. Louis was the most effective at reducing the flu s fatalities. This was due, in large part, to Health Commissioner Dr. Max Starkloff, who worked with city administrators and special interests to implement a policy of social distancing. Schools and businesses were shuttered. Police enforced distancing. And when cases surged after social distancing was lifted, Starkloff re-implemented the policy, avoiding more fatalities in the pandemic’s sec-

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ond wave. While this historical case demonstrates that social distancing works, even today’s coverage neglects the impact of that policy on African Americans. Medical historians, like George Washington University Professor Vanessa Gamble, have noted that African Americans did not succumb to the flu at the same rate as other Americans. But the Spanish flu had a long lasting social impact on African Americans in St. Louis and across the nation. In the years before the Spanish flu hit, African Americans had begun to leave the South in large numbers, making their way to other regions of the country. St. Louis saw its African-American population rise significantly. Between 1910 and 1920, St. Louis’ nonwhite population rose by 59 percent according to U.S. Census data. And in terms of health care access, the city was far from prepared for the influ . Municipal facilities and infrastructure were overwhelmed — including the city’s public hospital. Black St. Louisans obtained hospital care in the colored wards of City Hospital No. 1 or in the private People’s Hospital, if they were hospitalized at all. Frustrated with the lack of access to health care, black elites and health professionals began in 1914 to argue for a negro hospital. Industries depended on healthy laborers, yet many white St. Louisans feared that germs knew no color line. In 1916, St. Louisans voted to support racial segregation ordinances as backlash

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fatalities. In St. Louis, the city’s first four deaths were African-American women. In the St. Louis American, city Health Director Dr. Fredrick Echols announced that the first twelve VID-19 deaths in the city were African Americans. Since then, the mortality rates among the black community in both St. Louis and St. Louis County have continued to rise. Considering these data, COVID-19 is in fact not a “great equalizer.” Although St. Louis is today a mid-sized city, situated far from many coastal virus epicenters, the stakes of its COVID-19 response are exceptionally high. St. Louis’ unfortunate and fraught history of socioeconomic and racial inequities has negatively affected poor and African-American communities. This history, in part, can be traced back to the early twentieth century. Generations of African Americans, particularly in north St. Louis, have and continue to experience undue oppression through social policy. These policies and their ultimate consequences include voter suppression, environmental discrimination, medical racism and experimentation, the racial wealth gap often tied to homeownership, and housing segregation, a consequence of redlining and race-restrictive covenants. How local, state and federal leadership tackle these social inequities will deDr. Max Starkloff. | COURTESY MISSOURI HISTORICAL SOCIETY termine how successfully St. Louis flattens the curve. It was not until April 2 that ffinia ealthcare opened the facilities at the tail end of the flu s testing center in second wave. St. Louis City Hospi- first tal No. 1 was later renamed Max north St. Louis. Suburban and C. Starkloff Memorial Hospital in rural metropolitan clinics imple1942, shortly after the pioneering mented COVID-19 testing as early public health official passed away. as mid-March. A second north St. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Louis site opened at Care STL on recent studies have shown that April 6, just two blocks from the frican mericans bear a signifi- historic Homer G. Phillips Hospicant burden of the disease and tal, now Homer G. Phillips Senior are overly represented among its Residential Center. But neither against African Americans rose all across the region. (The United States Supreme Court later deemed ordinances like St. Louis’ unenforceable.) The 1917 East St. Louis race “riot” subjected hundreds to racial violence. The pandemic fueled racial segregation policies, the effects of which have led to African Americans’ disproportionate experience of COVID-19 more than a century later. It is no coincidence that the precursor to Homer G . Phillips Hospital, City Hospital No. 2, opened in 1919 — expanding African Americans’ access to segregated hospital

Dr. Fredrick Echols is the city’s director of public health. | DOYLE MURPHY clinic has consistently operated due to continuing logistical issues, including lack of personal protective equipment. Such inconsistent operation crucially limits the number of patients served. “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes,” the saying goes. Histories of previous epidemics frequently suggest that outbreaks expose societies’ greatest vulnerabilities. And in the midst of the current crisis, data and survivor testimonies demonstrate that the most severely impacted in this pandemic will be those who are already the most socially vulnerable — the incarcerated, the unemployed, the unhoused and the uninsured. To generate and maintain a flattened curve, St. Louis municipal leaders must learn from the city’s successful pandemic response more than a century ago. But they must also contend with the persisting negative consequences that marginalized African Americans in particular over the course of the twentieth century. Although President Trump provided guidelines on “Opening America Up Again” on April 16, it is imperative that states do not rush to reopen and return to “business as usual.” A rush to return to normal is not only dangerous for our health but will inevitably produce amnesia, with societies once again forgetting and diminishing the social vulnerabilities that have been exposed. As French philosopher and Jesuit priest Pierre Teilhard de Chardin once said, “We are one, after all, you and I, together we suffer, together exist, and forever will recreate each other.” Given St. Louis’ pattern up to the present day, it is imperative that we maintain social distancing for much longer than a “downward trajectory of positive tests” and “down-

