Little Village issue 238 - Mar. 7-20, 2018

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ISSUE 238 Mar. 7–20, 2018

NEWS • CULTURE • EVENTS • CEDAR RAPIDS • IOWA CITY • CORALVILLE

Brian Stokes Mitchell

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with the University of Iowa Symphony Orchestra

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Dr. William LaRue Jones, conductor Wednesday, March 28, 2018, 7:30 pm “The last leading man” comes to Hancher Auditorium to perform with University of Iowa student musicians under the baton of Dr. William LaRue Jones. A star of the Broadway stage (Man of La Mancha, Ragtime, Kiss Me Kate, Shuffle Along) and screen (Trapper John, M.D., Frasier, Glee, The Blacklist), Brian Stokes Mitchell possesses what the New York Times calls “a singularly thunderous baritone.” He and his trio will join the UI Symphony Orchestra, which will provide a lush setting for Stokes’s luscious voice.

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VOL. 23 ISSUE 238 Mar. 7–20, 2018 ALWAYS FREE LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM

PUBLISHER MATTHEW STEELE DIGITAL DIRECTOR DREW BULMAN ART DIRECTOR JORDAN SELLERGREN MANAGING EDITOR EMMA MCCLATCHEY ARTS EDITOR GENEVIEVE TRAINOR NEWS DIRECTOR PAUL BRENNAN CONTRIBUTING EDITORS KELSI VANADA & BAYNARD WOODS VISUAL REPORTER—PHOTO ZAK NEUMANN VISUAL REPORTER­—VIDEO JASON SMITH FOOD & DRINK DIRECTOR FRANKIE SCHNECKLOTH DISTRIBUTION MANAGER TREVOR LEE HOPKINS VENUE ACCOUNT MANAGER, CALENDAR EDITOR JOSHUA PRESTON

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The Iowa City coaches behind the state’s top girls basketball teams.

Playboy and Playgirl may not have been the best sex ed.

Female-directed features and shorts are taking over FilmScene.

ELLIE GRETTER & ADDY SMITH

NATALIE BENWAY-CORRELL

GENEVIEVE TRAINOR

6 - Letters 8 - Interactions 10 - Democracy in Crisis 14 - Basketball 18 - En Español

20 - Sex & Love 22 - Bread & Butter 24 - Photo Review 28 - A-List 29 - Events Calendar

45 - Ad Index 47 - Straight Dope 49 - Astrology 50 - Local Albums 51 - Crossword

Basketball Powerhouse

Sexual Awakening

Women in Film

OFFICE MANAGER, GRAPHIC DESIGNER NATALIA ARAUJO MARKETING COORDINATOR, GRAPHIC DESIGNER JAV DUCKER ADVERTISING ADS@LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM LISTINGS CALENDAR@ LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM CONTRIBUTORS CECIL ADAMS, NATALIE BENWAY-CORRELL, BLAIR GAUNTT, ELLIE GRETTER, JARED JEWELL, JOHN MARTINEK, JAKE MONTGOMERY, HAGAN MYERS, ADDY SMITH, BRANDON SODERBERG, TOM TOMORROW, KARA WAGENKNECHT, SAM LOCKE WARD, KENT WILLIAMS SUBMISSIONS EDITOR@LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM DISTRIBUTION REQUESTS DISTRO@ LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM CREATIVE SERVICES CREATIVE@ LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM CONTACT (319) 855-1474, 623 S DUBUQUE ST, IOWA CITY, IA 52240

Little Village is an independent, community-supported news and culture publication based in Iowa City. Through journalism, essays and events, we work to improve our community in the Iowa City, Coralville and Cedar Rapids area according to a few core values: environmental sustainability, affordability and access, economic and labor justice, racial justice, gender equity, quality healthcare, quality education and critical culture.

Letters to the editor(s) are always welcome. We reserve the right to fact check and edit for length and clarity. Please send letters, comments or corrections to editor@littlevillagemag.com. Little Village is always free; all contents are the licensed work of the contributor and of the publication.

If you would like to reprint or collaborate on new content, reach us at lv@ littlevillagemag.com. To browse back issues, visit us at 623 S Dubuque St, Iowa City, or online at issuu.com/littlevillage.

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ISSUE 236 Mar. 7–20, 2018

NEWS • CULTURE • EVENTS • CEDAR RAPIDS • IOWA CITY • CORALVILLE

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Bassem Youssef Saturday, April 7, 2018, 7:30 pm Hancher Auditorium Part of Mission Creek Festival From 2011 to 2014, Bassem Youssef hosted the satirical news program Al-Bernameg (The Show) in Egypt, earning a reputation as that country’s Jon Stewart. Named one of Time magazine’s “100 Most Influential People in the World” in 2013, the physician turned comedian and critic now lives in the United States where he continues to shine a light on global issues with thoughtful, hilarious commentary.

Part of Join us as Hancher explores and celebrates Islamic art and Muslim artists hancher.uiowa.edu/embracing-complexity

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LETTERS LV encourages community members, including candidates for office, to submit letters to Editor@LittleVillageMag.com. To be considered for print publication, letters should be under 500 words. Preference is given to letters that have not been published elsewhere.

AN OPEN LETTER TO EMMA GONZÁLEZ AND THOSE WHO DOUBT HER Your name is Emma González. You are 18 years old, Cuban and bisexual. You’re so indecisive that you can’t pick a favorite color, and you’re allergic to 12 things. You draw, paint, crochet, sew, embroider—anything productive you can do with your hands while watching Netflix.

And all of that matters.

Obviously, I am not the one who lived through this. I’ve never experienced the loss you or your community have, and the only thing I can do is react. Reading your essay in Harper’s Bazaar, watching your speech and

your question at the town hall, I am in awe.

You have inspired my classmates and me to act. Iowa City is an activist town—we have walked out and written letters, called and

same hopes and dreams as us. You draw, paint, crochet, sew, embroider—anything.

You are, as huge as this may be, the leaders of our generation.

In the past week, there has been a ridiculous imbalance in our society. There have been walkouts across the state, but at least three shooting threats in Eastern Iowa alone.

Students have called out legislators, but there has been no action. Victims and survivors are speaking out, and they are the ones making change.

So, Emma González, who you are matters. Who you are shows us, teenagers in Iowa, that we too can create change. That the things we see in ourselves are there in others, and that those things are amazing.

That those things can make a difference.

Thank you—you and your classmates, your parents, every single member of your community—for creating the path for something that should be a full-blown interstate by now.

By the time our generation is old enough to be elected, you’ll change the world.

You already are.

Emma González, who you are matters.

Who you are shows us, teenagers in Iowa, that we too can create change. attended town halls. But when we see what you all are doing, especially in the wake of this immense tragedy, we are driven. We are driven to do more, to demand change.

A lot of what drives us is seeing ourselves in you. You are all our age, you have the

—Maya Durham, Iowa City High School student

AN OPEN LETTER TO IOWA REPRESENTATIVES My name is Ellie Brown and I go to West High school in Iowa City, Iowa. I love school and I love learning, but everyday I wake up terrified to go to school. I tell myself that nothing could happen in a little old town in the middle of Iowa, but I have to face the terrifying fact that my school could be the next school that we hear about on the news, being sent thoughts and prayers.

I won’t pretend that I have answers or know what needs to happen but I do know that something needs to be done. We can’t just sit by and watch as this keeps happening, without at least trying to do something to prevent it. We need tighter gun laws.

Registrations, like what people have for cars. A higher age restriction. People aren’t allowed to drink until they’re 21, and yet we feel comfortable allowing them to buy and 6 Mar. 7–20, 2018 LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV238

LETTERS

F U T I L E W R A T H

S A M LO C K E WA R D

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use a weapon that can kill with the twitch of a finger. We need to ban assault weapons—I mean, it’s in the name, assault weapon. You don’t need 45 rounds a minute to hunt or to practice target shooting. There is no reason for these weapons to be out in the market. Something needs to change, because we can’t just let this keep happening.

We are the next generation of voters and we are sick and tired of feeling like we have a target on our back and constantly worrying about being shot.

Prayers and thoughts are nice, but we need action. And if you can’t act then you’re out. We will not be voting for you if you take money from the NRA. We will not be voting for you if you don’t make gun control/restrictions one of your top priorities. Stop saying these school shootings are terrible, and do something to prevent the next one. When are you guys going to realize that we need change? How many more innocent students are going to die before you decide to do something about it?

—Ellison Brown, Iowa City West High School student

FAULCONER GALLERY

GRINNELL COLLEGE

JANUARY 25–MARCH 18, 2018 EN VOYAGE: HYBRIDITY AND VODOU IN HAITIAN ART FEBRUARY 2–JUNE 10, 2018 MAKING LIFE VISIBLE: ART, BIOLOGY, AND VISUALIZATION Image: David Goodsell, Influenza Virus Entry, 2016, watercolor and ink on paper, 18 x 24 in. Courtesy of the artist.

For a full listing of events and programs, visit grinnell.edu/faulconergallery or call 641.269.4660 LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV238 Mar. 7–20, 2018 7

INTERACTIONS Trump administration introduces its family planning priorities: faith-based programs and abstinence Yeah, that’s what we need, creepy preacher-men giving us instructions on how to pull out and pray. Sorry, faith does not prevent pregnancy, and if the idea is to increase the population, why not properly fund the nation’s educational and healthcare needs? —Richard C.

Students at Cedar Rapids’ Washington High School staged walkout in memory of Florida shooting victims

Agreed. Iowa City doesn’t need more meat-and-cheese-only restaurants.

—Sam

My generation has failed these kids. I am glad to see they are taking things into their own hands. —Don R.

Very glad to hear that they will be keeping the Buffalo Chicken Burrito.

The new menu items sound like great additions to the Iowa City scene. I hope they will be using CHOMP delivery service! —bobby j.

Proud of these kiddos. —Christine W.H.

Atlas Restaurant to rebrand as Saint Burch Tavern next month

Faith based family planning with no birth control worked great for my parents. I have 10 siblings. —Paula H.

S T R E S S F R A C T U R E S

I really hope it “becomes a place for everyone” and the menu will include vegan items. —PJ

JOHN

MARTINEK

I’m sorry but this is probably is the worst restaurant idea for Iowa City I’ve ever heard of. It’s a bummer they couldn’t make Atlas work. Anyone else sick and tired of restaurant groups opening self-serving concepts over and over? We need more mom and pops— not more “hey let’s own everything in town” restaurant groups. Enough is enough—focus on the beer and be happy. —Casey J. Oh how I will miss Atlas! It’s been my go-to for 15 years and I have shared so many great memories there! —Beth Oh, I hate to see Atlas and its unique menu go. Wonderful tomato and black bean soup and great alternatives to the usual heavy foods offered elsewhere.

We have too many places with similar menus. Please, please keep some of Atlas’ best. I wish you success, but this is really sad news. —Lynne Sounds great! I loved Atlas, but I absolutely think change is a good thing in Iowa City. I also trust anything that Cory and Ben are behind. Good luck, I will certainly be supporting it! —Eric This is the last thing we need here!

I second the thought that we need more vegan restaurants, but this group will never do that. Even if they pay lip service by adding a vegan option, I wouldn’t eat there under the shadow of the corpses hanging on the walls—I find nothing “fun and playful” about taxidermy! But what can you expect— the restaurant is named after a bear who was captured, imprisoned and exploited here for two years—and who knows how he ended up—or will he be part of the decor? —Teresa

8 Mar. 7–20, 2018 LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV238

ING S M CO HOPOP P U KSRESS COR P IC WO hE T T

/LittleVillage READER POLL: Which woman-led Best Picture nominee deserves all the Oscars?

A

FOR ADULTS & TEENS

MOKUHANGA 58%

17%

17%

8%

Lady Bird

The Post

The Shape of Water

Three Billboards

Gov. Reynolds doesn’t have a plan to address school shootings, but thinks students and the federal government could do more She’s a coward and needs to be voted out of office. Passing the buck to federal officials is the opposite of leadership.

—Andrew J.H. Reynolds replied, “I’m sure we all feel like we’re doing everything we can.” Which is absolutely nothing. —Jim D. It takes 20 minutes to walk out the shop with an AR-15 in Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds start there! —Rachel V.

‘What do we want? Safety!’: Iowa City students protest political inaction in the wake of school shootings Very sad to see kids drug into politics.

—Jeff P.

Idk i think it’s sad to see them gunned down repeatedly, but what do i know.

—Justin C.

These “kids” may be voting either this year or next depending on some of their ages. —Jenny T. For a sad reason, but I’m very proud of those kids. —Jennifer H. Banning guns will work as well as banning drugs has. —Greg Y.

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INTRO TO MAKING BOTANICAL INK

Your Village: What’s happening to the empty building at the corner of Linn and Market?

METALWORKING FOR PRINTMAKERS

“Ambitious new plan” in Iowa City language always translates to “luxury apartments with retail space on the ground floor.” Sad. —Carol K.

