LEO Weekly Dec. 23, 2020 by leoweekly

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EDITOR’S NOTE

RANDOM, UNUSED THOUGHTS, 2020 By Aaron Yarmuth | ayarmuth@leoweekly.com

X-MAS GIFTS FOR KENTUCKY POLITICIANS Thirty-nine years ago, Ed Ryan, then the Frankfort Bureau chief of The Courier Journal, wrote a column headlined “Possible gifts for officials, first family.” In his latest column, Al Cross revives the idea, writing about hypothetical gift ideas for Kentucky politicians in 2020, including Gov. Andy Beshear, U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell and others. Go to leoweekly. com to read it.

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LOUISVILLE ECCENTRIC OBSERVER

Volume 31 | Number 03 974 BRECKENRIDGE LANE #170. LOUISVILLE KY 40207 PHONE (502) 895-9770 FAX (502) 895-9779 FOUNDER

John Yarmuth EXECUTIVE EDITOR

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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.

AS I SIT IN MY cluttered makeshift home office, with the chaos of a 17-month-old running his John Deere “tractor” back and forth on the floor above me, I’m excited that we’ve reached the end of 2020. It’s not just because a COVID-19 vaccine is on its way to an arm near you, or that Trump will soon be gone from the White House — giving our eyes, ears and souls a much-deserved break — or that 2021 simply has to be better than 2020. I’m excited because it’s my almost-annual opportunity to write a column of random, unused thoughts from the year — a therapeutic practice of sorts, ridding my brain of as many topics and opinions that didn’t quite make the first cut. So, in no particular order, final thoughts for 2020: –– I’d like to begin by proposing a “Rand Paul of the Year Award,” which will honor the elected official who demonstrated the most self-righteous grandstanding of the year. An example would be U.S. Sen. Rand Paul’s shutdown of the federal government in early 2018, when Paul single-handedly shut down the government over increases in the federal budget deficit, because, “I think it’s an important enough thing that we should have a discussion over,” Paul said. For the inaugural Rand Paul of the Year Award, I’m nominating state Attorney General Dan Cameron. Cameron’s first year in office has lived up to my worst fears and low expectations: So far, his office has been used primarily to fight partisan-political battles, which he’s done poorly — repeatedly challenging Gov. Andy Beshear’s executive orders aimed at preventing Kentuckians from COVID-19 and losing nearly every single one. (It’s as though Cameron forgot that Beshear is also a lawyer and was a pretty damn good attorney general before him.) Cameron was disingenuous (at best) when he presented the results of the Breonna Taylor grand jury. He misled the jurors, and he misled the public. Yet, Cameron earns this nomination, specifically for several partisan letters he signed on to — grandstanding — with other Republican state attorneys general, which have nothing to do with Kentucky, including one challenging mail-in ballots in Pennsylvania. –– Consider also using Rand Paul as an adjective and verb. For instance, that maskless, know-it-all lecturing that poor barista on freedom and

the Constitution: “They’re being a real Rand Paul”; or, “Check out Karen Rand Pauling over there!” –– I hope state Rep. Charles Booker takes on Paul for U.S. Senate in 2022. Booker may be a long shot, but it will be one hell of a fun, inspiring campaign. –– Republican Secretary of State Michael Adams deserves a positive award named after him. Perhaps, it will be given to my favorite Republican. (It will not be an annual award due to lack of candidates.) –– Bad news: I’ve given up on humanity changing enough to prevent the most catastrophic effects of global warming. Our only shot at surviving will be innovating our way out of certain doom. Good news: I think we can do it (see Moore’s Law). –– I hope COVID-19 takes out the NCAA. Not only is its continued harassment of UofL and other college programs completely insane (the HBO documentary “The Scheme” does an amazing job exposing failed and corrupt efforts by the FBI to set up high-profile college coaches), but any potential punishment would punish only more people and players who had nothing to do with the alleged violations. –– Others can determine the value/riskreward of playing football and other sports through the pandemic, but don’t pretend teams, leagues and organizations are being safe because masks are required on the sidelines, only while players aren’t tackling one another. –– I’ve been a dad for nearly a year and five months. When people say, “There’s nothing like it,” …There’s nothing like it. I particularly enjoy the unspoken bond with other dads (and moms, but mostly dads) because we can acknowledge to one another how much fun we’re having with just a quiet glance… as we chase someone one-third of our size, trying to keep them out of traffic. –– Finally, read Keith Stone’s column this week. Keith has been a remarkable editor of LEO over the last several years. We owe him a tremendous amount of credit and gratitude for bringing real, important local journalism to these pages and to the community. I’m personally grateful to him for making me a better writer and thoughtful journalist. (And thank you for never Rand Pauling us.) Thanks for everything, Keith. Best of luck in 2021 and beyond… it can’t be as bad as 2020. • LEOWEEKLY.COM // DECEMBER 23, 2020

Literary Literary Lite CATEGORIES:

WRITING: (1) Short Fiction (up to 1,000 words) (2) Poetry (up to 48 lines)

LEO LEO LE CARTOON: (3) A single-page cartoon. Can be either a single or multiple panel cartoon.

On March 17, 2021, we’re turning LEO over to you, all of our creative readers.

PHOTOGRAPHY: (4) Color Photography — a single photo (5) Black-And-White Photography — a single photo

Do not include your name or other personal identification in the file name or meta-data.

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LEO LEO LE So get to writing, shooting and drawing!

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LEO LEO LE Yep, here it is — the call for the 2021 Literary LEO, our annual writing and photography contest.

THE RULES (please read carefully):

LEOWEEKLY.COM // DECEMBER 23, 2020

CARTOONS: Must be submitted as a .JPG and in a resolution of at least 200 dpi, with 300 dpi preferred. The title on the document must match the file name. By submitting material, authors grant LEO one-time print publishing rights, including permission to publish material on LEO’s website. LEO employees and regular freelancers are not eligible. Winners will be published in the March 17, 2021 issue of LEO Weekly Go to leoweekly.com to find the submission form. The link will also be pinned to the top of our Facebook and Twitter pages.

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ON: JOHN YARMUTH, REPUBLICAN ECON 101

Republicans always wreck the country on their way out, Bush No. 1 tried to correct Reagan’s voodoo, trickle-down economy that didn’t and left Clinton a mess that took him six years before he balanced the budget. Bush No. 2 gave the rich a tax cut and started two wars without paying for them and ended up breaking the country, leading us to the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. Now Trump is getting ready to hand Biden the worst economy since then. About the time Democrats get things running again, Republicans take credit and wreck it. —Tom Pfannerstill

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MANOFMETTLE.COM

Mr. Yarmuth, thank you for your candor here. It is post-election, of course, but welcome, nonetheless. I can’t speak for Republicans, but a few questions if you don’t mind: Your lack of concern about additional public debt left to future generations requires explanation. Are you sure the funds will pay for themselves ultimately or are you saying we can print as many American dollars as we want no matter the consequences? You know, what some “economists” call Modern Monetary Theory (MMT). Where are you on Joe Biden’s “wealth taxes”? Should a well to do person like yourself be willing to contribute a portion of their assets as the price of success in America? Ten percent? Twenty percent? How much? I admit I know a few able-bodied men who have been slow to return to gainful work due to the benefits of unemployment insurance. Obviously, UI is necessary to a degree. The question is how do you know what you’re proposing incentivizes work and not the opposite? A logical argument will win the day here, I’m sure. It is refreshing to ask you questions directly. Local media is so focused on other subjects it’s like we never get to hear your opinions. I hope you will keep it up. —Gary Owen

ON: THORNS AND ROSES, WHY ARE PROTEST LEADERS DYING?

I have asked that question to myself? Thinking it is just some random thing is just not logical. —Peggy Jansing Welsh The police are not killing protest leaders. —jeff jones @MajorJeffJones

ON: UNDERCOVER COMMENTARY That’s him, but there’s one more: do no good. With his hands to his side. —Carole Willis @CaroleWillis13 A true #trumpanzee —Jeff Wasserman He packed the courts — what he accuses Democrats of wanting to do. The rich got obscene tax cuts but nothing else has trickled down since Reagan except more greed. —Bernie Leeds LEOWEEKLY.COM // DECEMBER 23, 2020

Now offering in-person private lessons! (masks required)

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MANAGING EDITOR’S NOTE

MY LAST ISSUE — STIRRING UP GOOD SHIT UNTIL THE END By Keith Stone | kstone@leoweekly.com

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LEOWEEKLY.COM // DECEMBER 23, 2020

I HAVE QUIT the best job in Louisville — managing editor of LEO Weekly. My last day is Dec. 31. Why would I do this? Because I am quitting to return to another love, architecture, focusing on historical preservation. If I am reading myself correctly, this is a good time for my Plan D. Running a paper is all-consuming, as perhaps any passion should be, if it is in a healthy way. But passions burn out, and others beckon. I leave with few regrets. In my nearly six years at LEO, I have accomplished all I wanted to do and much more than I thought I could do. My time at LEO is a ﬁtting coda to more than three decades in journalism that took me to six daily newspapers on both coasts and in between as a writer and editor. I will miss the practice of journalism but not the business of journalism. I will miss LEO — period. It has been a joyous challenge, albeit with frustrations, to work with LEO’s staff and our army of freelancers to make the paper relevant again in Louisville — to reestablish it as the alternative to the many other news media outlets here that report the same stories every day, some better than others. From the start, my goal has been to refocus LEO to be consistently more interesting and unpredictably unpredictable, more opinionated with opinions you will not read elsewhere and just plain more fun to read — more eccentric. Hopefully, that came through. Certainly, some of that got us into trouble, and that is OK if not good. Only a few times we got into trouble, no, we fucked up... and it was wholly our fault. For that, we apologized and learned. Mostly, though, we did what a good alt-weekly should do: provide an alternative view of the news with perspective and context about the community — and stir up good shit. That included answering the white supremacist march and violence in Charlottesville by publishing essays including one from Black Lives Matter Louisville core organizer Chanelle Helm: “White people, here are 10 requests from a Black Lives Matter leader.” That column became an international sensation, drew much ire and still gets thousands of hits on our website. That included providing new arts, food

and op-ed content, such as Thorns and Roses, a weekly compendium of the best, worst and most absurd in the city. That included one of the first stories I edited at LEO, about the challenges ARTxFM faced becoming a radio station. That generated pushback from station supporters (we stand by the article) — but also continues to get many, many hits online. That included the Valentine’s Day story reflecting on the U.S. Supreme Court’s marriage equality ruling through the eyes of people who finally could marry. On the cover was a beautiful photo of two women kissing. It coincided with LEO’s ban from a local coffee shop chain (we were told our racy ads precipitated the ban). That included the story about the rise of mixed martial arts in local arenas. LEO’s reporter and photographer were at an event when a fighter died, which sadly provided enough proof to bring more state scrutiny. That included being first to report the outlandish deal that state and city wanted to cut with Amazon for a headquarters here. Fortunately, it failed, or Jeff Bezos might have built a mansion in a local state park. And that included our Dining Issues, such as the one that asked a panel of judges the eternal, Louisville question: Indi’s or Chicken King? That piece, still is fav online, got us into trouble. Here is what we wrote after the piece was published: “We got a bit of blowback on our Indi’s vs. Chicken King showdown last week because the panel had no African American judges. The truth is, we wanted a diverse panel and had lined up a chef who is black, but that fell through at the last moment, and we could not find a replacement. Bad on us. We work to bring diversity to all we do — panels, stories, writers, photos, artists… Regardless, this criticism opened fascinating discussion about race and the media. One critic said on social media: ‘ … it’s like… a lose, lose situation for all parties involved. On the outside looking in… the article makes no sense not to have at least one person on the panel that actually lives around and frequents the place… on the other hand… who wants to be the one black person on a fried chicken review? It’s like… if they asked, ‘What was your favorite rap album of the year?’ Why can I only speak on rap? Do you think that’s all I listen to? But, then again… who wants to read a Year

in Rap according to four white people? It’s fucked up, man... fucked up.’ (All true, although we do frequent both places, probably more than we should.)” That brings me to something I encountered running this alt-weekly that I never faced in daily, mainstream journalism: Publishing an alt-weekly during these historically riven times in the Age of Social Media is precarious. Alt-weeklies should be progressive and advocates for racial and social justice in their coverage and editorial voice. I think LEO has been, as proven by the hundreds of stories, op-eds and photos we’ve run, in addition to the many, many Black and LGBTQ+ writers published. But also, as is the nature of movements over time, allies — and even movement members — get attacked for flaws, despite their sincere intentions. Social media magnifies those attacks and fails to consider proportionality. None of this helps the movement, the newspaper or anyone who might think of helping. As one local Black leader said after LEO was publicly dunned after running an insensitive headline... on social media, “We all need too much forgiveness not to grant it to others. And let me tell you this — only a fool turns longtime friends into enemies because they make a misstep. ... Focus your rage in the right f’g places. Damn.” This is not why I am leaving LEO. I left journalism previously, in 2007, to get a master’s degree in architecture. I spent the next 10 years in architecture and making art for garner narrative contemporary fine art and at manofmettle.com. I had no intention of returning to journalism, but then LEO offered me the best job in Louisville. I took it. After all, architecture and journalism share much. When done best, architecture and journalism tell intriguing stories: architecture through the arrangement of space and form, and journalism through words and ideas; they each rely on structure and clarity; and they are best made real by a team. With that said, I must thank the impossibly small team that puts out a memorable paper every week. I also thank the freelancers and columnists who continue to believe in LEO and write for it, despite the difficulties of working for a small newspaper. And, finally, I would like to thank all of you who also still support and love LEO and allowed me to run it. Next! •

THORNS & ROSES THE WORST, BEST & MOST ABSURD

THORN: PLEASE SIR, MAY I HAVE SOME MORE?

To be certain. $600 is not couch change for most of us, but also it is too little too late to help make up for anyone’s income lost during the COVID-19 pandemic. And it is far too little coming from U.S. Sen. Mitch “Scrooge McTurtle” McConnell, whose net worth is estimated at $34 million (married into rich family) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, whose piggy bank holds some $144 million.

ROSE: LISTEN GOOD, JOE

Breonna Taylor’s mother keeps saying her name. In a full-page ad in The Washington Post, she beseeched President-elect Joe Biden to launch federal investigations into the police killings of Taylor and other Black people. She said: “We need your actions to show that you are different than those who pay lip service to our losses while doing nothing to show that our loved ones’ lives mattered.”

ROSE: REMEMBER, 150,646 OF YOUR NEIGHBORS VOTED FOR TRUMP

We have never seen state Rep. Attica Scott back away from stating clearly what she sees. In an interview with The Courier Journal, she said she was not surprised by Louisville’s lackluster response to the killing of Breonna Taylor. “It reminded me that Louisville isn’t this liberal bastion that people try to make it out to be,” Scott said. “I’ve always had problems with people saying ‘liberal Louisville.’

ROSE: NOW WILL YOU LEGALIZE MEDICAL POT AND SPORTSBOOK?

Maybe if COVID-19 has any value it will be that it traps state lawmakers into passing bills that legalize medical marijuana usage (at the very least) and sportsbook betting. The state is out of money, and even the coldest, soulless Republican can’t endorse closing more libraries and letting more bridges fall apart. Kentucky needs revenue. Meanwhile, Indiana is eating our gym shorts on sportsbooks. But, then, Kentucky has a long history of making choices that hurt itself. Like voting for Bevin and tRump.

ABSURD: CJ’S SCOTT JENNINGS, THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS

Scott Jennings, the CJ columnist and Republican advisor with long ties to U.S. Sen. Mitch “Machiavellian” McConnell, tried — again — to rewrite history. This time, he blamed the polarization of American politics not on President-reject tRump but on U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. Jennings said McConnell told him about President-elect Biden: “Well, first of all, I am going to treat him a hell of a lot better than Chuck Schumer ever treated Donald Trump.” Scott is a masterful propagandist and satirist who has written for LEO and certainly deserves every dime of consulting fees from his RunSwitch PR, but he seems to have forgotten what McConnell said about President Obama: “The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president.” Scott concludes that Biden and McConnell will find compromise and: “Maybe — just maybe — the American people will get a calmer, more functional Washington because of it.” What Jennings still refuses to concede is that tRump’s exit alone will result in a calmer, more functional nation.

ABSURD: HEADLINES THAT MAKE YOU SAY, ‘HMMM...’

On The CJ’s front page: ‘Editorial: Ending Systematic Racism. Louisville must take action now.’ ...So the previous 240 or so years were too soon?

ABSURD: AND IN RONA NEWS NOT ABOUT THE RONA

The good news is that a 6-year-old gray seal at the Louisville Zoo is pregnant and could give birth by February. The absurd news is that the mother’s name is “Rona.”

Louisville Water

LEOWEEKLY.COM // DECEMBER 23, 2020

LEO’S

BEST OF 2020...

THE REVOLUTION WILL BE TELEVISED STREAMED LIVESTREAMERS REDEFINE JOURNALISM DURING PROTESTS By Cary Stemle | leo@leoweekly.com ORIGINAL RUN DATE - JULY 8

...THE YEAR TOTALLY SUCKED, BUT WE DIDN’T!

