Inlander 09/30/2021

GUN SCHOOL

STORY OF FEAR, FATHERHOOD AND FIREARMS PAGE 6

PLEADING THE 6TH

ARE DEMS GIVING UP ON THE 6TH DISTRICT? PAGE 10

HEROES AND GREMLINS LILAC CITY COMICON IS BACK! PAGE 18

SEPTEMBER 30-OCTOBER 6, 2021 | THINK GLOBAL. LIVE INLAND.

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T

he Inlander has been my family. I came to work here, in a roundabout way, because of my mother. I moved home in 2003 because she was dying, and I met Ted McGregor, the paper’s founder and publisher, because I needed part-time work. Later, after Mom was gone and I was writing for Florida’s biggest paper, Ted called and asked if I wanted to manage the Inlander’s news coverage.

I arrived in January 2008 and since then have edited 713 editions of the paper, just shy of half the issues the Inlander has published to date.

At home, my family grew and shrank. I ended an eight-year-long relationship. Got married to the love of my life. Buried my two sisters. Witnessed the birth of my two perfect daughters.

At work, I have had a second family composed of the hardest-working, most passionate journalists you’re likely to meet. Together, this small staff does big things. Their work has sparked civil rights lawsuits and LETTERS reforms, helped to free wrongly Send comments to convicted men and annoyed thineditor@inlander.com. skinned politicians scared of simple questions. These reporters keep a close eye on powerful interests, schools, police, our kids, the river, society’s safety nets and those falling through them. It isn’t all doom and gloom: Inlander reporters delight in finding the best things our region has to offer and sharing that treasure with readers, too.

And now, yes, as journalists say, I buried the lead. Next week, the Inlander will have a new editor, the whip-smart veteran Dan Nailen, who’s stepping up from the No. 2 job at the Inlander. After nearly 14 years — after all that time and heartache I put into the paper — I wouldn’t leave this place I love if I didn’t have complete confidence it was in good hands. Dan is a pro, and the paper’s owners, Ted and his brother Jer, remain committed to the mission, to local journalism in the public’s interest.

As for me, I’m leaving for a new challenge at a similarly minded organization, InvestigateWest, a nonprofit newsroom dedicated to high-impact investigative journalism for the Pacific Northwest. You can find those stories at invw.org and me at jacob@invw.org.

I plan to stay in Spokane and remain a faithful reader of this uncommonly good publication. The Inland Northwest is lucky to have the Inlander.

And I was lucky to be a part of the family.

— JACOB H. FRIES, departing editor

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The author thought of the Gil Scott-Heron line, “Who’s going to protect me from you?”

Gun School A true story of fear, fatherhood and the collapse of the empire

BY SAMUEL LIGON

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DeissnerLaw.com 6 INLANDER SEPTEMBER 30, 2021

he class I took was Basic Handgun, a beginners course in which I was introduced to “the operation of semi-automatics, revolvers, and firearm safety.” It was September 2020, mid-lockdown, mid-crazy, a month before my second son would be born, 22 years after my first son was born. At gun school, social distancing would be practiced, one student per table, classes no larger than eight students. Everyone would be masked. And armed, of course.

This was a few months after the BLM demonstrations in Spokane, when the militia was out at night with their guns and camouflage costumes. Kate and I saw them on TV and Twitter, in Spokane and all over the West, men with assault weapons ready for war. I’d seen them in Olympia, too, armed citizens asserting their rights. The third-grade teachers would usher their students back to the busses, their Capitol tour abruptly over. This was before the Capitol grounds were fenced, before people started shooting each other during weekend protests.

In August, Kate and I saw a guy at the Country Store shopping with his wife and toddler with a gun on his hip, a posture I found idiotic, intimidating, and infuriating. He was why I wanted to go to gun school. I hated him for walking around like that.

I didn’t tell Kate I was going for weeks, and when I did tell her, she didn’t say much. In fact, she didn’t say anything. I considered cancelling, but it had been so hard to get a spot. Everyone wanted to go to gun school. The pandemic — or something worse, whatever it was that had been tearing us apart for years — was working our fear, making some of us conclude that we might have to shoot somebody soon, which is what we mean when we talk about self-defense.

My brother bought a gun and locked it in his basement. For bears, he said.

“Really?” I said. “Bears?”

“Listen,” he said. “I hear people shooting here all the time.”

“It’s Vermont,” I said. “People shoot there — don’t they?”

“Not like this,” he said.

“Like what?”

“Like they’re gathering,” he said.

“Who is?”

“I don’t know,” he said. “I know it’s ridiculous.”

But I had the same paranoia, all those armed men in the streets — “to protect you,” one of them told a woman who asked why they were in her neighborhood. She was brave as hell, following them around Spokane with her phone, recording their movements, asking them to leave, telling them she didn’t want them in her neighborhood, that their guns didn’t make her feel safe, posting it all over social media. I thought of the Gil ScottHeron line, “Who’s going to protect me from you?” I put my baseball bat under the bed and bought a can of pepper spray.

My brother called from his front porch, gun in hand.

“They’re up the hill,” he said, “shooting like crazy.”

“Who is?”

“Listen,” he said, holding out his phone.

“Firecrackers,” I said.

“It’s not firecrackers.”

“It’s Friday night,” I said. “People are partying.”

“With guns,” he said.

“It’s Vermont,” I said. “There aren’t any militias.”

“You don’t know that.”

He was right. I didn’t know anything.

My brother-in-law in suburban Cleveland bought a shotgun.

My sister wouldn’t talk about it.

“I’ll get the shells next,” he said.

“Do you know how to use it?” I said.

“It’s a shotgun,” he said. “I think you just point and shoot.”

“At who?” I said.

“I know,” he said. “I understand what you’re saying. But still.”

We hadn’t grown up with guns in my family and now everyone was getting one. We’d lived in safe neighborhoods and could rely on the protection of the police. We were starting to understand just how lucky we’d been. I hadn’t shot one in years.

And I hadn’t been out of my pajamas since April, when we came back to Spokane from Olympia, where I serve as a legislative liaison.

Summer got smokey. One night it was so bad in our creaky, old house I woke to Kate in a mask beside me. I made an air purifier out of a furnace filter taped to a box fan. She was 8 months pregnant. “At least the baby doesn’t have to breathe this,” she said.

I planned what I’d wear to gun school — black jeans, black T-shirt, steel-toed boots. My brother called when I was getting ready, and we kept talking as I drove. He wanted to know what kind of guns I’d be shooting. I told him I wasn’t sure. “I don’t know how to use mine,” he said. “It scares the hell out of me.”

“Get rid of it,” I said.

“I can’t,” he said.

“Why do you even have it?”

“Just in case,” he said.

I knew the statistics about guns in houses and people getting killed with them, domestic violence and suicide, accidents and murder.

“Don’t show the gun,” we used to say as union leaders back on Long Island, “unless you’re willing to use it.” Meaning don’t make a threat you can’t back up.

But that was years ago.

And we hadn’t been talking about actual guns.

And now we were somehow. Or I was.

“Maybe you just need to learn how to use it,” I told my brother on the phone.

“I know,” he said. “But I don’t want to.”

There was no traffic. Everyone was locked up at home.

But it seemed like I might be late for school.

I told my brother I had to go.

“I don’t even want to touch it,” he said.

You had to be willing to use it was the thing — to shoot somebody. That’s what we meant metaphorically in the union. Or they’d take it away and use it on you.

But this wasn’t metaphorical.

If I bought the gun, would I show it? And after showing it, would I use it, or would my target take it away and shoot me or Kate or the baby or somebody else three weeks later?

I parked and walked toward the building.

That’s when I realized I was wearing my slippers. ...continued on next page

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COMMENT | AMERICA

Donald Trump supporters at a “Keep America Great” rally in Phoenix in February 2020.

GAGE SKIDMORE PHOTO

“GUN SCHOOL,” CONTINUED...

I had gotten out of my pajamas and managed to put on my black jeans and T-shirt, but I’d forgotten my boots on account of my brother calling.

My slippers were fuzzy wool with rubber soles.

People were going to hate me at gun school, but showing up barefooted would be worse.

“It’ll depend on how the election turns out,” the man at the front of the classroom said as I walked in. He stopped what he was saying and looked at me and my slippers. They all did.

Then he handed me my earmuffs and safety glasses and distributed the training packet.

I sat at a table in the second row.

Our teacher asked us to introduce ourselves and talk about why we were there and what our experience was. I said my purpose was self-defense and that I used to shoot cans and milk jugs. I said my brother was a sheriff in Vermont. I had to stop myself from saying anything else.

I might have said anything. I wanted them to like me.

The other guys said who they were. I was the only one there who didn’t already own a gun. Which was fine, our teacher said, because I would be firing lots of handguns today and would get a feel for what I’d want to buy.

I paged through the training manual.

“Do not put ammunition in your mouth,” it said in the safety section.

The other guys knew as little as I did, or they wouldn’t have been there. Each of them had a new gun and now they wanted to learn how to shoot people with it.

Our teacher stood behind a table of guns, which he said we’d talk about soon enough, but first we had to cover the four universal firearm rules — All guns are always loaded, Never point the firearm at anything you do not want to put a hole in, and two other ones I can’t remember, kind of like the four noble truths of Buddhism.

Our teacher covered the pros and cons of semi-automatics and revolvers, the difference between single action and double action and striker fired firearms. He was competent as hell. When he picked up a gun, he seemed comfortable with it, unlike me and my brother. He would not show the gun unless he was willing to use it. And he was willing.

I thought maybe I was too.

I didn’t want to walk around with it or sleep with it under my pillow.

But if all hell broke loose, at least I’d have one and know how to use it.

If the militia came to our front door, for example, and into our house.

People were getting killed all over — Minneapolis, Kenosha, Portland.

Class went on for hours. I took furious notes, the most studious student in the room, there in the second row in my slippers. As a teacher myself, I knew our teacher would like me best, the one right there with him.

Then it was time to go to the range.

I just wanted to be on my own side. With a gun. Ready for the end of the world.

8 INLANDER SEPTEMBER 30, 2021

I shot a .38 special and a .44.

We were each in our own lane, shooting targets 20 feet away.

I wasn’t hitting much.

“You’re going to have to account for your flinch,” our teacher said.

We’d practiced loading magazines in class and I loaded two now for the semi-automatics at my station.

One was much bigger than the other, heavier.

“That’s the one the SEALs use,” my teacher said.

It had a little anchor etched into its barrel.

I tried to account for my flinch, concentrated on my breathing, on relaxing, trying to reach a meditative shooting state. I fired and hit my target in the chest. I took more deep breaths, accounted for the flinch. I fired and hit my target in the throat, in the head, in the chest again.

Nice and slow. Pop. Pop. Bang.

“Good pattern,” my teacher said. “Now try the other gun.”

The lighter one was even better.

I’d be able to shoot all kinds of people with it — in self-defense.

This was the one I wanted.

I tried to maintain my Zen state, breathing, shooting, relaxing. Sometimes I missed my target. Sometimes I hit three feet from where I was aiming.

“Just imagine if he was moving,” my teacher said.

“That’s what you’re going to have to train for.”

Right, I thought. Moving targets.

“It’s nothing like the movies,” he said.

But some of it was.

Kate was asleep when I got home. She asked about it in the morning and I said it had been interesting. Then I went online to buy a gun, one of the 9s I liked.

But it turned out you couldn’t buy a gun, not one of the good ones, not anytime soon. You couldn’t buy ammo either. Everyone had already bought it all. The

manufacturers couldn’t keep up. It was the pandemic and also that other thing that had been boiling away for years, the country coming apart, infected with hatred, so many of us arming and rearming ourselves, preparing to kill each other. And I was one of them. If somebody came after me or my family, I believed I would be able to shoot them, to kill them. I’d imagined it at the range as hard as I could. Would I be able to use the gun? Yes, I decided. Who knew if it was really true. I found a store with a waiting list and put my name on it. At lunch I told Kate how you couldn’t buy a gun today, not an expensive, accurate one. “But I put my name on a list,” I said.

