âLetâs Check The Boardâ
LOUISVILLE
FASHIONISTA BECOMES TIKTOK STAR
RaeShanda
Lias-Lockhart
+
HOW BLACK HORSE OWNERS ARE WORKING TO RECLAIM THEIR HISTORY


+
HOW BLACK HORSE OWNERS ARE WORKING TO RECLAIM THEIR HISTORY
BRECKENRIDGE LANE #170. LOUISVILLE, KY 40207 PHONE: (502) 895-9770
Lasting Legacies
Sat, Oct. 14, 2023
(Un) Silent Film: Nosferatu & A Symphony of Horror
Sat, Oct 28, 2023
FILM SERIES
The Nightmare
Before Christmas
Wed, Oct. 18, 2023
Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince
Wed, Jan 17, 2024
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
FOUNDER
John Yarmuth EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Erica Rucker,
Giselle Rhoden, Gracie Vanover
Robin Garr, T.E. Lyons, Christina Estrada, Dan Savage, Tim Sullivan, Jason Gonzalez, Jeff Polk, Tracy Heightchew, Carolyn Brown
Zelman
Keating, Michael Wagner
Volhein
Sat, Feb. 17, 2024
Bolero & Friends
Sat, Nov. 18, 2023
Together in Song
Sat, Jan. 13, 2024
Magnificent Voices
Sat, Mar 23, 2024
FAMILY SERIES
Composing a Story
Sat, Oct. 7, 2023
Santa's Symphony Spectacular
Sat, Nov 25, 2023
Constructing an Orchestra
Sat, Feb. 3, 2024
NIGHTLITES
Lasting Legacies
Fri, Oct 13, 2023
Bolero & Friends
Handel's Messiah
Fri, Dec 1, 2023
Magnificent Voices
Fri, Nov. 17, 2023 Fri, Mar 22, 2024
Mahler 6 Sat, Apr 27, 2024
Creators Fest
Sat, May 11, 2024
Fright Night
Sat, Oct. 21, 2023
Holiday Pops
Sat, Nov. 25, 2023
Queens of Soul
Fri, Jan 19, 2024
March Music
Madness
Sat, Mar 16, 2024
Mariachi Fiesta
Sat, Apr 6, 2024
Our KY Home Sat, Sep. 16, 2023
Special Guest: Chris Thile
Film: The Nightmare
Before Christmas
Wed, Oct 18, 2023
Fri, Nov 17, 2023 1 2 3 4
Fri, Jan 19, 2024
NightLites: Bolero & Friends
Classics: Mahler 6 Sat, Apr 27, 2024
POET, writer, and activist Hannah Drake said something on Twitter, two weeks ago, during the moments after the mass shooting that is on my mind today. She said, âLouisville itâs okay to just pause for a minute. The meeting will still take place. The email will get sent. The phone call will be made. All the stuff will still be there tomorrow and the day after that. Itâs okay to just sit for a minute.â
It is this quote, amidst all the other stuff Iâve read and digested over the last couple of weeks, that I keep coming back to. Itâs a refrain in my head when I get rushed at work, and I reďŹect on how easy it is to let myself get bogged down in the mess of simple day-to-day living.
Iâm reaching the point where a pause is not only necessary, but mandatory. Sometimes, when weâre in the grind, we are hustling to meet the goals of an organization or ourselves and forget to check our own gas meters.
As I clocked in my 70th hour last week, I felt it. The heavy shoulders, the desire to stay in bed â despite commitments that normally are enjoyable but seemed like one more thing on top of a long week â came crashing in on me this past weekend.
Iâm tired. But itâs not just me.
We all experienced a collective trauma recently. And every day in America, we are reinforced with the knowledge that that trauma will be repeated. Time will not slow down. Work will still go on, and weâre expected to âsuck it up, buttercupâ and perform.
Fuck. That.
Drakeâs advice is the right advice for this time, and anytime. The world doesnât collapse when we pause. We should have learned that lesson during the COVID
shutdown. When we spent those two very scary but quiet and eerily calm weeks at home, the world didnât stop when we stopped. The air grew cleaner. Waterways became clearer, and instead of cars, we could hear the world around us. It was a communal deep breath, and aside from the circumstances of the virus, we all needed that moment.
So this week, my editorâs note is this: stop moving. Read Hannah Drakeâs words. Itâs ďŹne for just a bit to stop doing. Weâve convinced ourselves that âmoving and shakingâ gets us ahead, and weâre stumbling our foolish lives toward disaster. Weâre making mistakes in places we shouldnât make mistakes, angry with each other, killing each other, and in the process, ourselves. On top of it all, we are just not enjoying life, and Iâm making that change a priority.
Iâm slowing down. Some things might not get done as quickly, and yâall might have to wait an extra minute for a concert announcement, but youâll still get it. I
Iâm making this claim to say, I want you to join me in âjustâ a pause. âJustâ a moment so that we both can breathe, look at each other without the whir of movement, and acknowledge that weâre still here. âThe meeting will still take place. The email will get sent. The phone call will be made. All the stuff will still be there tomorrow and the day after that.â
So, just sit for a minute, reďŹect on Drakeâs very wise words. Iâll be sitting, pausing, resting with you. â˘
WE LIKE IT WHEN YOU TALK TO US, EVEN IF YOUâRE UPSET. THIS SPACE IS FOR YOU. SOMETIMES, WE TALK BACK.
ITâS hard to bloom in the shadows with little nurturance and parents who struggle just to survive. My maternal grandparents barely obtained sixth-grade educations and lived with cousins, uncles, and aunties on the same street and often in the same houses, not much different from my fatherâs childhood story.
They found one another amidst this poverty and ignorance, and I ďŹnd these same themes haunting my family story for generations to this day.
Grandmother Mary and her entire family came up from Tennessee and left the sawmills for the coal mines. Grandpa Rubin was born in St. Charles, KY, was without a mother by the age of 9, and an orphan by the age of 16. Census reports have him living in Hopkinsville, KY with his father in boarding houses or with his paternal grandmother, Francis. Francis was widowed twice and left with ďŹve children to raise, so the marriages came and went until her ďŹnal husband, T. Matheny, welcomed her, her sons and grandkids into his home.
I have stories of Francis that ďŹoat through my head from time to time as I can only imagine the stiff chin and resolve it took to deal with a world without womenâs rights and men who were either from money or doomed to work the ďŹelds, sawmills and coal mines instead of seeking an education or having any other way to move up in the world. Francis came from money and landowners, but her name and the ďŹnances were lost by her grandfather who was hanged for his love of drinking, greed, and ďŹnally, murder.
On May 1, 1846, at the age of 14, Francisâ mother Mary, witnessed her fatherâs public hanging. It was the ďŹrst public hanging of a a white man in KY, and brought crowds from all over Muhlenberg. Mary stood by her belief that he was an upstanding man. Following this, for Mary and Francis, I imagine life to be hard for them with the disgrace of this event.
They both found marriages quickly in order to survive. These were women who existed in a world that limited them to marrying well, having babies and daily housekeeping. Their lives were ingrained in fundamentalist religion, and the rights of men alone.
Francis married twice. She named her ďŹrst son, Eugene Alonzo Stewart, after the grandfather she never knew, who was hanged. Being the namesake of the disgraced Edward Alonzo Pennington was likely more of a curse for her son because he ended up alone with a daughter, and my grandfather Rubin. Census shows Stewart living as a boarder with his two children alone not long after his only marriage and ďŹnally back with his mother, Francis. He died of tuberculosis at the age of 43, and his mother, Francis raised Rubin to his adulthood.
This was a time when communities mainly met through churches, and the Stewarts found themselves immersed in fundamental religious rhetoric. Whatever old money that brought my Stewart family to Kentucky was soon absorbed by the effects of greed, harsh living environments and religious hell-ďŹre rage.
Rubin, now an adult who grew with little guidance and a lot of ďŹght, raised his family with no concern for education or personal growth, ruling over them by the gun and the Bible. This led to mental illness, physical sickness, supported abuse, incest, continued poverty and no accountability for the hands that molded the family at the time. These events sparked the beginning of family secrets that have passed through generations in my family â and continue to this day.
The shame of how America came into being â how my family came to being â continues to haunt us all and many do not want their children to be educated about these shameful histories. The curses of our pasts continue to recur, not just in my family but in most of the families I met in my over thirty years of social work.
We must acknowledge the stories of the past or we will relive them over and over again. The deterioration of families has broken my heart on both personal and professional levels in my ďŹfty-three years of life. I accept my role as an agent of change early on. I simply could not stop myself from speaking and questioning what I saw and I could not look away.
If we hide the shame, these stories disappear and the abuse the people struggled with to survive will continue in later generations. The elders must learn from and continue to share their experiences. If not, the oppressed often becomes the oppressor. By never letting go of the shame, we risk raising future generations of oppressors and continuing the cycles of poverty, hatred and stunted personal growth. I have witnessed this time and again in my own family history. It must end. â˘
Christina Estrada is a lifelong seeker of light in the darkness wearing a variety of hats, including, but not limited to: student/teacher, survivor/healer, mother/child, therapist/client, introverted extrovert. At present, a disabled wife and mother with stories and thoughts from ďŹve decades of life and 30 years of social work, inpatient and outpatient.
âHe could have won by 10 more, 15 lengths more,â jockey Ron Turcotte said in an April telephone interview. âI was satisďŹed that he was running good, to save for the Belmont.â
A $2 win ticket, worth $2.60 that day, was priced at $4,000 recently on eBay.
Silly me, I cashed my ticket.
âI know as a boy I could remember sitting in front of the television watching him run,â Louisville-based trainer Kenny McPeek said. âI think I was 10. And I know today itâs the reason Iâm in horse racing.
âHe was beatable, but he certainly captured the hearts and minds of racing fans and others. Putting him on the cover of Sports Illustrated was a big deal. He deďŹnitely fueled my interest in horse racing as a boy.â
Amy Lawyer, chair of the University of Louisvilleâs equine industry program, encountered Secretariat as a young girl during his stud career at Claiborne Farm. The granddaughter of the late Kentucky basketball coach Joe B. Hall, Lawyer remembers her brush with equine greatness vividly.
âHe was out in his paddock and he was impressive,â she said. âHe knew he was gorgeous, he knew he was special, and he knew people were there to see him. He came running at a full gallop up to the fence and just stopped. I remember reaching through the fence and petting his shoulder and how vividly bright he was, so much more than other chestnuts.â
WE were standing near the rail as the horses emerged for the post parade, a pair of racetrack rubes poised to gawk at greatness.