CERTAINLY, these pages were home to more than just nine “best” stories and columns in 2020. But space... so, we weighted stories and columns for variety, importance and timeliness, and we settled on these nine. You might look back through your stress-clouded memory to see that the year started off with great normalcy and ennui if not promise and joy — for one, Gov.reject Matt Bevin had been vanquished! But by March, it all went to shite, as the secret news of the coronavirus began to leak from President tRump’s bunker. Fortunately, Gov. Andy fulﬁlled his promise to not be a Bevin-sized dick and actually led Kentucky, earning national plaudits and local, Republican scorn. And, then, we learned of the heartbreaking death of Breonna Taylor. Her death, initially lost in the miasma of COVID-19, contributed to the critical mass of Black deaths by cops that then converged into a national if not international movement that remains today. So, those two topics dominated LEO’s pages and energy. And they should have. Let’s hope that 2021 becomes virus free but that we continue to say Breonna Taylor’s name as the city and state move toward racial justice and equality. 8

LEOWEEKLY.COM // DECEMBER 23, 2020

Chea K. Woolfolk. | PHOTO BY JOHN O’HAVER.

“When we said the Revolution will not be televised, the things that are gonna change people is something that will never be captured on ﬁlm. It’ll just be something you see and all of a sudden you’ll realize, ‘I’m on the wrong page,’ or ‘I’m on the right page but on the wrong note and I’ve got to get in synch with everyone else to understand what’s happening in this country.’” — Gil Scott-Heron

SATURDAY, JUNE 28

IT’S 10:04 P.M., and I’m melting into my couch at home. “Great Dylan ﬂick on TMC,” a friend texts. “Multiple people shot at Jefferson square downtown,” I reply, repeating the news that’s just rolled across my phone. Darkness has settled on a weird day. Despite having announced their plans for an armed march past an anti-racist encampment downtown, the American Freedom Fighters are thus far a no-show. Now, however, my thoughts turn to a possible evening drive-by shooting, and I go exploring on Facebook and discover a post by a livestreamer named Maxwell Mitchell, who’s just archived the footage he’d broadcast in real time an hour earlier. The very ﬁrst image you see is visceral: A man we now know is Steven Lopez stands on Sixth Street near Liberty Street and is holding a pistol,

his arms raised over his head and about 20 feet from the camera. He ﬁres into the air, then lowers the gun and points into the park. He ﬁres again. More shots are heard. Mitchell’s iPhone video camera rolls as he retreats toward Jefferson Street and circles back into the park where he comes upon camp medics tending to a young photographer named Tyler Gerth, who lay mortally wounded, his blood visible on the sidewalk.

INDEPENDENT LENS

A core group of livestreamers has been documenting the downtown Louisville protests since they began on May 29, demanding that police involved in the Breonna Taylor case be ﬁred, arrested and prosecuted for killing her. Collectively, they’ve garnered more than 60,000 followers and racked up millions of views, numbers that seem to have grown since the Saturday night shooting. It’s not unusual to see more than 2,000 people watching individual streams during the evening. From the mauling of peaceful marchers in Selma, Alabama to Rodney King and George Floyd, video footage depicting white-on-Black violence has played a key role in U.S. civil rights struggles for more than 60 years. Never has it been more powerful than today, however, when seemingly everyone has a high-resolution video

MilkyMess TV (Steph Townsell) in white recording. | PHOTO BY JON CHERRY.

John Doemain. | PHOTO BY KATHRYN HARRINGTON.

camera tucked in a pocket or purse. The livestreamers aren’t interested in just documenting potential conflicts that grow more likely at night. They’re present during the daytime, capturing mundane moments and speeches and people playing the piano that was left in the park (now gone). They want to push back on stereotypes that the protests are constantly violent, a view they believe mainstream media perpetuates by focusing on conflict and blindly accepting official police accounts. Their livestreaming also has opened a discussion about what qualifies as journalism and who is a journalist? And driving that discussion is whether the police have been targeting them for arrest (which police deny) and whether they deserve to be treated as press from conventional outlets. Their ranks have included but are not limited to: • Tara Bassett, 59, a longtime Louisville broadcaster and current president/host at Take It From Tara Productions

• John Doemain, who declined to say his age and is an independent videographer and former editor/producer for teleSUR who’s covered conﬂicts in Israel and Palestine • Jason Downey, 34, who works in cybersecurity for Humana • Maxwell Mitchell, 32, a graphic designer and musician • MilkyMess TV (Steph Townsell), whose Facebook page says: “Journalist — news from the people, for the people” • RiotHeart, 31, who prefers to conceal his identity, runs an all-purpose event planning and consultation network in Louisville • Antonio T-Made Taylor, 46, who is an on-air personality at 104.7-FM and co-owner of WaveFM Online, an Internet radio station and podcast hub • Chea K. Woolfolk, 46, whose Chea Chea Media Inc. encompasses radio, TV and a digital magazine. Mitchell, Woolfolk, Doemain, Townsell and

Taylor are Black. Bassett, Downey and RiotHeart are white. They were largely unknown to one another before the protests but now feel a kinship, though they don’t seem to closely coordinate efforts beyond cross-posting one another’s work. Their narration styles vary, from Bassett’s journalistic quest for balance to Woolfolk’s breezy in-your-face repartee. Some work in or around media. Others are new to media roles. Both RiotHeart, who went to the first night of protests to help as a street medic, and Downey, who was out for a bike ride when he bumped into the conflagration on the second night, decided to begin streaming after they saw LMPD deploying tear gas and rubber bullets. They’ve been at it almost daily since. Louisville-area old-timers will recall Bassett from her days as a TV meteorologist. Lately she tells her stories on Facebook Live, focused on animal rights advocacy and pretty much anything else that comes across her transom. She went to look at downtown after the first night of protests turned violent and has livestreamed almost daily. On the morning the American Freedom Fighters were expected, she set up at Jefferson Park and waited for hours. Later in the day she went to Thurman Hutchins Park, where the group was said to have gathered and broadcast for an hour while protesters verbally jousted with an AFFer. That night, it was Bassett who called her friend, Courier Journal Metro Columnist Joe Gerth, to break the news about his godson’s death. For the uninitiated, a Facebook “Live” is just that — you turn your phone camera on, choose Live, and start transmitting images for anyone on Facebook to see, comment on and share on their

timeline. When the user ends the video, it can be archived or deleted.

WHAT’S IN A WORD?

Streaming public events raises interesting questions of terminology. Live video can be visceral, compelling and, most importantly, unﬁltered in a way mainstream media can’t (or won’t) approach. But does the mere act of recording events make you a journalist? In this case, because the streamers also largely self-identify as protesters, the answer gets muddy. “I have a favorite saying that every American has the First Amendment right to commit journalism, and I use that verb purposely,” said Al Cross, director of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues at the UK. “If you use that verb, you have an obligation to present things fairly and completely.” While acknowledging the value of their work, Cross stopped short of calling the streamers journalists. “There is value in people being able to do their own thing and offer perspectives … But people need to understand there are people running the camera, and even with a Facebook Live, there are still editorial decisions being made — where the camera is, when to turn it on and off, how close you are and so on.” LMPD spokeswoman Jessie Halladay, a former Courier Journal police reporter, said the police are aware of the livestreamers but don’t necessarily see them as reporters. “We obviously know they’re out there, and we watch some of them,” she said. “They’re not LEOWEEKLY.COM // DECEMBER 23, 2020

asking for comment. They’re simply recording. Many are participants. … You can look at the contrast — WDRB has a reporter out there, but he never chants or participates. He’s simply there documenting.” Louisville First Amendment attorney Jon Fleischaker said he is also unsure about what to call the livestreamers, but he said they have a clear right to freedom of speech regardless. “That said, being a journalist won’t necessarily protect you from being arrested if the cops say you’ve done something to be arrested for,” he said. “Journalists don’t enjoy special protections.” UofL Professor Ricky Jones, a freelance columnist for The CJ who also contributes to LEO, said he believes the livestreamers can provide new power for holding police accountable. “Their operations rest on people complying — it’s Cartman on ‘South Park’ — ‘You will respect my authoritay,’” he said. “Here’s where streamers are incredibly important. When people don’t comply or do something to piss off the cops, they abuse and kill them. You see cops’ strategy of turning off body cams because they know some things they do are wrong, and they don’t want a record of it so can they tell their own story. “What streamers represent, because of advances in technology and tactics, they provide their own record for themselves. They’re commenting on events. I think they are historians. The cops understand the threat streamers pose to anonymity. Sunlight is the greatest disinfectant — darker forces always want to function in the shadows and keep things secret. Streamers can prove this isn’t hearsay — ‘we have you on this camera.’ If you harass someone or hurt someone or kill them, they see it. That handcuffs the cops.”

SUNDAY, JUNE 29

Whatever you call them, it’s hard to deny the streamers’ impact and ability to show an unfiltered view of events on the ground, whether it’s a ruckus or civil conversation between police and protesters. One day after Gerth’s murder, LMPD announced plans to end camping in the park and to strictly enforce its closing at 11 p.m. Mitchell’s Sunday night Livestream, which runs four hours, begins a little after 8 p.m. with a memorial service in the park for Gerth. That segues into a march down Sixth Street to Broadway and back to the park via Fifth and Liberty streets. As 11 p.m. approaches, the air grows pregnant with tension fueled by uncertainty, and Mitchell slowly walks toward a group of officers in riot gear who’ve blocked the intersection at Fifth and Jefferson streets. A handful of protesters are having a back and forth with a female officer who identifies herself as Lt. Shannon Lauder. “The only thing I would ask,” says Taylor, the WaveFM livestreamer, “if you all do need to

LEOWEEKLY.COM // DECEMBER 23, 2020

go up in the park, please go in there as nonaggressively as possible. We’re standing up for justice. We don’t want any problems with you all, I promise you. They are angry though, we are angry. We don’t wanna feel threatened.” “We don’t wanna go in there like that, either,” a male officer replies. Multiple conversations continue. Mitchell asks a female officer if she understands why protesters use the phrase “Black lives matter.” “Ah, no response,” he says. A male officer steps forward and asks Mitchell to explain. “Here’s a scenario I like to paint,” he begins. “Take this block, from Jefferson and Fifth to Liberty and Fifth and picture if there was residential. There’s 10 houses. You built those houses, and you have your hands on your waist, and you say, ‘Oh, my gosh, all these houses matter.’ So, one day, I don’t know, an arsonist comes by, and he decides to light three of these houses on fire. So, three of the houses are burning down. You walk over there, and you say, ‘Oh, my gosh, I need to put those three houses out.’ “All of those houses are not on fire, but three of them are on fire. So, do you see how it would be silly if you’re standing there trying to put one of those three fires out and someone walked over and said, ‘All houses matter, why are you just focusing on those three houses?’ Those three houses are on fire, and that person is like, ‘But all houses matter. Get away from those three houses.’ “It’s that type of scenario, right?” The cop nods. “So you understand?” “Yeah.” “That’ll do it,” Mitchell says, turning to walk back toward Jefferson Square where a handful of police, not dressed in riot gear, talk with protesters and explain they can stay on the sidewalk but not the park. The camera pans down Liberty Street toward Seventh Street, where a group of about 30 officers in riot gear are staged. They eventually fall back and the night ends peacefully. That’s about to change.

MONDAY, JUNE 30

The day begins with protesters sneaking onto the Second Street Bridge to unfurl a large banner honoring Breonna Taylor. The demonstration leads to about 30 arrests and the towing of several vehicles, as well as impassioned exchanges between protesters and police at a barricade near Second and Main streets. The protesters are still angry about having their belongings thrown away after police cleared the park on Saturday night. Several livestreamers are on hand. Later, as the sun sets, the protesters head out for their nightly march before returning to Jefferson Square. Closing time again approaches.

Livestreamers John Doemain, Maxwell Mitchell, Tara Bassett and Antonio T-Made Taylor. | PHOTO BY KATHRYN HARRINGTON.

Broadcasting live, Mitchell intones: “What I’m growing to understand from yesterday, my conclusion is at 11 p.m. they’re not going to rush in here and arrest everyone, it seems. But if they’re camping out in the park, they’ll arrest them. … That’s just what I’m noticing from yesterday and today, but of course, we shall see. And here comes the rain.” He notices police blocking the intersection at Fifth and Jefferson streets. “I wonder what they’re doing. I guess I’ll go ask.” His slow approach toward a handful of officers creates a sort of Ken Burns effect. Standing behind four unmarked vehicles, the police look slightly startled by the approach. Ten feet out, Mitchell says, “I just had a question. … What is the plan tonight? Is it blocking off Fifth and Jefferson and allowing cars to get through Liberty?” An officer responds in the affirmative. “OK. Thank you for answering the question.” He turns and moves quickly toward the park. Just past the Chase Bank sign he senses commotion. “And, of course I walk away for a second and everyone’s running down the street.” He sighs. “What’s going on?” Someone tells him the riot cops just came out. “Tear gas, rubber bullets?” It doesn’t appear that’s happened yet, and he walks past the Hall of Justice toward Metro Corrections where roughly dozens of riot officers are arrayed, with more behind an armored truck called a Bearcat, angled in the Sixth and Liberty intersection with more cops behind — maybe 100 overall. “Wow,” Mitchell says. He shows the intersection and overhears a comment. “Which one are they saying is a good cop?” he asks. “This one here.” Maj. Paul Humphrey, sans riot gear, comes into view, speaking with a female protester. At that point, the police fall back. Which leads to a little clapping. A lot of taunt-

ing. Mitchell walks slowly toward Jefferson Street and swings around to catch a group of protesters trailing the police. It’s a rare opportunity to talk back to power and vent their deepest disgust — what UofL professor Jones calls the “get even.” Mitchell answers a comment: “As far as the battery is concerned on the phone, when I am on live, it drains really quickly, so it’s really the external battery that’s doing the job, and I’m very thankful for it. … The police have gone backward, to I assume change their clothes and go to their own home. Who knows?”

TUESDAY, JULY 1

Tonight’s protest is a driving march that begins near Waterfront Park before police shunt the caravan onto the interstate toward The East End. Things get a little wild. Back at the park, police make a more pointed showing at closing time — dozens of ofﬁcers in riot gear line up face-to-face with protesters along Sixth Street from Liberty to Jefferson. Word ﬁlters through the crowd that a vehicle has been towed — it’s a van driven by Chaunda Lee, who’s known as the food lady. (Lee later told LEO she was double parked on Sixth Street because a truck was in her usual spot. She said she was packed up to leave when riot cops surrounded her van and forced her and her 12-year-old son out. LMPD’s Halladay told LEO the van had been parked in the driving lane for “quite some time” and was deemed to be in violation.) Mitchell walks along Jefferson, capturing John Doemain doing his own Live. “They supposedly want to make peace with the community,” Doemain narrates. “They say they wanna repair things and then they do some bullshit like this. Destroyed our shit the other day … and they wanna repair the community?”

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LEOWEEKLY.COM // DECEMBER 23, 2020

WEDNESDAY, JULY 2

Jason Downey. | PHOTO BY JOHN O’HAVER.

The rain has stopped and police have vacated Sixth Street. Mitchell walks toward Metro Corrections. The area is nearly empty. He swivels back toward Jefferson Street. “Ah, don’t do this. Don’t do this,” he says, amid the distinct sound of dumping trash. Someone says “no Live,” and Mitchell points his camera away. A few minutes later, as riot police begin moving toward the park from Sixth and Market streets, he defends the decision to a commenter. “I can assure you I’m down for videoing the truth … I was asked for privacy, to not show a certain action, because once again, some things just shouldn’t be videoed. But, as a result of what happened, police are rioting here in the street on Jefferson.” Meanwhile, over at MilkyMess’s channel, there’s a different view of the same event. Standing near Sixth and Liberty streets, Townsell comes on at 11:47 p.m., purses her lips and looks at the camera: “So, I wasn’t gonna go live, y’all. I was just gonna hang out. I was legit just about to hang out. Wasn’t gonna go live, but I gotta show y’all something real quick,” she says, and points the camera over her shoulder to show two trash piles in the middle of Sixth Street. A couple minutes later, the riot cops advance. Mitchell is loath to be arrested, and he’s seen this before, so he’s moved down Jefferson Street toward Fifth Street by the time they swoop. His camera captures Downey walking backward with hands up (and livestream running). Three or four cops, including one who seems to take a quick look at a phone, tackle Downey and drive him into a row of portable toilets. Mitchell runs across Jefferson Street to Fifth Street and stops to think. Hearing the blaring horns of cars returning from the caravan, he decides he must warn them about what’s just happened. He catches a ride in a Jeep, jumps out and runs down Jefferson Street warning cars, cuts through the Chase parking lot to Liberty Street and jumps in another car that’s soon cut off by the Bearcat, which then rams the Jeep Mitchell had ridden in moments before. “Jesus,” he says, now on foot and running, his camera recording

LEOWEEKLY.COM // DECEMBER 23, 2020

only the pavement and the sound of his breath. He bolts through Fourth Street Live and past the Seelbach Hilton hotel, where he cuts through the valet parking chute and runs toward the hotel garage, where he’s greeted by friends. The Live cuts off. Townsell is still on. She walks back, past the trash piles, stopping to notice her favorite pillow that had disappeared (but opting not to take it). She moves south on Liberty Street to hook up with friends and starts to tell them the pillow story, but stops when a red laser beam dances on her white tank top. “Like, is that a gun?” she says. “These motherfuckers got a red dot on me! Wow! Take me out. Wow. They literally had a red dot on my chest. Wow. Wow. They’re trying to take me out, y’all.” The cops give chase. She escapes through a parking garage and jumps into a friend’s waiting car. They’re reading comments in the stream about Downey’s arrest. Woolfolk has been arrested, too. They read about Mitchell’s escape and drive past the Seelbach to see if they can ﬁnd him, but there are too many cops. She reads a comment: “’They’re trying to get the streamers.’ Oh, yeah absolutely. I know that we have been a target since week one. We’ve literally been a target since week one.” It is a charge spokesperson Halladay strongly denied. “These livestreamers are part of the crowd and participate in the protest. When they don’t follow rules to disperse, it creates issues,” she said. “We respect the First Amendment right to protest. Our job is ensure that activity is as safe as can possibly be. “We have made efforts to keep everyone safe while balancing the rights of free speech and expression. We tried to set boundaries, including that the park closes at 11.” Near Sixth Street and Muhammad Ali Boulevard, Townsell points the phone at police vehicles in a parking lot. “I kinda regret going out that window,” she says. “Now they know what car I’m in.” She ends the broadcast and lives to ﬁght another day.