I could feel the weight of the heavy one in my hand.

Kate was quiet.

I concentrated on my sandwich.

“We’re not getting a gun,” she finally said.

Her cousin had killed himself with one, I knew that much.

But I also knew how afraid she’d been of the armed men in the streets, how afraid she was of armed men at home, too, killing themselves and their wives and their children.

“What about the militias,” I said.

“You want to be like them?” she said.

I just wanted to be on my own side. With a gun.

Ready for the end of the world.

I told her we’d keep it locked up, that we’d both learn to use it, that we’d never take it out except to go to the range or if we really needed it. I was starting to wear her down a little.

“Absolutely not,” she said.

I took my name off the list. My gun fever subsided over the following days. The baby was born. Other stuff happened that winter. My fever came back. Kate never had a fever, but there was a kind of wearing down in her, bred from the fear and rage and despair infecting us and so many others across the country. We hated the Supreme Court and Congress, big business and the academy, the woke left and the fascist right, social media and podcasts. We hated the pious maskers and the furious anti-maskers. We hated not being around people, even though we hated so many people. Kate and I were self-contained at home with a new baby, luckier than most to have the joy that baby brought and brings. We had enough money. We’d been spared so much suffering.

But we still got enraged too often, or fell into despair, the kind of despair and rage and impotence that accompanies general collapse, the end of the empire, the end of the world. Even though we had everything.

We still talk about the gun sometimes, when things outside are particularly bad, when something scares us enough.

“But we’d have to be very certain,” Kate says, trailing off.

I know what she means — that we’d have to be very certain to keep it locked up, never taking it out, forgetting it entirely, or better still, never buying it in the first place.

When I was 12, I shot milk jugs full of water with a thirty-ought-six. It belonged to my dentist, a family friend, and he taught me how to shoot it with a giant cup of vodka in his hand, setting up plastic gallons of water as targets. I finally hit them all and he told me to go look at what I’d hit. But I couldn’t find anything, just puddles.

“Isn’t that something?” he said.

It really was, everything gone but the water. n Samuel Ligon’s most recent novel, Miller Cane: A True & Exact History, appeared in 50 consecutive issues of the Inlander in 2018-19. He’s the author of two other novels, two books of stories, and is co-editor, with Kate Lebo, of Pie & Whiskey: Writers Under the Influence of Butter and Booze. He teaches at Eastern Washington University.

SEPTEMBER 30, 2021 INLANDER 9

Volunteers campaign for Lisa Brown, a U.S. Congressional candidate who narrowly won the most votes in the 6th Legislative District before losing to Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers region-wide in 2018. YOUNG KWAK PHOTO

POLITICS

Losing the 6th,

AGAIN Do state Democrats’ proposed redistricting maps show they’ve given up on the 6th?

BY DANIEL WALTERS

L

ast year, Zack Zappone was a political unknown.

His opponent, Republican state Rep. Mike Volz, had the advantage of being the incumbent and wasn’t weighed down by major controversy or scandal.

And Zappone was running in the 6th Legislative District, which starts with a crescent of Spokane suburbs, stretches though Cheney to the Lincoln County border, and hadn’t elected a Democrat in a decade.

“Zack came out of the clear blue,” says Jack Donahue, the Spokane Democrats’ chair of the 6th District.

“He literally registered on the last day.”

But he still came within 4 percentage points of winning. Meanwhile, Joe Biden, thanks to suburban ticketsplitters, actually won the district by 4 percentage points in 2020.

And just two years earlier, Dave Wilson, a moderate Democrat with much stronger name recognition, had come within a mere 700 votes of beating Republican Jenny Graham. Lisa Brown, the congressional candidate challenging Republican Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers, won the 6th Legislative District by an even tighter margin that year (though she ultimately fell

10 INLANDER SEPTEMBER 30, 2021

short in other areas in her loss to McMorris Rodgers).

To Donahue, all these tight races were more evidence of just how close his district was to finally voting for Democrats.

“People hoped and hoped,” Donahue says. “We’re virtually there, we’re on the edge, we’re about to break through…”

And as Republicans and Democrats have started to battle over the once-in-a-decade redistricting process, he hoped the borders of the 6th could be redrawn in a way that would give Democrats an even better chance of winning. But if there’s anything the 6th specializes in, it’s crushing Democratic hopes.

Last week, representatives from both political parties released their proposed maps. But the designs from Democratic redistricting commission members Brady Walkinshaw and April Sims, if adopted, might effectively hand control of the district to Republicans for the foreseeable future.

“Either of them would decimate the South Hill…

We would be set back at least another 10 years,” Donahue says. “No amount of growth is going to overcome [the loss of] 10,000 blue voters.”

Their maps make the district roughly 6 to 8 points Zack Zappone more Republican. Biden, Inslee and Brown would all have lost the district handily.

Ironically, only one map still has Biden winning the 6th District, and it’s the one drawn by Republican redistricting commission member Joe Fain.

“Locally, there’s no question that Democrats think that the 6th is important and there’s opportunity in the 6th,” says Zappone.

The question is whether state Democrats still think the same.

D

onahue says he had heard rumblings that the proposed maps would be disappointing.

“We were mentally preparing ourselves for it,” he says.

This has all happened before.

Before 2006, the 6th hadn’t had a single Democratic legislator since the days of FDR and the New Deal. But that year, with Democratic voters riding a national backlash against George W. Bush, the 66-year Republican grip on the district was broken in two out of three seats.

Then came the Tea Party wave of 2010. That year, Democrats did try to fight for the 6th, attempting to defend state Sen. Chris Marr against a challenge mounted by former U.S. State Department adviser Michael Baumgartner.

“At the time, it was the most expensive race in state history in which a challenger beat an incumbent,” says Baumgartner.

Sims, who spent years union organizing before joining the state redistricting commission, remembers mobilizing union members to rally for Marr.

“I remember back when the 6th District was a little more of a swing district and a little more competitive,” she says. But ultimately, the Marr race wasn’t particularly close. Baumgartner beat him by over 6 percentage points.

When it came time for the parties to redraw the legislative district’s map in 2012, Republicans and Democrats chose a design that added Cheney to the 6th, but swapped deep blue parts of West Central and the South Hill into the already-Democratic 3rd District.

And yet, with time, Democrats began closing the gap, Donahue says.

“We’ve been pushing hard to make the 6th competitive,” Donahue says. Growth did most of the work. As more people moved into the area, coming from places like Portland and Seattle, he says, they were more liberal.

Take the Biden-supporting precincts in the Eagle Ridge development in southwest Spokane, for example.

“Ten years ago that would have been pink at best,” Donahue says.

I

t’s not hard to draw a map where the DemoState Republican Party, argues that with 49 crats have a much better chance of winning districts in the state, Democrats “drew 30 safe the 6th District — the Inlander generated a hyDemocratic districts, and 16 safe Republican pothetical district map relatively quickly that had districts. That is terrible for the people of WashBiden beating Trump in the 6th by 13 points and ington state.”

Gov. Jay Inslee beating Loren Culp by 8 points.

Democrats, meanwhile, see the Republicans’ But there’s a big catch. There’s only one talk about “competition” as just an excuse to source of blue votes nearby — the 3rd District, draw maps that skew rightward. where House Majority Whip Marcus Riccelli and “There’s nothing in the [state law] about Senate Majority Leader Andy Billig are stationed. valuing ‘competitiveness,’” Washington DemoCrank up the blue in the 6th, and the blue in the cratic Party chair Tina Podlodowski wrote in an 3rd quickly starts to fade. By the time you turn initial press release. She revised the statement — the 6th into a reliably Democratic district, the 3rd saying an “early draft” had been “inadvertently has become a swing district. sent” — after people pointed out that the law And in a bad year — and if Joe Biden’s poll actually did include a section explicitly commandnumbers stay as low as they are, Democrats ing the redistricting commission to “encourage could have a very bad 2022 — being in a swing electoral competition.” district could mean incumbents like Billig lose Democratic objections to Fain, however, go their jobs. beyond the specifics of his redistricting proposThe proposed Democratic maps don’t take als: Shortly after Republicans appointed him to that risk, choosing to make the 3rd more Demothe position, Podlodowski signed a letter asking cratic. him to resign from the commission, referencing “Instead of opting to play offense and trying a woman who publicly accused Fain of rape in to make the 6th more competitive, we’re electing 2018. to play defense and defend the 3rd — and keep it Fain stresses to the Inlander that the alleged as the sole blue outpost in all of Eastern Washvictim has never brought her allegations to the ington,” Donahue says. police and that he was the first to request the But Sims says that kind of political calculaLegislature investigate the charges. After Fain lost tion — “looking at this and thinking, ‘How do that cycle’s re-election and Senate Republicans I draw this map, so that I can engineer election pushed back against the Democrats’ slate of outcomes’” — wasn’t how she saw her purpose possible investigators, however, Senate Majority on the commission.

Leader Billig suspended the investigation.

Instead, Sims says, her focus was on “keeping The 6th District on Fain’s map is an uncommunities together whenever possible.” wieldy one: It stretches across the entirety of Because the Seattle-area population had Lincoln County, sheers off a piece of Browne’s grown so much faster in the past deAddition near downtown cade, the districts in Spokane had to get Spokane, then continues LETTERS wider to make sure each legislator still through southern Spokane Send comments to represented a roughly equal number County all the way to the editor@inlander.com. of people. She focused on keeping the Idaho-Washington border. boundaries of the 3rd entirely inside But it also happens to be the city of Spokane. the only one where Democrats might still stand a “The byproduct of that, I suppose, is that it chance of competing. impacted the Democratic performance in the 6th “You hold enough moderates, who are more District,” Sims says. to the middle, you’d probably prevail,” Donahue Similarly, Senate Democrats’ representative says. on the commission, Brady Walkinshaw, writes And that’s exactly Fain’s intention: “I want in a statement that he was responding to local more swing districts because I want more moderfeedback in designing his map, not looking at ates to be elected to the Legislature,” he says. political metrics.

But there’s a reason why Democrats are “In our public outreach meetings, people distrustful of supposed “swing districts.” from Spokane advocated for getting rid of the “A 50-50 Biden/Trump district is not a good ‘Pac-Man’ shape of the 6th and unifying South district for legislative Democrats,” says Alex Hill in one district,” he writes.

Bond, spokesman for the Washington State But across the nation, cities are getting ever Democratic Party. “That’s just a political reality.” bluer, and rural areas are getting deeper red. FoThe state’s voters are a lot more willing to cus on keeping like-minded communities together vote for the Democrats nationally, but Republiand you’re a lot more likely to get districts that cans locally. veer to one extreme or another.

Still, Bond says, “the Democratic Party is “To put every person who thinks a certain very interested in competing in Spokane.” way, to put a box around them and call it a disBut by “compete,” he doesn’t mean pouring trict, that gets you exactly what we’ve seen back money into legislative races. He’s talking about, in D.C. that’s been so disastrous,” says Fain, the say, competing in some of the state’s new county Senate Republicans’ representative on the comcommissioner districts or in the presidential elecmission. “They don’t have to serve as representation. tives, all they have to serve is mouthpieces for Zappone is already running for Spokane City wildly lopsided districts.”

Council this year. As for Donahue, if either of the Democratic map proposals gets enacted, he says, ain says there’s a lot he’s willing to comprohe’ll be “formally, powerless to help.” mise on, but he’ll “put down the red line Under both proposed Democratic maps, Dohere by saying that the final map must have nahue — the 6th District chair — would be living many legitimately competitive districts.” in the 3rd. n Caleb Heimlich, chair of the Washington danielw@inlander.com

F

SEPTEMBER 30, 2021 INLANDER 11

Fentanyl can be disguised to look like other less dangerous opioids.

12 INLANDER SEPTEMBER 30, 2021

Taking the

BLUE PILL Fentanyl is flooding into the Inland Northwest, triggering a deadlier phase of the opioid crisis

BY WILSON CRISCIONE

A

llan didn’t know it was fentanyl.

