LEO Weekly Jan. 13 2021

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HOMELESS IN A PANDEMIC: FRACTURED SERVICES, A RECENT OUTBREAK JOHN YARMUTH, HANNAH DRAKE AND DAN CANON ON THE INSURRECTION | PAGE 4

BRINGING MUSIC TO MARS | PAGE 16

LEOWEEKLY.COM // JANUARY 13, 2021

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FREE JAN.13.2021

HOMELESS IN A PANDEMIC: FRACTURED SERVICES, A RECENT OUTBREAK JOHN YARMUTH, HANNAH DRAKE AND DAN CANON ON THE INSURRECTION | PAGE 4

BRINGING MUSIC TO MARS | PAGE 16

ON THE COVER

PHOTO BY KATHRYN HARRINGTON

@leoweekly

LOUISVILLE ECCENTRIC OBSERVER

Volume 31 | Number 05 974 BRECKENRIDGE LANE #170. LOUISVILLE KY 40207 PHONE (502) 895-9770 FAX (502) 895-9779 FOUNDER

John Yarmuth EXECUTIVE EDITOR

Aaron Yarmuth, ayarmuth@leoweekly.com PUBLISHER

Laura Snyder, lsnyder@redpinmedia.com OFFICE MANAGER

Elizabeth Knapp, eknapp@redpinmedia.com MANAGING EDITOR

Scott Recker, srecker@leoweekly.com

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

CONTRIBUTORS

Hannah Drake, John Yarmuth, Dan Canon, Robin Garr, Syd Bishop, Marty Rosen Writer Illustrations by Yoko Molotov ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES

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A&E EDITOR

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Danielle Grady, dgrady@leoweekly.com ART DIRECTOR

Talon Hampton, thampton@redpinmedia.com GRAPHIC DESIGNER

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Jo Anne Triplett, jtriplettart@yahoo.com

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

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LEOWEEKLY.COM // JANUARY 13, 2021

VIEWS

EDITOR’S NOTE

SKEPTICISM AND HOPE FOR POLICE CHIEF ERIKA SHIELDS

By Aaron Yarmuth | leo@leoweekly.com THE ANNOUNCEMENT of new Metro Police Chief Erika Shields, understandably, evoked intense feelings of shock, resentment and anger throughout the community. How could the city hire the former-Atlanta police chief who resigned after police in her department unjustly killed a Black person, Rayshard Brooks, in a Wendy’s parking lot? Hearing the news, I shared the same initial outrage, frustration and concerns.

But, Shields deserves a chance to succeed. Whether it’s a chance to win our trust or exceed our expectations, it’s in the best interest of the entire city to wish her luck and support every opportunity for success.

That said, my concerns haven’t gone away, and even more have risen in the days since her hiring.

For instance, Georgia NAACP accused Shields of not holding accountable six officers who tasered two Atlanta University students in May of last year. Although the Fulton County district attorney criminally charged the officers, Shields said the charges were politically motivated (because the DA was approaching a primary election). Local reporting by The Atlanta Journal-Constitu-

tion showed Shields acknowledged that the officers “had escalated a ‘low-level’ encounter … and behaved inappropriately,” and that she never discussed criminal charges.

At her introduction in Louisville, I was again shocked and angered by Shields’ statement, “I think it does an injustice to Breonna Taylor to say that they’re similar instances,” referring to Brooks’ killing. “They’re not.”

Actually, they are similar. In fact, they’re similar to countless other unjust killings of unarmed, nonviolent Black people by police.

Anyone who doesn’t recognize or understand that similarity is not qualified to be a police officer, much less a police chief.

That said, I believe (and hope) she misspoke. I believe she was attempting to draw distinctions between the circumstances that led to each police encounter, as well as recognizing a difference in the systematic and personal failures that led to each killing.

Even then, the default position should not be to find ways in which they were different.

To do so is to search for the ways in which one was more justified — or less of a failure — than the other.

I’m also concerned that Shields’ 25-year

career with Atlanta police limits her ability to be a transformative leader of LMPD. The city is desperate for major reforms to restore trust and accountability to the police department, and it’s rare — if not unheard of — for meaningful change to come from within the very institution needing reform, where the gravitational pull of entrenched forces is strongest.

This is not a criticism of Shields. The same is true of most jobs and workplaces: When a company promotes its best sales person to sales manager, for example, the skills that make a great salesperson don’t necessarily translate to the qualities of a great manager.

But I’m not ruling Shields out, and neither should LMPD’s most ardent critics or skeptics.

Shields won unanimous approval from the city’s diverse, eight-person search panel.

It’s also significant that the panel chose Shields, knowing that her selection would draw immediate outrage from many in the community — which indicates that they picked the person they believe is far-andaway the best person, not just the most

popular.

There’s also merit to the argument that Shields resigning her position in Atlanta is, at least partially, a positive sign of leadership — recognizing that her departure was best for the city at that time (a virtue devoid of former-Chief Conrad).

If nothing else, it’s a two-year audition under intense scrutiny for what will certainly be at the center of the next mayoral election (which begins any day now).

Four years ago, I wrote that I couldn’t wish newly-elected President Trump success. I knew then what success meant for him, and it was not good for America. I wished I was wrong, and had no idea how right I was.

So I don’t take lightly the concept of blindly wishing our leaders luck and success. But, while Chief Shields should be welcomed with unusually high expectations, standards and skepticism, she should also be welcomed with our support and best wishes for success. •

LEOWEEKLY.COM // JANUARY 13, 2021

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VIEWS

WRITE SOME SHIT

CHICKENS ALWAYS COME HOME TO ROOST. ENJOY THE SOUNDS OF THE CLUCKING.

By Hannah Drake | leo@leoweekly.com WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 6, I woke up celebrating that voters in Georgia snatched the coveted crown of leadership from Majority Leader (soon-to-be Minority Leader) Mitch McConnell by voting Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff into the United States Senate. It was a glorious day as we also awaited Congress certifying Joe Biden’s presidential win making him the 46th President of the United States. As Congress gathered to begin the certification process, Donald Trump thought the best way to stroke his ego was to give a speech to a large crowd of his cult-like followers that had gathered in D.C. to protest the certification process because, you know, nothing says ‘I love America’ more than trying to stop the certification of an election by the American people.

During his speech, Trump said, “We’re gonna walk down, and I will be there with you, to the Capitol and we’re gonna cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women, and we’re probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them because you’ll never take back our country with weakness.”

Of course, Trump was nowhere to be found as hundreds of his supporters marched to the Capitol with little to no law enforcement resistance and took it under siege. Legislators were told to shelter in place as rioters climbed the Capitol walls and stormed through the halls. One rioter sat at Nancy Pelosi’s desk, another stole the podium, windows were broken, offices ruined, and a woman that was an active participant in the riots was shot and killed. All of this happened while the police mainly sat by and did nothing.

One officer was even caught taking selfies with the rioters. (That is another blog for another time; however, I believe there was little to no law enforcement resistance because law enforcement sides with the rioters.)

Immediately White people took to the news and social media to express their outrage, and I could practically smell the stench of their hypocrisy. Let the pearlclutching begin.

Where have you been, White America? What world do you live in, White America?

You have got to be kidding me.

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Black people have been telling this nation that this was coming. Black people have warned you that this day would be upon us. But let’s be real, you thought, it could never happen to you. You thought, “We are better than this.” No, in fact, White America, you are not better than this. THIS IS WHITE AMERICA! And if you believe the people storming the Capitol is about any other thing than White people fighting for racism, you are still missing it.

Black people have always understood what this is about. Black people understood what Trump’s win was about. It had NOTHING to do with America’s economy or love for America and everything to do with White supremacy.

This man built his presidency on the slogan Make America Great Again!

AGAIN? WHEN? When has America EVER been great for EVERYONE? That should have TOLD YOU HIS AGENDA RIGHT THERE! But what did White America do?

Ignore it. You ignored Trump when he demanded to see President Barack Obama’s birth certificate. You turned a blind eye and deaf ear when Trump disparaged Black women. You said nothing when he called countries in Africa shithole countries. You were silent when he talked negatively about U.S. Rep. John Lewis. You did nothing when he vilified Colin Kaepernick for taking a knee and trying to bring awareness to police brutality. You did nothing when he called people from Mexico rapists and locked kids in cages. You went along with it when he instituted a Muslim ban. You tried to rationalize it when he said there were very fine people on both sides when racists marched into Charlottesville and killed Heather Heyer. You tried to explain away his racism as him just being a political outsider.

And it doesn’t stop at ignoring Donald Trump.

White America didn’t even blink when a White man bombed an entire city block in Nashville. You were silent when Trump supporters stormed capitols in various cities. You said nothing when White people stepped into state capitols waving guns. You barely whispered when Trump

supporters plotted to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

THE WRITING HAS BEEN ON THE WALL! IT IS WHITE AMERICA THAT REFUSED TO READ IT! YOU FOOLISHLY CHOSE TO IGNORE IT BECAUSE IT WASN’T HAPPENING TO YOU! So don’t pretend to be shocked now.

Fuck clutching your pearls. What happened yesterday has been ALL AROUND YOU! YOU CHOSE TO IGNORE IT! My advice to you is to ask yourself, what am I refusing to see? What am I refusing to come to terms with? And then go deeper and ask yourself, WHY DO I REFUSE TO SEE? While Trump certainly stoked the flames for what happened, ultimately, what happened sits squarely at the feet of White people. You have ignored White supremacy long enough. If this teaches you anything, it should teach you that chickens ALWAYS come home to roost.

And quite frankly, as a Black woman in America, I hope you enjoy the sounds of the clucking as you choke down your crow. •

VIEWS

POSTCARD FROM WASHINGTON

THE INSURRECTION AND THE CHALLENGES AHEAD

By John Yarmuth | leo@leoweekly.com “AMERICA ISN’T EASY. America is advanced citizenship. You’ve gotta want it bad, cause it’s gonna put up a fight,” said fictional President Andrew Shepherd in the movie “The American President.” Last Wednesday, we vividly saw how tough that fight will be.