INTRO TO LETTERPRESS

A great infill development by a local developer whose family has given back to our community in numerous ways, including financially. This project will bring much-needed retail/restaurant and residential space. The more people living in the Northside, the more business for neighborhood establishments. Well done.

—Quentin M. Quality care for Northsiders who have residency and wish to still live in this historic region is important. Parking for family members/visitors is a concern.

What’s the give or take for our elders to pay high rise living costs in an upand-coming, fast-paced, city-like neighborhood? —TLH I am glad to hear that Ross Nusser is still planning to incorporate design components that encourage senior living downtown. It is too bad that HUD restrictions are not a bit more flexible, to allow developers more latitude in marketing to seniors in a residential building. Not every senior wants to live in a senior-only building (or even 80% senior). —Evelyn W.

COMICS FOR ANYBODY LETTERPRESS IMAGE MAKING FOR KIDS

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POLITICS

Democracy in Crisis

Our President’s Dickpunching Politics What Bloodsport and other films from Trump’s supposed favorites list say about our president. • BY BRANDON SODERBERG

T

hat Bloodsport is Donald Trump’s favorite movie is, like so many things about Trump, thinly sourced, apocryphal yet pathetic and

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regularly reported as fact.

He once praised the 1988 Jean-Claude Van Damme vehicle—a crude tapestry of gnarled battles and quiet-moment scenery chewing

about an American’s victory in a Hong Kong underground fighting tournament—in Mark Singer’s 1997 New Yorker article. And that’s about it.

But it makes cosmic sense that Bloodsport—which was released 30 years ago on Feb. 26—would be Trump’s favorite movie. It says something about political discourse too: The turning point involves its hero, Frank Dux (Van Damme), proudly punching someone squarely in the dick.

“When you’re in a fight with a bully, always throw the first punch—and don’t telegraph it—hit hard & hit fast!” —@

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LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV238 Mar. 7–20, 2018 11

POLITICS realdonaldtrump, Sept. 25, 2014 Trump is full of it and the real-life Frank Dux was too.

Like Gatsby in a karate gi, West Coast martial arts instructor and veteran Dux turned his life into a grandiose story of covert operations and victory in a fighting tournament called the Kumite, which he recounted to

friends only half-assedly corroborated his stories (“If he says it’s true, it’s fine with me,” a high school buddy told the Times).

As for Dux’s underground work in Asia— which included saving orphans from being trafficked by selling the sword he won for winning the Kumite to buy their freedom— it’s hard to prove, Dux explained, because these were “clandestine” missions.

It is good mythography and his audience of karate aficionados were primed to embrace it no matter what.

Wakanda isn’t real—as Ben Shapiro, supposedly intellectual, “hip” hatemonger of the Trump era, tweeted recently—but the Kumite isn’t either.

“If it was anybody else, I’d say what’s going to happen to you would be a lesson to you. Only you’re going to need more than one lesson.” —Citizen Kane Trump frequently cites Citizen Kane as another favorite, because of course: It’s a massive critique of power and control that

This is the typically Trumpian dick-punch: His bullshit detector is strong, though his own propensity for bullshit is unmatched. karate magazines not so hot on fact checking.

Eventually, his account of those events became Bloodsport.

That’s when the Los Angeles Times exposed its “true story” as a lunkheaded hustle: The Kumite trophies Dux won were from a Hollywood-based trophy manufacturer; a Kumite-related organization’s address was Dux’s own; the “secret” medal of honor he was awarded seemed sketchy; and a few

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flexes and bloviates like the powerful, so it appeals to powerful bloviators, the way rich coke-snorting dickheads like The Wolf Of Wall Street, or man-baby losers love Garden State.

On the campaign trail, Trump often entered events to music from 1997’s Air Force One, a movie where the president does away with all of the separations of power and literally defeats terrorists himself.

Trump’s Bloodsport inclination, meanwhile, is cast as yet another example of how un-presidential he is—a campy 1988 action flick is surely beneath the presidency. Worse, as detailed in the New Yorker, is the idea that Trump had one of his sons fast-forwarding straight to the ass-kicking parts, squashing the movie into a supercut of thrills. Through this, you can learn something about the absurdity of respectability politics that mar political conversation: The problem with Trump is, as always, not his opinion or his point of view so much as how he goes about it. He doesn’t even watch his favorite movie; he races through it like it’s porn. But it’s hard to say whether his love of Bloodsport would be any less icky if Trump had bothered to watch

the less hardcore sections, such as the part where Dux rocks a split atop a skyscraper, or the lighthearted Jacques Tati-like scene where army officials chase Dux through the streets to a coiled soft-serve synthesizer score.

Trump’s aren’t the first illustrative presidential movie picks. Bill Clinton, of the infamous 1994 crime bill, claimed one of his favorite movies was High Noon, a Western about a marshall who wants to be peaceful but just can’t because he feels responsible for all the baddies; George W. Bush loved Field Of Dreams, a saccharine baseball movie dipped in nostalgia; and like Trump, Barack Obama apparently loves The Godfather, a lament for a certain kind of criminality, one that’s more decent, respectable—appropriate for 44, who quietly drone-bombed the hell out of many and deported plenty.

“You lose, American asshole!” — Bloodsport Trump is all about bloodsport. His reality shows were bloodsport, the business world in which he stomped is steeped in bloodsport, the primaries were all about drawing blood for him and when he offers up proposals like turning teachers into Charles Bronsons

so they can get into shootouts with school shooters, that’s bloodsport. Our reality-show president is the totally logical next step after Hollywood actor Reagan—with detours into sub-Kennedy creep Clinton and warmongering dullard Dubya, parts of which Trump also subsumed. Trump eats up the fuck-it-let’ssee-how-it-shakes-out pathology of reality TV. That New Yorker article said Trump turned off 1996’s Michael 20 minutes in and put on Bloodsport instead, passing over a sentimental John Travolta snooze-fest for a movie where a guy gets walloped in the crotch. As Van Damme drops down into a split, pumps his fist straight up and bops his opponent in the junk in slow-motion, so does Trump pop the hood on reality.

“You want to write that Donald Trump was loving this ridiculous Jean-Claude Van Damme movie,” Trump said to reporter Mark Singer. “But are you willing to put in there that you were loving it, too?” He dared Singer (who admitted to laughing) to embrace Bloodsport and suggests that if he doesn’t, he’s just denying himself a hard truth. This is the typically Trumpian dick-punch: His

bullshit detector is strong, though his own propensity for bullshit is unmatched.

“Unfortunately, most thugs and muggers aren’t looking for a fair fight.” —Frank Dux in Self-Defense Against Knives, 1980.

A shabby epilogue courtesy of TMZ (who else): Van Damme, in 2016, holding a small dog, wearing a hat that says “JCVD” (the name of the first of two meta-action projects he has made where he plays a sundowning version of himself), loose as a goose, reedy, hardly the boyish Frank Dux, pacing around a parking lot, praising The Donald.

“You’re talking about the wrong things in politics. Right now, you need a guy like—” Van Damme told TMZ cameras, then stumbled for a second and reset. “I would say, look, I love my brother Muslim. They love martial arts; I love them. I love everybody on earth.

Right now, we need Donald Trump.”

Brandon Soderberg is a writer and editor for the Baltimore City Paper. He has also contributed to SPIN, the Comics Journal, the Independent Weekly, Vice, the Museum of the Moving Image, the Village Voice and the Washington City Paper, among others.

BIg Grove Brewery 1225 S Gilbert St Iowa City 319 354 2687 biggrovebrewery com

The Cactus Blossoms WITH THE HARMED BROTHERS THURSDAY March 8 I 9 PM I S10 TICKETS TICKETS AVAILABLE AT LITTLEVILLAGETICKETS.COM

March

April

Nick Dittmeier and The Sawdusters Fri 9 9PM

Sean Costanza Fri 6 9PM

Annie Savage Trio Fri 16 9PM Ryne Doughty Trio Fri 23 9PM Crystal City Tue 27 6PM The Muckrockers Fri 30 9PM

MISSION CREEK FESTIVAL Sat 7 2PM Tanya English Band Fri 13 9PM Joseph Huber Sat 14 9PM Christopher the Conquered Fri 20 9PM

FrEE LIve Music Iowa CIty

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COMMUNITY

Basketball Dynasties

West High and City High dominated Iowa girls basketball this season. Meet the coaches behind the powerhouse programs.

BY ADDY SMITH AND ELLIE GRETTER

T

he Iowa City West High School girls basketball team’s victory over City High’s previously undefeated team in the finals of the Class 5A state championship on March 2 wasn’t just a great game, it was a history-making one. It was the first time in the almost 100-year history of the tournament that two public high schools from the same city played each other for the state championship.

West’s win was anything but inevitable— City High’s Little Hawks defeated West’s Women of Troy twice during the regular season, and the undefeated Little Hawks had been ranked as the top team in Class 5A by the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Association since the third week of regular season play. West had a record of 14-7 in regular season play, and was in ninth place in

the final IGHSA rankings.

But if West’s victory wasn’t inevitable, it was almost inevitable that these two teams would be the first public school teams from the same city to meet in the finals. Both schools have long had excellent programs.

And while the players on the court change every year, as some graduate and new students join, for more than a decade the head coaches of the both teams have remained the same.

For profiles of City High Coach Bill McTaggart and West Coach BJ Mayer, Little Village turned to the experts—the sports editors of the two schools’ newspapers. LV asked West Side Story’s Ellie Gretter to profile City’s McTaggart and The Little Hawk’s Addy Smith to write about West’s Mayer.

Left: City and West face off on City’s turf Dec. 12, 2017. City won 53-40. Photo by Kara Wagenknecht Below: BJ Mayer at the state tournament in Des Moines, Friday, March 2. Photo by Hagan Myers

of children.

So it may come as a surprise that the West High head coach who refers to his players as “our kids” didn’t want to coach basketball at first. In fact, although he’d grown up watching his father coach for 35 years, the reason he himself decided to coach was by coincidence.

“The first teaching job I had there was an opening for a freshman girls’ coaching job

each other.

“We like to have a lot of fun with it, too, so we have drills where some people may walk in and be like, ‘Oh my gosh, what are they doing?’ but we try to make it fun,” he said. Those drills include passing tag—one team trying to tag the members of the other team out, with passing but no dribbling—and 30 1/2—a drill requiring 10 layups, 10 FTs, 10 three-point goals and a half-court shot for a win. “It’s a little different but it keeps our kids energized and keeps them looking for what’s going to happen next and [wanting] to keep coming back to practice.”

But come game time, according to his players, Coach Mayer means business. By fostering confidence and trust in teammates in practice, Mayer has faith in his players to “get the job done” on the court.

“Just watching him coach you see that he truly cares about making sure each player tries their best and is playing to their full capability.

He’s energetic on the court, but becomes serious and composed in the locker room,” Team Manager Bailey Nock said.

Four-year varsity starter and Creighton University commit Rachael Saunders says that Mayer’s leadership has influenced her significantly.

“I like his coaching style, especially when we lose or go through a rough patch; he keeps us from getting down on ourselves and giving up,” she said. “His guidance has been very instrumental in shaping me as a player and helping me mature.”

Although these “rough patches” aren’t common for Saunders and her team, at the end of January the Trojans suffered four close losses in the span of a week to three ranked teams in Iowa and one of the best teams in Illinois. Saunders believes that her team’s response is the epitome of what makes them successful.

“Our strength has been handling adversity.

We took some hard losses but we responded as a team and with heart,” Saunders said. “We played a very hard schedule and I think that was a challenge. However, even though it hurt our record, it prepared us for the bigger picture.”

Coach Mayer purposefully sought out

“Just watching him coach you can see that he truly cares about making sure each player tries their best and is playing to their full capability.”

––Bailey Nock

BJ Mayer, West High

L

istening to the way BJ Mayer talks about his players, one wouldn’t think he is a veteran girls’ basketball coach, but rather a father—one with an unconventional amount

and I ended up taking that. It was [by] chance that I got into girls’ basketball, but I think it’s worked out pretty well,” Mayer said.

“Pretty well” might be an understatement considering the list of accolades that follow Mayer’s name, including last year’s Region 4 Coach of the Year and the 2012 state championship title.

In the 25 years since first picking up the clipboard, Mayer has coached both girls and boys of all ages and talent levels. For the past 11, he’s served as the leader of a program that has produced players like University of Iowa standout Ally Disterhoft. For West, not qualifying for the state tournament is rare.

Every day, as soon as the final bell rings, Mayer makes the nine-minute drive from Northwest Junior High, where he teaches Math 7 and Pre-Algebra, to the West High gym for practice.

Mayer is a firm believer in the importance of forming strong relationships with his students and athletes. He credits his teaching position with allowing him to kindle those vital relationships with his future players. So in addition to running plays and defense drills during practice, Mayer sees his practices as a time to strengthen his kids’ relationships with

LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV238 Mar. 7–20, 2018 15

COMMUNITY some of the best teams in Minnesota and Illinois to add to this season’s schedule to prepare his team for the tough competition they’d face here at home.