It was May 19, 1973. Preakness day at Pimlico. A chestnut colt won the Kentucky Derby in record time and, having never before attended a horse race, a couple of curious college students drove to Baltimore to see what the buzz was all about.
Sham, a brilliant horse born the wrong year, was ďŹrst on the track for the dayâs feature race. He wore the No. 1 saddle cloth indicative of his post position, and carried the young LafďŹt Pincay Jr. on his dark bay back. He looked sleek and powerful to the untrained eye â as he surely did to the smarter money â every bit what you would imagine a racehorse to be.
Then we caught a glimpse of Secretariat. And he looked like a monster. Or, as Pimlico general manager Chick Lang put it, âlike a Rolls-Royce in a ďŹeld of Volkswagens.â
Fifty years later, memories may be unreliable. But I distinctly remember being struck by Big Redâs shiny coat, his broad chest and his imposing muscles and thinking, as Nicely-Nicely Johnson had, âI got the horse right here.â
He was running last when we lost sight of him entering the ďŹrst turn that day at Pimlico, but he rocketed to the lead by the time he came into view again on the backstretch, and was still ďŹrst to the ďŹnish line, 2 1/2 lengths ahead of Sham. Nearly 40 years later, correcting a clock malfunction, the Maryland Racing Commission decided Secretariat had run another record time: 1:53.
Secretariat would ultimately own the fastest times in all three Triple Crown races, and still does 50 years later. If he was not the greatest racehorse in history â and Man oâ War may be the only other thoroughbred worthy of consideration â he retains a mystique unmatched in his sport.
âHeâs Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods. . .â trainer Tom Amoss said. âWhen you watch Secretariat run, itâs the rare horse you can watch on video and see him actually visibly accelerate on the screen. The horse that accelerates so much that you can see it with the naked eye, thatâs what separates Secretariat.â
There have been four Triple Crown winners in the half-century since Secretariat swept the three races in 1973 â Seattle Slew, AfďŹrmed, American Pharoah and Justify â but none of them have inspired as much idolatry as the one known as Big Red. The great golfer Jack Nicklaus confessed in an interview that he cried while watching Secretariat win the Belmont by 31 lengths, but wondered why.
âAll of your life, in your game, youâve been striving for perfection,â CBSâ Heywood Hale Broun told him. âAt the end of the Belmont, you saw it.â
Though born in Virginia and raced only once in Kentucky, Secretariat is the subject of a new three-story mural in Paris, Kentucky; he has inspired multiple statues in the state. In a 2020 computer simulation produced for NBC, Secretariat beat Citation by a head in a race matching racingâs 13 Triple Crown winners.
Dead since 1989, his legacy lives on.
I saw him there, late in his life, on a pilgrimage from Cincinnati. Swaybacked but still majestic, he was led out of his stall to receive visitors. We gawked again at his greatness. â˘
sassyfoxconsignment.com
As if LMPD needs more fodder to make themselves ridiculous, it seems at Thunder Over Louisville this weekend, a few o cers posed for a pic with a young Thunder attendee wearing a hoodie that said, âProfessional Rawdogger.â Apparently, itâs a thing, and not just something Nick Cannon does.
ROSE: SECRETARIATâS WIN TURNS 50
This Derby Favorite clocked the fastest Kentucky Derby in history, and now this monumental race turns 50. There are exhibits at the Kentucky Derby Museum and a lot of folks telling their Secretariat stories. We have one in the book this week from sports writer Tim Sullivan.
Also absurd but fun fact: LEOâs Editor also turns 50 this year, and each member of her family (parents and sibling) was born on a Triple Crown Year.
THORN: ANOTHER WEEK OF INACTION
Two weeks have passed since we lost the lives of six Louisvillians in a mass shooting. Nothing has changed, of course and the weapons that make so many mass killings easy are still readily available for purchase. So this thorn, is a permanent marker until something changes and America stops being a killing eld.
THORN: FIRE AT NATURAL BRIDGE
This article originally appeared on Inside Climate News, a nonproďŹt, independent news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. It is republished with permission.
THE ADMINISTRATOR of the Environmental Protection Agency recently used the smokestacks of Louisianaâs âCancer Alleyâ as the backdrop to announce new rules aimed at reducing harmful, toxic emissions from chemical and plastics plants across the country.
âFor generations, our most vulnerable communities have unjustly borne
the burden of breathing unsafe, polluted air,â Michael S. Regan, the nationâs top environmental regulator, said from behind a podium bearing the EPA seal, with grazing cows and one of the regionâs ubiquitous chemical plants in the distance behind him.
Manufacturing facilities potentially subject to the new emissions controls, from New York to Oregon, are concentrated along the Gulf Coast in Louisiana and Texas, with clusters in Kentucky, Ohio and West Virginia. They often emit chemical byproducts that have been linked to cancer and other health risks and disproportionately impact communities of color and low-income white neighborhoods.
Kentucky has the fourth-largest number of facilities that potentially fall under the proposed regulations, at 10, according to data from EPA and the environmental group Fracktracker. That includes four plants in Louisvilleâs Rubbertown area: Zeon Chemicals, Chemours, American Synthetic Rubber and Hexion. Other potential plants covered by the regulations include Westlake Vinyls in Marshall County, Dow Chemical in Carroll County and Marathon in Boyd County.
Neither the Louisville Metro Air Pollution Control District nor the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet had an immediate substantive response to the EPA proposal. Energy cabinet
125 acres of land at the Natural Bridge have burned. The cause of the re is still under investigation, and while Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear says the re is contained, it still is a bummer when we lose natural beauty to re. The trails, cottages and parking adjacent to the area will remain closed pending a review by the park sta .
THORN: HIRING âKILLERâ COPS
Protesters in Carroll County are carrying signs in Carroll County. According to the Courier Journal, one sign read: âNo Knock Killer Kop.â They are protesting the fact that Carroll County Sheri âs Department has hired former LMPD o ce Myles Cosgrove. Cosgoveâs red the shot that killed Breonna Taylor. Despite him being red from LMPD in January of 2021, Carroll County claimed the fact that Cosgrove had not been charged in her death made him eligible for hire and that he passed their background checks.
spokesman John Mura said state ofďŹcials were reviewing the proposal and declined further comment.
âItâs kind of big. Weâre looking at it and trying to ďŹgure out what it means,â Matt Mudd, spokesman for the Louisville agency, said on April 7 of the EPA proposal.
These plants are already subject to what the EPA considers to be âmaximum achievable control standardsâ to limit pollution.
But the proposed rules announced earlier this month will require additional pollution control measures to counter continuing health risks those communities still face despite existing pollution controls. The new rules also reďŹect more current research ďŹndings on health risks from some chemicals, like the carcinogen ethylene oxide.
It has been nearly two decades since the rules were last updated, so action was long overdue, environmental advocates said.
Neither the Louisville Metro Air Pollution Control District nor the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet had an immediate substantive response to the EPA proposal. Energy cabinet spokesman John Mura said state ofďŹcials were reviewing the proposal and declined further comment.
âItâs kind of big. Weâre looking at it and trying to ďŹgure out what it means,â Matt Mudd, spokesman for the Louisville agency, said on April 7 of the EPA proposal.
These plants are already subject to what the EPA considers to be âmaximum achievable control standardsâ to limit pollution. But the proposed rules announced earlier this month will require additional pollution control measures to counter continuing health risks those communities still face despite existing pollution controls. The new rules also reďŹect more current research ďŹnd-
ings on health risks from some chemicals, like the carcinogen ethylene oxide. It has been nearly two decades since the rules were last updated, so action was long overdue, environmental advocates said.
⢠ethylene oxide, a ďŹammable gas used in manufacturing other chemicals that go into making a range of products, including antifreeze, textiles, plastics, detergents and adhesives.
⢠chloroprene, a liquid used in the production of neoprene at the Denka plant in La Place, Louisiana. Neoprene is found in wetsuits, gaskets, hoses and adhesives. EPA considers it likely to cause cancer in people.
⢠1,3 butadiene, a highly ďŹammable gas primarily used to make plastic and rubber products.
⢠benzene, a highly ďŹammable liquid used to make other chemicals that go into plastics, resins, nylon, adhesives, sealants and synthetic ďŹbers. Itâs also used to make some types of rubbers, lubricants, dyes, detergents, drugs and pesticides.
⢠ethylene dichloride, a highly ďŹammable liquid used to make plastic, polyvinyl chloride, resin, other chemicals and in the manufacturing of petroleum and coal products.
⢠vinyl chloride, a colorless gas usually handled as a liquid under pressure, used to make polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic and vinyl products.
Some of these chemicals, like ethylene oxide and chloroprene, are emitted from a relatively small number of facilities. Others are more widely used.
The EPA inspector generalâs ofďŹce last
Sponsored by
Mega
Saturday, May 13, 2023
Adoptions from 12-4 p.m.
Kentucky Exposition Center Pavillion
Join us at LOU ADOPTS!, a mega adoption event to find loving homes for nearly 100 adoptable local dogs and puppies from seven local shelters!
Admission and parking are FREE!
Enter through Gate 4 and park in Lot J.
Scan now to learn more or visit kyhumane.org/louadopts
year found that the EPA needed to act on chloroprene and ethylene oxide, saying EPAâs modeling and monitoring indicated that as many as a half-million people in some areas of the country may be exposed to unacceptable health risks from them.
In making its announcement, EPA said its proposal would update several regulations that apply to chemical plants. The proposed rules would reduce 6,053 tons of air toxics emissions each year, which are known or suspected to cause cancer and other serious health effects.
Facilities that make, store, use or emit ethylene oxide, chloroprene, benzene, 1,3-butadiene, ethylene dichloride or vinyl chloride would be required under the new rules to monitor levels of these air pollutants entering the air at the fenceline of the facilityâsomething that environmental justice advocates across the country have been advocating for years. EPA would also make the monitoring data public.
Fenceline monitoring amounts to more than tracking emission levels at a chemical plantâs property line, said Jane Williams, executive director of California Communities Against Toxics, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit that prompted the EPA to act.
âThey have to manage their plant to the metric,â she said. âItâs not just monitoring.â
She described fenceline monitoring as âthe police body cams of the chemical industry.â
The rules also seek to address another frequent complaint from people who live near chemical plants â that the EPA has been too lax regarding emissions released
during start-ups, shutdowns, emergencies or malfunctions.
Federal courts have told the EPA since 2008 that chemical plants cannot use events like malfunctions or shutdowns as broad exemptions to clean-air regulations, said Kron, the Earthjustice attorney.
