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FREE CHICO’S NEWS & ENTERTAINMENT SOURCE VOLUME 44, ISSUE 2 THURSDAY, AUGUST 6, 2020 CHICO.NEWSREVIEW.COM

A new normal

IN THE NEWS: • County surge update • Stonewall and BLM • Blue Room closes FEATURE:

Disaster County– Local history impacts response MICHAEL BONE–

Making art in a lockdown Movie streaming picks

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CN&R

AUGUST 6, 2020

INSIDE

CN&R

Vol. 44, Issue 2 • August 6, 2020

OPINION

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Editorial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Second & Flume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Guest Comment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 This Modern World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Streetalk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

HEALTHLINES

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NEWSLINES

10

Stonewall Alliance Center takes action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Goodbye Blue Room . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

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FEATURE STORY

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ARTS & CULTURE

22

Music/arts feature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 August events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Reel World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Arts DEVO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Brezsny’s Astrology . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

REAL ESTATE

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ON THE COVER: CIARA PURVIANCE AND BARNABY PHOTO BY JASON CASSIDY

353 E. Second St., Chico, CA 95928 Phone (530) 894-2300 Website chico.newsreview.com Our Mission: To publish great newspapers that are successful and enduring. To create a quality work environment that encourages employees to grow professionally while respecting personal welfare.

To have a positive impact on our communities and make them better places to live.

President/CEO Jeff vonKaenel Director of Nuts & Bolts Deborah Redmond Director of Dollars & Sense Debbie Mantoan Payroll/AP Wizard Miranda Hansen Developer John Bisignano System Support Specialist Kalin Jenkins

Editor at large Melissa Daugherty Interim Editor Jason Cassidy Contributing Editor Evan Tuchinsky Staff Writers Ashiah Scharaga, Ken Smith Calendar Editor Trevor Whitney

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Editorial Policies: Opinions expressed in CN&R are those of the authors and not of Chico Community Publishing, Inc. Contact the editor for permission to reprint articles or other portions of the paper. CN&R is not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts or review materials. Email letters to cnrletters@newsreview.com. All letters received become the property of the publisher. We reserve the right to print letters in condensed form and to edit them for libel.

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OPINION

Send guest comments, 340 words maximum, to gc@newsreview.com or to 353 E. Second St., Chico, CA 95928. Please include photo & short bio.

SECOND & FLUME

EDITORIAL

by Melissa Daugherty m e l i s s a d @ n e w s r e v i e w. c o m

Armchair epidemiology he did the latter, in a White House Sequestered at home over the press conference, social media sites course of the pandemic, most of had removed it from their platforms you undoubtedly have had a discusciting inaccuracy. sion—directly or through social Repeated clinical trials have media—with someone who’s shared failed to prove the effectiveness of “important information” about hydroxychloroquine on this coronacoronavirus. virus, as has widely been reported by People with time on their hands myriad media outlets. Both the World find ways to spend it. Many take Health Organization and U.S. Food to Google, YouTube, Facebook and Drug Administration caution and Twitter, where rabbit holes against its use for this purpose. await. Separating fact from fiction, However, armchair experts remain information from misinformation, is unconvinced. Poaching statements not always easy, and it’s especially from articles that advance their challenging with complex subjects beliefs, they promote the drug—some such as medical science. going so far as saying everyone It’s one thing to be an armchair should take it, essentially prescribing quarterback and question the play of without a license. a football team.

Loose talk It’s another to put poses other on the air of an Separating dangers. Face epidemiologist coverings and second-guess fact from fiction, shouldn’t be actual doctors, information from controversial, nurses and public but here we are health officials. misinformation, in August, the Yet, that’s what sixth month of these so very is not always California’s state helpful uncreeasy, and it’s of emergency, dentialed folks with masks keep doing, be especially still a bone of they anti-pharma challenging with contention. liberals or People opposed anti-government complex subjects to preventative conservameasures fixate on tives—even the such as medical specific statistics, president. science. such as death Hot memes totals not rising change fast, so apace with new let’s just take cases, without an example broader analysis or context. A declinfrom last week. A group calling ing death rate shows coronavirus itself “America’s Frontline Doctors” isn’t so serious? Maybe that shows asserted in a video that the drug prevention works! (Not to mention hydroxychloroquine—an arthritis that death rates began spiking again medicine that’s also used to fight recently, as most experts predicted,) malaria—cures COVID-19 in the Point is, it’s easy to jump to concluearly stages. President Trump not sions, much harder to seek out good only retweeted the video but also Ω answers. supported its claims. By the time

Write a letter 4

CN&R

Tell us what you think in a letter to the editor. Send submissions of 200 or fewer words to cnrletters@newsreview.com.

AUGUST 6, 2020

Bad timing By the time you read this, I’ll be recuperating from my second surgery in a month. I won’t go through the whole long and involved story, but I will give you a snippet of the scare that’s kept me preoccupied in recent months.

It began when an MRI showing a mass. That news came at about the worst imaginable time this spring. Before I could follow up with a specialist, I lost my job at the CN&R as a direct result of the coronavirus pandemic. Shortly thereafter, I lost my health insurance.

I’m in good company. According to recent reports, between March and early May, roughly 27 million Americans lost employer-sponsored insurance. As of July, 30 million Americans—approximately 20 percent of the domestic workforce—were receiving unemployment benefits.

My heart goes out to the folks who have likewise struggled with medical issues during this already stressful time. I spent more than two months in limbo—not knowing whether or not I was facing a life-threatening condition. That resulted in many sleepless nights roiled by existential dread.

All things considered, though, I’m one of the lucky ones.

I was able to purchase insurance via the federal safety net known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act—you know, the law President Trump keeps trying to repeal. Aside from being fairly expensive for an unemployed person, it has allowed me to get treatment and peace of mind.

When it comes to the CN&R, however, the future remains uncertain.

Our advertising base has contracted during this crisis—hence our new monthly publication schedule—as businesses adapt their operations to make them sustainable. Unfortunately, a second shutdown wrought by a surge in COVID-19 cases is likely to pose further complications.

Personally, I’m disappointed in Butte County for not doing enough to mitigate the spread. At the time of this writing, there were more than 900 cases of the virus. Seven people had died as a result of it. Some folks scoff at the mortality rate—just under 1 percent locally, as of deadline—but it’s actually quite high compared with other communicable diseases, including influenza.

For some reason, a lot of people in this region are having a hard time sacrificing for the greater good. I don’t get it. During World War II, Americans planted victory gardens and rationed supplies such as sugar, rubber and oil. Today, we can’t get through a summer without pool parties.

Somehow it hasn’t dawned on certain people that the sooner we adhere to strict social distancing norms and mask-wearing mandates, the quicker we’ll get back to life as we once knew it. Take, for example, the viral video of a woman dubbed Panera Patty, who refused to wear a mask in that sandwich shop adjacent to the Chico Mall.

Perhaps she took a cue from local mask-eschewing representatives—including a couple of City Council members, both of our state lawmakers and, unsurprisingly, Rep. Doug LaMalfa—most of whom also have pushed for early reopening.

In a way, it’s weird that residents of Butte County havn’t come together on this crisis. After living through the Oroville Dam disaster and the Camp Fire, you’d think we’d be better prepared than any community to meet this moment. Still, certain people may begin to take it seriously only after a devastating personal connection arises.

I can’t help but wonder how the return of Chico State students is going to factor into the equation in the coming months. We’re talking about a demographic that generally feels invincible and therefore has the potential to present a super-spreader effect. Local stats appear to bear this out—more than 28 percent of the cases are folks between the ages of 18 and 24.

These are but a few of the things I’m sure will be on my mind as I convalesce in the coming weeks in preparation for returning to the CN&R. Speaking of the paper, I’ll end on a grateful note. First up, I want to acknowledge the hard work of the staff, especially longtime Arts Editor Jason Cassidy, who’s serving as interim editor. I won’t have seen this issue ahead of publication, but I know it’s in very capable hands.

Second, I want to recognize our readers for their help sustaining our work. We recently launched a new fundraising drive that will allow us to produce two more issues ahead of the general election. Thanks, in advance, for the contributions that will allow me to rejoin the staff and for all of us to continue telling the stories that are critical during this difficult time.

GUEST COMMENT

‘Teach anyway’ was my message to one of my juniors back ‘Iin April.ThatDistance learning had been suddenly foisted hate it, too.”

upon us, and he was struggling with staying interested in it. I had come up with a combination of reading assignments, clips from YouTube, my own video lessons and Zoom meetings that seemed to work for some kids, sort of. But I wasn’t happy either.

I got into teaching because I care about kids. I enjoy interacting with them and building relationships with them. How could I do by that on Zoom?

Matt Sutter I’m sure my own frustration An educator for and anxiety came out in a few 14 years, the author of my conversations, even as I teaches history, assured kids that I’d find a way government and to make this all work for them. It economics, and coaches the varsity couldn’t possibly be forever, right? girls’ soccer team, at After a surge in COVID-19 Paradise High School. cases, the narrative that we will all go back to “normal” soon

seems incredibly naïve.

Schools right now are having meetings with committees of educators asking teachers to, once again, reinvent what we do for a living to match a new situation. For those of us teaching in Paradise, you’d think we’d be used to it by now. In December 2018, we were teaching in a mall. The following January, we were teaching in an office building. By August of last year, we were back on campus but with PG&E shutting down the power intermittently. Then in March, we were all thrown into distance learning. School starts in one week, and here we are, planning what we hope will be a better, more rigorous, more helpful form of distance learning.

I have students back in houses on the Ridge. But I also have students still sleeping on the couches of friends and family. Some are in RVs, with the town telling them they can’t stay. Students for whom sports programs are a core part of their identity have their seasons up in the air. My kids have an added layer of unanswered questions and unfamiliar settings on top of the unknowns students everywhere are facing.