“Girls basketball in Iowa is pretty good,” he said. “Some of our good teams go and play other states and are very competitive in the AAU [Amateur Athletic Union] scene, in the summer and in the spring; a lot of our teams do very well so I think Iowa is progressing in a positive way.”

Mayer points to this extracurricular competition, and players with several years of starting experience, for the versatility and depth of his squad.

“We don’t have a star player; we have what we think are five to seven kids who, on any given night, could lead us in scoring,” Mayer said. “We try to [enforce] the point that if it’s your night, go have your night, but if it’s not, go find ways to contribute to the team, and if we can do that, we’ll be in good shape.”

With the opening of Liberty High School in 2017, many community members are beginning to wonder how long West High’s consistent success will last. Mayer has already noticed his program losing numbers as students are redirected to Liberty, which he acknowledges might take time to adjust to—but he is confident that this period won’t last for long.

“I think it’ll probably take a downturn for us for a little bit, but then I think we’ll get back in there because we’ll get more kids at the junior high that’ll play and then we’ll try to get them over here [to play] too,” he said.

“I think [the addition of Liberty] is a good thing, so we’ll see what happens next year when City and Liberty and us play all the time too.”

Despite the uncertainty of the future that awaits Coach Mayer and his players, he is certain of one thing: they’ll be ready to embrace the challenge. After all, the task of pushing his team to be the best, season after season, is part of why he ultimately decided to coach, and what has kept him going for 25 years.

“I think that if you’re just content with getting there, then you probably shouldn’t be coaching anymore—you should be trying to get to that next step.”

Addy Smith is a senior at City High and is the sports editor for The Little Hawk. She likes writing about basketball because it makes her feel closer to Barack Obama.

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Bill McTaggart, City High

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wenty years ago, all Bill McTaggart wanted was to get out of southern Texas and move back to his hometown of Iowa City. After having his car stolen and house broken into twice, he said, “at that time [I] wanted to raise my kids in the Midwest back where I grew up. So I made an effort to try to find a teaching and coaching spot around Iowa.”

McTaggart did just that, but this time, he was on the other side of the river; a graduate of West High School, class of 1980, he now works at his former rival school. He landed a social studies teaching job and also a girls basketball head coach position at City High School. However, McTaggart did not believe that he would stay in the head coach position for long.

“I told my wife I think I can do two [years],” McTaggart laughed. This is his 20th season coaching.

McTaggart has well exceeded the goal set for himself, and his team has also surpassed expectations. The 2017-18 City High girls basketball team went into the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union Girls Basketball State Tournament ranked as number one.

Throughout the season, the team went undefeated in regular season play to defend their top spot.

But, in Assistant Coach Travis Dyer’s opinion, the seasons that are most rewarding are the ones that do not go as smoothly.

“My first year we had a pretty good team but we had lost five or six games throughout the year and it was just kind of [an] up-anddown [season],” Dyer said. “Then the playoffs rolled around and we actually made it to state that year when nobody really thought we would. Looking back on it now, it makes me grateful for that run and realize how hard it is to actually get to a state tournament. So, I never take anything for granted. You know, like this year we’re undefeated but it makes no difference because you can lose.”

Over his 20 years, between good seasons and bad, McTaggart has accumulated nearly 450 wins.

As a West High graduate, McTaggart remembers the atmosphere and intense rivalry between City and West when he was in high school. McTaggart feels that this rivalry has become softened by the local media since he attended high school in Iowa City.

“I think [the media has] tried to downplay it more than when I first got here,”

McTaggart observed. “They used to put starting lineups in the paper and the games were all on Friday night. Now, the last couple of years [the games] have been on Tuesday night and [the newspapers] never ask for starting lineups.”

However, McTaggart believes that high school girls basketball is more appreciated now in Iowa City, due to there being highly talented teams on both sides of town. Dyer said he sees Iowa City as a kind of girls basketball oasis, surrounded by small towns where the sport receives less attention.

“I think the people in our town know that [we play good basketball],” Dyer said.

McTaggart said neither the 1,000-plus-mile move from Texas to Iowa, nor the switch in loyalties from City to West were so worrisome to him as the coaching transition from boys to girls. “[The coaching job] was more unusual

as I didn’t know how I’d handle coaching girls since I was more familiar with coaching boys. So, that [switch] was more of a challenge,” McTaggart said.

Even though there were adjustments that had to be made, McTaggart feels that he has come to understand female athletes.

“Well I think I’ve gotten better at explaining things. I used to change starting lineups, as a boy’s coach, without thinking much of it. I find myself explaining to girls why I do things and why we’re doing things,” McTaggart said. “But other than that I coach at the same pace. Everything else we do is the same. The defense stays and the fundamentals are the same.”

McTaggart said the differences he’s observed between male and female athletes are neither positive or negative, so long as they’re respected by the coach.

“I think they think more about things,” he said. “Girls tend to think more when I do

“I told my wife I think I can do two [years],” McTaggart laughed. This is his 20th season coaching.

City High coach Bill McTaggart on the Jumbotron during the state tournament at Wells Fargo Arena.

Photo by Hagan Myers

something, they think if I [change a lineup] it’s because they’re doing something wrong, that’s not the case with boys. [Boys] roll with the punches and don’t say much.”

McTaggart’s passion for coaching carries to the classroom. He always knew he wanted to be a teacher, but the subject he wanted to teach changed with time.

“In college I was interested in history ... and when I was in high school, not so much.

I thought [I wanted to become] a math teacher,” McTaggart said. “I had a good professor in college and I thought that it would be better to teach history. Twentieth century history is my favorite; I really enjoy what I do.”

Ellie Gretter is a senior at West High School and is the digital and print sports editor for the West Side Story. Ellie’s favorite part about covering sports is getting to showcase all of the talented athletes at West, and also when the Trojans beat their cross-town rival.

LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV238 Mar. 7–20, 2018 17

COMMUNITY Jiménez Orellana. El señor Orellana y yo nos conocimos en un programa de inglés como segunda lengua y nos hicimos amigos. Nos ayudamos mutuamente con nuestras lenguas, inglés y español. Cuando llegó a Iowa City, Orellana quería mejorar su inglés, así que buscó clases y descubrió IC Compassion.

“Tenía un buen trabajo en mi país. Era una cuestión de seguridad en El Salvador. Vine aquí a los Estados Unidos a causa de la guerra”

Jared Jewell

––Manuel Jiménez Orellana

En Español

Fundación en la educación Un viaje a Iowa • POR JAKE MONTGOMERY

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egún la oficina del censo de los Estados Unidos, los inmigrantes representan el 14 por ciento de la población de la Iowa City (2016).

La organización Iowa City Compassion se dedica a apoyar a los inmigrantes que viven en Iowa City y sus alrededores proporcionándoles programas de inglés como segunda lengua, cuidado de los niños, asistencia 18 Mar. 7–20, 2018 LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV238

alimentaria, ayuda legal asequible, clases de ciudadanía y mucho más. La organización promueve el intercambio cultural y la educación. IC Compassion fue fundada en 2006 y está situada en la Iglesia del Nazareno de Iowa City.

Enseño inglés en IC Compassion, y me gustaría compartir la experiencia de un miembro de la organización, Manuel

“Mi idea fue que quería aprender más— quiero comunicarme, quiero hablar al 100 por ciento el inglés,” dijo él. “Pues, alguien me dijo que IC Compassion es un lugar donde dan clases de inglés. Fui allí, y no solamente tengo la bendición de recibir clases de inglés, también tengo la oportunidad de conocer a hermanos de una iglesia cristiana. Estoy asistiendo allí, y pues tengo grandes amigos aquí en Iowa.”

Orellana es de El Salvador. Se fue de su país de origen en 1994 para “luchar por un futuro mejor”.

“Tenía un buen trabajo en mi país. Era una cuestión de seguridad en El Salvador.

Vine aquí a los Estados Unidos a causa de la guerra,” dijo Orellana. “Allí hay muchas guerras, estaba muy difícil la situación. Los enemigos están matando a los soldados y todo eso. Por eso busqué asilo político en los Estados Unidos.”

En Pennsylvania, Orellana tomaba clases de inglés cuando tenía poco trabajo, pero sus primeros días en los Estados Unidos fueron duros: “Cuando salía a la tienda era difícil comprar zapatos o comprar ropa porque no podía ni decir el precio en inglés,” dijo él.

“Fue un periodo difícil, principalmente en un lugar donde todos en mi alrededor eran puros americanos.”

Orellana conoció Iowa City a través de un amigo de su adolescencia en El Salvador.

Antes, solo había visto el nombre “Iowa” en la moneda de 25 centavos del estado, porque él es coleccionista de monedas. Orellana dice que para muchos latinos Iowa es como un pueblo en algunas montañas en algún rincón del país. Pero él dice que el estado le ha impresionado.

“Iowa es bastante bonito y no solamente bonito, sino que voy viendo que es un lugar

donde hay muchas oportunidades para que la gente pueda educarse, para poder ser alguien mañana,” dijo él. “Iowa es el estado donde conocí a mi señora y ahora para mí, Iowa es muy hermoso y amplio en oportunidades de trabajo. Y me di cuenta de que Iowa es un estado donde la primera prioridad es la educación, gracias a la moneda de colección que dice ‘Fundación en la educación.’ Y ya lo he visto por mí mismo.”

Foundation in Education A journey to Iowa • WRITTEN AND TRANSLATED BY JAKE MONTGOMERY

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ccording to the U.S. Census Bureau, immigrants make up 14 percent of the population of Iowa City (2016). The organization Iowa City Compassion works to support immigrants living in Iowa City and its environs through programs such as ESL tutoring, child care, food assistance, affordable legal aid, citizenship classes and more. The organization promotes cultural exchange and education.

IC Compassion was founded in 2006 and is located at the Church of the Nazarene in Iowa City.

I teach English as a Second Language (ESL) with IC Compassion, and I’d like to share the experience of a member of the organization, Manuel Jiménez Orellana.

Mr. Orellana and I met in an ESL program, and we have become friends. We help each other with both of our languages, English and Spanish. When he arrived in Iowa City, Orellana wanted to improve his English, so he searched for classes and discovered IC Compassion.

“My idea was that I wanted to learn more, to express myself, to speak English fluently at 100 percent,” he said. “Then someone told me that IC Compassion is a place where they have English classes. I went there, and not only do I have the blessing of taking English classes, but I also have the opportunity to meet with members of the church I attend there. I have great friends here in Iowa.”

Orellana is from El Salvador. He left his home country in 1994 in order to “fight for a better future.”

“I had a good job in my country. It was an issue of safety in El Salvador. I came to the United States because of the war,” Orellano said. “There are many wars there, and the situation was very difficult. The enemies

are killing soldiers and all that. That’s why I sought political asylum in the United States.”

In Pennsylvania, Orellana took English classes when he had less work, but even so, his first days in the U.S. were hard.

“When I went to the store it was difficult to buy shoes or clothes, because I couldn’t even say the price in English,” he said. “It was a difficult period, especially in a place where everyone around me was American.”

Orellana first learned of Iowa City through a friend from his adolescence in El Salvador.

Before that, he had only seen the name “Iowa” on the state quarter, since he’s a coin collector. Orellana says that for many Latinos, Iowa is some small town in the mountains in some corner of the country. But he says that the state has impressed him.

“It’s quite beautiful, and not just beautiful, but I see that it’s a place with many opportunities for people to educate themselves, in order to be someone tomorrow,” Orellana said. “Iowa is the state where I met my partner, and now, for me, Iowa is great, and full of opportunities for work. I realized that Iowa is a state where the first priority is education, thanks to the state quarter, which says ‘Foundation in Education.’ And now I’ve seen it for myself.”

Jake Montgomery is from New Jersey. He studied poetry at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, and he currently lives in Iowa City. He hopes to live in Mexico in the future as a teacher and writer.

Find more information about how you can get involved in IC Compassion at www. iccompassion.org.

SEX & LOVE

Picking up Where “The Talk” Left Off Sexual curiosity is not a sin. In fact, we could all use a dose of it.

BY NATALIE BENWAY-CORRELL

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was 10 years old at my friend’s apartment labor (think, The Miracle of Birth) followed by a conversation about the importance of building. She had stolen her mom’s copy abstinence. of Playgirl and Many of us we were hiding learned about sex in under the staircase looking at a picture of a very hairy, mustachioed man spread-eagle in all his nude glory.

Versions of this scenario probably stirred a lot of young people’s interest in sexuality. Your friends may have shown you some porn (on VHS or PornHub, depending on the decade) or giggled with you over a Cosmopolitan article detailing the “five wildest sex positions to spice up the most Moustachioed men titillating curiosity on the 1974 and 1976 Playgirl October issues boring bedroom.”