If things went differently, he may have never known. All he felt was a flash of euphoria eroding into nothingness, and he was gone.

He’d battled addiction for three decades, since he was a child. And on the day of his overdose a year ago, he’d recently lost his home and relapsed, once again a prisoner to heroin.

Only this wasn’t heroin. This was worse.

He woke up in an ambulance after paramedics gave him Narcan, the lifesaving medicine for opioid overdoses.

He walked out of the hospital still hardly coherent, but he survived. He found out later that the heroin was laced with fentanyl, a synthetic opioid 50 times more powerful than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine.

Until a month ago, Allan, who asked to be referred to by his middle name only, avoided fentanyl, afraid the next time he used it would be his last. But blue fentanyl pills, known as “Mexis” or “Mexi Blues” or “M-30s,” continued to flood the drug market in Spokane. When he relapsed again, it simply became the most convenient opioid, despite the risks.

“I was afraid to touch it until recently, just the past month or so. And then it was because there was a whole bunch of them. I’m not sure where they’re getting them, but there’s so many of them,” Allan says.

In the Pacific Northwest, the heroin crisis has morphed into a far deadlier fentanyl crisis. And Washington has been uniquely hard hit. Just as COVID-19 began killing people by the thousands, fentanyl smuggled

by Mexican drug cartels started causing more accidental drug overdoses in Washington than at any other time in recent memory.

Sometimes, it’s because fentanyl is laced with other

drugs. But mostly, fentanyl takes the form of those blue pills made to look like prescription oxycodone. It can fool teens and college students, who have died having no idea what they had taken. And if it doesn’t kill, it can bind addicts like Allan to a new, scarier world of addiction.

“They’re already struggling with addiction, and they’re buying something to use without realizing they have just entered into a whole new arena,” says Hallie Burchinal, executive director for Compassionate Addiction Treatment in Spokane.

And the reason for this new scourge seeping into the cracks of society, smothering the vulnerable?

In a word: profit.

THE BUSINESS OF FENTANYL

It was a Tuesday in May 2019, and it was a good day for the officers of the Tri-City Metro Drug Task Force in Kennewick. Working with federal agents, they were ready to move against members of the Sinaloa Cartel, Mexico’s most dominant drug trafficking organization.

They knew for two years that the cartel was smuggling fentanyl pills into Eastern Washington, and they’d been building a case. Finally, on this day, a detective got word from his informant: One of the cartel members they were after, Josue Medina-Perez, was at the mall.

Local police, according to federal court documents, pulled Medina-Perez’s blue Honda Accord over in a movie theater parking lot. When an FBI agent arrived, Medina-Perez flipped. Ready to spill everything, he told the FBI he was working with another distributor nicknamed “the Knife” — Francisco Delgado, who that day was in Seattle dealing 15,000 fentanyl tablets.

Then the day got even better: Medina-Perez agreed to call Delgado and set up a deal in the Tri-Cities. Police arrested Delgado with roughly 1,000 fentanyl tablets imprinted with “M-30,” court documents show.

They eventually reached a plea deal, and a victorious news release by the U.S. Attorney’s Office early this year announced that authorities had broken up a drug trafficking ring and were putting away two men responsible for distributing 5,000 to 10,000 fentanyl pills per week to Eastern Washington. They’re now in federal prison.

It was a blow for the drug cartel and a success for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, which provided support for local officers involved in the bust.

But it did little to deter drug cartels from flooding the region with even more illicit fentanyl. The cartel retooled and sent other distributors.

It’s a business, and right now, the cartels are looking to expand their fentanyl operation in the West, says Frank Tarentino, special agent in charge of the DEA’s Seattle Field Division.

“These transnational criminal organizations based out of Mexico are driving the product, getting into the United States, and then eventually onto the streets of Seattle, Tacoma, Spokane and really the entire Pacific Northwest,” Tarentino says.

The surge in fentanyl in the Pacific Northwest has come a few years later than it did on the East Coast of the United States. That’s largely tied to the business of the Sinaloa and the Jalisco New Generation drug cartels, Tarentino says. The last decade, the fentanyl in the eastern part of the U.S. has primarily been driven by China.

Until more recently, Mexican drug cartels primarily focused on dealing methamphetamine and heroin in the West, Tarentino says.

But that’s begun to change in recent years. The cartels are getting precursor chemicals from places like China and recruiting chemists to manufacture fentanyl for themselves, Tarentino says. ...continued on next page

SEPTEMBER 30, 2021 INLANDER 13

DRUGS “TAKING THE BLUE PILL,” CONTINUED...

The illicit fentanyl they’re making isn’t the same as the prescription fentanyl used in hospitals to sometimes treat cancer patients. This fentanyl is synthesized in a lab, without the same quality controls. Unlike heroin, they don’t need to extract opium from a poppy plant, so it can be made more quickly. It’s much easier to transport in large quantities, and because it’s so potent it yields significantly more profit.

Just one kilo of fentanyl is enough for 500,000 lethal doses, Tarentino says. That’s because a lethal dose can be the size of a grain or two of salt.

Put another way: A kilo of heroin might yield something like $80,000 in profit. But a kilo of fentanyl could yield closer to $2 million.

“They’re making a tremendous profit on something that they invest very little in,” he says.

They smuggle it here any way they can. Seriously: Imagine any way to smuggle fentanyl, and the cartel has probably tried it, Tarentino says. Hiding it in fuel and in computer parts. Stuffing it in food.

“They’re getting it to where the demand is, and they have varying methods of how they get their products from the source country into the U.S. and into the streets, where our young people are falling victim to it,” he tells the Inlander.

Now, police from all over the state constantly encounter fentanyl on the street during relatively routine arrests. Spokane Police Lt. Rob Boothe, head of the investigative division for drug cases, rattles off two such arrests just this month. At a local university campus Boothe wouldn’t name, Spokane police found 2,000 fentanyl pills along with three pistols, one of which was stolen. In another case, a foot chase ended with police seizing meth, $15,000 in cash, 5 ounces of heroin and 2,500 fentanyl pills.

“And that’s not exceptional,” Boothe says.

“That’s just in the last two weeks. …

There are a lot of pills coming here.”

“Someone can take two pills and feel nothing, then take the third one and they overdose.

Because the entire dose was in there.”

Increasingly, Spokane police are finding fentanyl on the streets. ERICK DOXEY PHOTO

14 INLANDER SEPTEMBER 30, 2021

SPIKING OVERDOSES

Fentanyl’s potency isn’t the only reason it’s so lethal. It’s powerful, sure, but it’s also sneaky and unpredictable. It can be disguised as something else. It can lure you into a false sense of security.

The blue pills are most common, and they look so much like oxycodone pills that even Nicole Rodin, assistant professor in pharmacotherapy at Washington State University, can’t tell the difference between a fentanyl tablet and an oxycodone pill.

“Unless it’s been confiscated by police, and they know this is a fentanyl batch, me looking at it, I would never know,” Rodin says. “I don’t think you can tell under a microscope.”

In fact, it’s becoming extremely rare for an illicit pill looking like an oxy to not be fentanyl. Caleb Banta-Green, an addiction researcher at University of Washington, says that every King County overdose in 2020 with an M-30 tablet at the scene tested positive for fentanyl. For those who fatally overdosed and did have oxycodone in their system, they always had a prescription for it.

Plus, in these illegal labs without controls on how much fentanyl is in each tablet, you never know which pill can kill you.

“Someone can take two pills and feel nothing, then take the third one and they overdose. Because the entire dose was in there,” Rodin says.

It’s already killing local teens and young adults. In May, a 15-year-old high school student in Coeur d’Alene, Michael Stabile, fatally overdosed after taking what he thought were prescription pills but was actually fentanyl. Last year, Diamond Morrow, a 23-year-old Spokane woman, died of an accidental fentanyl overdose, according to the Spokane County Medical Examiner’s Office.

Statewide, fentanyl is causing opioid death rates to spike at staggering rates. In 2020, the death rate from fentanyl nearly doubled, reaching 8.9 deaths per 100,000 people and becoming the most fatal opioid in Washington state by a large margin, according to data analysis from the University of Washington. That correlated with an overall 37 percent increase in overdose deaths, from 1,259 in 2019 to 1,729 in 2020 — the most in at least a decade.

So far this year, statewide overdose deaths are still outpacing last year at the same time. Nearly half of them — 191 total — are linked to fentanyl, according to the state health department. Of those fentanyl deaths, 55 were of people younger than 30. And deaths were highest among Native American, Hispanic and Black people, the state says.

In Spokane County, fentanyl deaths began surging just as it seemed Spokane was getting a handle on the heroin epidemic.

Accidental overdose deaths for any drug in Spokane had peaked in 2016 at 115. Then they dipped for three years, down to 80 in 2019.

For that, local treatment providers credit the widespread use among drug users of naloxone, which goes by the brand name Narcan and can be effective if used within minutes of an opioid overdose.

“One hundred percent, it’s because of the education and availability of Narcan,” says Blake Redding, executive director of Spokane Treatment and Recovery Services. “We went from having just a couple doses in our [facilities] to basically every program has them, and everyone driving transportation vehicle has them. … We went on the offensive with the preventative measures.”

But fentanyl changed the game. Preliminary data from the state indicates that overdose deaths in Spokane County last year were back around that 2016 peak. In all of Eastern Washington, overdose deaths shot up by 34 percent from 2019 to 2020, according to preliminary state data. That’s because of a 130 percent increase in fentanyl overdoses in the region during the same time.

While naloxone still saves lives during a fentanyl overdose, it may take way more than the one or two naloxone doses that drug users may have on hand.

“We’ve heard of doses going up to 25 or 30 to bring someone back from fentanyl,” Redding says.

Bobbie Lee Silva, a peer counselor at Compassionate Addiction Treatment, knows exactly how hard it can be to save

someone overdosing on fentanyl. Recently, as she left work with another co-worker, they saw a woman screaming for Narcan outside the House of Charity homeless shelter.

Silva rushed back to work nearby to grab two boxes of Narcan. She came back to help a man who was overdosing from a blue fentanyl pill. But even four doses of Narcan, a nasal spray, didn’t wake him up.

“I had to physically put my mouth around his nose and blow it up his nose, because he wasn’t coming to,” Silva says. “He was blue, gray and pretty much gone.”

Finally, just as the ambulance came, he started breathing slowly. He survived.

But for Silva, a former addict herself, it was a grim reminder of a far more dangerous threat than she’s used to.

“I’ve seen people OD on heroin quite often in my life. And it’s never been that hard to bring somebody back,” Silva says.

“The difference is scary. It’s very scary.”

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LONG ROAD TO RECOVERY

If you do survive a fentanyl overdose, your problems aren’t over.

Compared to other opioids, fentanyl hits faster, with a higher high that’s shorter lived.

“The addiction potential of fentanyl is higher than any other opioids,” Banta-Green says.

Or as Allan puts it, it’s “better than heroin.”And also more convenient. Since taking a blue fentanyl pill a month ago — nearly a year after his overdose — he says he’s never been hooked this bad. And for Allan, it’s not just fentanyl, but methamphetamine, too. Without meth, he has no energy to get through the day, he says.

He wants to get clean, he says, but the withdrawals from fentanyl are too much to bear.

“When you’re sick, you’ll compromise your values, your everything, just to get high so you’re not sick,” he says.

It’s an increasingly common experience in Washington, where the fentanyl crisis has converged with already high rates of meth use. In that respect, Washington is facing simultaneous drug epidemics in a way few other areas of the country are.

A firm called Millennium Health studies drug trends nationally. They collect urine samples from people seeking treatment for drug addiction and pain, sharing what they find with U.S. Health and Human Services.

What they’ve found is a shifting drug landscape since the pandemic hit.

Typically, higher meth and heroin positivity rates have been seen in Western states, while higher fentanyl rates were found on the East Coast. But that’s changing quickly, says Eric Dawson, vice president of clinical affairs at Millennium Health. The West Coast is starting to catch up with fentanyl positivity. And among West Coast states, Washington’s fentanyl positivity was rising the fastest.