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What do you think?

Have an opinion about a recent CN&R story or anything else happening locally? Then share it with us and the community. Send your letter (200 words or less) to: cnrletters@newsreview.com Deadline to be considered for next print issue: August 21

AUGUST 6, 2020

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GUEST COMMENT

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C H I C O ’ S N E W S & No payments from the loan were made to owner payout, lease, or any other expense. We are thankful to our community and to Golden Valley Bank for keeping us in business during the COVID-19 shutdown. security, fire, home theater and low voltage systems

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E N T E R T A I N M E N T

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Do you risk student lives by putting them in a classroom before the pandemic is really over? Or do you ask them to be flexible when so many kids are at the point of breaking?

There are no good answers.

It all weighs incredibly heavy on my shoulders. I miss them dearly. And after two

C O N T I N U E D F R O M PA G E 5

years of chaos, I miss “normal.”

So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.

If we could have your kids safely in a “normal” setting, we would. Instead, we’ll mourn “normal” right along with you and do what we always do: Teach anyway. Ω

LETTERS No debating masks No mask, no brains, no money, no life! It is that easy. It is science. It is the most loving, Christian and patriotic action caring people can take—one we should do together—but unfortunately has become a “deadly red” or a “flaky blue” opinion. A brand which marks us for Trump or against. Masks reveal the mindset of the person. That scares me more than the pandemic.

Pat Johnson Red Bluff

Police reform I share my heartbreak at the brutal murder of George Floyd.

I join the nationwide rising demand to end violent killing of black men, end police violence, end the racism and militarism that perpetuates the violence. This uprising must be a wake-up call for deep introspection: How can our nation expose and dismantle the systemic violence that allows these tragedies to occur, decade after decade?

Concerned Citizens for Justice (CC4J) works to uproot local police violence, to transform police culture to one that treats all persons with respect and applies force only when absolutely necessary. This change will require comprehensive de-escalation training for officers.

As Chico considers hiring a new police chief, CC4J calls on the city to select a chief sympathetic with these concerns. We call on the Policing Review Ad Hoc Committee to assure

that Chico’s use-of-force policy reflects these values.

Community members, speak up! Write to the City Council; log onto a one-question survey at CC4J’s Facebook page (http://tiny.cc/CC4J-Facebook), and tell your story via the CC4J Story Project (cc4j-chico. wixsite.com/website/contact).

CC4J will soon release an Action Plan for the Transformation of Chico Police, demanding thorough transparency and accountability; establishing a mental health intervention team; and calling for citizen oversight with subpoena powers. Stay tuned!

Emily Alma Chico

Theater blues The Blue Room’s closing is a withering blow to the downtown Chico arts scene.

Performance spaces that allow our community to process and heal from injustice are vital to community health and safety.

Thank you, Blue Room, for the years of accessible performance art in the best downtown in all of Northern California. May your new home be just as prominent, and just as vital, to the character of the neighborhood.

Bill Mash Chico

Write a letter Tell us what you think in a letter to the editor. Send submissions of 200 or fewer words to cnrletters@newsreview.com.

STREETALK

How do you maintain mental health during lockdown?

Asked in downtown Chico

Silvia Franco administrator

I’m really just trying to be active and trying to have a routine of some sort. I have been going to the gym, [and I] go to the park like every day. Having some routine helps.

Conner Montgomery student/server

Back in March, I’d go into Upper Bidwell Park, go on runs, work out, go to work and listen to music mostly. Going to school sucked.

Everything was online, so our teachers sent us work and then sent us on our way. It was kind of horrible.

J. Trip brewery packaging

Working and meditation and art. We’ve been going strong the whole time. Regulations and policies have changed to stay safe, but every other given thing is work as usual.

02streetalk images sent to Tina

We need your support Our commitment to coverage and how you can help The Chico News & Review’s goal is to raise $32,000 by Oct. 30, 2020.

When added to funds received through the Paycheck Protection Plan Loan, this will ensure that our team of dedicated journalists can continue working through one of the worst economic and health crises of the past century. With your recurring contribution, the CN&R can continue our award-winning coverage on the topics that impact the residents of Butte County, including COVID-19, the arts, homelessness, the fight for equality, and wildfire recovery and prevention.

You can make a donation Online at: chico.newsreview.com/support Or mail a check to: Chico News & Review 353 E. Second St. Chico, CA 95928 (Please include return address, and do not send cash.)

Thank you from your local, alternative newsroom.

Stephanie Zuniga student

I think people are like, “Hey, this is not a real thing,” or letting fear rule them. I think the best thing is to think, “Hey, you’re still alive.” You can breathe. You still have two legs.

Stop complaining about stuff that you can’t change and be glad that you’re here.

Independent local journalism, since 1977.

Now more than ever.

AUGUST 6, 2020

CN&R

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HEALTHLINES

Anatomy of a surge Local officials, braced for spring wave, refocus on current coronavirus swell

by

Evan Tuchinsky evan t@ newsrev iew.c om

Iforproviders across California braced a flood of coronavirus patients. n early spring, health officials and

Spread of the disease elsewhere— such as New York, with hospitals and morgues overwhelmed—led epidemiologists to forecast a surge in the Golden State by mid-April.

That surge did not materialize. Orders issued by Gov. Gavin Newsom requiring residents to stay at home as well as restricting public gatherings and non-essential businesses—combined with initial adherence to public health department guidelines on social distancing, hand washing and face coverings—seemed to work for many parts of California, especially in semi-isolated rural Butte County.

In fact, among health service areas tracked nationally, the Chico area had the lowest incidence of coronavirus heading into May. In response, that month, Butte County was one of the first two counties that the governor authorized to reopen earlier than mandated for the rest of the state. A federal medical station set up at Enloe

Rehabilitation Center was packed up and shipped out.

As businesses reopened, testing increased and many citizens eschewed face-covering recommendations, local coravirus began to rise sharply. As of Aug. 3, the county’s Public Health Department had recorded 980 positive tests for COVID-19, with 766 coming in July alone. Seven patients had died.

The largest spike came during the week of July 14-20, with 264 new cases, prompting the California Department of Public Health to place Butte County on the state’s County Monitoring List.

That decision July 22, effective July 25, reinstituted earlier restrictions—on establishments such as gyms, hair salons and places of worship—until further notice from the state public health officer.

Additionally, the Butte County Office of Education announced that, until the county has been off the monitoring list for two weeks, local schools will not open for inperson instruction.

Even with these recent developments, and with the federal field hospital no longer in place, local health administrators have expressed confidence in the county system’s capacity to treat coronavirus patients. They cite hospitals’ ability

to expand intensive care should the need arise; so far, facilities have not been overwhelmed.

Butte County Public Health Director Danette York said last week by phone that she’d anticipate hospitals and clinics to experience an impact from July’s jump in positive cases over the next few weeks. Based on state and national trends, a lag (in hospitalizations, including intensive care, and deaths) tends to trail the initial wave before rising once again “It [the coronavirus spike] has

affected the health care system [already],” York added, “but not put us at a surge level.”

Enloe Medical Center CEO Mike Wiltermood concurred.

Including patients from outside Butte County—Enloe draws from a service area including Glenn, Tehama and Plumas counties—the hospital has been treating between 20 and 25 a day for COVID-19, though only five to seven of those require intensive care with ventilators.

“I think we’re going to be

Judy Cline, director of emergency department and trauma services at Enloe Medical Center, says ER visits dipped in the pandemic’s early months but recently returned to normal levels.

PHOTO BY EVAN TUCHINSKY

fine,” he said by phone last week.

“We’re all worried about COVID being around during the flu season, but that’s not for a few months, and we’re all keeping our fingers crossed on the progress of the development of a vaccine.”

When the governor issued his initial

orders, the county’s three hospi-

T R A C K I N G C O V I D -1 9 I N B U T T E C O U N T Y

MARCH 19

Gov. Newsom declares shelter-in-place for all Californians

8

Positive cases 1

Positive cases 8

Positive cases 16

Positive cases 20

Positive cases 47

Positive cases 82

Positive cases 175

Positive cases 268

Deaths 0

Deaths 0

Deaths 0

Deaths 0

Deaths 0

Deaths 1

Deaths 2

Deaths 3

MARCH 21

CN&R A U G U S T 6 , 2 0 2 0

MARCH 31

APRIL 30

MAY 4

State expands local testing

MAY 13

Bars and indoor restaurants re-open

MAY 30

JUNE 1

First death reported

JUNE 15

JUNE 18

Gov. Newsom requires masks in public

JUNE 30

JULY 6

About the article:

Positive cases 980

Deaths 4

Deaths 5

Deaths 7

JULY 15

JULY 22

County put on State Monitoring List

AUGUST 3* *CN&R print deadline. (For latest update see chico.newsreview.com/covid-19)

Find us online chico.newsreview.com

Positive cases 683

S O U R C E

Positive cases 437

E N T E R T A I N M E N T

full-on surge, Wiltermood said the medical center could again postpone elective surgeries, reallocate space—in the hospital’s intensive care units and south wing (for around 75 additional beds with ventilators), plus certain clinics—and, within 48 hours, convert the rehab center into a field hospital again.

Space isn’t necessarily the key factor, though, at Enloe or other facilities. Wiltermood listed adequate supplies, particularly protective equipment; sufficient testing for COVID; and, foremost, keeping staff healthy.

