LEO Weekly May 20, 2020 by leoweekly

FREE MAY.20.2020

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LEOWEEKLY.COM // MAY 30, 2020

A LETTER TO THE COMMUNITY

LIKE LEO? HERE’S HOW TO HELP. BY LEO WEEKLY We at LEO offer our sincerest congratulations to The Courier Journal for winning its 11th Pulitzer Prize, this one for studiously and unrelentingly chronicling the avalanche of last-minute pardons and commutations handed out by the corrupt, craven and mercenary Gov.-reject Matt Bevin. We are fortunate as a city to have it as our paper. In a poignant tribute and plea, former CJ reporter Howard Fineman wrote in The Washington Post that the paper’s latest plaudit “should remind us (and surely was meant to remind us), that what we call ‘local’ journalism is profoundly essential to self-government as the Founders designed it, and to the American way of life.” He cited a study that found nearly 1,800 newspapers have closed since 2004, and he said, “Virtually all of the remaining 7,000 are thinner and weaker than ever.” He implored you to subscribe to the paper because, as the op-ed’s headline said: “My former newspaper is struggling — and is more important than ever.” This is all true, but there is more. What Fineman’s op-ed neglected to underscore is that the news media landscape extends far beyond daily newspapers and must include alternative weeklies. Alt-weeklies also provide “local journalism” and are “profoundly essential.” They are critically important because they work in the margins and areas where newspapers do not or cannot. They provide free-to-read accounts of a community’s culture, ethos and priorities. Good ones are not substitutes for daily newspapers, although their coverage and stories may overlap. At LEO, our goal since John Yarmuth founded it in 1990 has been to dive deeply into areas that The CJ and other mainstream news media have neglected, dismissed or overlooked. Accordingly, LEO is the authority on local music, theater and visual arts. We publish A&E guides twice a year. Every issue of LEO has (or had) at least two food and drink stories, including reviews, a beer column and insiders’ views on the service industry. We offer a range of commentary, which, admittedly, skews left but also has included conservative and right-leaning views (such as a column from, gasp — Mitch McConnell). We print op-eds that The CJ would not, such as from Black Lives Matter. We champion equality and provide a voice to the LGBTQ+ community. Our printed and online lists celebrate the best things to do in the region to help you plan your week and weekends. We also publish news stories that are written differently (we’d like to say, more interestingly) than a newspaper would run. They include primary source stories (first-person) and stories told through alternative (there is that word again) formats. Our core topics include those that the daily paper rarely touches, such as urban planning, race relations, labor and the environment (since The CJ’s ace enviro reporter moved on). And, they include media criticism (we are looking at you CJ, but we have given ourselves thorns) because who else is going to do it? In short, Louisville has at least six ways you can get your news, counting TV and radio. We try to not be like any of them. We try not to tell the same story. We try to be more interesting and less predictable. And the hundreds of thousands of people who read us and click on our stories tell us we are doing something right. Alas, LEO, as you might imagine, also has been crippled by this virus, as have alt-weeklies across the nation. LEO is free to pick up and relies almost entirely on advertising. No subscriptions. No grants. No membership drive for donations twice a year. The backbone of our advertising is entertainment (think: music, ballet, theater and visual art) and food and drink. Similarly, we distribute to places where people enjoy those activities and relax (think: bars, coffee shops, restaurants, etc.), and those have been closed. LEO already runs lean and has not had to furlough any editorial staff — yet — but our editorial budget has been cut by three-quarters. LEO has been online-only mostly since the epidemic began. Starting with this issue, our goal is to publish a print edition every other week. Fortunately, we have been an outlier among alt-weeklies, so far. A story from NiemanLab listed more than 40 alt-weeklies that had taken steps to survive within just days of us all realizing this pandemic was real. Many suspended print publication, others furloughed staff and, still, others asked for donations. They included Pittsburgh City Paper, which launched a membership program: “in order to help fight some of these losses, with the hope that readers who depend on our daily coverage of local news, arts, music, food, and entertainment recognize the importance in the work we do to keep the city informed and want us to continue.” We like that idea! Won’t you please consider helping to fund LEO’s mission by underwriting a reporter or providing financial support for more stories? You could sponsor a reporter to cover a specific topic or issue, such as visual arts or theater or labor… or poverty… or the environment or… you name it. Perhaps you want to sponsor a weekly column on dance or jazz, or you want to underwrite a series of stories on land use in The West End. You would not have a say in exactly what we write and what gets printed, but you would see more coverage in the area you have selected. If you are interested, please contact us at: leoweekly.com And, please, if you value LEO and want us to continue to survive and thrive, continue picking up the papers, continue sharing stories on social media and consider advertising if you do not already. As always but particularly now, thank you for reading LEO, and thanks to all of you who have emailed and called to ask when you would see another printed edition on the news stands.

LEOWEEKLY.COM // MAY 30, 2020

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What do Republicans want, asks U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth in his latest Postcard from Washington. Here is a piece of what you can read in full at leoweekly.com: “I, along with my Democratic colleagues, believe that government can and should be used to make life easier for the people we represent. We think government should try to make it easier to eat, easier to breathe, easier to vote, easier to get an education, easier to have a home, easier to get medical care, easier to protect workers’ rights through a union.”

FREE MAY.20.2020

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ON THE COVER

DESIGN BY TALON HAMPTON

HANNAH DRAKE: WE ARE NOT ALL IN THIS TOGETHER | PAGE 7 NO, MCCONNELL — YOU SHUT UP! | PAGE 6 SOFT-SHELL CRAB TACOS FOR THE WIN | PAGE 19

LOUISVILLE ECCENTRIC OBSERVER

Volume 30 | Number 26 735 E. MAIN ST., LOUISVILLE, KY 40202 PHONE (502) 895-9770 FAX (502) 895-9779 FOUNDER

John Yarmuth EXECUTIVE EDITOR

Aaron Yarmuth, ayarmuth@leoweekly.com PUBLISHER

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Elizabeth Knapp, eknapp@redpinmedia.com MANAGING EDITOR

Keith Stone, kstone@leoweekly.com EDITOR-AT-LARGE

Scott Recker, srecker@leoweekly.com STAFF WRITER

Thank you, Aaron, for this article. It speaks the truth about the Republican Party, and because of their lack of standing up to these people, we are seeing more hate and disregard for human life than ever before. It is bad enough that these thugs are allowed to protest at the Capitol in the first place with their guns and Confederate flags, but that a state representative would join in is just not acceptable. She should have been asked to step down by Republican leadership. —Brenda Erickson

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BEST EVIDENCE OF GOP PRIORITIES IS IN ITS BUDGETS

CHIEF CONRAD MUST GO! | PAGE 4 7 OF THE BEST FESTIVAL SETS | PAGE 17

ON: EDITOR’S NOTE, GOP HIDES BEHIND IGNORANCE TO DEFEND RACISTS

The LEO Weekly is printed on recycled newsprint with soy-based ink.

CONTRIBUTORS

Al Cross, Hannah L. Drake, Robin Garr, Errin Haines, Bennie Ivory, Sam Marcosson, James Miller, Liz Palmer, Writer Illustrations by Yoko Molotov ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES

Marsha Blacker, mblacker@leoweekly.com Eric Clark, eclark@leoweekly.com Julie Koening, jkoenig@redpinmedia.com Karen Pierce, kpierce @redpinmedia.com DISTRIBUTION MANAGER

Megan Campbell Smith: distribution@leoweekly.com

MANAGER OF BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT / RED PIN TIX

Michelle Roeder: mroeder@redpinmedia.com

Danielle Grady, dgrady@leoweekly.com ART DIRECTOR

Talon Hampton, thampton@redpinmedia.com GRAPHIC ARTIST

Hannah Boswell, hboswell@redpinmedia.com CONTRIBUTING ARTS EDITOR

Jo Anne Triplett, jtriplettart@yahoo.com

LEO Weekly is published weekly by LEO Weekly LLC. Copyright LEO Weekly LLC. All rights reserved. The opinions expressed herein are exclusively those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the position of the Publisher. LEO Weekly is available free of charge, limited to one copy per reader. No portion may be reproduced in whole or in part by any means, including electronic retrieval systems, without the express permission of LEO Weekly LLC. LEO Weekly may be distributed only by authorized independent contractors or authorized distributors. Louisville Eccentric Observer (LEO) is a trademark of LEO Weekly LLC.

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LEO Weekly welcomes letters, emails and tweets of no more than 350 words. Ad hominem attacks will be ignored. We may edit for length, grammar and clarity.

It’s bullshit. She [state Rep. Savannah Maddox] knew. Xenophobia and racism paved the road to the White House. —Dwayne L Davidson

ON: MANDY BELL, SHELTER IS UNSAFE FOR HOMELESS WITH VIRUS

Thank you, Mandy, for writing this article. I’m sure that many people feel bad about the homeless people in our community. The truths you write need to lead our community to pick up our phones and call the mayor’s office and demand a better situation for the homeless, perhaps just the one you mentioned, the empty hotels. Many people are struggling with anxiety these days of COVID-19 and many people are feeling suddenly very grateful for their home, a place for them to take care of themselves and their families. We need to reach out to our government and assert the right of housing for those suffering just too, too much. ... — John Hartmann

ON: DAN CANON, REMEMBER HOW 7-YEAR-OLD AIYANA STANLEY JONES DIED IN DETROIT? I appreciate the vivid writing. What an awful case. — Douglas F. Brent @douglasbrent3

ON: INDIANA, KENTUCKY GOVS AT ODDS OVER REOPENING RESTAURANTS, ECONOMY I’m still going to eat tacos. —Joe Stariha

I am still wary of dining out and will be for a while. I have gotten more used to carry out, and seeing some folks’ total disregard for distancing, carryout will and off-peak dining will be the way I support local restaurants. —David Sipes

ON: LOCAL, INDEPENDENT MUSIC VENUES HELP LOBBY CONGRESS What can we — the fans — do to help? I don’t want a world without Zanzabar. Are there action items we can participate in? — Corinne Martin

ON: THORNS AND ROSES, CITY SHOULD ALLOW RESTAURANTS TO USE STREETS FOR OUTDOOR SEATING

Doesn’t even need to be the entire street. Montreal uses the parking spaces in front of a bar or restaurant for outdoor seating. —T Dunk @TDunk19 LEOWEEKLY.COM // MAY 30, 2020