The mood near 11 p.m. is lighter than the night before. On Antonio T-Made Taylor’s Live, a man on a megaphone addresses the police. “You gotta speak up to each other. Why? I’m Black forever. That’s just a job. Why? For a pension?” A group of protesters pray with police. A few officers carry cases of water from the park to the sidewalk. Someone suggests it’s a trap to deliver projectiles. WDRB’s Chad Mills, who’s done several Facebook Lives during the protests, is on the scene. After the police fall back, the group decides to march to Founders Square park. “We gonna chill,” protestor Kris Smith says into a megaphone. “If they come, they have to tell us to leave. It’s on the sidewalk. Same stuff every day. Don’t throw anything. You can say whatever you want to, and I mean whatever. Whenever they come, eventually they will, maybe they won’t — we never know — when they come and tell you to leave, stay on the sidewalk.” One night after their arrests, Woolfolk and Downey are taking mental health breaks at home. One night after his dramatic escape, Mitchell is present but not streaming. Townsell is Live. “We’re gonna move around to keep them on their toes,” she says. “I like the way this is working out right now. This is new — we haven’t tried this technique before. … So far, so good. I had a long day at school today. I’m yawning.” In an instant, three police officers appear, shedding other protesters like linebackers breaching a backfield as they surround Townsell on the sidewalk and tackle her to the ground. An officer puts his knee in her back and spits twice on the ground beside her. “Officers said she was trespassing in this park,” says Mills, who captured the takedown on his Live. “We had talked to her moments before, and she characterized the protest as peaceful tonight.” The arrest further fuels speculation that LMPD has targeted streamers.

WHAT NOW?

The arrests of four prominent livestreamers over two days creates an outcry about suppression of free speech. The ACLU speaks out. WAVE 3 reporter Kaitlin Rust, whom police shot at with pepper balls while she covered the May 29 disturbance, conducts an hour-long interview with Bassett, Doemain, Mitchell and Taylor (Downey joins late). RiotHeart livestreams the entire interview, which runs on TV as an edited package. Mitchell had hinted at getting an interview with interim LMPD Chief Rob Schroeder, and sure enough, a meeting is arranged on Friday to include Schroeder plus a handful of others from both parties. After initial resistance, LMPD agrees Mitchell can livestream the meeting. The issue of

citizen journalism arises. Police deny targeting the streamers for arrest and point out it’s impossible to determine who’s who with so many cell phones present. An idea is raised to provide vests for the streamers, and some begin wearing them on the streets. On Saturday, the streamers announced the formation of the Independent Media Guild, to provide information and First Amendment support. The group hopes to acquire media credentials, according to a news release. The arrests haven’t stopped the livestreaming. Townsell has maintained a lower profile and hasn’t gone Live at night since. LEO was unable to reach her. In an interview, Woolfolk told LEO she will keep streaming, though she admits her arrest and her subsequent felony charge shook her. When she was arrested Tuesday, not far from where Downey was taken down, she said police surrounded and menaced her and three younger women, with one officer claiming another officer had been shot and killed that night. “He told this girl, ‘I could charge you with murder.’ I was like, ‘Who was murdered?’ I’m no fool — when he said that, the entire night shifted. I thought, ‘Oh, hell, I’m not making it out of here.’ You know how that goes.” The LMPD’s Halladay has not responded to an email requesting a comment. Louisville attorney David Mour, who’s helping arrange legal representation for protesters, believes the streamers were targeted to shut them up. During the meeting with police Friday, he argued on their behalf. “Livestreamers are very important in my opinion, because what mainstream media portray isn’t very accurate,” Mour told LEO. “A perfect example is when the Bearcat — I call it a tank — rammed a protester’s car on Tuesday night, and LMPD put out that [a protester] rammed the bearcat. That turned out to be a lie, and they only admitted it when video surfaced that proved it.” Halladay said LMPD issued a correction. Mour continued: “I told them, if you arrest one more livestreamer, I will have your ass in federal court first thing Monday morning.” For his part, Mitchell doesn’t plan to stop livestreaming. He was initially skeptical of being targeted by LMPD, but after being chased and seeing the others arrested, he’s changed his mind. “Police denied that that was happening,” he said during a Sunday morning press conference organized by the Kentucky Alliance Against Racist and Political Reppression at The Carl Braden Memorial Center. “But you could see the truth in those livestreams, the faces of the police officers literally looking through the crowds for a specific person. How could you deny that when, once again, the livestreaming is showing the truth?” •

NATIONAL LOCKDOWNS AND 5G: WHY CORONAVIRUS MISINFORMATION SPREADS EASILY By Danielle Grady | dgrady@leoweekly.com I FIRST came across the rumor in a group text on March 19. A friend sent a picture of a text message from her sister: “More bad news to come I am afraid in 72 hours I have heard we will be under a national shelter-in-place shutdown.” Below it my friend added, “Not sure if this is real but if so, stock up on food all!” My other friends quickly questioned her. “OK, where is your sister getting that info?” one asked. “We’ve already closed most businesses that are customer-facing,” said another. After a pile on, my friend cried (virtually), “I don’t know what’s true and what’s not anymore!” With the spread of the novel coronavirus has come another disease, advancing rapidly on social media and in sketchy blog posts. Maybe it’s infected your friends, your family or even you — that of rumors, misinformation and conspiracy theories. It is an “infodemic,” as Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general of the World Health Organization, has said. “Fake news spreads faster and more easily than this virus, and is just as dangerous,” he said. In Louisville, the rumor I heard had been circulating for weeks. It claimed that there would be either a national or statewide shutdown, but the details were scarce: Would it be different than the “Healthy At Home” orders already in place? Would the National Guard be involved? The questions were never answered, and the rumor kept resurfacing. A recent New York Times story revealed that Chinese operatives may have been behind amplifying shutdown rumors in the United States. Then, there is the conspiracy theory that has swept the world and Louisville, that COVID-19 is caused by 5G cell phone technology. Other misinformation and outright lunacy abound: The coronavirus is a biological weapon unleashed by the United States government, for example. The most popular conspiracy theory, according to a New York Times analysis of data from the media analytics company Zignal Labs, is that Microsoft founder Bill Gates created the novel coronavirus in order to gain control of the global health system. (We shouldn’t

ORIGINAL RUN DATE - APRIL 29

have to tell you but yes, these conspiracy theories have been debunked by Snopes.com and pretty much every other reliable source). Making it more difficult is that some people don’t trust the organizations that employ the experts who understand the virus best, such as the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization. Fostering their suspicion is that scientists do not fully understand the virus yet and, therefore, they have changed their recommendations for how to protect ourselves against it. That’s a theory from Isaac Chun Hai-Fung, an associate professor of epidemiology at Georgia Southern University’s Jiann-Ping Hsu College of Public Health who studied misinformation during the 2014-15 ebola outbreak. “It is a new virus,” said Fung. “The epidemic is evolving. Scientific knowledge about the virus is in flux. It is continuously changing.” In a blog post on Medium, Kate Starbird, an associate professor at the University of Washington who specializes in how information is spread during crisis events, said that misinformation is a result of the natural gathering of facts that people do when they’re trying to make sense of an uncertain situation. They piece together the information they find and often share their conclusions with the people they know. This process can breed rumors, and the ones that turn out to be false are misinformation. “Our information feeds, from television sets, internet searches, and social media, provide continuous updates about the unfolding crisis — some of them accurate, some of them seemingly less so,” wrote Starbird. “Though crisis events like this one have always been times when rumors and misinformation spread, the problem seems especially acute now, with the rise of the internet, the widespread use of social media, and the pervasive politicization of just about everything.” Almost two weeks after I first learned of the national lockdown rumor, Gay Adel-

mann, a Louisville public schools activists, posted on Facebook to her 2,000-plus friends: “I’m hearing a two-week federal lockdown could be coming as early as this week. Anyone here with ﬁrst-hand knowledge of National Guard activation?” When I asked her about it, Adelmann said she heard the rumor from an acquaintance in South Carolina who claimed to have a family member who worked at the Pentagon. She did not know if this was true. But, it lined up with her suspicions that Gov. Andy Beshear and President Donald Trump had been hardening their tone about coronavirus to prepare the public for some shift in government response. Adelmann said she shared what she had been told because she thought that people should prepare, both mentally and by gathering supplies, if the rumor turned out to be true. “If something is as important enough to share with my children, just to be food for thought for them, then why wouldn’t I share it with my friends on Facebook?” she said. As of April 28, more than three weeks after Adelmann’s post, no lockdown has occurred. In this “connected era,” according to Starbird, there is an overabundance of information and the public must ﬁnd out what to trust and what to throw away. Information, and misinformation, is swirling faster under the coronavirus than other recent disease outbreaks, including

ebola, because it’s affecting the entire world, not just one country or region, said Fung. A new study by researchers from MIT and the University of Regina in Canada found that many people spreading coronavirus misinformation were doing so without thinking about whether it was accurate first. “Accuracy nudges,” or prompts to think about accuracy before posting, slowed rates of sharing false information. Adelmann said she hopes that everyone who reads her comments on social media uses their own critical thinking skills before deciding that they’re fact. On Facebook, she’s also shared information about Advil, or ibuprofen, aggravating the coronavirus. This tidbit, spread originally by a public health official in France, is not something that has been proven, although some experts say to use Tylenol instead of ibuprofen just in case. When Adelmann shared the French official’s warning on a Facebook friend’s status, they got angry with Adelmann, accusing her of spreading false information. But she felt justified in sharing. “I’m not telling you it’s a fact, I’m just trying to share with you that there are a lot of unknowns, and it’s possible to weigh all of the information at the same time and make an educated decision,” she said. According to Starbird, discerning between truth and fiction can become more difficult when elected leaders share “dubious” information and contradict their own response agencies. LEOWEEKLY.COM // DECEMBER 23, 2020

This has happened here as Trump presents information about coronavirus that is at odds with what comes from health experts and scientists who work for him, such as Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. And, still, there are those who spread false information purposefully, according to Starbird — those who wish to gain social media followers or who ask for donations for what turns out to be a fake organization. The ultimate consequence of an infodemic is that people might end up making bad decisions for their health based on incorrect information, said Fung. He cited a news story about a couple, one of whom died and the other of whom ended up in critical care after ingesting chloroquine phosphate, a chemical used in aquariums. This was after President Donald Trump pimped another form of chloroquine as a potential miracle drug for COVID-19. Chanelle Helm, a core organizer of Black Lives Matter Louisville, said that as a community leader, people often bring her rumors they’ve heard on social media for

LEOWEEKLY.COM // DECEMBER 23, 2020

her thoughts on their accuracy. Those who spread rumors, she said, should think about their potential effect on others: Panic could cause unnecessary buying and hoarding of groceries, leaving others who need food and supplies in a lurch. “We really should be trying to make sure people are OK and not getting so many scared,” said Helm, who has been fetching groceries and supplies for people in her community who are not able to leave the house out of fear of catching coronavirus. Fung’s advice for the public is to follow instructions and guidelines from healthcare providers and, before sharing information, to check that it comes from a reliable source such as peer-reviewed journals, a public health agency like the CDC or a reputable news organization such as the BBC or The New York Times. He, like many people during this time, shares information about COVID-19 on his social media. “But I would choose those that I believe is reliable information coming from reliable sources,” he said. •

EDITOR’S NOTE

WHILE THE DEMOCRATS AND GOP BICKER OVER RELIGIOSITY, THE VIRUS IS WINNING By Aaron Yarmuth | ayarmuth@leoweekly.com EVER SINCE Gov. Andy Beshear announced a state of emergency in Kentucky on March 6 and local TV news began covering his nightly press conferences, the Commonwealth has been unusually nonpartisan if not downright politically purple. But, all of that came to an end in the lead up to Easter, when the battle over social distancing became a Holy war, and public health guidelines became a violation of the First Amendment. Who is right and who is wrong in this battle between church, state and public health? It’s most important to say that the person who is most wrong is Pastor Jack Roberts of the Maryville Baptist Church in Bullitt County. He deﬁed the state’s ban on gatherings and held in-person Easter Sunday services. He had been warned that doing so would lead to a 14-day, forced selfquarantine, and when he received notice of the order on Monday, he told The Courier Journal he will refuse to quarantine. Roberts is wrong morally, spiritually and intellectually. He’s selﬁsh and, frankly, he’s arguably evil. He can risk his own life, but his action jeopardizes the lives of his congregants and others in his community. Now, he might be risking the lives of the state troopers who will be assigned to force his two-week quarantine. Before you think this is just another antireligion, Godless-liberal rant… Democratic Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer was wrong to discourage drive-up religious services — on Easter Sunday or any other holy day. Now, I know Fischer wasn’t pushing anti-religion. He is just trying to do the best he can to save lives and give proper guidance — and he deserves a little leeway since his immediate family is among the COVID19 survivors. But, as Fischer pointed out last week, “This is known as the Super Bowl of religious weeks.” With Easter last Sunday, Passover beginning last Thursday and Ramadan coming up, the yearning for religious services was likely to increase. “If we allowed this in Louisville, we’d have hundreds of thousands of people driving around the city Sunday, and, boy, the virus would just love that,” Fischer said.

ORIGINAL RUN DATE - APRIL 15

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends social distancing and staying at home as much as possible. Fischer said he was “emphatically asking” the On Fire Christian Church to not hold its drive-in service. He had seen the photos of the previous service showing that social distancing was not happening. But critics of Fischer pointed out, drivein church services comply with policies that also allow liquor and hardware stores to remain open. They are right. Grocery stores, liquor stores, hardware stores, drive-thru restaurants and food delivery services are still operating. He has to treat churches the same as he treats other establishments. He cannot prejudge. This is where Republicans are just wrong. Of course, U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell was waiting to capitalize on a Democratic misstep. McConnell sent Fischer a letter saying, “It is my understanding that you are prohibiting Christian churches from holding drive-in services in church parking lots for Easter Sunday … ” McConnell is wrong. Fischer did not ban drive-in services. Then came the lawsuit against Fischer, which was assigned to none other than McConnell’s favorite up-and-coming judge, Justin Walker, who was appointed as a U.S. District Judge in October and was recently nominated to the U.S. Circuit of Appeals. Walker, who was still in law school when Fischer was ﬁrst elected mayor, may have reached the right legal decision to issue a temporary restraining order against Fischer and the city of Louisville. However, Walker is wrong in so many ways. Walker wrote, “On Holy Thursday, an American mayor criminalized the communal celebration of Easter.” No order banning drive-in services was ever signed, and no legal enforcement directives ever issued. He could have asked Fischer, but the mayor said: “I regret that the judge did not allow us to present evidence that would have demonstrated there has been no legal enforcement mechanism communicated.” So, who was the winner in all of this? The virus. While we puny, whiny humans prattle and ﬁght, the virus marches on. •

WHAT IT IS LIKE TO SELF-ISOLATE By Kathryn Harrington | leo@leoweekly.com MY PERSONAL experience with COVID-19 began when my boyfriend, Marshall, called to tell me that he had tested positive for the virus. Marshall works as a patient aide at Audubon Hospital and had been tested for the coronavirus after he had been experiencing a low-grade fever for a little under a week. When Audubon began to treat its first COVID patients, we decided to sleep in separate rooms to limit our exposure to each other because I have asthma and would be more vulnerable to the illness. So, staying apart was something we had gotten somewhat used to. But with a positive test, isolating ourselves from each other became more urgent. How could he best self isolate during his 14 day quarantine? The only way to do that would be for one of us to leave our house. My parent’s next door neighbor Janet, who is like a grandmother to me, has been away for the past few months. Perfect! Marshall could go there so we could completely self isolate. It wasn’t an easy decision by any means, but It was the best solution to a bad situation. My dad had been cooking just about every day while staying at home, so he would fix Marshall meals that my mom would take over and leave outside the back door for him. Dad would make me a plate of food as well, and some nights I would come over and eat with Marshall. He would stay inside the screened in porch, and I pulled up a chair in the driveway, so at least we could talk to each other even though I couldn’t see him very well in there. Along with our socially distanced dinners, we also found other ways to spend time together. We played some interesting games of badminton (we found out we’re both pretty terrible at it), and I talked to him in Janet’s backyard while he walked laps around her carport to get some fresh air. In the end, Marshall recovered, and we both are fine. As for my time in quarantine at our house, it wasn’t too terrible. I tried to keep myself as busy as possible by reading, practicing my violin and working out in our home gym and making masks. What really got me through the quarantine was making masks for people. At first I just made black and white masks from fabric I already had, but then I decided I wanted to

ORIGINAL RUN DATE - MAY 27

start tie-dyeing them. I started out making masks just for me, Marshall and my parents. It grew to making masks for my family members in Western Kentucky, my friends, my parent’s friends and eventually for their families as well. I’ve also begun sending masks to my neighbor who is in Boston working as a crisis relief nurse. She and her coworkers are now using fabric face masks to preserve the life of their N95s. Being able to get masks to people who needed them really helped me get through the isolation.