Along the Gulf Coast, environmental advocates have complained about emissions related to disturbances from major storms, such as hurricanes, and malfunctions that cause plants to relieve pressure by burning off or âďŹaringâ chemicals in pipes or tanks, often sending ďŹames or smoke billowing into the air.
These can cause âhuge toxic releases and the way the rules are written, that is completely permissible,â Kron said. âThat needs to change.â
Regan seemed to agree.
âCommunities donât stop breathing during a hurricane,â he said. âThey donât stop breathing during an event. It is the companyâs responsibility to control their pollution.â
Environmentalists expect robust industry pushback during the rule-making process, which will include a 60-day comment period and at least one virtual public hearing.
âI expect the industry to buck and scream and go to Congress,â said Williams, the California activist. âWe look forward to working with the administration to ensure the ďŹnal rules remain as strong as the rules proposed today.â â˘
fees will vary by shelter. Jefferson County adopters will be required to pay a $10.50 licensing fee for each adoption. All the dogs and puppies will be spayed/neutered, micro-chipped and up-to-date on vaccinations.
âA LOT of you have said, âRaeShanda, youâre not Mrs. Garrett, but you stay giving us the facts of life.ââ
If youâre a fan of TikTok, chances are youâve âbeen to the boardâ with RaeShanda Lias-Lockhart of All is Fair in Love and Fashion (or @shopaif), a womenâs clothing and accessories boutique. Even as Lias-Lockhart preps her store (online and by appointment only) for the coming Kentucky Derby season, her viral videos offer common sense advice, which she delivers at her dry-erase board. Lias-Lockhart also meets her followers â some of whom are also patrons of her business â online during live events where she talks about new products and shares insight into how she approaches TikTok. Meeting Lias-Lockhart âat the boardâ or at a live event offers just a taste of the content and hard work that has made her famous. Lias-Lockhart has over two million followers on TikTok and comes close to 100,000 on
Instagram. Opening up with LEO, she shares her journey to TikTok stardom, making clear that despite this recent bit of fame, sheâs already had quite a journey from homelessness to business owner and now muchsought-after online personality.
Initially, Lias-Lockhart used Facebook for her clothing business but resisted TikTok. âI was like, âI donât know what to do on TikTok. Iâm not getting on TikTok, itâs another app that I have to be active on,ââ Lias-Lockhart said.
Lias-Lockhart started using the app so that she could watch other creatorsâ videos. In March of 2021, she posted a few videos of her own. After one went viral, she began to ďŹnd a rhythm.
âI just started posting, like, my rules for life, and, like, three or four months in of posting, something went viral and it just went from there.â
Lias-Lockhart began introducing her
family â her wife LaShondra and their ďŹve children (four of RaeShandaâs and one of LaShondraâs). Within a year, her following had grown to one million.
Lias-Lockhart doesnât do a lot of planning for her videos. Much of what she shares comes to her in a moment. She also doesnât necessarily spend entire days on social media.
âI used to post, like, once, maybe twice, a day. Now, I just post whenever, because everything I post and everything I do is off the cuff anyway. Itâs not written down anywhere. So if I think about something, I post it, especially at the chalkboard,â she said.
The chalkboard is where Lias-Lockhart explains simple life lessons and points out obvious truths like the importance of having the right outďŹt for a BeyoncĂŠ concert â a nonnegotiable must â or how to protect oneâs peace from those who donât have the best intentions. Lias-Lockhartâs intuitive
responses to simple dilemmas provide almost mini-therapy sessions in the span of a TikTok minute.
âNo, itâs not wrong to feel the way you feel, and itâs not okay for you to be around people that you kinda like, or you donât wanna be with,â said Lias-Lockhart. âEspecially coming from someone that has no problem with saying no. I love a good âno.â I keep one in my holster daily to dish out to anybody. And I feel like a lot of my friends ⌠They have anxiety and they suffer because they donât know how to say no to people.
âSo, that was very freeing for me to start just letting people know, âYou donât have to deal with fake friends,â or, âItâs not even really that youâre dealing with fake friends, itâs that youâre putting people in categories that they donât belong and youâre getting hurt.ââ
Lias-Lockhart learned these life lessons early â before she began her boutique sell-
ing womenâs clothing and accessories and before becoming a TikTok sensation.
Born in Chicago, Lias-Lockhart grew up in Mississippi after moving there with her mother when she was about six years old.
At 13, Lias-Lockhart gave birth to her ďŹrst child, but when the father of her son â and then later a different boyfriend after him â each died tragically in a car accident, her mother suggested that perhaps men were not for her. To Lias-Lockhart, the joke made perfect sense and she followed her heart, meeting her ďŹrst girlfriend just before leaving for the military at 19.
Even so, during her service in Frankfurt, Germany, Lias-Lockhart married a man and became the mother of three more children. After the military, she moved back home to Mississippi.
Lias-Lockhartâs story could make quite a movie. The usual life highs and lows are there, but throw in a natural disaster and a family betrayal to the tune of $30,000 and it becomes the stuff of Hollywood.
It was Hurricane Katrina â which hit the Gulf Coast in 2005 â that brought her for the ďŹrst time to the Bluegrass State in 2006.
âI had a college friend here in Kentucky. And when Hurricane Katrina came through, she suggested Kentucky. And I was like, âKentucky? People donât wear shoes in Kentucky,ââ Lias-Lockhart laughed.
The friend reminded Lias-Lockhart that she was also from a state ridiculed as an impoverished backwater.
âShe said, âGirl, you are from Mississippi,ââ Lias-Lockhart recalled. âI was like, âTouche.ââ
Lias-Lockhart moved herself and her children to Frankfort, Kentucky, where she began working as a ďŹnancial aid ofďŹcer for Kentucky State University. At KSU, Lias-Lockhart ďŹnished her degree.
Lias-Lockhart went back to Mississippi to start a nonproďŹt, but after losing a large sum of money to a family member, she packed up her family and left Mississippi in a ďŹt of anger in the middle of the night.
Thatâs when she found her way to Louisville. She was broke, hurt, and homeless â living with her kids in a pay-by-the-week motel off Preston Highway.
âI didnât know anybody here. I found a temp job through Kelly Services. Started working at Republic Bank,â said Lias-Lockhart.
âI remember looking through the newspaper, and nobody at work knew I was homeless, but this one lady next to me was like, âIf youâre looking for a place to stay, donât stay in West Louisville.â And I was like, âWhy not?â She didnât know that I didnât have a place to stay and I didnât know there were different sides to Louisville or whatever. And she was like, âJust donât stay in West Louisville.â So of course I found a home and it was in West Louisville on Greenwood and Cecil Ave.â
In that home, Lias-Lockhartâs life changed forever. One night, in October 2012, she started a Facebook page: âAll Is Fair in Love and Fashion.â
âI was just putting together style ideas for women,â she said. âSo if youâve ever seen those collages with the shirt, pants, and shoes with nobody in them, I started posting those, and something I posted went viral,â she said.
âI went from 200 followers to 2,000 followers to 200,000. Somebody suggested, âWhy donât you start selling these clothes that you were posting?â I was like, âI donât wanna do retail.ââ
Lias-Lockhart was still working another job. However, the encouragement from a follower in Atlanta helped Lias-Lockhart decide to start selling the fashions sheâd been styling for free. The follower asked Lias-Lockhart to be a buyer for a boutique in Georgia. Lias-Lockhart agreed and did the job for a few months. Then the fol-
lower told LiasLockhart that she was going to teach her how to run her own boutique.
That follower, Shelly, remains a friend today.
Connecting with her wasnât Lias-Lockhartâs only moment of serendipity.
âOne of the amazing things is there was a grant coming up, a revitalization grant, and it was only for people that lived in West Louisville. And I said, âHad I listened to that lady at my job, I would not have gotten the $15,000.ââ
Lias-Lockhart, then shipping worldwide from her home in West Louisville, was the only online store to get the grant.
But her story certainly doesnât end there. She began her business, ďŹrst ďŹnding a location in the Heyburn building in downtown Louisville, and then opening a short-lived retail space in Oxmoor Mall in East Louisville. But the regular retail life didnât suit Lias-Lockhartâs tastes. She preferred the online, appointment-only approach.
While growing her business, she hired herself as her own public relations manager. She used the internet to ďŹnd contacts for local news outlets, sending releases titled, âFrom Homeless Vet to a Six-Figure Business.â
Local news outlets loved her story, and that press found its way to producers at âThe Steve Harvey Show.â After an appearance there, Lias-Lockhartâs business continued to expand, and â amid everything else â she found love with her now-wife.
That also happened online.
âI donât even know how we became Facebook friends,â Lias-Lockhart explained. âShe just posted like two, three days ago that weâve been Facebook friends for 10 years.
I made a post that I was sitting at the gas station waiting for someone to pump my gas âcuz I donât pump gas. And she commented, âBless your heart.â And sheâs from Texas. I know what that means. Sheâs judging me. She inboxed me and was like, âI would like to take you for coffee.ââ
Lias-Lockhart gave her response in the same blunt fashion that has made her famous, âAnd I was like, âCoffee? Iâm not 70 years old.ââ
âShe was like, âWell, I would like to get to know you.â I said, âI eat and you can take me to dinner.ââ
Their dinner at Mesh lasted four hours, and maybe a week later, LaShondra surprised Lias-Lockhart at her boutique.
âShe came to the boutique and brought me â âcuz I donât like ďŹowers â she brought me a bowl, a spoon, some Fruity Pebbles, and some milk.â
The couple ended up on âSay Yes To The Dress,â tying the knot in 2019.
âShe clowns me all the time,â said LiasLockhart. âShe is the one that will humble me at any moment. But we kind of⌠we just mesh. We are both Leos.â
LaShondra â whose last name is also Lias-Lockhart â is a property manager in Louisville and a minister. She features prominently in RaeShandaâs videos. The couple laughs together, sometimes works together, and openly supports each other.
âWeâre extra and over the top and thereâs nobody to calm us down. There needs to be a balance. But itâs not, you know, thereâs no balance in this house. Itâs just extraness everywhere,â said Lias-Lockhart.
Just after the couple married, COVID-19 shut down the world, and Lias-Lockhart had to ďŹgure out how to maintain her business, which was also closed due to Governor Andy Beshearâs order.