As of this month, Washington — just last year among the lowest in the country for fentanyl positivity — now ranks 13th in the nation with 8.3 percent positivity, Dawson says. Idaho, meanwhile, is also seeing an influx of fentanyl, but the recent fentanyl positivity rate there was still less than 1 percent — far below the national average, Dawson says.

“We have seen, and continue to see, significant growth in fentanyl everywhere out West,” Dawson says. “But especially in Washington.”

And while he expects heroin use will start to fade as fentanyl overtakes it as the dominant opioid, there’s little such correlation with meth. In fact, Washington also has seen an increase in meth positivity, now ranking 11th in the country in that, Dawson says.

Even more striking: Of all the patients in Washington who do use fentanyl, 75 percent also tested positive for meth, according to a recent Millennium Health report. That’s the highest co-positivity rate for meth and fentanyl in the nation.

Yet it doesn’t come as much of a surprise for treatment providers in Spokane.

“We’ve been seeing many people showing up positive for fentanyl, really in the last six months, including people who use meth,” says Burchinal, the head of Compassionate Addiction Treatment. ...continued on next page

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DRUGS

Hallie Burchinal, executive director of Compassionate Addiction Treatment in Spokane, says clients often test positive for fentanyl not knowing they ever took it.

YOUNG KWAK PHOTO

“TAKING THE BLUE PILL,” CONTINUED...

Burchinal says she thinks drug dealers are intentionally lacing meth with fentanyl, hooking people on opioids who may otherwise have stayed away.

Misty Challinor, treatment services director for the Spokane Regional Health District, also says addicts are taking fentanyl without knowing it.

“A lot of our individuals that we’ve seen using it are unaware they’ve had it in whatever substance they’re using,” she says.

Dr. Lora Jasman, a physician who often treats drug users at the MultiCare Rockwood Clinic near downtown Spokane, sees the same.

“We’ll see sometimes people who were using methamphetamine for years and didn’t have any opiate use disorder, but then it started getting combined,” Jasman says. “And pretty soon they established a methamphetamine use disorder as well as an opioid use disorder.”

Yet while both law enforcement and treatment centers say fentanyl is being laced with other drugs, Banta-Green from UW isn’t so sure it’s that common. He says that through early 2021, it was rare to find fentanyl in meth seized by law enforcement in Washington that was tested at the state crime lab. Fentanyl also stays in a person’s system longer, binding to fatty tissues, so you can test positive even if you haven’t used it recently.

There may well be drugs laced with fentanyl, hooking unwitting drug users to a more powerful opioid. But Banta-Green says he’s not hearing as much of that now.

“What I’m hearing much more is that people are buying fentanyl. Heroin users are not mistakenly using it. They’re using fentanyl because it’s what’s available,” Banta-Green says.

Either way, he agrees with treatment centers on one thing: The best treatment for fentanyl addiction is with medication like buprenorphine or methadone.

“We know that treatment medications like methadone and buprenorphine have, by far, the biggest impact on reducing mortality,” he says. “There’s super strong research showing they reduce mortality by about 50 percent annually.”

16 INLANDER SEPTEMBER 30, 2021

Those medication-assisted treatment options have increased in Spokane in recent years, and providers think that’s another reason overdose deaths declined in Spokane before the fentanyl surge. Users can go to the methadone clinic at Spokane Regional Health District. Or they can find buprenorphine treatment at the low-barrier Compassionate Addiction Treatment, or at the MultiCare Rockwood Clinic. Even Spokane Treatment and Recovery Services recently brought medication-assisted treatment in-house.

Fentanyl, of course, does present its own challenges for medication-assisted treatment. Buprenorphine can be used within hours after someone uses heroin, but you have to wait longer — usually a couple days — if someone recently used fentanyl. If administered too early, it can trigger severe withdrawal symptoms.

“And that’s a really long time for somebody to be miserable in withdrawal. The symptoms are like a really bad flu — chills, sweats, nausea, diarrhea,” Jasman says.

“And the longer they have to be in that state, the more risky it is for them, and many of them just can’t do it.”

STOPPING THE INEVITABLE

If you’ve been following the story of fentanyl across the country, it’s not hard to predict what’s going to happen with the drug trade in the Pacific Northwest, says Dawson, from Millennium Health.

The continued growth of fentanyl in the region is inevitable. Meth use will also likely grow. The former opioid king, heroin, will stay flat or dwindle.

“We don’t even look at heroin that closely for [Health and Human Services], because we realized that fentanyl is the star of this tragic show,” Dawson says.

For the DEA, the primary focus remains preventing as much fentanyl supply from making it here.

“It’s really about identifying the biggest and baddest traffickers who are bringing the majority of this poison into the streets of our cities,” says agent Tarentino.

The DEA and the U.S. Attorney’s Office continue to partner with local law enforcement, including in Spokane

agencies, to both track down the bad guys and educate the public about the threat.

The situation may look dire, but Tarentino insists that every drug bust makes a difference.

“We’re making an impact. There’s no doubt in my mind. When we take 100,000, 400,000 pills off the street, that’s having an impact,” Tarentino says.

Banta-Green has a different sort of plan: Keep people alive at all costs. That means making Narcan even more widely available, and it means safe smoking and injecting supplies to curb the spread of disease.

Health care providers, meanwhile, need to offer even more low-barrier treatment options offering buprenorphine, he argues. And then, providing housing to those experiencing homelessness is crucial. Housing and transportation can help break cycles of addiction, he says.

Still, the power of the drug cartels, combined with the potency of fentanyl and the market for it, make it hard for Banta-Green to imagine how to put the proverbial genie back in the bottle.

“What are we going to do as a society in Washington state that is going to be powerful and potent enough to counteract those market forces around fentanyl?” he says.

“Because we aren’t even close.” n

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Wilson Criscione has been a staff writer at the Inlander since 2016 and has covered a variety of topics, from education to criminal justice. His reporting has exposed top officials at Eastern State Hospital for ignoring domestic violence, triggered investigations into local abusive police, and uncovered mistreatment of children in schools and foster care. He can be reached at wilsonc@ inlander.com or 509-325-0634 ext. 282.

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SEPTEMBER 30, 2021 INLANDER 17

FROM LEFT: Actors Jon Heder, Russell Hodgkinson, Cesar Garcia and Carla Perez visit this year’s Lilac City Comicon.

COMICON

Gremlins, Crows and Thundercats Lilac City Comicon Returns for its 15th edition full of familiar faces and pioneering comic artists

BY T.J. TRANCHELL

E

very superhero faces challenges. Doomsday killed Superman. Superman once beat Batman to the brink of death. Buffy the Vampire Slayer died twice. The COVID-19 pandemic killed plans for the 2020 Lilac City Comicon, but like a hero rising above the ashes from the ashes of defeat, the two-day celebration of comics writers, artists and fans is back.

“It’s just kind of how things are right now,” organizer Nathan O’Brien says. “Local artists and businesses need this. Everyone’s lost so much that we’re just trying to be a beacon of hope in this circle.”

The beacon will shine Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 2-3, at the Spokane Convention Center, and masks — not just the cosplay kind — are required.

While O’Brien is confident the event will go on as planned with safety measures in place, he noted that the situation has been constantly evolving since they had to postpone the summer 2020 convention.

“Where we stand is that we are in the backup plan,” O’Brien says.

The pandemic brought its own complications, but the nature of fan conventions is always a bit dicey. Celebrity guests are signed as far in advance as possible, but they often face unforeseen scheduling conflicts.

“The more in-demand guests have a higher risk,” O’Brien says. “For artists, deadlines can change. For an actor, if that phone rings with a job, they’re going to say yes.”

For example, Sean Gunn had been signed to appear at this year’s event. Once Hollywood productions

18 INLANDER SEPTEMBER 30, 2021

ramped back up, he was called into action much like the characters he plays in The Suicide Squad for his brother, director James Gunn. When a guest cancels, O’Brien feels it.

“They always hurt. No matter who it is, that was the one guest someone was excited for,” O’Brien says.

Sometimes, though, those unforeseen circumstances can build a strong bond between guests and organizers, according to O’Brien. Actor Jon Heder is on his third attempt at participating in the Lilac City Comicon.

“Because he’s a Northwest guy, he has a lot of history here. He wants to make it up to you,” O’Brien says.

“Sometimes you just get lip service.”

One of this year’s guests might have seemed like something that wouldn’t happen, but a mutual contact bridged the gap. O’Brien says another person in the industry referred him to actor Mark Dodson. While fans might not be familiar with Dodson’s face, his voice should spark memories. Dodson has voiced characters in Star Wars, Gremlins and numerous video games.

“I grew up with those movies,” O’Brien says. “After the referral, Mark reached out to me.”

Like Heder, Dodson has an interesting Northwest connection. “He does the narration for Scarywood, the annual Halloween version of Silverwood [the amusement park in North Idaho].”

Other actor guests include Russell Hodgkinson (Z Nation), Cesar Garcia (Marvel’s The Runaways, Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul), and the original Power Rangers foe Rita Repulsa, actress Carla Perez.

I

n addition to the actor guests, Lilac City Comicon maintains a dedication to comics, the root of the fandom. This year’s guests highlight both longstanding comics icons and those just now gaining a foothold.

“You might recognize the work, if not the name,” O’Brien says of the mix in experience levels among guests.

Coming to the Northwest is writer and artist James O’Barr, creator of The Crow.

“He has a great following, and I’ve been trying to get him here for a while,” O’Brien says. Since leaving his native Detroit for the Dallas, Texas, area, O’Barr has been making more convention appearances. “He’s a titan and very inspirational.”

Giving a platform to creators at all levels is not just for him but for the fans and artists, too.

“Fred Williams II is having a moment right now with his crossovers,” O’Brien says of the man behind some of the most popular recent comics crossovers, pairing Batman with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, He-Man and the crew from Eternia with Lion-O and the Thundercats, and members of the Justice League with those same Masters of the Universe.

Other creator guests this year are artist Brett Weldele, Disney theme parks artist James C. Mulligan, and animator Tom Cook. Cook’s work should be familiar to anyone who watched He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, The Smurfs, Scooby-doo, and many other popular cartoons from the 1970s and ’80s. ...continued on page 20

SEPTEMBER 30, 2021 INLANDER 19

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O’Brien has tried to keep the convention focused on the comics but is open to exploring other avenues in both invited guests and locations. He’s even had professional wrestlers as guests. In 2018, O’Brien expanded his convention business into Coeur d’Alene and will continue to do so this year. Lake City Comicon will be held Saturday, Oct. 16, at the Kootenai County Fairgrounds.

“It’s a back-to-basics show for us,” O’Brien says of the Lake City convention. “It’s where Lilac City was 10 years ago. It’s just one day, short and sweet, but people are having such a blast they ask, ‘When are you going to two days? When are you doing a Sunday show?’”

O’Brien has seen the successes of both shows. He says many vendors reported one-day sales in Coeur d’Alene matching the two-day sales in Spokane. Some people don’t even know about MORE EVENTS the original convention.

Visit Inlander.com for “Some people need a reason complete listings of to come to Spokane or to go local events. to Coeur d’Alene. Then I hear some people say, ‘Oh, Spokane has a show?’” O’Brien says.

The biggest reason for the success of both shows, according to O’Brien, is his crew of volunteers. O’Brien says he’s had the same 12 to 15 volunteers with him for years, and some have been crewing the shows since 2009-10. With their help, O’Brien is looking forward to two successful weekends.

“I feel that comics and pop culture are alive and well,” he said.

“People are hungry for this opportunity to come back to fantasy instead of reality.” n Lilac City Comicon • Sat., Oct. 2, 10 am-6 pm and Sun., Oct. 3, 10 am-4 pm • $15 adult/$5 youth daily• lilaccitycon.com

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9/24/2021 12:28:23 PM

CULTURE | DIGEST

CAT-EGORICAL CUTENESS Get your phone out and go follow these Instagram cats, right meow

BY CHEY SCOTT

B

ack in the day, when I was still a young, bright-eyed journalist, and somehow had the time to spare, I wrote a regular blog feature for the Inlander called “Cat Friday,” which some of you may remember. Each week, I posted adorable feline-focused content on everything from cats living at local businesses to updates on the celebrity cats of the day, from Lil’ Bub to Grumpy Cat. (May their sweet souls romp playfully across the Rainbow Bridge, for all of eternity.)