ward trajectory of documented cases” over a fourteen-day period. Yet Missouri and the St. Louis area are not even waiting for that. Gov. Mike Parson began lifting restrictions on May 4, and the city and county have announced plans for a “soft” opening on May 18. Under-resourced and socially disadvantaged people do not have the same access to health care or testing opportunities as other Americans. Paradoxically, the most vulnerable among us also serve in “essential” positions, increasing personal risk of exposure. If working-class African Americans (and other communities of color) return to work, church and school too soon, we will again see a resurgence of COVID-19 cases and ultimately COVID-19 deaths. Reopening too quickly threatens to exacerbate an already troubling trend. At this moment, we cannot simply think about flattening the curve,” but also the broad and long-lasting social consequences of our actions. We must think about how to emerge from this pandemic better than when we entered. Otherwise, rushing to “reopen St. Louis” will have long-lasting deleterious impacts on not only marginalized populations in St. Louis but on us all. Chelsey Carter is a Doctoral candidate in Anthropology and Master’s in Public Health candidate at Washington University in St. Louis. Ezelle Sanford III is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Program on Race, Science, and Society (PRSS) and Project Manager for the “Penn Medicine and the Afterlives of Slavery Project” in the Center for Africana Studies at The University of Pennsylvania.

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SHORT ORDERS

[SIDE DISH]

Pandemic Potatoes Nudo House’s Chris Ladley reveals the secret to COVID-19 stress relief: Tater tots Written by

CHERYL BAEHR

hris Ladley gauges the evolution of his stress regarding the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on the restaurant industry in terms of tater tot consumption. “When it started getting really bad, Qui [Tran] asked me if we had anything crappy to eat in the walk-in,”Ladley recalls. “I told him we had tater tots, so I fried some up. t first, had a small bowl. Eventually, it turned into a medium-sized one and the next thing we knew, we were eating them out of a large mixing bowl. The two of us ate an entire case of them in four days.” For Ladley and his Nudo House (multiple locations including 6105 A Delmar Boulevard, 314370-6970) team, the buildup and current reality of the COVID-19 pandemic provided reason to be stressed. Since mid-March, the restaurant industry has been turned on its head as people stay home to curb the virus’ devastation. Like all of his hospitality colleagues, Ladley faces an uncertain future as business suffers because of takeout and delivery-only service, and it’s unclear when — or if — it will resume to pre-COVID levels. However, Ladley feels lucky. Because fast-casual Nudo House already did a significant amount of to-go business, the transition to takeout and delivery-only has been smoother than it has for restaurants that have had to reinvent themselves. He’s been steadily employed, he’s been busy when he’s at work and the restaurant has been able to fast-track some plans for prepared foods that have helped it earn additional income during this

Chris Ladley of Nudo House. | TRENTON ALMGREN-DAVIS business disruption. “Qui and I have been grinders forever, so we said, Let s figure out how to rub two pennies together,’” Ladley says. “We’ve been doing a weekly catering for Washington University, have been able to get some branded things in Schnucks and have turned the restaurant into a grocery store. It hasn’t really been a pivot but more that we realized the things we wanted to do in the future we could do now. It was terrifying and nauseating at first, but we realized that the only way we are going to get through is to put our heads down and figure it out. Ladley admits it hasn’t been easy, though. There are days when the phones don’t ring and the Postmates terminal is silent. Because he knows how much money the

restaurant has to take in any given day, the uncertainty is brutal. He draws strength from his camaraderie with industry peers. From supporting each other’s businesses to helping each other navigate the current meat shortage, Ladley has seen the best in people even while they experience some of the worst times of their professional lives. He feels that support from the public as well and has been heartened that people have shown how much the city’s restaurant scene means to them. Both give him hope that the industry will come back. “There has been so much cooperation between restaurants and staff and friends and the community,” Ladley says. “If we keep up with that, the scene is not going to fi le, and we are not go-

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ing to let the chains take over. If there is one thing St. Louisans are, it’s scrappy. That’s what I love about this city. We incubated our own scene, because no one gave a crap about us. That’s what made us, and that’s what is going to keep us from drowning.” Ladley took a break from Nudo House’s kitchen to share how he is personally coping during COVID-19 and what gives him hope, even as things seem dark. As a hospitality professional, what do people need to know about what you are going through? I guess the daily anxiety is uncertainty. Margins are already super thin in this business; now dining room revenue is gone, and costs are going up because we are hav-