âI was in bed for seven days. When I say, throwing up, sliding down the wall sick. I was like, âIâm gonna be back homeless, eating beans out of a can.â âWhat do you mean with all businesses?â I was freaking out. In bed seven days, and every day, my wife, cuz sheâs an essential worker, so she still had to go to work, and sheâd come in there and be like, âBabe, itâs gonna be okay.â And Iâm like,
Lias-Lockhart said that on the eighth day of her panic, she got out of bed and had a conversation with God, asking what she should do. Realizing the need for masks would grow, she found a way to get masks and other personal protective equipment from her manufacturers in China. Within days, sheâd sold $50,000 worth even while donating to essential health workers, the National Guard, and other frontline workers.
By December 2020, sheâd paid off her debt and continued to tuck money away in savings. And today, as the world emerges from isolation and needs something fabulous to wear, business is better than ever.
This April, Lias-Lockhart held her eighth Derby fashion show at Fourth Street Live!, the sold-out event previews Derby-appropriate looks because the right outďŹt is a Derby obligation. Some proceeds from the Fashion show are donated to the Louisville TAPP school for teen mothers.
For those of us in the Louisville area, a trip to the board or to visit Lias-Lockhartâs boutique is closer than TikTok: Lias-Lockhart and her wife LaShondra live in Jeffersonville, and Lias-Lockhartâs boutique is in Clarksville just minutes from downtown Louisville. She is open by appointment only (connect with her through social media or at shopaif.com).
For Lias-Lockhart, the journey through fashion and social media has been life-changing.
âItâs just been an amazing ride. And thatâs what I mean when Iâm talking about the power of social media. It changed my life and my childrenâs life before I even met my wife.
And now it has changed our lives. I always hold onto that good part of it. I donât venture off into anything else and weâre fun and upbeat. Iâm a really light person.â
Lias-Lockhart wants folks to know what social media can do in a positive way. She also reminds people that even while she maintains a positive page, she still faces adversity as a plus-sized, Black, gay woman and that sometimes being on social media has its drawbacks â particularly when followers push past her boundaries, forgetting that what you see on social media isnât the whole story of her life.
âOur page is fun and light,â said LiasLockhart. When folks forget the tone of her content and make inappropriate comments, she steps in: ââNow I gotta check you,â which I enjoy doing. But I think that people are⌠they get too familiar with the parasocial relationships, that they forget that because you love somebody or love watching their content, you forget that they are human.â
Lias-Lockhart sees âthe boardâ as the perfect chance to correct, in a fun way, those who breach her boundaries.
âI am cute and we can kiki and haha, all day, but weâve got real issues that we deal with as Black people and as women,â she said. âSo, I love the social media part of getting to tell people that.â
These days, Lias-Lockhart is in full Derby mode, adding new items to her boutique and online shop. Sheâs also still making content at âthe boardâ for those who need a reminder â and sometimes, thatâs even herself. â˘
WHAT do you do if you canât secure a place at a table in which important decision-makers and business titans are gathered?
You bring your own chair. Representation matters.
Diversity, equity, and inclusion arenât always prioritized in the horse racing industry. White men have historically dominated every facet of the fabled sport of kings, including owner, trainer, groomsmen, and jockeys.
Greg Harbut, an African American and proprietor of Harbut Bloodstock Agency, has established a reputation as an expert in his respective ďŹeld. His astute analysis and forecasting of successful racehorses have paid dividends as we saw three years ago.
Harbutâs horse, Necker Island ran in the Kentucky Derby.
âYou know itâs very hard to get to the Kentucky Derby,â Harbut told LEO Weekly.
âAbout 35,000 or so horses are born every year. Only 20 horses line up in the starting gate and you only have one chance to get to it, because youâre only allowed to run in it as a three-year-old.â
Since the launch of Harbut Bloodstock Agency 12 years ago, Harbut has purchased a litany of Grade 1 winning horses, as well as providing opportunities for minority owners to invest in a horse of their liking, by purchasing shares in a particular horse.
âOne of the things that we pride ourselves on, is we get individuals involved
from an ownership standpoint,â Harbut said. âAnytime you have an ownership stake ... you have a bigger voice. I think if we can get a lot more individuals involved in ownership ⌠[it] has a domino effect where you see individuals involved ⌠as well within the industry, whether it be employment, whether it be potentially serving on different capacities boards and other things of such.â
Harbutâs ties to ownership in the horse racing industry have spanned multiple generations. He was thrilled to join his grandfather who ran Touch Bar in the 1962 Derby.
However, Black individuals are frequently underrepresented in executive leadership positions and at the highest levels of administration in the sport. Though Harbut
is an exception, Black racehorse owners are uncommon. In fact, it would be challenging to locate trainers or groomsmen of color.
At 80-1 odds, Rich Strikeâs victory at last yearâs Kentucky Derby did a lot more than upset the apple cart and make the racing gods angry. The win at Churchill Downs spotlighted Jerry Dixon Jr.; Rich Strikeâs groomsman as just one of the few Black horsemen in a profession that African Americans had a ďŹrm hold of. As was seen when the likes of Oliver Lewis, Isaac Murphy, Dudley Allen, and many others crossed the ďŹnish line ďŹrst in 15 out of 28 Kentucky Derbys that occurred between the years of 1875 and 1902.
But what happened to the Black jockey? When did they become a thing of the past?
âSegregation, Jim Crow, Plessy v. Ferguson is what happened,â Chris Goodlet, historical curator at Kentucky Derby Museum explained. âYou had the dominance of the African American jockey that goes back to European settler colonialism in the country that would eventually be the United States of America. African Americans were the dominant jockeys of that era. ⌠racing is predominant in the South. What was the economy in the South? The plantation. Who ran the plantation? The enslaved. So, the very ďŹrst jockeys in what would be the United States of America were enslaved.â
Jim Crow laws, which were codiďŹed because of the cases of Plessy v. Ferguson and Jim Crow, have impacted African Americansâ lives across the nation, as is seen by the examples Goodlet provides.
âBusiness methods, business operations, the Jockey Club, the governing body of Thoroughbred racing,â all changed according to Goodlet. âWhen you get to the late 19th, early 20th century, [it] makes it very difďŹcult for Black jockeys to get licenses or does not permit African American jockeys to get licenses in the country.â
Fortunately, these racist practices are extinct. But youâd think otherwise when looking for people of color in the crowd at a racetrack or when assessing the media that covers horse racing.
The current lack of representation in the sport has left many insiders with a âbad taste,â speciďŹcally Leon Nichols, one of the founding partners and spokesman of As One Racing, an organization hoping to be a catalyst in the realm of educating and promoting diversity and inclusion throughout the industry.
âItâs really bringing a collective, diverse group of people back to the sport,â remarked Nichols, also CEO and Founder of the Project to Preserve African American Turf History (PPAATH), a non-proďŹt organization whose goal is to bring awareness to the contributions made by African Americans in thoroughbred horse racing. âItâs all about folks who look like me, to serve and be a part of the behind-the-scenes aspect of the industry and then just see where we can take this to.â
According to Nichols, diversity, equity, and inclusion were the pillars on which the sport was built during its most successful and well-known periods.
âAt the core of why itâs important, itâs about business,â Nichols said. âThe bottom line is if this sport doesnât embrace a more diverse and inclusive business model, itâs going to continue to fall out of favor with consumers. ⌠the world is increasingly becoming more diverse and inclusive, and
you look at other sports franchises and properties and look at how theyâre resonating around the world.â
Enter Allen Carter and Leslie Nichols.
At Carterâs and Leslieâs Silver Springs Farm Eqwine and Vineyard in Lexington, history is both mellowed and heightened. The married couple of over 25 years makes the most of their 22 acres. Together they raise racehorses, make wine, and provide visitors with a distinct farm housing experience.
âMy grandfather and father were in the horse racing industry, so Iâve always been around horses all my life,â said Leslie, former basketball player and coach at the University of Kentucky. âWe bought the farm, with my dad being involved, he took care of Sunday Silence ⌠and so when we bought the farm, we actually got a horse which we were thankful enough about Dad to be able to kind of advise us on how to take their things and stuff.â
During this time Carterâs interest in horse racing took a similar trajectory to that of his wife. Princess Laila, his ďŹrst thoroughbred, won a race in its ďŹrst three tries. Carter would bring Princess Laila home, where she served as a broodmare.
âThe farm started off as Silver Springs distillery and then James Peppers, the big bourbon guy, purchased the farm and he made bourbon out here for years,â said Carter, former running back for the University of Kentucky. âIt started off as a distillery and Iâm just bringing back the old distillery. I asked Leslieâs dad, could you ďŹnd me a horse? Cause I canât cut 22 acres of grass.â
The Cartersâ success in the industry may be the exception that proves the rule. Harbut, whose accomplishments offer another, recognizes and appreciates the strides that have been made in the sport that raised him, heâd be remiss not to mention that systemic racism pushed away others that looked like him away from the table.
âThere was obviously a force that drove African Americans out of the industry,â Harbut said. âAs I see it, a lot of the people that I encounter every day in this business are very welcoming. Theyâre very accommodating. This is an industry that I am proud to be a part of. But it would be naive of me to believe that certain individuals, certainly not all, but some individuals may have unconscious biases. So, like any sport or business, there are individuals that are going to have unconscious biases of our obstacles that we have to overcome as Americans or minorities in general.â â˘
This is about an order of the United States District Court for the Western District of Kentucky entered March 17, 2021, which certified a settlement class and granted Preliminary Approval of a settlement by Order entered March 17, 2023, Tyrome Lott v. Louisville/Jefferson County Metro Government, et al. This Notice is to inform you that the class action case is pending, that preliminary approval of a settlement has occurred and to advise you of your rights as a potential class member.
The members of the settlement class, as certified by the Court, include: All persons with vehicles registered to them whose vehicles were assessed a storage fee in excess of $10 for each of the first seven days a vehicle was in storage, plus a $5.00 fee per day for each additional day thereafter that a vehicle remained in storage since on or about February 2, 2008. All class members who do not exclude themselves from the class action on a timely basis (as described below) will be bound by the orders issued by the court regarding the class action. You should carefully read this entire Notice before making any decision regarding the class action lawsuit.
The class action alleges that Louisville/Jefferson County Metro Government has been overcharging for storage of vehicles impounded at the Louisville/Jefferson County Metro Government Tow Lot since February 2, 2008, in violation of Ordinance 76.062. The Class action is seeking a determination that the fees and charges were improper because they exceeded the limits authorized by Ordinance 72.062. The Class action also seeks reimbursement for amounts overpaid and damages. You can view the Complaint and the Courtâs Order at www.LottClassAction.com. Louisville/Jefferson County Metro Government denies any liability to Plaintiff and the class on the claims asserted in the Complaint. No trial has been held on the merits of any allegations against Louisville/Jefferson County Metro Government or its defenses. This Notice is simply to advise you of the nature of the proceedings, the Courtâs class certification ruling and your rights associated with that ruling; and does not imply that there has been any finding of any violation of the law by Louisville/Jefferson County Metro Government specific to you or that recovery may be had by you in any amount.