While Cat Friday was quietly retired years ago, my fondness for cats has, naturally, only grown deeper since. In recognition of that fact, and as a throwback to my past as a professional cat blogger, buckle up for this special “Cat Friday” spinoff. Here, I recommend some of my favorite, must-follow felines of Instagram, because — let’s be real — social media was actually made for cats and cat people.

GARY THE CAT @greatgramsofgary Oh, Gary — you precious, fluffy, pink-nosed meow-taineer. This Canadian Rockies-based rescue cat is more adventurous than most humans, trekking high into the snow-capped mountains and floating across stunning glacial lakes throughout Alberta and British Columbia. Name the outdoor activity and Gary’s done it: skiing, ice climbing, rafting, ice skating and much more. While his fluff keeps him plenty warm in such cold climes, Gary also knows how to dress for the weather, including donning his cozy red puffer coat, tiny sun protection goggles and even booties.

CHUPIE @chupiedoesntgiveameow I don’t give a meow, and neither does Chupie, the sassy, judge-y faced Lykoi (aka the “werewolf” hybrid breed) cat who makes regular rounds to pet-friendly bars and brewpubs around Austin, Texas.

Besides not giving two fluffs about what anyone else thinks — about him or anything else — Chupie’s other claim to fame is a near-rabid obsession with bread. Yes, bread.

OREO @theoreocatofficial Another bunch of sweet and furry Cat-nadians, Oreo and friends Onyx and Pudding hope to make all their followers smile, whether it’s with fun cat-friendly DIY projects, cooking tutorials, spastic playtime videos or sharing some helpful life advice. Case in point, consider this recent gem of wisdom from fluffy Oreo himself: “Never feel guilty for doing what’s best for you. Especially when what’s best for you is a plate of spaghetti.” Duly noted.

SPOKANE KITTY CANTINA @spokane_kitty_cantina We couldn’t do a recommendation rundown of cat-related Instagrams without mentioning the always entertaining and equally adorable feed of Spokane’s own locally owned cat cafe, Kitty Cantina. Whether you want to keep up with its creative, seasonal food and drink menus and specials, or just fill your Insta feed with even more cats, give ’em a follow. Besides the insane level of cuddly cuteness, my favorite part about this feed are the hilarious, sometimes snarky bios that its owners regularly post about the cafe’s adoptable residents. n

THE BUZZ BIN

DEAR MOVIE TWITTER There may not be a more complicated and messy empathy machine than Dear Evan Hansen. Both on stage and now in movie theaters, the story of outcast teen Evan fabricating a friendship with a classmate who killed himself — first to comfort the boy’s grieving family before getting swept up in the lie for his own gain — walks the harrowing tightrope of compassion and cringe.

But not painting in moral blacks and whites is kinda the point, and it actually pulls it off. Sure, the show’s Broadway-turned-film star Ben Platt could’ve been recast younger (he was 27 during shooting; his romantic interest Kaitlyn Dever was 24, but no one seems enraged by that) but it’s not too hard to suspend your disbelief if you want to enjoy the movie instead of trying to meme shame it. (SETH SOMMERFELD)

VAMP CHAMPS Just in time for the witchy fall season, my favorite vampires are back and bringing even more laughs for FX’s third season of What We Do in the Shadows, airing Thursdays and streaming on Hulu. Based on the film of the same name from creators Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi, the mockumentary series’ quartet of centuries-old vampire roommates Nadja, Nandor, Laszlo and Colin Robinson — plus their loyal familiar Guillermo — have already this season taken an antics-filled vacation to Atlantic City’s casinos, and comfortably settled into their roles as leaders of Staten Island’s Vampiric Council. (CHEY SCOTT) THIS WEEK’S PLAYLIST There’s noteworthy new music arriving in stores and online Oct. 1. To wit: Brandi Carlile, In These Silent Days. The reigning queen of Washington state singer-songwriters returns with more heart-wrenching tunes before making her SNL music guest debut later this month.

Illuminati Hotties, Let Me Do One More. Extend your sonic summer with Sarah Tudzin’s latest blissfully bratty LP of sunny rippers and tenderpunk odes.

Various Artists, The Metallica Blacklist. I dare you to find a wilder array of artists — Miley Cyrus, Yo-Yo Ma, Jason Isbell, Flatbush Zombies, etc. — than the 53 assembled for this charity collection honoring Metallica’s classic The Black Album. (SETH SOMMERFELD)

SEPTEMBER 30, 2021 INLANDER 21

Bread + Bones’ products are sold at several local grocers.

COURTESY PHOTOS

LOCAL GOODS

Fundamental Food Sandpoint-based Bread + Bones bets big on the basics

BY CARRIE SCOZZARO

F

ew foodstuffs unite the world’s eaters like bread, which at its most basic is just flour and water transformed by time and heat. Pita, flatbread, injera, challah, focaccia, pumpernickel — the ingredients and techniques might vary, but the end result is the same: filling, comforting and nutritious. Pair bread with broth — also filling, comforting and nutritious — and you have the makings for a meal that feeds you on a fundamental level.

“My husband is a creature of ancestral food and wisdom,” says Jessica Carrington, explaining why she started Bread + Bones with husband Paul in February 2020.

“He’ll say that the common mistake in any food organization, whether it’s catering or a restaurant, is they overcomplicate it,” she continues.

It’s advice the couple garnered from their separate and combined experiences in event planning and catering for such artists as Eric Clapton, Jon Bon Jovi, Madonna, Rihanna, and U2, as well as massive music festivals like Sasquatch and Watershed.

Paul, who hails from Australia, studied at the Sydney, Australia, branch of Le Cordon Bleu culinary school, then spent 20 years working in restaurants throughout Australia and London, England. He also worked on organic farms. Jessica’s background includes international event planning for such clients as Google and NASCAR. In 2016, the couple formed Black Caviar, doing events and catering all over the world, with a home base on the West Coast. Yet with big events sidelined for most of 2020 because of COVID, the busy parents of two young children had to rethink things. On a road trip to pick up a puppy, they fell in love with North Idaho and relocated to Sandpoint. They also developed their plan for Bread + Bones.

The Carringtons have kept their latest offerings simple and straightforward.

They focus on quality ingredients, like filtered water and hard mill red wheat sourced from an organic mill in Utah for their fermented sourdough (they’re also looking for sources

22 INLANDER SEPTEMBER 30, 2021

closer-to-home).

Bread varieties include 12- to 20-ounce fresh loaves ($8-$9) from straight sourdough to rosemary and garlic focaccia. Each loaf lasts in a sealed bag at room temperature for seven to 10 days, Carrington says.

A sourdough kit is also available ($20) with 60 to 70 grams of starter, instructions for feeding and caring for said starter, and a simple sourdough recipe, all of which the couple has perfected over time with ease-of-use in mind.

“We’ve had a lot of beginners who have never baked be able to bake with [sourdough],” says Carrington, who runs the business end while Paul oversees all things foodrelated.

To their delight, says Carrington, customers have had tremendous success with Bread + Bones’ bread kits, and often send photos of what they’ve accomplished.

Bread + Bones also sells three types of broth in 32-ounce containers ($13) and frozen, a step that eliminates the need for chemicals to shelf-stabilize the broth.

Current broth flavors are beef, chicken and garlic shiitake mushroom, all featuring organic ingredients and meticulous seasoning. The beef broth, for example, includes onions, leek, carrot, celery, fennel, garlic, thyme, parsley, star anise, peppercorn, bay leaf and Celtic salt.

Sales of the company’s broth have been strong, even through the extreme heat of the summer, Carrington says, noting that their market research thus far has also revealed an ideal niche for rich, fragrant broth.

Indeed, bone broth has been trending over the past few years as a complement to popular paleo and ketobased diets. Although scientific research varies as to the specific benefits of bone broth, a University of Missouri researcher found that grandma was right: Scratch-made chicken soup is good for you.

According to the 2021 study, it can calm the nervous system and aid in creating a healthy gut, which also supports healthy brain function. Other studies indicate consuming collagen — the gelatinous substance released from slow-cooking bones, which also creates umami flavors — makes for healthier skin, nails and bones.

Bread + Bones’ current main target is grocery stores, Carrington says, although the couple is also working on a way to make their products shippable once a commercial kitchen is complete. That expanded kitchen will mean greater availability, including distribution to 18 regional Super One grocery stores.

In the meantime, shoppers can find Bread + Bones’ products at My Fresh Basket, Rocket Market and Huckleberry’s Natural Market in Spokane, and in North Idaho at Winter Ridge Natural Foods, Miller’s Country Store and Pilgrim’s Market. For more about the company, visit breadbones.com. n

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Chef Tony Brown’s closure of Ruins was just temporary.

The Big Switch-Up

YOUNG KWAK PHOTO

Chef Tony Brown moves his restaurants around again; plus, new North Idaho eats

W

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24 INLANDER SEPTEMBER 30, 2021

hen the announcement came a couple weeks back that Ruins restaurant just north of downtown Spokane was closing, local foodies put on their mourning attire and may have wept.

But, as it turns out, Ruins’ closure was just temporary. Already, the popular small-plates spot from chef Tony Brown — known for its monthly rotating and internationally themed food menus — is back. But not in the tiny blue building at the corner of Monroe and Broadway. Instead, Brown has moved Ruins’ concept to his restaurant space at 225 W. Riverside Ave., which had, up to now, been the home of Stella’s cafe and bar.

Ruins is now open there Wednesday through Saturday from 5 to 9 pm, with plans to expand hours in the future.

Some background: The Riverside spot had initially opened as Brown’s finer-dining concept Eyvind back in late 2019, but due to the pandemic, he transitioned to a more casual focus with sandwiches, to-go items and other cafe-style eats.

Hunt, which Brown co-owns with building owner Jed Conklin, is still located in the basement and has not undergone any major changes since also opening in late 2019.

Stella’s, meanwhile, is soon moving back to the Saranac Commons, where it previously operated before Brown moved his fast-food homage McRuins into that spot last year. Stella’s is set to reopen in the next week after a quick remodel, and will feature Brown’s classic sandwich lineup (including the banh mi, meatloaf and more) plus a larger variety of fresh salads, “’Cause it’s hard to get a good salad,” Brown says. Stella’s hours will be 9 am to 3 pm daily.

If you’re confused by all these changes, you’re not alone.

“I’m good at confusing people,” Brown says, but he promises this is the last time he’ll be moving his concepts around.

“Basically everything is going to move into a new space, yet it will be all the same people working there,” he adds.

The reason for these changes is due to industrywide staffing struggles, paired with some changes in management for Brown’s restaurants.

Chef Travis Tveit, who joined Brown’s team earlier this year to head McRuins, will move with that eatery to the little blue building near the Spokane County Courthouse, at 825 N. Monroe St. McRuins’ new hours are Wednesday and Thursday from 11 am to 4 pm, and Friday and Saturday from 11 am to 9 pm, with plans to add hours, pending more hires.

For updates, follow Stella’s, Ruins and McRuins on social media: Instagram and/or Facebook, @_ruins, @_mcruins, @_stellasrestaurant.

(CHEY SCOTT)

ATHOL ADDS PIZZA

If you’ve been north of Hayden on Highway 95 in the past year or so, you’ll have noticed quite a bit more development, both of businesses and, mostly tucked away behind pine trees, residential housing.

All those folks gotta eat, right? For pizza fans, there are two new options in Athol. Iron Pizza Athol is a sister restaurant to Iron Pizza Coeur d’Alene, so expect to find the same sourdough crust, really big and filling pizzas from $17 to $24, and a smattering of appetizers like salads and bone-in wings ($10/pound). Also look for daily specials, live music and a hearty beer list.