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CHRIS LADLEY Continued from pg 21

ing to purchase [personal protective equipment] and an ample amount of carryout containers. The food system is slowing down, meat supply is super janky right now … supply is getting thin, so prices are going way up. The [Paycheck Protection Program] and the government loans are just Band-Aids on a bullet hole. They were never designed to keep restaurants in business long-term. My long-term anxiety is the realization that prices in restaurants are going to have to increase, but will people pay more for food? New health standards are going to drive up overhead, food prices are going up, the overall cost of doing business will go up. When I was at Quincy Street we raised the price of a sandwich by $1, and people flipped out, so it makes me nervous for the future. Food prices are going to have to increase, but if you don’t have the dining room and the level of service, will the price increase be deemed “worth it”? What do you miss most about your job? I feel very lucky during this

[ B A D TA S T E ]

Bashing the Bashers St. Louis County restaurant faces fierce backlash over racist piñata Written by

DANIEL HILL

restaurant in St. Louis County is facing a wave of criticism after photos surfaced on social media depicting a racist piñata hanging in its crowded dining room on May 4. The owners of Camila’s Tex-Mex, located in Eureka, have removed the restaurant’s Facebook page from social media following the intense backlash. According to the customer who originally posted the photos to Facebook, employees allowed people into the restaurant last Monday night due to poor weather conditions, despite the fact it is located in St. Louis County and therefore remained under lockdown orders that prohibit dining in. The photos show a complete lack of social distancing, with at least fifteen people, some of them children, crowded around two tables in

whole “event,” because I haven’t been out of work. We’ve been grinding six days a week to keep our staff and our vendors paid. We’re fortunate that our existing business model didn’t need to be transitioned to carry-out/delivery. If there was one thing I miss most about how the job “used to be,” it would be the customers. We have amazing regulars; people, families, groups would come in weekly, if not daily. You become friends with these people and families. I miss taking care of people, feeding people. That’s why we (restaurant folk) do what we do, because we love it. What do you miss least? RUDE. FUCKING. PEOPLE. Don’t get me wrong, there’s still dickholes out there who are shitty to those in the service industry. We get them from time to time in the shop, but not having a dining room has greatly lessened the exposure to asshole people. Sorry you’re inconvenienced by a global fucking pandemic, but THERE IS NO EXCUSE TO TREAT ANYONE LIKE SHIT. Ever. Be excellent to each other. It’s simple. What is one thing you make sure you do every day to maintain a sense of normalcy? To make it seem like life before COVID? I’m still working every

close proximity to one another. The photos show something else as well: a piñata, shaped like coronavirus, featuring an Asian caricature sporting a conical rice-paddy hat and Fu Manchu mustache. A Google image search shows that such piñatas have apparently become somewhat popular in recent weeks. “Big thanks to Camila’s Tex-Mex for letting us come inside since it was raining tonight,” the customer wrote. “The service was A1 and the food was amazing! Thank you to everyone who joined us tonight. #TakeTheCityBack.” Since the photos surfaced, the backlash has been fierce. The owners of the restaurant pulled their Facebook page last Wednesday afternoon after getting a slew of angry comments and negative reviews. The restaurant’s Yelp page has also seen an onslaught, with many posting one-star reviews and decrying its actions. “Xenophobia doesn’t have to be accepted. Do not support,” writes James B. from St. Louis. “There’s no way to explain this away. It’s a pandemic, not a joke. Respect the guidelines. Supporting this restaurant is being complicit in their actions.” “What type of management (or lack there-of) would approve of this? In what world would this piñata depicting Asian stereotypes be acceptable? Complete lack of professionalism,” writes Kathy U. of St. Louis. “This is pretty tone death

day, so ... Kidding! I make sure I get outside every day. I need the fresh air. It’s rather pleasant — and also super creepy — how quiet the city is at night, so I’ll sit on the back patio and just be present, turn off the brain for a bit, stop thinking about work. Must make time for the woosah. What have you been stress eating/drinking lately? Tater tots. Seriously. Ask Qui! Tater tots are like starchy, crunchy, salty anti-depressants. And chicken tenders. I guess when we are stressed we eat like five year olds. Stress drinking That sounds really bad to say. Depends on the week. This week was tequila week. Last week was rum week. Maybe we will go gin next week (ahem, looking at you 1220 Spirits). What are the three things you’ve made sure you don’t want to run out of, other than toilet paper? Advil, nitrile gloves and empathy. All are essential for survival right now. You have to be quarantined with three people. Who would you pick? Living: Alton Brown, Kate McKinnon and Steve Martin. Great food, great laughs, great tunes. Dead: Hunter S. Thompson, Robin Williams, Lemmy from Motorhead. Party.