Wednesday was scary. Thursday was scarier, and every day since, as we see and hear and learn more, things are more terrifying, because we all know Wednesday was not the end of it.

All of us have defense mechanisms we employ to deal with adversity. Throughout my life, I have usually been able to use my brain to put adversity in perspective, to contextualize, to focus on understanding the event rather than just letting emotion be my response. That strategy has served me well.

It has saved more than one television screen, as well as my vocal cords.

On Wednesday, sitting alone in my office, those defenses failed me. I could not put what I was experiencing in perspective. I could not contextualize what I was witnessing, because, indeed, there was no context.

As I told many of the people who called and texted me with their concern, I could only say that I was desperately trying to process what was happening. I still haven’t been able to.

My emotions have taken over, and

there have been many. Initially I was, and I remain, heartbroken. I have since been angry, vengeful, compassionate — for those who were threatened more directly than I was and for those killed and injured — fearful, resentful and depressed. I am learning that there are times when only emotional responses are possible.

As I learn more about the people who assaulted the Capitol and democracy on Wednesday, at the invitation and direction of President Trump, I have more and more questions about why so many of them embarked on such a dangerous and pointless crusade.

Why did a female real estate broker fly from Texas to Washington on her private plane to participate? What was her grievance? What about the Toyota salesman from Maryland, or that 35-year-old Air Force veteran from California who flew across the country and ended up shot dead through her neck? These were not militia types. They were seemingly normal people who were incited to criminal conduct.

Are these the Trump cultists we have been hypothetically discussing for four years? Probably so.

I share my colleagues’ questions about why the Capitol defense system was so illprepared for Wednesday’s assault. Why was the response so different from the one for

the peaceful Black Lives Matter demonstrations last summer?

Was there political bias in play when the Pentagon refused help to the Capitol Police Service, who had only 1,400 officers available to resist a relentless crowd of many thousands?

Did the insurrectionists have “inside help?”

Who planned, helped finance, and otherwise facilitated this coup attempt?

Who knew this was coming, and why didn’t alarms go off?

Those questions and more will eventually be answered, and acted upon. People will be held accountable, and changes to security will be made.

The most important question I have to answer immediately, however, is how I should interact with those colleagues who have stoked the fire we saw on Wednesday, and who violated their oath of office by voting to overturn the results of a democratic election.

Through 14 years of service in the Congress, I have always found it easy to be comfortable, even friendly, with those with whom I differed politically and philosophically. I have even shared and enjoyed some Kentucky bourbon with them. How can I now smile at them when I know they cynically and consciously perpetuated the Presi-

dent’s lies about election fraud, ultimately contributing to the passion and fury of the rioters, and thereby endangering our staffs, our colleagues, members of the media, and so many of the people who keep the Capitol functioning? I’m not sure I can. I’m not sure I should.

I have constantly reassured anyone who asked that Congress is not a hostile work environment, that we all get along pretty well even though it doesn’t appear that way on television. I’m not sure that will be the case anymore. I think, as Ricky Jones forcefully wrote in The Courier Journal, apologies first must come from everyone who contributed to the firestorm that came roaring to the Capitol last Wednesday, if civility is to return to the halls that were so unpatriotically violated.

Several years ago, at the beginning of the Trump administration, I was talking with David Obey, former Congressman from Wisconsin who served for 42 years, about the threat to our system that the new president posed. “You know, John, democracy doesn’t guarantee a happy ending,” he said.

Last Wednesday we stared into the abyss of an unhappy ending, and no one should question the magnitude of the challenge now facing our fragile, 245-year experiment.

The question will be how bad do we want America. • LEOWEEKLY.COM // JANUARY 13, 2021

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VIEWS

THE MIDWESTERNIST

WE TOLD YOU SO

By Dan Canon | leo@leoweekly.com IT’S BEEN almost five years since my colleagues and I sued then-candidate Trump for inciting violence at his campaign rallies on behalf of three protesters who were beaten up by an angry mob of white supremacists.

We lost. This article is addressed to the federal judges who tossed out our case without holding the President accountable when you had the chance.

We told you so.

Let’s take a moment to remember what the political landscape in 2016 was like.

Back then, American democracy was chronically ill, but not yet looking for a hospice bed to die in. And yet, anyone paying attention knew that an unprecedented brand of American political violence was in the works on Trump’s campaign trail.

• On August 11, 2015, in reaction to a protester seizing a microphone from another candidate, Trump said, “That will never happen with me… I don’t know if I’ll do the fighting myself, or if other people will.”

• On November 22, 2015 Trump said of protesters, “The third group, I’ll be a little more violent. And the fourth group, I’ll say get the hell out of here!”

• On February 1, 2016, at a rally in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Trump instructed those in the crowd to “knock the crap out of” anyone who was “getting ready to throw a tomato.”

“Seriously. OK? Just knock the hell…”

Trump ensured the crowd that he would cover their legal fees: “I promise you, I will pay for the legal fees. I promise. I promise.”

• On February 22, 2016, at a rally in Las Vegas, Trump responded to a protester by alluding to the fact that protesters had it too easy. “I love the old days. You know what they used to do to guys like that when they were in a place like this? They’d be carried out on a stretcher, folks.” Trump told his supporters that he would like “to punch [the protester] in the face.”

• On March 4, 2016, at a rally in Warren, Michigan, Trump gave the instruction to remove the protester, and promised: “If you do [hurt him], I’ll defend you in court. Don’t worry about it.”

• On March 29, 2016, at a rally in Janes-

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ville, Wisconsin, a 15-year-old protester was pepper sprayed in the face and allegedly sexually assaulted by two Trump supporters. As the protester left the rally, Trump’s supporters erupted with “Hell yeah,” name calling, e.g., “goddamn communist, n****r lover,” cries of victory, and an echo of Trump’s usual response to protesters: “Get ’em out of here!”

High-profile legal scholars and journalists were sounding the alarm, knowing that things were going to get very ugly if someone didn’t put a stop to it. Even the worst Republicans knew it, including noted fascist apologist Ted Cruz, who said: “A campaign bears responsibility for creating an environment where the candidate urges supporters to engage in violence.”

Anyone with an ounce of sense knew that Trump was asking for violence at his rallies, and getting it. And on March 1, 2016, he got it in Louisville. Our clients, who included a 17-year-old, a special education teacher, and a Black college student, came to peacefully protest a Trump rally. They got the shit kicked out of them.

Instead of allowing his own security, the Secret Service, or venue security to remove protesters, Trump stopped his halfhour speech five different times to point out individuals and, in most cases, to tell his crowd of supporters to “get ’em out of here.” And that’s what they did. Our Black client, as one might expect, got the worst of this. In a viral video, she was shoved half the length of a convention center by notorious neo-Nazi and mother-in-law fondler Matthew Heimbach. She was also chased and assaulted by Alvin Bamberger, a 75-year-old embodiment of the wacky QAnon papaw that many of us have come to know (and block) in the years since. She was called every slur in the segregationist lexicon.

As our clients were being bounced out by a crowd of seething white nationalists, Trump said on the mic: “In the old days, which isn’t so long ago, when we were less politically correct, that kinda stuff wouldn’t have happened. Today we have to be so nice, so nice. We always have to be so nice.”

Then Trump went into a discussion about waterboarding, and how it was “absolutely fine.”

So we sued the son of a bitch. We sued

him for inciting a riot and for negligence.

We also sued his goon supporters, one of whom was connected with the storming of the Capitol almost five years later, for plain ol’ battery. We presented the court with all the above evidence of violence at campaign rallies. The individuals who did the assaulting also sued Trump. Why? Because, according to them, Trump made them do it.

None of this mattered to the federal courts. The trial judge, to his credit, refused to dismiss the case against Trump for incitement. But at the urging of the Trump’s lapdogs at soulless, amoral megafirm Jones Day, the original judge sent the incitement question to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, where good cases go to die. There, Judge David McKeague, a George W. Bush appointee, held that the “First Amendment demands governmental tolerance of speech, in the name of freedom[.]” According to McKeague, Trump telling supporters — for months — to beat up protesters didn’t necessarily mean he really wanted it to happen in Louisville.

After all, reasoned McKeague, he even said “don’t hurt ‘em!” And so Trump did the only thing he does well: slithered away, leaving his followers to clean up his mess without so much as

paying the legal fees he promised.

Whether courts condemn bad behavior, or refuse to condemn it, it sends a message. And now, after five years of no real accountability for Trump, we are faced with the inevitable result of the courts’ refusal to send that message. The storming of the Capitol was basically just another Trump rally. The President asked for violence, and he got it — again. The biggest surprise is not that five people were killed, but that it took this long to happen. Anyone could have seen this coming. Anyone, that is, except a federal judge hiding behind a barricade of “free speech.”

So, to the judges of the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, and every other judge who’s refused to hold this president accountable for stoking mob violence at every opportunity for the last five years: The deaths of those five people in D.C., the deaths of who knows how many more in the coming weeks, and the impending death of American democracy, are all on your hands. We told you so. •

NEWS & ANALYSIS

THE STATE OF COVID IN LOUISVILLE A Q&A WITH DR. VALERIE BRIONES-PRYOR

By Scott Recker | srecker@leoweekly SINCE MARCH, Dr. Valerie Briones-Pryor has been on the frontlines of the coronavirus outbreak in Kentucky, running a COVID unit at UofL’s Jewish Hospital.

On Jan. 7, LEO caught up with BrionesPryor to talk about the current status of the pandemic. She spoke about how the hospital’s current wave of patients has been fueled by small gatherings, how the vaccine has provided a boost of morale for medical workers and the precautions you need to continue to take after you get vaccinated, among other topics. Below are excerpts of what she said during the conversation.

On how small gatherings are fueling cases in her unit.