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EDITOR’S NOTE

CHIEF, HOW MANY MORE SCREWUPS? By Aaron Yarmuth | ayarmuth@leoweekly.com LOUISVILLE Metro Police Chief Steve Conrad needs to resign. The time and circumstances warrant the 63-year-old police chief turn the department over to new leadership. By continuing to serve, he perpetuates skepticism over whether his police department is capable of protecting and administering equitable, transparent justice for every part of the community. The recent killing of Breonna Taylor is just the latest — albeit, possibly the most troubling — of several incidents involving the police department under Conrad’s command that could have warranted his removal. The Explorer Scout scandal — the sexual molestation of children by ofﬁcers — was alone horriﬁc enough to justify overhauling the department. Conrad still has yet to exhibit the same outrage felt by the city, much less provide the transparency and leadership the victims deserve. There was the mismanagement of

UNDERCOVER

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LEOWEEKLY.COM // MAY 30, 2020

emergency anti-violence funding — $6.2 million in emergency funding was supposed to last six months but was exhausted in just six weeks. Three of Conrad’s officers were sentenced to probation and ordered to repay $170,000 after they admitted to falsifying overtime records. This not only left the department shorthanded, but it was ineffective in combating violent crime, which actually increased during this time period. And Louisville still can’t get its gun violence problem under control. City officials say 2020 is on pace to match the city’s worst year, 2016, when there were 504 shootings, 118 fatal, according to The Courier Journal. Conrad survived a no-confidence vote from the Metro Council in 2017. He brushed off a damning vote of no-confidence from the Fraternal Order of Police in 2016. When questioned about department morale and officers leaving the force last September, Conrad said, “I think the morale of our officers is up to the individual.” (He

later apologized for that comment.) Conrad needs to take it upon himself to acknowledge that he is ultimately responsible for all that has transpired — which brings us back to Breonna Taylor. Taylor’s death should be looked at against the backdrop of the multiple instances of police profiling and stopping people Driving While Black. One example that comes to mind is when a cop stopped Rev. Kevin Cosby, pastor of St. Stephen Church and president of Simmons College, and fumbled his way to accusing Cosby of making an illegal turn. Another was when an 18-year-old was cited for a “wide turn” and had his car torn apart and inspected by a drug dog in broad daylight. Conrad defended the latter incident by citing LMPD’s “pretextual” stops policy (translation: pretextual — a synonym for racial profiling). It’s good that the FBI will be overseeing the investigation into the circumstances that preceded and ultimately ended Breonna Taylor’s life. Perhaps the investigation will reveal the facts, and appropriate justice will be served… whatever that means. But, even in this hard-to-imagine scenario, any confidence that justice is fairly administered will come from the FBI, not

LMPD. How does that help repair relations with Louisville’s Black community? How does that repair Louisville’s reputation, which has been tarnished nationally? There will be debate over LMPD policies and operating procedures. But how, after eight years and a résumé full of scandals and resistance to transparency, can this community believe Conrad is capable of bringing the reforms needed? He can’t. Conrad’s opportunity to be a reformer has passed. He owes it to those in this community who believe he has failed to represent a fair, transparent and socially equitable police department — whose faith in the department is lost. He owes it to Mayor Greg Fischer, who has stood by Conrad through scandals, wrongdoing and mismanagement, and which promises to be the biggest scar on the mayor’s legacy. He owes it to the family and friends of Breonna Taylor. And, he owes it to the rest of us, who are embarrassed to see Louisville in the national news for the shooting of an unarmed woman in her own home. •

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SEN. MCCONNELL — PLEASE DON’T ENABLE A PANDEMIC By Al Cross | leo@leoweekly.com REPUBLICANS facing an election amid a once-in-a-century catastrophe made worse by their president are throwing anything they can against the political wall to see what sticks. Some of what they’re throwing is pretty slippery — trying to discredit experts, shifting the blame to China or, well, just making stuff up. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had been a voice of reason, repeatedly volunteering in interviews that Americans should wear masks in public — a step urged by public health experts and governors of both parties but rejected by much of the political base of a president who has declared victory, left the ﬁeld and refused to wear a mask. McConnell’s been wearing one but has otherwise gone off the reservation, mainly in an online video interview Monday with Lara Trump, wife of presidential son Eric Trump. As they discussed the pandemic, McConnell averred, “Clearly the Obama administration did not leave for this administration any kind of game plan for something like this.” That’s simply not true. President Donald Trump’s predecessor left him a 69-page playbook for a pandemic, including one caused by a novel coronavirus, with such points as the need for supplies of personal protective gear, and Trump largely disregarded it. On Thursday, McConnell admitted he was wrong and that Obama had indeed left a plan for the Trump White House. “I clearly made a mistake in that regard,” McConnell told Bret Baier of Fox News. We’ve also learned that a big U.S. manufacturer of N95 respirator masks offered in January to ramp up domestic production because he was getting so many orders from other countries, and his offer wasn’t accepted. At the same time, Health Secretary Alex Azar “struggled to get Trump’s attention to focus on the issues,” The Washington Post reported in a revealing timeline of the crisis. The only strong, early action Trump took was to ban most travelers from China, a move that still allowed 40,000 people to come from that country to the U.S., including 4,000 from Wuhan, epicenter of the pandemic. To his credit, McConnell hasn’t, as far as I can tell, defended Trump’s overall

handling of the crisis. But his acolytes, such as Attorney General Daniel Cameron, are trying to shift blame to China — which does need to be held accountable for how it handled the Wuhan outbreak but is largely beyond the reach of legal action that Cameron suggested. McConnell talked about legal action in the interview with Lara Trump, to make what appears to have been his ﬁrst public criticism of Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear’s handling of the pandemic. Asked about Democratic negotiating stances in Congress, he turned the conversation in another direction: “If you look at the rhetoric, the Democrats seem to actually prefer keeping people locked up at home. That’s one of the reasons some of the governors have run into trouble. My governor in Kentucky, for example, has lost two cases in federal court because he overreached. He tried to have a travel ban in which you couldn’t leave or enter the state. ... He tried to prevent people from having drive-in church services on Easter Sunday.” Whoa again, senator. Beshear had to change his travel ban, but he didn’t try to prevent drive-in services; he actually encouraged them. McConnell seems to have swallowed the claim of lawyers for Maryville Baptist Church in Hillview, that state police put quarantine notices on cars of people participating in the church’s drive-up service. Three judges on the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals did likewise, without proof; Beshear says state police told him they placed notices only on cars of people who had gone inside the church. McConnell continued, “Some of these governors, particularly the Democrat governors, it seems, enjoy this extra power over

people’s lives, and ... the governors have been struck down, been overruled, for being sort of drunk with power at the opportunity to keep everybody locked up.” That, sadly, echoed McConnell’s silly seatmate, Rand Paul. On May 7, U.S. Sen. Paul said Beshear was “drunk with power,” and on the following Tuesday he told the Owensboro Chamber of Commerce that the governor was a dictator. That was the same day Paul went after Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, disputing basic public-health history and practice about avoiding resurgences in epidemics. Paul is an ophthalmologist. He should have more respect for a colleague and for science. His jab at Fauci, and two by President Trump that followed, continued the sad trend among some Republicans of discounting scientiﬁc experts. That’s understandable, if not acceptable, in politics. For example, on climate change, they dance with the fossil-fuel industries who helped buy their tickets to the dance. With a deadly pandemic, it’s not understandable, except to see them as singers of whatever tune Trump and his right-wing media choir sing in frantic efforts to get him re-elected. McConnell and Trump are joined at the hip for the election, and the senator has been called the president’s chief enabler. Please don’t enable a pandemic. • Al Cross is a former Courier Journal political writer and is professor and director of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues at UK. He writes this column for the Kentucky Center for Public Service Journalism. On Twitter he is @ ruralj. LEOWEEKLY.COM // MAY 30, 2020

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NO, MCCONNELL — YOU SHUT UP By Bennie Ivory | leo@leoweekly.com PERHAPS IT’S TIME to introduce U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, to this new reality of the 21st century: Old white men don’t get to tell Black men to shut up anymore. At least not without recriminations. In an online interview this week with Lara Trump, President Donald Trump’s daughter-in-law and campaign mouthpiece, the senator went after Barack Obama, the nation’s first African American president. The same one he vowed — unsuccessfully — to make a one-term president. The same one he smugly obstructed time after time for eight years. The same one he stole a U.S. Supreme Court seat from. The same one he has tried — again being so bold as to speak their mind. But this is 2020. Post Jim Crow. unsuccessfully — to impugn ever since. Former Republican National Committee Now, McConnell has taken to lashing out at Obama’s right to free speech for Chairman Michael Steele put it another way: criticizing Donald Trump’s handling of the “I’m sure Mitch is aware that a grown-ass COVID-19 panBlack man who hapdemic — possibly pens to be a former the biggest presipresident has agency dential blunder in to speak his mind on What do you call history. how his successor is “I think admonishing a former managing this crisis, President Obama especially since his president to shut up? successor has yet should have kept his mouth shut. to keep ‘his mouth How about You know, we shut’ about him.” know he doesn’t This is the same disrespectful, rude like much this Mitch McConnell and classless. administration who has staunchly is doing. That’s defended flag burnunderstandable. ing and unlimited Maybe the senator But I think it’s a financial contribulittle bit classless, tions to political was channeling his frankly, to critique campaigns as First an administration inner Alabama roots, Amendment rights. that comes after Whatever. It’s harkening to a time you,” McConnell 2020. And, senator, said. old white men don’t when Black men were get Classless? to tell Black men Really! to shut up anymore denigrated, beaten — and expect to get What do you or worse for being so a pass. call admonishing Words matter. • a former president bold as to speak to shut up? How Bennie Ivory is about disrespecttheir mind. former executive ful, rude and classless. editor of The Courier Maybe the Journal. senator was channeling his inner Alabama roots, harkening to a time when Black men were denigrated, beaten or worse for