If you fit the description of a class member, you have a choice to remain a member of the class, submit a claim, request to be excluded from the class, or object to the Settlement. Any choice will have its
YOU OWN A VEHICLE THAT WAS STORED BY THE LOUISVILLE-JEFFERSON COUNTY METRO GOVERNMENT FROM FEBRUARY 2, 2008 TO THE PRESENT, YOU COULD BE ELIGIBLE FOR MONEY FROM A SETTLEMENT.
Waterfront Park (Great Lawn) | 231 E. Witherspoon St. | discover.kdf.org/run-for-theropes/ | Free | 5:30-7 p.m.
THROUGH APRIL 30
garner narrative contemporary ne art | 642 E. Market St. | garnernarrative.com | Free
My favorite part of Derby season and one of my favorite assignments last year! OVW stars will duke it out in a series of outdoor matches, including an âEvery Man for Himself Free-For-All.â The ght card includes Jessie âMr. PEC-Tacularâ Godderz, Mahabali Shera, Leila Grey, Hollyhood Haley J, and more. Pro tip: Arrive at least an hour early if you want to get barricade access or sit on the bleachers. When I went last year, the standing-room-only crowd was at least 4-5 people deep around the ring for most of the event â and a ringside view is very worth it.
Cherokee Triangle | 2100 Cherokee Pkwy., between Willow Ave. and Cherokee Road | cherokeetriangle. com | Free | 10 a.m.-6 p.m.
After o cials canceled the Cherokee Triangle Art Fair in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic, last yearâs reemergence was well received. The 2023 fair (its 51st) continues the celebration that heralds spring in all its glory. Thereâs a lot to appreciate about this fair, but the location and art are its standouts. With over 200 booths, the juried artists show a diverse selection of media, techniques, and prices. Plus, thereâs food and entertainment. âJo
Vernon Lanes | 1575 Story Ave | tinyurl.com/bdev6xe6 | $7 | 9 p.m.
Dancer James Jackson will be hosting and teaching a 45-minute beginners salsa dance lesson at Vernon Lanes. DJ RobertĂłn will also be playing salsa, bachata, timba and kizomba. So what are you waiting for? Get on that dance oor! âGracie Vanover
Lennon Michalskiâs current solo show at garner narrative was tornado driven. In December 2021, an EF-4 tornado devastated parts of Kentucky. Michalski realized not only homes and businesses were leveled but communication and technology were dismantled as well. âThere was great displacement of personal and mental self when the connections between technology and individuals were severed during and after the storm,â he said. âThis intensity birthed a whirlwind of emotions that pushed and pulled the community apart, but equally together.â âJo Anne Triplett
THURSDAY, MAY 4
The Monarch |1318 Bardstown Rd. | themonarchmac.org/| Free; donations accepted | Doors at 7 p.m.; show 8-10 p.m.
ARTxFM âThe Deep Endâ host and former Crain and Cerebellum member, Joey Mudd will perform his solo project Pale Blue Star at creative hub and social club The Monarch. Combining acoustics and electronics in a unique solo performance, minimalist country music artist Scott Richter, who recently performed in Europe, will take the stage later. âAmy Barnes
Speed Art Museum | 2035 S 3rd St. | speedmuseum.org | Free with admission | 5 - 8 p.m.
This monthâs 1st Thursdays at the Speed will have you embracing your inner artist. Anyone 14 and older is invited to the costumed gure drawing workshop. Take the opportunity to draw a live model dressed in costumes inspired by exhibits at the museum. Whether youâre the next Michelangelo, or youâre best coloring between the lines, the Speed will provide all the drawing materials you need to make a perfect portrait. You can also bring your own dry media materials, if youâre really a Picasso at heart.
âGiselle RhodenThe Whirling Tiger | 155 Story Ave. | fb.me/ e/3swukezpP | $15 | 8-11:45 p.m.
The Ritchie White Orchestra will perform at the Whirling Tiger. Benny Clark (formerly with Elliott, Falling Forward) plays guitar with seasoned Louisville music veterans Mary Brown Feiock, Brett Holsclaw(drums), Mike Bucayu, and frontman, Cesar Padilla.âAmy Barnes
FRIDAY, MAY 5 â SATURDAY, MAY 6
Highway 62, Southern Indiana | scenic62yardsale.com | No cover | Times vary
Getting out of town for Derby might be wise, especially because you wonât have to deal with the congested tra c. If youâre looking for a scenic drive â and some shopping â this 30-mile stretch of community yard sales on Derby weekend might do the trick. âCarolyn Brown FOR SALE
SATURDAY, MAY 6, SUNDAY, MAY 7
Rice Island | 296 Valley Rd |
| $10 | Times vary
Start summer a little early with a trip to the Corydon Circus! See old fashioned circus acts such as magicians, trapeze artists, clowns, and so much more.
Saturday, May 6 has three shows at 11:00 a.m., 2:00 p.m., and 5:00 p.m. Sunday, May 7 has two shows at 2:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. So grab your popcorn and enjoy the show! âGracie Vanover
TUESDAY, MAY 9
LGBTQ+ Book Club May Meeting | 1244 S 3rd St | facebook.com | Free | 7 - 8 p.m.
APRIL 27 B L I P P I *
c a a m p *
may 17
The Louisville LGBTQ+ Book Club is coming up on their May meeting, and the book is intriguing. âThe Prettiest Starâ by Carter Sickels, a novel focused on Brian, young gay men whose livelihood is destroyed during the AIDS epidemic in the late 80s. The story re ects on what it means to nd family, love and freedom in a harsh and often bigoted world. This book de nitely seems like it will be worth the read and a great addition to the Book Clubâs reading list. âGiselle
Carmichaelâs Bookstore | 2720 Frankfort Ave. | carmichaelsbookstore.com | Free | 7 p.m.
Frank Bill has lit a re to a concept of violent, practically surreal con ict erupting from his highly literate mind and centered inâgo gureâsouthern Indiana. Exploding onto the scene with his short stories, then a novel that runs wild with outlaw sports (âDonnybrookâ) and a survival story for a simply stark apocalypse (âThe Savageâ), now we have a very personal look into something even more realistic. âBack to the Dirtâ digs into the emotional, medical, economic, and criminal dead-ends facing many of Americaâs veterans. The novelâs plot has Appalachian noir spun up in an in-your-face frenzy, yet the characters who stand or fall can be seen in those among your neighbors who pursue desperate long-shot opportunities or substance-fueled oblivion. The authorâs style of descriptive viscera isnât just clipped hereâitâs jagged. The taleâs relationship to the Vietnam tour of duty of Billâs father makes a compelling reason to catch this reading/signing appearance. Kyle Minor, himself an edgy and enigmatic gure, will join the conversation.âT.E. Lyons
Kentucky Fine Art Gallery | 2400-C Lime
Kiln Lane | kentucky neartgallery.com | Free
Artists like to be part of the Derby universe too, so youâre guaranteed to see art shows with a Derby theme. Sure, equine art abounds, but there are as many ideas as there are artists. The Kentucky Fine Art Gallery is a collaboration between artists Jaime Corum, Susan Hackworth, Robert Halliday, Greta Mattingly and David O. Schuster. Corumâs superb equine portraits are a staple in horse county, while Schusterâs realist paintings put viewers in the Derby action. Hackworth, Halliday and Mattingly have carved out their own niches as well, in horse illustrations, jockey silk abstracts and impressionistic Derby moments. âJo Anne Triplett
APRIL 27 A D A M D O L E A C
APRIL 28
S i x t e e n C a n d l e s :
T h e U l t i m a t e 8 0 s
T r i b u t e
APRIL 29
may 2
B o n n i e R a i t t *
may 19
t H E P R I N C E
E X P I E R E N C E
r O B E R T P L A N T &
A L I S O N k R A U S S *
may 4
F A T H E R J O H N M I S T Y
may 5
may 7
s e a l *
may 10
s t r y p e r
may 10
A l i c e C o o p e r *
S p e n c e r C r a n d a l l
may 20
l i l i a c
MAY 26
b i l l y p o r t e r *
MAY 27
O b i t u a r y
S o r r y P a p i T o u r : T h e A l l G i r l P a r t y
( 1 8 + )
MAY 28
jun 2
S o u t h e r n A c c e n t s : T h e U l t i m a t e T o m P e t t y E x p e r i e n c e
may 11
a l t e r b r i d g e *
jun 9
J a c k s o n B r o w n e *
jun 10
C O R E Y S M I T H
may 12
L a r r y J u n e
may 15
may 11 N O A H T H O M P S O N may 16 c h i
R U S S E L L d I C K E R S O N *
jun 16
june 17
HAVING sold over 50 million records during a career spanning over ďŹve decades, (and still going strong), Alice Cooper certainly needs no introduction. Heâs written some of rockâs all-time greatest anthems; (âIâm Eighteen,â âSchoolâs Out,â and âNo More Mr. Nice Guy,â among many others). And his over-the-top stage show, which is as much campy horror theater as it is rock concert, is one of the greatest spectacles in live music. LEO was recently given the honor of speaking with the man himself ahead of his May 10th performance at The Louisville Palace, and it turns out âThe Godfather of Shock
Rockâ is actually one of the nicest guys in the business!
(This interview has been edited for length and clarity.)
LEO: SO YOUâRE COMING BACK TO LOUISVILLE ON MAY 10TH. DO YOU EVER GET THE CHANCE TO PLAY ANY OF OUR GOLF COURSES?
Alice Cooper: Oh yeah, we play Valhalla and Chariot Run. Thereâs so many good
golf courses there in Louisville. But Ryan Roxie, Chuck Garric and I play at least nine holes every day. We donât play 18 because you save all that energy for the show that night. But everybody looks forward to those nine holes the next morning.
We have a brand new production, but of course weâll do the hits. Iâm not one of those guys that says, âWell, Iâm not gonna do that song one more time.â You have to do those songs because thatâs what the audience wants to hear, and they want to hear them like the record. And this band is so tight. My drummer Glen Sobel won best drummer in rock. Nita Strauss won guitarist of the decade, and sheâs a show unto herself. And Ryan Roxie, Chuck [Garric] and Tommy [Henriksen], youâre talking about the best of the best, which makes it easy for me. And my wife [Sheryl Goddard] plays three of the characters in the show and does all the high vocals.