Also in the neighborhood, Beacon Pizza Tap House and Pub is lighting up the corner of Highways 95 and 54 in a spacious spot that had previously been unoccupied for many years.

Try the Tree Hugger with tomatoes, peppers, broccoli, olives, onion, spinach and mushrooms ($17-$23) or the really popular Meat Eater, with ham, sausage, bacon, and pepperoni ($18-$25).

Also expect specials like Sunday breakfast during football season and the occasional prime rib.

Heading into next year, look for even more new places in the Athol area, including a third location for Sweet Lou’s in a retail development called The Crossings. (CARRIE SCOZZARO) n

All in the family.

REVIEW

WRONG NOTES

Sopranos origin tale The Many Saints of Newark doesn’t add much to TV’s best mob saga

BY MARYANN JOHANSON

I

t’s a great title: The Many Saints of Newark. It’s memorable, unusual, and most of all ironic, because this is a movie about mafia gangsters, and mob guys are the furthest things from saints. But it’s also just plain factual, in a way, for this movie is specifically about Dickie Moltisanti, criminal mentor to Tony Soprano and father to Christopher Moltisanti, central figures in the legendary, much-loved, and highly praised 1999–2007 HBO TV series The Sopranos. “Moltisanti”? It’s Italian for “many saints.”

Here’s the thing, though: Did we need a Tony Soprano origin story? For that is also what Many Saints is, a fleshing out of Dickie — who was dead by the era the TV show is set in yet whose spirit loomed over it in numerous ways — so that we may see how he influenced young Tony. But wasn’t The Sopranos itself pretty much all about Tony trying to unravel, with the help of his therapist, where he came from, psychologically, and why he was the way he was?

So, alas, Many Saints feels redundant, and in more ways than one. Series creator David Chase is back here, having written the script with Lawrence Konner, and director Alan Taylor also directed a bunch of episodes of The Sopranos, yet this feels more like Goodfellas-lite than The Sopranos. There’s little of the introspection and intriguing self-awareness that made the series such an unexpected joy to watch, which is perhaps not surprising: a movie is not a TV show. But there’s several TV seasons’ worth of story crammed into Many Saints, to the point where the elisions needed to make it all fit into two hours some-

times become distractingly confusing or exasperating. star James, damn near bring the gone-too-soon actor back One big example: Is it Dickie’s wife or his mistress to life as the teenaged Tony. Gandolfini not only looks who gives birth to baby Christopher? It’s the sort of thing like his father, embodying Tony in a way that avoids that knocks you right out of the story as you attempt to impersonation, but he manages the same roiling depth decode the clues the script has littered up to this point... of feeling in his baleful, angry glare, which does more to but it’s not intended to be a mystery. It doesn’t help that make Tony real that almost anything we see happen here. the actresses in the roles, respectively, Gabriella Piazza (William Ludwig plays a grade school Tony early in the and Lesli Margherita, look very alike. And it’s indicative film.) of the short shrift the female characters get, even when The evocation of the period is striking, too, from the they’re meant to be key to understanding the unexmid 1960s through the mid 1970s. (There’s a scene with amined hypocrisies and explosive violence of Dickie’s a Mister Softee ice cream truck that slammed me right personality. The women here are sacrificed to back to my 1970s suburban New York childmen’s journeys, literally and figuratively, in a THE MANY hood, just for how right it gets the look and way all too familiar onscreen... which was not SAINTS OF NEWARK feel.) But the volatility of the era — there the case with The Sopranos (or with Goodfellas, is a long sequence during the first half of Rated R either). the movie set during Newark’s 1967 race Directed by Alan Taylor There are saving graces to this often trying riots — is a story in itself, and is perhaps the Starring Alessandro Nivola, movie. The terrific cast turn in spectacular most unforgivable shortcut the movie takes.

Vera Farmiga, Ray Liotta performances. Alessandro Nivola is riveting Much of the conflict in Dickie’s journey as Dickie, and gives him more depth than comes from clashes with a former crimithe script does. Ray Liotta does some of his best work nal colleague, Harold McBrayer (Leslie Odom Jr), who since perhaps Goodfellas itself as an elder Moltisanti who decides to go into rival felonious business on his own. becomes an unlikely sounding board for Dickie. Vera Odom is mesmerizing, and Harold deserves his own Farmiga as Livia, Tony’s mother, elbows her way into a movie, not least because White filmmakers using Black bigger role than the movie wants to give her room for, pain as a backdrop and an opportunity for the growth of letting quiet moments speak to Livia’s frustrations and White characters is yet another tired cinematic cliché that disappointments with her husband — mobster Johnny The Many Saints of Newark indulges in. Anyone who loves Boy (Jon Bernthal), who is often away in prison — and The Sopranos and appreciates how it continually upended how her unhappiness affects Tony. And it is beyond poistereotypes is excused from expecting more from this gnant to see Michael Gandolfini, son of the late Sopranos film. n

SEPTEMBER 30, 2021 INLANDER 25

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Actress Yu Aoi transcends Wife of a Spy’s soap-opera moments.

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rolific Japanese filmmaker Kiyoshi KuYusaku isn’t really a spy, since he’s not workrosawa is still best known in the U.S. for ing for any kind of organized group. He’s a previhis horror films, including Pulse, Cure and ously complacent citizen moved to act by a sense Creepy, but he’s worked in numerous genres over of moral outrage, and once Satoko joins him in his lengthy career. Kurosawa’s latest film, Wife that awakening, the story picks up accordingly. of a Spy, is his first period piece, a measured and Despite Kurosawa’s background in genre films, sometimes staid drama set on the eve of Japan’s he doesn’t structure Wife of a Spy as a thriller, and entry into World War II. It unfolds slowly and the moments of suspense are minimal. methodically, eventually building to a powerful Instead, this is a story about a woman who and unexpected climax. The film’s early going attempts to assert her own identity as she quesrequires some patience, but that pays off in surtions everything she thought she knew about her prising ways as the story unfolds. life. Even as Satoko eagerly participates in her Wife of a Spy opens in early 1940, as the Japahusband’s efforts, she’s still always a step behind nese government is imposing greater restrictions both him and Taiji. No matter how proactive she on its population. That’s a challenge for Yusaku becomes, she can never be considered anything Fukuhara (Issey Takahashi), who runs a successmore than the wife of a spy. ful import-export business and is now being cut Originally produced for Japanese TV, Wife of off from most of his foreign clients. In the first a Spy sometimes resembles a soap opera visually scene, one of Yusaku’s British associates as well as narratively, shot is arrested on suspicion of espionage, and WIFE OF A SPY on flat digital video mostly in while that man is eventually released, it’s Directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa static, stagebound locations. clear that Yusaku’s interests are increasStarring Yu Aoi, Issey Takahashi, The frequent soft-focus shots ingly at odds with the government’s. He and overexposed backMasahiro Higashide tries to hide these concerns from his wife, At the Magic Lantern grounds (windows often look Satoko (Yu Aoi), but she picks up on his out into bright nothingness) unease, especially after he returns from give the melodrama a sense what he claims is a business trip to Manchuria. of artificiality that can seem at odds with the hisWife of a Spy plays out a bit like a soap opera torical material, but also emphasizes the surreal in its first half, as Satoko’s concerns initially focus situation that Satoko has found herself in. on her suspicion that her husband is having an Even when the movie seems to be struggling affair, and the distance that’s grown between to find its purpose, Aoi is always compelling to them in their marriage. Satoko herself flirts with watch as Satoko, a woman who’s lived a life of her childhood friend Taiji Tsumori (Masahiro privilege at the expense of her own autonomy.

Higashide), who’s now a commander in the The movie’s extended epilogue is a heartbreakJapanese military police. Satoko soon learns ing depiction of both her inner strength and her that Yusaku and his nephew Fumio (Ryota expendability. Yusaku is an amateur filmmaker, Bando) witnessed terrible atrocities committed and in happier times he creates short noir-style by the Japanese military in Manchuria, and are films for his wife to star in. She’s deliberately attempting to smuggle evidence of those crimes play-acting in those movies, but she’s always beout of the country to share with the international ing called upon to play a part — by her husband, community. by her country — whether willingly or not. n

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W I N T E R Monthly in the Inlander

S E R I E S October – February

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SEPTEMBER 30, 2021 INLANDER 27

Shovels & Rope weren’t at all bored during the pandemic.

COMING UP

Get a Rope Married duo Shovels & Rope highlight a packed week of live music that also includes Doobie Brothers, Spokane String Quartet

BY DAN NAILEN

I

can’t tell you exactly the first time I heard Shovels & Rope. I have a crew of friends who are into bands that straddle the line of indie-rock and so-called “altcountry,” and any one of them might have pushed some music in my hand and said, “Hey, I think you’ll like this.”

I can, however, tell you exactly the first time I saw Shovels & Rope live. That was just a couple years ago, April 25, 2019 to be exact, when they happened to be playing an old theater the night I flew into New Orleans with some friends. Obviously seeing a great show when you’re starting what you hope to be an epic vacation will always stick out in your memory as probably better than it actually was. Even so, Shovels & Rope (Carrie Ann Hurst and Michael Trent) converted me from a casual listener into a fan who always wants to hear what they’re up to going forward. So potent was their approach, so epic their dusty, bluesy, folk-tinged sound despite only being a duo, I’ve even started eyeballing the little festival they curate in their Charleston, South Carolina, home-

28 INLANDER SEPTEMBER 30, 2021

town.

Shovels & Rope are come to Spokane Tuesday, Oct. 5, on what they’re calling the “Bare Bones Tour,” saying they’re only going to bring guitar, piano and their two voices to deliver a set of old favorites, deep cuts and potentially some new pandemic-penned tunes.

“Rooms will be a bit more intimate, and we are all probably going to be a bit more quiet in volume, but just as loud in spirit,” the couple posted via Facebook, and you can bet that their songs will lose none of their power for lack of drums. In fact, seeing Shovels & Rope in an intimate setting like the Lucky You Lounge has the potential to make for one of those shows you talk about for years to come. Shovels & Rope play Tuesday, Oct. 5, at 8 pm. Tickets are $29.50 in advance, and are available at luckyyoulounge.com.

Shovels & Rope arriving on their first tour since the COVID outbreak is pretty great, but there are enough other noteworthy shows also hitting Spokane in the next

week to make it seem like some sense of normality is returning, even though that new normal often (thankfully) involves vaccine checks and masks for indoor shows for the time being. Here are a few of the other options in the coming days: OCT. 1

DOOBIE BROTHERS

The Doobie Brothers are celebrating 50 years together with this trek, and the band behind hits ranging from “China Grove” to “Black Water” to “What a Fool Believes” has a lot of ground to cover in concert. They’ve undergone some lineup changes and different members leaving and re-entering the fray through the years, but the core four of Tom Johnston, Michael McDonald, Pat Simmons and John McFee are all on board for the first time in more than 25 years for a tour that includes the brilliant Dirty Dozen Brass Band opening. Spokane Arena, $60-$200, 7:30 pm, spokanearena.com

THE INSIDER’S GUIDE

OCT. 1

LOUDERMILK

I don’t know how many bands from the Tri-Cities found themselves with major-label deals and tours supporting the likes of Megadeth and Mötley Crüe, despite not being a metal band, back in the day. I can say Loudermilk is the only one I know of, and their The Red Record made some noise upon its release back in 2002 — the kind of noise that landed them on Dawson’s Creek and Charmed.

The WB loved Loudermilk! The band changed names and then split up for 14 years, but they’re back and doing a tour of the Pacific Northwest to recapture the old good vibes, and maybe launch a new era for the band. Alert the CW. Lucky You Lounge with The Ladybird Unition and Moth, $18, 8 pm, 21+, luckyyoulounge.com.

OCT. 2

UPCOMING SHOWS

to the INLAND NORTHWEST

BATTLE SEX, LIP SICK, BIG KNIFE Sat., Oct. 2, 9 p.m.

Berserk $5 JOSHY SOUL/THOM.KO Fri., Oct. 8, 8 p.m.