LEOWEEKLY.COM // MAY 30, 2020

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WRITE SOME SHIT

ARE WE REALLY IN THIS TOGETHER? HELL NO! By Hannah L. Drake | leo@leoweekly.com

AS THE CORONAVIRUS started to sweep across the United States, I recall going to the grocery store, and there was a somber mood in the atmosphere. It was almost tangible as various shoppers walked through the aisles picking up canned goods, pasta, bleach and toilet paper, hoping the supplies we purchased would help us get through the unknown. Seeing how the virus was impacting other countries around the world, we knew we were waiting for the inevitable, knowing that many of us would suffer sickness and losses that would be incomprehensible. As governors across the country started issuing stay-at-home orders, imploring Americans to stay home to help slow the spread of the virus, a mantra began to spread almost as quickly as the virus: “We are all in this e together.” ay: I watched countless videos of people staying home in their apartment complexes, p- throwing open their windows or standing r on their balconies singing various songs cy in unison. I watched entire neighborhoods on go outside and sing happy birthday to their is neighbors. I watched us come together in is, ways I had never witnessed in America, and I s was proud that who I believed people were at the core was ﬁnally shining through. Although it was sad that it took a pandemic to show us what we can be, I was determined to stand e strong because we were all in this together, right? As a resident of Kentucky, I tuned in daily - to Gov. Andy Beshear’s brieﬁngs, and each day he asked us to say along with him, “We will get through this. We will get through this together.” We even learned how to say this with sign language. . And for a minute, I believed that. America was going through something that many of , us never had and never would experience ’t again in our lifetime. The coronavirus was en not a random event that was selective about e who it impacted. It was a virus that would go et wherever it wanted to go, not concerned with economic status, race, employment, marital status, sexuality, etc. The virus has one goal — to survive by any means necessary. This virus is promiscuous and will go where it wants and infect whomever it desires. ier However, as the days turned into weeks and the weeks into months, it became very apparent that we are not all in this together. Indeed, we were all facing the same virus, but we are not all having the same pandemic

ing, while police hand out masks and water to experience. It has become glaringly apparent that while we are all in the same storm, we are white people in the park. In another recent incident, a Black woman not all in the same boat. If America was out with her son was stopped by the police, placed to sea and a storm set upon the ocean, many on the ground and handcuffed for “not wearwhite people are on a cruise ship, and Black ing her mask properly.” people are in dinghies. The coronavirus is not an excuse to police Black people are fighting two pandemics Black people. There is no way in hell we are — coronavirus and racism. all in this together. Black people are dealing with the reality Meanwhile, that the coronavimany white rus is disproportionately affecting Black people are dealing people just are not wearing masks our community. with the reality that or practicing We understand the coronavirus is dis- social distancing. that years of when oppression, proportionately affect- However, white people do predatory policies, lack of access to ing our community. We not follow the suggested rules, healthcare and understand that years they view it as low-wage jobs their constitutional despite education, of oppression, predaright. They are all undergirded by seen as patriotic. systemic racism, tory policies, lack of When white impact our health access to healthcare and people break the and wellbeing. — like salon You would think low-wage jobs despite law owner, Shelley that in itself would Luther did by be enough for education, all underdefying orders and Black people to girded by systemic keeping her salon fight. open — senaYet there is racism, impact our tors stand with another fight that health and wellbeing. them. Luther was Black people must to seven take on during this You would think that in sentenced days in jail for time. As governors itself would be enough contempt of court; however, she issue orders for for Black people to fight. served only three people to wear The Texas masks to help stop Yet there is another fight days. Supreme Court the spread of the virus, reports are that Black people must granted a motion to release her. The surfacing of Black take on during this time. order came soon people being proafter Gov. Greg filed for wearing As governors issue Abbott announced masks. According he was modifyto Jermon Best, orders for people ing his recent he and his friend executive orders related to the coronavirus were kicked out of an Illinois Walmart for pandemic to eliminate jail time for Texans wearing masks. The officer told them they who violate the restrictions. So, let me get this could not wear masks inside because there is straight — when white people defy the law, a city ordinance that prohibits people from governors will modify executive orders. wearing masks inside businesses. The police Also, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz went to Luther’s chief has since said there is no such ordinance. Salon à la Mode to get a haircut. According to The same incidents have been seen across a CBS report, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin America. In New York City, Black people and also dropped by the salon, and Texas Attorney people of color arrested for not social distanc-

General Ken Paxton called her sentence “outrageous.” Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick offered to pay Luther’s $7,000 fine or even serve out her sentence under house arrest. When the Texas Supreme Court ordered her release, Donald Trump said, “good.” But please, tell me that feel-good story about how we are all in this together. In this, together, is simply an illusion. We are not fighting the same fight, and we never have been. White people are fighting because they have been inconvenienced and can’t get a haircut. Black people are fighting for their very lives. As white people protest across the nation, the Blue Lives Matter slogan has flown out of the window. The, “Why don’t they just follow the rules,” clause no longer applies — because now it impacts them. They are fine as long as the rules apply to everyone else. And as this nation continues to battle the coronavirus, it is apparent the so-called rules seem to apply only to Black people. As data comes in about arrests for violating social distancing orders, it shows that Black people are being disproportionately arrested. Add on the other layer of many white people feeling it is their job and their right to police Black bodies in spaces to enforce social distancing. Black people do not have the luxury of merely worrying about surviving a pandemic. Black people must navigate the pandemic and navigate racism. As much as I wanted to believe, America has shown me, once again, that we are not in this together, and we never were in this together. However, one thing is sure: The coronavirus will one day be a thing of the past. A vaccine will be developed. Humans will build immunity. This moment in time will be one that is written about in history books as we pray that other generations won’t have to deal with the impact of a pandemic. But racism will always be here. Lingering. Infecting. Spreading. Growing. Killing. Just like a virus. • Hannah L. Drake is an author, poet and spoken word artist. Follow her at writesomeshit.com and on Twitter at LEOWEEKLY.COM // MAY 30, 2020

NEWS & ANALYSIS

CITY’S ECONOMIC BRAINS SAY COVID-19 ISN’T THE PUBLIC HEALTH PROBLEM TO WORRY ABOUT... SOUND WONKY? By Danielle Grady | dgrady@leoweekly.com

FANBOYS OF BUSINESS and development want Kentucky to reopen its economy… yesterday. And they don’t think the public health threat of COVID-19 is enough to warrant getting in the way. In a virtual Louisville Forum discussion, professor emeritus of economics Paul Coomes and Republican Councilman Anthony Piagentini both questioned the public health beneﬁt of Gov. Andy Beshear’s slow and steady reopening strategy. (Louisville Forward leader, Mary Ellen Wiederwohl was there, too, but she successfully avoided making headline worthy statements during the forum, which invites guests monthly to debate public policy.) About COVID-19, Coomes said, “I don’t believe that it’s a widespread public health problem.” He admitted that he does not have a license in public health. But that hasn’t stopped him and others without epidemiological expertise from using COVID-19 statistics to justify opening up businesses. “Other people don’t seem to be saying these things that seem obvious to me,” said Coomes, “so I’ll keep saying them until somebody tells me I’m wrong.” Well, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director

LEOWEEKLY.COM // MAY 30, 2020

of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, hasn’t contradicted Coomes directly, of course, but in his own virtual chat with members of Congress on Tuesday, he warned against states opening their economies too soon. “There is a real risk that you will trigger an outbreak that you may not be able to control,” which, he said, might result in “some suffering and death that could be avoided,” and, by extension, a longer path to economic recovery. Fauci’s statements come from decades of scientiﬁc knowledge and experience. Coomes’ conclusions on coronavirus come from data on deaths in Kentucky. He cited the fact, based on state data, that 75% of Kentucky’s COVID-19 deaths have been from citizens who are 70 years and older. And that only 0.05% of Kentucky’s population in that age range have died in total. But that is not representative of the percentage of people over the age of 70 who have died after testing positive for COVID-19, which is 21.5% in Kentucky. Coomes also cited the state’s statistics that say 321 people have died in Kentucky of coronavirus so far compared to the number of people who normally die in a month, which Coomes said is 3,800. A study

from UK shows that Gov. Andy Beshear’s actions on shutting down the state, though, may have saved 2,000 lives. Coomes also said, accurately, that most of Kentucky’s COVID19 deaths have occurred in nursing homes: 46% percent as of April 26. Piagentini has his own numbers that he uses to justify reopening the economy. They come from “very credible” studies, he said: The damaged economy will increase deaths from suicide and drug abuse. The speciﬁc study Piagentini cited, which estimates a median of around 75,000 additional deaths if the economy recovers slowly, was created by Well Being Trust, a nonproﬁt that pushes for changes in mental health and addiction policy, and the Robert Graham Center for Policy Studies in Family Medicine and Primary Care, a research organization for a group that advocates for family physicians. The number of Americans who have died from COVID-19 creeped over the 75,000 person mark last week and is now over 80,000. “The policy decisions [Beshear’s] making are going to kill some people to save other people,” said Piagentini. So, what do Coomes and Piagentini want Beshear to do? Coomes wants most people to go back to work, although he does make exceptions for those who are elderly and with compromised immune systems. Piagentini wants child care to open back up for people who are going back to work, and he wants businesses, not the government, to decide how they’ll open. Their economic concerns are legitimate. Speaking on something he has something of a license in, Coomes said that a recession lasting two to three quarters is inevitable. Last recession, it took about two years for the economy to rebound, he said. •

THORNS & ROSES THE WORST, BEST & MOST ABSURD THORN: CONRAD HAD TO GO... YESTERDAY

Where do we start on the police raid that killed Breonna Taylor? How about at the top: Police Chief Steve Conrad needs to go. The list of his department’s failures creates a critical mass that cannot be ignored. Let us not forget that a judge signed off on the no-knock warrant. Breonna Taylor’s death is on your hands.

THORN: YOU HIDE ONLY IF YOU’VE LIED

A thorn goes to the city for denying public records in the botched raid including a 911 call recording and police incident reports from the search warrant execution. The Courier Journal’s lawyers are on the case. “We refuse to accept half-baked excuses from these agencies determined to keep these records private and hidden from the public’s eye,” said editor Richard Green.

THORN: STOP VICTIMIZING THE VICTIM

Was WAVE 3 News thinking it was practicing journalism by detailing the personnel file of Breonna Taylor? She was not a suspect and shouldn’t be treated like one.