This image of a piñata and other scenes from Camila’s that were posted on Facebook have infuriated people. | SCREENSHOT OF FACEBOOK POST considering everything going on in society right now. Insensitive and ignorant.” “I am always up for supporting local restaurants. I will however, never ever support a kind of establishment that allows racial discrimination to be a part of humor and decor,” writes Bonnie L. of Affton. “Come

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Once COVID-19 is no longer a threat and people are allowed to go back out and about, what’s the first thing you’ll do? Eat in my favorite restaurants, go to my favorite bars and bomb as much money into the tip buckets as I can. Lots of hugs, too. I’m a hugger. What do you think the biggest change to the hospitality industry will be once people are allowed to return to normal activity levels? I’d like to think that the masses will be more educated about wage disparity, lack of benefits and financial insecurity in this industry and will stand by us for a positive change. What I do know is that the grinders — the ones who never stop, keep pushing, keep cooking, keep moving forward — will still be grinding just like we always have. What is one thing that gives you hope during this crisis? Our city: The way our industry has come together to help each other, the way our guests have rallied around their favorite restaurants, the way we are able to feed the people battling this pandemic, the way that we are still allowed to do what we do best. This city, this community, is what has made the restaurant industry in this city what it is, and it is what will keep us moving forward. n

on, a virus piñata with depicting Asian caricature? The owners of this place should be ashamed of themselves. I will never feel comfortable bringing my family here. Support local but not this place.” According to the Anti-Defamation League, assaults and harassment of Asian-Americans have increased in the months since COVID-19 hit the United States, with those of Asian descent being told to “go back to China” and being blamed for the virus. The ADL says further that Asian-Americans have been spat on, berated with racial slurs and even physically assaulted since the crisis came to our shores. Last Wednesday afternoon, St. Louis County Executive Sam Page released a video blasting coronavirus-related racism. In the video, he says members of the county’s Asian-American community have reported being targeted for abuse since the virus’ outbreak. “Hate is a direct attack on the whole community’s health,” Page said. An employee at Camila’s Tex-Mex who answered the phone last Wednesday afternoon said that there was no manager on duty at the time, and to try back after 5 p.m. Multiple calls by RFT after 5 p.m. were not answered, and the restaurant’s voicemail was full. An email sent to the address listed on the restaurant’s website did not receive a response. n

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314.772.980 3153 MORGANFORD RD. ST LOUIS, MO 63116 Under new ownership, Three Monkeys has transformed into one of the best neighborhood restaurants & whiskey pubs in the area. With an ever-growing list of over 60 whiskeys, 16 craft beers on draft, specialty cocktail & an exciting new menu of gastro pub favorites - they have something for everyone. The menu is ample with offerings, including some of St. Louis’s best hand-tossed pizza, great shareable appetizers, burgers, vegetarian options, pasta, steaks & more. Embracing the price point of other south city pubs, Three Monkeys offers a great happy hour! Come enjoy $6 select appetizers, including the best fried Brussels sprouts in town, $5 Manhattans, Sazeracs & Old Fashions, as well as discounts on wine & craft beer. Sunday features one of the most extensive brunch buffets in the city, loaded with your favorite breakfast items, an omelet & pasta station, plus seafood, appetizers, desserts, & many other goodies. Located in Tower Grove South, it’s the perfect place to have dinner, share a pizza with family, or just belly up to the bar with your favorite drink.

The fast-fresh, made-to-order concept has been applied to everything from pizza to pasta in St. Louis, but the sushi burrito surprisingly had no Gateway City home until BLK MKT Eats opened near Saint Louis University last fall. It was worth the wait, though, because BLK MKT Eats combines bold flavors and convenience into a perfectly wrapped package that’s ideal for those in a rush. Cousins and co-owners Kati Fahrney and Ron Turigliatto offer a casual menu full of high-quality, all-natural ingredients that fit everything you love about sushi and burritos right in your hand. TheNOT SwedishYOUR Fish layers Scandinavian cured salmon, yuzu dillSPOT slaw, AVERAGE SUSHI Persian cucumbers and avocado for a fresh flavor explosion. Another favorite, the OG Fire, features your choice 9 SOUTH VANDEVENTER DINE-IN, TAKEOUT OR DELIVERY MON-SAT 11AM-9PM of spicy tuna or salmon alongside tempura crunch, masago, shallots, jalapeño and piquant namesake sauce; Persian cucumbers and avocado soothe your tongue from the sauce’s kick. All burrito rolls come with sticky rice wrapped in nori or can be made into poké bowls, and all items can be modified for vegetarians.