My Quarantine Routine:

During our quarantine, Marshall and I would still have dinner together, but in quarantine it was while he sat in the screened-in porch, and I stayed in the driveway. | PHOTOS BY KATHRNYN HARRINGTON.

11ish — Throughout my quarantine, this is when I usually wake up. Depending on how I’m feeling, I’ll sometimes take a breathing treatment and practice therapeutic techniques before getting out of bed because my anxiety has recently been worse when I ﬁrst wake up. Once up, I make breakfast and sometimes I’ll read or practice my violin. 1 p.m. — I start working on masks for a list of people who’ve asked for one or more for their friends and family. Making them has been keeping me occupied: I usually work on them for four or ﬁve hours. 6 p.m. — For dinner, I visit Marshall and eat my dad’s cooking. I also get to talk with my parents from the driveway while they stand behind the storm door. 8:30 p.m. — I’ve tried to keep up with my workout routine. We have a small garage we turned into a gym. I usually do my strength training for about an hour.

Marshall spent a lot of his quarantine on the screened-in porch at my parents’ neighbor’s house. This was about how much I could see of him through the screen.

10:30 p.m. — After, I have a snack and start working on masks again. It’s become something therapeutic, and it feels good to help people. So far, I’ve made and mailed around 90 masks. I’ll usually work on masks for two or three hours at night. 12:30 a.m. — This is when I watch Netﬂix and try to wind down for bed. It’s been much harder to sleep. I’ve always had vivid nightmares, but with the coronavirus pandemic, I’ll sometimes have two or three a night. It’s often around 3:30 or 4 a.m. before I fall asleep and stay asleep. • I hung the tie-dyed mask pieces outside to dry after washing out the extra dye. LEOWEEKLY.COM // DECEMBER 23, 2020

WRITE SOME SHIT

KAREN IS YOU

By Hannah L. Drake | leo@leoweekly.com THE KAREN PHENOMENON has entered social media almost outdoing Becky With The Good Hair. There are entire Facebook groups dedicated to Karen and T-shirts made about Karen, and daily I read a post or blog about Karen. So who is Karen? Karen is deﬁned by “Slang Dictionary” as a mocking term for an entitled, obnoxious, middle-aged, white woman. Don’t be confused. Karen is not Becky. Becky is Karen’s offspring. Becky wears Fenty foundation shades that are too dark for her. Becky co-opts TikTok dances created by Black youth. Becky wears cornrows, says the N-word and has adapted an accent as if she has been around Black people her entire life. Becky attempts to emulate everything Black women do for her gain. Becky loves Black culture but not anything to do with the day to day struggles of Black people. Becky is the type of woman who likes to dance in the rain but not get wet. Becky loves Black rhythm but wants nothing to do with our blues. Becky is very different from Karen. Karen believes she has clout, prestige and status. Karen’s entire life is centered around her feelings of entitlement. Karen believes that the world should bend to her whim any time she says so. Karen hates to be inconvenienced by Black people doing simple things: walking in her neighborhood, bringing packages to her door, following the rules about social distancing in restaurants. Karen is always allowed to be the victim and plays the part with Oscar-worthy expertise. Just looking at Karen, she seems harmless. She is often very unassuming and is nonthreatening in appearance. Still, women like Karen have not only supported racism but have instituted and upheld racism throughout history. While the Karen memes are sweeping across the internet and becoming a part of our lexicon, it is important to note women like Karen are dangerous women. Karens are women such as Carolyn Bryant Donham. Carolyn falsely claimed that 14-yearold Emmett Till whistled at her, which resulted in her husband and brother killing him. They made Emmett carry a 75-pound cotton gin fan to the Tallahatchie Riverbank and ordered him to take off his clothes. The two men then beat him nearly to death, gouged out his eye, shot him in the head and then threw his body, tied to the cotton-gin fan with barbed wire, into the river. It was not until 2008, over 50 years later, that Carolyn admitted that she lied, stating that Emmett Till never touched, threatened or harassed her, stating, “Nothing that boy did could ever justify

LEOWEEKLY.COM // DECEMBER 23, 2020

ORIGINAL RUN DATE - JULY 1

what happened to him.” White women are not innocent bystanders when it comes to racism; in fact, they are coconspirators — historically and currently. That is the dangerous reality of Karens. After witnessing video after video of white women being labeled Karen for their outrageous behavior, it was not until I saw these pictures come across my social media feed that I knew now was the time for me to address “Karen.” These two women have been identified as Gretha Stenger and Larkin Small. Both women were attending a gathering to protest stay at home orders due to the coronavirus. (Before I continue, let me be clear: I believe that their protest is ridiculous; however, I believe in everyone’s right to protest.) The women being outside practicing their constitutional rights are of no concern to me. In fact, I find it downright hilarious that many white people, who love to dictate how Black people should navigate spaces, are having a full-blown tantrum because they can’t sit somewhere in a restaurant. Not because of their race but simply because governors are trying to keep them healthy. (Oh the oppression.) What did get my attention is the sign they are each holding that states, “Muzzles are for dogs and slaves. I am a free human being.” (So, let me be clear, according to the sign it was OK to muzzle Black people? OK. Interesting,) The sign also has a picture of Escrava Anastacia, an enslaved woman of African descent who lived in Brazil sometime during the 19th century who wears a scold’s bridle on her face. Stories vary as to why Escrava Anastacia was placed in the mask; some say it was jealousy due to her beauty. Some say it is because she refused the sexual advances of her owner. However, we know that the general construction of the mask works by either compressing the wearer’s tongue flat or to the roof of their mouth, rendering them unable to speak. Escrava was permitted to remove the mask once a day to eat. In the article, “The Girl In The Iron Mask,” it is stated: “After being forced to wear this collar continuously, over time the iron that it was made out of is believed to have essentially poisoned her. So not only was she working in sugar cane fields all day while wearing this mask, only being fed once a day, it turns out she was slowly being poisoned to death as well.” Escrava Anastacia eventually died of tetanus after suffering physically, locked behind an iron mask. What Escrava Anastacia faced is the reality and horror of slavery. It in no way compares to Larkin and Gretha being asked to stay home for their own personal health and the health and

well-being of others. It is no way like wearing a mask in public to run errands. I have previously addressed this issue so my focus of this is the women with the sign. Pictured in the black dress, is Gretha. She is dressed nicely, has on a cute denim jacket, a red scarf around her neck and sunglasses. When I shared this photo online, a few people said they do not know this woman. But in fact, you do. You just don’t think you do. If you look at her closely, you know this woman. You know her well. She is the type of woman you would see every day in your grocery store, in the coffee shop, perhaps even walking in the neighborhood. This woman bakes the cute cookies for your PTA meetings. She attends yoga class with you. You have met this woman for coffee. You two sip wine on lazy Saturday afternoons. She teaches theater to your children for the town productions. She is your photographer who takes cute pictures of your children. Sometimes you trade recipes with her. You and this woman go on walks together. Your kids hang out with her kids. You invite her to Sunday brunch, where you laugh over avocado toast topped with sprouts. She is your child’s teacher, your college professor, your doctor, your nurse or your mail carrier. She is your neighbor who organizes the Fourth of July block party. She is your church member or Sunday School teacher. She is your cousin, your aunt, your sister or even your mom. She speaks to you about the weather and hopes it doesn’t get too much colder during May so her ﬂowers can blossom. She is a liberal. She even voted for Hillary Clinton. She wouldn’t dare be in the 53% and, in fact, if she could vote for former President Barack Obama a third time, she would. She has Black friends, so she couldn’t dare be racist. Many people believe that when they encounter racists, they will be adorned in a Klu Klux Klan hood or a white man with a shaved head and swastikas all over his body. The truth is many of the racists you encounter will look just like Karen. As Dr. King said, “First, I must confess that over the last few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in the stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Council-er or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate who is more devoted to ‘order’ than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says ‘I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I can’t agree with your methods of direct action;’ who

Gretha Stenger.

Larkin Small.

Escrava Anastacia.

paternalistically feels he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom; who lives by the myth of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait until a ‘more convenient season.’ Shallow understanding from people of goodwill is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.” So look closely at this woman. See her. Perhaps go stand in front of a mirror. And don’t just look at your outer appearance that blends in with day to day life. Look inwardly. Examine your heart. You just may ﬁnd, this woman is you… • Hannah L. Drake is an author, poet and spoken word artist. Follow her at writesomeshit. com and on Twitter at hannahdrake628.

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THE CITY CURFEW WAS INEFFECTIVE AT BEST AND DEADLY AT ITS WORST By Scott Recker | srecker@leoweekly.com IT WAS just after midnight on June 1 when Louisville police and the National Guard stormed a parking lot on 26th Street and Broadway. They were more than 20 blocks from the downtown protests, but officials later said they were there to enforce the 9 p.m. curfew. David McAtee, owner of YaYa’s BBQ, was cooking food for friends and family who frequently gathered there Sunday evenings. The police shot pepper balls at the group. McAtee fired a gun outside of his kitchen and then was killed by a rifle round fired by a National Guard member. Now, months later, police claim they were outside of McAtee’s because they received intelligence of a protest caravan forming in the area, but the existence of a curfew that night gave law enforcement license to break up the otherwise peaceful group. Even though that night showed the dangerous side of enforcing a curfew, the city ordered another last week after a grand jury ruled that no police officer would be charged for the death of Breonna Taylor, and only one received counts of wanton endangerment. During the ensuing three nights of curfew, from Wednesday to Monday, there were more than 200 arrests. Two police officers were shot. Police and protesters clashed after dark. Pepper balls flew. Flash bangs exploded. Police surrounded a church that was giving sanctuary to protesters after curfew. Councilperson-elect Jecorey Arthur, who will serve District 4, which covers downtown, said that the curfew emboldens police and causes confusion. “What it does, is it kind of creates this cover for law enforcement to do what they please and for us to have less visibility in terms of what actually went down and what actually happened,” he said. “I believe that’s why the David McAtee killing is kind of being swept under the rug, because there’s just so many question marks about what happened that night: Why they went to The West End, who authorized them to come to The West End, what took place. But, the curfew, like I said, is very much like a veil for unruly behavior from the people who are supposed to be protecting and serving us.” Some cities have stopped using curfews during recent protests. Portland, Oregon hasn’t implemented one since earlier this summer after finding it to be ineffective.

LEOWEEKLY.COM // DECEMBER 23, 2020

ORIGINAL RUN DATE - SEPT. 30

At a press conference Sunday, Democratic state Rep. Lisa Willner called on Mayor Greg Fischer to lift the curfew. And Rhonda Mathies spoke about getting arrested and how the curfew is being unequally applied to unfairly target the protesters. “They got us caged up,” Mathies said. “But, you can go last night, they was partying in the other end, The East End of town. This curfew’s supposed to be countywide, but we are taking the blood of this curfew.” When Fischer lifted the curfew Monday, he said it had worked as intended. “The curfew served its purpose of helping ensure that most people were home safe by 9 p.m., because our past experience had shown that most violence and destruction occurs after dark,” the mayor said in a statement. “We sadly saw some violence, including the shooting of two police ofﬁcers, one of whom remains hospitalized, dealing with complications of his injuries. But we believe the curfew helped, by ensuring fewer people were out late in the day.” Arthur said the curfew was another misstep by local leaders. “Our city government has made a long list of bad decisions,” Arthur said.

LMPD arrested protesters out past curfew on friday night. | PHOTOS BY KATHRYN HARRINGTON.

ON THE GROUND

After someone broke a window of the main branch of the library and threw a ﬂare inside on Thursday night, several protesters found sanctuary from the police at First Unitarian Church of Louisville. People en route to the church were arrested, among them state Rep. Attica Scott on a charge of felony rioting, which she has denied and which provoked disbelief from many in the community as well as calls for changes in the law. Police then surrounded First Unitarian, besieging the protesters inside for several hours until a deal was made to let them leave. The ACLU of Kentucky sent a letter to Jefferson County Attorney Mike O’Connell asking him to drop the charges against the 24 people arrested, calling the situation unconstitutional. The church’s minister, Rev. Lori Kyle, said the curfew is being used to silence people. “We view the curfew as stiﬂing,” Kyle said. “These are important opportunities for people to have a voice, especially during this

LMPD officers stood by as several protesters were arrested for being out past curfew.

time of response to the attorney general’s announcement, generally about the lack of charges against the people who murdered Breonna Taylor. It’s important people have the opportunity to gather.” A day after Scott’s arrest, the church held a gathering with live music and food. Kyle said that it was an effort to ease the tension, which she said the curfew intensiﬁes. “It invites and lays the foundation for another level of chaos and potential conﬂict,” she said. “Protesters are going to be active, and that’s part of what we knew when we offered sanctuary — it’s going to

happen. Let’s help them to be safe in it. The curfew adds a layer of chaos.”

WEST END VS. EAST END?

Many people claim the curfew was not equally enforced. That, in downtown and The West End, the police were zoned in and active, but The East End was largely not being patrolled. At that press conference on Sunday, Tyra Walker, co-chair of the Kentucky Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression spoke about the inconsistency. “It’s supposed to be county-wide as our mayor and everybody else has said. But

E V I F G O T P I F I H G S E R E TH B M E M A large crowd of protesters gathered at the First Unitarian Church for sanctuary as the 9p.m. curfew neared.

evidently, it’s not. It’s only protest wide. … So only the protesters are being locked up. Because, I also have a second job. I don’t want to say where I work, but I also have a second job. We close at 8 o’clock so that our employees can get home by nine. As I was leaving, the restaurants where I work that’s not protest-wide were still open. With cars still in the drive thru.” During a press conference on Monday, outgoing interim Police Chief Rob Schroeder spoke about the confusion surrounding curfew enforcement. “We do not have enough ofﬁcers to be everywhere all the time to enforce curfew,” he said. “There are some other criteria that we have learned along the way in enforcing curfew. For instance, if somebody is on private property, like a closed business, and they have a lawful reason to be there, that is not something we can enforce. If they are in a church, that’s not something we can enforce as long as they’re on the church property. So, those are things we’ve learned along the way. But, we generally, when we do anything, try to enforce it in the fairest manner possible to everybody, but we simply don’t have resources to be everywhere all the time.”

HISTORY, NEAR AND FAR

Until these recent protests, the last time Louisville had a curfew for adults was in 1974 after tornadoes killed 10 people and badly damaged several neighborhoods. In 1968, a curfew was enacted after a series of riots. Elsewhere in response to the protests regarding the deaths of Taylor and George Floyd, several cities have issued short-term

curfews. Some cities found them ineffective. In Portland, Mayor Ted Wheeler announced July 2 he would not extend the city’s curfew because it had been largely unsuccessful. Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty told Oregon Public Broadcast that the curfew was “having the opposite impact we’re wanting to have.” Olivia Katbi Smith, who is the co-chair of the Portland chapter of Democratic Socialists of America, has been consistently active in those protests. She said that, when the curfew was in place, it accelerated the police reaction. “The police used that curfew as an excuse to arrest and brutalize pretty much everyone,” she said. “They tear gassed everyone. There was a case where they tear gassed a pregnant woman. This sparked a lot of lawsuits. It basically just gave the police sole permission to attack and arrest everyone they came across after 8 p.m., and it did not do anything to help the situation. It only inﬂamed it and made it worse.” Alex Vitale, a professor of sociology and the coordinator of the Policing and Social Justice Project at Brooklyn College, said that curfews are not an ideal move by governments, telling this to Vox in a story that was published on May 31: “Curfews are an extremely blunt tool that should only be used sparingly and as a last result,” he said. “They give police tremendous power to intervene in the lives of all citizens. They pose a huge burden on people who work irregular hours, especially people of color in service professions who may need to travel through areas of social disturbance in order to get to and from work

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LEOWEEKLY.COM // DECEMBER 23, 2020

LOUISVILLE ANTIFA: INSIDE TWO OF THE CITY’S MOST MILITANT ACTIVIST GROUPS

Protesters gathered outside the First Unitarian Church on Friday night.

at night.” Arthur, who often talks about how society has to address its problematic past in order to move forward, said that the curfew is rooted in racism, and furthers extremism. “My views of curfew today are really reﬂective of what curfews were dating back to the 1600s — 1690, to be speciﬁc, in Connecticut — when curfews were really set in place for slaves to return back to their owners, to the property they were supposed to be working on, by sundown. Those types of mandates really opened the door for groups who were not police, even though we know the police were slave patrolling. But, it really opened the door for groups who were not police, to take policing into their own hands, which brings us to today, where we have white vigilante groups who think they are the police, and take it into their own hands to patrol areas of town.”