THORN: BAD COPS, BAD COPS, WHATCHA...

In other Cops Gone Wild news, the Audubon police apologized for a “Three Percenter” bumper sticker found on a cruiser. Three Percenters say on its website: “We do not seek to incite a revolution. However, we will defend ourselves when necessary.”

ABSURD: HAS TO EQUAL CHILD ABUSE, NO?

An absurd goes to The CJ for the twisted irony of having U.S. Mitch “Destroyer of Democracy” McConnell read “Good Night Kentucky” for its famous-peopleget-clicks series. Next up, Darth Vader reads “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little (Death) Star.”

ABSURD: EAT 30 PIZZAS, WATCH EAGLES FUCK!

One in the parade of our local clowns (Rick Pitino, Rand Paul, etc.), Papa John Schnatter is on TikTok showing off his greasy pizza pad. First up, a giant, wooden clock depicting two eagles mating. Seriously... Here is what he says: “Eagles go up several thousand feet and mate all the way down. Right before they hit, they separate so they don’t get hurt or killed. Perfect timing.”

NEWS & ANALYSIS

FAMILY SEEKS ANSWERS IN FATAL POLICE SHOOTING OF LOUISVILLE WOMAN IN HER APARTMENT By Errin Haines | leo@leoweekly.com

BREONNA TAYLOR was working as an ER technician in Louisville when the coronavirus pandemic hit the country, helping to save lives while trying to protect her own. On March 13, the 26-year-old aspiring nurse was killed in her apartment, shot at least eight times by Louisville police officers who officials have said were executing a drug warrant, according to a lawsuit filed by the family, accusing officers of wrongful death, excessive force and gross negligence. “Not one person has talked to me. Not one person has explained anything to me,” Tamika Palmer, Taylor’s mother, said in an interview. “I want justice for her. I want them to say her name. There’s no reason Breonna should be dead at all.” According to the lawsuit, filed April 27, Louisville police executed a search warrant at Taylor’s home after midnight. Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, was also in the apartment and, according to the lawsuit, shot at officers when they attempted to enter without announcing themselves. The lawsuit alleges that police fired more than 20 rounds of ammunition into the apartment. The Louisville Metro Police Depart-

spokeswoman Jessie Halladay declined to comment on the case and said in a statement, “There is an ongoing public integrity investigation into this case and therefore it would be inappropriate for us to comment at this time.” Crump, hired May 11 to represent Taylor’s family, also represents the family of Ahmaud Arbery — whose killing in south Georgia while jogging was recorded by another man, video that sparked a movement among Black runners and gained public attention that resulted in the arrest of the two white men accused of shooting him nearly 80 days ago. “They’re killing our sisters just like they’re killing our brothers, but for whatBreonna Taylor, 26, was killed March 13. | FAMILY PHOTO. ever reason, we have not given our sisters the same attention that we have given to Trayvon ment’s warrant, as reported by The CouMartin, Michael Brown, Stephon Clark, rier Journal, was filed on suspicion that Terence Crutcher, Alton Sterling, Philando an alleged drug dealer was using Taylor’s Castile, Eric Garner, Laquan McDonald,” home for illegal activities. No drugs Crump said. “Breonna’s name should be were discovered at the apartment, and the known by everybody in America who said alleged dealer was arrested separately the those other names, because she was in same morning that officers raided Taylor’s her own home, doing absolutely nothing home. wrong.” Taylor’s death is the kind that could A phone call in the middle of the night have drawn national headlines in the was the first sign something was wrong Black Lives Matter era, like the deaths of for Palmer, Taylor’s mother, she said in an Sandra Bland and Atatiana Jefferson, but has gotten little attention amid news of the interview with The 19th. When Palmer answered, her daughter’s spread of the coronavirus. The pandemic boyfriend was on the other end, saying headlines were partly to blame in drowning out news of Taylor’s death, but so, too, someone was trying to break into the couple’s apartment. Still shaking off the is gender bias, said attorney Ben Crump, fog of sleep, Palmer jumped out of the bed who has risen to prominence in recent years as the lawyer for several high-profile at Walker’s next words: “I think they shot Breonna.” cases involving Black men killed by Palmer got dressed and left home for police and neighborhood vigilantes. what would be an hours-long ordeal. She None of the officers involved have drove to her daughter’s apartment, to the been charged in connection with the hospital and then back to the apartment shooting. Walker, a licensed gun owner as the sun rose. She said officers gave her who was not injured in the incident, was little information and asked whether she arrested and faces charges of first-degree had any enemies or whether she and her assault and attempted murder of a police boyfriend were having problems. officer. Finally, Palmer figured out that her Louisville Metro Police Department

daughter was dead. Palmer gets emotional when she considers that she was more concerned with her daughter’s safety as a health-care worker than she was about her being safe in her own home. “She was an essential worker. She had to go to work,” Palmer said. “She didn’t have a problem with that. … To not be able to sleep in her own bed without someone busting down her door and taking her life. … I was just like, ‘Make sure you wash your hands!’ ” The Black Lives Matter movement caught on in 2014, sparked by social media campaigns and public outrage, drawing attention to the killing of unarmed Black Americans by police officers and sometimes leading to the arrest, prosecutions and, in rare cases, convictions of the shooters. While many of the headlines and hashtags are often for men — the primary victims of such shootings — Black women are also impacted. Taylor’s sister, Ju’Niyah Palmer, has been on social media daily, posting pictures of the two of them with hashtags like #JusticeForBre, to remind people that she was a victim and not a suspect in a crime. Taylor did not have a criminal record. “I’m just getting awareness for my sister, for people to know who she is, what her name is,” said Ju’Niyah Palmer, 20, who lived with Taylor but was not at home at the time of the incident. “It is literally just as equal. There’s no difference.” Photos and videos of runners with hashtags like #RunWithMaud and #AhmaudArbery were trending in recent days, including Friday, which would have been Arbery’s 26th birthday. Crump is now calling for the same attention for Taylor. “If you ran for Ahmaud, you need to stand for Bre,” he said. • This story was first published in The Washington Post as part of a collaboration with The 19th, a nonprofit newsroom (19thnews.org) covering gender, politics and policy. Errin Haines is editor-at-large and can be reached at: ehaines@19thnews.org.

LEOWEEKLY.COM // MAY 30, 2020

NEWS & ANALYSIS

GOV. BESHEAR’S LEGAL DEFEATS

THE WORLD (AND THE LAW) TURNED UPSIDE DOWN By Sam Marcosson | leo@leoweekly.com

KEEPING LOUISVILLE WEIRD like a cat beard

LEOWEEKLY.COM // MAY 30, 2020

ENCOUNTERING the Upside Down is dangerous enough for the residents of Hawkins, Indiana, on the Netflix show “Stranger Things.” Fearsome creatures control that dimension and present an ongoing threat to our world. But when the upside down becomes not the realm of the fictional beast the “Mind Flayer,” but the province of federal judges deciding matters of life and death during a pandemic, we are all in very real danger. The judges who have decided recent cases dealing with Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear’s coronavirus orders have turned both the law and the facts upside down. The only questions about these rulings from the federal Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals and trial court judges are: How wrong are they, and how many people will die as a result? I am in no position to answer the second question, being neither a seer nor an epidemiologist. But as to the first, the answer is: These decisions have been egregiously and unforgivably wrong. On May 2, a panel of the federal Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the governor violated both the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment and the Kentucky Religious Freedom Restoration Act because he issued an order that banned “mass gatherings.” The order didn’t ban religious mass gatherings in particular. If you attend UofL or UK basketball, it probably caught your attention that those games were not played. If you planned to see some of the Humana Festival of New American Plays at Actors Theater, you know that they were canceled. Same with concerts at the KFC Yum! Center. None of these were religious; all were subject to the governor’s ban on mass gatherings. In short, nothing the governor did singled out religion or religious services. If he had singled out religion, it would no doubt have violated the Constitution. So if Gov. Beshear treated all mass gatherings alike, then why did the courts find his orders problematic? Because the judges didn’t focus on the consistency of how his orders treated mass gatherings. Instead, they discussed other activities that the governor’s orders did not ban — such as dog grooming and car washes. In other words, worship services had to be allowed because people could take their dogs to the groomer and their cars to be washed. This was what passed for serious analysis in the Sixth Circuit’s opinion — as if a person taking her

dog to a groomer and going to a car wash are even remotely similar to a religious service in the crucial respect: likelihood of transmitting the coronavirus. It is preposterous to suggest that going to a car wash — in which each person simply sits in their car, isolated and practicing the very model of social distancing — is similar to a church service when it comes to risking transmitting the virus. Thus, there should have been no basis to strike down the governor’s orders for treating religious services differently from car washes and dog grooming. The reasoning was deeply flawed – and upside down. Similarly, Judge Gregory Van Tatenhove later issued a ruling compelling the state to allow inperson religious services. His opinion compared such services to grocery shopping. That, at least, presents a closer case: People at the supermarket do come in closer proximity to one another than they do when getting their car washed. But even then, the differences are obvious. As immunologist and professor of biology Erin Bromage pointed out in a blog post, “The Risks — Know Them — Avoid Them,” for someone to contract the virus they must be exposed to an “infectious dose.” Transmission of COVID-19 is far more likely in situations involving sustained exposure — of exactly the kind that happens if you spend two hours at a church service with someone who has the virus, but would not happen if you pass them briefly in a supermarket aisle. It is better still not to come within close contact in either case and, best of all, not to be in the public space at all. But the point is that being in the same physical space for an extended period presents a clear and scientifically undeniable greater risk of transmission than brief encounters. Grocery stores and car washes, in other words, are not the same as religious services. But the federal judges have taken it upon themselves to declare these things which are different to be the same, and — having decided they present the same risk of transmission — condemned Gov. Beshear’s order for treating them differently. It’s one thing for judges to get things wrong. But when you have the trifecta of misapplying the law, misstating basic facts critical to the outcome and rendering a decision that will inevitably result in people dying, the world really has been turned upside down. It is no less dangerous for us than it was for the residents of Hawkins. •

NEWS & ANALYSIS

THEY WANTED AN ANGEL, BUT SHE WAS ONLY HUMAN: N WHY WAVE 3 NEWS DELETED THAT STORY ABOUT BREONNA TAYLOR By Liz Palmer and James Miller | leo@leoweekly.com

THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC has reon peatedly highlighted the critical role local journalism plays in keeping the public ar safe and informed, and it underscores our need to continue supporting ethical, quality journalism with our subscription dollars. But the public must keep journalists y accountable for their mistakes, especially when their work threatens to make the public actually less safe and informed. Sadly, criticism of journalists as insensiter tive and opportunistic came to the fore - because of a recent investigative story by ed WAVE 3 News that went viral, reminding st, us that just because journalists can tell a ket story doesn’t mean they always should. This week, details emerged about the an death of 26-year-old Breonna Taylor, a en local ER technician who was killed by Louisville police in her own home on March 13 during an apparent drug raid gone awry. Already reeling from the murder of Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia, many across the nation are outraged by the death of Taylor, who was not a criminal suspect and had no criminal history. Tensions are high, and the s, tragedy quickly became a centerpiece of in the national conversation about raciallye motivated violence, so it’s especially critical for hometown journalists to get the story right — and be fair while doing or so. However, WAVE did no one any good ﬁhan by publishing a brief story by reporter Natalia Martinez that attempted to — in her words — tell more about “Breonna Taylor’s life,” but the story merely whittled Taylor’s life down to a job she held four years ago. (The online story has d since been removed.) Four of the seven short paragraphs in that story were devoted to an 11-month period in 2016 when Taylor worked for g. Louisville Metro. WAVE reported that Taylor “called” to quit her job as an EMT after serving in that capacity for ﬁve months, and that her termination form allyincluded a “do not rehire” box that was checked. The city wouldn’t comment on r the reason, citing privacy policies. There’s nothing wrong with correcting misinformation about Taylor’s current

place of employment, but this story about her work history four years ago — when she was just 22 — seems to serve no other purpose in the narrative other than to throw her character into question. In this case, mundane details like these matter as much as having a bad credit report or unpaid traffic tickets — which is to say they don’t matter at all — especially because the specific details are unknown. Even worse, this type of dirt-digging gives fodder to knee-jerk defenders of unchecked lethal force by police officers and detracts from calls for a full accounting into why a young, Black woman’s life was suddenly and violently taken from her. Regardless of the intent of the reporter or the station, the information serves as a smear, useful only to city attorneys and stalwart police defenders but potentially harmful to people who could be victimized by unchecked power in the future. The news media have a long history

of attempting to dig up dirt on victims of police violence. The New York Times infamously described Ferguson teenager Mike Brown as “no angel,” a phrase that was later denounced by their own public editor, and then later dug deeply into Eric Garner’s past after he was killed by police. And when 12-year-old Tamir Rice was killed by the Cleveland police, the local news made sure to let everyone know that the lawyer representing his family had previously defended Rice’s mother in court. Local journalism has faced similar backlashes. When United Airlines dragged Dr. David Dao off a plane in 2017, the Twitterverse dragged the Courier-Journal’s coverage of his past troubles — which they had previously reported, but seemed to come out of nowhere to the story’s national audience. In 2020, “no angel” reporting has become such a journalistic cliché that we’re wondering why any newsroom would breathlessly report any potentially

unfavorable yet irrelevant details from Taylor’s life alongside the details of her tragic death. What does the Society of Professional Journalists’ Code of Ethics say about this practice of digging up dirt on dead victims? First, the SPJ urges journalists to “seek truth and report it.” But that doesn’t mean journalists should reﬂexively and indiscriminately put crime victims on blast, because the SPJ also tells journalists to “diligently seek subjects of news coverage to allow them to respond to criticism or allegations of wrongdoing.” WAVE’s Martinez might argue that her article served to correct others who were erroneously stating that Taylor was still employed as an EMT, but placing importance on the way her employment ended changes the narrative. Taylor is not alive to respond to the question of why she resigned, which should give any reporter pause before publishing a story like this. LEOWEEKLY.COM // MAY 30, 2020

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NEWS & ANALYSIS

AskMindaHoney@leoweekly.com

Minda Honey on L ve 12

LEOWEEKLY.COM // MAY 30, 2020

Second, the SPJ says journalists should “be vigilant and courageous about holding those with power accountable.” Attempting to dig up dirt on a woman killed by armed agents of the state — a woman who was definitely not a public figure — is the opposite of holding power to account. Finally, the SPJ Code of Ethics also urges journalists to “minimize harm.” Specifically, the Code of Ethics says journalists ought to “recognize that legal access to information differs from an ethical justification to publish or broadcast.” To be fair, we should point out that it was not WAVE’s only story on Taylor. For example, Phylicia Ashley reported on Taylor’s positive impact on the life of another Louisville citizen, a story that was far more revealing of Taylor’s character than unexplained details from an old employment record. In response to an email from us, WAVE’s news director Dan Fabrizio pointed to this story as an example of the breadth of their coverage. However, the individual format of such news stories doesn’t allow any web-based news organization’s largely online audience to consider breadth, and, as such, Ashley’s story was not enough to keep Martinez’s story from igniting the frustrations of thousands across social media. For Black and brown people, it’s not hard to see the writing on the wall — or screen — regarding how tragedies involving themselves or their loved ones would play out in the press, especially if it comes at the hands of the police. Did WAVE have the legal right to pore through the public record of Breonna Taylor’s brief time working for Metro Louisville? Absolutely. But that does not

mean that they were ethically justified in publishing information that does nothing but conflate the tragic circumstances of another young Black person’s death at the hands of police officers with an irrelevant 4-year-old employment issue. Fortunately, Fabrizio also saw problems with Martinez’s story and pulled it from WAVE’s site on Friday night. When we asked him via email why the story was pulled, he wrote: “We reported a fact about her departure from an EMT job that lacked perspective. That raised concerns and questions about its relevance. We had a lot of discussions among members of our news team and with people in the community. The criticism was fair.” Indeed. There are no angels among us, just humans living their lives. We all have personal and private moments that we would not want to define us after death. To reduce a crime victim — a private citizen without power or institutional protections — to their worst moments or most embarrassing failures is to dehumanize them and justify their suffering while those responsible for that suffering escape accountability. Let’s call upon WAVE and other local newsrooms to do what journalism does best: examine systemic failures, demand accountability, and “give voice to the voiceless.” It’s the least that our city can do for Breonna Taylor, a young woman who worked on the front lines for Louisville. • Liz Palmer and James Miller are former media critics for Insider Louisville and have led the Journalism & Communication magnet program at duPont Manual High School for the last 14 years.

BACK TO WORK! BUT NO CHILD CARE

PARENTS NAVIGATE ECONOMY OPENING WITHOUT CHILD CARE By Danielle Grady | dgrady@leoweekly.com WHEN Anthony and Karlee Miles found out that their employer, Toyota in Georgetown, Kentucky, was shutting in mid March, it was a relief compared to what they were facing at first: no child care for their 3-year-old daughter. Gov. Andy Beshear had ordered child care facilities closed along with much of the state economy. “You know, child care — it was the biggest struggle we had,” Anthony said. Now, two months later, Beshear is reopening parts of the economy, including factories, retail, hair salons and other businesses, and the question of what to do about child care has reemerged. The answer is not satisfying for some. Child care centers will remain closed until at least June 15, and, even then, they’ll reopen in a reduced capacity, said Beshear in a recent briefing. Summer day and sleepover camps, another form of child care for parents when school is out, aren’t expected to open until even later in the summer. “We want to have a safe plan for child care, knowing that this is such a challenge for people,” Beshear said. The state is allowing parents who cannot find child care to remain on unemployment, but it’s not clear what consequences they might face from their employer. Beshear’s office did not respond to a request for comment about this question. Alan Keck, the mayor of Somerset, Kentucky, wrote an op-ed in The Courier Journal saying that without the opening of the state’s

child care centers, the economy won’t be able to fully rebound either. “If employees cannot work because they have nowhere to take their children, our people and our economy will continue to suffer,” he said. Kentucky’s parents are already making tough decisions about how to go back to work without child care. At first, Anthony and Karlee thought they were going to have to drive their daughter Brinnley five hours away to Michigan to live with Karlee’s family. She has never spent the night away from home. “It was serious,” Anthony said. But, then, they found a sitter for their daughter, an employee at their old child care center. This isn’t in line with Beshear’s social distancing rules, but breaking those has become a necessity for some parents, like Stacy Deren, a veterinarian at St. Matthews Animal Clinic. She has been taking her son, Brooks, to stay with her parents a few days a week. Her job requires her to be at the office, and her husband, Mike Deren, an actuary at Humana, is too busy in the spring to take care of Brooks while working from home. Deren has also dropped one shift per week to ease the burden of child care. Still, she feels lucky. “Our clinic is always very family friendly and a good place to be employed as a woman and a mom and a person who has a family,” she said. “But I think about families that maybe have both parents being essential workers, if doctors and nurses are married or things like that, and

Now, two months later, Beshear is reopening parts of the economy, including factories, retail, hair salons and other businesses, and the question of what to do about child care has reemerged. The answer is not satisfying for some.

Anthony and Karlee Miles and their daughter Brinnley.