Meanwhile, your parents may have disthis dichotomous way. Abstinence-only sex pensed some version of “the talk” in which education—currently being propped up by they uncomfortably laid out the mechanics of the Trump administration—has statistically heteronormative sex. Or perhaps you never got a conversation at all. In school, you might failed to prevent unplanned pregnancies and the spread of STIs; on the other side of the have been shown a video of a woman in

20 Mar. 7–20, 2018 LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV238

coin, most sex positive (or seemingly sex positive) erotica is far from educational.

Having an uncle that worked for Playboy, I grew up with the magazines scattered around my grandparents’ house. It made sex less of a taboo, but the brand’s objectification of women and promotion of toxic masculinity certainly left a lot to be desired.

In the chasm between the two “sex ed” methods fell many important issues. Growing up, were there conversations about sexual communication? Consent? Sexual violence prevention? Birth control? Were there lessons about what love is and the difference between love and sex? Was there discussion about pleasure or eroticism? Intimacy and connection? Were asexual and/or aromantic relationships validated? Not for many of us.

Young people should absolutely be encouraged and celebrated for their curiosity about sex; it is “normal” and natural.

What isnt normal, and what some have been socialized to believe, is that sexuality, even as children, is something to be secretive or ashamed of being curious about.

Many parents struggle with how and in what ways to talk to their kids about sex and relationships. We can start by getting more comfortable and curious about our own ever-evolving sexuality. It’s good for you,

How do I know if my relationship is healthy?

It’s good to check in with yourself from time to time to see how you’re feeling about your relationship. The questions below focus on romantic and sexual relationships, but they can apply to other kinds of relationships, too. After you’ve asked yourself these questions, it could be helpful to answer them again from your partner’s perspective.

Does your partner listen to and respect your ideas?

Can you tell your partner what you like sexually?

Does your partner give you space to spend time with your friends and family?

Does your partner make an effort to get along with your friends and family?

Do you have fun spending time together?

Do you feel comfortable telling your partner when something they do upsets you?

Do you feel comfortable sharing your thoughts and feelings?

Is your partner proud of your accomplishments and successes?

Does your partner respect your differences?

Can you talk to your partner about birth control and/or safer sex?

Relationships can be complicated, but if you answered “yes” to all of these questions, there’s a good chance you’re in a healthy relationship. If you answered “no” to two or more questions, you might be in an unhealthy relationship.

From Planned Parenthood.org

and has the power to positively affect generations.

Instead of grabbing the latest Cosmo, you might check out Esther Perel’s podcast, Where Do We Begin, or go to Planned Parenthood’s website to understand some of the subtle differences between healthy and unhealthy relationships.

comprehensive lifespan sexuality education program, Our Whole Lives (OWL), at the Unitarian Universalist Society in Coralville.

Through OWL, children and adults honestly discuss sex and relationships, build decision-making skills and develop self-acceptance and self-esteem.

Paul Joannides’ book The Guide to Getting it On or Dan Savage’s Savage Lovecast, the podcast spinoff of his popular column, can help you understand many topics ranging from kink to BDSM, while Good Vibrations and Babeland are great resources for purchasing sex toys with a feminist mission.

We can stay on top of our sexual health at any life stage with the help of Emma Goldman Clinic, Planned Parenthood, Seva Healing Arts (low-key plug—I am a therapist there), Johnson County Public Health and The University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics Menopause and Sexual Health Clinic.

When we educate and empower ourselves, we pass that on to our friends, children, students or clients. It starts with a little bit of curiosity and a willingness to ask questions.

Abstinence-only sex education— currently being propped up by the Trump administration—has statistically failed to prevent unplanned pregnancies and the spread of STIs. Instead of Playgirl, Playboy or The Joy of Sex, you might read through Our Bodies Ourselves or explore the American Sexual Health Association’s (ASHA) website. Currently, ASHA is promoting a new series from Vice Media, Unscrewing Ourselves. A wide range of topics are covered in the series, including LGBT-inclusive sex, sexuality and chronic illness and dating.

It also follows some of the young people educating their peers about sexual health, including a Ugandan woman who launched a sex education mobile app, Ask Without Shame.

Locally, you could explore the

Natalie Benway-Correll LISW is a psychotherapist in private practice in Coralville.

She has a certification in sexuality studies from the University of Iowa and is currently pursuing additional licensure with the American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors and Therapists.

Life’s Celebrations...

Made from Scratch Make Scratch cupcakes part of every celebration: Cedar Falls | Waterloo | West Des Moines | Corallville 1-855-833-5719 | scratchcupcakery.com LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV238 Mar. 7–20, 2018 21

BREAD & BUTTER LV Recommends

Irish Stouts

CEDAR RAPIDS • IOWA CITY AREA 2018 DINING GUIDE

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t. Patrick’s Day falls on a Saturday this year, so shit’s got real. Of course you’re entitled to a pint of Guinness come March 17 (it’d be un-Irish not to) but if you’re looking for something a little different—and want a tasty beer before a night of only Bailey’s and Bud Light with green food coloring—give these U.S.-born Irish stouts a chance. They can be found at John’s Grocery, Hy-Vee stores and some area restaurants and bars.

Milk Man Confluence Brewing Company

M

ilk Man Milk Stout will give you the rich, creamy flavor you expect from a beer this dark, made with Irish stout malt and sporting notes of chocolate and coffee. Des Moines-based Confluence also brews the Take Down Irish stout and Imogene Red Irish ale, if you can get your hands on them.

Irish Blessing Boulder Beer Company

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his stout was brewed with OZO coffee and aged with Irish whiskey-soaked oak chips, resulting in the beer incarnation of an Irish coffee. May the whiskey road rise up to meet you, friends.

CocO Chocolate Stout West O Beer

“B

oom chocolaka” proclaims the label on this Okoboji-brewed stout, made with cocoa nibs, bourbon vanilla beans and caramel malt. If you’re looking for dessert in a beer, this is a contender, especially when poured over vanilla ice cream.

Nitro Milk Stout Left Hand Brewing Company

I

ON STANDS APRIL 2018

have friends who would give up all other beer for the perfect 40-degree pour of Left Hand’s Milk Stout from a nitro tap (pro tip: Blue Moose Tap House has one). Another Boulder-born brew, this stout is particularly creamy and smooth, and not just because it’s dispensed with nitrogen instead of CO2.

––Emma McClatchey

REVIEW

24 Mar. 7–20, 2018 LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV238

WHITE MYSTERY GABE’S PHOTOS BY ZAK NUEMANN

LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV238 Mar. 7–20, 2018 25

DELETERS GABE’S

26 Mar. 7–20, 2018 LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV238

ANI DIFRANCO THE ENGLERT

MUNICIPAL WASTE ROCK ISLAND BREWING COMPANY

LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV238 Mar. 7–20, 2018 27

CULTURE A-List

Women’s Work The “female gaze” will be explored in FilmScene’s Women’s March, featuring all women-directed films, all month long. • BY GENEVIEVE TRAINOR

I

n the wake of director Joss Whedon stepping down from production of the upcoming Batgirl film, some internet denizens had the temerity to suggest that perhaps a woman be found to replace him.

The internet, as the kids say, broke.

Even in 2018, the idea that a woman might have greater insight on or be better suited to helm a project centered on the experiences of a woman is still met with resistance, even derision. It’s called sexist even to suggest it.

According to the 2017 Celluloid Ceiling report from San Diego State University, women accounted for just 11 percent of directors of the top 250 grossing films from that year, and only 8 percent of directors of the top 100.

This year, Greta Gerwig became only the fifth woman ever to be nominated for an Oscar in the Best Director category. As of press time, only one has ever won—Kathryn Bigelow took home the statue in 2010 for The Hurt Locker.

This is the world that FilmScene’s Women’s March is entering into. For the course of the month of March, with no

exceptions, Iowa City’s art house cinema will be presenting only films directed by women—in their new releases, in their family series, in all of their collaborations and initiatives.

“The idea of a female director of a movie … is still pretty novel,” Rebecca Fons, FilmScene programming director and lead programmer of the festival, said of the importance of Women’s March. “There’s so few that have been recognized.”

Deborah Esquenazi, whose film Southwest of Salem: The Story of the San Antonio Four is screening Monday, March 12, sees opportunity in that dearth.

“Agency (or who gets to tell stories about women and about people of color) is the biggest debate right now in documentary, and it’s really an exciting time to make films,” Esquenazi said in an email. “And the (business side of the) industry is learning that the more diversity of voices for storytelling, the more dynamic and exciting these stories can be—and the more that gets butts into the theater!”

Fons, who was adamant in the planning phase that the program be intersectional and diverse, said she feels the lineup is “a really great snapshot of what

28 Mar. 7–20, 2018 LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV238

female filmmakers look like in the industry and are capable of.”

And she agrees with Esquenazi’s hope that the proof will be in the audience response.

FilmScene is offering such a wealth of options that, she said, “We hope the audience will lean into that and just say, ‘There’s so many good things! I’m just going to camp out at FilmScene for the month!’”

Fons came to FilmScene with a background in producing film festivals, and that experience is evident in the care and craft that she and her advisory board put into Women’s March. The board consists of FilmScene Board Chair Laura Bergus, United Action For Youth’s Jamie Ellis, Liz Gilman of Produce Iowa, University of Iowa Visiting Assistant Professor Leah Vonderheide (who has written about film for Little Village), filmmaker P. Sam Kessie, Connie White of Balcony Booking and filmmaker and FilmScene staff member Spencer Williams.

“I knew I didn’t just want to present historically significant films,” Fons said.

The board broke the selections down into categories: Pioneers speaks to those earliest voices of historical significance. The

South of Salem: The Story of the San Antonio Four FilmScene, Monday, Mar. 12, 6 p.m., $6.50-9

Vanguard series highlights new and emerging artists. And Homegrown looks at filmmakers with roots here in Iowa.

There’s also the Late Shift at the Grindhouse series, the Picture Show children’s series, the Bijou Film Forum, Vino Vérité (which Little Village co-presents), the Science on Screen programming, a summer camp for girls and genderqueer youth and all of the theater’s new releases—every film directed by a woman.

Even with so many screens to fill, there was such a wealth of options available that Fons felt like they made some difficult choices.

“There’s so many great filmmakers that we couldn’t fit in …

I feel like I need to send a fruit basket to Jane Campion,” Fons joked of the decision not to include anything by the only woman ever to win the Palme d’Or. FilmScene partnered with University of Iowa’s Vertical

Cinema for a portion of the programming of the Homegrown section of the series. Vertical Cinema, which started in 2016, is a student-run organization dedicated to showcasing experimental and avant-garde filmmakers in the early stages of their careers. The group is “generally open to collaboration,” co-leaders Traci Hercher, Kelly Swanson and Michael Wawzenek said in an email, but were so excited by the idea behind Women’s March that they knew they had to reach out.

Their segment is a series of shorts featuring current and recent UI MFA filmmakers.

“We aimed to showcase the diverse body of work that comes out of the University of Iowa’s MFA in Film and Video Production, while also looking for themes under which the films unify,” they said. “As we watched through the work we were considering, themes of intimacy, displacement, bi-cultural and female identity, the ethics and boundaries of representation, voyeurism, male fantasy and the return of the gaze emerged and this cohered for us strongly in the shorts program we curated.”

The question of the gaze is an inevitable one when considering the impact of female directors in film. The male gaze—a term coined by critic Laura Mulvey in 1975 to describe female objectification and passivity in the male, heterosexual view in art, especially—is turned on its head when the point of view is the woman’s instead.

“I do think about the gaze—male and female gaze—as I direct, edit, screenwrite, investigate,” Esquenazi said. “So yes, I do think there is such a thing as the female gaze.” She referenced art critic John Berger with a quote from his essay “Ways of Seeing”: “Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at.”

FilmScene’s Women’s March is an invaluable opportunity to explore that shift of perspective—and see how it can shift our own perspectives. From groundbreaking female auteurs like Chantal Akerman, whose 1975, 201-minute classic Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles used an entirely female crew, to Sasha Waters Freyer, who was Fons’ advisor when she was at UI, and whose Garry Winogrand: All Things are Photographable makes its Iowa premier straight from its South by Southwest run, the perspective and power of women in an industry that continues to chronically overlook them will be on full display during Women’s March.

Genevieve Trainor’s favorite movies are all directed by men. She looks forward to changing that.

EVENTS

C E DA R R A P I D S • I OWA C I T Y A R E A

Mar. 7–20, 2018 Planning an event? Submit event info to calendar@littlevillagemag.com.

Include event name, date, time, venue, street address, admission price and a brief description (no all-caps, exclamation points or advertising verbiage, please). To find more events, visit littlevillagemag.com/calendar.