Lucky You Lounge $12

TENNIS

Hard to believe it’s been 10 years since this Denver-based husband-and-wife team delivered their debut album, Cape Dory. The themes of that album were inspired by a sailing trip early in their coupledom, and they’ve occasionally returned to nautical noises through the years as they’ve explored all manner of pop styles. Their pretty excellent 2020 release Swimmer arrived just weeks before the pandemic hit full force, and the long-delayed supporting tour is finally on, including this stop in Spokane. Knitting Factory, $20, all ages sp.knittingfactory.com.

OCT. 3

SPOKANE STRING QUARTET

It’s been awhile since these four ace musicians, all members of the Spokane Symphony, have been able to perform together as the more intimate Spokane String Quartet, but that WEEKEND changes Sunday afterC O U N T D OW N noon with a program Get the scoop on this that includes Mozart’s weekend’s events with “String Quartet No. our newsletter. Sign up at 15 in D Minor,” Frank Inlander.com/newsletter.

Bridge’s “Novelleten” and Mendelssohn’s “String Quartet in D Major.” The group has been around since 1979, and currently includes violinists Mateusz Wolski and Amanda Howard-Phillips, violist Jeannette Wee-Yang and cellist Helen Byrne. Martin Woldson Theater at the Fox, $12-$20, 3 pm, spokanestringquartet.org.

OCT. 5

BLACK LABEL SOCIETY, OBITUARY, PRONG

Metal is the order of the day with this show headlined by the long-running project of guitarist/singer Zakk Wylde, one of the most popular characters in hard rock ever since he appeared as a teen phenom playing aside Ozzy Osbourne. The band is prepping the release of its 11th album in November, Doom Crew Inc., and is hitting the road with fellow headbangers Obituary and Prong (whose “Snap Your Fingers, Snap Your Neck” remains a serious jam). Knitting Factory, $35, 8 pm, all ages, sp.knittingfactory.com.

OCT. 6

MEEK

Denver’s Meek lands somewhere between performance art and rock ’n’ roll, but you can call me utterly intrigued by the idea that they call their shows a “subversive queer performance” and that they use sensors attached to drums to trigger a range of sounds. Their music on Bandcamp veers from distorted punk-ish rave-ups to off-kilter dance tracks. They’ll be joined by Sparrow and Wallower. Baby Bar, $10, 9:30 pm, 21+, Facebook.com: Baby Bar Spokane. n

MADELEINE PEYROUX Sun., Oct. 10, 8 p.m.

Bing Crosby Theater $41-$68 SCATTERBOX 20-YEAR ANNIVERSARY SHOW, GOTU GOTU, TOUCH OF EVIL Sat., Oct. 16, 7 p.m.

Big Dipper $8 TREGO, TERRIBLE BUTTONS, FOLK CRIMES Sat., Oct. 16, 7 p.m.

Lucky You Lounge $15 PALOMA, THE HOME TEAM, GLACIER VEINS Wed., Oct. 20, 6 p.m.

Big Dipper $10 PURITY RING Sat., Oct. 23, 8 p.m.

Knitting Factory $26 TLC Thu., Oct. 28, 7 p.m.

Coeur d’Alene Casino $55-$80 ITCHY KITTY, TRANS FUTURE, THE DILRODS Fri., Oct, 29, 8 p.m.

Big Dipper $10 CORY BRANAN Fri., Oct. 29, 8 p.m.

Lucky You Lounge $14 Be sure to check with venues about vaccination/COVID test requirements.

Inside the guide: ANNUAL REPORT

The nation’s real estate hot spot Downtown’s new sports structures Seven big ideas for the region

EDUCATION

Changes in education EWU’s new president Local university research

ARTS

Best of Broadway New work from local writers Spokane’s vibrant murals

FOOD & DRINK

New restaurants Chefs from around the world A craft beer lover’s dream

NIGHTLIFE

Live entertainment highlights World’s best axe thrower Music venue survivors

SHOPPING

The region’s best vintage shops Home transformations Local shopping events

RECREATION

The Inland Northwest bike scene New Ice Age Floods Playground Gonzaga’s sky-high expectations

GREEN ZONE

Washington’s cannabis rules Find the right edibles for you Celebrity cannabis strains

and more!

Pick up your copy on an Inlander rack near you!

Inlander.com/AnnualManual

SEPTEMBER 30, 2021 INLANDER 29

ARTS DECO DELIGHTS

The Tiffany lampshade is, to many, an instantly recognizable piece of functional and iconic American art, with its colorful, illuminated glass and bowl-like shape. See several of these original designs — and learn more about the man behind (beneath?) the lampshade — at the MAC’s newly opened marquee exhibit of more than 60 objects spanning the prolific art career of Louis Comfort Tiffany. Working in the late 19th and early 20th century, Tiffany mastered the then-popular mediums of glass, ceramics, metalwork, jewelry and painting. Objects in the exhibition are on loan from the esteemed Richard H. Driehaus Collection out of Chicago, including stunning stainedglass windows, incredible deco vases, lampshades and other functional and decorative pieces that forever elevated ideals of beauty in common household objects.

— CHEY SCOTT Louis Comfort Tiffany: Treasures from the Driehaus Collection • Oct. 3-Feb. 13, 2022; open Tue-Sun from 10 am-5 pm • $7-$12 • Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture • 2316 W. First Ave. • northwestmuseum.org • 509-456-3931

30 INLANDER SEPTEMBER 30, 2021

THEATER FILM NOIR TO STAGE

FESTIVAL FALL INTO FALL

Sunset Boulevard • Sept. 30-Oct. 10; Thu-Sat at 7:30 pm and SatSun at 1:30 pm • $18-$25 • Regional Theatre of the Palouse • 118 N. Grand Ave., Pullman • rtoptheatre.org • 509-334-0750

Fall Fest • Sat, Oct. 2 and Sun, Oct. 3 from 11 am-5 pm • Free • All ages • Downtown Spokane: River Park Square, Riverfront Park, Wall Street, Parkade Plaza + more • downtownspokane.org

If you’ve yet to catch a live theater production in 2021, consider the Regional Theatre of the Palouse’s upcoming production of Sunset Boulevard. On stage for the first time ever in the state of Washington, this is RTOP’s triumphant return to live theater after cancelling the last two shows of its 2019-20 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on Billy Wilder’s film of the same name, Sunset Boulevard is a story of unfulfilled ambition, romance, and tragedy — Andrew Lloyd Webber’s classic, swelling standards aid in transporting the audience to the lush Hollywood Hills where this tale takes place. With seven Tony Awards under its belt, Sunset Boulevard is sure to thrill on the RTOP stage.

— MADISON PEARSON

While a trip to Green Bluff is also in order for countless locals when the calendar rolls over to October, that festive feeling of the fall harvest is also being transported to the streets of downtown Spokane for the third annual Fall Fest. Activities for all ages are spread across the urban core, including a petting zoo, live music and entertainment, shopping, a kids carnival, pumpkin patch, beer garden and even more things to see and do. A few downtown businesses are also taking part in the festivities, including Wanderlust Delicato, hosting a fall-themed wine tasting on Saturday ($10, ages 21+), and Golden Handle Project, offering Bavarian-style beers, pretzels and more. Make sure to wear a mask and social distance if you go.

— CHEY SCOTT

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MUSIC WELCOME RETURN

Among the countless arts organizations that had to hit “pause” during the pandemic was the Coeur d’Alene Symphony, but they’re back despite some more challenges. Conductor and music director Jan Pellant and Executive Director Holly Blanchette both resigned in recent weeks, but the show must go on! And go on it will as Dr. Phil Baldwin takes the baton for the seasonopening show. “Transcendence: Mozart’s (R)evolution” is the theme of the evening for the start of their 2021-22 Masterworks Series, as the orchestra tackles Marianna Martines’s “Sinfonia in C Major,” Mozart’s “Piano Concerto No. 23” and Beethoven’s “Symphony No. 7.” Pianist Daniel Hughes joins the fun for what should be a stirring way to class it up for a night in CdA. — DAN NAILEN Coeur d’Alene Symphony: Transcendence: Mozart’s (R)evolution • Sat, Oct. 2 at 7:30 pm • $20 adults; $15 senior; $10 student • North Idaho College Schuler Performing Arts Center • 880 W. Garden Ave., Coeur d’Alene • cdasymphony.org • 208-765-3833

SPORTS FACE OFF!

It’s been far too long since Spokane’s hockey fans have had a chance to pile into the Spokane Arena and watch some future NHL stars get after it on the ice. The Spokane Chiefs’ league has taken a ton of precautions off the ice this season to make sure there’s action on the ice all winter long, and hopefully there will be a full season of fun to follow this opening night showdown against Tri-City. The Chiefs hosted the same Tri-City Americans squad in their only home preseason game and did some damage on the visitors, 6-1. Maybe that’s an auspicious start to a season that will not only celebrate having fans back in the stands, but the retirement of local hockey hero and Tampa Bay Lightning star Tyler Johnson’s old Chiefs No. 9 jersey in February.

— DAN NAILEN Spokane Chiefs Season Opener vs. Tri-City Americans • Sat, Oct. 2 at 7:05 pm • $17-$37 • Spokane Arena • 720 W. Mallon Ave. • spokanechiefs.com • 509-533-7825

SpokaneArtSupply_OctoberArtSale_093021_9U_KS.jpg DELIVERED TO YO U R IN BOX

Our top 5 picks for weekend entertainment EVERY FRIDAY Sign up now at Inlander.com/newsletters SEPTEMBER 30, 2021 INLANDER 31

on Friday afternoon, my visit was elevated hearing you hold forth to your small companion wearing furry ears about Frozen and Pinocchio and Walt Disney. You were helping her shop for a gift for Lily, and the way you spoke to her like an adult caught my ear, and held it. This eightish-year old and I were both still listening several aisles later, and when I left, my car was quieter than before. When your goofy laugh and curly head full of ideas arrived at the checkout just behind me, what if I had turned to you and asked, do you want to build a snowman?

I SAW YOU COPS TAXING THE WORKING CLASS I am so sick of seeing cops pulling people over in the hours just before 9 am. I’m sorry, but are these people doing something so wrong that they deserve a ticket from law enforcement while ON THEIR WAY TO WORK? They are doing something right, and instead of a reward, they get penealized. For what?

Speeding to get there on time? Not using their blinker? I mean come on! If we are going to police ourselves, lets prioritize our use of resources to target those who are the most dangerous like pedofiles. Im not a cop hater, but I am awake and this appears like we are asleep at the wheel.

VINYL CUTTER HELP HELP with vinyl cutter. Hobby Lobby north on/around 9/16. Talked with you and employee about Cricut v Silhouette. Thanks for the great tips, I am only looking for help with this from you or someone/ anyone! I am not a complete newbie… but close! Can do this in person or via zoom. Whatever works for whomever can help me with crafting vinyl cutter and/or software. Thanks. canadianpugdad@gmail.com EXPOUNDING ON DISNEY AT THE ACE GENERAL STORE Whilst toy shopping at the General Store and Ace Hardware

SOUND OFF

CHEERS HAPPY FEET Thanks for donating socks to the House of Charity. We always always always need them and they help keep our guy’s feet dry clean and healthy. Anyone reading this, please donate clean men’s socks & underwear, PJ’s, and blankets to the House of Charity 32 W. Pacific Ave 99201

JEERS NOT EVERYTHING IS ABOUT “ME” Wearing masks and getting the Vaccine is less about “ Me” and more about “We.” It is sad that our culture has deteriorated so much and that people in general have become so selfish that everything is about “ Me and my rights” and the common/greater good is not considered at all. anymore. “ Personal Freedom” only goes so far when we’re all in the same boat. When you’re “ personal choice” starts costing other people their health and lives that is NOT ACCEPTABLE and something has to be done. If people had any sense of personal responsibility then there would be no need for mandates. The actions of some people, (many of whom claim to be professing “christians”) throughout this pandemic have been downright appalling, hypocritical and in direct contradiction to the Christian faith in my opinion. Jesus was the ultimate

example of laying down one’s life for the good of others....he went all the way to the cross for it. I just wish people would step outside of themselves and realize that not everything in this world revolves around “you” and your “ freedom”. If you have a TRULY

“

RE: DODGE TRUCKS Which “dumb flags” are you referring to in your post?