“The initial plan for all the mitigation efforts was to flatten the curve, to prevent everyone from getting sick and overwhelming our health-care system at one time,” York said. “It’s extremely necessary that everyone continues to be vigilant and participate in all of the [preventative] activities we have been doing.” Ω

&

Should Enloe need to ramp up for a

N E W S

tals—Enloe, Oroville Hospital and Orchard Hospital in Gridley—joined others in preparing for surge conditions. They stopped performing elective procedures (i.e., surgeries not critical for life-saving) and dedicated areas to isolate patients. The state government dispatched federal medical stations regionally to accommodate any overflow.

The federal medical station in Chico opened in April and increased the county’s capacity for coronavirus patients by 125 beds, an additional 25 percent.

Enloe, which can accommodate roughly 300 patients, was around half-full during this period, Wiltermood said. (Oroville Hospital and Orchard Hospital did not respond to interview requests.)

Unexpectedly, emergency room traffic decreased. Judy Cline, Enloe’s director of the emergency department and trauma services, said her doctors and fellow nurses consistently saw far fewer people for the illnesses and accidents that normally require E.R. visits.

“It was frightening, because people seek care,” Cline said.

“Where were they? Where were they going? What was happening to them? It was very distressing for us.”

At the time, doctors still admitted very ill non-coronavirus patients to the hospital, with ample rooms available; but the volume of walk-ins visiting Enloe’s E.R. dropped from an average of 235 to 135 a day. Only in June did the E.R. start returning to what Cline called its “postCamp Fire normal,” with traffic increasing to 200-plus a day.

“It actually makes our staff feel reassured: ‘Oh, our people are back,’” she said. “We don’t want people to have to come to the ER, but we knew they were coming before.”

Enloe has resumed elective procedures, and last week the hospital announced it would be replacing tents in the separate COVID-19 triage area with a climate-controlled modular building.

“The most important concern is [if] people delay care that they really need because they’re concerned about either getting a COVID infection in a hospital or a clinic, or because they’re trying to be good citizens and stay away,” Wiltermood said. “I can tell you for an absolute fact that we have lost far more people due to delays in care than we have due to COVID.”

C H I C O ’ S

This is an updated version of a story the CN&R originally published online at chico. newsreview.com.

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9

NEWSLINES Marin Hambley (left) and Alyssa Larson of Stonewall Alliance Center.

PHOTO BY ASHIAH SCHARAGA

‘The fight is still happening’ In response to George Floyd protests and local violence, Stonewall shows up for people of color

OmakeChico had an important announcement to and sent out an email blast to drum up n June 26, Stonewall Alliance Center of

support. Motivated to act in the wake of the murder of George Floyd, the LGBTQ advocacy by organization launched Ashiah Scharaga the QT*POC Direct ash i a hs@ Aid Fund dedicated to newsrev i ew.c om assisting queer and trans people of color.

Get involved That same night in To learn more about Chico, two gay black or make donations to men were attacked and Stonewall Alliance’s QT*POC Direct Aid Fund, beaten so severely that visit stonewallchico.com. they required hospiFollow the Chico Com- talization. While this munity Assembly at incident is under invesdefundchicopd.org. tigation, much of the community—including Stonewall—reacted with outrage, with many calling it a hate crime and demanding justice for the victims.

Since Floyd’s killing, there has been an increased awareness surrounding violence against marginalized communities in America, along with a wave of support and work being done to address racial injustice and inequality. Stonewall’s organizers, like many local advocates, are looking at how they

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AUGUST 6, 2020

can help with solutions to root issues. In addition to its new fund, the alliance also recently created Safer Action Support with Stonewall (S.A.S.S.), a team of volunteers that focuses on providing safety at protests and other local events led by people of color, such the public meetings of the Chico Community Assembly, a newly formed police-reform group.

Alyssa Larson, Stonewall’s events and volunteers coordinator, said the organization’s latest efforts are a response to current needs of a community fighting for equal rights. The message: “We want to stand behind you, we want to fit into the puzzle where we can help you.”

June also marked the annual Pride month held in honor of the 1969 Stonewall Riots, a demonstration by members of the LGBTQ community—including many people of color—against a violent police raid. That was a watershed moment for LGBTQ liberation, and is the root of the Chico organization’s name. For the 51 years since, LGBTQ people of color have been at the forefront of the fight against police violence, inequity and social injustice, said Marin Hambley, Stonewall’s education and advocacy coordinator.

“Queer and trans people of color were just demanding basic human rights, and we see that still happening,” Hambley said. “The fight is still happening, and this feels like the

most genuine form of LGBTQ Pride—this sort of racial justice movement—as well.”

The fight is local

Kitana Jade has been crying herself to sleep lately. She can’t stop thinking about Floyd; how he died gasping for breath as Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin pressed a knee into the back of his neck for more than eight agonizing minutes. That could happen to my son, she’s thought.

Since Floyd’s death, Jade (who is going by an alias due to fears of being targeted because she is Black, Chinese and Japanese) has noticed more overt racism in her community and toward her family. She’s terrified for their safety and feels powerless.

“I’ve broken down every day, thinking, What can I do? I can’t even walk out my door, because all eyes are going to be on me and my child.”

So she’s hidden herself in plain sight when she has to go out, covering her curly afro so as not to draw attention or glares. She and her son frequently run through a long list of everything he needs to do in order to to stay safe, including: Don’t wear hoodies, don’t blast your music and don’t argue with police.

Jade, also a member of the LGBTQ community, is a volunteer at Stonewall. Her expe-

rience, which she shared with fellow volunteers and organizers recently during a meeting, is not uncommon.

Larson and Hambley frequently assist LGBTQ community members who have been targets of racism, homophobia and transphobia, and who are seeking safety and support. Stonewall currently provides direct aid to queer and trans people, including a peer support group for people of color, HIV and hepatitis C testing, and assistance securing resources such as health insurance and gender marker changes on IDs and other documents.

The QT*POC Direct Aid Fund is for queer and trans people of color exclusively, the organizers said. This population often experiences greater institutional barriers and increased violence because they can be targets of both homophobia/transphobia and racism.

Discrimination in academic and professional settings, family rejection and generational poverty also make them particularly vulnerable to financial emergencies.

So far, response to the fund has been great, Larson said. Stonewall has raised enough to grant over $2,000 to those in need, and help an individual secure a vehicle. Applications are available online (see info box).

As for the two victims assaulted June 26, Stonewall has been in touch with their families and has offered support, Hambley said.

Sources close to the victims say they are not making any public statements at this time.

The case is still under investigation by the Chico Police Department. The department announced on Facebook on June 29 that it had received multiple calls and social media complaints regarding the investigation.

“We want to assure our community we take these investigations very serious and are completing a thorough investigation into this matter,” the post states.

In a recent email response, police Commander Greg Keeney said that search warrants have been served in the case and witChico activist Rae Flores-Owen.

PHOTO BY ASHIAH SCHARAGA

George Floyd protest in Chico June 5.

CN&R FILE PHOTO BY KEN SMITH

ness interviews are still in progress.

Vice Mayor Alex Brown has heard from many Chicoans disturbed by the attack. She directly followed up with the city manager and addressed the assault publicly on social media.

“My heart goes out to those who were attacked, and their families,” she wrote on Facebook. “Our community is not immune to racism and homophobia. Both exist right here in Chico, both are daily realities for many LGBT*Q+ people and communities of color.”

While she couldn’t comment on case details, this subject matter is personal for Brown, as she identifies as queer and gender nonconforming. She told the CN&R that people often make disparaging comments about her gender identity “as if it makes me less than I am, or less credible.”

The more marginalized communities someone belongs to, the more it places them at risk, she added: “It’s weaponized and kind of turned against you.”

Safety in numbers

Floyd’s death ignited a groundswell of grassroots support locally, beginning with peaceful and passionate marches and protests in downtown Chico. The S.A.S.S. team was formed at that time in response to multiple demonstrations hosted by people of color that were canceled due to threats of violence.

Stonewall assembled 20 volunteers and six team leaders with experience ensuring safety at previous Stonewall events.

Since then, S.A.S.S. has provided protection through observation and de-escalation at protests and events such as the local Juneteenth actions and celebrations.

Rae Flores-Owen, an indigenous MexicanAmerican woman, has volunteered for the S.A.S.S. team. She’s a co-faciliator of Chico Community Assembly and has responded when assembly members have been followed outside of events and has looked out for aggressive counterprotesters.

Chico Community Assembly formed amid local protests this spring. Founded, organized and led by people of color—some of whom are queer and/or trans, said Flores-Owen— the assembly’s main effort is exploring how “defunding” the Chico Police Department could lead to less police violence and more social services.

Lately, the assembly has moved its activities online, due to rising COVID-19 cases, but S.A.S.S. had shown up at its in-person gatherings in the City Plaza, where Flores-Owen was a speaker.

“Being up there and being outspoken, fighting [for] your community … to speak out against injustices—you’re putting yourself out there,” she said. “I know I felt safer … knowing [S.A.S.S. volunteers] were there, knowing I had someone that was just kind of keeping an eye out.”

She called the team a great example of the kind of programs the Community Assembly is advocating for when it comes to social services alternatives to policing.

More inclusive spaces

Stonewall as an organization has made mistakes in how it has allied with people of color, Larson said, noting that it has lacked diversity in leadership positions and its programs. The organization is trying to learn and grow, Hambley added, and has gone through a lot of cultural and organizational changes with the goal of centering, celebrating and including people of color.

The QT*POC fund and the S.A.S.S. team are just small steps, organizers said. The work has to continue in the form of community members showing up at rallies and in the creation of unrestricted options for people of color to become civic leaders and decision-makers.

“One of the things we have learned is to watch and learn and listen, and try to step up to help where we know that we can, rather than trying to lead or direct,” Larson said.

For Flores-Owen, one of the most valuable things to come from the community work done so far has been creating a safe space and platform for the voices of people of color.

To truly see change, she said, “we need to make sure that we are putting the voices of the most marginalized in decision-making roles,” with programs that center the voices of queer people and people of color.