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Housed in a retro service station, J. Smugs GastroPit serves up barbecue that can fuel anyone’s fire. Married teams of Joe and Kerri Smugala and John and Linda Smugala have brought charred goodness to the Hill neighborhood, nestled among the traditional Italian restaurants, sandwich shops and bakeries. Part of St. Louis’ ongoing barbecue boom, the J. Smugs’ pit menu is compact but done right. Ribs are the main attraction, made with a spicy dry rub and smoked to perfection. Pulled pork, brisket, turkey and chicken are also in the pit holding up well on their own, but squeeze bottles of six tasty sauces of varying style are nearby for extra punch. Delicious standard sides and salads are available, but plan on ordering an appetizer or two J. Smugs gives this course a twist with street corn and pulled-pork poutine. Several desserts are available, including cannoli – a tasty nod to the neighborhood. Happy hour from 4 to 7pm on weekdays showcases halfdollar BBQ tastes, discount drinks, and $6 craft beer flights to soothe any beer aficionado.

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314.888.8688 9616 OLIVE BLVD OLIVETTE, MO 63132 The Kickin’ Crab has joined the Crustacean Nation and is here to satisfy your taste sensation. The Kickin’ Crab is a fun-filled Cajun seafood destination where patrons come and escape into flavor paradise. Offering a distinct ambiance to enjoy the finest and freshest Cajun seafood around! Kickin’ Crab is a great place to hang out with friends, family, or both! No plates... no utensils! Just your hands, a bib, and our unique and absolutely irresistible KC sauces - a combination of spicy, sweet and tangy flavors - over freshly prepared seafood that will give your taste buds satisfaction unlike anything else you’ve ever tasted. Join us and partake in the festivities and quality of seafood that The Kickin’ Crab has to offer.

CULTURE [CONCERTS]

Not So Fast Despite headlines to the contrary, St. Louis’ promoters and talent buyers say concerts won’t happen anytime soon Written by

DANIEL HILL

ast week, as national headlines hit the internet announcing that Missouri’s reopening plan would allow concerts to go on with no restrictions on crowd size, Mike Judy’s inbox began filling up with emails from eager booking agents. “Missouri Governor Says Concerts an esume Monday, proclaimed Billboard’s headline. The accompanying story went on to explain that a representative from Missouri s epartment of Health and Senior Services “clarified for Billboard that concerts do not have to adhere to the same occupancy limitations as retail businesses, but event organizers are expected to keep concertgoers si feet or more apart to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus. But for udy, an independent promoter who works with many of the venues in St. Louis where stay at home orders and limits on crowd si e remain in place things ust aren t as simple as that. n other words, he had to let a lot of agents down. told them that, sure, if we wanted to get a couple thousand acres in the middle of Missouri somewhere and line everyone up with a si foot bo and have everyone wear gloves and masks, yeah, we can probably do that, udy says. f you wanna do a , person festival or something, absolutely. o for it. e ust can t do it in ansas ity or St. Louis or olumbia or Springfield. r anywhere normal. t s ust not feasible. ut another way f you wanted to put together an ill fated event in the middle of the state somewhere rural, then yeah, sure, he says. “But that’s obviously not realistic, of course. t may come as an unwelcome

The stage at Delmar Hall will be empty for a while. | HOLLY RAVAZZOLO dose of reality for the St. Louisans that are itching to see some live music again, but the logistics of actually putting on shows during the ongoing coronavirus crisis are fairly prohibitive. rkansas, for e ample, recently made headlines for a socially distant concert with country-rock artist Travis McCready set to take place on May in Fort Smith the first of its kind in the nation. But due to the precautions that will be in place, the concert going experience will look much different than the one we’re all used to. he venue will be open at only percent capacity, for one. ickets for fan pods can be purchased in groups of two to twelve seats, and those groups will be spaced si feet apart. veryone at the show, from employees to attendees, will be reuired to wear masks. here will also be restrictions on how many people can be in the bathrooms at the same time, and fog sprayers will be used before and after the concert. hile the state of Missouri itself hasn t mandated such measures, it s a safe bet that urban centers like St. Louis and ansas ity will announce similar restrictions when they finally allow concerts to go on. t the least, venues will likely need to employ such measures simply to keep concert attendees and employees safe. n the business side, that makes things tricky, Judy says. m not saying it can t be done, especially at a reduced capacity, but expenses are going to be up because you’re going to need to have more staff on, he e plains. nd attendance of course is going to be down, largely due to re-