“When I came back from Christmas, there was a whole new set of patients on the COVID floor, and every single one of them were telling me, ‘Well, yes, we did an early Christmas, we were staying within our family, we didn’t think soand-so was sick.’ And even all this week, I’ve already heard four stories, ‘Well, so-and-so came in for Christmas and he didn’t know he had COVID, or we went to so-and-so’s house and we thought they weren’t feeling bad, but two days later they got sick, and now we’re sick.’ People think that, ‘Oh, I’m going to go visit my family,’ they assume that their family, because it’s family, are fine. But, you don’t really know.”

On opening a second unit at the beginning of the surge in early October.

“We’ve been fortunate that we’ve been able to stay within those numbers. We haven’t had to open a third unit. There are times where we have been worried though, because the numbers have gone up. But then the two weeks after the holiday goes by, and then things level out a little bit. But then the next holiday comes up, and we know it’s going to happen again. And that’s where we are right now. We’re seeing the Christmas rush.

And next week, we’ll see the New Year’s rush. I’m thankful that there are no more holidays, because we’re all tired, and we need a break, and I’m hoping people will get past wanting to be with others at the holidays and will stay put. People are getting vaccinated, so that’s wonderful,

too. And we can finally get a handle on this, but I’m worried about how January is going to play out.”

get through January, because we all knew January was going to be tough. But there is an end in sight. And, that, for the first time in a long time, was a good feeling to have — some kind of hope.”

On why you should get the vaccine, and how medical workers are leading the On why it’s important to continue to campaign to gain public trust. follow safety measures after vaccina“I’ve said this time and time again, tion.

COVID doesn’t care about you. It “We’re very limited to the number of doesn’t care if you’re young, healthy, people who are vaccihave a family, are well nated at the present time. off. I mean, it is a great And the recommendation equalizer, in a sense, to get herd immunity, to because you could be really protect everybody, the healthiest person in is that 70-80% of the the world, never had a population has to be medical problem, don’t vaccinated. So, we’re need to take medicine, obviously not anywhere but you may be the one close to that right now. that ends up on the bed. I The wearing of masks, had a 101-year old, I love social distancing — still, this story, from a nursing still, still — is very home that came to us, important, if not just when there was a nursing as important, because home outbreak, and she Dr. Valerie Briones-Pryor we can’t let our guard had no symptoms. She down, just because some of didn’t even need oxygen. us have been vaccinated. And, the other When you get COVID, we hope you’re thing is, just because I got a shot Monday, going to be in the majority that does well, the full potential of that vaccine doesn’t but you may not be. It really is kind of a really come in until a week from that. Just crapshoot about how it’s going to affect because you get your first shot, or your you. If there’s an opportunity out there second shot, it doesn’t mean the day after, for us to protect you, to give you armor or the minute after, you all of a sudden in this battle, why wouldn’t you wear it? have immunity. We’re still building all of Yeah, the technology is new, but it’s actuthat up. It’s important because you could ally not new. It is technology that’s been still be carrying the virus on you. So, you used for cancer research for years. We’re might not get sick from it, but you might not injecting a live virus in people. It give it to somebody else who hasn’t been doesn’t interfere with your DNA. You’re vaccinated yet. We know this virus is very not going to turn into a zombie. It’s not contagious, so we have to protect others in a microchip where people are going to the community, even though we ourselves follow you — your cell phone does that have been protected or vaccinated.” for you. Millions of healthcare workers across the nation and the world are rolling On what the pandemic should teach us. up their sleeves to go get it, and they’re “We all have a responsibility in our all just the same men and women, just like community not just for ourselves, but you. If we think we can do it, and my arm hasn’t fallen off yet, there’s no reason why to take care of others. If we want to live good, healthy lives. If we want to be able it’s not going to be safe.” to go to our favorite restaurants. Go to the gym. Do the things that we did in our On the vaccine providing a boost of normal lives, we have to do our part to get morale for medical workers. there. And that’s part of being a commu“There’s a feeling of hope. A feeling nity. It’s not about one person, it’s about of, ‘This may end, at some point.’ I mean, everybody. My hope is that the pandemic it’s not going to end anytime soon, but taught us that.” • there may be an end in sight. We got to

THORNS & ROSES THE WORST, BEST & MOST ABSURD ABSURD: NO ONE CARES, MITCH

Sen. Mitch McConnell once rebuffed then-Sen. Joe Biden’s effort to gain his support for a bill by arguing its merits. Former President Barack Obama recounted in his book “A Promised Land” that “McConnell raised his hand like a traffic cop and said, ‘You must be under the mistaken impression that I care.’”

Fast forward to the MAGA/Trump-fueled insurrection of the U.S. Capitol. Just before the Capitol fell, McConnell had given what was unquestionably the grandest, most stately speech of his career in defense of American democracy and institutions (like the Senate) — which starkly contrasted how ruthlessly malevolent his “leadership” has been for over a decade. It was as if he was directly rebuking his very own obstructionism, demolition of institutional norms, relentless stoking of partisan division and resentment, and four years of enabling a lawless president (i.e. coordinating an impeachment defense with Trump’s White House) — a methodical, relentless assault that mentally and emotionally fractured the traitors who heard the call of a fascist leader to storm the Capitol. So, on the morning he learns he has lost his majority in the Senate, he tried to rewrite his own history of destruction. History smiled and said, “You must be under the mistaken impression that I care.”

THORN: A HOUSE FULL OF PRICKS

A bouquet of thorns to Kentucky House Republicans who filed a petition to impeach Gov. Andy Beshear for executive orders he issued in response to the coronavirus state of emergency, alleging he violated both the Kentucky and U.S. constitutions.

Both the Kentucky Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in respective challenges that Beshear’s executive orders are legitimate. But, apparently House Republicans know better. A big-ass thorn to Speaker of the House David Osborne, the Prospect Republican who said that the House is required to take action after receiving the petition under the law, and that, “We have to take it seriously,” according to The Courier Journal. OK, maybe procedurally it must be taken seriously, but in reality it needs bipartisan condemnation. Given the attempted coup of the U.S. government last week, it is wildly irresponsible and dangerous for him to legitimize this heinous assault on Beshear, democracy and facts.

THORN: EXTREMISM AND THE KENTUCKY STATE POLICE

A Franklin County Sheriff ’s deputy has been reassigned after attending last Wednesday’s insurrection at the Capitol. He claims to have done so peacefully, but five public defenders have called for the sheriff to “reevaluate” the deputy’s status in the department. Of course, late last year, the student newspaper Manual RedEye reported that the KSP used a Hitler quote in their training material. They have serious issues.

THORN: TO THE REST…

And to any Kentuckian — and people beyond — who participated in the violent riot that left people dead and threatened democracy, go fuck yourself, you’re a terrorist.

LEOWEEKLY.COM // JANUARY 13, 2021

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Several newly homeless people created a space to live after losing their jobs in the wake of the pandemic. | PHOTOS BY KATHRYN HARRINGTON.

HOMELESS IN A PANDEMIC: FRACTURED SERVICES, A RECENT OUTBREAK?

By Danielle Grady | dgrady@leoweekly.com AT 10:58 a.m. last Friday, a voice took over the loudspeaker at the St. John Center for Homeless Men, telling the clients that it was time to leave and let the next group in. Because of COVID-19, only 24 men are allowed in the shelter for an hour at a time. Before the pandemic, the center used to hold 70 men at once, many of them often staying for hours.

After the 10 a.m. group of men left, Marty Keck, 58, walked in. At the St. John day shelter, he has the opportunity to take a shower and speak to case manager about his pending food stamps application — or simply sit, enjoying the warmth. After his time is up, he will go outside to wait in line again. He repeats the process until he can go back to The Healing Place, where he has been living since October.

He said one of his roommates died from COVID-19 and he

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was unable to afford another place, having suffered a stroke two years ago that left him unable to work.

“The line’s pretty long, but it goes quick,” he said, his soft voice barely escaping through his surgical-style mask.

When Maria Price, the executive director of St. John, talks about the line, though, the first descriptor she uses is “dreadful.”

“We’ve been around 35 years in April,” she said. “For the first 34 years, we looked nothing like this.”

COVID-19 has constrained services for people who are homeless in Louisville, impacting shelters and outreach groups that provide basic necessities and help transition clients back into homes. The shelters like St. John are no longer able to keep the volunteers they have relied on for

years. Some people living on the streets who LEO spoke to said that outreach groups bringing food and warm clothes are visiting less often. And the one consequence of the pandemic that Louisville’s houseless citizens have been able to avoid, an outbreak, has finally occurred. Thirty-seven people tested positive for COVID-19 at Wayside Christian Mission after the shelter says one client visited family out of town for Thanksgiving, spreading it to others. None of the cases have turned severe, and those who have tested positive were quarantined, said Nina Moseley, the chief operating officer of Wayside.

The one thing that is needed to finally bring things back to “normal” for Louisville’s homeless residents and service providers — which, for them, means being able to focus on

John Doemain carries supplies that will be taken to members of the houseless population.

the affordable housing crisis, said Executive Director of the Louisville Coalition for the Homeless Natalie Harris – is vaccine access.

Currently, there is no special prioritization for those who are homeless, only for those living in “congregate settings,” and advocates are worried about the difficulty of vaccinating a group of people that is traditionally hard to reach.

If Price had it her way, Louisville’s homeless residents would get the vaccine first.

“Of course I want them in tier one because they don’t have the ability to be healthy at home,” she said. “So, to not have that option, it seems like we would take extra steps to at least help them be protected against the disease the best that we can given the science and the tools of the vaccine.”

OUTBREAK

Before Wayside Christian Mission’s COVID-19 outbreak, Louisville’s homeless advocates were amazed by how well the community managed to avoid cases.

“It really surprised us,” said Price. “We thought that with people living in a congregate setting where their health is already so compromised, that it would be a devastating domino effect.”

The Louisville Department of Public Health and Wellness could not provide numbers for how many homeless people have had the virus, because the testing system is not designed to ask about an individual’s housing situation, said Connie Mendel, the department’s director of environmental health, public health preparedness and laboratory. But, she said, from what she knows, the city’s homeless community has not seen a lot of cases.