CINEMA A R E A E V E N T S P R E S E N T E D BY Z E N S A LO N

3/7

Women’s March: ‘Faces Places,’

Women’s March: ‘Signature Move,’

FilmScene, Iowa City, 3 p.m., $6.50-

FilmScene, Iowa City, 6:30 p.m.,

7.50

$6.50-9

Women’s March: ‘Signature Move,’

Headroom presents Betzy Bromberg,

FilmScene, Iowa City, 3:30 & 7:30

105 Adler Journalism Building, Iowa

p.m., $6.50-9

City, 7 p.m., Free

Women’s March: ‘All the Queen’s

3/10

Horses,’ FilmScene, Iowa City, 5:30 p.m., $6.50-7.50

Women’s March—The Picture Show: ‘A

Women’s March: ‘Seven Beauties,’

League of Their Own,’ FilmScene, Iowa

FilmScene, Iowa City, 6 p.m., $6.50-9

City, 10 a.m., Free-$5

Women’s March—Late Shift at The

3/11

Grindhouse: ‘Near Dark w/ Hooker Assassin,’ FilmScene, Iowa City, 10

Women’s March—The Picture Show: ‘A

p.m., $4

League of Their Own,’ FilmScene, Iowa

3/8

City, 10 a.m., Free-$5

‘Little Women,’ FilmScene, Iowa City,

Women’s March: ‘Southwest of Salem:

3:30 p.m., Free-$5

The Story of the San Antonio Four,’

Women’s March: ‘All the Queen’’s

FilmScene, Iowa City, 6 p.m., $6.50-9

Women’s March—The Picture Show:

3/12

Horses,’ FilmScene, Iowa City, 4 & 8:30 p.m., $6.50-9 Women’s March: ‘Faces Places,’ FilmScene, Iowa City, 6 & 8 p.m., $6.50-9

LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV238 Mar. 7–20, 2018 29

IOWA CITY OLD TRAIN DEPOT

CINEMA

A R E A E V E N T S P R E S E N T E D BY Z E N S A LO N

3/14

3/16

City, 6 p.m.,$6.50-9

2/2, FilmScene, Iowa City, 8:30 a.m., $200/course

Women’s March—Late Shift at The Grindhouse:

3/17

Women’s March: ‘Portrait of Jason,’ FilmScene, Iowa

‘Splatter Movie: The Director’s Cut,’ FilmScene, Iowa

OPEN 11-2AM DAILY

TRY OUR BREADED TENDERLOIN! SERVING FOOD UNTIL 1AM DAILY

City, 10 p.m., $4

Women’s March—Spring Break Animation Camp: Day

Women’s March: Kelly Gallagher, FilmScene, Iowa City,

3/15

3:30 p.m., Free-$5

Women’s March—Spring Break Animation Camp: Day

Arts, 7 p.m., $8 suggested donation

1/2, FilmScene, Iowa City, 8:30 a.m., $200/course

‘The Room, The Hive Collective, Cedar Rapids, 11:15

Women’s March—The Picture Show: ‘A League of Their

p.m., $5

‘Saving Brinton, Coralville Center for the Performing

Own,’ FilmScene, Iowa City, 3:30 p.m., Free-$5

COMMUNITY & EDUCATION

3/7

3/10

Cedar Rapids, 10 a.m., Free-$4

Healing Arts Center, Cedar Rapids, 10 a.m., $30

Gentle Yoga, Public Space One, Iowa City, 5 p.m., $5-10

Session III, MVC Women’s Basketball Tournament,

suggested donation

TaxSlayer Center, Moline, 1:30 p.m., $5-25

Reality Bites: Immigrants and Refugees, Cedar Rapids

Cedar Rapids RoughRiders vs. Green Bay Gamblers,

Public Library, 6 p.m., Free

Cedar Rapids Ice Arena, 7:05 p.m., $12.75-25

Lifelong Learning: Zero Waste for the Woman and Mother,

3/11

Trail Trekkers: Maple Syruping, Indian Creek Nature Center,

Indian Creek Nature Center, Cedar Rapids, 6 p.m., $10-12 Night of 1,000 Dinners, Robert A. Lee Rec Center, Iowa

Bend & Brews w/ Tauni Doster, Big Grove Brewery &

3/8

Taproom, Iowa City, 9:30 a.m., Free

Coffee and Chat, Indian Creek Nature Center, Cedar

Center, Cedar Rapids, 12:30 p.m., $65

Rapids, 9 a.m., Free

Championship Game, MVC Women’s Basketball

Opening Round, MVC Women’s Basketball Tournament,

Tournament, TaxSlayer Center, Moline, 2 p.m., $5-25

TaxSlayer Center, Moline, 4 p.m., $5-25

3/12

Taproom, Iowa City, 5:30 p.m., $50

EPIC Civic Event and Pub Club, North Liberty Community Pantry, 4 p.m., Free

Museum Of Art, 6 p.m., $10

Inter-Religious Council of Linn County Presents: Know

Lecture w/ Edward Hopper: American Master with

Your Neighbor—Judaism, Native American, Unitarian

Associate Curator Kate Kunau, Cedar Rapids Museum

Universalist, Cedar Rapids Public Library, 6:30 p.m., Free

Of Art, 7 p.m., Free

3/13

Backyard Chickens Workshop, Indian Creek Nature

Session I, MVC Women’s Basketball Tournament,

Center, Cedar Rapids, 6 p.m., $10-12

TaxSlayer Center, Moline, 12 p.m., $5-25

Beyond the Stage Panel Discussion: Us and Them—

Night at the Museum: Trekking through the Tundra!,

Prejudice and Persecution in the Holocaust and Today,

Museum of Natural History at UI, Iowa City, 6 p.m.,

Theatre Cedar Rapids, 6 p.m., Free

$30-35

3/14

Session II, MVC Women’s Basketball Tournament, TaxSlayer Center, Moline, 12 p.m., $5-25 Cedar Rapids RoughRiders vs. Waterloo Black Hawks,

623 S. Dubuque St. / (319) 855-1474

Loving Your Empathic Self, Illuminations Healing Arts

Guided Meditation: Color Returning, Cedar Rapids

3/9

30 Mar. 7–20, 2018 LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV238

Bend & Brunch, Cedar Ridge Distillery, Swisher, 8 a.m., $30

City, 6 p.m., $12-30

Mission Creek 2018 Fundraiser, Big Grove Brewery &

ADVERTISING • AUTOGRAPHS BACK ISSUES • MERCH

Walk-in Readings with Jen Serovy, Illuminations

Cedar Rapids Ice Arena, 7:05 p.m., $12.75-25

Gentle Yoga, Public Space One, Iowa City, 5 p.m., $510 suggested donation

3/18

Women’s March—Vino Vérité: Bobbi Jene, FilmScene, Iowa City, 7 p.m., $25

3/19

Women’s March: Drunktown’s Finest, FilmScene, Iowa City, 6 p.m., $6.50-9 FilmScene at Big Grove: Office Space, Big Grove Brewery & Taproom, 8 p.m., Free

3/20

Women’s March—Bijou Film Forum: Murs Murs, FilmScene, Iowa City, 6 p.m., Free-$6.50

Sisters of the New Moon Circle, Illuminations Healing Arts Center, Cedar Rapids, 6:30 p.m., $10 Quad City Mallards vs. Toledo Walleye, TaxSlayer Center, Moline, 6:35 p.m., $10-30 History on Tap: ‘Remembering 6-on-6 Girls’ Basketball in Iowa,’ National Czech and Slovak Museum and Library, Cedar Rapids, 5:30 p.m., Free Cedar Rapids RoughRiders vs. Green Bay Gamblers, Cedar Rapids Ice Arena, 7:05 p.m., $12.75-25

3/15

Third Thursday Public Tasting Party: Game Day Snacks, Harvest Oil & Vinegar, Coralville, 6 p.m., Free Spiritual Signs in Nature, Illuminations Healing Arts Center, Cedar Rapids, 6 p.m., $30

3/16

Walking in Mindfulness: Silent Meditative Walk, Indian Creek Nature Center, Cedar Rapids, 6 p.m., Free-$6 Quad City Mallards vs. Toledo Walleye, TaxSlayer Center, Moline, 7:05 p.m., $10-30

3/17

Discover Your New Spiritual Horizons Technique Workshop, Illuminations Healing Arts Center, Cedar Rapids, 1 p.m., $55

3/19

Cedar Rapids Titans VS Nebraska, US Cellular Center, Cedar Rapids, 7:05 p.m., $8-40

3/20

Nine Rites of the Munay Ki, Illuminations Healing Arts Center, Cedar Rapids, 6 p.m., $25 LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV238 Mar. 7–20, 2018 31

T ’ N DO

THEATRE & PERFORMANCE

S S I M

T U O

Kick Ass Red Lipstick Burlesque Revue 2018, Coralville Center for the Performing Arts, Saturday, March 10, 8 p.m., $28 Cat Cantrill’s Vitality Fitness and Dance Studio is bringing the ladies of its in-house burlesque troupe, The Va Va Voom!, to the CCPA for an 18+ evening celebrating its mission to empower women. The Cedar Rapids troupe, which formed in 2014, will be sharing the stage with special guests from across the Midwest. The Va Va Voom! regularly performs to sold-out houses throughout Eastern Iowa. Photo via The Va Va Voom!’s Facebook page.

3/7 Find complete area event listings

Three Short Plays & A Drinking Game, Big Grove

Revival Theatre Company Presents: ‘Ragtime’ In

Brewery & Taproom, Iowa City, 8:30 p.m., $10

Concert, Coe College Sinclair Auditorium, Cedar Rapids, 7:30 p.m., $20-40

+

3/8

Revival Theatre Company Presents: ‘Ragtime’ In

p.m., $22-33

Concert, Coe College Sinclair Auditorium, Cedar

Ms. Pat w/ Kristi McHugh, Penguin’s Comedy Club,

Rapids, 7:30 p.m., $20-40

Cedar Rapids, 8 p.m., $15-17.50

‘Apples In Winter,’ Riverside Theatre, Iowa City, 7:30

‘Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,’ Giving Tree Theater, Marion, 8

p.m., $12-30

p.m., $15-120

3/9

3/10

the Mob,’ Old Creamery Theatre, Amana, 6:30 p.m.,

the Mob,’ Old Creamery Theatre, Amana, 12:30 &

$50

6:30 p.m., $50

‘Apples In Winter,’ Riverside Theatre, Iowa City, 7:30

National Theatre Live: ‘Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,’ The

p.m., $18-30

Englert Theatre, Iowa City, 2 p.m., $15-18

Add your own events LittleVillageMag.com/ Calendar

Comic Murder Mystery Dinner Theatre: ‘Murdered by

‘The Diary of Anne Frank,’ Theatre Cedar Rapids, 7:30

Comic Murder Mystery Dinner Theatre: ‘Murdered by

I am a sister, a writer, and a best friend.

‘Apples In Winter,’ Riverside Theatre, Iowa

And I am living with HIV. TM

City, 7:30 p.m., $18-30 ‘The Diary of Anne Frank,’ Theatre Cedar Rapids, 7:30 p.m., $22-33 Revival Theatre Company Presents: ‘Ragtime’ In Concert, Coe College Sinclair Auditorium, Cedar Rapids, 7:30 p.m., $20-40 Kick Ass Red Lipstick Burlesque Revue 2018, Coralville Center for the Performing Arts, 8 p.m., $28 Ms. Pat w/ Kristi McHugh, Penguin’s Comedy Club, Cedar Rapids, 8 p.m., $15-17.50 ‘Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,’ Giving Tree Theater, Marion, 8 p.m., $15-120

3/11

‘Apples In Winter,’ Riverside Theatre, Iowa City, 2 p.m., $18-30 ‘Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,’ Giving Tree Theater, Marion, 2 p.m., $15-120 ‘The Diary of Anne Frank,’ Theatre Cedar Rapids, 2:30 p.m., $22-33

3/15

‘Apples In Winter,’ Riverside Theatre, Iowa City, 7:30 p.m., $12-30

3/16

‘The Diary of Anne Frank,’ Theatre Cedar Rapids, 7:30 p.m., $22-33 ‘Bent,’ Theatre Cedar Rapids, 7:30 p.m., $19-24 Comedy XPeriment, Stoner Studio Theater, Des Moines, 7:30 p.m., $12 Orchestra Iowa with Ballet Quad Cities Presents: ‘Alice in Wonderland,’ Paramount Theatre Cedar Rapids, 7:30 p.m., $18-54 ‘Apples In Winter,’ Riverside Theatre, Iowa City, 7:30 p.m., $18-30

Regan (left) has lived with HIV since 1996.

Do you know your status?