duced capacity, but also because people are not quite sure they want to go out again. hich m not sure that they should want to. obert Mc limans, talent buyer for elmar all, the ageant and Blueberry ill s uck oom, echoes udy s sentiment. here s not a lot of incentive to try to open up a building at a quarter cap or whatever would be determined, Mc limans says. he costs for us, for utilities and tech crew and rent and all that stuff that doesn t ust go away. So if we can only open to a uarter of it and our expenses are staying reasonably close to the same, from the business perspective, opening up at that level doesn t seem to make a lot of sense either. here s also the simple fact that social distancing at a concert would be incredibly hard to police especially at smaller venues. mean let s be real pecting drunks at a Sick of t ll show to social distance is an exercise in futility, would think, he says. Reduced capacity at shows would make things difficult from a ticketing standpoint as well. Many of the shows that were rescheduled have already sold out, or at the least sold more tickets than the number of people likely to be allowed in the building. This presents a unique challenge: How do you decide who gets to come in So we sold , tickets, but only people can come, and how do we keep them apart Mc limans wonders. r if it s a seated show, and it s percent of the cap, it s like cool, people. hat do we do with those other tickets that were bought sked when he thinks the venues

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he works for will be able to host concerts again, Mc limans is blunt. e don t foresee anything with patrons occurring for the foreseeable future, he says. don t think that there will be shows in our three venues anytime soon. art of that, he says, is that he believes there simply isn t enough appetite in the public at large to gather together in a crowd anytime soon. He doesn’t expect that appetite to return until there s more widespread testing and effective treatment options for . ntil that happens, Mc limans says he expects things will stay on hold. udy is similarly uncertain as to when he’ll be able to book shows again. Say they come back and they ease restrictions and they begin shows in St. Louis in early summer or so m not gonna, udy says. specially since the vast ma ority of what do are national acts, wouldn’t be looking to put anything on really. Certainly not in spring, likely not in summer either. hat this really all comes down to is whatever that timeline may be where people feel safe and where we can get back to a level of normalcy, he continues. nd do believe that once that level is hit think everything m not gonna say things snap back to normal, but m not seeing this going on for years and years. don t think the new normal is an indefinite new normal, if that makes sense. hough he says many acts are now rescheduling their tours out as far as early , in his mind, the absolute best-case scenario would be for shows to resume in late summer. could see a scenario where things improve at an accelerated rate, and maybe we re sitting here in late summer and it looks like it s to do national tours at a realistic level, udy says. erhaps not full level by that point, but at a realistic point where it does make logistical sense for everyone, and financial sense, then maybe a couple smaller tours start going out. Not the anniversary tours, not the album release tours, but some standard headlining tours. That would be, in my opinion, the best case scenario. Mc limans agrees. opefully we will all be able to do that Sick of t ll show in ugust and act like fucking assholes, he laughs. n

MAY 13-19, 2020

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MAY 13-19, 2020

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[NUDITY]

World Naked Bike Ride Is Canceled Written by

DANIEL HILL

pparently, traveling fully nude in a tightly packed group of hundreds is not safe during a global pandemic. Who knew? And so it is with a heavy heart that we share the news that St. Louis’ World Naked Bike Ride has been canceled this year due to coronavirus concerns, and will not return until 2021. The event was scheduled to take place on July 25. Its cancellation was announced on Facebook, and it comes as participating cities across the world are canceling their planned naked rides as well. “The safety and experience of our riders has always been the most important focus for us and we feel the decision to postpone to 2021 is the right one and is in everyone’s best interest,” reads a statement. “The event takes 6 months to plan and thousands of dollars to execute. Based on the extreme disruption the pandemic has had, we simply don’t feel that it is feasible or responsible for us to move forward and put the safety of riders, crew, and community at risk.” This year would have been the thirteenth for St. Louis’ iteration, which is the third largest in the nation and

St. Louis’ iteration of the World Naked Bike Ride is the third largest in the country. | SARA BANNOURA brings people in various states of undress — from clothed to partially clothed to fully nude to somehow even beyond fully nude, if you can believe it. Coming together in droves, they roll through the Grove neighborhood and beyond as part of an expression of body positivity and resistance to oil dependency. And while it has occasionally been known to baffle and terrify the unsuspecting and puritanical, it has mostly become a celebrated local tradition that is tolerated by government officials under the right to freedom of expression.

The new date for the spectacle is July 17, 2021. “While we all wish we could joyfully ride through STL as always, instead we’ll plan on making the 2021 ride even better and truly look forward to safely enjoying it with all of you,” reads the statement. But fret not: As with many events these days, some aspects of the World Naked Bike Ride will evidently be going digital this year. “In an effort to keep the spirit of the World Naked Bike Ride alive, keep you moving and elevate your spirit a bit, we

[MOVIES]

Skyview Drive-In Now Open Written by

JAIME LEES

veryone who has been looking forward to Skyview DriveIn Movie Theater opening up for the season — ever since the first day of homeschooling when they realized that their children are demons and teachers are saints — can now rejoice. The drive-in, located in Belleville, Illinois, is one of the last of its kind. Some people might ve thought it old timey before, but now that this virus is trying to kill

The Skyview Theater in Belleville, Illinois. | GOOGLE STREET VIEW us all, the public is again open to the delights of watching a movie from the privacy of their own car.

t s the best of both worlds ou ve left your house, but you re still not interacting with the filthy public.