A man living in an abandoned building in Louisville’s West End who LEO spoke to on a Louisville outreach mission said that he doesn’t think people who are homeless are

as likely to get COVID-19, because of how much time they spend outside.

“We’re not going in the stores and in the buildings,” said the man, who did not wish to be named. “We’re not around as many people as the same as you may be.”

Mendel believes this could be true. Many of Louisville’s homeless residents may also have dodged the virus because the health department has been working with shelters on setting up different COVID protocols, she said, such as sanitation and what to do if a resident tests positive. At the start of the pandemic, The Salvation Army was running a quarantine shelter on behalf of the city where people could go if they had been exposed to the virus or tested positive.

This transitioned to a hotel model in October when The Salvation Army needed its warehouse back for its Christmas Angel Tree program. Shelters are also quarantining residents in their facilities within separate rooms. And, the Salvation Army opened up an overflow shelter for people to go to when other shelters in the area have grown too crowded.

But, things changed when Wayside found a positive test in a member of one of its men’s programs. The shelter then started testing other people in the program. Soon, there were enough positive tests for Wayside to test the entire shelter, finding 37 positive cases out of a group of 385. Since Wayside’s outbreak, The Salvation Army had 11 people test positive, too, all of whom have also been quarantined.

Moseley, Wayside’s chief operating officer, told LEO that some of those who tested positive had pre-existing conditions making them more vulnerable to COVID-19. But so far, none of those who have tested positive have had to go to the hospital, and some have started to be released from quarantine.

Most have been living in an isolation dorm within the walls of Wayside or in their own separate rooms, while some

Volunteers with Feed Louisville.

have been taken to a downtown hotel that the city is now contracting with to quarantine Louisville residents who are unable to isolate at home. At the hotel, positive individuals are given their own room with a kitchenette. The city is spending $270,000 to rent out rooms in the hotel. The contract ends Jan. 31, and Metro Health is exploring multiple quarantine options for February, said Karl Bullock-Phillips, a department spokesperson.

Before the outbreak, Moseley said that Wayside was working hard to keep its shelter safe.

“We’ve done everything we can to limit exposure,” she said.

Wayside requires masks at all times except when residents are eating or sleeping. The shelter also has been rotating residents in and out of its dining room, transitioned its addiction recovery meetings to virtual, sent home volunteers and purchased an atomizer to spray a bleach cleaning solution in its restrooms, dining room and hallways.

To Harris, the outbreak says more about the prevalence of coronavirus in the community at large than it does about Louisville’s homeless population.

“It’s so prevalent right now in the greater community that it can’t be kept out of hospitals, it can’t be kept out of nursing homes and it can’t be left out of shelters,” she said.

SHELTER STRAIN

Keck is not on disability, but Price thinks he’s an ideal candidate for the government program.

But like Wayside, the St. John Center can no longer allow volunteers to enter the building, and that means the Legal Aid Society lawyers who used to help clients apply for disLEOWEEKLY.COM // JANUARY 13, 2021

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Donny Greene and Camilla Wallace with Feed Louisville delivered food and other necessities to members of the homeless population.

ability can’t do so in person anymore, leaving some people like Keck waiting. This led to a 50% drop in the number of disability claims that St. John clients were able to file this past year, said Price.

St. John has strived to continue to provide the same resources it always has during the coronavirus. And it’s mostly been able to do so, through daily, problem-solving “situation room” meetings, donations from the community and staff members taking on different roles.

St. John has continued to offer clients housing counseling, employment services and help gathering documents such as social security cards and state-issued IDs. The Center also still has people go out five days a week on outreach missions.

This past calendar year, the Center helped move 226 people who were homeless into housing, more than its goal of 200. And, it has taken on a new task of distributing masks.

Since COVID-19, St. John has given away thousands.

But, there are some areas where St. John has not been able to make up for the complications caused by COVID — like with disability claims, for example. The amount of people the Center sees each day has also dropped to 100 from 175 with its new rotation schedule.

This, along with other loss of services during COVID, has had a negative impact on people who are homeless in Louisville, Price said.

“It added to the level of anxiety and in some cases despair,” she said.

Some opportunities have started to slowly come back. At the beginning of the pandemic, landlords stopped showing apartments, so St. John’s efforts to find housing for clients stalled. Now, that is no longer a barrier. And, the Louisville library, a de facto day shelter for many of the city’s homeless

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citizens, has started allowing people to visit again to use computers.

But, where there has been progress, there have also been setbacks. In July, St. John started allowing volunteers again.

But in November, when cases spiked in Kentucky again, they were banished.

Price said she’s not sure when volunteers will be able to come back.

“We’re trying to figure that out. Previously, when [the positivity rate] was below 8% we felt OK about bringing volunteers back,” she said. “So, this time we kind of hunkered down and said let’s get through the New Year’s bump — thinking there would be another uptick, which if yesterday’s cases was indication, we’re in it — and take it from there.”

OUTREACH

Donny Greene, his 20-year-old daughter Brynne Greene and his crew of volunteers, many of them regulars at Jefferson Square Park, go out five to seven days a week — handing out 300 to 500 meals, clothing, Sterno fuel cans and other supplies to people living in abandoned homes and in encampments across Louisville.

Greene was doing this work before the pandemic, but his output has increased drastically since the beginning of COVID when he helped start Feed Louisville. Now, the 55-year-old and his rotating crew of 30 distribute food from Louisville restaurants. Last Tuesday, his haul included meals from Burger Boy, baked goods from Farm to Fork and personal pizzas from Pizza Hut. The Greenes and other volunteers started loading supplies into a borrowed white

A space created by people who are homeless.

Sprinter van at 3 p.m. and didn’t stop delivering goods until around 1 a.m..

Outreach groups differ from other homeless services in that they reach people where they are and serve those who are the most detached from society. Many are grassroots groups.

“I mean I hate to paint this bleak picture but, let’s put it this way, I’d love to be sitting at home, petting my dog and not have to worry about any of this, but the fact is that no one is coming to save us,” said Greene. “The city government isn’t coming to save us, the federal government isn’t coming to save us, the state government isn’t going to come save us. The only people that are going to save us is us. No one saves us but us, it’s just that simple. Community has to save community. That’s the only way it’s going to work, because no one else cares.”

Greene’s outreach work may have picked up during COVID, but he’s filling in a gap that has widened during the pandemic.

One man Greene served on Tuesday, Rick, has been living in a camp near downtown Louisville for two years

Chairs are spaced out in St. John’s to follow COVID-19 safety guidelines.

with his wife, sustained by vehicles baring clothing and cans of portable heat. But, the 64-year-old who declined to give his last name, said he’s seen fewer coming to the camp since COVID started.

“It’s been really bad. Everyone’s shied away and scared to come because of the virus,” he said. “It’s all changed. And it’s really hard to get the things that we need as far as clothes and stuff like that.”

Harris, with the Coalition for the Homeless, said outreach groups are still going out, but some are not able to serve as much as they used to, because they’re keeping their volunteer pool small to avoid exposure.

The pandemic has complicated things for all types of homelessness service providers, according to Harris. The situation needs to stabilize for the Coalition and its organizations to get back to their root work: Ending homelessness.

But, Harris does not think that can be done until a vaccine is distributed to everyone.

“I think that has to happen first and until people feel like they can go out again, it’s going to be really hard to focus on anything else,” she said.

VACCINE DISTRIBUTION

There is no special vaccine prioritization for those who are homeless. Not in the federal government’s distribution suggestions and not in the state’s. There are categories that people who are homeless could fall into, such as essential workers, those with certain diseases and older citizens, but there is no special designation for them.

The closest thing is a prioritization for people living in congregate settings, such as shelters, who will be vaccinated in Phase 2, said Mendel: which comes after essential workers but before healthy individuals ages 16 to 39.

Price said she is disappointed that people who are homeless are not in the first tier, which is reserved for health care workers and those living in long-term care facilities.

Mendel said prioritization is a balance of who is more

Men wait outside the St. John Center.

LEOWEEKLY.COM // JANUARY 13, 2021

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Marty Keck is allowed to stay at the St. John Center for one hour at a time, per COVID-19 safety measures.

likely to be exposed and who is more likely to have a worse reaction to COVID-19. She also said that “ensuring equity in vaccine distribution” is one of the local health department’s goals.

“We’re just limited by amount,” she said.

Harris said that she’s trying to be patient, and she understands that there isn’t enough vaccine to go around at this point. In the meantime, the health department is prioritizing people who work at shelters, she said.

“That’s why I think it’s a good compromise, to go ahead and at least get the staff vaccinated, so that there will be shelters to stay open for the people that need to be vaccinated,” she said.

Harris also said she expected people who are homeless to be lower on the prioritization list because the government needs time to figure out how to make sure they receive their second dose.

Mendel said that the health department is “really looking forward” to a vaccine being approved in the United States that only requires one dose. That would be ideal for vaccinating people who are homeless. Small vaccination sites at community centers, possibly including shelters, will also help vaccinate those with the least access, including people who are homeless, said Mendel.

Currently, the only vaccination site in Louisville is a mass, drive-thru site.

Keck said he feels comfortable with his place in line for a vaccine. He’s heard advice from some people not to take it, but he says he probably will.

The man who LEO spoke to who lives in an abandoned home said he wants to take the vaccine, too, but he feels as if poor people are a low priority.

“Truthfully, you feel that we’re the last on the line to get it,” he said. •

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Postcards written to the St. John Center were on display.

STAFF PICKS

THURSDAY, JAN. 14

Bringing ‘Women At Work” To Life Online | filson.simpletix.com | Free | Noon-1 p.m.

THURSDAY, JAN. 14-16

The Filson Historical Society’s latest EMPOWERMENT exhibit is about the history of women transitioning from domestic life to the spheres of art, education, activism and business in the 1800s. You can’t see it in person because of COVID-19, but the Filson is graciously debuting its display with a virtual opening featuring videos of curators in the exhibit and a Q&A session.