Weâve been married 47 years. She was a prima ballerina in New York and came into the show when she was 18. We got married the next year and sheâs been in the show ever since. We had a lot in common; we were both preachersâ kids and we both grew up in the church. But I went as far away as I could and then came back, and thatâs really my lifestyle now.
ALICE COOPER WAS PRETTY MUCH THE SAME PERSON ON AND OFF STAGE UNTIL YOU GOT SOBER AND SEPARATED YOURSELF FROM THE STAGE PERSONA. HOW HARD WAS THAT TRANSITION?
It wasnât hard because it was essential. When I got sober, I got a clearer view of things. I realized that the early Alice was sort of societyâs whipping boy. When I got sober, I went âI canât play that character anymore.â I felt great and I needed Alice to now be this really condescending, over the top, aristocratic villain who never talks to the audience, who never says thank you. It makes him scary, but it also makes him funny. I love the fact that you get this guy that just is so self-important up there, but every once in a while he slips on a banana peel and you gotta give him that moment of trying to reestablish himself. To me thatâs always funny, and itâs so much more fun to play that character.
The band and I kept developing it from high school on. We just had this theatrical kind of thing that ran through us. Weâd get up there all
dressed in black with a casket on stage, and anything backstage that I could ďŹnd would be a prop. I could ďŹnd a mop, and Iâd pretend that mop was a girl. It was all just improvised. And when we went to L.A. to make it, the one thing that made us different from the other bands was the visual. People would say, âWhat is that? Who are these guys?â Even Frank Zappa said âI donât get it.â He listened to us and he goes âWhere are you from? San Francisco?â And I go âNo, Arizona.â And he goes, âOkay, now I really donât get it. Iâm signing you to my label and Iâm gonna produce you because I donât get it.â
I canât say a tour, but we still do a lot of writing and recording together. When we broke up there wasnât any bad blood. In the beginning we all pulled in the same direction. Once we made it and had ďŹve platinum albums, we werenât hungry anymore and we started drifting off in our own little worlds. Then Glen Buxton, our guitar player, died and we could never really be Alice Cooper the band again without him. But we never really divorced, we just separated. And weâve written a lot of songs together that will eventually see the light of day.
I always thought an Alice Cooper album was like a little play, and we really work hard at making an opening, a storyline and an ending to it. Iâm not just gonna put a single out, Iâm gonna make an album. Luckily, we were in that golden age where we sold so many records that itâs not money driven anymore. Now itâs just because I want to do it. Why would I start a band called Hollywood Vampires? Thatâs the last thing I need is another band. And yet, thatâs really fun to do. Johnny Depp, Joe Perry, and all the guys that play in that band, weâve been together seven years and thereâs never been one argument. And the nice thing about it is I donât have to play Alice in that band. I love playing Alice in my band because thereâs a story. But with the Vampires, Iâm just Alice Cooper the lead singer. â˘
Alice Cooper brings his âToo Close For Comfortâ tour to The Louisville Palace on Wednesday, May 10. Tickets start at $49.50 and can be purchased through LiveNationâs website, and in person at The Louisville Palace box ofďŹce.
Alicia Keys is bringing The âKeys To Summerâ Tour to the KFC YUM! Center Thursday, July 20, for a little sweet relief from the summer heat. Tickets for the show go on sale to the general public Friday, April 21, at 9 a.m. but pre-sales are happening now. For more information about tickets visit LiveNation.com.
The Grammy Award-winner superstar is hitting the road for 23 arena dates and an entirely new set list and new audience experience with Keys performing in the round on a 360-degree stage. âErica
RuckerThe three-day music festival Poorcastle, a âfest for the restâ that aims to be a more accessible and all-local alternative to Forecastle, released its 2023 schedule earlier this month.
The festival will return to Breslin Park (1400 Payne St.) this year from Friday, May 19, through Sunday, May 21.
Tickets are currently $15 for a single-day pass or $35 for a three-day pass, not including fees.
All times listed below are p.m. Doors open at 1 p.m. each day.
HEREâS THE SCHEDULE:
FRIDAY, MAY 19
2:00 â Stuart Wicke Band
Betty
8:45 â Phourist & the Photons
9:30 â Dream Eye Color Wheel
10:15 â Twin Limb
SATURDAY, MAY 20
2:00 â Kathryn Brooks
2:45 â Lux
3:30 â JustLa
4:15 â Isolation Tank Ensemble
5:00 â Plastics
5:45 â The Daddy Sisters
6:30 â PhatShayn
7:15 â Thee Tabs
8:00 â Feral Vices
8:45 â Cleezy Picasso
9:30 â White Woolly
10:15 â Turbo Nut
SUNDAY, MAY 21
2:00 â Haydee Canovas
2:45 â Falling Tree Way
3:30 â Future Fossils
4:15 â Drift City
5:00 â Bad Wires
5:45 â Mike Bandanna
6:30 â Proles
7:15 â Annapurna
8:00 â YngBndz
8:45 â qwerty
9:30 â Pleaser
10:15 â Kiana & The Sun Kings âCarolyn
University Southeast (Nightlites); and one at Old Foresterâs Paristown Hall (Family Series). Tickets for individual shows are not currently available, but guests can purchase subscription passes for shows in each of the above series. Prices vary by series and seating level, but a subscription to all Classics shows starts at $168.
2023:
Sept. 16 â Classics: Our KY Home
Oct. 7 â Family: Composing A Story
Oct. 13 â Coffee: Lasting Legacies
Oct. 13 â Nightlites: Lasting Legacies
Oct. 14 â Classics: Lasting Legacies
Oct. 18 â Film: The Nightmare Before Christmas
Oct. 21 â POPS: Fight Night
Oct. 27 â Coffee: (Un)Silent Film: Nosferatu & A Symphony of Horror
Oct. 28 â Classics: (Un)Silent Film:
Nosferatu & A Symphony of Horror
Nov. 17 â Coffee: Bolero & Friends
Nov. 17 â Nightlites: Bolero & Friends
Nov. 18 â Classics: Bolero & Friends
Nov. 25 â Family: Santaâs Symphony Spectacular
Nov. 25 â POPS: Holiday Pops
Dec. 1 â Nightlites: Handelâs Messiah
2024:
Jan. 13 â Classics: Together in Song
Jan. 17 â Film: Harry Potter and the HalfBlood Prince
Jan. 19 â POPS: Queens of Soul
SmithLOUISVILLE ORCHESTRA
ANNOUNCES 2023-2024
SEASON
On Monday, the Louisville Orchestra announced its lineup of upcoming programming for the 2023-2024 season, which will also be music director Teddy Abramsâ tenth season with the Orchestra.
The lineup includes events in four series at Whitney Hall at the Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts (Pops, Coffee, Film Series, and Classics); one at the Ogle Center at Indiana
Feb. 3 â Family: Constructing An Orchestra
Feb. 17 â Film: Star Wars: The Force Awakens
March 16 â POPS: March Music Madness
March 22 â Nightlites: Magni�Ĺcent Voices
March 23 â Classics: Magni�Ĺcent Voices
Apr. 6 â POPS: Mariachi Fiesta
Apr. 26 â Coffee: Mahler 6
Apr. 27 â Classics: Mahler 6
May 10 â Coffee: Creatorsâ Fest
May 11 â Classics: Creatorsâ Fest âCarolyn Brown
I hope everyone enjoyed Louisville Taco Week last week and ate your ďŹll. Thereâs a lot to like about a promotion that brings you tacos for $2.50 a plate at close to 20 local Mexican-style eateries!
I had big plans, but peaked too soon. All the advance advertising gave me such a powerful taco crave that I rushed out to Gustavoâs Mexican Grill and ate my ďŹll a week before the event.
It was worth it.
If you missed out, itâll be around again next year, Iâm sure. And similar promotions abound, including Louisville Burger Week, Louisville Hot Brown Week, Louisville Pizza Week, Louisville Restaurant Week, Margaritas in the âVille, and Louisville Wing Week.
Theyâre all worthy, and I hope you enjoy them. Weâre here to talk about tacos and more Mexican culinary delights today, though, and Gustavoâs does them very, very well.
Like several other local Mexican restaurant groups â Los Aztecas, El Nopal, and El Tarasco come to mind â Gustavoâs is the product of
an entrepreneurial immigrant from South of the Border, Gustavo Reyes, who built a popular business with a bilingual menu, friendly servers, and Latin-accented food that pleases just about everyone.
We tried the most recent shop in the group, Gustavoâs Hurstbourne property, which opened about a year ago in the much-renovated and spacious 300-plus seat venue vacated by a Romanoâs Macaroni Grill.
The colorful eight-page laminated menu offers more than 150 options across its eight pages. Dishes are clearly explained in English, so donât fret if you donât know what queso fundido means ⌠you can learn right on the spot that itâs a cheese dip made with Mexican Chihuahua cheese.
Dishes are sorted by category, from appetizers, salads, quesadillas, tortas and sopas through house specialties and signature dishes; steaks, seafood, vegetarian items and chicken dishes, fajitas, combo plates and a lunch menu. Virtually all main-course dishes are $10.99 to $16.99 range, with only a couple of
steak items exceeding that by a buck or two.
Gustavoâs chips and salsa are exceptional: The chips appeared to have been cut from fresh corn tortillas and fried inhouse. Theyâre thick, shattering crisp, and grease-free. The salsa was thick and textured, dotted with bits of cilantro. It comes only in one mild ďŹavor, but bottles of red and green hot sauce are handy on the table so you can doctor your own to taste.
Letâs get right to the tacos: Gustavo declares that its quesa birria tacos ($15.99) use a traditional family recipe. The Jalisco original usually uses goat or lamb meat, but here in El Norte beef is more popular. Gustavoâs uses CertiďŹed Angus Beef, roasted with mild guajillo chilies, herbs and spices, then hand-pulled into tender, toothsome chunks and shreds.
Three large corn tortillas that had been dipped in rich birria broth and grilled were
REVIEW: âNot only is the food extremely unique and absolutely delicious, but atmosphere is super chill and you can tell love and care goes into the entire experience. Absolutely recommend.â
Make sure to visit Facebook for weekly deals and hours!
Spinach salad
avocado
A spinach Salad with avocado and orange ($7.99), marked ânewâ on the menu, was both pretty to the eye and good to eat, remarkable for its generosity and attention to quality ingredients. A big bowl was almost ďŹlled with baby spinach leaves that had been carefully cleaned and sorted. The bowl also held sliced red onions, brown mushrooms, half of a huge perfect avocado, sliced thin and fanned out, and slices of navel orange. It came with a tub of creamy dressing, substituted without comment for the menuâs promised raspberry vinaigrette.