Ask your doctor for a test.

www.stopHIViowa.org www.cdc.gov/ActAgainstAIDS

3/17

The Baby Boomer Comedy Show, The Temple Theater, Des Moines, 2 p.m., $25-35 ‘Bent,’ Theatre Cedar Rapids, 7:30 p.m., $1924 ‘Apples In Winter,’ Riverside Theatre, Iowa City, 7:30 p.m., $18-30 Comedy XPeriment, Stoner Studio Theater, Des Moines, 7:30 p.m., $12 ‘The Diary of Anne Frank,’ Theatre Cedar Rapids, 7:30 p.m., $22-33

3/18

‘Apples In Winter,’ Riverside Theatre, Iowa City, 2 p.m., $18-30 ‘The Diary of Anne Frank,’ Theatre Cedar Rapids, 2:30 p.m., $22-33 ‘Bent,’ Theatre Cedar Rapids, 2:30 p.m., $1924

Providing the Iowa City community with a unique programming alternative in music, news, and sports LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV238 Mar. 7–20, 2018

33

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LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV238 Mar. 7–20, 2018 35

MUSIC

3/7

Jonny Lang w/ Tony Lucca, Paramount Theatre Cedar Rapids, 7:30 p.m., $36.50-75 Arlo Guthrie w/ Sarah Lee, Abe Guthrie, The Englert Theatre, Iowa City, 8 p.m., $58.50 Emma Jane, Gabe’s, Iowa City, 9 p.m., Free

3/8

ICCSD KidSing Festival, Coralville Center for the Performing Arts, 4 p.m., Free Dual Singing Bowl Meditation Concert, Illuminations Healing Arts Center, Cedar Rapids, 6 p.m., $15 Garnet Rogers, Legion Arts CSPS Hall, Cedar Rapids, 7 p.m., $17-21 Advance Base w/ Friendship, Gia Margaret, IXU, Rozz-Tox, Rock Island, 8 p.m., $8-12 Lucero w/ Jake La Botz, Gabe’s, Iowa City, 8 p.m., $25400 Josh Abbott Band, First Avenue Club, Iowa City, 8 p.m., $20 The Show is the Rainbow w/ Purcha$e, Arc Numbers, Trumpet Blossom Cafe, Iowa City, 8 p.m., Free Casey Abrams, The Mill, Iowa City, 8 p.m., $15 The Cactus Blossoms w/ The Harmed Brothers, Big Grove Brewery & Taproom, Iowa City, 9 p.m., $10

3/9

Walking Dead Zeppelin w/ These Daze, Nickel John, Spicoli’s Rockade, Waterloo, 6 p.m., $5 Live Music w/ Cedar Junction ft. Tommy Bruner, Cedar Ridge Distillery, Swisher, 6 p.m., Free Chief Keef, Blue Moose Tap House, Iowa City, 7 p.m., $2528 Post Animal w/ Slow Pulp, Condor & Jaybird, Daytrotter, Davenport, 8 p.m., $10-12 Robert Cray Band, Riverside Casino and Golf Resort, 8 p.m., $25-45 Blue Dream w/ Doc Miller, The Horse Theory, Dave Thaker Quintet, Iowa City Yacht Club, 8 p.m., $7 Advance Base w/ Friendship, Gia Margaret, Public Space One, Iowa City, 8 p.m., $5-10 The Host Country w/ the Fuss, Dick’s Tap & Shake Room, Cedar Rapids, 9 p.m., Free Soul Sherpa w/ Glass Femur, The Mill, Iowa City, 9 p.m., $8 Illegal Smile w/ the Northern Medicine, Boat Motor, Octopus College Hill, Cedar Falls, 9 p.m., $5 •Nick Dittmeier & the Sawdusters, Big Grove Brewery & Taproom, Iowa City, 9 p.m., Free

3/10

Icon For Hire w/ Makeout, Five AM, Gabe’s, Iowa City, 6 p.m., $15-100 The Pork Tornadoes Charity Show, Cedar Ridge Distillery, Swisher, 6 p.m., $25 Sweetheart Serenade, Uptown Bill’s, Iowa City, 7 p.m., $5-10 suggested donation 36 Mar. 7–20, 2018 LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV238

Dead Larry w/ Space Monkey Mafia, Guss Royall, Montra Nova, Spicoli’s Rockade, Waterloo, 8 p.m., $5 Crystal City w/ Dizzy Bridges, The Dashi Project, Punch Drunk Fighter, Iowa City Yacht Club, 8 p.m., $7 Bo Ramsey and the Third Floor, Legion Arts CSPS Hall, Cedar Rapids, 8 p.m., $17-21 Wylde Nept, The Mill, Iowa City, 8 p.m., $10-12 Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, Riverside Casino and Golf Resort, 8 p.m., $35-60 Matthew James and the Rust Belt Union w/ Wow and Audrey Robinson, Octopus College Hill, Cedar Falls, 9 p.m., $5 Kisissippi w/ Heart Attack Man, Sister Wife, Catholic Werewolves, Rozz-Tox, Rock Island, 9 p.m., $5-10 Operation: 808 | A New World, Blue Moose Tap House, Iowa City, 9 p.m., Free Wolf Mixer, Gabe’s, Iowa City, 10 p.m., Free

3/11

Piano Sundays: Alan Huckleberry and

The Cactus Blossoms w/ The Harmed Brothers Big Grove Brewery & Taproom, Iowa City, Thursday, March 8, 9 p.m., $10 Fresh off the best of all possible eerie gigs—on stage at the Bang Bang Bar (aka the Roadhouse) in “Part 3,” the third episode of David Lynch’s 2017 return to Twin Peaks—the Cactus Blossoms are making their own return to Eastern Iowa (they played Cedar Rapids’ CSPS in 2016). The brothers bring their delightfully true, old-country sound to Big Grove on March 8—that Everly Brothers tonality mixed with an early, blues-tinged, Roy Acuff-style sound that makes their debut disc, You’re Dreaming, utterly timeless. Photo by Graham Tolbert.

LOOKING BAC:

FERDINAND BAC, 1859-1952 FEBRUARY 17–MAY 16, 2018 Black Box Theater Iowa Memorial Union Support for the exhibition is provided by the Koza Family Fund, the Members Special Exhibition Fund, and the Richard V.M. Corton, M.D. and Janet Y. Corton Exhibition Fund.

Ferdinand Bac (French, 1859–1952), What are looking for in the sky, crazy old man?, c. 1950, ink on paper, Collection of Madame Sylviane Jullian

Individuals with disabilities are encouraged to attend all University of Iowa-sponsored events. If you are a person with a disability who requires a reasonable accommodation in order to participate in this program, please contact the UIMA in advance at 319-335-1727.

LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV238 Mar. 7–20, 2018 37

MUSIC A R E A E V E N T S P R E S E N T E D BY Z E N S A LO N

Studio, Old Capitol Museum, Iowa City, 1:30 p.m., Free The Awful Purdies, Farmers Mercantile

3/17

14th Annual St. Patrick’s Day

Hall, Garrison, 2 p.m., $10

Massacre, Iowa City Yacht Club, 6

The Fromps w/ Whole Milk, Gabe’s, Iowa

p.m., $10

City, 9 p.m., Free

Annual St. Patrick’s Day Potluck &

3/13

Music, Uptown Bill’s, Iowa City, 6

Now Hear This: Vandello, Opus Concert

The Dogfathers, First Avenue Club,

Cafe, Cedar Rapids, 7 p.m., $12

Iowa City, 7 p.m., $10

Yahoo Dummers, Public Space One, Iowa

Reo Speedwagon & Styx w/ Don Felder,

City, 7 p.m., Free

TaxSlayer Center, Moline, 7 p.m.,

Alice Cooper w/ the Brandon Gibbs Band,

$29.50-99.50

TaxSlayer Center, Moline, 7:30 p.m.,

St Patrick’s Day with Calan, Legion Arts

$39.50-89.50

CSPS Hall, Cedar Rapids, 8 p.m.,

3/15

$24-29

Michael Londra & The Celtic Fire, The

DRYAD, ZUUL, Trumpet Blossom Cafe,

Temple Theater, Des Moines, 7:30 p.m.,

Iowa City, 9 p.m., $5

$50-70

Ckinz & Lex w/ Icon Amarie, Beezy Tha

Cry Cry Cry w/ True Endeavors, The Englert

Real, A$THMATTIC, Benny The Jet,

Theatre, Iowa City, 8 p.m., $35-55

Liga, Blue Moose Tap House, Iowa City,

3/16

10 p.m., $10

Jazz After Five: Steve Grismore Trio, The

w/ TdotA10, Queezy, Zayy, B40, Peer

Mill, Iowa City, 5 p.m., $5

Pressure, Imperfekt, Kidd Khemist, Kid

Live Music w/ Drew Hurn, Cedar Ridge

Classic, Gabe’s, Iowa City, 10 p.m.,

Distillery, Swisher, 6 p.m., Free

$5-10

Dead Presidents w/ Mayhem Like Me,

3/18

Spicoli’s Rockade, Waterloo, 7 p.m., $5 Michael W. Smith, Adler Theatre,

p.m., $5-10 suggested donation

St Patty’s Day Bash w/ Barren Heir,

Reggae Rapids: Mixtape Release Party

Carsie Blanton, Legion Arts CSPS Hall,

Davenport, 7 p.m., $24-50

Cedar Rapids, 7 p.m., $14-17

Zeke’s Night Out, Gabe’s, Iowa City, 8

3/19

p.m., $10 The Cadillac Three, First Avenue Club,

Buckethead—SOLD OUT, Gabe’s, Iowa

Iowa City, 8 p.m., $20

City, 8 p.m., $25-200

Urban Pioneers w/ Jordan Sellergren,

3/20

Codfish Hollow Barnstormers, Maquoketa, 8 p.m., $15

EyeHateGod w/ Cro-Mags, Alphabeast,

NCC w/ DSM5, Octopus College Hill,

Guilty of Treason, Tu’mera Divine, Gabe’s,

Cedar Falls, 9 p.m., $5

Iowa City, 6 p.m., $20-25

Plastic Relations 80s Set, Iowa City Yacht

Yahoo Dummers, Public Space One, Iowa

Club, 9 p.m., $6

City, 7 p.m., Free

Annie Savage & Friends, Big Grove

Nnamdi Ogbonnaya, w/ Karen Meat The

Brewery & Taproom, Iowa City, 9 p.m.,

Mill, Iowa City, 8 p.m., $10-12

Free

Todd Snider w/ Reed Foehl, The Englert

An Evening w/ Ike Reilly Assassination,

Theatre, Iowa City, 8 p.m., $25

The Mill, Iowa City, 9 p.m., $12-15 Jodie Lee: The Return of the King, Blue Moose Tap House, Iowa City, 10 p.m., $10

CALL NOW for your FREE CONSULTATION

319-466-0026

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E M P O W E R I N G • P E R S O N A L I Z E D • I N T E G R A T I V ELITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV238 • C O M M U N Mar. ITY 7–20, 2018

39

Photo: Zoran Orlic

My Lai

Kronos Quartet, Rinde Eckert, Vân-Ánh Vanessa Võ Wednesday, March 21, 2018, 7:30 pm Hancher has enjoyed a long and creatively fruitful relationship with both the Kronos Quartet and UI alum Rinde Eckert. For My Lai, the string quartet and the vocalist come together with Vietnamese multi-instrumentalist Vân Ánh Vanessa Võ to lay bare the tragedy of the 1968 massacre at My Lai. The story of the destruction of the village at the hands of American soldiers is told from the perspective of Hugh Thompson, a helicopter pilot who tried to intervene and who was vilified for reporting what he had witnessed.

TICKETS:

ORCHESTRA

PARTERRE

ADULT

$50

$50 | $35

COLLEGE STUDENT

$45

$45 | $10

YOUTH

$25

$25 | $10

$10 STUDENT TICKETS Order online hancher.uiowa.edu Call (319) 335-1160 or 800-HANCHER Accessibility Services (319) 335-1158

SEASON SPONSOR: WEST MUSIC EVENT SPONSORS: General Hancher Partners Hancher Circle Donors

45TH ANNIVERSARY SEASON Great Artists. Great Audiences. Hancher Performances.

Discover more at hancher.uiowa.edu.

Individuals with disabilities are encouraged to attend all University of Iowa sponsored events. If you are a person with a disability who requires a reasonable accommodation in order to participate in this program, please contact Hancher in advance at (319) 335-1158.

ARTS, CRAFTS & EXHIBITIONS

FIND IT Art Bites Edward Hopper: Selections from the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, Wednesday, March 7, 12:15 p.m., Free The CRMA presents the first of two Art Bites focused on the 13 Edward Hopper paintings on exchange from the Whitney Museum in New York until April 4. This month explores the “Selections from the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York” exhibit. A discussion of “Hopper’s World: New York, Cape Cod and Beyond” is planned for the April 4 Art Bites. The free, hour-long Art Bites talks are led by Kate Kunau, the museum’s associate curator. Kunau will also present a full evening lecture (also free) on all 13 paintings, “Edward Hopper: American Master,” on Thursday, March 8 at 7 p.m.

3/7

3/10

Voices of the Stones Trunk

Knitting: Marley Shawl—

Workshop: Fairy Garden,

Selections from the

Show, Beadology, Iowa

Session 3/3, Home Ec.