—LEO

Slade Ham

The Caravan Louisville | 1250 Bardstown Road thecaravan2017.com | $17 | Times vary There aren’t too many more credentialed comedians around than Slade FUNNY Ham. His bio includes crazy ventures of free climbing mountains, swimming with sharks and wrestling a cheetah; traveling the Australian outback, Cambodian jungles, running from the cops in the Philippines. We don’t know if that’s all true, but it’s made clear that, “You even saw him in ring at Wrestlemania XXV” is a lie. So, the rest must be true. But his comedic resume is too long to list, so you’ll just have to go see him at the Caravan, where he will be performing five shows over three days: 7:30 p.m. each night and 9:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. Must be 18 or older. —Aaron Yarmuth

SATURDAY, JAN. 16 Slade Ham.

Grind and Core: A Tribute to Alice In Chains and Stone Temple Pilots

Street Grub & Hops | 3922 Shelbyville Road | diamondstreetgrubandhops.com | 9 p.m. | No cover

THURSDAY, JAN. 14

Cra�t & Chat Virtual Maker Session

Virtual | events.lfpl.org/events | Free (Registration required) | 3 p.m.

We’ve got plenty of cold winter days and nights left before it’s time to put the heavy blankets away. You may even be interested in learning how to make your CREATE own quilt, the gift that truly can keep on giving. Join for a free craft and chat program while hand sewing a miniature Snowman quilt. Register by emailing liz.magee@ lfpl.org (registration required), and receive class and supply kit information. For ages 13 and up. —LEO

Grunge was basically all about hating everything and everyone, so technically

MUSIC it’s the perfect form of socially-distanced music. Street Grub & Hops is presenting a night of tributes, with bands covering both Alice In Chains and the Stone Temple Pilots.

Tables are first come, first served, although you can reserve a table for $10 a seat with a minimum of four people. —LEO

LEOWEEKLY.COM // JANUARY 13, 2021

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STAFF PICKS

SUNDAY, JAN. 17

MONDAY, JAN. 18

The Temple | 5101 U.S. Route 42 | Search Facebook | Free

YouTube/Facebook | Search Facebook | Free | 9-10 a.m.

Sandwich Making For The Homeless COVID-19 has made the vulnerable more vulnerable, and homeless individuals in Louisville are one of those groups in need. Volunteer to help make sandwiches VOLUNTEER for people who are homeless in the community, and bring hotel/sample size toiletries, too. This event is limited to 20 people so RSVP before coming. —LEO

MLK Day Virtual Celebration The UofL African American Theatre Program DREAM is celebrating a man who brought about great social change with the help of local women doing the same.

Hannah L. Drake and Shameka Parrish-Wright are part of this annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration turned virtual.

Drake will give a keynote address and Parrish-Wright will make an appearance as the Program’s Lift Every Voice Award winner. Plus, the winners of the yearly MLK Day Artist Contest will make artistic presentations. Watch it all on YouTube or Facebook. —LEO

MONDAY, JAN. 18 MONDAY, JAN. 18

Music History Mondays

Mag Bar | 1396 S. Second St. | Search Facebook | 4 p.m. | No cover We’re all eagerly awaiting the full return of live music, but, in the meantime, every Monday Mag Bar will be showing a music documentary. So stop by, order some HISTORY drinks, hang out and learn all of the interesting, insightful and sometimes embarrassing facts about the music industry and people that define it. —LEO

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B Movie Bingo!

Planet of the Tapes | 640 Barret Ave. | planetofthetapes.biz | No cover | 8-10 p.m.

It’s a dream night for everyone in Gen Z or someone who might fall into the category of old-Millennial… Really excellent bad movies and bingo, for I KNOW THIS ONE free! B-list actors (or A-listers doing a favor for their director friend) dropping sweet, cheesy lines. Each movie comes with a bingo card including classic tropes you’ll find in the movie. Mark ‘em, line ‘em up and holler “BINGO!” Planet of the Tapes offers a full bar so you can really holler. Comedian Chris Vititoe hosts every Monday night.

—Aaron Yarmuth

STAFF PICKS

TUESDAY, JAN. 19

‘The Mandalorian’ Trivia Night With Kitties

Purrfect Day Cat Cafe | 1741 Bardstown Road | purrfectdaycafe.com/book-now | $15 | 6 p.m.

Generally, Star Wars fans agree on next to nothing, but it was basically unanimously THIS IS THE WAY decided that the finale of season two of “The Mandalorian,” was, in fact, pretty fucking epic.

So, revisit the adventures of Clan Mudhorn at this “Mandalorian” themed trivia night. Maybe you’ll even leave with a kitten that you adopt and decide to name in honor of Order 66 survivor and meme muse, Grogu. Prizes will be awarded. Reservations required. Limited to 10 seats. Masks are mandatory. —LEO

THROUGH FEB. 1

‘Invocation’ By Shae Goodlett

Revelry Boutique Gallery | 742 E. Market St. | revelrygallery.com | Free Sometimes an artist’s work can be downright maddening. Shae GoodART lett knows it’s foolhardy to stive for perfection, yet “I attempt [it], knowing that it cannot be reached,” he said.

Goodlett, a recent graduate from UofL’s MFA program, creates art from paper backlit by neon lights. Seems straightforward, but he has more to say (after all, he called this exhibition “Invocation”): “The images’ interactions conjure phantom ‘Psalter’ by Shae Goodlett. Paper and neon lights. colors and optical effects which are not physically present, but nonetheless real and communally experienced,” said Goodlett. “In this way, my work addresses issues of ritual, divinity and perception.” —Jo Anne Triplett

THROUGH MAY 31

‘Where Did We Sit On The Bus?’

Online | actorstheatre.org | $15+ | Any time Actors Theatre of Louisville’s version of “Where Did We Sit On The Bus?” — a solo THEATRE show created in 2016 by Brian Quijada — is different for a couple of reasons: For one, Quijada has ceded his autobiographical role to another actor, or actress rather, named Satya Chávez. And also, this version is filmed and available to stream from home — pandemic style.

The show is a coming-of-age musical in which “a Latinx kid begins searching for her own people’s place in American history.” The performance is infused with rap, hip-hop and spoken word. — Danielle Grady

Mamba - Say hello to the gorgeous and sweet Mamba! Mamba is a twoyear-old Domestic Shorthair kitty with a beautiful black and white coat. This princess made her way to the Kentucky Humane Society from an overcrowded shelter and is now ready to find her forever home! When Mamba arrived, the shelter really stressed her out so we decided to send her into a foster home while she waits for her forever family to come along. In her foster home, Mamba is an absolute delight! Her foster parent says, “Mamba is a real sweetie who likes to be in the same room with me, sleeps on the bed, plays with toys and is getting very good at sitting in laps. She is well-behaved about using her litter box and staying off tables/counters too!” While Mamba does need to be the only pet in the home, she promises she has enough love for the entire family! Could you be the one for this sweetheart? Mamba is spayed, micro-chipped, up-to-date on vaccinations and ready to go home with you. Mamba is staying with a foster family until her forever home comes along. If you are interested in meeting Mamba, please first submit an online adoption application located at www. kyhumane.org/cat-app. Once we have received your adoption application, our foster team will follow up and provide you with more information.

Tess - Calling all Boxer lovers! Meet Tess, an 8-year-old Boxer with a zest for life and a bounce in her step! Tess loves walks, car rides, arranging her bed just so, getting butt scratches and watching her human prepare Tess’ dinner. Tess weighs 55 pounds and is a pretty fawn color with just a hint of brindle and a black mask, and she has the softest fur. She’s a typical boxer who snores gently when she sleeps (no need for a white noise machine!). Tess lost her home after living with the same family since she was a puppy. When she arrived at KHS, she was suffering from very painful dental issues. After KHS removed a number of terrible teeth, Tess is now so much happier! Tess is currently in a foster home, and her foster family reports that Tess is an easy house guest. She’s very quiet and only barks if someone is at the door or the gate. She loves spending the day snoozing on a dog bed (Tess does not like to sleep on couches or human beds). As soon as her foster mom puts on a coat, Tess gets super excited to go for a walk. She loves walks more than anything! And while she loves her foster mom and likes meeting new people, she really loves her foster dad. She seems to be a “daddy’s girl.” In her foster home Tess is relaxed when left alone and not destructive. Tess lived for many years with another dog, but her previous owner reported that she sometimes growled at the other dog over food. If you have another dog at home, we recommend you bring your dog to your adoption appointment so you can make sure that Tess and your dog want to be pals. Tess is spayed, micro-chipped and up-to-date on vaccinations.

Tess is staying with her foster family until her forever home comes along. If you are interested in meeting her, please first submit an online adoption application located at www.kyhumane.org/dog-app. Once we have received your adoption application, our foster team will follow up and provide you with more information.

LEOWEEKLY.COM // JANUARY 13, 2021

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MUSIC

ART IN SPACE

MARYLIZ BENDER IS BRINGING MUSIC GLOVES TO A MARS SIMULATION

By Syd Bishop | leo@leoweekly.com ON JAN. 18, Louisville expatriate MaryLiz Bender is going to Mars… kind of. Bender, who currently lives in Florida, but remains part of the local psych-rock band Twin Limb, is joining the Hi-Seas Mars Simulation, a Martian habitat located on Mauna Loa in Hawaii. The terrain of the area is Mars-like and is used by NASA to study crew dynamics, morale and other psychological factors. The opportunity presented itself through the space exploration-focused media studio, Cosmic Perspective, that she co-founded. While at Hi-Seas, Bender will work with Hillary Coe, a design director at SpaceX, to study the effects of creativity, mindfulness and diet on astronauts on long missions. To do that, Bender is taking a pair of MI.MU music data gloves, which like a theremin, create music through complex micro-expressions. Bender is also collaborating with the Johnson Space Center on a documentary titled “Taking Our Humanity With Us” in an effort to humanize the experience of space travel.

What’s your objective at the Mars site?

MaryLiz Bender: We’re really trying to figure out what does it feel like to be in isolation in a 1200-square foot tiny Martian habitat with people you don’t know, five other people you don’t really know very well, unable to go outside whenever you want to, disconnected from nature, disconnected from your home planet. What are the kind of comforts and delights that help you enjoy and even thrive through that experience?