Grilled elote ($6.99) is one of my favorite ways of improving corn on the cob. A very large yellow corn cob â with a stick in the end for easy handlingâ was set up in the traditional Mexico City street-food tradition: Dressed in a light spread of garlicky aioli, then sprinkled with lightly funky grated cotija cheese and chile powder.
Chilaquiles ($8.99) also hit the spot. Fried corn tortilla quarters were slathered with red salsa (you may also choose green), a blanket of melted white Mexican cheese, and a portion of chopped onions. Atop this food mountain were a couple of fried eggs, more red salsa, and grated mild queso fresco. It was a hearty, ďŹlling dish, with the minor complaint that a super-heated serving dish cooked the eggs hard. A little soft yolk
ďŹowing into the tortillas and cheese is part of the joy of chilaquiles, and that wasnât happening here.
fresh oranges is a new and delightful addition to Gustavoâs menu. folded over a generous amount of meat shreds and chunks along with melted cheese, chopped onions and cilantro. A dish of excellent broth for dipping and a small bowl of savory charro beans came alongside. It was an excellent dish. Taco Week? Why wait?
Mexican rice and refried beans on the side were fully satisfying. The rice was ďŹaky with a smoky vibe; the beans were unctuous and smooth.
We didnât get away for Taco Week prices, but a hearty, ďŹlling meal topped out at a reasonable $42.36, plus a $10 tip. â˘
GUSTAVOâS MEXICAN GRILL
401 S Hurstbourne Pkwy. 420-1100 gustavosmexgrill.com
facebook.com/gustavoshursbourne instagram.com/gustavosmexgrill
NOISE LEVEL: There was plenty of buzz during a busy lunch hour, but conversation was never diffÄącult.
ACCESSIBILITY:
The free-standing building appears accessible to wheelchair users. Much of the seating is in booths, but there are plenty of tables that would accommodate wheelchair users.
OTHER LOCATIONS: 6051 Timber Ridge Drive, 434-7266; 10715 Meeting St., 690-7070, 6402 Westwind Way, Crestwood, Ky, 243-6950; and 1226 Market St., LaGrange, Ky, 222-4050.
A Kentucky novelist and a Louisville poet engage in acts of will, exposing vulnerability in memorable ways while subverting some fan expectations. For W. Loran Smith, a change in his nom de plume; for Silas House, a turn toward dystopian ďŹction.
(The Last Confessionalist by Billy Lee; Cheek Press, 42 pgs., $18)
Bill Smith no longer runs a local restaurantâheâs now plenty busy ďŹghting against cancer. Heâs also gotten a micropress to devote energy and resources to give his new collection deserved respect. Getting this one into your hands might be a bit difďŹcult; for sure itâs available on Etsy.
Dragging out his own past â and not putting a gauzy sugarcoating on his youthful mistreatment inside the foster/adoption system â represent just a couple of the courageous acts set to verse here. He considers wasted time as a kind of universal punchline. When focusing on his present, thereâs a paradoxical motif: the modest home he and his singer wife have built enwraps their family cozilyâbut he can align this with being closed-in during MRI scans, or imagining the grave.
Itâs difďŹcult to say whether his diagnosis might contribute to a more-wizened combination of regret and appreciation:
âNow that I can see right through the
papery husks/of all the buried bulbs in my yard.
The pink, blue, yellow, purple summer dreams/at the center of my life.
All these things I used to be too busy for.
Too frightened for.
Too angry for. Too lazy, too pissy drunk, too high, too selďŹsh, and too vain, for sure.â
The occasional shades of personal triumph in these two dozen poems have a realistic strength, event as theyâre seem written with resignationâand coated in dark bemusement. âThe Truth of the Matter,â for exampleâin an ebb-and-ďŹow rhythm that betrays the life-stage when it was written, annoying mundanities shift into treasures of
days that are now more measured. But the immediately following piece is âHospice,â with barbs of bitterness submerged at varying depths below the surface.
âTo be too certain about belief is a dangerous thingâ writes Silas House in his most-recent novel âLark Ascending.â That could make a fascinating keynote for the authorâs âDimensions of Faithâ talk at St. Matthewâs (330 N. Hubbards Ln.) on Sunday, Apr. 30 at 6 p.m.
(Lark Ascending by Silas House; Algonquin, 288 pgs., $27)
Houseâs short novel has much on its mind, but itâs conveyed in relatively simple language. This is a fable of the near future, a cautionary look at one generation handing over the reins of a world theyâve brought close to utter destruction. Non-genre authors have approached this before, witness McCarthyâs classic âThe Roadâ and more recently Lydia Milletâs âA Childrenâs Bible.â
Droughts, then wildďŹres, bring resource scarcity and desolation. As governments fall, the power vacuum is readily taken up by exploitative forces hiding behind (and gaining buy-in from) religious fundamentalism: âThe Fundies always had excuses: [social segments that became targets for genocide] werenât taken away or killed because of who they were or what they believed in or who they loved. Instead we were told they had been caught making bombs, or destroying property during protests.â
We follow a slow-motion ďŹight of a halfdozen people from Maryland to a cautious idyll in Maine, but then a cross-ocean escape dwindles their numbers. Next is a contemplative survival tale of a found-family in a land that was once a refuge but has since shut its doorsâwith gunďŹre. This might seem to veer off from Silas Houseâs previous work in Southern ďŹction, but remaining elements include devotion to offering readers high quality along with a this-should-be-nobig-deal directness for opening their eyes. As far as his fabulist tale that seeks to sound alarmsâ action gets emphasis, and some expository scenes may seem reductionist, but the taleâs gripping notes make clear impact. â˘
Houseâs short novel has much on its mind, but itâs conveyed in relatively simple language. This is a fable of the near future, a cautionary look at one generation handing over the reins of a world theyâve brought close to utter destruction.
THE debut feature from writer-director Saim Sadiq, âJoylandâ tells a story of family, love, and identity in contemporary Pakistan. That this is Sadiqâs ďŹrst ďŹlm is remarkable because his camera is conďŹdent, the acting natural, and together cast and crew convey an openness of experience that is refreshing. This is a neon ďŹlm full of dull, faded backgrounds and dark alleys accented with bright colored fabrics and light, amusement park rides, and party scenes, and a glimpse at Pakistanâs counter culture.
Haider is the youngest son of an overbearing and widowed father, and brother the more conventionally successful Saleem. They all live together in Lahore, Pakistan, with Saleemâs wife and their daughters, and Haiderâs wife Mumtaz. While Haider is gentle, timid, and happy to be a âhousehusband,â Mumtaz is career minded and ready to spring to action. Early on the ďŹlm establishes that, even though this peculiar family structure works well for the needs of everyone involved, the pressure to conform to gender standards is always working on the family. Soon Haider is offered a job as an exotic backup dancer for a live Bollywoodstyle show, despite his complete lack of experience or talent. He lies to his extended family about the nature of his job, but comes clean with his wife. Their marriage is built on an honest openness about their feelings, and a cozy division of labor that is unacceptable in the society they keep.
That is, until Haider falls for the strongwilled Madame Biba, the transgender woman he dances with at the club. Through this relationship, Haider gets closer to deďŹning his own identity and desires while shutting his wife out. As we see Haider grow more comfortable in his skin, we also witness the ensemble around him struggle against gender-based expectations. Mumtaz is suffocated by her wifely duties, and fading in the face of her husbandâs neglect. Biba faces ridicule and danger as a trans person in conservative Pakistan, even as her strength protects them both. Even Haiderâs father faces the temptation to set aside the social contract for a chance at happiness. Against
the backdrop of conservative patriarchy and religious conviction, everyone must repress their urges and search for meaning in the family structure.
It may be surprising to hear that Pakistan has one of the more progressive transgender laws in the Middle East / South Asian region. The 2018 Transgender Persons Act gave trans people in Pakistan the right to choose their gender identity as they perceived it themselves and the ability to reďŹect that identity on government papers. This has not erased the struggle of being trans in Pakistan. The well-known model Rimal Ali was attacked recently in Lahore, where this ďŹlm was set and made. And homosexuality is still a punishable offense in Pakistan, a attitude that is reďŹected in the ďŹlm.
âJoylandâ was the ďŹrst Pakistani ďŹlm to play the Cannes Film Festival where it received an eight-minute standing ovation, and won the Un Certain Regard Jury Prize. This prize is given to recognize a landmark event in international cinema. âJoylandâ deserves this title. It was also Pakistanâs submission to the Academy Awards, remarkable considering that it was banned for a short time in its home country.
It is an empathetic act to watch ďŹlm. We watch movies to visit lands we may never
see in person, to experience lives we will not live.
Joylandâs marketing focuses on the important and revealing relationship between Haider and Madame Biba, and the light it shines on the trans experience in Pakistan. Biba is magniďŹcent. A giant cutout of her is an apt visual element, literally shining her bigger than life essence from the rooftops of the middle-class and strait-laced neighborhood where Haider lives. This is also a ďŹlm about Mumtaz and Haiderâs marriage, and a plea to let people live in their own skin and follow their own path, without restricting movement based on gender alone. It is a ďŹlm about feeling invisible, and being seen.
And thereâs dancing!
âJOYLANDâ
Friday, April 28, 6 pm
Sunday, April 30, 12:30 & 3 p.m.
$12 | $8 Speed members
www.speedmuseum.org
You may have heard that Louisville and Kentucky at large has instituted tax breaks that are making the state more ďŹlmmaking-
friendly. The Ethan and Maya Hawke vehicle âWildcatâ is the most high proďŹle (so far) of these projects, but look for many more Kentucky made ďŹlms over the next months and years.
One such ďŹlm is âGoing Nowhere,â a broad meta-comedy about ďŹlmmaking made in Oldham County. Izzy, Diana and a behind-the-scenes crew take a road trip from LA to KY to shoot their feminist slash environmentalist magnum opus on a family farm. Personality clashes and sexual frustration are the driving force behind the comedy, and the fact that all the actors are friends who are playing a heightened version of themselves lends to the Christopher Guest mockumentary ďŹavor.
This is Izzy Shillâs feature ďŹlm debut, made in response to the limitations set by the pandemic, and produced in part by Louisvilleâs own The Group Entertainment and Lunacy production companies. The mumblecore inďŹuences show, and the light mockery of their own generation that Shill and company bring to the table is all in good fun. Tune in on your favorite VOD device and see how they showcase the farmlands some of us call home.