LEOWEEKLY.COM // MAY 30, 2020

maybe people who don’t have a lot of family available close-by in town, I think it definitely can be very challenging in those situations.” Her coworker, Raynell Niemann, a veterinary technician, has her own child care issues. Niemann went back to work on May 9 after being furloughed for a month and a half. But she will only be able to work weekends as her husband, Alex, has to be outside the home for his job as a data communications installer during the week, and someone has to be home to take care of their three children. For her, it’s not a problem — she thinks she’ll still receive unemployment because her hours will be so few. If not, she thinks the clinic might be able to supplement her pay with funds from the Emergency Family and Medical Leave Act. “If I’m not able to get those kinds of funds with only working 16 hours a workweek, then yes, it would present some problems, and we would need to figure out something to do,” she said. Some employers have made accommodations for employees. GE Appliances’ Union President Dino Driskell said in a text that IUE-CWA Local 83-761 members are currently allowed to stay at home and collect unemployment if they have child care issues, even though the factory is open. This option is available to them for at least the next two weeks. When child care facilities open in June, it’s not clear how they will operate or how many children will be allowed to attend. Beshear has addressed this question in past briefings, saying

LEOWEEKLY.COM // MAY 30, 2020

that the state is still coming up with a plan. Whatever it is, children will be “very monitored” and kept separate from one another. “We’re trying to set the type of parameters that we believe could be healthy, and we’ve seen some of those parameters in other states which we’re looking at right now,” he said. Beshear’s pronouncement about summer camps is one development that has Greater Louisville YMCA CEO Steve Tarver reconsidering when, whether and how the nonproﬁt’s 11 summer camps will be able to open. Everything is uncertain. “We are very hopeful that we can salvage summer at some level but safety will be our guide,” he said. Once child care opens back up, some parents might be apprehensive about sending their children. Deren thinks Brooks will go back sometime this summer, but there are safety factors to consider: Her parents are worried about him bringing back something to them or even Deren’s grandfather who her dad still takes care of. “You have to think about the full effect,” she said. For Niemann, it won’t be much of a reprieve at all. Her daughter goes to day care, but her two sons are school aged. Anthony Miles, the Toyota employee, does worry a bit about sending his daughter to a sitter while the pandemic continues: He fears that the sitter might get sick. But, when he goes to sleep at night, at least his child will be in the same home as him. •

STAFF PICKS

THROUGH AUG. 28

‘The Persistence Of Beauty: From The Collection Of Paul Paletti’

ANYTIME

Paul Paletti Gallery | 713 E. Market St. | paulpalettigallery.com | Free

Do Science At Home

“I love beautiful things,” said gallerist Paul PHOTOGRAPHY Paletti. That simple, declarative statement explains the type of photography he collects and, in turn, what viewers will see in this exhibition from his personal collection. The photographs in the group show range from black and white to color, historic to contemporary. The 18 artists with works on display include the recently deceased Lynn Geesaman, James Nachtwey, Aaron Siskind and Paul Strand. —Jo Anne Triplett

At home! | Kentucky Science Center | Search Facebook | Free

‘Hinton Ampner’ by Lynn Geesaman. | Photography. From a Science at Home video — a grizzly bear skull!

This whole time that you’ve been at home, you could have been creating fake snow, fashioning Alka-Seltzer rockets and making your own Oobleck (a nonEUREKA! Newtonian fluid, obvi). While closed, the Kentucky Science Center has been posting regular, how-to experiment videos that you can mimic at home. New ones are still appearing every week or you can look back at the archive, all on Facebook. —LEO

THROUGH JUNE 24

‘Herds’ By Ewa Perz

Revelry Boutique Gallery | 742 E. Market St. | revelrygallery.com | Free Get ready to go someplace other than the grocery store. Many galleries have reopened with art on the walls just waiting to say “hello.” Revelry’s first VIRTUAL GALLERY post-shutdown exhibition features the paintings of Ewa Perz. “I am always fascinated by the colors of the sea,” she said. “I use water as a main subject or as a background, but each time I want to evoke feelings of happiness, optimism, energy or just calm and serenity.” All of which we need right now. Since we are still living in a pandemic, Revelry’s owner Mo McKnight Howe stresses the gallery will be open at “a very limited capacity.” Visitors will be required to sanitize their hands (it’s provided) and wear a mask. But if you prefer to view the exhibition online or shop, Revelry is continuing its curbside pickup —Jo Anne Triplett ‘Koi III’ by Ewa Perz. Oil on canvas.

THURSDAY, MAY 21

Bollywood Dance Workout bollyfitmania.com | Free | 6:30-7:30 p.m.

Since Gov. Andy enacted “Staying Healthy At Home,” there has been a run on at-home workout equipment. Treadmills, bikes, weights… you BOMBAY + HOLLYWOOD name it, even Amazon is out of them. You don’t need thousands of dollars worth of equipment to get a good home workout. The Bollywood dance workout can burn up to 700 calories, according to the routine’s creator, Jeannie. The dance moves are inspired by songs and traditional dance moves of Bollywood, the Indian Hindi cinema industry. And since you’ll be working it in the privacy of your own home, you will be free of any social anxiety that might accompany cutting loose on a public dance floor. —LEO

Looks like fun! LEOWEEKLY.COM // MAY 30, 2020

STAFF PICKS

SATURDAY, MAY 23

FRIDAY, MAY 22

Facebook Live | Free | 10-11 a.m.

RedPinTix.com | $14.99 | 6-7 p.m.

World Turtle Day Race: Virtual Junior Explorer Let’s be honest, this would have been quality entertainment before “Safe At Home” became the new normal. Tune in to Facebook Live to watch Ranger NON-NINJA TURTLES Russell and Ranger Randy of the Parklands run for the roses (or lettuce or something turtles are into…) in “the slowest two minutes in sports.” The race between the two turtles comes on World Turtle Day, the exclamation mark of Turtle Week, a Parklands celebration of turtles that includes games, videos and crafts. Check the Parklands of Floyds Fork website (theparklands. org) for a week of Turtle Week Virtual Junior Explorer activities. — Aaron Yarmuth

WaterStep Trivia Night Try out this trivia night to help deliver safe drinking water around the world. WaterStep is a Louisville nonprofit that for 25 years has been saving lives around the world by equipping communities with the tools and training to sustainably source safe drinking water. All you have to do is purchase your trivia ticket, then, an email will be sent to you with directions on how to join trivia night, either individually or as a team. Your support will go toward 150 ongoing projects in 55 countries. —LEO

One of the Parklands of Floyds Fork turtles working out before the big race.

SATURDAY, MAY 23

Concerts From Home

No date has been set yet for the reopening of Kentucky’s concert halls and music venues, but we know it won’t be until at least July, so we’ll just have to VIRTUAL VENUE continue watching our favorite musicians perform through a screen. Here are three shows happening this Saturday that you can attend... virtually. 12 Hour Live Stream Concert | Facebook Live | Search Facebook Donations accepted | Noon-midnight You could start this concert while you’re making lunch and end it right before bed. It’s 12 hours of music from Louisville rock, punk and metal bands, such as Banshee Child and The Mighty Ohio. Donations will benefit Air Devil’s Inn, Art Sanctuary and the musicians — all groups struggling during the pandemic. Live Live Louisville | derbylouproductions.com | $3 | 7-8:30 p.m. Each Live Live Louisville concert benefits at least one local nonprofit. This week, you can contribute to the St. John Center for Homeless Men, UP for Women and Children and the Hildegrad House while listening to Laurie Jane and Colt Duggins from the Louisville blues band, Laurie Jane and The 45s. Louisville In The House | Facebook Live | Search Facebook | Free | 9 p.m.-midnight Did we say concert? This one is more of a dance party with sets from four local DJs: JPB, Ghouligan, JP Souce and FILO. You’ve either heard them on WFPK or with The Spinsters Union of Louisville. Now, they’re all together and ready to take you back to the club. —Danielle Grady

LEOWEEKLY.COM // MAY 30, 2020

SATURDAY, MAY 23

Kaveh’s Bourbon Bunker Instagram Live | Free | 3:30 p.m.

Since April 25, the founder of Rabbit Hole Distillery, Kaveh Zamanian has been hosting DRINKS UP weekly chats from his “bourbon bunker” (aka, an alcohol-filled room of his house) with various liquor luminaries. Next up is Alex Day from the famed New York City cocktail bar Death & Co. They’ll share their personal stories, thoughts on life during quarantine and, of course, talk bourbon. —LEO

MUSIC

7 MEMORABLE LOUISVILLE FESTIVAL SETS IN THE PAST FIVE YEARS By Scott Recker | srecker@leoweekly.com LAST WEEK, I wrote about the deep economic impact of a year in Louisville without music festivals. Losing festivals like Forecastle and Louder Than Life goes way beyond just hurting big corporations and musicians with mansions — the cancellations are also detrimental to just-getting-by bands, your favorite food trucks and the city’s microbreweries and about every other nearby business that depends on foot trafﬁc and tourism dollars. It’s an extra kick to the side from a brutal pandemic that has us all just scrambling to get back on our feet. This week, we decided to go a little bit of a lighter route and remember a few favorite sets from Louisville festivals in the last ﬁve years. Here are a few that came to mind, although this is not even close to a complete or comprehensive list. And feel free to leave a comment or send us a line about your favorite festival set.

DR. DUNDIFF AND FRIENDS

Forecastle 2015 We’ve mentioned this set several times over the past half decade, but both its signiﬁcance and how unique it was can’t be overstated. When local producer and musician Dr. Dundiff convinced Forecastle to add him and his friends to the lineup in 2015, he gathered some of the city’s best hip-hop artists and created something that was part showcase, part live album. With a live band consisting of guitars, keys, saxophones, a trombone and Dundiff on drums, people such as Shadowpact, Rmllw2llz, Jack Harlow, 1200, James Lindsey, Touch A.C., Skyscraper Stereo, Kogan Dumb and Jim James dropped onto the stage. It was a revolving door of Louisville talent. And maybe the greatest thing about the set was how many fans showed up for it. Even though it happened in the daylight on a side stage, people ﬂocked to it. While sometimes you just get cookie-cutter artists playing cookie-cutter sets at big festivals, this was something special.

MARGO PRICE

Seven Sense 2015 Every year, there are musicians and bands that you know you only have a certain amount of time to see on a small stage because it’s inevitable that they blow up. That was Margo Price in 2015. At that point, she already released the single “Hurtin’ (On The Bottle)” and was signed to release her debut album on Jack White’s Third Man Records. But, on that humid summer day in Louisville, she played at noon on a tiny stage on Preston Street to about 20 people. And while it was a short set, you walked away knowing that her career trajectory was going to skyrocket. She had the voice, the authenticity, the writing prowess. A few years later, she played Forecastle, which was a clearly evolved set — she became a better singer, lyricist and performer. But there’s was a magic about that day in 2015, because of what was about to happen next.

PJ HARVEY Forecastle 2017

PJ Harvey has a transcendent amount of talent, slicing through genres without getting stuck to categorizations. She was never quite grunge, or punk, or post-punk, or folk, but she delivers the best aspects of each, and she’s a hell of a writer. Her releases have been careful and consistent. The problem? She barely tours, and almost never through Louisville. But, in one of the most savvy books in Forecastle’s history, she played a late afternoon set in 2017. With a backing band

that emphasized percussion and brass, her set dove heavily into 2016’s The Hope Six Demolition Project and 2011’s Let England Shake, featuring songs about inequality, gentriﬁcation, war and destruction. It sounded like she was leading the marching band to Armageddon, but her songs really just held up a mirror to some of humanity’s ugliest moments, and I think it made us all think a little harder about society. She also played a couple of hits from the ‘90s. It was a well-balanced set that gave a few nods to the past, but never leaned on it.