What’s ‘Taking Our Humanity With Us’ about?

It’s all about the past, present and future of art in space. So, I’ve actually done a ton of research. I’m the only person that I actually know besides astronaut Nicole Stott, who’s been working on this with me, that is aware of every single instrument that’s ever been played in space. Wow. It’s way more than I thought. They have used banjoes, they’ve used guitars, they’ve used saxophones, clarinet flutes, even like traditional Japanese musical instruments.

NASA hasn’t done a great job because they get kind of taunted when they spend any money focusing on marketing and things

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like that. They’re doing better. But I feel like it’s up to me and us and the people like me to tell a story, which is why I’m making this documentary.

How can non-terrestrial environments shape musical composition?

Everything in the microgravity environment, that’s a totally new physics environment that we don’t understand at all. And most of our research on the space station is trying to understand that and then harness its power because it’s so freaking powerful.

Like, for example, you can study cells in 3D because they don’t flatten out on a petri dish like they do in a gravity environment on Earth. That means that they remain in their form as if they’re inside the human body. [Astronaut] Don Lind was using a didgeridoo, but he fashioned it out of a vacuum hose to study what happens to a water bubble which remained in 3D. You know, and see how the vibrations reacted because, within the water, you could see the vibration of the sound. And so he shot all sorts of instruments and different kinds of music at this water bubble.

Tell us about the glove. Why that instrument?

I’m in love with space exploration, mostly because of the perspective-shifting transformational power that it has to get us to think way outside of ourselves, way outside of our moment in time. So that’s really what drew me to astronomy and then just to the greater exploration of space. I saw this beautiful woman named Imogen Heap at a WIRED conference and she was presenting this new technology. And she had done a performance that was so astounding to me because of the way she was able to dance through her song. It seemed so

MaryLiz Bender onstage with Twin Limb at Forecastle 2017. | PHOTO BY NIK VECHERY.

natural. The first thing I said was those are the best instrument for space travel. They’re tiny, they’re lightweight, and they hold every instrument within them because the gloves are just synthesizers. They’re MIDI controllers. The only issue is that it opens up an entire universe of possibilities that you’ve never had before. For right now, I’m really focused on this project where I’m going to be taking them up in a zero-g flight to see how the motion sensor functions in zero-g.

The complexity of that is how do you train non-musicians? Because the astronauts they picked are not musicians. Every time I say I’m going to teach you how to use the gloves they are like, ‘Oh, but I’m not a musician,’ and I’m trying to break down that barrier.

Are your programming presets into the glove software like guitar, piano or drums?

That’s what I originally set up. We’ve got a few other presets that we’ve been working with, like cello and harp, because it’s fun to kind of pick with your fingers because you can get really granular. I don’t want humans to go to space constantly dreaming of what they had back on earth and trying to reproduce what was. I want something new.

I want to push the bounds of exploration with this instrument, with sound, with the way that music or art or whatever is made, or how we express and we connect with ourselves and each other.

Part of the project is creating a time capsule. Tell us about that. How do you plan to effectively communicate with the future?

I called up my friends who own archmission.org. They are concerned with preserving all of human knowledge and wisdom and tradition and absolutely everything just in case something happens to humans. They’re really focused on preserving our beautiful intelligence because it would be terrible if we somehow lost it in one meteor impact, in some kind of extinction event. They are taking all of these capsules and shooting them into space, sending them to the moon, and burying them in caves throughout the world so that if something were to occur and we lose information, we can always get back to it. • Find out more, or donate to her trip, at cosmicperspective.com.

FOOD & DRINK

RECOMMENDED

THE MAGIC BEHIND THE VEGAN COMFORT FOOD AT V-GRITS

By Robin Garr | LouisvilleHotBytes.com I HAD a pit beef barbecue sandwich the other day that was so good it made my head spin.

And here’s the kicker: This sandwich was vegan, made from vegetables, without a trace of meat.

How can this be? This sandwich, so delicious that I can still taste it in my mind’s palate a couple of days later, came from V-Grits, not just one of my favorite vegan restaurants, but one of my favorite restaurants… period.

What do I like so much about V-Grits?

We have to start with the food, of course.

Chef/owner Kristina J. Addington makes it happen with a commitment to making vegan comfort food – and craft beer, too – entirely from scratch. Addington builds excellent fare that could pass for beef, pork, chicken, ham and more, entirely from vegetables, without any highly-processed or additiveloaded ingredients.

Supporting this toothsome vegan fare is a green, spare-the-Earth-and-all-that-is-in-it philosophy, one that V-Grits expresses on its website: “V-Grits vegan restaurant and Chimera Brewing have strong values — social justice, racial equality, access to healthy food for all, animal rights, sustainability.

Join us for vegan comfort food and brewing with benefits.”

What’s “brewing with benefits,” you ask?

It’s a commitment of Chimera Brewing Co., the in-house brewery that Addington and

You won’t believe you’re eating nothing but vegetables when you bite into in V-Grits’ delicious pit beef BBQ sandwich with its tender vegan beef with crisp burnt ends and sweet-hot, horseradish-spicy barbecue sauce. | PHOTOS BY ROBIN GARR.

her husband, Jeff Hennis, purchased from former in-house brewery tenant False Idol just over two months ago. Every sale of Chimera’s 10 beers returns a portion of its proceeds to a Louisville nonprofit supporting racial equality, food justice, animal rights, foster care and other worthy causes for social change.

V-Grits was around for years as a food truck, meal service and product line, but it landed as a full-service, brick-and-mortar restaurant and brewery in October 2018, taking over a space where The Highlands meets Germantown. The building was once a dry cleaner, that had long housed The Monkey Wrench.

“We are committed to making every ingredient from scratch, including all of our vegan meats and cheeses,” the website pledges. “Let us prove that you can still enjoy flavorful comfort food without animal products. Please use us as a resource for your own food journey. We will patiently answer and help with any dilemma you may face, from wondering where your protein will come from, to attending family barbecues.”

The “vegan Southern comfort food” menu is extensive, with more than three dozen items subdivided into salads, snacks, mac and cheese, skillet fries, sandwiches and such, entrees and a bunch of sides.

Pricing makes meat look expensive, though,

V-Grits’ beans and greens bowl blends a healthy mix of kale, collards, and turnip greens with smoky pinto beans, tender rice and your choice of grilled vegan chicken (pictured) or BBQ tofu.

LEOWEEKLY.COM // JANUARY 13, 2021

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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT | BOOKS

FOOD & DRINK

CHARLES DODD WHITE TACKLES NEO-NAZIS AND RURAL CORRUPTION

By T.E. Lyons | leo@leoweekly.com How Fire Runs by Charles Dodd White (Swallow Press; 272 pgs., $22.95)

The chef salad at V-Grits includes vegan ham and turkey and coconut bacon along with tomatoes of many colors, fresh crisp lettuce, and more.

with entrees and some of the sandwiches topping out at $13.

The menu is not coy about calling vegan protein meat, either. They don’t put quotes around meat or cheese, and they don’t come up with funky names like “chik’n” or “beefy.” It is what it is, and what it is is good.

We snacked on a set of three fried mac bites ($8). Three crisp, thickly-breaded and perfectly-fried spheres the size of ping-pong balls were filled with a rich, creamy portion of mac and spicy vegan cheese made from cashews.

A vegan beans & greens bowl ($12) would have been a complete success even without the grilled vegan chicken on the side. Smoky, tender pinto beans were mixed with a combination of long and slow cooked kale, collard and turnip greens atop a mound of well prepared white rice. Bite-size cubes of vegan chicken were dense and chewy, perhaps not a perfect match for bird meat but flavorful in its own right. Addington said it’s a mix of wheat-gluten seitan with silken tofu seasoned with poultry spices and veggie broth.

A huge chef salad (a $2 upgrade with a sandwich) was very good, prepared with attentive care. The romaine was torn into large, green and crisp pieces, dressed with a rainbow of halved grape tomatoes that were red, yellow, orange and purple, as well as thick cucumber slices, skin on, and long strips of red onion. Bits of vegan ham, turkey, coconut bacon and crisp croutons

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topped it off. A tub of creamy vegan ranch dressing made it complete.

And then there was that pit beef BBQ sandwich ($12). I’m still marveling over its deliciousness. Built on an excellent burger bun made with brioche, it featured a layer of thin-cut meat, juicy and properly charred with burned bits to contrast with bites of toothsome deliciousness, dripping with a tangy, hot-sweet barbecue sauce and finished with crisp, quick-pickled onions and layer of creamy slaw, Memphis style.

It was amazing, and I couldn’t figure out how they did it, so I asked Addington via Facebook Messenger. “It is seitan,” she said, “wheat gluten with cremini mushrooms processed down to a paste, and lots of spices.

After baking and cooling it, we cut it on a traditional deli meat slicer to get it as thin as possible. Then it is seared to order on our flattop grill with our housemade horseradish BBQ sauce.”

So there you have it. I would go back for more of that sandwich in a Memphis minute.

A generous all-veggie meal that tasted a lot like meat came to $38.10, plus an $8 tip. •

V-GRITS

1025 Barret Ave. 742-1714 vgrits.com

NEO-NAZIS are setting up a compound in rural east Tennessee. The county commissioners see the threat clearly, but they are nobody’s idea of American heroic paragons.

And those new neighbors just love to gain cachet and cash through extortion and manipulation.

Of course violence is a possibility under such circumstances, and there’s gunfire in the first chapter.

But the shooter, and his rationale, and the initial repercussions are not what might be expected. There’s nearcomic confusion, as we are being introduced to the supposed good guys by seeing their hapless sides. Author Charles Dodd White is once again finding new ways to deliver highly-literate Appalachian noir alongside timely food for thought.

The key is highly accomplished character development. For example, the sheriff here doesn’t readily earn readers’ admiration. Yet he’s evenhanded, some of his smart-ass humor works, and he knows his job.