112 First automaker to conduct crash tests (1938)
113 E.R. imperative
114 Pair in an ellipse
115 Capital on the Atlantic
116 Campaign to persuade British P.M. Tony to change parties?
121 Like sailorsâ language, stereotypically
122 Operator of the Valley Flyer and Coast Starlight
123 Urge strongly 124 Wranglers alternative 125 Make 126 Rulers until 1917
1 Top of a range?
2 Enter smoothly 3 Proper partner?
4 Number on a bus. card
5 First songwriter to win an Oscar for a James Bond theme
6 One in the driverâs seat
7 Head of Eton?
8 Global finance org.
9 Word before or after perfect
10 Tribe whose flag features a circle of tepees on a red background
11 French menu word
12
To such an extent (that)
13 Game with a card that might say, ââLawyer: court judge legal crime caseââ
14 Swabs, say
15 Target for salicylic acid
16 Fourth-most-common surname in Korea (after Kim, Lee and Park) 18 Stinky ____ (popular Chinese street food)
19
ââYourââ
device)
One-named singer with the 2016 hit
60 ____ Studies (Gallaudet University department)
62 Indian state on the Arabian Sea 63 Mellophone, e.g.
103
104
105
Q: I have been involved in a long distance situationship (intimate friends) for three years. We live in different states. We met in person, then became friends online, and that is where the relationship blossomed. I went to visit her once for a week, and it was a very intimate and fun experience for both of us, although she did mention while I was there that she noticed my body order. I took care of that ASAP, and it didnât seem like a big deal, and it only seemed to come up when she was angry or frustrated about something. We have been planning on another visit, but she keeps bringing up my BO problem and has even said, âIf itâs as bad as it was last time, you have to get a hotel room and canât stay with me, and I wonât kiss you or fuck you.â Which is confusing because we were very intimate last time, she seemed to be enjoying herself quite a bit, and even told me how much she enjoyed the sex for weeks afterwards. This issue arose months after that visit. Should I take her advice and be super diligent about BO or is this some sort of emotional manipulation or gaslighting? My close friends tell me they never notice my body odor â they donât get as close to me, of course, because Iâm not fucking them â and I shower at least once daily and use deodorant every day and brush my teeth multiple times a day. I realize I have BO sometimes, but I take care of it when I do. Also, and hereâs the dinger, she has untreated BPD.
Oddly Disrespectful Odor Request
A: Thatâs quite the dinger you dropped there at the end of your letter, ODOR.
Adults with untreated and severe BPD â bipolar disorder â sometimes experience olfactory hallucinations, i.e.., they sometimes smell things that arenât there, in addition to sometimes seeing things that arenât there and hearing things that arenât there. Some studies have shown that olfactory hallucinations are more common than auditory ones â again, among adults with untreated and severe cases of BDP.
Now, I donât know whether your fuckbuddy is experiencing olfactory hallucinations. I donât even know if fuckbuddy has BPD. I donât know why anyone would lie about something like that, but this womanâs behavior seems kind of erratic â itself a symptom of BPD â and people lie about things they shouldnât all the time. But I do know, and can say with some certainty, that no one whoâs as diligent about his personal hygiene as you claim to be, ODOR, is walking around with terrible BO. You have a scent, of course; all people do. And once in a while someone is
gonna be turned off by your natural, baseline, freshly showered scent for reasons that canât be explained. If that was the case here â if it was just one of those chemical things, just one of those hormonal things, just one of those pheromonal things â then you didnât do anything wrong, ODOR, and you canât do anything about it.
Of course, itâs possible youâre lying to me about your personal hygiene, ODOR, and itâs possible your friends are lying to you about your BO. Itâs also possible this woman didnât feel safe being honest with you when you visited her â when you were standing there in her apartment, stinking the place up â and she pretended that shower solved the BO problem and pretended to enjoy the sex because she was worried you would react badly if she was honest with you about how unhappy she was. But if that was the case, ODOR â if you really smelled that bad â why would she make plans to see you again? If your body odor was really that bad, if you smell so bad she has to threaten you in advance with getting a hotel room, why would she want to fuck you again?
Only she knows the answer to those questions, ODOR, so hereâs one you can answer: Why do you wanna see this woman again? BPD or no BPD, she doesnât seem⌠like a very nice person. Decades ago, I mightâve said, âDonât stick your dick in crazy,â but that expression is ableist, ďŹrst and foremost, and it has a long history of being used to control women. For fear of being labeled âcrazy,â and therefore unworthy of having some random guyâs dick stuck in her, countless women were manipulated into putting up with terrible behavior, from poor personal hygiene to unsatisfying sex to much worse.
So, Iâm not using that awful expression â Iâm mentioning it, not using it (angry readers are invited to Google âuse/mention distinctionâ) â but I would like to revise it: Donât stick your dick in unkind. And whatever else is going on with this woman, sheâs being unkind to you. Tell her sheâs going to need that hotel room after all, ODOR, because you wonât be available to see her â and be insulted by her â when she comes to town.
Send your burning questions to mailbox@ savage.love Podcasts, columns and more at Savage.Love!
Meet the one and only American Staffordshire Terrier/ Border Collie mix, Kayne! This sweet 63 pound boy came to the Kentucky Humane Society because his owner could no longer care for him, and now he's searching for a home for the keeps. Kayne's previous owner says "He is the sweetest dog in the entire world! He is so loving and very playful. He loves kids as much as he loved adults. He is such a good boy and is potty trained, crate trained, and even knows commands." Kayne doesn't have a lot of experience with canine friends, so he would like to meet any potential doggy siblings before an adoption. He is also neutered, up-to-date on vaccines, and microchipped! Come meet this darling boy today at our East Campus, 1000 Lyndon Lane and be prepared to fall head over heels for his loving personality! You can also learn more at www.kyhumane.org/adopt/dogs.
Nala may not be Queen of Pride Rock, but she could be the queen of your heart! Nala is a gorgeous, nine-year-old kitty who came to the Kentucky Humane Society from an overcrowded shelter. Just like the royalty she is, Nala loves perching up high where she has a nice view of the pride lands (a.k.a. her home) as well as a sunny spot to sunbathe in. This lioness is a fierce warrior who loves to hunt prey (cat toys), groom her gorgeous orange coat, and receive all of the affection from her loyal subjects. Nala has been known to let out a mighty roar (meow) on occasion, but promises to try not to scare you to much with her ferociousness! We have not seen Nala around other kitties, but she may enjoy a feline friend or two in her new home. If you are looking for a majestic, beautiful, sweet feline queen to add to your home, come meet Nala at our East Campus, 1000 Lyndon Lane today or learn more at www.kyhumane.org/adopt/cats. She is spayed, micro-chipped and up-to-date on vaccinations.
CHEFMOBES is an art auction site. You create, we sell. www.chefmobes.com
Logistics Specialist
Coordinate the logistical activities of the company; oversee the life cycle of products, including purchasing, inventory, transportation, and warehousing; manage route activity, including billing and tracking; maintain a database of shipment logistics; communicate with clients and vendors.
Reqâd bachelorâs degree in Logistics/Supply Chain Mgmt, Business Admin, Info Systems, or related; foreign edu. equiv. acceptable. Full-time. Send resume to Nach Enterprise, Inc. (d/b/a Nadia Beauty Supply) at 2901 7th Street Rd., Louisville, KY 40216
FATHER NOTICE OF ADOPTION
Terrance Holt is noti ed that a Veri ed Petition for the Adoption of a child named Lanise Holt, DOB December 15, 2010, born to Lynn Holt, was led in the o ce of the Clerk of the Vanderburgh Superior Court, 1 NW MLK Jr. Blvd, Room 129, Civic Center, Evansville, IN 47708, cause # 82D04-2303AD-000033. The Veri ed Petition for Adoption alleges that your consent to the adoption is not required pursuant to IC 31 19-9-8 because you have failed without justi able cause to communicate signi cantly with the child for a period of one year or more when able to do so and/or you have failed without justi able cause to provide for the care and support of your child for one year when able to do so as required by law or judicial decree and/or you are un t and/or you have abandoned your child. If Terrance Holt seeks to contest the adoption of this child, Terrance Holt must le a motion to contest the adoption in accordance with IC 31-19-10-1 in the above-named Court not later than thirty (30) days after the date of service of this notice. If Terrance Holt does not le a motion to contest the adoption within thirty (30) days after service of this notice, the above-named Court will hear and determine the petition for adoption. The consent to the adoption by Terrance Holt will be irrevocably implied and Terrance Holt will lose the right to contest either the adoption or the validity of Terrance HoltâĂĂ´s implied consent to the adoption. No statement made to Terrance Holt relieves Terrance Holt of Terrance HoltâĂĂ´s obligations under this notice. This notice complies with IC 31 19 4.5 3 but does not exhaustively set forth a personâs legal obligations under the Indiana adoption statutes. A person being served with this notice should consult the Indiana adoption statutes. This notice was prepared by Attorney Keith M. Wallace, 1 SE 9th St., Ste. 101, Evansville, IN 47708
Leoâs Towing & Recovery, LLC at 715 S Jackson Street, Louisville, Ky 40203 with phone number of 502-643-4570 has intention of obtaining title to a 2005 Blue Ford Expedition bearing Vin#1FMFU16575LA67512 registered in the name of Marvin L. Smith last known address of 5404 Heafer FM Ln.102 Louisville, Ky 40219. Lien holder:None. Owner or lien holder has 14 days after last publication of this notice to object. Objections must be sent in writing to the above address.
The following vehicles will be auctioned o at 5609 Fern Valley Rd Louisville KY on 5-11-2023
2011 Chrysler 200 with VIN 1C3BC1FB0BN595375 belonging to Joyce Ann Augistine and ParsonâĂĂ´s Automotive (No Plate)
2009 Mazda CX-9 with VIN JM3TB38A990173719 belonging to Diane Warren and Eagle Financial Services with plate number 134KMC KY
2012 Ford F-250 Super Duty with VIN 1FT7W2BT2CEA74639 belonging to Etna Auto Sales and Nolan Lyons (No Plate)
2014 Dodge Dart with VIN 1C3CDFBB6ED907911 belonging to Joseph Kuchel and Exeter Finance.
2006 Volkswagen Jetta with VIN 3VWSG71K96M745796 belonging to Leidy Amelo and Onemain Financial.
2019 Ram 2500 with VIN 3C6UR5JL2KG663685 belonging to Carl D Parks and Stellantis Financial Srvc Inc. with plate number E4H807 KY
2014 Ford Taurus with VIN 1FAHP2D80EG115793 belonging to Alena Miller / Gabrielle Enoch and Capital One auto nance with plate 993RIV IN