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invite you to join us on social media for a series of fun weekly activities you can participate in on your own time with just your bike, that beautiful engine that is your body, a helmet and a mask of course!” the statement says. What exactly, these social media challenges will look like remains to be seen — but it’s a safe bet you’ll be free to “bare as you dare.” Just make sure to give your neighbors a heads up before you hit the streets with your naughty bits blowing in the breeze. You owe them that much. n

nd to welcome us all back to the drive-in, Skyview kicked off its season this past weekend with four family friendly films The Goonies, Beetlejuice, Grease and the greatest movie of all time Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. The scene at Skyview will be a bit different than in years past, of course, and many of those changes are great news for visitors. he cost of admission has been lowered, first of all. hey ll be sanitizing the porta-potties every fifteen minutes. nd while the concession stand will offer reduced items and will only be open on the patio, they re also taking other helpful safety precautions like leaving a space between each car. The theater will be open each night of the week. So if you simply must get out of the house, check Skyview s website, at www.skyview drive in.com, for the latest movie schedule and get going. t s the most fun you can have in the car... almost. n

MAY 13-19, 2020

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MAY 13-19, 2020

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SAVAGE LOVE CHANGE THE LOCKS BY DAN SAVAGE Hey, Dan: It’s taken a lot to do this but here goes. I am a 38-yearold gay male. I have been dating this this guy for one year and ten months. It’s been a lot of work. He cheated on me numerous times and he lives with me and doesn’t work and I’ve been taking care of him for seven months now. He always accuses me of cheating or finds something to blame me for. What I am angry about now is how for the past four months he has been accusing me of playing games by conspiring with people to make him hear voices. If I look up at the ceiling or look around he said I am communicating with “them.” I keep telling him I do not hear or see anything but he insists that I am lying. He also says I put a curse on him. One day I got up and he packs his bags and said he had enough and walked out. He said I was not being loyal. This is a man who has been doing coke since the age of fourteen and he is now 43 years old. He does meth and whatever else. He said until I come clean about hearing the voices too and admit I cast some sort a spell on him he won’t talk to me or see me. Mental illness runs in his family and one sibling already committed suicide. He didn’t want professional help because, he says, “I am too smart for that.” I’m hurt and angry and want some advice. ANY ADVICE. Please. Desperate For Answers I don’t see the problem. A delusional and potentially dangerous drug addict with mental health issues who refuses to get help packed his bags and walked out of your life. Yahtzee, DFA, you win. It was his presence in your life (and your apartment) that was the problem, and your boyfriend — your ex-boyfriend — just solved it for you. Block his number, change your locks, and pray he forgets your address. You might wanna seek some professional help yourself. You need to get to the bottom of why you wasted nearly two years on this asshole. Being alone can’t be

worse than being with someone who cheats on you and then accuses you of cheating — to say nothing of someone who abuses drugs, hears voices and makes other irrational/delusional accusations. He wasn’t just a danger to himself, DFA, he was a danger to you. He’s out of your apartment — now you need to get him out of your head. Hey, Dan: About a month ago I broke up with my boyfriend after I found out he was cheating on me. Long before we broke up I freaked out about a rash and looking back I think it was probably herpes all along. I found out for sure three days ago, and I’m honestly thinking about not telling him. He doesn’t show any symptoms, and he’s the type of guy who will call me a slut if I tell him. He’ll blame me for his wrongdoing and just keep going and going. I honestly don’t know if I should tell him, since he’s asymptomatic. This is going to cause a huge problem between us. He has a lot of anger issues and he could use this as blackmail. I’m legitimately scared. Her Ex Reacts Personally Letting a former sex partner know you may have exposed them to an STI — or that they may have exposed you to an STI — is the decent, responsible, courteous and kind thing to do. Not just for their health and safety, HERP, but for the health and safety of their future sex partners. But people who are unkind, scary and violent have no one but themselves to blame when a former sex partner/ girlfriend/boyfriend/enbyfriend is too afraid for their own safety to make that discloser. Provided your fears are legitimate, HERP, and you re not inflating them to avoid an awkward or unpleasant conversation, you don’t owe your ex a call. Hey, Dan: I’m a bi guy, living alone. At the start of the year, this new guy moved into the house where I live — we share communal areas but have private rooms — and he’s a bit of a slacker but holy shit is he hot. I’ve had regular fantasies about him. And now with the quarantine, those fantasies have increased along with the number of times I see him in a day. I’ve been feeling the