Moss, Iowa City, 3 p.m.,

Whitney Museum of

City, 10 a.m., Free

Workshop, Iowa City,

$30

American Art, New York,

Wine & Design: Succulent

6:30 p.m., $45/course

Cedar Rapids Museum of

Bar, Moss, Iowa City, 6

Art, 12:15 p.m., Free

p.m., $25

3/15

3/18

Art Bites Edward Hopper:

Sewing: Handmade Style

Kids Knitting 101, Home

3/13

Quilt Start to Finish: Four

Ec. Workshop, Iowa City,

Winds Quilt—Session 2/3,

9 a.m., $50

Spring Bead Camp:

Home Ec. Workshop,

The Brinton Collection,

Workshop, Iowa City,

Beaded Emojis & Safety

Iowa City, 6 p.m., $85/

Coralville Public Library,

5:30 p.m., $45/course

Pin Jewelry, Beadology,

course

2 p.m., Free

Caucho Craft Circle: Button

Iowa City, 9 a.m., $58 Spring Bead Camp: Mug

Rapids, 7 p.m., $10

Rug & Beaded Bookmark,

3/16

Artifactory’s Life Drawing

Making, Caucho, Cedar

Spring Bead Camp:

Beadology, Iowa City, 5

3/8

Beadology, Iowa City, 2

Mug Rug & Beaded

p.m., $10

p.m., $58

Bookmark, Beadology,

Gems of Hope Workshop

Sewing: School of Sewing

Iowa City, 9 a.m., $58

at Beadology Iowa with

Pt. I—Session 1/4, Home

Spring Bead Camp:

3/19

Women in Business,

Ec. Workshop, Iowa City,

Beaded Emojis & Safety

Joe DeVera, ‘How We Got

Beadology, Iowa City, 5

6:30 p.m., $85/course

Pin Jewelry, Beadology,

Here,’ Art Building West,

3/14

Iowa City, 2 p.m., $58

Iowa City, 7:30 p.m., Free

Home Ec. Workshop,

Demonstration, National

3/17

New Class: Masking in

Iowa City, 6 p.m., $85/

Czech & Slovak Museum

Glass, Beadology, Iowa

Sewing: School of Sewing

course

& Library, Cedar Rapids,

City, 10 a.m., $98

Picnic Plaid Quilt— Session 2/2, Home Ec.

p.m., Free Quilt Start to Finish: Four Winds Quilt—Session 1/3,

Bobbin Lace Making

Drop-In Session,

IN EASTSIDE I O WA C I T Y

@DAYLIGHT DOUGHNUTS 3560 E Court St, Iowa City, IA

IN NORTH LIBERTY

@BIG PICTURE GALLERY & STUDIO 185 IA-965 #3, North Liberty, IA

IN CEDAR RAPIDS

@BREWED AWAKENINGS 1271 1st Ave SE, Cedar Rapids, IA

I N WAT E R L O O

@RUDY’S TACOS 2401 Falls Ave, Waterloo, IA

Grant Wood Fellow Talk:

+600 other locations every first and third Wednesday of the month

3/20

Pt. I—Session 2/4, Home

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LITERATURE

3/15

3/18

Nuns Making Books

‘The Empress of Art:

Prairie Lights Books &

in Renaissance Italy,

Catherine the Great and

Cafe, 3 p.m., Free

University of Iowa

the Transformation of

Free Generative Writing

Special Collections &

Russia,’ Cedar Rapids

Workshop, Public Space

University Archives, Iowa

Museum Of Art, 4 p.m.,

One, Iowa City, 5:30

City, 7 p.m., Free

Free

p.m., Free

3/8

Pajama Storytime: All

Kirkwood Community

Cedar Rapids Museum

3/20

College Annual

Of Art, 6:30 p.m., Free

Yuki with translator

Humanities Event

Jennifer Doll, Prairie

Jordan A. Yamaji Smith,

featuring Akwi Nji: In

Lights Books & Cafe, 7

Prairie Lights Books &

Search of Homeland

p.m., Free

Cafe, 7 p.m., Free

and Security, Ballantyne

Writers In The Storm,

3/7

Iowa Bibliophiles:

the World’s a Stage,

Auditorium, Cedar

Artisan’s Sanctuary,

Portrait of

Rapids, 11:15 a.m.,

Marion,

a Yound

Free

7 p.m., Free

Woman as a

Nonfiction Writing

Saint, Amico

Program Reading: The

Aspertini

Speakeasy Series, Sanctuary Pub, Iowa City, 8 p.m., Free

IOWA CITY DOWNTOWN

Art Lover’s Book Club:

You’re with friends now.

11 S. DUBUQUE ST. MICKYSIRISHPUB.COM

BREAKFAST • LUNCH • DINNER • DRINKS

42 Mar. 7–20, 2018 LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV238

Emily E. LB. Twarog,

Kanie Naha and Nagae

ONGOING

A R E A E V E N T S P R E S E N T E D BY Z E N S A LO N

MONDAYS

THURSDAYS

Rapids, 6:30 p.m., $40 FAC Dance Party, The Union,

I.C. Press Co-op open shop, Public Space One, Iowa

Iowa City, 7 p.m. Sasha Belle Presents: Friday Night Drag

of Comedy, Iowa City Yacht Club, 9 p.m., $3

City, 4 p.m., Free Kids Meditation Class Iowa City,

& Dance Party, Studio 13, Iowa City, 10:30 p.m., $5

TUESDAYS

Quaker Friends Meeting House, Iowa City, 5:45 p.m.,

SoulShake, Gabe’s, Iowa City, 10 p.m., Free

$5 Iowa City Meditation Class: How To Transform Your

Blues Jam, Parlor City Pub and Eatery, Cedar Rapids,

Life, Quaker Friends Meeting House, Iowa City, 6:30

7 p.m., Free Weekly Old-Timey Jam Session, Trumpet

p.m., $5-10 Novel Conversations, Coralville Community

SATURDAYS

Blossom Cafe, Iowa City, 7:30 p.m., Free Karaoke,

Library, 7 p.m., Free (3rd Thursday)

Free I.C. Press Co-op Open Shop, Public Space One,

Studio 13, Iowa City, 9 p.m., Free Karaoke Tuesdays,

Thursday Night Live Open Mic, Uptown Bill’s, Iowa City,

Iowa City, 12 p.m., Free Saturday Night Music, Uptown

The Mill, Iowa City, 10 p.m., Free

7 p.m., Free Daddy-O, Parlor City Pub and Eatery, Cedar

Bill’s, Iowa City, 7 p.m., Free Elation Dance Party,

WEDNESDAYS

Rapids, 7 p.m., Free Underground Open Mic, Open Jam

Studio 13, Iowa City, 9 p.m., $5

and Mug Night, Yacht Club, 8 p.m., Free Live Jazz,

Burlington Street Bluegrass Band, The Mill, Iowa City,

Clinton Street Social Club, Iowa City, 8 p.m., Free (1st

6 p.m., $5 (2nd & 4th Wednesdays) Open Mic Night,

& 3rd Thursdays) Karaoke Thursday, Studio 13, Iowa

SUNDAYS

Penguin’s Comedy Club, Cedar Rapids, 8 p.m., Free

City, 8 p.m., Free Retrofit Vinyl w/ DJ Olaz Fük, Dick’s

Open Mic, Cafe Paradiso, Fairfield, 8 p.m., Free Open

Tap & Shake Room, Cedar Rapids, 9 p.m., Free

Stage, Studio 13, Iowa City, 10 p.m., Free Late Shift at

FRIDAYS

Open Mic, The Mill, Iowa City, 8 p.m., Free Honeycombs

the Grindhouse, Film Scene, Iowa City, 10 p.m., $4 Talk Art, The Mill, Iowa City, 10:30 p.m., Free (2nd & 4th Wednesdays)

Family Storytime, Iowa City Public Library, 10:30 a.m.,

Pub Quiz, The Mill, Iowa City, 9 p.m., $1

NewBo Open Coffee, Roasters Coffeehouse in NewBo City Market, Cedar Rapids, 8 a.m., Free (2nd & 4th Fridays) Friday Night Out, Ceramics Center, Cedar

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IOWA CITY

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THE STRAIGHT DOPE

BY CECIL ADAMS

Have any studies been done in states that have legalized marijuana? How much tax revenue has been generated? Have there been more traffic accidents? More minors indulging? In short, has it been successful? —Eric

I

’d say the market for studies on marijuana legalization is currently about as hot as the market for, say, late-night gas-station taquitos in the greater Denver area: i.e., torrid. Much as the public craves results, though, the fact remains that legalized recreational weed is just a few years old in the handful of states that allow it. Data’s coming in steadily, but it’s preliminary, and therefore wide open to interpretation.

Your traffic-accident query is a good example of how far into the weeds one can get here.

Take Colorado, where recreational marijuana has been legal the longest—since 2012, officially, though business really started booming in 2014 with the advent of licensed retail outlets.

According to analysis by the Denver Post, the number of drivers there who died in car crashes with THC in their systems more than doubled between 2013 and 2016.

OK, that doesn’t sound great. But in context it’s not so clear. For one, crash fatalities in Colorado (and in Washington, another legalization state) over roughly this period have remained in line with stats from control states where marijuana remains outlawed, per 2017 research in the American Journal of Public Health. And multiple earlier studies had previously found reduced traffic fatalities following the passage of state medical-marijuana laws.

And two, the relationship between THC and impairment remains poorly understood, even down to establishing intoxication—as anyone who’s nervously awaited a drug test will tell you, THC metabolites linger in the bloodstream long after the high has worn off. (Chugging grapefruit juice doesn’t mask those metabolites, by the way, if anyone’s still claiming it does.) We’ve had decades to observe how alcohol degrades one’s skills behind the wheel; far less time to assess the intersection of driving and weed use.

For the moment, though, what we’ve got is data to confirm anyone’s preexisting prejudices. Opposed to recreational marijuana?

Legalization’s made the roads deadlier. In favor?

Plenty of evidence suggests that’s not really happening. This was a provisional conclusion offered in a 2016 report by the Drug Policy Alliance, which found “stable” traffic-fatality numbers in pot-friendly states, and also that no, legalization doesn’t seem to be contributing to any increase in kids getting high.

The tax angle is more straightforward: legal pot equals big bucks. As of last year, Colorado had taken in $500 million in weed taxes, with half going to K-12 education. Municipalities

can impose their own levies, too, which is how Pueblo County ended up spending $420,000 (heh heh) on scholarships for 210 local students in 2017.

Another place legal weed appears to be leaving its footprint: the opioid crisis. An AJPH study from last fall found that in the first two years of recreational marijuana being legal in Colorado, opioid-related deaths declined 6.5 percent, reversing an upward trend going back more than a decade. On the one hand, these are (once again) preliminary numbers, but on the other they track with what we know about places where medical marijuana had already been legalized—a 2014 paper calculated a 25 percent reduction in opioid-related fatalities in states with medical marijuana laws on the books compared to those without.

Meanwhile, in a survey of 224 patients in Michigan from 2016, respondents reported a 64 percent reduction in opioid use associated with their medical-pot habit, plus “decreased number and side effects of medications, and an improved quality of life.” What all this seems to be telling us is that, where possible, pain sufferers are substituting weed for opioids and doing better for it. Switching to another reliable painkiller that poses neither a massive addiction problem nor an OD risk—who’d have thunk, right?

Predictably, this reasoning hasn’t found a home at today’s Department of Justice, where Attorney General Jeff Sessions has adopted an unmistakably weed-hostile stance overall—in January he revoked Obama-era directives telling the feds to quit prosecuting pot offenses in states that have legalized it—and specifically scoffed at the theory that marijuana’s painkilling properties could help on the opioid front. Last winter he waved off the very idea as “almost a desperate attempt to defend the harmlessness of marijuana,” adding, “Maybe science will prove I’m wrong.” Again, early studies appear to be doing so, not that Sessions is likely to care.

A first-draft scorecard, then, for legalized weed: promising on opioids, good for state budgets and TBD on some other issues, including traffic deaths. In other words, plenty of research left for public-policy types in pursuit of the straight dope. Such as: At two Colorado animal hospitals, cases of marijuana poisoning in dogs went up fourfold after medical pot became legal, with edibles playing a role in at least a pair of fatalities. To win the war against leaving gummies on the coffee table, we’ll surely need more data than that.

LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV238 Mar. 7–20, 2018 47

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MARCH 17

MARCH 18

BY ROB BREZSNY

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): According to my assessment of the astrological omens, you’re in a favorable phase to gain more power over your fears. You can reduce your susceptibility to chronic anxieties. You can draw on the help and insight necessary to dissipate insidious doubts that are rooted in habit but not based on objective evidence. I don’t want to sound too melodramatic, my dear Pisces, but this is an amazing opportunity! You are potentially on the verge of an unprecedented breakthrough! In my opinion, nothing is more important for you to accomplish in the coming weeks than this inner conquest.