STEVIE NICKS

Bourbon & Beyond 2017

Stevie Nicks has one of the most singular, powerful voices in rock history. But, there’s always a chance, when you see a performer deep into a storied career, that they might not live up to the lofty expectations that their name carries. That’s not the case with Stevie Nicks, who put on an incredible set at Bourbon & Beyond in 2017. Her voice is still rich, full of mystery and intensity, and her deep discography has so many hits, both from her time in Fleetwood Mac and from her solo career. Nicks is also a master of meshing golden-hooked pop and gritty, bluesy rock. It’s sad to see an icon disappoint, but it’s extraordinary watching someone still soaring a half century into their career.

TYLER CHILDERS

Forecastle 2019 Tyler Childers seemed to go from playing at 400-capacity venues to selling out the Louisville Palace before we could even blink, but his late afternoon Forecastle set really helped him open up some more eyes. In 2017, Childers’ sophomore full-length Purgatory, which was produced by Sturgill Simpson, catapulted him in the right direction, but it was the word-of-mouth from his live performances that really accelerated his progress. And while he was a household name among alt-country fans a few years before, it seemed that sets like LEOWEEKLY.COM // MAY 30, 2020

MUSIC

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the one at Forecastle helped widen his audience. I know a lot of people who are of the “country isn’t really my thing” crowd, which is completely understandable considering how many bad representations of the genre are out there ﬂoating around, but I also know a lot of those same people who left that set completely blown away.

GUNS N’ ROSES

Louder Than Life 2019 We’ll probably mostly chalk this one up to nostalgia, and me thinking that I would never get to see them, but Guns N’ Roses were a lot of fun at Louder Than Life 2019. They showed up about an hour late, but, you know, they have a reputation to uphold, and when they did get out there, they played about everything you wanted to hear and more, clocking in just under 30 songs. We got plenty of hits, some deep cuts, a few expected covers (“Live And Let Die”), a few unexpected covers (“Wish You Were Here”), and pretty much the general energy and madness that you would expect from a Guns N’ Roses show. Watching Axl Rose scream the “Paradise City” lyrics is a very acceptable way to end a day at a heavy metal festival.

ANDERSON. PAAK AND THE FREE NATIONALS

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Forecastle 2019

Anderson. Paak had one of the slickest festival stage setups I’ve ever seen. The vibrant, multi-leveled design allowed the versatile musician plenty of space to roam and create. The design perfectly highlighted and encapsulated Paak and his band, who are musical scientists, splicing together genres and inﬂuences, Frankensteining funk, jazz, soul and hiphop into the future. Whether he was on the stage’s highest structure playing drums, or down beneath running with a mic, Paak had a masterful presence. He’s able to make intricate music that’s soaked in adrenaline, and he charges it up even more in a live setting. •

FOOD & DRINK

RECOMMENDED

SOFT-SHELL CRAB TACOS LURED US TO RED HOG By Robin Garr | LouisvilleHotBytes.com Red Hog’s soft-shell crab taco for Taco Tuesday. | PHOTOS BY ROBIN GARR.

IT ALL STARTED, as things so often do, on social media. I was browsing Instagram, tapping through a lot of the local restaurants that I follow, when a simple white-on-black text image caught my eye. “Taco Tuesday,” read the post from Red Hog Artisan Butcher. And then the clincher: “Fried Soft-Shell Crab Tacos!” “Taco Tuesday is just around the corner,” the restaurant posted below the alluring image, “and we are getting live soft-shell crabs boat direct from @teamseafoods. We can’t wait to feed you Red Hog Lovers!” “I NEED the crab taco,” a fan responded within seconds and before you knew it, Red Hog’s post had 79 likes. Mine was one of them, and I raced down the link to their website and then their voicemail, hoping to get an order in before they ran out. As it happens, Red Hog is closed Mondays, so I had an impatient overnight wait before connecting with a worker there at opening time, 11 a.m. I must have been ﬁrst in line, as they told me the soft-shells were just coming off the truck and not even in their point-of-sale system yet. Fine! “Just reserve me one?” And so they did. Soft-shell crabs, as you likely know, are a seasonal regional delicacy along the Atlantic coast from Maryland or thereabouts down through Virginia and the Carolinas. “Each year, North Carolina’s blue crab population sheds its skin as water tempera-

tures rise,” explained writer Ashley Morris at the Wilmington Star-News in North Carolina, where soft-shells are a local treat. “They begin to take on more seawater and let their ﬂesh expand until their shell cracks. As they leave their hard shell behind, crabs almost immediately begin to harden, so harvesters have mere hours to take them out of the water in this state. Once they lose their shell, crabs are at their most vulnerable state and, according to some, the tastiest.” A crab without a shell is a tasty treat that you can fry and eat whole, legs and all. Their short season runs only from late April into May, most years, so Red Hog was lucky to get a ration, and I was lucky to grab a couple of the tiny, crunchy critters in a pair of their tacos ($18 for the pair). They were good, very good. But now I must pause for an honest moment: They would have been better if we could have had them brought straight to our table in the restaurant. Crisp, crunchy, sizzling-hot, fried things are at their best right now. We had to have ours packed into an attractive compostable box, popped in a bag, driven home, plated and eaten maybe a half-hour later. There’s no way to avoid this reality during a time of pandemic, but for future reference, it might be best to save crisp, golden-brown, fried goodies until we can dine in again. But let me say it again: These tacos were good. Built on large, doubled yellow-corn

This is Red Hog’s Instagram post that grabbed my attention.

Bag o’ Taco Tuesday tacos from Red Hog, packed in the back seat and ready to go! LEOWEEKLY.COM // MAY 30, 2020

FOOD & DRINK

Red Hog’s meatless frondosa mushroom and charred snow-pea tacos were a culinary wowza.

tortillas, each taco held an oversize, stillcrisp soft-shell crab, but the little feller had gone cold, diminishing its already delicate flavor. Bold, creative accompaniments, good in their own right, further overshadowed the subtle crab: Chunky, tomatillo-and-onion pico de gallo with a minty, herbal chiffonade and red mojo rojo spice completed the dish. Although they may have lacked the excitement of soft-shells in season, a pair of meatless frondosa mushroom and charred snow pea tacos ($6 for two) may have been an even greater culinary wowza. Large, chewy, meaty, chunks of pale-beige frondosas (hen-of-the-woods) really did taste like chicken. They were packed into the tacos with small, delicate snow peas with touches of grill char, crisp, small radishes sliced into thick, vertical chunks; creamy-tangy labneh (Middle Eastern-style yogurt cheese) and a dusting of fiery, red, North African-style harissa completed a mouth-jolting good combination of flavors and textures. A big win.

LEOWEEKLY.COM // MAY 30, 2020

Also on the Taco Tuesday menu were Red Hog spicy chorizo tacos ($6) and “Duncan’s Famous” guacamole with blue corn chips ($10). And, of course, Red Hog has much of its extensive menu available for online or phone ordering and curbside pickup during the pandemic. Our tab for lunch, swelled by the $18 soft-shell experience, came to $25.44, plus a $7.50 tip. Please don’t forget to break through the 20% tip barrier during these troubled times. It matters. And don’t forget to follow your favorite restaurants on Instagram. It’s one of the best ways to get a good look at what’s up... and early word on specials like soft-shell crabs.

RED HOG ARTISAN MEAT 2622 Frankfort Ave. 890-6976 redhogartisanmeat.com

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Put on a show Work with one’s hands Poppycock Classic computer game set on an abandoned island 100 Michelle of “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” 101 With 37-Across, Ingrid Bergman’s role in “Casablanca” 102 Tricky pronoun to use 103 Wine opener? 104 ’60s dance craze that evolved from the Chicken 105 Join 108 Helper during taxing times?

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52 Snack with a recommended microwave time of just three seconds 54 Theater impresario Ziegfeld 55 Abbr. in a genealogical tree 57 ____ Strait, separator of Australia and Papua New Guinea 59 What one is in Paris? 60 Kylo ____, “Star Wars” antagonist 61 Candy-heart phrase 63 Raises one’s paddle, say 64 Each verse of “Deck the Halls” has 32 of them 66 Host Tyler of “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” 67 Dishearten 68 Scottish tradition before battle 69 “We Three Kings” subjects 71 Deodorant brand 72 Sierra ____ 73 “Whoops, sorry about that!” 77 Sensationalist newspaper 78 Openings under desks 81 Observance first celebrated in 1970 82 Big to-do 83 Like “Saturday Night Live” 86 Put up with 87 Pull back 88 Mother of 60-Down 89 Item in a toxic internet “challenge” 91 Region around the Beltway, informally 95 Just for laughs

LEOWEEKLY.COM // MAY 30, 2020

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Down Hankering Manhattan neighborhood west of the East Village Order Cranky codger “Reach for the sky!” Sandwich often served with rémoulade sauce Killer of the Night King on “Game of Thrones” “Throw ____ bone” Key of Debussy’s “Clair de Lune” Black pie-crust component Lead-in to many a joke on “The Daily Show” Senator who once served as an editor of The Harvard Law Review Hurt Many Omanis Group seen in gathering clouds? Discovery that might cause a rush Wellsian race of the future Gram Objects in one of Jesus’ miracles Singer Lisa Top of the line Fruit with an obovate shape Media for scientists Unit of brightness Raw material for Cadbury Popular Amazon Prime dramedy from Britain Kind of column seen on the Jefferson Memorial “Funny Girl” composer Jule Copy Vaper’s device, informally Nutritional snack from Clif Trig, for calc, e.g. Relaxed Some wetlands