As if having some guns pulled out of their hands wasn’t bad enough for that commissioner and his peers and peeps, further frustrations follow. The new-to-town exploitative canards begin to accomplish a gradual triumph of the will, winning local acceptance through tactics like journalistbaiting, while keeping their most thuggish sides under wraps. The primary antagonist extols the message: “We are an intentional community that believes in reclaiming ethnic distinctiveness as part of our cultural identity. As part of that goal, we firmly support the laws and principles of the American ideal of individual expression and the right to self-protection.” Then he goes to his home and plans to amass a fortune by putting some innovation into local drug deals.

The supposed heroes talk a good game,

but their actions continue to fall short of each other’s expectations. Meanwhile, readers are shown how some of the bad guys’ recruited muscle might have relatable concerns. If there are moments where the novel’s pace sags (a traumatic turkey hunt could’ve used some trimmings, if you’ll pardon the pun), readers experienced with White’s previous novels will know that a minor request of patience will pay off, come the denouement.

Sure enough, the climactic section bursts with action that’s particularly gripping due to what’s come before.

Twists and comeuppances resonate. The grand arcs as well as intimate subplots become much more dynamic as they are whipped in metaphorical (and literal) storm.

We become a reflection of how we survive, White’s best work often says. Everything can generate the challenges that lead to our survival struggles: it could be accident of birth or a failure or success of community acceptance. Hearts and hormones can place us on the most reckless path or may ask us to see vital support where it’s not apparent. And, as people who live close to the land keep reminding us, nature will demand that it be allowed to play its hand — which often dwarfs what everyone else has tried to make happen.

Poet Jesse Graves will join the author for this week’s virtual event hosted by Carmichael’s Bookstore. Register under Crowdcast by clicking through the Carmichael’s website.

CHARLES DODD WHITE

[with Jesse Graves] Thursday, Jan. 14 Carmichael’s Bookstore [virtual] www.carmichaelsbookstore.com

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Full list at LEOWEEKLY.COM/DISTRIBUTION LEOWEEKLY.COM // JANUARY 13, 2021

19

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT | THEATRE

ONSTAGE ALONE

STREAM THE LATEST ONE-PERSON PLAY

BY PANDORA PRODUCTIONS

By Marty Rosen | leo@leoweekly.com COLMAN DOMINGO’S “A Boy and His Soul,” which Pandora Productions is offering in a superb streaming production over the next two weekends, is a one-person play.

But that’s really just a technicality of casting: only one actor occupies the stage. But that actor is the brilliant Tony Smith, in a virtuosic turn that confirms him as one of the city’s finest performers.

The play is Domingo’s theatrical memoir of growing up as a bespectacled violin-playing nerd in West Philadelphia. As it opens, the 30-something Domingo has taken on the job of organizing the sale of his parents’ home after they decide to move back to their Southern roots. The Philadelphia house is cluttered with memories: an ancient, artificial Christmas tree, a rusty Easy-Bake oven, an old rotary phone, a disco ball.

But most important of all, the house still holds Domingo’s musical memories — stored on 8-track tapes and crates of vinyl LPs that, over the course of the play, will serve to prod his memories of his mother’s cooking, of butterbeans and backyard barbecue, Baptist preachers, family reunions and fried chicken dinners.

The recorded soundtrack to this play is as much a character as Domingo’s father and mother, his sister Kate and all the other folks in Domingo’s life.

And Smith rides the soundtrack like a masterful DJ. There are moments where he recounts the names of artists as if he were preaching in wonderment a liturgy of soul: “Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Curtis Mayfield, Donny Hathaway, The Sylvers — big-ass Afros.” And as the music and his memories intertwine, the story weaves a tapestry filled with subtle wit, broad humor and a rich sense of time, place, and family.

The play is filled with anecdotal episodes about the tensions and joys experienced by a young man with a nerdish interest in classical violin in a world filled with tumultuous rhythms. And it’s an especially complicated time for a youngster growing up gay. But Domingo’s story pulses with joy and affection. It’s a story that requires a mercurial shapeshifting, with formidable acting chops to navigate its crosscurrents — and Smith inhabits the part as if he’d created it himself.

Like every performing arts company in the world, Pandora Productions was forced

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LEOWEEKLY.COM // JANUARY 13, 2021

to pivot last spring when the coronavirus hit. In an interview, Michael J. Drury, the company’s artistic director, said that he and the company’s board considered a range of options, including staging a season of plays with smallish casts of two or three.

Eventually, though, they settled on a season of four one-person plays.

It’s a decision that was largely driven by safety considerations, but also turns out to be a kind of symbolic response to a year in which the world has collectively experienced an unprecedented kind of isolation.

For Drury and company, it’s also been a season of innovation and experiment. This is the first time during Drury’s tenure that the company has staged one-person productions. It’s a challenge for any actor to work solo, without anyone else on stage to share the energy and rhythm of a script. An edited “filmic” approach might have minimized some of the challenges, said Drury.

But he and the company have been committed to hewing to the principles of live theater.

“It’s an ephemeral art,” Drury said.

The company has never videotaped its productions, because for Drury that runs counter to the essential aesthetic of theater. And, though this season’s productions have been a learning experience, Drury observed that he and his crew (including three cameras) are striving to create a production that has the urgency and immediacy of live theater.

“I’m not directing the play for video,” Drury said. “It really is a production that we just happen to be videotaping and are delivering virtually rather than directing it to the camera.”

Drury noted that he’s received a bit of criticism about that decision, which was made early in the season. A few weeks back, said Drury, he considered changing his approach. But when his husband, Lane, overheard the conversation he urged Drury to stay the course, saying, “I actually enjoy that it looks like a theatrical production and

Tony Smith in ‘A Boy and His Soul.’

the actors are not facing the camera.”

You can judge for yourself by screening the production.

In March, Pandora’s season continues with “Tru,” a play by Jay Presson Allen based on the writings of Truman Capote. In May, Drury himself will star in the premiere of a commissioned work, “I Profundis,”

by Jack Wallen, about Oscar Wilde’s time in prison after his conviction for “gross indecency.” •

“A BOY AND HIS SOUL” January 15-17 and 22-24 Streaming on demand pandoraprods.org $22

Tickets for the first weekend are discounted 50% and will be available after midnight Thursday using the discount code: C-PandoraGift.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT | ART

(UN)KNOWN PROJECT ANNOUNCES ITS SCULPTOR, WILLIAM DUFFY PROJECT WILL ‘PAY REVERENCE TO UNKNOWN NAMES OF ENSLAVED PEOPLE’

By Erica Rucker | erucker@leoweekly.com THE (UN)KNOWN PROJECT by poet/author Hannah Drake and IDEAS xLab aims to acknowledge and honor the enslaved African enigmas who sought freedom from the muddy shores of the Ohio River in Louisville.

Last year, IDEAS xLab and the Unknown Project put out an open call for artists in Louisville and Indiana. This week, they announced local stone sculptor William Duffy as the chosen artist. He will create Limestone Reconciliation Benches that will be installed this spring or summer on the riverfront. A walking path of footprints will lead to the benches.

“Duffy understood the importance of the (Un)Known Project in a time when our city, state and this nation are having a day of reckoning when it comes to dealing with racism in America,” Drake said. “Duffy understood the importance that this was not just about public art but a space that we could activate on the Waterfront to pay reverence to unknown names of enslaved people.”

The Ohio River was once called “the most beautiful river in the world” by slaveholder, hypocritical “abolitionist” and founding father, Thomas Jefferson. He noted its “current gentle, waters clear, and bosom smooth and unbroken…”

A few hours to the South, more than 400 people were enslaved at Monticello, Jefferson’s home in Virginia, all while he claimed to be opposed to their enslavement. For so many enslaved people, clamoring towards freedom, the Ohio was the final geological hurdle in the battle for a life of autonomy.

At least 20 of those enslaved at Monticello made the journey that included a crossing of the Ohio.

One day while standing on the banks of the Ohio in Louisville, Kentucky, Drake wondered who those enslaved in Kentucky were and what they were thinking as they walked to the banks of the Ohio looking at the prospect of freedom just a mile across

Hannah Drake. | PHOTO BY JOSH MILLER.

William Duffy. | PHOTO BY JOSH MILLER.

in Indiana. This sparked her idea for the project.

“Unknown. The word itself is difficult for me to process. How can someone be unknown? Black men, women, and children were here. They existed. They lived,” said Drake, who works as Ideas xLAB’s cultural strategist.

For the most part, very few names are known that do not treat the person like property.

“Sadly, it is always the same story,” Drake told WFPL News’ Stephanie Wolf in August of last year in a story that appeared on National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered.” “We don’t have their names or their names weren’t written down as a name.

They were a property so they were written down as a thing. So this is not Hannah. This is a negro gal.”

There is one couple, Lucie (aka Ruth) and Thorton Blackburn who escaped from Louisville via the Ohio River, eventually settling in Michigan before being recaptured. Their story gets deeper.

While in jail in Michigan, the Blackburns

were allowed visitors. Lucie was freed by switching clothes with one of her two visitors, Caroline French. Thorton, whose emancipation was complicated by shackles, was freed a day later by an uprising of the Detroit Black community — 400 Black men showed up to free Thorton. The treatment of the Blackburns was the kindling that set Detroit’s first race riots in motion. During Thorton’s escape, a sheriff was mortally wounded, but it was Thorton’s escape that angered Detroit’s white citizens who turned up the volume on the rioting, harming Black businesses and citizens, apparently a common theme for angry white folks throughout history and in current events. See Jan. 6, 2021.

The Blackburns, however, made it to Canada and were promptly arrested with Michigan officials requesting their extradition back to the United States. Canada had recently passed laws saying that unless a crime was committed under Canadian law, then fugitives could not be extradited. Their freedom was secured and the Blackburns started a successful transportation business.

The story of the Blackburns is a rarity.

Most folks fall under the umbrella of (Un) Known, and that is what Drake seeks to

change.

“It is incumbent that we acknowledge the unknown people whose names were hidden, buried, disregarded and intentionally erased from history,” said Drake.