“Racism has permeated every single part of our community,” Flores-Owen continued.

“We need action. … We don’t have any more time.” Ω MORE

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Curtain call

A casualty of coronavirus shutdown, Blue Room Theatre ends 26-year run in downtown space

Managing Director Amber Miller and members of theater’s staff and board reconfigured plans to present online-only performances for 2020—both prerecorded and live-streamed productions—dubbing it The Dark Season.

The theater also organized a Zoom version of its summer camp for children online, but there was not much initial interest. Swim said the reality of the situation swiftly began to sink in.

“The likelihood of us being able to come back any time before, at best, Spring of 2021, it just isn’t feasible,” Swim said. “Live theater is literally the last on the list of [Gov. Gavin] Newsom’s plans to reopen.”

Erin Wade, president of the 1078 Gallery’s board of directors, said her organization faces the same difficulties. She explained the bulk of the nonprofit gallery’s funding comes from events and sales commissions from art exhibits, both of which are quashed by COVID-19.

She said the gallery has held on to it’s Park Avenue home thus far because of “a flexible landlord” and the 1078 Rent Club fundraising drive established before the virus. (“Survival was always a struggle,” Wade said.) Members of the Rent Club commit to paying $50 monthly towards that expense.

“If not for that, we’d probably be doing the same thing [as the Blue Room]—putting our stuff in storage and waiting it out.”

Intermission

by

Ken Smith kens@ n ewsrev iew. com

Aoccupied by the Blue Room Theatre’s main stage, surrounded by the room’s figurablack plywood casket sat in the space once

tive viscera: detached lighting rigs, speakers and piles of coiled-up cables.

The unintentional stage dressings were appropriate for the day’s drama. Though it was ostensibly a rummage sale on that hot Saturday (July 11), many visitors—admitted in groups of 10 every half-hour, each person with a mandatory facial covering that barely masked traces of grief—attended as much to bid farewell to the beloved theater space as to take a piece of it home.

Patrons filed through room after room filled with props and bits of the black box theater’s infrastructure, most of it available Virtual Blue Room for a small donaSign up for a membership to Blue Room content at tion. Even the seats patreon.com/BlueRoomChico were up for grabs ($25 apiece, $40 for a pair); takers were handed a hammer and wrench, and instructed to extract the chairs themselves.

The Blue Room’s board of directors announced July 2 that, due to lack of revenue and the uncertain future of live theater during 12

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the COVID-19 crisis, they would vacate the storied downtown theater space by Aug. 1.

While many local nonprofit arts groups are struggling to survive in the face of restrictions, the Blue Room is the first to announce a closure.

During it’s 26-year tenure, the theater above Collier’s Hardware hosted thousands of concerts, comedy events and the most cutting edge dramatic productions in the area.

The Blue Room will continue as a theater company, sharing new and old content via the internet for the time being and hoping to find a new home once the proverbial air is clear.

“My heart is heavy, and everyone that’s been a part of it is feeling this loss,” said Steve Swim, the theater’s development director and vice president of its board. “The way this virus has impacted all live performance everywhere, and the impact it’s having on Chico, is devastating. It’s difficult times for everybody.

“The thought that we can’t even meet up at Duffy’s and have a beer after we’re done shutting down the theater … it just kills me.”

musical Stuff-N-Things: A Fair Retail Story, before a statewide restriction on public gatherings of 10 or more was announced the following week. No one suspected then that it would be the company’s final curtain call at the theater space.

“When the shutdowns got stricter, we realized that with actors on stage and their proximity, singing and shouting at each other, the ventilation of the room … there was no way to safely put on shows,” Swim said. “So we canceled the following weekends.”

Anticipating a few months of shutdown,

Not for lack of trying

The Blue Room was notably proactive since the beginning of the outbreak. The company spaced out seating and reduced capacity per California Department of Public Health guidelines for the March 12-14 opening weekend of the locally created

Board Secretary Cara Ernest moves boxes at the Blue Room’s rummage sale.

PHOTO BY KEN SMITH

After the board decided to leave the downtown spot, they moved the theater’s sound system and some lighting into storage, and sold or gave away everything else. Though homeless, the Blue Room will continue to create some original content on at least a monthly basis on its Patreon page, and members of the company hope to find a new home once the virus passes.

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Hillerman, a Chico expatriate who moved to Portland more than 20 years ago. He has maintained a close relationship with the theater and said he tries to return every year for the annual Butcher Shop Labor Day Weekend theater festival. (The Butcher Shop, Cosmic Travel Agency and Chico Creek Theatre Festival were forerunners to the Blue Room’s current incarnation.)

Hillerman was involved with the Blue Room throughout the 1990s and filmed many of its productions during that decade. He recently tapped into those recordings—he said he has more than 100 productions on video, though many have been damaged over the years—to be made available on the theater’s Patreon page.

Hillerman said digging through the old videos has led to the discovery of some lost gems, including a recently posted 1998 production of The Runt Life and Inexplicable Death of Mojo Chan.

“Every time I’m in Chico, someone asks me if I’ve found that tape yet, and I finally did,” he said by phone. “It was one of the early late-nite shows with a live band and was one of our best-selling and most popular plays at the time. I filmed it over seven nights and edited it together.

“The band was called Ant Farm, and they were roommates of mine. The organ player [former CN&R contributor Mary Rose Lovgren] told me watching it again made her year.”

Driving home the reality that arts organizations everywhere face, Hillerman said he’s also filming Portland performers and compiling video to help one of that city’s institutions—the century-old Clinton Street Theater, which shows films and does live stage productions—stay alive.

“One bit of light that I find in this darkness is the realization that we aren’t alone,” he said. “I think of my artist friends around the

country, and I know they think of me because we’re all going through the same crap.”

More than a building

As Swim put it, the Blue Room as an entity can’t be contained in a building, and its importance to the local arts community extends far beyond the theater itself. Since its inception, the organization has served as a breeding ground for new ideas, original writing and avant garde experimentation. He noted that he had no theater training before he wrote a oneact for the Fresh Ink Festival (an annual event featuring local playwrights) in spring 2001.

“For actors, directors, patrons, volunteers, writers, musicians, all kinds of artists, it’s always been a home for people to meet likeminded souls, and to feel safe exploring art in the process of theater,” he said.

Julia Rue agrees. She moved to Chico from her native Germany in 2014. Her first role at the Blue Room was in Rick’s Café Américan (adapted from the film Casablanca), and in the past few years she’s gone on to direct productions and instruct the Blue Room’s Young Company.

She credits her experience at the Blue Room with helping to discover her previously unknown love of directing and teaching children.

Rue referred to the theater as her “home away from home” and said she might not have remained in the United States this long if not for the Blue Room.

“It was perfect to come along in my life while I was away from Germany,” she said. “I felt like I found my people here.”

Said Hillerman: “The Blue Room will go on, that spirit will never leave Chico. It’s launched lots of seeds into the wind, and there are people all over the country [who] love it and will continue to support it.”

“Hopefully this isn’t the end,” Swim said, “but just some kind of metamorphosis.” Ω MORE

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CN&R 15

Disaster Count Recent major emergencies shape local response to coronavirus by

Evan Tuchinsky eva n t@ n ew sr ev i ew. c o m

I

n early March, as coronavirus started to spread through the Sacramento Valley, Katy Thoma remained optimistic.

She understood the gravity of the situation—Butte County officials had recently declared both a local emergency and a local health emergency—and, as executive director of the Chico Chamber of Commerce, Thoma helped business owners navigate a sea of ever-changing information. When greeting visitors at the chamber’s downtown office, she’d offer an elbow bump instead of a handshake, in deference to public health guidelines.

Her optimism stemmed from the resilience of a community that’s faced multiple largescale emergencies in recent years—from the Oroville Dam spillway crisis to wildfires.

Speaking with the CN&R at the time, Thoma—who formerly worked as executive director of the Jesus Center as well as the Chico State Research Foundation—explained that people locally step up during times of crisis. She pointed to the 2018 Camp Fire and how a wide array of Chicoans—professionals and volunteers—embraced the multitudes displaced from affected areas. Residents welcomed fire escapees into their homes; doctors and nurses, of their own volition, headed to evacuation centers to provide aid; soon after, community members—led by Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. owner Ken Grossmen, Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers and the North Valley Community Foundation (NVCF)—banded together to establish the Butte Strong Fund, which has granted more than $35 million toward recovery efforts.

“Anymore,” she said, “I would never fret about a disaster and [fear that we’d] not have the community rise up.”

Months later, Thoma has found her faith validated. As COVID-19 has grown increasingly prevalent in the county. Sitting in her

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office again, this time with masks and hand sanitizer at the ready, Thoma listed some of the recent local efforts that have grabbed her attention.

There’s the pair of couples—dining companions Tim and Ann Edwards, and Wally and Susan Marshall—who started a charity to jointly benefit food service workers and at-risk populations. The COVID-19 Local Restaurants, Local Needs Fund procures meals from eateries and caterers whose employees, jobs impacted by coronavirus restrictions, make the deliveries.

She also highlighted two other NVCFhosted funds, set up to purchase face masks made by businesses in Chico—apparel manufacturer Fifth Sun and mask manufacturer Salus Supply—for free distribution locally.

Thoma has witnessed the response across all facets of the commmunity as government agencies, hospitals, schools, nonprofits, businesses and individuals have adapted to meet continually evolving needs during Butte County’s latest emergency. (See “Anatomy of a surge,” Healthlines, page 8.)

“What I have observed, and what we’ve experienced, is those that have have really stepped up,” Thoma said, adding: “It’s our DNA.”