urge to ask him if he’s interested in anything, but my friends have advised me to “not shit where I eat.” But due to the quarantine, the only other option I have is masturbating and that’s not doing the trick. Should I take the plunge and ask him? Household Entirely Lacks Pleasure Health authorities have advised us to shit where we eat for the time being. The New York City Health Department recommends masturbation, HELP, because you are and always have been your safest sex partner. But your next safest partner during this pandemic is someone with whom you live. NYC Health has advised us all to “avoid close contact — including sex — with anyone outside your household.” That doesn’t mean everyone inside your household is fair game, of course; some people are quarantining with their parents. But if there was ever a time when you could approach a nonrelated adult with whom you live to see if they might wanna fuck around, now’s the time. Apologize to the hot slacker in advance for potentially making things awkward and invite him to say no. (“If you’re not interested, please say no and I promise not to bring it up again.”) But if the answer is yes, HELP, send video. Hey, Dan: I’m a gay bondage bottom. My boyfriend of four years is 100 percent vanilla, and we solved the “problem” of my need to get tied up — and it’s a real need — by outsourcing it. (Can you tell we’re longtime readers and listeners?) I was seeing two regular FWBs/ bondage buddies, but that’s obviously on hold right now. (I’ve reached out to both my FWBs to let them both know I’m thinking about them and that I care about them, Dan, like you’ve been urging people to do on your show.) The issue is: I still really need to get tied up, and my boyfriend is willing — but he’s so bad at it that I don’t want to bother. He knows how much I need it, and he’s hurt that I’d rather go without than let him put me in bondage that isn’t really bondage because I can easily get out. We used to fight because I wanted him to tie me up and he didn’t want to do it, and now we’re fighting because he wants to tie me

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up and I won’t let him do it. Any advice for a fan? This Isn’t Exactly Desirable If people can teach yoga, give concerts and conduct first dates via online streaming services, then one of your bondage buddies can — if they’re into the idea — give your boyfriend a few bondage tutorials online. I’m glad to hear you already reached out to your bondage buddies, TIED, since now you’ll be asking them to do you and your boyfriend a favor. But I imagine it’s a favor they’ll enjoy doing. Hey, Dan: I’m a teenage girl with a female friend who keeps joking about having sex with me. We’re both into girls and sex, but while I find her really hot, she probably doesn’t feel the same about me. How can I tell if she’s joking about it because she finds the idea ridiculous or if she’s joking about it because she actually wants to? Once everything goes back to normal COVID-wise, what should I do? Getting Into Real Life The ability to ask someone a direct question — particularly someone you’re interested in romantically and/or sexually — is an important skill, GIRL, and getting some practice now, when stakes are relatively low, will benefit you all your life. So get your friend on the phone and ask her this: “Are you serious about wanting to have sex with me? It’s fine if you don t want to, but m actually attracted to you. Please say no if the answer’s no.” If the answer is yes, you can make a date to get together once circumstances/pandemics allow. But if the answer is no, GIRL, then you can get some practice making declarative statements: “I don’t want you to make those jokes anymore. They’re hurtful to me.” And if she continues to make jokes about having sex with you after you’ve made it clear she’s hurting your feelings, then she’s just being cruel and doesn’t deserve your time, attention, or friendship. Check out Dan’s podcast at savagelovecast.com mail@savagelove.net @FakeDanSavage on Twitter

MAY 13-19, 2020

RIVERFRONT TIMES

MAY 13-19, 2020

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MAY 13-19, 2020

RIVERFRONT TIMES

BELEAF’S LIFE’S OILS

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products anywhere. Select from many product categories to find the best method based upon personal preference:Jack CBD Oils & Tinctures, CBD Flower or Pre-Rolls, CBD Topicals, CBD Gummies, Edibles, Drinks, CBD for Pets, CBD Vaping…and more! In addition to the store resources, the online presence, at www.thegreendragoncbd.com has dozens of blog posts covering many topics of CBD usage, CBD myths, and unique testimonials from CBD users. You can also place orders online for delivery at-home. 15% off for all first time customers in-store, or go online for special web offerings!

The Green Dragon CBD www.thegreendragoncbd.com 14856 Clayton Rd Chesterfield, MO 63017 (636) 220-7278 Open Mon-Sat 8am-9pm, or Sun 9am-6pm

Riverfront Times, May 13, 2020

Articles inside

Pandemic Potatoes

From Spanish Flu to COVID-19

Rules of Reopening

Altared Plans

Stealth Fighter