In choosing the artist to take the helm for the sculpture, “We included all of the project partners along with Ed Hamilton and muralist Jaylin Stewart to review the applications,” says Drake.

Choosing Duffy, a local artist with over 40 years experience and a lifetime of memories along the banks of the Ohio, adds a full-circle moment for Black artists in Louisville. Duffy who was part of the Black artists’ collective, Montage, a group formed to help promote Black artists that included artists like Hamilton and G. C. Coxe, plans to collaborate with metal artist Dave Caudill on the final build. Duffy’s work on the (Un) Known Project will join the river works of his fellow Montage artist, Hamilton, who has two sculptures along the Ohio, one of Abraham Lincoln and the other of the enslaved member of the Lewis and Clark expedition,York. • Visit ideasxlab.com/unknown for more information.

LEOWEEKLY.COM // JANUARY 13, 2021

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Unfortunate events, old-style C.I.A. whistle-blower Philip Encountered by chance Subject of a Magritte work (or not?)

Simple palindromic reply to ‘‘Madam, I’m Adam’’ Fiscal year div.

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How-to manual component ____ learning Richard of ‘‘Chicago’’ Mount ____, workplace of the Cyclopes in Greek myth Having a very high body mass index Singer with the 2020 album ‘‘A Holly Dolly Christmas’’ Problems with streaming Puller of strings?

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SAVAGE LOVE

By Dan Savage | mail@savagelove.net @fakedansavage

CUM AGAIN

Q: As you can see by my signature, Dan, I’m a linguist. On your podcast you frequently ask researchers “whatchyougot” on all kinds of sex- and romance-related questions, I thought maybe you’d be interested in some expertise on linguistic matters too. And I have some on “cum,” “cumming,” and (shudder) “cummed.”

The technical term here used among linguists for this kind of phenomenon is “peeve.” Let me clarify, it’s not the “cum,” “cumming,” and “cummed” that’s a peeve but the shuddering. You see, the snide sound there is due to the fact that causes peevers to shudder causes linguists to get interested. The point is language always changes, and linguists are interested in these changes however much they horrify normal people. (That’s our technical term for non-linguists.) Grandparents are forever lamenting about how their grandchildren’s generation is ruining the language.

Documentation of this phenomenon goes back to the Roman times. And indeed generations upon generations of grandchildren turned Latin into Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, Catalan and host of lesser known forms of ruination.

In terms of the sticky substance at hand (or on hand), cum as a verb and cumming are just alternative spellings, which are common enough for slang. It’s slang! You really gonna insist slang follow uptight and buttoned-down spelling rules, Dan? That’s just stoopid. Cummed is more interesting— and also causes peevers to shudder—because it’s a real change in the language. But why shudder? Why not appreciate it instead?

“Cummed” shows us how creative we are with our language, how we play with it, and in this case do something useful, differentiating the sublime “got off” (climaxed) from the banal “got there” (arrived).

Don’t fall into useless peeving, Dan! You’ve famously instigated language change. Just ask Rick Santorum, your former college roommate, or the men who’ve cummed and cummed hard while a nice vagina-haver pegged their ass.

Michael Newman Professor of Linguistics and Chair Department of Linguistics and Communication Disorders Queens College/CUNY A: Thank you for taking the time to write, Professor Newman, and please forgive me for peeving you. But the sticky issue for me—if you’ll pardon the expression—remains the seemingly unnecessary and arbitrary use of an

alternate spelling in this one instance. As I’ve said before, no one is confused when someone calls a person a “dick” in print and then goes on to wax poetic about the dick they sucked in the next sentence. If we don’t have to spell it “dik” when we’re referring to male genitalia— or the genitals of penis-havers—I don’t see why “come” needs to be spelled “cum” when referring to someone climaxing or when referring to ejaculate. Of all the words out there with more than one meaning—dick, dong, cock, pussy, beaver, box, crack, rack, sack— why does this one require special linguistic treatment?

Q: Interesting take on cum..... as your column ventured into linguistics. How do you feel about “tonite” for “tonight” or “lite” for “light”? Inquiring minds want to know.

Commonly Used Mutated Spellings A: I made inquiries at the website of the world’s best dictionary (and best drag name) Merriam-Webster, CUMS, where I learned tonite is “a blasting explosive consisting of a mixture of guncotton with a nitrate” and lite means “made with a lower calorie content or with less of some such ingredient (salt, fat, or alcohol) than usual.” So you can have dinner tonight and wash it down with something lite, CUMS, but don’t have tonite for dinner unless you want to light yourself up.

Q: I basically agree with your views about spelling the verb as “come.” However, I think one could be a bit more nuanced about usage here. “Come” is rather polite and could easily be used in a romantic context (“Oh god honey I’m about to come”) whereas “cum” has a definite “let’s fuck” feel to it (something not unheard of in your column). Different contexts call for different styles, perhaps. I would also like to make an outright exception for the substance “cum,” which I feel should always be spelled with a “u.” For the noun, using the “u” hardly seems vulgar at all. One might wonder why cum seems more appropriate for denoting semen. I can think of two good reasons. First, “cum” evokes “scum,” which matches the feelings of some (benighted) people that cum is slimy and disgusting. And secondly, the final letters “um” occur in some medical terms—all nouns— which relate to sex, like pudendum, scrotum, rectum, flagellum, perineum. This is a very different association than scum but also seems like part of the story, at least to me.

TK

A: Hm… I agree that an alternate spelling when referring to ejaculate could be helpful.

But context also provides clarity. If a man and/ or penis-haver says, “My come was everywhere,” no one thinks his/hers/their orgasms are Jesus Christ or dark matter—literally everywhere throughout the universe—but rather that he’s/she’s/they’re exaggerating about the volume of a recent orgasm to make a point about the intensity of pleasure he/she/ they derived from it.

Q: I’ve been a copy editor for 15 years and a Savage Love reader for much longer. I wanted to chime in on fellow Canadian COME’s letter about the “come” vs “cum” spelling. I fully agree that as a verb, it should be “come” and “came/coming” instead of “cummed/cumming.” But there is a place for “cum”: as a noun when referring to the actual gooey substance (aka semen, ejaculate, spunk, etc). Consider the sentence, “I have come in my mouth.” Are you announcing an act of autofellatio (talk about a cumblebrag!) or are you describing a substance someone else left behind? Or, “How did come get on my jacket?” Doesn’t that just look like a mistake? Millennials love turning nouns into verbs (adulting!) but I think using “come” as a noun is incorrect. And what about describing something as “cummy”? How would you spell that? Comy? Comey? Perhaps we can all come together on this: “come” for the verb of achieving orgasm; “cum” for the noun that describes the resulting emission.

Copyeditor Uses Modification For A Noun A; Your argument convinced me, CUMFAN. If everyone else agrees to use “come” for the verb, I can swallow “cum” as a noun. The copy editor carries the day!

Q: You were close with your advice to Cabin Fever, the man whose teenager was derailing his sex life, but it was still a miss. Instead of telling his kid to “take a fucking walk,” per your advice, he should use the moment to teach. As you said, Dan, even teenage boys realize that happy-and-still-in-love parents are a good thing. So instead of being confrontational, CF and his wife could laugh and pay their son the compliment of being honest: “We enjoy sex but we don’t enjoy it with you in the next room any more than you enjoy hearing it.” Then come up with someplace for him to go for a few hours that HE wants to go to and make it happen. By being upfront they’ll be modeling healthy adult behavior and a healthy and adult approach to problem solving. This is truly an opportunity for good parenting.

Mom And Dad Are Fucking A: While I did advise CF to tell his kid to “take a fucking walk” when mommy and daddy

wanted to peg, I expected CF to approach that conversation in a tactful and constructive manner. That said, due to the pandemic, there aren’t many places for a kid to go when his parents are fucking. A walk, for now, may be their best option. If CF’s family doesn’t already have a dog, perhaps they should get one.

To my readers: There are more important things happening in the world right now than disputes over sexual slang, I realize, but I hope today’s column was a welcome and fleeting distraction from the news… kinda like that viral video of the sweet guy whose cat won’t let him make his audition tape. I am following the news and reacting in real time on Twitter, if you care to hear what I have to say, and like all sane people everywhere I am equal parts furious and mortified. Donald Fucking Trump and every last one of his coconspirators in his family, in his administration, and in Congress belong in prison with every last traitor who stormed the U.S. Capitol last week. Impeach the motherfucker again and indict all the motherfuckers already. mail@savagelove.net Follow Dan on Twitter @FakeDanSavage.

On the Lovecast, Dan and Michael Cee discuss “the wife sharing lifestyle.” www.savagelovecast.com

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LEOWEEKLY.COM // JANUARY 13, 2021

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A.

CATEGORIES:

Literary Literary Lite WRITING: (1) Short Fiction (up to 1,000 words) (2) Poetry (up to 48 lines) CARTOON: (3) A single-page cartoon. Can be either a single or multiple panel cartoon.

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

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

B.

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

Submission Fee: Free!

Literary Literary Liter Literary LEO is accepting submissions at leoweekly.com from Monday, Jan. 4 at noon until Monday, Feb. 8 at noon.

THE RULES (please read carefully):

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

C.

Picture your picture on the cover of LEO.

Imagine your fiction, poetry or cartoon published in our pages.

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.

Literary

Literary

Lite

LEO LEO LE Winners will be published in the Literary LEO issue.

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PHOTOS: Files must be submitted as a .JPG and in a resolution of at least 200 dpi, with 300 dpi preferred.

SHORT STORIES AND POEMS: Text must be submitted in one of these formats: Word (.DOC or .DOCX) or Rich Text (.RTF). For all entries, the title on the document must match the file name. For instance, if the poem is called “Roses,” then the file name will be “Roses.” If the piece does not have a title, then use “untitled” in the file name and on the document.

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

D.

You may submit one entry in a single category or in all of them. Do not include your name or any personal identification on your submissions. Stories, poems or photos with names or personal identification will be disqualified.

LEOWEEKLY.COM // JANUARY 13, 2021

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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