‘Continuing emergency’

Butte County’s recent emergencies influenced the response by organizations and the public to the current pandemic. That’s a sentiment expressed by local leaders across the spectrum. They’ve drawn on ingrained experiences to plan quickly for contingencies as coronavirus conditions have morphed, and they’ve found residents for the most part accepting.

While the COVID-19 pandemic is the third major local emergency since 2017, following the Oroville Dam spillway crisis and the Camp Fire, some look at events further back. At Enloe Medical Center, for instance, administrators trace the origin of their pre-

paredness mode to the first evacuation of Feather River Hospital in Paradise during the 2008 Humboldt Fire. The through line for all, though, is the compounding sequence of hardships.

“I’ve had a lot of time to think about this, unfortunately, over the past number of years,” Chico City Manager Mark Orme said.

“Because of all the things we’ve had … it’s been a continuing emergency.

“We are a resilient community based on our history.”

Mary Sakuma agrees. She was elected superintendent of the Butte County Office of Education two days before the Camp Fire; she transitioned from assistant superintendent literally as the smoke cleared. As public health mandates for coronavirus took effect, then

ty

Enloe Rehabilitation Center was converted to a federal medical station in anticipation of a surge early in the coronavirus pandemic.

CN&R FILE PHOTO COURTESY OF ENLOE MEDICAL CENTER

Left: Chico Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Katy Thoma in March.

CN&R FILE PHOTO BY EVAN TUCHINSKY

changed rapidly, Sakuma and BCOE staff already had procedures established to handle the circumstances.

BCOE—like hospitals and other governmental agencies—activates an incident command structure. This personnel plan typically includes opening an emergency operations center, or EOC, to centralize decision-making and communication.

“We already know how to do this,” Sakuma said, “we’ve done this too many times. And, so, my internal team, we knew right where we needed to be, the players who needed to be in the EOC this time around, what kind of conversations we needed to have—and, perhaps better than most, we know how to make our unmet needs known through a chain of command.”

Danette York became director of Butte County Public Health last summer, seven months after the Camp Fire, but has worked 20 years in the field. She’s at the epicenter of the current emergency—moreso since the departure of her department’s public health officer, Dr. Andy Miller, at the end of June.

Though adherence to public health recommendations—particularly wearing face coverings in public—has appeared to fluctuate greatly as the pandemic has persisted, York attributes the positive responses to a distinctly local characteristic.

“The one good thing that I think has happened in Butte County that other places probably did not have is at least some of the population—I hope most—already had respect for leaders like our county administrative officer, Shari McCracken, and our sheriff[-coroner], Kory Honea, because they already had been through these disasters with them before,” she said. “They’d received information from them on a regular basis ... people knew their names, knew who they were, knew they could rely on them for accurate information.”

Enloe CEO Mike Wiltermood, at Chico’s hospital since 2007, noted how area residents have “been through an awful lot and sacrificed greatly for the benefit of the entire community during these various disasters, and COVID has been no different.

“People just step up and roll with the City Manager Mark Orme, pictured outside of the City Council chambers in 2018, about a week after the Camp Fire.

CN&R FILE PHOTO BY ASHIAH SCHARAGA

punches. We get so much collaboration and support. People frequently often express appreciation for what we’re doing, but we wouldn’t be able to do it if we didn’t have this community.”

Battle tested

Enloe, as the North State’s trauma center, mobilizes for emergencies routinely. The hospital serves as the medical funnel for victims of accidents in the region—notably the 2014 bus crash on Interstate 5 that killed 10—and disasters. Such was the case in July 2008, when Feather River Hospital decided to evacuate the 50 patients in its care as the Humboldt Fire approached Paradise town limits.

“What [coronavirus response] really boils down to is the need for collaboration—and we are so collaborative.

We have to have a level of trust that others haven’t had to bear witness to.”

—Chico City Manager Mark Orme

Already in reorganization mode, following financial and leadership struggles in 200607, Enloe used that experience to reshape its response. Wiltermood called the Humboldt Fire “the seminal event we learned the most from” that, from his perspective, “represents the beginning of our disasters.”

The hospital discovered the value of using an incident command team “rather liberally,” Wiltermood explained: Instead of reserving emergency protocols for “an overwhelming disaster,” Enloe started deploying its team (sometimes opening a command center) “anytime we have an unusual circumstance.” A recent example, right before the coronavirus spread, is when the electronic medical records system got hit by a cyberattack in January.

“We don’t really have to go through disaster drills because we have enough real-life stuff happening that we’re constantly learning, constantly evolving as an organization,” he added. Moreover, Enloe was ready to “pivot” when federal and state officials required hospitals to prepare for a potential spring surge of coronavirus patients.

Orme, along with being city manager, has served as Chico’s emergency operations director since the City Council declared a city emergency in April. He’s coordinated with York and Wiltermood on the health side, Thoma and others on the business side, and a range of government and community leaders to address myriad issues associated with the pandemic.

“There’s just a multiple layer upon layer upon layer of impacts associated with this emergency that [are] unique compared to other emergencies,” he said. “It’s kind of like a big old pot of jambalaya: You throw in whatever spices are necessary, and we’ve had whatever spice you could possibly imagine, from every agency at the federal level, the RESPONSE C O N T I N U E D AUGUST 6, 2020

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state level, the county, nonprofits.

“What that really boils down to is the need for collaboration—and we [in Butte County] are so collaborative. We have to have a level of trust that others haven’t had to bear witness to.”

Orme has worked at City Hall since 2013, when he was hired as assistant city manager amid budget issues. That “financial emergency” is the starting point he identified for local crises—and it’s become a factor of the coronavirus pandemic, with municipal revenues directly tied to the health of the local economy.

Sales tax, primarily, funds city services.

State mandates have shuttered businesses and put residents out of work. Compounding the impact, Chico State will conduct most classes online, reducing the population of students residing locally.

As before, the city manager will recommend to the City Council options for streamlining Chico government. Orme projects a shortfall of $7 million but will assess secondquarter tax receipts and present a revised budget in October.

Butte County Behavioral Health also is feeling pinched: State cuts affecting federal funding will cost the department $11 million in 2020-21, nearly 14 percent of its budget.

This comes, Director Scott Kennelly noted, as demand for care has risen at the local agency that offers mental health and addiction services for low-income residents—including the increasing number of unemployed.

Kennelly’s staff and clients immediately felt the brunt of the state’s stay-at-home orders, which forced cancellation of in-person appointments except for extreme cases.

Behavioral Health shifted to online and phone counseling, plus launched peer support via Zoom. He, like Sakuma at BCOE, said he receives calls from colleagues across the state seeking advice.

Enloe Medical Center CEO Mike Wiltermood.

CN&R FILE PHOTO BY EVAN TUCHINSKY

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Oroville spillway failure, February 2017.

CN&R FILE PHOTO BY KEITH LANDER

“The unfortunate part of having three or four emergencies is you’re battle tested, and there are some things you can do very quickly because you’re familiar with that,” Kennelly said. “I think Butte County—because we’ve had so many things happen, so many disasters—has had the ability to adapt quicker than some counties who haven’t experienced any fires and natural disasters.”

Remask/recover

Along with being battle tested, Butte County also is battle fatigued. Kennelly has observed the cumulative effect of crises not only on Behavioral Health clients but also staff, who also are living through the tumultuous events.

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Rural counties struggle to offer ample access to psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers. California has a shortage of these practitioners, along with counterparts in medical health. Coronavirus has thinned his corps further, Kennelly said, by forcing some service providers to step back for medical reasons or family needs.

From his perspective, the pandemic represents the fourth county emergency since 2017: Along with the spillway crisis in February of that year, Kennelly counts the Wall Fire in Bangor that fall, followed by the Camp Fire and COVID-19.

“I have a lot of staff who have been on the front lines working in every one of those disasters, and it’s wearing on them,” he said.

“A lot of stress.

“We’re trying to make sure there’s resources for our workforce to remain resilient and get the support they need.”

Other officials expressed the same concern.

“It’s trying,” Orme said, “when you’re continually in a state of recovery and then immediately back in a state of emergency.”

Material needs continue to grow, too.

Local communities recovering and rebuilding from the Camp Fire must deal with a concurrent predicament that takes money from the same overtaxed pool. Enloe lost $30 million in the four months it stayed on standby for a coronavirus surge and will need to ramp up fundraising—from donors already giving elsewhere and now impacted by the economic slowdown—for its needs.

“We need to be cognizant of the impact this is having on the community,” Wiltermood said, referencing psychological as well as financial stresses. “But I can’t imagine a community that would respond better to a challenge like this; I really can’t.”

Still, citizens have started to fray. Public A community-led donation center was set up in the Walmart parking lot immediately after the Camp Fire.

CN&R FILE PHOTO BY MEREDITH J. COOPER

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Health and the city found widespread acceptance of preventative measures during the early days of the pandemic. Lately, however, resistance has developed even as the number of cases spiked.

“The biggest thing you’re going to see over the next couple months is how [government officials] reengage the community,” Orme said. “The shift of COVID-19 and the pressures it’s placed … have created a devolution—we’ve gone backwards.”

Thoma, fittingly, remains optimistic.

Despite adverse conditions, the chamber has added two-dozen members since the start of the pandemic to reach 600. While state restrictions have forced some businesses to close their doors, others have retooled, such as Fifth Sun with face masks and Almendra Winery & Distillery manufacturing hand sanitizer.

“I believe resiliency is what’s going to sustain us and keep us moving forward,” she said. “We have good people here.” Ω

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During corona times, Michael Bone is busier than ever making and sharing music and art

Lworking the well-known local musician is sheltering in place and from home—teaching music and art, now online only,

AUGUST

ately, Michael Bone has felt lucky, sort of. Like so many of us,

to his students from Seventh Street Centre for the Arts—but the married father of two says the disruption hasn’t been all bad.