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT

After a weekend that remained relatively calm, the curfew has been dropped. Whether it comes back depends on what happens next and how the city government reacts to it. During the two curfews this year, volatile and highly-publicized situations have emerged. During those tense events, Arthur said, it

LEOWEEKLY.COM // DECEMBER 23, 2020

becomes imperative to ﬁnd ways to ensure everyone gets home safely. Last Thursday, when the protesters were at the church after curfew, surrounded by police, he texted the mayor this to urge him to work out a solution: “I was calling to see if you could tell LMPD to let people go home. We all want the same thing in that regard.” Arthur told LEO: “What I meant by that was, as much as police talk about, they just want to get home safe to their families, I was reminding him and drawing a parallel and saying the protesters in the streets, we all just want to safely get home, but very much so at night.” Ten minutes later, the mayor responded, saying that the LMPD had cleared the protesters to leave. As it turned out, during Schroeder’s testimony before the council, he said city ofﬁcials had discussed entering First Unitarian Church but decided against it. Arthur said he was among several people who had encouraged the mayor to let protesters go home, so he didn’t want to overstate his role in helping. But, he added, “I’m glad to do my part to be just a small fraction of freedom for anyone who is trapped in a situation that they do not want to be in and they should not be in.” •

By Danielle Grady | dgrady@leoweekly.com

ORIGINAL RUN DATE - FEB. 19

THE POST on Facebook said that the Honorable Sacred Knights of the Ku Klux Klan would be meeting at Jaycee Park in Madison, Indiana on Aug. 31 for a “kookout” from 1 to 3 p.m., the group’s second gathering along the small town’s riverfront in two years. “Come support,” read the announcement, which included a phone number and email address, inviting the public to contact the HSK to become a member. Sure enough, on the day of the event, about 18 people milled about in the wooden shelter house on the slice of city-owned green space, most wearing dark colors — a few with bandannas obscuring their faces. A local counterprotester walked up to them, holding a “Racism is Ignorant” sign and jeering. But, the 18 people were not with the KKK. They belonged to the antifa movement, antifa being short for anti-fascism. Once the counterprotesterer realized her mistake, she tentatively joined the antifascists, sitting down with her sign in her lap — waiting with them to see if the KKK would show up. Holly Zoller, a member of Louisville Anti-Racist Action, or Louisville ARA, stood next to one of the shelter’s posts, scanning the roadway.

Louisville ARA was one of three antifascist groups that gathered at the shelter. One of them, March 4th Alliance from Louisville, hung a banner saying “Pinko Commie Birthday Party” and decorated the wooden picnic tables with handmade placards fashioned from pilfered “We Buy Houses” signs. “We got here early and took the pavilion, which is the goal,” Zoller said. Thirty minutes after the KKK had planned to arrive, the stunt seemed to have worked. But then, at 1:39 p.m., a small parade of cars and trucks drove slowly past the shelter house, one with a distinctive KKK ﬂag hanging from its window. They drove out of sight before looping back around, heading for another shelter house next to where antifa had set up. That’s when antifa switched to another one of its common tactics and ran toward the second shelter. A confrontation was about to begin.

ANTIFA: DECENTRALIZED, CONTROVERSIAL

The number of anti-fascists in Louisville is unclear, but they can be seen acting as individuals and in groups to confront farright and hate groups directly — in person

A confrontation in Madison, Indiana last year between the KKK and Louisville antifa. On the right, ARA member Sean Liter.

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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR A sticker posted by March 4th Alliance, from its Facebook page.

and online. In April 2017, Louisville’s anti-fascists drove several alleged neo-Nazis from The Irish Rover restaurant in Louisville who had gathered there to celebrate Hitler’s birthday. In August of the same year, Louisville anti-fascists traveled to Charlottesville to counter far-right protesters who planned to rally around a Confederate statue that the city said it would remove. In 2018, Louisville antifa members doxxed (publicly revealed the personal information of) people in far-right groups who pepper sprayed Democratic Socialists of America members as they dined at The Silver Dollar restaurant on Frankfort Avenue. LEO spoke to three Louisville antifascists who belong to two of the city’s antifascist groups: Louisville ARA and March 4th Alliance (whose members were also at the Madison counterprotest). “We don’t believe in letting Nazis have

the streets or letting fascism openly organize or recruit,” said Sean Liter, a member of ARA. “Because the more people they recruit, obviously, the bigger they get and the more dangerous they get.” Louisville anti-fascists’ tactics and beliefs mirror those of antifa groups across the country and the world. Anti-fascist groups have been around for over 100 years, ﬁrst forming in the late 1800s in response to anti-Semitic and nationalist groups in Europe. The movement gained new relevance in the United States in 2016 as its adherents rose to confront far-right groups that were emboldened by President Donald Trump’s campaign and election. Both the Louisville ARA, in its most recent incarnation, and M4A began post Trump. Nationally, anti-fascists have protested far-right appearances at colleges (Milo Yiannopoulos at the University of California Berkeley), shut down white nationalist rallies in Portland, Oregon, and

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battled the alt-right, tiki torch wielders in Charlottesville, Virginia. For some people, the Charlottesville Unite the Right rally was their introduction to the masked, antifa movement, prompting questions about who the activists are, their strategies and what they want — even how to pronounce their name. (Some say anTEE-fuh, while others say AN-tee-fah). Antifa is not one homogeneous group, according to “Antifa: The Anti-fascist Handbook” by Mark Bray, a historian at Rutgers University and an anti-fascist sympathizer. Instead, antifa is a collection of individuals and organizations, often from different, leftist political persuasions (anarchists, communists, socialists and others). Antifa literally means “against fascism” — which many liberal groups are. But antifa, as most people know it, is militant anti-fascism, said Bray. Its goal is to use every possible strategy, no matter how unpopular with the mainstream, to stop groups of white supremacists and others on the far-right from organizing or spreading their rhetoric. The unacceptable alternative to not standing up, anti-fascists say, is eventual violence against minorities. “The question is, how bad does it have to get, how much of a threat does the far right have to pose before it becomes legitimate,” said Bray, “and the anti-fascist answer is you treat every embryonic far-right group as if it could become something genocidal.” To be sure, physical confrontation is one of antifa’s strategies, but it’s not the only one. Using interviews with 61 anti-fascists for his book, Bray cataloged the movement’s strategies, which include infiltrating far-right groups, doxxing members’ identities, “singing” over fascist speeches and, as antifa did in Madison, “occupying the sites of fascist meetings before they could set up.” Antifa’s more extreme strategies receive criticism from the left, right and center. After Charlottesville, Trump downplayed the confrontation between alt-right groups and anti-fascists who fought there by saying there were “very fine people on both sides.” In July of last year, U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz and Bill Cassidy introduced a resolution to label antifa a domestic terrorist group. The Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish advocacy group, says that antifa’s violent tendencies sometimes fuel a “self-defeating cycle of attacks, counter-attacks and blame,” playing into a white supremacist narrative that they are the victims. But, the head of Louisville’s FBI field office, Special Agent in Charge James “Robert” Brown, defined antifa as more of an anti-government, anti-authoritarian movement at a roundtable discussion with Louisville media outlets about domestic terrorism in September. Antifa is different, he said, than Racially Motivated Violent Extremism (RMVE) groups such as the KKK or the Attomwaffen Division, a neoNazi group.

LEOWEEKLY.COM // DECEMBER 23, 2020

“RMVEs are by far more dangerous and more lethal,” Brown said. An ADL research fellow told Snopes.com in 2017 that out of 372 extremist killings carried out in the U.S. in the past decade, 74% were the fault of right-wing extremists, compared to 2% committed by those on the left. In 2018, all extremist killings in the U.S. had links to right-wing extremism, but, in 2019, there were instances of violence and property damage perpetrated by leftists. In July, a lone activist who identiﬁed as anti-fascist was killed by police after throwing lit objects at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention buildings in Washington state. That same month, a conservative journalist, Andy Ngo, was assaulted by counterprotesters while covering a far-right rally in Portland, Oregon. But, the ADL warns against resorting to Trump’s “ both sides” mindset. “ ... It is important to reject attempts to claim equivalence between the antifa and the white supremacist groups they oppose,” writes the ADL. “Antifa reject racism but use unacceptable tactics. White supremacists use even more extreme violence to spread their ideologies of hate, to intimidate ethnic minorities, and undermine democratic norms.”

WHO ARE LOUISVILLE’S ANTI-FASCISTS?

I met antifa outside of a Subway in Louisville about a year ago. Antifa as a person — not the monolith, shadowy organization that the name initially made me think of — turned out to be a man in his late 20s with long, dirty-blond hair, glasses and a dark fashion sense. We first started talking through an encrypted messaging app where he introduced himself as AI. Meeting him in person, he revealed his real name: Greg. In a later conversation, Greg, whose last name is Rodgers and who works as a fulfillment center employee, told me that he was partially inspired by activist Daryle Lamont Jenkins to remove the bandanna from his mouth and go on the record as an anti-fascist. Jenkins was interviewed in a Netflix documentary about the alt-right in which he said that he wanted the people in his life to know about the work he did doxxing neo-Nazis. “He said, I don’t discourage people who wear the mask so that folks don’t know who you are; you’re trying to protect your family. But I don’t do that because I want people to know. I want my friends, my family to know that I’m out here and this is what I do,” said Rodgers. “Which I thought was powerful.” Plus, Rodgers said that he’s already been doxxed. And, he believes that if his enemies are getting media attention, anti-fascists should try and get their message out, too.

Rodgers’ political outlook began forming in eighth grade when he marked over a swastika that he found on the locker of a Jewish classmate at his Kentucky middle school. From there, his beliefs were shaped by watching “Schindler’s List” and reading “Night” by Elie Wiesel, a Holocaust survivor and Nobel laureate. And then he studied the history of resistance to fascism within World War II era Europe. After moving to Louisville from Crestwood, Kentucky, and experiencing Trump’s election, Rodgers said that he started seeing a rise in activity from white supremacist groups. At the time, Rodgers was working to promote reproductive justice and freedom of religion, but he decided he should do more and get into anti-fascism work. “I don’t confuse myself as a patriot — never have. I don’t have a whole lot of that nationalistic pride in me” said Rodgers, who is now 30.“But, I do have a love for people, and fascism kills people.” When Rodgers first got into anti-fascism, the Louisville ARA was the dominant antifa group in the city. By both his and the ARA’s description, they’re still the largest. The ARA first appeared in Louisville in the ‘90s, according to Liter and Zoller, along with other anti-racist action groups across the country. When Louisville ARA formed, it was mostly punks from the music scene fighting racist punks. The Louisville ARA disbanded in the early 2000s after, they claim, they drove most of the city’s white supremacists underground. “When I came into activism, the fight was more against police brutality than it was Nazis being openly in the streets,” said Zoller. But, in 2016, Zoller and Liter were at a local metal show when they saw a man wearing a shirt that read “Support Your Local Honky Nation.” Honky Nation was a group created by a Kentuckian who was a former recruiter for the Imperial Klans of America. “We were like, ‘Oh, hell no: We are not going back to this,’” said Zoller. And so, the Louisville ARA was reborn. Zoller and Liter declined to provide personal information, including their ages and occupations. Rodgers considered joining the ARA at first, but he and other anti-fascists decided that they wanted to form their own group. They created March 4th Alliance in 2018, which is named for the date it was formed. “We sort of just went with a different direction,” said Rodgers. “We realized that we could get stuff done on our own. And we just had ideas that sort of conflicted.” Rodgers and the ARA declined to go into detail about their differences. “They’re good people out there doing good work,” said Rodgers about the ARA. “It’s just we had differences on things like leadership and organization and what we wanted to do and what other folks wanted

to do.” In their current renaissance, Louisville’s antifa groups are not the old stereotype of young, “cis, white dudes,” as Zoller put it. “I think white, cis men make up maybe 10% of our membership,” she said. Louisville ARA is made up of people of color, cis women, trans people, teenagers and parents, she said. M4A’s membership is diverse as well, Rodgers said. But, it’s difﬁcult to conﬁrm much of anything about the ARA and M4A’s membership. This is consistent with what Bray has seen with antifa members and groups worldwide.

HOW MANY?

Anti-fascists are notoriously shy when it comes to revealing information, said Rodgers. “We are going against people who are known to target people’s families, target their place of business,” he said. Plus, much of what anti-fascists do is controversial and maybe illegal. Bray never met some of the anti-fascists he interviewed, talking to them instead through encrypted messaging. He could not say how many anti-fascists exist worldwide and what their demographics are. “It’s really hard to say, because some groups only exist on social media,” he said. “Others exist but don’t have social media. The membership is not public.” Rodgers, Liter and Zoller said there are more members in their groups than themselves, and more anti-fascists work outside of M4A and ARA in Louisville. But, I met only one other member of M4A who identiﬁed themself to me. They didn’t want to go on the record. A website for Anti-Racist Action groups lists 12 groups in North America, including the Hoosier Anti-Racist Movement, or HARM, which was at the Madison counterprotest. The website doesn’t include Louisville’s ARA group. Another website, The Torch Network, claims seven more anti-fascist groups. (Two of the antifa groups were on each website.) And those reﬂect just a small number of anti-fascist groups throughout the world, said Bray.

WHO ARE THEY AGAINST?

In U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz’s resolution calling for antifa to be labeled a domestic terrorist organization, he and his co-sponsor U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy cite incidents of antifascist and left-wing activists harassing ICE agents, assaulting a conservative journalist and suppressing the free speech of rightwing protesters. “Time and time again their actions have demonstrated that their only purpose is to inﬂict harm on those who oppose their views,” said Cruz in a statement. But, if you ask the ARA or March 4th Alliance if they target all those who disagree

with them politically, they would say: no. “We’re not going after anybody’s fucking grandma unless they’re a Proud Boy, and we’re not attacking random Republicans,” said Liter. “While we disagree with them, that’s a lot of people to punch, you know?” Bray said, in his experience, anti-fascists go after organized far-right groups. Rodgers said he’ll call out your average racist on Facebook, but “it’s not going any further than that.” You’d have to do something like organize on a neo-fascist website like Iron March, for him to act. “If you decide to go out and go Sieg Heil-ing and go goose-stepping in the middle of the street, expect somebody like me to come along and confront you about it,” he said. For Rodgers, a fascist is defined as someone who, above all, blames a marginalized group or community for all of society’s problems. In his book, Bray cites several definitions of fascism, but one he focuses on is from the political scientist Robert Paxton. Paxton defines fascists as, essentially: a party of nationalist militants who are obsessed with community decline, humiliation or victimhood, who pursue redemptive violence and who want to purify their culture and spread their beliefs elsewhere. Fascists are antifa’s main targets, but they also do not like law enforcement, especially ICE officers. Rodgers dislikes police, he said, because the function of law enforcement is to uphold the law even if it is immoral, harmful or unnecessary — and laws are made by the “ruling class” and to “uphold the status quo.” Still, Louisville anti-fascists said that they do not tussle with law enforcement like they would white supremacists. “It’s what we call a three-way fight,” said Liter. “So, we’re fighting the capitalist system; we’re fighting the government or the state, police officers, ICE and all that stuff; and, at the same time, we’re also fighting organized fascists in the street and in our neighborhoods.” The way anti-fascists “fight” police officers, Liter said, is through building alternative, community policing systems that don’t involve law enforcement. “We don’t get into fistfights with police,” said Liter. “You get into a lot of trouble, and that’s just not what we are — that’s a pointless venture ... Like, we’ll be resistant to them, and we’ll try to do whatever we want or whatever we feel like we need to do, but we’re not there to fight cops, not right now.” Once you attract antifa’s ire, there’s a simple way to shake it off, said Rodgers. “If you are a fascist and anti-fascists come for you, there is a way to make them stop,” he said. “Stop doing fascist shit.” For anti-fascists, whom they oppose is

their entire reason for existence. Historically, after defeating far-right opposition, antifascist groups have disbanded, said Bray, like what happened with the Louisville ARA in the 2000s. “Pretty much all the anti-fascists I interviewed were also union organizers or environmental organizers or what have you,” said Bray, “and so, in that way, would really much rather be spending their time on the productive work of building a new world rather than having to respond to the growth of a far-right threat in their community.”

WHAT DO THEY ACTUALLY DO?