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Across “For more ____ …” Some unwanted mail Terse bit of advice Half of an ice cream brand with a fake Danish name Work up a sweat Rent Like tap water in a restaurant Iris part Wing it [Africa] Blue Chew out Après-ski drink Complete rip-off [Asia] Barrel-flavored, as wine Washington, D.C., legalized it in 2014 Wealthy king of legend Recess Charge for admission See 101-Down Quaint contraction Record company [Central America] Two-time third-party presidential candidate “The Walking Dead” channel Beyond great Baking measure Cerebral Take in ____ shoots (salad ingredient) One of five for a dolphin Supple leather Proboscis, informally What subjects and verbs must do [Europe] Ancho pepper, before drying Puzzled Sort by urgency of need [Europe] Misgiving Where meditators look ____ candy Planet where the cry “Shazbot!” is said to have originated Food-chain link Treats prepared on an open fire Part of O.E.D.: Abbr. Organic fertilizer Hold up Male 91-Acrosses T-shirt size [South America] Not to mention Forest ranger Shapes made by thumbs and index fingers

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BY ADAM FROMM / EDITED BY WILL SHORTZ

Glossed over Like some toy cars Sportage maker ____ Cochran, Mississippi senator from 1978 to 2018 99 First month of the year without a U.S. federal holiday [Asia] 102 Dismissed out of hand 106 Want badly 107 Sit at a red light, say 108 Biblical outcast [South America] 109 Exclamation from a cheek pincher 110 Org. behind the New Horizons project 111 One whose job prospects go up in smoke? 112 Responsibility 113 Biggest U.S. union, familiarly 114 Set of two 115 City north of Des Moines 116 Resident of the Palazzo Ducale

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PHOTO BY RACHEL ROBINSON

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SAVAGE LOVE

By Dan Savage | mail@savagelove.net @fakedansavage

POWER PLAYERS

Q: Here’s a non-COVID question for you: I’m a queer, white female in a monogamish marriage. I vote left, I abhor hatred and oppression, and I engage in activism when I can. I’m also turned on by power differentials: authority figures, uniforms, hot guys doing each other. Much to my horror, this thing for power differentials plus too many WW II movies as a kid has always meant that for my brain (or for my pussy) Nazis are hot. Fuck me, right? Other maybe relevant bits of info: I’m not interested in roleplaying with actual partners, I’m fairly sure this proclivity is not reflective of any deeper issues, and I’m both sexually and emotionally fairly well sorted. Not perfect, but in fine working order and all that. And I get it: People like what they like, don’t judge yourself for your fetishes, just get off without being an asshole to anyone. The problem is that my usual way of getting off on/indulging my fantasies is to read erotic fiction on the internet. I’d love your input on whether seeking out Nazi porn is problematic for some of the same reasons that porn depicting sex with kids is problematic. Am I normalizing and trivializing fascism? Freaking About Search Histories A: Seeking out child porn — searching for it online, downloading it, collecting images of children being raped and sexually abused — is problematic (and illegal) because it creates demand for more child porn, which results in more children being raped and sexually abused. The cause-and-effect is obvious, FASH, the victims are real, and the harm done is incalculable. But while it may discomfort someone to know a nice, married lady who donates to all the right causes is furiously masturbating to dirty stories about hot guys in Nazi uniforms doing each other, FASH, no one ever has to know that. So you do no harm — not even the supposed harm of discomforting someone — when you privately enjoy the fucked up stories you enjoy. And while there are doubtless some actual Nazis who enjoy reading dirty stories about other Nazis, most people turned on by dirty stories about Nazis are turned on despite themselves and their politics. Transgressive sexual fantasies don’t arouse us because they violate societal norms and expectations (in safe and controlled manner), FASH, but because they allow us violate our sense of ourselves too (ditto).

LEOWEEKLY.COM // MAY 30, 2020

Just as a feminist can have rape fantasies without actually wanting to be raped herself or for anyone else to be raped, a person can have sexual fantasies about hot guys in Nazis uniforms doing each other without wanting Nazis to come to power. I have to say it was a easier to give antiNazi Nazi fetishists like you a pass — to shrug and say “you do you,” but please keep it to yourself — before racist demagogues, white supremacists, and anti-Semites started marching around waving Trump ﬂags. But no one picks their kinks, and being told “that shouldn’t turn you on” has never made a problematic or transgressive kink less arousing. And when you consider the number of non-erotic novels, movies and television shows the culture cranks out year after year — and how many actually trivialize fascism (I’m talking to you, Hunters) — it seems insane to draw a line and say, “OK, this story about Nazis isn’t OK because that lady over there masturbated while reading it in private.” Q: I’m an apartment-dweller in a dense urban area. Last night, I overheard my neighbors having sex — no big deal, right? I consider myself a sex-positive person and have always held and espoused the belief that if you can’t have loud sex in your own home, where can you have it? But the sex I overheard last night was fairly kinky. Someone I read as a cis man was dominating someone I read as a cis woman. They were in the apartment right across from mine — about 20 feet away — and my bedroom window faces theirs. There was a LOT of derogatory talk, hitting, name-calling, giving orders and some crying. I could tell it was consensual — she was very clearly having a good time — and I eavesdropped long enough to witness the post-coital return to equilibrium. Everything seemed great. But physically I experienced this as overheard violence. I was shaking and had a hard time getting to sleep afterward. I’m glad I stuck around until the end. It helped me feel better. I guess what I’m saying is that I needed some aftercare. I’m still thinking about it this morning, and I’m concerned that being triggered by my neighbor’s sex is going to become a regular part of my life. I’m wondering about the ethics of the situation: Do kinky folks have an obligation to mufﬂe potentially triggering sounds? Or is any overheard sex potentially triggering

to someone and am I therefore applying a double standard here? What do you think? The Vanilla Neighbor A: You went from overhearing kinky sex to eavesdropping on it — meaning, you went from accidentally hearing your neighbors fucking to intently listening as your neighbors fucked. And you needed to do that. You heard something that sounded violent, but hearing more led you to guess it was consensual sex and listening all the way to the end — all the way through the aftercare — confirmed your guess was correct. So, for you own peace of mind, TVN, you needed to keep listening. But you don’t need to listen next time. If it triggers you to hear your neighbors fucking, don’t listen. Close the window and crank up some music or go for a walk and listen to a podcast. That said, TVN, you raise an interesting ethical question: Are kinksters — particularly the kind of kinksters who enjoy verbal abuse and impact play — obligated to keep it down? While I think people should be considerate of their neighbors, people are allowed to have sex in their own homes, TVN, and it’s not like vanilla sex is always quiet. But if the sex a couple enjoys could easily be misinterpreted as abuse or violence by someone who accidentally overhears it, that couple might wanna close the window and turn up some music themselves — not only to avoid alarming the neighbors, but to spare themselves the hassle of explaining their kinks to a cop. For the record: I would tell person who enjoys a good single-tail whipping to find a soundproof dungeon to enjoy that in (because that shit is loud), but I wouldn’t tell a person who screams her head off during PIV intercourse to find a soundproof box (even though her shit is just as loud). Instead I would urge her fuck at 8 p.m., when most people are awake, rather than 2 a.m., when most people are asleep. (It can be annoying listening to someone screamfuck but it’s even more annoying to have your sleep ruined by a screamfucker.) Is this a double standard? Perhaps. But it’s one I’m willing to endorse. 1. Is it safe to hook up again? 2. Will it be safe to hook up again soon? 3. You’ll tell us when it’s safe to hook up again, right? Getting Really Impatient. Need Dick. Really. • It isn’t. • At some point. • I will. Hey, Everybody: Me and Nancy and the

tech-savvy/at-risk youth will be doing a special Savage Love Livestream on Thursday, June 4 at 7 p.m. PST. You can send your questions to livestream@savagelovecast. com or ask them live during the event. I’ll answer as many as I can in one fun-ﬁlled Zoom meeting! Tickets are $10 and all proceeds from the Savage Love Livestream will be donated to Northwest Harvest, a nonproﬁt that distributes food to more than 370 food banks in Washington state. Go to savagelovecast.com/events to get tickets! mail@savagelove.net Follow Dan Savage on Twitter @ fakedansavage www.savagelovecast.com

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LEGAL Leo’s Towing & Recovery, 510 E Broadway, Louisville, KY 40202 (502)-727-9503, has intention to obtain title of a 2003 Black Saab 9-3 VIN #YS3FF49Y331034532 ,Owner Zuniga Gomez Lien Holder: None Unless owner or lienholder objects in written form within 14 days after the last publication of this notice. Leo’s Towing & Recovery, 510 E Broadway, Louisville, KY 40202 (502)-727-9503, has intention to obtain title of a 1999 tan Toyota Corolla VIN # 2T1BR12E1XC132858,Owner Cheryl Dame Lien Holder: none Unless owner or lienholder objects in written form within 14 days after the last publication of this notice. Leo’s Towing & Recovery, 510 E Broadway, Louisville, KY 40202 (502)-7279503, has intention to obtain title of a 1999 White Mazda Protégé VIN #JM1BJ2227X0174075,Owner William Mitchell Lien Holder: Millennium Motors LL Unless owner or lienholder objects in written form within 14 days after the last publication of this notice. Leo’s Towing & Recovery, 510 E Broadway, Louisville, KY 40202 (502)-727-9503, has intention to obtain title of a 2002 Green Ford Windstar VIN #2FMZA53432BA85316,Owner Ashley King Lien Holder: none Unless owner or lienholder objects in written form within 14 days after the last publication of this notice. Leo’s Towing & Recovery, 510 E Broadway, Louisville, KY 40202 (502)-7279503, has intention to obtain title of a 2007 White Chevy Impala VIN #2G1WB58K279157691,Owner Ineshia Trice Lien Holder: None Unless owner or lienholder objects in written form within 14 days after the last publication of this notice. Notice is hereby given by Bluegrass Harley-Davidson 11701 Gateworth Way Louisville, KY 40299 (502) 244-8095 to obtain title. Owner has 14 days to respond in writing. 2002 Harley-Davidson Dyna Low Rider Vin #: 1HD1GDV132Y324393, Owners Name: Donald Bruner, Lien Holder: OneMain Financial

REPOSSESSION SALE These vehicles will be offered for sale to the highest bidder at the time, date, and place stated below. Term of sale is cash only. Seller reserves the right to bid and purchase at said sale. Dealers welcome. May 22nd, 11:30 A.M.

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LEOWEEKLY.COM // MAY 30, 2020