“It’s been kind of a silver lining for me,” he said. “Before, working 40 hours a week, by especially with a baby and [my other daughter] Jason Olive, I just kind of wished I had a lot more Cassidy home time. I’m home all the time—for months j aso nc @ now. It’s crazy. In a lot of ways I feel really newsrev i ew.c om lucky, and it’s kind of icky. There should be a name for that—like an icky luckiness. …

“Plus, I’ve just been really active with music and art.”

That is saying something for someone who’s been one of the most productive artists in Butte County since he arrived in 2008 from his hometown of Shingle Springs (a tiny community in the Sierra Nevada foothills) to attend Chico State. The then-18-yearold jumped into the scene immediately, forming adventurous indie-prog band Clouds on Strings with fellow music majors.

One of those mates was keyboardist Josh Hegg, who Bone met at college orientation and with whom he would team up on many musical adventures—including playing drums alongside for several years in popular jazz quartet Bogg, and co-founding (with a few others) Uncle Dad’s Art Collective. Bone was one of Bone takes the mic at Uncle Dad’s Art Collective’s The Songs the key players in the eclectic arts of Stevie Wonder tribute show at group’s large-scale productions, Laxson Auditorium in 2008. arranging music for PHOTO BY SESAR SANCHEZ and performing at the popular multimedia tributes to artists such as Madonna and The Beatles in Laxson Auditorium, and adding original compositions as well for the collective’s Small Town Big Sound local-songwriter showcases at the Sierra Nevada Big Room.

During his 12 years in Chico and Paradise, he’s also written/ recorded/released 16 22

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AUGUST 6, 2020

ALL MONTH 1078 GALLERY: Timestamp 2020: Artifacts and Ephemera of this Time—an ongoing/ever-changing group exhibit displayed in the gallery windows and online—is a collection of objects that chronicle this year of upheaval.

Submissions accepted throughout show. Also, new mural up on the northeast exterior wall by Siana Sonoquie, a kind of “love letter to our homeless neighbors” in the Barber community. 1710 Park Ave. 1078gallery.org

BACK-TO-SCHOOL SUPPLY DRIVE: Drop off donations (through

solo albums of varying musical styles, performed with and wrote music for experimental comedy band/theater troupe The Pageant Dads, played guitar and bass alongside local singer/songwriters (Aubrey Debauchery, Pat Hull), collaborated on multiple one-off projects with others (including his wife, Ginger, and daughter Olive) and founded/curated the 1Day Song Club. That last one is a prompt-driven online songwriting challenge that so far has yielded 114 compilation albums made up of original songs mostly by local songwriters, including Bone, who only missed contributing the week his Paradise home burned down in the Camp Fire.

He records his own music, films his own videos, works as a music/art teacher for disabled children and adults—and will transcribe and arrange your songs for a reasonable fee.

BONE CONTINUED ON PAGE 24

Aug. 16) at Results Radio, Coldwell Banker, Staples Chico, Creative Composition, Chili’s Restaurant, Mid Valley Title, JCPenney, Rue 21, or at the Chico Marketplace (formerly Chico Mall) management office. Check the Facebook event page for more information including the supplies list. facebook.com/events/754199008675545

BLUE ROOM DARK SEASON: The Blue Room’s season just got darker as it had to move from its downtown building (see “Curtain Call,” page 12), but as the company waits out the pandemic, the online show goes on. Visit the theater’s Patreon site patreon.com/BlueRoomChico and sign up to to watch already filmed productions of Treasure Island and Blue Stories, plus an ever-growing

TIMESTAMP 2020 Ongoing

1078 GALLERY

IS YOUR EVENT ONLINE?

So is the CN&R calendar! Submit virtual and real-world events for the online calendar, as well as the monthly print edition, at chico.newsreview.com/calendar

SMALL WORKS & CALLS FOR ART

WED12

SUN23

CHICO ART CENTER

SOCIAL MEDIA 101: Learn how to create effective,

VOLUNTEER TO BUILD GARDENS: See Saturday, 8/22. Sun, 8/23, 9am. Paradise, Concow,

August

engaging posts that will help grow your audience. Wed, 8/12, 10am. Free. Online event. facebook.com/Chicostart

USE YOUTUBE TO GROW YOUR BUSINESS: A 45-minute webinar that will cover the basics of starting a YouTube Channel and how to create compelling video content. Wed, 8/12, 10am. Free. Online event, Chicostart. facebook.com/Chicostart

ZOOM HOME BLOCKS PAINTING: Paint cute blocks to display in your home. Pick up your paints and square canvases in Chico, and you’ll receive the Zoom ID and password the day before the event. Hosted by Sienna Joy. Wed, 8/12, 6:30pm. $35-$60. Online event, Bidwell Perk. facebook.com/siennajoypainting

WED19 opportunity to meet with Chico State campus members involved with equity, inclusion and diversity work. Zoom ID: 948 2568 8502 Wed, 8/19, 2pm. Free. Online event, Chico State. csuchico.edu/diversity

SAT22 list of vintage performances from 1990s on.

Blue Room Theatre, blueroomtheatre.com

CALL FOR ART FOR YOUTH EXHIBIT: An invitation for all young people ages 0-18 to submit art for display at the library. Email to orovillebc library@buttecounty.net or mail it directly to the library address. Free. 1820 Mitchell Ave., Oroville, 552-5652, buttecounty.net/ bclibrary/orovillelibrary

CHICO ART CENTER: In addition to the (now online-only) August Small Works show—a jury-free exhibit of 12-inch-by-12-inch artworks—the art center is accepting entries for two more upcoming events. Works that focus on local, threatened native plants are being sought for the September show—Flora: The Other Endangered Species—(deadline Aug. 16; visit site to enter). And with the regular Open Studios Art Tour not possible this year, the CAC is facilitating an online version. Registration to be included in the program has closed, but artists can still get in on the digital tour by visiting the portal at chicoartcenter. com/osat-2020-artist-portal. 450 Orange St., 895-8726, chicoartcenter.com

open and selling fresh produce and more.

Chico: Downtown (Saturdays, 7:30am1pm & Thursdays, 6-9pm); North Valley Plaza (Wednesdays, 8am-1pm). Paradise: Alliance Church (Tuesdays, 7:30 a.m.-2 p.m.). Oroville: Riverbend Park (Saturdays, 7:30am-2pm); Dove’s Landing parking lot (Wednesdays, 9am-2pm). downtownchico. com; chicofarmersmarket.com; oroville chamber.biz/calendar

GATEWAY SCIENCE MUSEUM: The museum is physically closed, but it’s still offering its

MUSEUM OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA ART: Call for entries for For Art Those Who Teach … Can. MONCA is seeking art in all media created by visual arts educators, past and present, teaching in Butte County. Submissions accepted through Aug. 28. Also, donations are still being accepted for the museum’s Aug. 22 yArt Sale. 900 Esplanade., 487-7272. monca.org

PARADISE ART CENTER: Virtual Gallery members’ Show. While the center’s Wheeler Gallery is closed, enjoy work by gallery members from the comfort and safety of your own home. Visit the members page on the site to get your work into the show. 5564 Almond St, Paradise. paradise-art-center.com

SAT8

COMMUNITY ASSEMBLY: A weekly community discussion on how to be safe without police intervention. Issues discussed include redirecting spending from police to community services like mental-health responders, deescalation safety teams and harm reduction.

Meetings will likely remain online through August. All are welcome. Tuesdays, 6pm. Free.

Normally at the City Plaza in downtown Chico, now online: defundchicopd.org

Gateway at Home series of virtual activities like folding paper airplanes, learning in the garden, wildlife art and reading, and lectures from previous seasons that cover a variety of environmental topics. csuchico. edu/gateway

BROOM CRAFTING WORKSHOP: A

VIRTUAL GALLERY MEMBERS SHOW August

PARADISE ART CENTER

hands-on training led by Bethany Ridenour about how to make a turkey-wing broom. Sat, 8/8, 11am. $90. Sienna Ceramics & Strega Studios, 2163 Fair St., Ste. B. facebook.com/pg/ siennaceramics

VIRTUAL MARCH ON WASHINGTON: To coincide with the National Action Network’s Commitment March, the NAACP is organizing a Virtual March Aug. 27-28, to give the rest of the country a safe way to take a pause and show support. Thu, 8/27-Fri, 8/28 Visit naacp.org/marchonwashington to get info.

FRI28 marchonwashington to get info and sign up for alerts.

SAT29 VOLUNTEER TO BUILD GARDENS: See Saturday, 8/22. Sat, 8/29, 9am. Paradise, Concow, Magalia, Pulga and anywhere affected by the Camp Fire. bclocalfood.org

VOLUNTEER TO BUILD GARDENS: The Butte County

FARMERS MARKETS: Butte County’s markets are

THU27

VIRTUAL MARCH ON WASHINGTON: See Thursday, 8/27. Thu, 8/27-Fri, 8/28 Visit naacp.org/

MULTICULTURAL COLLABORATION RECEPTION: An

“Angela Davis,” by Dylan Tellesen

Magalia, Pulga and anywhere affected by the Camp Fire. bclocalfood.org

Local Food Network asks for volunteers to help plant gardens as part of its event, Garden Blitz. The gardens will be installed throughout the burn scar of the Camp Fire. Sat, 8/22, 9am. Paradise, Concow, Magalia, Pulga and anywhere affected by the Camp Fire. bclocalfood.org

SUN30 VOLUNTEER TO BUILD GARDENS: See Saturday, 8/22. Sun, 8/30, 9am. Paradise, Concow, Magalia, Pulga and anywhere affected by the Camp Fire. bclocalfood.org

EDITOR’S PICK

‘WE SHALL MARCH AHEAD’

On Aug. 28, the 57th anniversary of the original March on Washington—when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech—the National Action Network, led by Rev. Al Sharpton, is planning the Commitment March: Get Your Knee Off Our Necks, a day of action advocating for “comprehensive police accountability reform” at the Lincoln Memorial in D.C. To coincide with the event, the NAACP is organizing a Virtual March, Aug. 27-28, to give the physically distant rest of the country a safe way to take a pause and show support.