On April 20, 2017, a crowd of around 40 people marched into The Irish Rover on Frankfort Avenue, walking past framed beer advertisements and scenes of the Irish countryside before stopping in front of a corner table occupied by a group of white men. A video taken at the scene and posted to YouTube by a local journalist shows the mob clapping their hands and chanting “Nazi’s out.” The men seated at the table avoided eye contact, except for a bearded man in a T-shirt who faced the group silently, his head swiveling to observe everyone. The Louisville ARA took credit for organizing the confrontation. It said that the men they surrounded had used the neo-Nazi website The Daily Stormer to arrange their gathering to celebrate Hitler’s birthday. They provided evidence in the form of screenshots to the owners of The Irish Rover, Michael and Siobhan Reidy. When the Reidys learned who the men were, they kicked them out of the restaurant. “It was the right thing to do,” Michael Reidy told WAVE-3 news at the time. “And we feel good about it. We feel it was handled appropriately.” For the ARA, The Irish Rover affair was an example of their ﬁrst and most important guiding principle, or “point of unity” in action: “We go where they go.” “They” being fascists. “Anytime they’re organizing in the streets, we’re there,” said Liter. “If we know about it, we’re there immediately.” For Louisville anti-fascists, this also has meant showing up to Jefferson County court when a neo-Nazi leader, Matthew Heimbach was there for a probation violation hearing — just to make their presence known. It’s included travels to Dayton, Ohio for a Honorable Sacred Knights of the Ku Klux Klan demonstration in May and to Charlottesville’s Unite the Right rally where Liter said he skirmished with fascists, and Zoller was injured by a far-right rally-goer who drove his car into a crowd of counterprotesters, killing Heather Heyer. Sometimes, direct confrontations can get violent, as was the case for Liter in Charlottesville. While there haven’t been any publicized incidents of Louisville antifa get-

ting physical with fascists in the city, local activists said they wouldn’t be afraid to fight if necessary. Rodgers said that he used to get into bar scuffles with fascists in his hometown. “Anytime somebody comes up flying with a swastika, to me, that’s provocation,” said Rodgers. “Fascism is, in itself, a very violent rhetoric.” Still, Rodgers said, anti-fascists use violence as a means. “We don’t celebrate it,” he said. Often, said Rodgers and Liter, simply showing up to a fascist gathering is enough to accomplish antifa’s goal. Bray said that the first thing to know when talking about antifa and violence is that, historically, most violence has been instigated by fascists with anti-fascists responding. But, there’s also the notion of “preemptive self-defense,” said Bray, which, he admitted, sounds like a paradox to some. “What I mean by that and what anti-fascists generally argue with it is that fascism’s far-right politics are inherently violent,” said Bray, “and so rather than waiting for such groups to attack marginal members of the community, they need to be shut down by any means necessary.” Sometimes, confrontation takes place on the internet. Rodgers said he monitors fascists on social media in addition to in person, including on alternative platforms where they swarm after being kicked off sites such as Facebook. Since Charlottesville, anti-fascist activities seem to have revolved mostly around doxxing and other behind-the-scenes work rather than going head to head with fascists in the streets, said Bray. (The exception being Portland, Oregon, where far-right protesters keep holding rallies and anti-fascists keep countering them.) “I do think, though, that after Charlottesville, the ability of the far-right to publicly mobilize was hampered, in part, because of a bit of a more media awareness of opposition to them but also because of doxxing,” Bray said. Anti-fascists dox for a couple reasons: To inform communities that white supremacists live in their midsts and to drive those white supremacists out of mainstream society by getting them fired or by scaring them into going underground. “They don’t get to enjoy the nice things that we enjoy,” said Zoller. “But they also don’t get to present themselves as safe people and then lure other people in, either by recruiting or by people just simply not knowing that that person is a fascist and then turning around and trusting them enough to say ‘let’s go do this’ or ‘let’s go to the park,’ and then wind up getting beat up.” After the Madison confrontation, M4A and a separate anti-fascist group, not based in Louisville, Super Queer Super Punks + Friends, posted photos of the unmasked

KKK members they believe showed up to the “kookout,” along with information about where they lived and worked. In 2018, in response to the pepper spraying of a group of Democratic Socialists, the ARA doxxed the hecklers, who they said included members of the Proud Boys. The Medium web page where the information was posted no longer exists. An archived version of the web page said that the story was under investigation or had violated Medium’s rules. M4A also tears down fliers and other propaganda that far-right groups post around town. Recently, the Patriot Front hung a banner from a bridge in Louisville. After finding out, M4A returned to the area with propaganda of its own: stickers saying “Nazi Scum, Fuck Off” and “Bash the Fash.” The work of anti-fascists in Louisville sometimes goes beyond sparring with fascists. When Occupy ICE protestors camped outside of Louisville ICE offices in 2018, M4A provided security, said Rodgers. Members of the ARA were involved in the protests, too, said Liter. M4A and Louisville ARA use social media to promote other causes, such as advocating for Louisville’s homeless population and immigrant communities. The two also say that building community defense networks so that minorities can protect themselves without calling the police is a priority. They wouldn’t provide details of their efforts. Last year, Rodgers and at least one other M4A member helped organize the Dark Side of Derby, a protest of Louisville’s worldfamous sporting event, which, Rodgers said, exploits those living in South Louisville and working at Churchill Downs. Chanelle Helm, a core organizer of Black Lives Matter Louisville, said that March 4th Alliance is a particularly important ally for her group, although she wouldn’t provide specifics about how Louisville anti-fascists support BLM. “Every day they are working to eliminate the physical barriers that are complicating work for Black and brown folks,” she said. “Making sure that they complete those actions against those things and standing up against these crazy, right-wing people.”

DOES ANTI-FASCISM WORK?

After my ﬁrst meeting with Rodgers, I gave him a ride to his job. On the way, he told me about Oswald Mosley and the Battle of Cable Street, a slice of history that I had never heard about. Mosley was an English politician who founded the British Union of Fascists around the same time Hitler took control of Germany, according to Bray’s book. With the help of the The Daily Mail newspaper, Mosley attempted to sow anti-Semitism throughout the United Kingdom. LEOWEEKLY.COM // DECEMBER 23, 2020

On Oct. 4, 1936, the fascist leader and his followers planned a march through a mostly Jewish neighborhood of London. British police attempted to forge a path for the fascists, but 100,000 anti-fascist Jews and Irish Catholic dock workers battled law enforcement with stones, bombs made out of boxes of gunpowder, bricks and more. Mosley did not pass, and his opponents hailed the standoff as a victory, using the example of the Battle of Cable Street as a model for future protests against the far right. Three years after the Battle, WW II broke out, Mosley was imprisoned and his fascist movement died. Charlottesville is something of a modern parallel. In both cases, said Bray, the far right wanted to establish a street presence and intimidate its enemies. Both marches never happened as planned. And after the chaos, far-right groups weren’t able to show up in public again without facing intense opposition. Before the Unite the Right rally, far-right sentiment had almost been normalized as an accepted political persuasion, including in television interviews, Bray said. Afterward, it became anathema to associate with. This was in part due to the anti-fascists who responded to the rally. But, people not associated with antifa also doxxed far-right protesters after Charlottesville, said Bray. Still, it’s hard to measure the success of modern-day antifa due to the nature of the movement, according to Bray. “There’s kind of a paradox, because the more successful an antifa group is, they manage to stop far-right organizing before it even gets off the ground,” said Bray, “and when they do that, no one ever hears about it. And if they do hear about it, they don’t think it’s important, because they stopped something that was very marginal.” Back in August in Madison, the KKK and counterprotesters converged onto a small patch of gravel in front of the second shelter house. As plainclothes protesters with signs argued with a swaggering member of the KKK, Louisville anti-fascists mostly hung back, arms folded, eyes covered with sunglasses and their heads ﬁxed forward. Some held baseball bats that they had grabbed from a wagon belonging to M4A. “We don’t shout a lot usually,” said Liter later. “We let, especially local folks get out there. Also, when we shout, it escalates things.” Surrounded by police ofﬁcers who also rushed to the scene, TV reporters and antifascists, the KKK left after nine minutes, carrying with them unopened Domino’s Pizza boxes. There had been no violence. No chance for the KKK to recruit. A “failure” for the white supremacists, said Liter. For antifa, a success. •

LEOWEEKLY.COM // DECEMBER 23, 2020

CLOSED: FORCED REMODEL

A BARTENDER ON HOW THE SERVICE INDUSTRY WILL CHANGE

ORIGINAL RUN DATE - APRIL 29

By Dante Wheat | leo@leoweekly.com THE SERVICE INDUSTRY, as we know it, is changing before our very eyes. Fine dining restaurants have become quick-service takeout joints, bars are acting as bodegas and bartenders have become online spirits instructors. It’s wild how quickly a business model can change in moments of crisis. We’d like to believe that once we get past COVID-19 (Big Rona), everything will be back how it was, but I’m here to tell you: it won’t. The entire structure of the hospitality industry is going through a forced remodel, and if you aren’t careful, you’ll be discarded with the scraps. As the length of the COVID-19 pandemic forecast increases and we move towards quarantine day #: it no longer matters, it’s becoming extremely apparent that a lot of places we know, love, and work at aren’t going to make it through this. The ones that do make it will have financials that look like Apollo Creed in “Rocky IV.” Expect most surviving restaurants/bars to run on a skeleton staff for the remainder of the year, at minimum, to try and recoup some of the losses of the business. This means that everyone out of work is not guaranteed to get hired back right when we get the all-clear. I hate to say it, but it’s the inconvenient truth. Yeah, there will be an initial surge of patrons just wanting to get out of the house and do anything. However, over 17 million people have filed for unemployment as I’m writing this, not counting the people whose wages have been cut dramatically, or those who’ve been furloughed. People aren’t going to have money to blindly spend on Wagyu hot dogs or oak stave-smoked Manhattans — at least, not at first. I’m not here to take a piss in your Negroni; I honestly think the industry will be stronger for this... eventually. We’re starving right now, but that isn’t always bad. In times of famine, the first thing you do is burn the “fat.” I think that in the years following this, you’ll see some of the most-focused restaurants and bars we have seen in years. You’ll see people letting go of bullshit gimmicks, overpriced mediocrity and wack products. Instead, you’ll find getting us back to what we genuinely need, excellent hospitality. My curiosity (and hope) is at an all-time high waiting to see the fire menus, concepts and service regimes that come out of this. So, where do you line up within all this? I don’t personally know each of you, so I

can’t speak on that, but I’m willing to bet there will be a lot less “why in the hell did we hire this guy?” in restaurants. Sounds great, but tread lightly — you could be that guy and not even realize it. You should be doing everything in your power, regardless of who you are, to ensure you ﬁt into the soon-to-be reality of the remodeled service industry. I’m not telling you not to drink; I’m having one as I am writing this. However, the last thing you want to come out of this quarantine with is a fresh drinking problem. Below are some things you can do to prep for the new reality, in turn luring you away from the pitfalls of mindless drinking.

SHARPEN YOUR SKILLS

We as hospitality professionals are always bitching about how we never have time for self-development. Well, now you have nothing but time, fam. Have a passion for wine? Study its regions and varieties. Is craft beer your personality? Well, learn about all the different styles of beer and their origins. A mixologist? You’re probably going to have a drink anyway, so might as well R&D a new menu. Are you looking to move to management? Read a book on how to lead effectively.

STAY ACTIVE

Now I’m not saying you need to start preparing for the damn Ironman, but the service industry is one that requires a lot of movement and lifting of random shit. Make a plan to start a “normal life” ﬁtness regime. A practical and easy goal to start with is choosing to walk an hour a day and stretch. The beauty of too much free time and the 21st century is YouTube. Countless free yoga sessions are streaming at any given point. Take the opportunity to do this for your physical well-being, so that when the day comes to go back to double shifts until 2 a.m., you aren’t getting your ass handed to you in a sauté pan.

STAY IN CONTACT

Our industry is a relationship-based business; we tend to hire/keep people with whom we formed a connection. Don’t wait for your employer to reach out to you. Strike ﬁrst, see how they are doing, how the business is doing. Do it regularly. This simple gesture shows you give a shit about them and the company they own. You’ll have a better chance of keeping your job just by completing this simple task on a semi-regular cadence. At the off chance they do screw you, at least they’ll have to look at you when they do it.

KEEP A ROUTINE

Look, I know it’s easy to spend your entire day diving into the depths of Netﬂix, watching grown adults argue over who has the nicest tiger prison. Believe me, it always sounds like a good time. Nevertheless, keeping a somewhat consistent routine during a time of crisis will help keep your sanity. Holding yourself accountable for a routine at home is no different than holding yourself accountable for counting down the drawers every night. Set a daily loose, but thought-out schedule. Allow yourself time to dick around and do FaceTime happy hour with homies, but outside of that, what would you usually be doing at work? What can mirror it at home? Write it out and make your routine plan — it could even be a simple daily to-do list. I promise this will help keep you busy and productive. You might not smoke “Ozark” trivia, but you’ll be able to work your ﬁrst shift back without having a mental break. • Read more of Dante Wheat’s work at: rawpineapples.com

MOST IMPORTANT: TAKE CARE OF YOUR MENTAL HEALTH Contrary to popular belief, people work better when they’re happy. I don’t know any of you on a personal level, but odds are that right now happiness isn’t your dominant state of mind. I wouldn’t be shocked if you were feeling a bit anxious and slightly in pain from a night of stress drinking fueled by a lack of stability. That’s acceptable, but you still need to stand up in the morning, look in the mirror and find a way to make yourself have a positive moment or two during each day of the dreaded hell we’re living in. For me, it’s writing down how I feel so I can get it out in the open and assess it. I also take walks to help myself physically, sure, but it also clears and focuses my mind. For you, it may be gardening or writing music. I don’t know, but finding moments of joy each day is pertinent if you want to make it to the other side intact and ready to work. I know this may seem like a lot, and ,quite frankly, it is. Remember, you aren’t alone. There are millions of people going through this with you. Just because you can’t physically see people doesn’t mean you shouldn’t check-in (no, sending shots on Instagram or seeing which of your friends can’t do 10 pushups isn’t checking in). Call your coworkers and homies, and see how they are doing. Offer assistance: Listening is free and very valuable in times like this. Also, hold the ones you care about accountable; you don’t want to lose anyone due to an avoidable tragedy. In an industry where we are focused solely on taking care of strangers, this is now the time to take care of each other. Now, I know for a fact most of you aren’t going to listen to what I’m saying. Service industry humans are among the most stubborn individuals on the planet (serving us well most of the time). You’ll rely on government assistance and donations from liquor brands while sitting on your hands expecting everything to be business as usual once this is over. However, I’m just as confident that a small portion of you will heed my advice. When you do, I hope you use this time to take care of yourself for the betterment of you and our industry. I want to see all industry lifers and non-lifers alike succeed. Take steps now and begin putting yourself in a position to lead, so when this does happen again (and it will), you’ll be in a position to help others on the opposite side of the coin. Stay safe, social distance, and please open and read articles before you share them. • Dante Wheat is a Louisville bartender, writer and founder of rawpineapples.com

NO FESTIVALS! ECONOMIC PAIN IS DEEP AND WIDE By Scott Recker | srecker@leoweekly.com PHIL GOLDSBOROUGH’S food truck Longshot Lobsta makes as much money at any of Louisville’s three-day major music festivals as it does in an average month. Even when it rains and even when the heat index is above 100 degrees, he sells out at those events. People have already made a financial commitment to be there, and they need to eat, which always results in big profits for Longshot. Now, with all mass gatherings canceled for the foreseeable future, Goldsborough has lost quite a bit of financial security this summer. “It’s hard to say because we haven’t got into the season yet, but I think it’s going to be a struggle without those,” Goldsborough said. “I can’t read the future, but I’m going to have to hit the streets more so than I have before. What the music festivals allow me to do, is take some time off.” Although the cancellation of Forecastle, Louder Than Life, Bourbon & Beyond and Hometown Rising for 2020 was necessary, it has dealt a massive blow to an entire economic ecosystem of people and businesses and the city itself. Musicians haven’t performed live since early March, and now they’re going to miss out on their most-profitable season. Stage crews and sound people are out of work and will be through their most consistent time of the year. Hotels and nearby restaurants are losing what are normally massive boosts. Major music festivals, and the smaller ones that fill out the rest of the warm months, are the lifeblood of the summer entertainment economy, and now they’ve disappeared for a year. These festivals are so ingrained in Louisville’s economy and identity that Mayor Greg Fischer uses them to market the city. “They’re a big part of the rhythm of who we are,” Fischer told LEO. “They’re a big part of our attraction strategy, both for people to visit and leave tourism dollars and for people to move here, for businesses to be attractive here.” And there’s the immediate “economic consequence” as well, he said, adding that Forecastle and the three Danny Wimmer Presents festivals generate about $22 million a year for our local economy. And those missing dollars are financially suffocating on so many levels.

ORIGINAL RUN DATE - MAY 13

White Reaper’s first Forecastle performance in 2015. | PHOTO BY NIK VECHERY.

IN THE LIMELIGHT AND BEHIND THE SCENES

Musicians are the most obvious demographic affected. They lose out on sizable paychecks and the ability to reach large audiences, but it goes much deeper than that. Since the streaming giants have taken over how audiences listen to music, there’s less money for most musicians in creating studio albums. That means they make the bulk of their money on the road, and festivals, for many bands, are the anchors and the biggest opportunities. White Reaper keyboardist Ryan Hater said that touring musicians generally revolve their entire schedules around festivals. “I’d say a lot of bands, especially at our level, probably make the bulk of their income from festival summer runs,” Hater said. “Every band kind of builds their summers from May until August, maybe even until October, on these festivals and it’s deﬁnitely a huge bulk of revenue that’s lost for everyone in the music industry.” Chris Thomas, who manages Louisville acts Houndmouth and Jack Harlow, said that musicians are trying to ﬁnd new revenue streams to replace what they usually make from the festival circuit, but he doesn’t see how anything could sustainably work. “Most of them have applied for unemployment in their respective states,” Thomas

said. “All of them have sat down and thought, ‘How can we make money until when we can tour again?’ Everyone’s trying to figure out how this new livestreaming world can make sense. I’ve seen a lot of artists perform livestream shows for free. I’ve seen people charge tickets for it. I saw one indie artist do a ticketed show for which they probably made up to $40,000. But, at the same time that indie artist probably gets more than $40,000 at each festival. And I don’t know how many times they can recreate that livestream show and make that much money. How does that become a consistent thing?” While a nice payday definitely attracts musicians to the festival circuit, for many, it’s equally about the opportunity itself. The first music festival Hater ever attended was Forecastle in 2008, so when White Reaper played there seven years later, it was a special experience — one that put some momentum behind the band. “It was the biggest crowd we had played to, at that point,” Hater said. “It does a ton, not only for exposure of the band, but also morale for young artists, to be recognized on that level and it gives you a lot of energy and excitement, especially when you get to play a hometown festival and all of your friends are there. It’s really an experience LEOWEEKLY.COM // DECEMBER 23, 2020

that’s unrivaled in today’s music world. And for a lot of young bands, that will be the ﬁrst time they play to a big crowd.”