ARIES (March 21-April 19): The men who work on offshore oil rigs perform demanding, dangerous tasks on a regular basis.

If they make mistakes, they may get injured or befoul the sea with petroleum. As you might guess, the culture on these rigs has traditionally been macho, stoic and hard-driving. But in recent years, that has changed at one company. Shell Oil’s workers in the U.S. were trained by Holocaust survivor Claire Nuer to talk about their feelings, be willing to admit errors and soften their attitudes. As a result, the company’s safety record has improved dramatically. If macho dudes toiling on oil rigs can become more vulnerable and open and tenderly expressive, so can you, Aries. And now would be a propitious time to do it.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): How will you celebrate your upcoming climax and culmination, Taurus? With a howl of triumph, a fist pump and three cartwheels? With a humble speech thanking everyone who helped you along the way? With a bottle of champagne, a gourmet feast and spectacular sex? However you choose to mark this transition from one chapter of your life story to the next chapter, I suggest that you include an action that will help the next chapter get off to a rousing start. In your ritual of completion, plant seeds for the future.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): On April 23, 1516, the Germanic duchy of Bavaria issued a decree. From that day forward, all beer produced had to use just three ingredients: water, barley and hops. Ever since then, for the last 500-plus years, this edict has had an enduring influence on how German beer is manufactured. In accordance with astrological factors, I suggest that you proclaim three equally potent and systemic directives of your own. It’s an opportune time to be clear and forceful about how you want your story to unfold in the coming years.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): What’s your most frustrating flaw?

During the next seven weeks, you will have enhanced power to diminish its grip on you. It’s even possible you will partially correct it or outgrow it. To take maximum advantage of this opportunity, rise above any covert tendency you might have to cling to your familiar pain. Rebel against the attitude described by novelist Stephen King: “It’s hard to let go. Even when what you’re holding onto is full of thorns, it’s hard to let go. Maybe especially then.”

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): In his book Whistling in the Dark, author Frederick Buechner writes that the ancient Druids “are said to have taken a special interest in in-between things like mistletoe, which is neither quite a plant nor quite a tree, and mist, which is neither quite rain nor quite air, and dreams, which are neither quite waking nor quite sleep.” According to my reading of the astrological omens, in-between phenomena will be your specialty in the coming weeks. You will also thrive in relationship to anything that lives in two worlds or that has paradoxical qualities. I hope you’ll exult in the educational delights that come from your willingness to be teased and mystified.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): The English word velleity refers to an empty wish that has no power behind it. If you feel a longing to make a pilgrimage to a holy site, but can’t summon the motivation to actually do so, you are under the spell of velleity.

Your fantasy of communicating with more flair and candor is a

velleity if you never initiate the practical steps to accomplish that goal. Most of us suffer from this weakness at one time or another. But the good news, Virgo, is that you are primed to overcome your version of it during the next six weeks. Life will conspire to assist you if you resolve to turn your wishy-washy wishes into potent action plans—and then actually carry out those plans.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): In the 2002 film Spider-Man, there’s a scene where the character Mary Jane slips on a spilled drink as she carries a tray full of food through a cafeteria. Peter Parker, aka Spider-Man, makes a miraculous save. He jumps up from his chair and catches Mary Jane before she falls.

Meanwhile, he grabs her tray and uses it to gracefully capture her apple, sandwich, carton of milk and bowl of jello before they hit the floor. The filmmakers say they didn’t use CGI to render this scene. The lead actor, Tobey Maguire, allegedly accomplished it in real life—although it took 156 takes before he finally mastered it. I hope you have that level of patient determination in the coming weeks, Libra. You, too, can perform a small miracle if you do.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Scorpio mathematician Benoît Mandelbrot was a connoisseur of “the art of roughness” and “the uncontrolled element in life.” He liked to locate and study the hidden order in seemingly chaotic and messy things. “My life seemed to be a series of events and accidents,” he said.

“Yet when I look back I see a pattern.” I bring his perspective to your attention, Scorpio, because you are entering a phase when the hidden order and secret meanings of your life will emerge into view. Be alert for surprising hints of coherence.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): I suspect that in July and August you will be invited to commune with rousing opportunities and exciting escapades. But right now I’m advising you to channel your intelligence into well-contained opportunities and sensible adventures. In fact, my projections suggest that your ability to capitalize fully on the future’s rousing opportunities and exciting escapades will depend on how well you master the current crop of well-contained opportunities and sensible adventures. Making the most of today’s small pleasures will qualify you to harvest bigger pleasures later.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): If you saw the animated film The Lion King, you may have been impressed with the authenticity of the lions’ roars and snarls. Did the producers place microphones in the vicinity of actual lions? No. Voice actor Frank Welker produced the sounds by growling and yelling into a metal garbage can. I propose this as a useful metaphor for you in the coming days. First, I hope it inspires you to generate a compelling and creative illusion of your own—an illusion that serves a good purpose. Second, I hope it alerts you to the possibility that other people will be offering you compelling and creative illusions—illusions that you should engage with only if they serve a good purpose.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): I do a lot of self-editing before I publish what I write. My horoscopes go through at least three drafts before I unleash them on the world. While polishing the manuscript of my first novel, I threw away over a thousand pages of stuff that I had worked on very hard. In contrast to my approach, science fiction writer Harlan Ellison dashed off one of his award-winning stories in a single night and published it without making any changes to the first draft. As you work in your own chosen field, Aquarius, I suspect that for the next three weeks you will produce the best results by being more like me than Ellison. Beginning about three weeks from now, an Ellison-style strategy might be more warranted.

LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV238 Mar. 7–20, 2018 49

LOCAL ALBUMS

HOMOGENIZED TERRESTRIALS

Suspension homogenizedterrestrials.bandcamp.com/album/suspension

P

hillip Klampe is a veteran of the dark ambient scene, self-releasing his first cassettes in the mid1990s. His nom de ambient is Homogenized Terrestrials, which is a nod to his similarly long career as a grocery store dairy department manager.

You could spend days listening to his music, literally. There are 47 releases cataloged on his Bandcamp web page, and I think there are many early cassette works he has yet to upload. His life is seemingly divided into working and making music, with occasional pauses to eat and sleep.

I last saw Phil in real life when he did an in-store performance at The Record Collector (Kirk Walther, RIP, was a long-time friend and fan). Previously, I’d played a show with him around 1998. In both cases, he showed up with conventional gear—in 1998 a Roland JV1080, and more recently Electron sample playback gear.

These are machines that are designed to be easy for a traditional musician to make traditional pop music (or techno, or soundtracks).

Phil completely subverts their normal workflow. He finds the flakey edges of their sound engines, the things normally avoided by conventional musicians, and makes them central to his creative process.

Given that the Homogenized Terrestrials oeuvre is oceanic, it’s difficult to get your arms around. But you can start anywhere, and on its own terms, Suspension is really strong. “Fum Organi” is perhaps the most focused track, built on a steady rhythm of unidentifiable percussion over which he

50 Mar. 7–20, 2018 LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV238

Submit albums for review: Little Village, 623 S Dubuque St., IC, IA 52240

layered timestretched vocals and dark sustained chords. Lest you get too excited about conventional musical elements, it is followed by “Visitors,” which sounds as though you’re in a roadside ditch at night surrounded by busy wildlife, hearing the occasional truck pass by. But it’s completely synthesized and abstract, not literally the sound of lying in a ditch. It might actually be comprised by samples of familiar sounds, but they’re stretched and twisted into unrecognizable clicks and twittering noises.

Most of the tracks on Suspension are relatively short by ambient standards, some less than three minutes. Klampe knows precisely how long each musical idea needs to be developed, and you never get stuck (as with many ambient releases) with 20 minutes of repetition with minor tweaks.

Music this willfully vague and abstract can be a heavy lift for listeners more used to the prescriptive program of rock or hip hop or R&B. But it is worthwhile, even crucial to give this music a chance. Living within the billowing clouds of vague, obscured symphonic chords and the dislocated clanks and muttering Klampe has assembled does something to your perception of sound. It will change you.

—Kent Williams

DUSTIN MATOS

Layers dustinmatos.bandcamp.com/album/layers

T

he soft keyboard intro to the first track on Layers is something of a fake-out. About halfway through “Detachment,” Fairfield’s Dustin Matos reveals what will become the dominant tone of his 2018 album of instrumentals: delightfully heavy guitars driving home each

downbeat in a nod-along nocturne that’s equal parts Iron Maiden and Berlioz.

Layers is storytelling symphonic rock at its best. There’s an epic, synth-y feel that could set it as the soundtrack to an ’80s fantasy film—but the narrative is more concise.

These aren’t the kind of instrumental tracks that exist to travel alongside someone else’s story. They’re self-contained tales.

Matos packs a lot of content into these micro sagas.

With only three of the eight tracks clocking in at six minutes or longer, Layers doesn’t provide the delivery method one would expect for such broad musical ambitions. Track four, “101010,” feels like it wants to go on much longer, even, than its recorded 6:06 (the longest track on the album). Or, at least, I’d happily listen to it for much longer. Tracks like number five, “Trigram” (clocking in at only 3:39) barely feel like snippets of something more.

But Matos packs a lot of content into these micro sagas. As a title, Layers is definitely apt. Album standout “Through the Valley” (track six) has the conceptual impact of a novel trimmed to the concision of a short story. And, while concision is not the first trait one typically looks for in progressive, heavy music, the only way this album suffers for that is in leaving the listener wanting more.

The title track, “Layers,” closes out the album, and it’s an unwavering push of all the speed and intensity played with on the other tracks. There’s no tease of a soft intro; it’s 100 percent all in. It’s also the most satisfyingly complete of the tracks. There’s a finality to it that allows the album to close without that unfinished, yearning sensation.

It’s tantalizing to wonder why Matos didn’t choose to create 10- or even 20-minute epics, but the best thing Layers offers, perhaps, is this: If you’re someone who’s put off by the commitment required to even explore symphonic or progressive rock, this album is one hell of a gateway drug.

––Genevieve Trainor

POETIC INJUSTICE The American Values Club Crossword is edited by Ben Tausig.

ACROSS 1. One of Washington’s Tri-Cities (with Richland and Kennewick) 6. Flow’s partner 9. West Point student 14. Adele and Cher, e.g.

15. Roth who directed the upcoming Death Wish remake with Bruce Willis 16. Absorber of UV rays 17. Compensation for enduring bronchitis?

20. Like Deepwater Horizon’s operations 21. Grey Gardens nickname 22. Spelling event 23. PIN drop?

25. Legally Blonde protagonist 26. In addition 30. SodaStream option 31. Word with bench or drill 32. Motown music about smelly grave-robbing monsters?

35. Crush or Squirt, in Finding Nemo 36. Fill to the brim 39. Visit to the mills of

Gold Medal, King Arthur, Pillsbury and Robin Hood?

43. Cuba ___ 45. Forsaken 46. Energetic 47. Novel Melville wrote perhaps because he was worried Typee wasn’t crossword‑friendly enough 48. Yakking 50. Computer programming pioneer Lovelace 51. Heavy fat 52. Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3 57. What English pronunciation often demonstrates 60. Finish with 61. John Dos Passos trilogy 62. Home to Belgium’s Gravensteen castle 63. Neuter 64. Sunday seating 65. Clothing brand with a red triangle logo

DOWN 1. Hits the expected number 2. 1994 NL LV237 ANSWERS Manager of the Year E DGE CO L T T A S T E NU L L OD A Y OP I UM Felipe A R I O COMP AQP R E S 3. WornMA D B A R B E CU E down pencil E N E RO S E E AMA N L T ROOP E R R E B E 4. Gear BMOV I E S L A A components F A C E S E D A N S C A R 5. Ice Cube’s L F O T RO T OU T A T CH F A B R I C S W real first K A K A POS GR A V E name R E A L L OV E P E E 6. FairWR A P A ROU N D L O L Z hiring C A P E K E N Y A A N T E S P UR S S E X Y B E E R agency.

BY BY R O N WA L D E N

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7. Police protest that uses illness as a pretext 8. “So what?”

9. Write Java, say 10. ___ dye 11. Feature of certain roller coasters 12. Author of The Condition of the Working Class in England 13. Furtive giggles

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18. Plate protector 19. Hurry, old-style 24. Low sound?

25. Fires off a tweetstorm, say 26. Baby newt 27. Reed of the Velvet Underground 28. Wavestorm products 29. Banderillero’s target 31. Hard up

33. Crafting need 34. Real beaut 37. PETA pet hate 38. Get too much sun 40. Outbreak 41. Like some aspirin regimens 42. “... ___ quit!”

43. Given for a time 44. “Finished!”

48. Word with slow or toe

49. Spurs coach Popovich 51. National animal of Romania 53. Island once ruled by Mailikukahi 54. “Gotcha” 55. Pen pals?

56. Formicide targets 58. Row maker 59. Like sashimi

LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV238 Mar. 7–20, 2018 51