AUGUST 6, 2020

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BONE C O N T I N U E D

F R O M PA G E 2 2

If all that wasn’t enough, in the past year Bone has become a painter. He’d argue that he’s still just a student of the form, but despite his inexperience, he’s already fetching three figures and received multiple commissions for his paintings.

More than 100 of those visual works— plus another solo album, a podcast and two music videos—have all been produced since the coronavirus shelter-in-place orders went into effect, and the results have been shared with the sheltering community on social media. The CN&R caught up with the prolific artist on a recent summer morning to talk about the motivation, process and ideas behind his creative output.

How’d painting come about?

There was a camping trip last year in the summer, and I tried to draw something—I brought a notebook just for fun—and I was so bad at it. But it was so fun for my brain.

Immediately, I was hooked.

And, since that day, I think I’ve practiced drawing … or painting, something artistic … every day for multiple hours a day. And studying art history—the whole world of visual art just exploded.

Finishing a song versus finishing a painting—do you get something different out of each?

They are so similar. I’ve always been kind of a math brain, and I like puzzles. I come up with a puzzle that I’m going to solve—I’m just going try and paint this picture of this thing in front of me. I’m not trying to make an artsy picture, I’m just trying to solve this puzzle. And with music, I tend to take a similar approach.

That’s why the [1Day] song club helps me because I come up with a topic— “Guilty” was the topic [the week of July 16]. How do I solve that puzzle, how to I write a song about guilty, what would it sound like? And then it’s just like, “Do it.”

David Hockney is my favorite painter 24

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AUGUST 6, 2020

It's just that willingness to suck, [which] is something I've really taken to heart.

Self-portrait of Bone in

right now. His dealhis home studio. ing with perspective PHOTO BY MICHAEL BONE is like prog rock, but in visual form—like odd time signatures and that kind of weird chord stuff that I like in music.

So, you’re digging into the theory of visual art as well?

Yeah, exactly. I was—especially in college—really into music theory. With painting it’s the same thing. I have a ton of books on it. I don’t like “how to” books at all. I just like the really dense theory stuff—this is what’s going on with your eye, this is what’s going on with color.

How do you balance art and life?

I struggled for awhile coming to terms with [the fact that] I only have so much time in the world. I can practice guitar every day and become a pretty good guitar player. I’m decent, but I’m not like super-proficient at the guitar. But I practice a little bit just

to keep improving. I kind of decided for myself when I had kids, “I don’t really see myself as really good at one thing, or I don’t want to just focus on music.”

I think that has been really inspiring for me: How things—social life, kids, and art practice and music practice—all these things influence each other. Like, I wrote a song two days ago and did a music video for it yesterday. And it looks pretty good, and it looks professional. If I can just keep on this train of putting things together, who knows what random things will pop out.

Do you normally finish things so quickly?

Yes, absolutely.

I’ve gotten a little bit better with painting.

I did several months where it was every day [that] I did a painting, and I would get them done in one sitting. It took me awhile to be like, “I’m going to give myself the weekend to do this” … and it turned out way better.

So I’m trying to do that with my songs, too. It does improve the quality, but my tendency is to do things as soon as I get an idea. I think it’s an anxious thing. If I have a creative idea that I think is good, it’s really hard for me to focus on anything else until it’s finished or I’ve run out of “Me and Olive,” watercolor ideas.

by Michael Bone.

I think it comes from playing jazz. I’m comfortable with just improvising. If it’s decent, then I’ll just keep it, I won’t think twice. Usually, I’ll finish the whole song and show it to Ginger and then she’ll say, like, “You should sing louder. You sound timid.” Then I’ll do that and then it’s done.

I don’t really care if it’s the best thing ever. I think that mindset has really helped, and also doing so many [pieces]. It makes it less precious. For me, it’s much better to do more, and then I get better at it.

Are you open to trying out any type of art?

Yeah, for the most part.

I’ve tried to quantify: “What is interesting to me in art?” I like to do whatever. I’m not a super funny person, so in Pageant Dads, [the other guys] usually carried all the funny stuff and I was more of the music writer.

And I’ve done a few plays where—and I Bone up think this is a big drive Find Michael Bone’s music and art online at for me—I can feel the bone-made.com wall of “I want to be good at this, and I know what good looks like,” but I’m pushing against it because I’m not good at holding a straight face or acting a certain way or getting the words out of my mouth a certain way.

Same with drawing: “I want to draw this right, but it looks so shitty.” And something about that energizes me. It’s OK to be really bad. It’s just that willingness to suck, [which] is something I’ve really taken to heart.

You’re one of the few local artists who has continued to share art and music during the shutdown. Why do you think that is?

I think I have an advantage of being kind of self [contained]. It’s hard. What it takes to put art out there takes a lot of different skills at once. [Also,] I think I’ve set myself up.

I just got a new Mac … [and] my work got me Final Cut Pro [video editing program]. I was just set up really well for this—I’m just so blessed. I feel like I have the duty to take advantage of it and to use it.

Is there more money in visual art than playing music?

Oh yeah, I’ve made more money this year with art than I’ve made in a career of selling music. I’ve made more at gigs probably, but [totaling] CD sales or T-shirt sales or anything like that, even with all my bands combined, I don’t think I’ve made that much.

Is it a dream of yours to make a career in art?

I’ve been trying not to think of a future with it, but just build my skill and see where it goes. If I don’t come up with a plan and just keep moving forward … it’s served me well so far.

I think I have a conviction that this is what my purpose is. … I’m not a very organized person or a great planner, but I am able to harness creative ideas. Ω

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CN&R 25

REEL WORLD Coincoin and the Extra-Humans

‘We’ll give it our best shot’ CN&R film critic is streaming (and dreaming) in place

I-viewing in place, with movie-going and being a matter of streamn these many weeks of sheltering

ing in place, I’ve found that while by “the movies” in Juan-Carlos general matter a Selznick good deal less to me, the films that do matter to me—be they classics or recent releases—seem to matter a great deal more. The heightened intensities of the historical moment pretty much guarantee that with movies, as with so much else, what we see or what we think we see is getting refocused, sharpened, even reshaped.

One evening early in the lockdown, for example, I was having trouble finding a film I wanted to watch right then, even though I had a wealth of options—DVD, streaming, cable TV—right in front of me. Eventually, I made a snap decision to watch an old favorite, Budd Boetticher’s Seven Men From Now, on one of the Western channels. It’s a film I’ve seen many times and always liked, but this time it somehow seemed better than ever: thoroughly engaging and charged, somewhat surprisingly, with a timeless immediacy.

What surprised me most, at least at first, was that this finely wrought 1956 Western in a distinctly classical mode should somehow also feel

26

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AUGUST 6, 2020

so aptly contemporary. Part of what I was feeling, I think, was a matter of a fresh encounter with the kind of artistry that is both timely and timeless—an escape into another world perhaps, but also a place in which compelling dramas of defining human experience beckon to us. The multiple crises of our moment are not in any direct way the subject of this film, but I think those crises had me more primed, more receptive than usual, for what is most urgent and valuable in that film’s characters and drama.

Since then, I’ve felt similar tremors and recognitions with a number of contemporary films, some in retrospect and some on first look (and all available via on

The Dead Don’t Die

demand or at least one of streaming services—Amazon Prime, Apple TV, YouTube or Google Play).

Jim Jarmusch’s semi-allegorical zombie movie, The Dead Don’t Die, is among other things a grimhumored take on moral and social paralysis in everyday American life. The belated and plainly futile heroism of its protagonists, two small-town policemen played by Bill Murray and Adam Driver, comes across as an act of resistance that is doomed but still absolutely necessary.

Jojo Rabbit, Taika Waitiiti’s queasily comical satire on Nazism, posits a young boy in World War II Germany whose mind is infiltrated by a cartoonish

semblance of Adolph Hitler. The film’s humor and satire are both convoluted and simplistic, but its little gallery of characters plagued by mindsets that keep them from recognizing basic realities and elemental truths is something that resonates with current events in America as much as with World War II Europe.

Bruno Dumont’s Coincoin and the Extra-Humans, from France, mixes sci-fi spoof, social satire and absurdist farce on a provincial scale that also feels global. The “extrahumans” are aliens from outer space landing in rural northeastern France, an area that’s feeling anxious over the influx of aliens of an earthly sort—African refugees, that

is. The film plays several variations on the idea of “extra-humans”: as excessive and unwanted numbers of people, as aliens who are more fully human than some of the region’s leading residents, but also as humans (including the youthful title character) who’ve freed themselves of the diminished humanity that marks the conduct of so many of their neighbors.

All three of these films are barbed entertainments that richly evoke major dilemmas and crises of the times we’re living in, but without seeming to address such matters in any direct way. Each has its own particular mixture of rambunctious storytelling and twisted fun, and each has its own offbeat variations on heroism. On account of being so nakedly exemplary, the young Jojo might be the least interesting one in the bunch. By contrast, Jarmusch’s small-town policemen seem rather like kinfolk to us all, both haunted and haunting. Perhaps honors in this case should go to the two key figures in Dumont’s farcical epic— the eponymous barnyard boy wonder and the displaced urban police detective whose discombobulated body language and chaotic speech patterns have the long-range effect of making him seem much more deeply human than any of the aggressively “normal” people in the surrounding community.