LETTING MORE PEOPLE IN

Jecorey Arthur, a local musician, teacher and activist, has performed several times at Forecastle, both under his hip-hop moniker 1200 and as part of several singular, Louisville-focused sets. During his solo set in 2016, he brought a youth choir onstage to back him. He’s also performed with Dr. Dundiff & Friends as well as Teddy Abrams and members of the Louisville Orchestra at the festival, and he set up the West End Showcase there in 2018. Arthur, who is running for Metro Council in District 4, said that with the cancellation of Forecastle, local up-and-coming talent will lose an opportunity to get on a national stage that is in their own backyard. “It was always important for me to utilize that platform — me kind of kicking the door in and letting in as many people into that space, because it is one of our only nationally-recognized arts industry settings, where we can have those sort of connects and touchpoints,” Arthur said. “So, with Forecastle not happening this year, we’re deﬁnitely losing some of that access.” Festivals are enormous operations with many behind-the-scenes workers who make sure everything happens and on time. Stage crews, sound people and all sorts of logistics experts and techs are responsible for making sure musicians can stroll on stage and play their show without any hiccups. White Reaper has now played dozens of festivals and Hater said that these people are the foundation of a good event. And now they’re out of work. “You have people that have been working festivals like this since the late ’80s, people who have built their entire stability and career off of the six months that they can go on the road and travel,” Hater said. “It’s deﬁnitely going to make a huge impact on those people and those are kind of the unsung heroes of the festival circuit.”

‘A NICE CHUNK OF MONEY IN THE BANK’

Alene Day, who is a freelance runner and artist transporter for festivals and venues, has worked at Forecastle and all three Danny Wimmer Presents festivals. She said that the consistent work is what makes festival season so important for her. “The festivals are unusually large chunks of days, which usually we don’t get very often,” Day said. “I’m rarely back-to-backto-back days, so it’s nice chunks of money,

LEOWEEKLY.COM // DECEMBER 23, 2020

that is rare in the business, because you usually, in my position, you’re in there one day, maybe two, if there’s a preproduction day. The festivals, especially the Trifesta, is an entire month of work.” Day has also been the primary runner, essentially a concierge for touring musicians, for Production Simple for a decade, and she also takes gigs at The Louisville Palace, but it’s the Forecastles and Louder Than Lifes that allow her to prepare for the lean months. “It really gets a nice chunk of money in the bank for that slow time of year, which is the winter,” Day said. Just like the bands, the crew is going to miss out on seeing a bunch of friends. “The community that you have at the festival is so awesome and we get to see each other once a year and we look forward to it and that being-together is going to be so sorely missed and that’s what we’re all the saddest about when we talk,” Day said. Day also stressed that many people will be affected by this. Hundreds of people beneﬁt from every festival. They’re each a micro-economy made from scratch. “It’s its own city that gets built up and broken down,” Day said.

BEYOND THE STAGE

Summer festival season makes up 75% of Mendy Frohlich’s business for her company cherryredevents, which provides bar services and stafﬁng to Forecastle, her client for 13 years, and Abbey Road On The River, among others. “It’s a very big hit for me,” Frohlich said about the cancellations. “I’m still trying to process it all, to be honest with you.” And her concerns go beyond herself because she employs between 25 and 75 bartenders per event. “All of those bartenders are obviously going to be missing a lot of money this summer and fall,” Frohlich said. “A lot of these people have been with me for 12 or 13 years,” she continued. “It’s all the same bartenders. So, these people have been working these festivals for me for so long, so this has become part of their yearly income that they factor in.” Ryan Cohee, owner of Red Top Hotdogs, said that 50% of his business in the summer months comes from festivals and events such as the Kentucky Derby and Flea Off Market. Red Top has had a food truck for about seven years, and Cohee also opened a brick-and-mortar location a year and a half ago on Logan Street. Although the restaurant is offering carryout, Cohee said that, without the summer festivals, he’s going to

have to change how often he uses the truck. “I’m not a guy who goes downtown and does the everyday hustle, because of the festivals, but I might just have to do every day downtown when the city opens back up,” he said. While Red Top generates a lot of income from the festivals, each event is also a branding opportunity, as they essentially get to advertise in front of Louisville residents and out-of-towners. “I got people from Frankfort and Lexington that will travel, just because they had Red Top at Forecastle or other festivals,” Cohee said. “I call my food truck a billboard that makes me money.”

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN IN THE RED OR BLACK

After opening the pizza restaurant Lupo, co-owner and head chef Max Balliet had a lot less time for his food truck, Holy Mole. “In a lot of ways, events like Forecastle were the last holdout for what I would do with the truck,” Balliet said. “It’s definitely crippling the Holy Mole business, but kind of only in the sense that that’s all we do anymore.” But, last year, Lupo decided to become more versatile, so they built a pizza trailer with a double-deck oven in the back and took it to Forecastle and all three Danny Wimmer Presents festivals. “The festival set up was our first attempt to grow the brand,” Balliet said. “It was us saying, ‘OK, we have this brick and mortar, it’s done pretty well, we would like to have some sort of mobile concept where we can show off what we do outside of the restaurant.’ And the first year was pretty successful for us. We nearly paid back our investment of what it took to build the rig, just from doing those events.” Since the trailer tested well last year, Lupo was planning to expand to more events this year, something that would have helped them fend off the tough winter months. “From a bottom line perspective, this is all extra cash generated for Lupo,” Balliet said. “There’s definitely lean months in a restaurant, and being able to go out and drum up a few thousand bucks worth of business, it can be the difference between being in the red or the black.”

LOUISVILLE’S NATIONAL PROFILE

While some major music festivals, such as Bonnaroo, take place in the middle of nowhere, the Louisville festivals have always been relatively close to the center of

the city. Forecastle is smack downtown on the waterfront, a quick walk away from several restaurants, bars, hotels and museums. The three Danny Wimmer Presents festivals happen at the Kentucky Expo Center, which is only a short drive from The Highlands, Germantown, downtown and other trendy neighborhoods packed with businesses. And just by the sheer number of fans that the festivals bring in, a lot of money trickles all over the city. “It’s kind of like the Derby,” Fischer said. “People come and our restaurants get a big bump, our hotels get a bump, our local independent businesses get a bump, our craft breweries are a big part of this, bourbonism is introduced to a lot of people through these festivals.” One of the closest places to get beer and food outside of Forecastle is Against The Grain Brewery and Smokehouse, which is attached to Slugger Field on Main Street. Co-owner Sam Cruz said that the threeday music festival is one of ATG’s top two weekends of the year. “We’re talking six figures,” Cruz said. “But the lead up business and the marketing that we receive from that adds a pretty significant bump for us as well though.” Against The Grain, which is open for carryout, also ships its beer to 43 states and 25 countries. Forecastle helps them develop an expanded loyal customer base. “There’s a lot of awareness for us because of that event,” Cruz said. “Not only in Louisville, but we’re also talking about other states. People from North Carolina recognize our beer because let’s say they came and saw Ben Folds or whoever was there, well our beer is in that Kentucky Landing, so they end up coming and checking out our restaurant, or they see it out on market in North Carolina and pick it up.” Louisville has undoubtedly worked to raise its national profile in the last decade, and a key aspect of that is getting people to visit. The last decade has also been the golden age of music festivals, so it’s safe to say that tourism and events like Forecastle, Louder Than Life, Bourbon & Beyond and Hometown Rising are an important way outsiders get hooked into the city. “One of the things I’m proud about Louisville is that we’re not like anywhere in the USA in terms of a city,” Fischer said. “A lot of cities to me are pretty generic and we have a lot of soul and authenticity here and these festivals are a front door for people to experience that.” •

STAFF PICKS SATURDAY, DEC. 26

Holiday Movie Nights

Naïve | 1001 E. Washington St. | Search Facebook | Free | 6-10:30 p.m. Wrap up the wholesome holiday festivities with food, drinks and LES INCOMPÉTENTS the Christmas classic “Home Alone,” which is now (depressingly) 30 years old. But the laughs are as good as ever. Worried about COVID-19 while going out to catch food and a movie? Worry not. The movie will be shown in the backyard of Naïve, the healthy, local-sustainable-conscious Butchertown eatery. It will be offering its full food and drink menu as well as some holiday specials for the evening. Seating is free, but reservations are required to attend (749-7856). —LEO

SATURDAY, DEC. 26

Noah Barker At Jimmy Can’t Dance

Jimmy Can’t Dance | 119 S. Seventh St. | Search Facebook | $10 | 8-11 p.m. Jimmy Can’t Dance’s stage has been closed for public events GROOVE since September, but it’s opening back up for a special show featuring Noah Barker, a Louisville instrumentalist who promises a mix of “original music, improvisations and some timeless timey tunes.” Barker just released Urgency!, a solo piano project recorded in one take meant to convey the feeling of life in the U.S. in 2020. Hopefully, we’ll be leaving some of those feels behind in 2021, but it’s nice to take a moment at the end of a hectic year to remember all the shit we went through and survived. —LEO

SATURDAY, DEC. 26-27

‘Polar Express’ 3D

Kentucky Science Center | 727 W. Main St. | kysciencecenter.org/movies $10 nonmembers, $5 members | Noon You can probably catch any holiday film you want on your home TV this time of year. But, there’s only one way to see “The Polar WHO DOESN’T LIKE TOM HANKS? Express” in 3D on a four-story screen: Head down to the Kentucky Science Center for one of the most visually-captivating movies ever produced. The animated story of a boy’s adventure to the North Pole embodies the true spirit of Christmas, overcoming obstacles, the value of friendship and the importance of dreams and imagination… plus, The Tom Hanks’ iconic voice. “The Polar Express” will be playing this weekend only (one showing at noon on Saturday and Sunday). —LEO

SATURDAY, DEC. 26-JAN. 1

Kwanzaa 2020: Gathering Virtually Zoom | Search Facebook | 6-7 p.m. | Free

For each of the seven days of Kwanzaa, Play Cousins Collective has organized a virtual celebration with a traditional drum call, elder permission, libations, a story CELEBRATE reading, craft and music or poetry. Each day of the African American holiday, modeled after African harvest festivals, will also involve a discussion of the day’s Nguzo Saba principle: unity (umoja), self-determination (kujichagulia), collective work and responsibility (ujima), cooperative economics (ujamaa), purpose (nia), creativity (kuumba), or faith (imani). The opportunity has closed to reserve a Kwanzaa kit from Play Cousins, but there will be a supply list for participants to source their own materials. —LEO

LEOWEEKLY.COM // DECEMBER 23, 2020

STAFF PICKS

SUNDAY, DEC. 27

theMerryweather | 1101 Lydia St. | Search Facebook | No cover | 6-11 p.m.

Your home | Search Facebook | $25-$75

Cat Casual’s Sunday Country Cult Cat Casual, or William Benton, once again welMUSIC comes his loyal followers (and those who are curious) to his weekly set at theMerryweather, now on the heated patio! Benton will be spinning vinyl from his extensive country music collection, starting in the ‘40s and shooting all the way up to the ‘90s. —LEO

Big Macs & Burgundy Club The Limbo has brought you a weekly JOIN THE CLUB rum club, a weekly Black-made bodega bundle and more. Now, it has a new concept to liven up your isolation: The Big Macs and Burgundy Club is a weekly delivery of one bottle of wine and a food item, taken from the pages of a book of the same name on accessible wine pairings. For an example of what you’re getting into, the first pairing was a simple marinara and mozzarella pizza with a bottle of Montepulciano d’Abruzzo, an Italian red. You can either buy the book (co-written by a Louisville-native sommelier!) and pay for weekly delivery whenever you feel like it for $25, or subscribe monthly for $75 — book included. —Danielle Grady

Still struggling with CPAP? Get relief with Inspire

Inspire is the only FDA approved obstructive sleep apnea treatment that works inside your body to treat the root cause of sleep apnea with just the click of a button. No mask, no hose, just sleep. Learn more on an educational webinar hosted by Dr. Kevin Potts of UofL Physicians Ear, Nose and Throat Monday, January 4th at 7:00PM View Indications, Contraindications and Important Safety Information & Register at InspireSleepEvents.com

LEOWEEKLY.COM // DECEMBER 23, 2020

STAFF PICKS

TUESDAY, DEC. 29

WEDNESDAY, DEC. 30

Planet of the Tapes | 640 Barret Ave. | Search Facebook | 8-10 p.m.

The Grain Haus | 41 W. First St., New Albany | Search Facebook | Free | 7-10 p.m.

Movie Trivia

Open Jam Wednesdays

Maybe binging movies was your quarantine hobby. Maybe you’ve watched a lot of old favorites since so many new films were pushed back I KNOW! DON’T TELL ME! this year. Maybe you’ll dominate this Movie Trivia night, hosted by Greg Welsh. You can compete in teams of up to six and win special prizes. Seating is limited, so arrive early to secure a table. —LEO

BC plumbing company

•

It’s open mic night for local musicians. The Grain Haus and The Enchanted Forest — the entertainment side of Floyd County Brewing Co. — is opening the THAT’S MY JAM floor every Wednesday night to local musicians who want to bring their instruments and jam out. For those devoid of all musical abilities (myself, for instance), go check out the astounding talents hidden among our community. Plus, The Grain Haus offers hand-tossed, wood-fired pizzas and over 50 craft beers, ciders and wines. It’s one of the great settings for an indoor/outdoor entertainment venue. You must be 21 or older to attend. —Aaron Yarmuth

502-634-9725

•

www.bcplumbing.net LEOWEEKLY.COM // DECEMBER 23, 2020

STAFF PICKS

THROUGH MARCH 14

‘Careful, Neat & Decent: Arts Of The Kentucky Shakers’

Speed Art Museum | 2035 S. Third St. | speedmuseum.org | Prices vary The Shakers were a religious order that died out in MOVERS AND SHAKERS Kentucky in the early 1900s. The art world has embraced its well-designed furniture and household items. “Do not make something unless it is both necessary and useful; but if it is both necessary and useful, do not hesitate to make it beautiful” was a motto. The exhibition features over 50 objects from Kentucky’s two restored locations, Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill at Harrodsburg and South Union Shaker Village at Auburn. The museum is also showing a companion dance video “Mariam Ghani + Erin Ellen Kelly: When the Spirits Moved Them, They Moved” shot at Pleasant Hill. —Jo Anne Triplett

Child’s Chair from Pleasant Hill. Various woods.

ONGOING

Virtual Visits With Santa Virtual | jinglering.com | $25

Santa isn’t only real, he’s personalized. And, just like Christmas night, he can be everywhere at once… while also being COVID-19 safe and socially distant, as SANTA’S HERE promoted by Louisville’s Oxmoor Center. Find or create your own personal Santa experience for your family (and invite friends) with JingleRing, including choosing the ethnicity and language of your Santa and Mrs. Claus and more. You can schedule live virtual visits with Santa and Mrs. Claus, join a story time session or receive a personalized, prerecorded message from Santa in his workshop. It’s fun, easy, safe and free of stranger-danger meltdowns in the jolly man’s lap. —LEO

Seas o n 4

Seasons 1-4 Now Available MusicBoxPod.org A music education podcast from Louisville Public Media and PRX.

LEOWEEKLY.COM // DECEMBER 23, 2020

FOOD & DRINK

RECOMMENDED

ICE CREAM FOR CHRISTMAS BECAUSE... WHY NOT? By Robin Garr | LouisvilleHotBytes.com Pints of Comfy Cow peppermint stick and Cinnamon Mon ice cream flank a scoop of Cinnamon Mon. | PHOTOS BY ROBIN

TELL ME about favorite desserts and sweet treats for the holidays: What have you got? If you celebrated Hanukkah in your household, you’ve enjoyed such deliciousness as hamantaschen, jelly donuts and all manner of fried sweets. Christmas brings a wealth of sugary delights, from gingerbread cookies and Yule log cakes to the ubiquitous fruitcake and whatever the hell sugar plums are. But wait! Where’s the ice cream?

Yes, knocking back a pint of frozen cream can bring down your core temperature, but inside a warm and cozy house, in front of a ﬁreplace, ice cream can be a festive treat. We checked in at Comfy Cow, Homemade Ice Cream & Pie Kitchen and Graeter’s this week and found all three offering ﬂavors that work for the holidays, some of them billed as special seasonal

flavors. Graeter’s, for instance, has three seasonal flavors for the holidays: cinnamon, peppermint stick and pumpkin ($5.18 for a pint). Comfy Cow’s Westport Village shop offered us its branded Cinnamon Mon and peppermint stick ($7.50 for a pint) as seasonal treats. And over at Homemade’s St. Matthews shop, they weren’t earmarking seasonal flavors, but we picked up a cup of

cinnamon to match the other two, plus a cup of coconut ﬂake just because ($4 for a cup). Since we ended up with three samples of cinnamon ice cream, it made sense to try them all together. I’m happy to say that they’re all pretty good. I like cinnamon, but I also have my limits and probably wouldn’t want to eat the stuff all year. But right now while it’s seasonal, sure! It’s a better pick for me than pumpkin spice. Cinnamon good. LEOWEEKLY.COM // DECEMBER 23, 2020

FOOD & DRINK

A scoop of Graeter’s Cinnamon ice cream and pints of cinnamon and peppermint stick.

Cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, allspice and ginger, a little too much. But I digress: We’re talking about cinnamon ice cream and here were three samples. They were all, well, cinnamony, yet each was distinctly different. Graeter’s, a beloved Cincinnati brand that reached out to Louisville years ago, boasts of its classy “French pot” cooking method. This involves starting with an egg custard base that imparts a mouth-coating texture that’s different from the usual cream churned with sweeteners and flavorings. It worked for Graeter’s with a pale-tan cinnamon color and a delicate, refined flavor that’s thick, rich and yet subtle. It also doesn’t melt as fast in your dish, an advantage if you’re a slow eater. Comfy Cow’s Cinnamon Mon flavor was significantly darker in color and boasted a much stronger cinnamon flavor, which might be an advantage for you if you like your cinnamon. This one is right in your face with a spicy, almost pungent cinnamon vibe. I was a little wary of Homemade’s cinnamon at first because I could see that the freezer container was almost empty, requiring our server to scrape it off the edges in smallish bits. I was dead set on cinnamon,

LEOWEEKLY.COM // DECEMBER 23, 2020

though, and she did a good job, with the unexpected result that the ice cream was full of tiny bits of fat that had frozen on the edges, sort of like delicious cinnamon chips. I don’t know how you could replicate that other than waiting for them to almost finish a container, but it’s worth knowing about. Once they melted, we still had a decent, middle-of-the-road ice cream with a very light color and a balanced, sweet cinnamon flavor about midway between the other two in intensity. So, three different cinnamon ice creams, three different approaches. I liked them all, each in its own way, so let’s call it a triple dead heat. You may want to make your choice based on the style you prefer. Before we move on to the two peppermint ice creams, I should probably be candid with you: I’m not really crazy about peppermint in general. I don’t like candy canes, I don’t like peppermint schnapps, I’m not even interested in peppermint flavor in my toothpaste. So I approached these more for the sake of science than love and relied on Mary to backstop my opinions. That said, our two samples were clearly different. Graeter’s French pot technique paid off in refinement and subtlety again: It was

Two scoops from Homemade Ice Cream and Pie Kitchen: cinnamon (left) and coconut flake.

mild, resistant to quick melting, smooth and light. Tiny bits of broken-up peppermint stick studded the ice cream and imparted an intense pink peppermint color and flavor into the surrounding ice cream. Comfy Cow’s peppermint stick ice cream was a much brighter, bolder, pink, almost neon in contrast with Graeter’s pretty pale pink. The flavor of the Cow’s thick, dense ice cream was bold and bright, too, an intense presence of peppermint. Since Homemade Ice Cream and Pie Kitchen didn’t have any peppermint this day, we tried a flavor called coconut flake, reasoning that the white treat would resemble snow studded with snowflakes. Okay, I’m lying. It just looked good. It was flaky indeed, with big flakes of coconut meat mixed into a delicious coconut-flavor cream, fresh and pure coconut, not heavy or cloying. Ice cream for the holidays? Why not? •

GRAETER’S

140 Breckenridge Lane 896-9952 graeters.com

HOMEMADE ICE CREAM & PIE KITCHEN 3737 Lexington Road 893-3303 piekitchen.com

THE COMFY COW 1301 Herr Lane No. 118 Westport Village 425-4979 thecomfycow.com

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Wear off? Easygoing Hometowners Toy (with), as an idea Least strict ____ mundi Popular ABC programming block of the ’90s ‘‘Perhaps’’ Fine spray 66 and others: Abbr. One of the Borgias Rubber-stamp, say Kids use it for texts ‘‘Vous êtes ____’’ (French map notation) Grp. with the Vezina Trophy Pastels and charcoal, for two Swear words? More than enough Enjoy some dishes without doing dishes, perhaps Hasten ____ Tuesday (Aimee Mann’s band) Dot follower Some ESPN highlights, for short Something often underlined and blue Half-moon tide ____ the crack of dawn Balderdash Trickster of Shoshone mythology Short-legged hound Fuel additive brand 17, for an R-rated movie Director Ashby Dappled horse Key Hidden downside Man’s name that’s another man’s name backward In poor condition, as old machinery

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Advice columnist Savage Out of tune . . . or bubbles Saturn or Mercury, once ____ fever Prayer leader Opening opening? Yeats or Keats Pliocene, e.g. Something to build on Ancient Aegean land The fly in fly-fishing, e.g. Turn Indy film? (1981) Render unnecessary Female deer Classic sci-fi anthology whose first story is titled ‘‘Robbie’’ Sound from a flock Road movie? (1950) Some M.I.T. grads: Abbr. Bizarre React to a stubbed toe, maybe Confident juggler’s props Film director’s cry Blood work locales Sound of relief Cannoli ingredient PG movie? (1992) Anthem opening A little bit of work Brush off Draw out One whose range goes from about F3 to F5, musically Hilarious folks World capital with the Gangnam district Challenge Hummingbird-feeder filler Blatant N.Y. engineering sch. Actress de Matteo of ‘‘Sons of Anarchy’’ Family film? (1972) Barely contain anger ____ glance Thor : Thursday :: ____ : Wednesday Suffix with hero Oration station Cleverly self-referential Social stratum Common 99¢ purchase

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Dock-udrama? (1954) Spendthrift’s opposite ____ Palace, Indian tourist attraction Perfectly timed Pilot, e.g. Short film? (1989) Where Minos ruled Safe, on board Violet variety Wait in neutral Jack rabbits, but not rabbits Saturnus or Mercurius Part of a sewing kit Nair rival, once Not so moving? Nile reptile Its name is derived from the Greek for ‘‘I burn’’ OB/GYNs, e.g.

F L L O I O E R S A T E T S O U T U T T T A E R R I A R G O D A T A M E W A R E N E Y E A S D T A

CINÉMA VÉRITÉ

BY DAN MARGOLIS / EDITED BY WILL SHORTZ

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D A I S O N T H M Y S O H O C R E T H A R E I N E R

The New York Times Magazine Crossword

PHOTO BY RACHEL ROBINSON

ETC.

SAVAGE LOVE

By Dan Savage | mail@savagelove.net @fakedansavage

LESBIAN DRAMA

Q: One of my very close friends, a lesbian, has been married for a couple of years now. It’s been nothing but drama since the day they met. My friend had a terrible home life growing up and doesn’t understand stability. She also has zero self-conﬁdence. My friend and her wife are constantly calling the cops on each other, getting restraining orders, and then always breaking them and getting back together. I told her that if she likes this drama, that’s one thing. It’s another if my friend got dragged into it and doesn’t want to live this way! But she cannot seem to quit their relationship. My friend tells me, “Lesbian relationships are drama,” and says I don’t get it because I’m “so damn straight.” Two questions: Are all lesbian relationships drama? And can you explain the whole “price of admission” thing again? It might help to open my friend’s eyes to how unacceptable this shit is. She says she wants out but she also wants to be loved and doesn’t think it would be any better with someone else. Don’t Really Accept Melodramatic Actions A: If that lesbian friend of yours isn’t willing to listen to you because you’re straight, DRAMA, she’s not going to listen to my gay ass. So I shared your email with three lesbian friends of mine—think of them of a three-member circuit court of lesbian appeals—in the hopes that your lesbian would listen to their asses. “Are lesbian relationships drama?” asked Tracey “Peaches” Cataldo, the executive director of the HUMP! Film Festival. “No. Maybe lesbian relationships are high intensity. The shared experience of being gay, being women, communicating too much about everything—I mean, the U-Haul jokes resonate for a reason. However big feelings and big commitments don’t mean big drama. In my own experience lesbian drama involves disagreeing about how many coats of paint are needed on a bathroom wall or one person wanting to fuck when the other wants to watch The Crown. It’s not normal for lesbian relationship ‘drama’ to require 911 calls and it’s deﬁnitely not okay for said drama to look like a cycle of violence or result in trauma. Don’t confuse drama for passion.” “I’m not sure lesbian relationships are any more drama than any other relationships,” said Katie Herzog, freelance dog ball journalist (really) and cohost of the Blocked and Reported podcast, “but considering the surprisingly high rates of intimate partner violence in lesbian relationships, they might actually be. Still, just because some lesbian relationships are drama doesn’t mean that all lesbian relationships are drama. Personally, I was involved in my fair share of soap operas as a young dyke, including once dating a woman who said she was possessed by a demon. (She was, the demon was coke.) But as an adult, the big-

LEOWEEKLY.COM // DECEMBER 23, 2020

gest drama in my relationship is The Undoing on Sunday nights on HBO. Either way, DRAMA’s friend’s relationship sounds unhealthy, and that’s not a lesbian thing.” “Drama is saying your ex looked cute the last time you saw them on your current’s birthday,” said Cameron Esposito, the comedian and host of the podcast Queery. “Lesbian drama is saying that while watching The L Word: Generation Q. Seems more like DRAMA’s pal may be in a cycle of abuse—using the clues of police, restraining orders, and a feeling that one cannot do better. From my own experience, abuse isn’t something a friend can stop and DRAMA’s best option here may be to suggest a support group— perhaps offer to attend with her—and then lovingly detach from ﬁxing this. Not because DRAMA doesn’t care but because we cannot control the lives of the ones we love.” Thank you for your service, lesbians, I’ll take it from here. Okay, DRAMA, I’ll explain the “price of admission” concept: You see, there are always gonna be things about someone that get on your nerves and/or certain needs a romantic partner cannot meet—sexual or emotional—but if they’re worth it, if that person has other qualities or strengths that compensate for their inability to, say, ﬁll the dishwasher correctly or their disinterest in butt stuff, then clearing up after dinner or going without anal is the price of admission you have to pay to be with that person. And those are reasonable prices to pay. But putting up with abuse—physical or emotional—isn’t a price that anyone should pay to be in a relationship. And the price of admission doesn’t just apply to romantic relationships, DRAMA. So if putting up with this drama isn’t a price you’re willing to pay to be friends with this woman, you can refuse to pay it—meaning, you have every right to end this friendship if drama is all you’re getting out of it. Ending the friendship might actually help your lesbian friend. People who confuse drama for passion often get off on having an audience, DRAMA, and always being available for a friend like that—always making yourself available for their drama—can have the opposite of its intended effect. So by dropping everything and rushing your friend’s side every time the shit hits the fan could be creating a perverse incentive for your friend to stay in this shitty relationship. In cases like this, DRAMA, detaching—like Cameron suggested—isn’t just the right thing to do for yourself but the right thing to do for your friend as well. Because once she sees there’s no audience she might decide to end the show. Follow Katie Herzog on Twitter @KittyPurrzog and read her dog ball journalism at www. moosenuggets.substack.com. Follow Cameron Esposito on Twitter @CameronEsposito. You

can’t follow Tracey “Peaches” Cataldo on Twitter—because she isn’t on Twitter—but you can make and submit a film for HUMP! (Info on submitting a film to HUMP! can be found at www.humpfilmfest.com/submit.) Q: I’m a 35-year-old gay cis woman in New Jersey. I’ve been in a wonderful relationship with an amazing woman since April. In typical lesbian fashion, she moved in over the summer and we’ve been inseparable ever since. My problem is that my sister and her nine-yearold son have been living in my home for the last four years. She has a ton of drama with her ex—her son’s father—and just this past week my girlfriend had her first interaction with the Department of Children and Family Services because of their drama. I’m used to it at this point but it freaked my girlfriend out. When I purchased my home, I invited my sister to move in to help her get on her feet. It also meant I could try for a closer relationship to my nephew. She was going to finish her nursing degree so she could support herself and her son. Four years later, she’s still an LPN and still living in my home with her bad attitude and so much drama. Last night, she had a huge argument with my girlfriend while I was at work—I’m an ICU nurse and I work overnight—and she told my GF that I don’t spend enough time with her or her son since we started dating and she’s sad because she has no help, no friends, no blah blah blah. I need to cut the cord! I want a family and kids of my own and I’m planning to propose in the next few months. I love my sister, I do, and for years I’ve been there to help pick up the pieces from her shitty choices, but now is my time to prioritize myself and my happiness. How do I make her see that without making her feel like I’m abandoning her and her son? Worried And Perplexed Even if there was some way to ask your sister to move out that didn’t make her feel like you were abandoning her and her son, WAP, she would still do everything she in her power to make you feel like you were abandoning them. She knows that if she can make you bad enough, and if she can sow enough discord between you and your girlfriend, she won’t have to get her own place or stand on her own two feet. So brace yourself for a lot of drama, WAP, and be unambiguous and firm: set a reasonable date for her to find her own place, offer whatever financial help you reasonably can, and make sure your nephew has your number. It sounds like he’s going to need someplace safe to run away to in a year or two— or in a month or two—and here’s hoping your girlfriend has it in her heart to be there for him the way you have. Cameron Esposito is hosting an online party on December 31 at 6 PM (PST)—Cameron Esposito’s New Year’s Steve—with special sets, guests, and an early ball drop! It’s free but donations are welcome. For more info and tickets to Cameron’s show, head over to www.dynasty-

typewriter.com. mail@savagelove.net Follow Dan on Twitter @FakeDanSavage. www.savagelovecast.com

CLASSIFIED LISTINGS

LEGAL

lmportdoktor, 1387 Lexington Rd, Louisville, KY 40206; 502/584-3511 is seeking to obtain a clear title to 08' VW GTI; vin# WVWGV71K48W248625- Owner Ian Schuler, 3721 Bardstown Rd, #612, Louisville, KY 40208- LeinHolder Fifth Third Bank; 1196 Ohio Pike, Amelia, OH 45102- Sale date 12/23/20. Importdoktor, 1387 Lexington Rd, Louisville, KY 40206; 502/584-3511 is seeking to obtain a clear title to 05' VW Passat; VIN# WVWCD63805E024598 -Owner Patricia Gann, 620 England St, Louisville, KY 40217. -Sale date 12/23/20. Leo’s Towing & Recovery, 510 E Broadway, Louisville, KY 40202 (502)-727-9503, has intention to obtain title of a 1995 Green Chevy S10 VIN # 1GCCS14Z5SK145502 ,Owner KEVIN SCHIEFELBEIN OF LOUISVILLE KY Lien Holder: 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 2005 SILVER BMW 545 VIN #WBANB33555CN65159 ,Owner YUSVANIS CHACON OF LOUISVILLE KY Lien Holder: 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 2008 SILVER NISSAN VERSA VIN#2N1BC13E18L366628, Owner CAELOS MONROY GARCIA OF LOUISVILLE KY Lien Holder: 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 1977 CHEVY VAN RED IN COLOR VIN #CGL257U100117 ,Owner TONY GEOPGE DANIES OF YPSILANTI MI Lien Holder: 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 1998 GOLD BMW 540 VIN #WBADE6320WBW58494 ,Owner GEORGE SCHOENBACHLER OF LOUISVILLE KY Lien Holder: 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 2009 HYUN BLACK VIN #5NPEU46CX9H418147 ,Owner ANASTASIA ANA CEA OF MIAMI FL Lien Holder: HERNAM GARCES HERNANDEZ AND MARGUEZ MOTORS 500 INC. OF MIAMI FL Unless owner or lienholder objects in written form within 14 days after the last publication of this notice. AT&T Mobility proposes to construct a 29.5’ utility pole (35.5’ overall) at 6900 Bardstown Rd. in Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky (Job #47216). In accordance with the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 and the 2005 Nationwide Programmatic Agreement, AT&T Mobility is hereby notifying the public of the proposed undertaking and soliciting comments on Historic Properties which may be affected by the proposed undertaking. If you would like to provide specific information regarding potential effects that the proposed undertaking might have to properties that are listed on or eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places and located within 1/2 mile of the site, please submit the comments (with project number) to: RAMAKER, Contractor for AT&T Mobility, 855 Community Dr, Sauk City, WI 53583 or via e-mail to history@ramaker.com within 30 days of this notice. AT&T Mobility is filing an FCC ASR Form 854 for a new monopole tower located at 6900 Bardstown Rd., Louisville, KY 40291, Jefferson County; Latitude 38-08-43.4° North and Longitude 085-35-18.1° West. The height of the tower is 11.3 meters above ground level and 211.9 meters above mean sea level. Lighting is not required for this tower. Interested persons may review the application for this project at www. fcc.gov/asr/applications by entering Antenna Structure Registration (Form 854) file number A1165408 and may raise environmental concerns about the project by filing a Request for Environmental Review with the Federal Communications Commission. Requests for Environmental Review must be filed within 30 days of the date that notice of the project is published on the FCC's website. The FCC strongly encourages interested parties to file Requests for Environmental Review online at www.fcc.gov/ asr/environmentalrequest. Parties wishing to submit the request by paper may do so by mailing the request to "FCC Requests for Environmental Review, Attn: Ramon Williams, 445 12th Street SW, Washington, DC 20554.

EMPLOYMENT Humana Inc. seeks a Lead Software Engineer in Louisville, KY to serve as the subject matter expert & lead the application component design & development. Preemployment drug screen and background check required. Applicants may apply at jobpostingtoday.com Ref #12637. Humana Inc. seeks a Senior Business Intelligence Engineer in Louisville, KY to describe the tools, techs, apps & practices used to collect, integrate, analyze, & present an org's raw data to create insightful & actionable business info. Pre-employment drug screen and background check required. Applicants may apply at jobpostingtoday. com Ref #23905. Humana Inc. seeks Senior Software Engineer in Louisville, KY to provide business process, system support and data quality governance for enterprise data. Apply at jobpostingtoday.com Ref: 35709

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