For now, however, I’ll leave the final word to the climactic exchange between Jarmusch’s small-town policemen. Officer Peterson (Driver) [repeatedly]: “This is all going to end badly.”

Chief Robertson (Murray): “So what will we do?” Peterson: “We’ll give it our best shot.” Ω

Seven Men from Now

ARTS DEVO

by JASON CASSIDY • jasonc@newsreview.com

OUR NEIGHBORS One evening last week, I was driving down Orient Street near downtown Chico and saw a fully nude woman walking down the middle of the road toward me. She looked disoriented, had some bruises and scratches on her body, and was walking barefoot and holding her back in pain. I got out of my car and offered to help—to call someone for her, to drive her to the hospital. She looked at me, then looked down without responding and continued down the road. At the next block, another car stopped and appeared to offer assistance as well. She kept walking. I called 911 and was told by the dispatcher that I wasn’t the first to report. Help was on the way.

Before I finish telling the story, I want to stop and ask: “What’s your reaction to the above scene?” Surprise? Concern? Empathy? Fear? All of those feelings stirred inside me as my mind raced trying figure out what was going on and how I might be able to get her some help.

Until right now, I haven’t asked anyone for a reaction, but I would’ve guessed that most folks in Chico would have similar responses to the situation as I did. But I would be wrong.

Chico police ended up picking the woman up a few blocks away. The next day, I found her mug shot on the Chico Police Portal site (crimemap.chicoca.gov). She was arrested and charged with being drunk in public, a misdemeanor. Members of the Butte County Fires, Accidents, Crimes (BCFAC) Facebook group also found her mug shot, and among the 100-plus comments on the day I looked, there was very little empathy for the woman’s situation. Among posts that made fun of her body (yes, someone took a photo of her that evening and posted it) and feigned confusion over whether she was male or female were these sorts of comments: “She should have to register as a sex offender,” “Hella nasty,” “Chico’s usual shit show,” “Yuck!”

I am not going to go too far down the road of judgment in this space, other than to say that I certainly do judge people based on how they respond to a person in distress. Cruelty is the wrong response, by the way. In that moment, you are a bad person. And in this city where so much noise is made in social-media echo chambers like the one above about how addicts and homeless people are supposedly ruining Chico, I’d counter that the real scourge in our community is a lack of empathy for each other, especially for the most vulnerable among us.

Not only is it cruel, it’s poisoning the well before any conversation about solutions even gets started.

Frustration over the visible impact of Chico’s social ills is understandable. I don’t want trash in Big Chico Creek, either. But the much bigger concern with homelessness, or addiction, or mental illness, etc., should be the impact on the person experiencing it. That person is part of our community, and if we can process whatever feelings are at the root of our of own fears (of course your feelings are valid) and empathize with the person, then we might be able to start working on solutions that would help them, which, it should go without saying, would help everyone!

This past weekend, long-time local advocate Siana Sonoquie and her partner, Paul Alvarez, memorialized some people from the homeless community who have died in recent years with a mural on the side of the 1078 Gallery: Jasper Townsend, Vance Lee, Tyler Stevens, James Wedge, Bobby Talk, Curtis “Bear” Aguirre, Gary “Country” Titus and Robert “Smurf” Donahue.

Most of us—myself included—don’t learn much, if anything, about the people we see living in the parks and on the street but homeless folks are our neighbors, too. The very least we can do is learn their names.

Chico homeless community memorialized with new 1078 Gallery mural. (Photo by Jason Cassidy)

AUGUST 6, 2020

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FREE WILL ASTROLOGY For the week oF Aug. 6, 2020

Is your event online?

So is the CN&R calendar!

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ARIES (March 21-April 19): In her book

Sticks, Stones, Roots & Bones, Stephanie Rose Bird reports that among early African Americans, there were specialists who spoke the language of trees. These patient magicians developed intimate relationships with individual trees, learning their moods and rhythms, and even exchanging non-verbal information with them. Trees imparted wisdom about herbal cures, weather patterns and ecologically sound strategies.

Until recently, many scientists might have dismissed this lore as delusion. But in his 2016 book The Hidden Life of Trees, forester Peter Wohlleben offers evidence that trees have social lives and do indeed have the power to converse. I’ve always said that you folks have great potential to conduct meaningful dialogs with animals and trees. And now happens to be a perfect time for you to seek such invigorating pleasures.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Author

Good To-Go

Joanne Harris writes, “The right circumstances sometimes happen of their own accord, slyly, without fanfare, without warning. The magic of everyday things.” I think that’s an apt oracle for you to embrace during the coming weeks. In my opinion, life will be conspiring to make you feel at home in the world. You will have an excellent opportunity to get your personal rhythm into close alignment with the rhythm of creation.

And so you may achieve a version of what mythologist Joseph Campbell called “the goal of life ... to make your heartbeat match the beat of the universe, to match your nature with Nature.”

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Author Gloria

Anzaldúa writes, “I am an act of kneading, of uniting and joining.” She adds that in this process, she has become “a creature that questions the definitions of light and dark and gives them new meanings.” I would love for you to engage in similar work right now.

Life will be on your side, bringing you lucky breaks and stellar insights, if you undertake the heroic work of reformulating the meanings of “light” and “dark,” and then reshaping the way you embody those primal forces.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): “Pleasure

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is one of the most important things in life, as important as food or drink,” wrote Cancerian author Irving Stone. I would love for you to heed that counsel. What he says is always true, but it will be extraordinarily meaningful for you to take to heart during the coming weeks. Here’s how you could begin: Make a list of seven experiences that bring you joy, bliss, delight, fun, amusement and gratification. Then make a vow—even write an oath on a piece of paper—to increase the frequency and intensity of those experiences.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): At times in our

lives, it’s impractical to be innocent and curious and blank and receptive. So many tasks require us to be knowledgeable and self-assured and forceful and in control.

But according to my astrological analysis, the coming weeks will be a time when you will benefit from the former state of mind: cultivating what Zen Buddhists call “beginner’s mind.” The Chinese refer to it as ch¯u x¯u n, or the mind of a novice. The Koreans call it the eee mok oh? approach, translated as “What is this?” Buddhist teacher Jack Kornfield defines it as the “don’t-know mind.” During this upcoming phase, I invite you to enjoy the feeling of being at peace with all that’s mysterious and beyond your understanding.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): “Almost

everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you.” Author Anne Lamott wrote that, and now I’m conveying it to you—just in time for the Unplug-Yourself Phase of your astrological cycle. Any glitches you may be dealing with right now aren’t as serious as you might imagine. The biggest problem seems to be the messy congestion that has accumulated over time in your links to sources that usually serve you pretty well. So if you’ll simply disconnect for

by rob brezsny a while, I’m betting that clarity and grace will be restored when you reconnect.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Have you been

saving any of your tricks for later? If so, later has arrived. Have you been postponing flourishes and climaxes until the time was right? If so, the coming days will be as right a time as there can be. Have you been waiting and waiting for the perfect moment before making use of favors that life owes you and promises that were made to you? If so, the perfect moment has arrived. Have you been wondering when you would get a ripe opportunity to express and highlight the most interesting truths about yourself? If so, that opportunity is available.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): “I learned

to make my mind large, as the universe is large, so that there is room for paradoxes,” writes Scorpio author Maxine Hong Kingston. That would be an excellent task for you to work on in the coming weeks. Here are your formulas for success: 1. The more you expand your imagination, the better you’ll understand the big picture of your present situation—and the more progress you will make toward creating the most interesting possible future. 2. The more comfortable you are about dwelling in the midst of paradoxes, the more likely it is that you will generate vigorous decisions that serve both your own needs and the needs of your allies.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):

“Some people will never like you because your spirit irritates their demons,” says actor and director Denzel Washington. “When you shine bright, some won’t enjoy the shadow you cast,” says rapper and activist Talib Kweli. You may have to deal with reactions like those in the coming weeks. If you do, I suggest that you don’t take it personally. Your job is to be your radiant, generous self—and not worry about whether anyone has the personal power necessary to handle your radiant, generous self. The good news is that I suspect you will stimulate plenty of positive responses that will more than counterbalance the challenging ones.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):

Capricorn occultist Peter J. Carroll tells us, “Some have sought to avoid suffering by avoiding desire. Thus they have only small desires and small sufferings.” In all of the zodiac, you are among the least likely to be like that. One of your potential strengths is the inclination to cultivate robust desires that are rooted in a quest for rich experience. Yes, that sometimes means you must deal with more strenuous ordeals than other people. But I think it’s a wise trade-off.

In any case, you’re now in a phase of your cycle when you should take inventory of your yearnings. If you find there are some that are too timid or meager, I invite you to either drop them or pump them up.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): The

people who live in the town of Bazoule, Burkina Faso regard the local crocodiles as sacred. They live and work amidst the 100-plus creatures, co-existing peacefully. Kids play within a few feet of them, never worrying about safety. I’d love to see you come to similar arrangements with untamed influences and strong characters in your own life. You don’t necessarily have to treat them as sacred, but I do encourage you to increase your empathy and respect for them.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Your body

naturally produces at least one quart of mucus every day. You might not be aware of it, because much of it glides down your throat. Although you may regard this snot as gross, it’s quite healthy. It contains antibodies and enzymes that kill harmful bacteria and viruses. I propose we regard mucus as your prime metaphor in the coming weeks. Be on the alert for influences and ideas that might empower you even if they’re less than beautiful and pleasing.

Make connections with helpful influences even if they’re not sublimely attractive.

www.RealAstrology.com for Rob Brezsny’s EXPANDED WEEKLY AUDIO HOROSCOPES and DAILY TEXT MESSAGE HOROSCOPES. The audio horoscopes are also available by phone at 1-877-873-4888.

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