The US flag or the blue line flag which stands for standing by the police?

Regarding the comment about reliabili-

Will the world end?..No dumbass its just a manufacture of your car/truck.

Your car didn’t cast your vote!!! Lol, the person who submitted the original post may be the dumbest MF I’ve never met RE: DODGE TRUCKS Generalizations

Thanks ignorant dog owners for ruining the experience for everyone and driving the goats away.

LEGITIMATE reason to not be vaccinated I understand and support that, but if not then I truly do not understand why you would not be at this point not only for yourself but for the greater good of society as a whole. Again, the world does not revolve around “you” and “ your choices!” The longer people keep resisting the very tools we have to end this pandemic the longer we ALL will have to deal with it.

JEERS TO ALL THOSE “SUFFERING” FROM MISSING WHITE WOMAN SYNDROME After being subjected to wall-to-wall national and local media coverage of the latest disappearance and murder of a blond white woman, the redundant press briefings aired over and over again, isn’t it time to ask why? Why is this exhaustive coverage happening? There is an actual syndrome that identifies the reason: “missing white woman syndrome.” This is at bottom an expression of racism cloaked in “concern” but that concern is reserved for Caucasian females and ignores the hundreds of incidences of missing and murdered Native and black and Hispanic women and girls who have also gone missing and been murdered.

These are always tragic events but they are equally tragic for the victims and

1. Visit Inlander.com/isawyou by 3 pm Monday. 2. Pick a category (I Saw You, You Saw Me, Cheers or Jeers). 3.

Provide basic info: your name and email (so we know you’re real). 4. To connect via I Saw You, provide a non-identifying email to be included with your submission — like “petals327@yahoo.com,” not “j.smith@comcast.net.”

32 INLANDER SEPTEMBER 30, 2021

their families who are not white.

ty, I find it interesting that Dodge trucks have million mile motors. How long do Toyotas last? I got rid of mine as soon as I was able because it was awful. I am wondering if all the left wing wackos that drive Toyotas are the man bun wearing beta boys that they appear to be while driving down the road. Makes one wonder...

RE: JEERS UNVAXXED BY CHOICE I agree. Smokers should be denied treatment. Alcoholics should be denied treatment. Obese people should be denied treatment. People who cause accidents should be left to die by the side of the road. While the bouncer supposedly gave you a hard time, (he shouldn’t have), if your health is so bad that you’ll die if you are exposed, (your words), what the heck are you doing going to packed bars, even BEFORE covid? Hate to tell you, but you have been exposed. There are no covid laws.

They are mandates, which some argue are unconstitutional. I think you are full of garbage.

RE: DODGE TRUCKS I voted for Trump.

I drive a Tundra. I’m unvaccinated and what you posted about Dodge trucks may be the stupidest thing ever. Omg, what if you drive a Ford or a Chevy??

”

suck. We are a Toyota-loving family having driven a Tundra, Tacoma, a 1985 pick-up and even going back to a 1977 Celica. BUT we have a 2003 Dodge truck now. Why? Because Toyota doesn’t make the truck to do the job we need. If Toyota ever makes a oneton, we’ll be in line. If electric, maybe even beter. Please get off your high horse. Thank you.

DOGS ON SCOTCHMAN 22 years I have been hiking Scotchman Peak. First time there were no goats. Gee, I wonder why? The summit looked like Petsmart with all the dogs. Dog crap on the trail.

Thanks ignorant dog owners for ruining the experience for everyone and driving the goats away. n

THIS WEEK'S ANSWERS Y E S N O

A L L O T

S A W N

O H I O

M O R T O N S A L T

N O C O S I N A D O Y

A P S L O E O T A N E B Y B E T O I M D A E N

S H O O

S I L K

A N G E O T A L N E N E O Y S

A L T I

M E D A N E I I T N G S O S A L U O T H E R R A G A I N Y U M A O N G S H S S C U P O I O N I A F L I N T Y E E S H

M A C H T W O

O T H O

O N E A O T F A F T I M E

N D E R E S T R C A S

D E U S

C E D E D

T A I L S

NOTE: I Saw You/Cheers & Jeers is for adults 18 or older. The Inlander reserves the right to edit or reject any posting at any time at its sole discretion and assumes no responsibility for the content.

EVENTS | CALENDAR

BENEFIT

DISHMAN HILLS CONSERVANCY CELEBRATION DINNER DHC’s largest fundraising event of the year consists of a presentation to celebrate the Conservancy’s accomplishments and outline priorities for the coming year with presentations from DHC leaders, partners and supporters. This year’s keynote speaker is Hilary Franz, Washington State’s Commissioner of Public Lands, who oversees the State Department of Natural Resources, a major partner to DHC. Sep. 30, 6 pm. dishmanhills.org WALK TO END ALZHEIMER’S Held annually in more than 600 communities nationwide, the Walk to End Alzheimer’s is the world’s largest fundraiser for Alzheimer’s care, support and research. This event calls on participants of all ages and abilities to join the fight against the disease. Learn more at alz. org/walk. Oct. 2, 8:30-11:30 am. Free to attend, donation suggested. Riverfront Park, 507 N. Howard St. (509-321-4538) INTO AFRICA AUCTION Partnering for Progress’s annual auction is again virtual this year. Registration and catalog viewing open now at charityauction. bid/P4PAuction2021. Bidding on nearly 100 silent items runs Oct. 4 at 9 am until Oct. 10 at 5 pm. A livestreamed event with high-value live auction items is on Oct. 7 from 7-8 pm. P4P is a nonprofit, Spokane-based organization that facilitates health, education, sanitation and economic development programs in rural Kenya. partneringforprogress.org BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS’ BIGGER TOGETHER GALA A live auction, paddle raise and stories from stakeholders about the work Big Brothers Big Sisters does. Ticketed guests can pick up a gourmet carryout meal at BBBS’s new office (1912 N. Division, Ste. 100). Each meal serves two adults, and includes an entree, salad, bread and dessert from Beacon Hill Catering. Ticketed guests can also select a bottle of red or white wine from a local winery OR a six pack of beer from a local brewery. Oct. 8, 6-9 pm. $25-$250. biggertogether2021. maestroweb.com/ HOEDOWN FOR HOPE Spokane HOPE host its 10th annual, western-themed fundraiser with dinner, auction packages, raffles, music and dancing. Proceeds bring HOPE to local children from birth to age 5 who are deaf or hard of hearing on their journey to listen and talk.

Oct. 9, 5-10 pm. $77. Spokane Convention Center, 334 W. Spokane Falls Blvd. spokanehope.org

COMEDY

DRY BAR COMEDY LIVE Dry Bar produces live shows across the U.S., featuring comedians who’ve performed on many late night shows including The Tonight Show, Jimmy Kimmel, Netflix Comedy, TBS’s Conan, Comedy Central and more. Sept. 30, 7:30 pm. $25.

Spokane Comedy Club, 315 W. Sprague. spokanecomedyclub.com JEREMEY PIVEN Jeremy Piven was most recently seen as a series regular in the CBS television series Wisdom of the Crowd and the popular PBS series Mr. Selfridge. Oct. 1 and 2 at 7:30 (18+) and 10:30 pm (21+). $30-$60. Spokane Comedy Club, 315 W. Sprague. spokanecomedyclub.com (509-318-9998) NO CLUE Join the BDT Players as they put a comedic spin on everyone’s favorite macabre guessing game. Your

suggestions start the night of mayhem trapped in an inn full of quirky characters - one with a grudge to settle!

Fridays in October at 7:30 pm. $8. Blue Door Theatre, 815 W. Garland Ave. bluedoortheatre.com SAFARI Blue Door’s version of “Whose Line,” a fast-paced improv show with a few twists and turns added. Rated for mature audiences/ages 16+. Reservations recommended. Saturdays from 7:30-9 pm. $8. Blue Door Theatre, 815 W. Garland Ave. bluedoortheatre.com NIMESH PATEL The comedian and Emmy-nominated writer is based in New York City, where he’s performed standup comedy for 10+ years. He is currently a writer on NBC’s late night show “A Little Late with Lilly Singh.” Oct. 3, 7:30 pm. $20-$30. Spokane Comedy Club, 315 W. Sprague. spokanecomedyclub. com (509-318-9998) SHULER KING When he isn’t on the road performing across the country, King works as a licensed funeral director and embalmer in Georgia and South Carolina at his family’s funeral business in South Carolina. He’s probably the only comedian and funeral director on the comedy circuit. Oct. 8-9 at 7:30 and 10:30 pm, Oct. 10 at 7:30 pm. $25-$35.

Spokane Comedy Club, 315 W. Sprague. spokanecomedyclub.com LOUIS C.K. Six-time Emmy Award winner Louis C.K. has released over nine stand up specials including most recently “Sincerely,” currently available on his website. Oct. 10, 8 pm. $30-$75.

First Interstate Center for the Arts, 334 W. Spokane Falls Blvd. firstinterstatecenter.org/event/louis-ck

COMMUNITY

COLVILLE CORN MAZE & PUMPKIN PATCH The Inland Northwest’s largest corn maze, plus a pumpkin patch with pumpkins and squash in all shapes and sizes. Hosted by Knight Farms, one hour north of Spokane. Open daily through Oct. 31; Mon-Thu 4 pm to dusk; Fri 4-7 pm, Sat-Sun 11 am-7 pm. $7-$9. Colville Corn Maze & Pumpkin Patch, 73 Oakshott Rd. colvillecornmaze.com WILD THINGS This showcase in the Campbell House explores the personal histories behind period clothing made from leather, fur and feathers to interpret the social fabric of the Campbell family’s era. Through Nov. 2021; TueSun from 10 am-5 pm. $7-$12. The MAC, 2316 W. First. northwestmuseum.org FESTIVAL OF SPEED OKTOBERFAST Car registration and proceeds go to the Inland Northwest American Childhood Cancer Organization. Additional donations are welcome and encouraged. A beer garden and food is provided by TT’s Brewery and BBQ; plus live music, T-shirts and more. Oct. 1, 4-9 pm. $30/ car; free to spectators. Downtown Spokane. spokanefestivalofspeed.org WICKY’S WAREHOUSE - GRAND OPENING A grand opening and open house for the new vintage shop, offering furniture, housewares (including vintage Pyrex and Tupperware), decor and more. Flea market prices; offers welcome. Oct. 1 from 12-6 pm and Oct. 2 from 10 am-5 pm. Wicky’s Warehouse - Vintage & More Shop, 630 N. Madelia St. (509-868-9434) CUSTER’S 46TH ANNUAL FALL ANTIQUE & COLLECTOR’S SALE Dealers from across the Northwest are selling everything from rare to retro. Shop

among thousands of unique items including: Kitchenware, industrial, estate and costume jewelry, furniture, primitives, mid-century modern, rustic garden, elegant glass, prints and much more. Oct. 2 from 10 am-6 pm and Oct. 3 from 10 am-4 pm. $7; 12 and under free. Spokane County Fair & Expo Center, 404 N. Havana. custershows.com MIKE HUCKABEE AT ‘WE BELIEVE WE VOTE’ EVENT Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee is the keynote speaker at the 2021 “We Believe We Vote” REV UP dinner and auction. Oct. 2, 4:30-8:30 pm. $75-$100. DoubleTree

by Hilton City Center, 322 N. Spokane Falls Ct. webelievewevote.ejoinme.org SOUTHSIDE HEALTH & WELLNESS RESOURCE FAIR Representatives from over 40 businesses, agencies and organizations provide information on healthy living, future planning, recreation, financial and legal choices, health insurance alternatives, home health care, health screenings, medical needs and more. WSU Nursing students administer vitals screenings, and Walgreen’s offers flu shots (9-11 am). Oct. 2, 9 am. Free. Southside Community Center, 3151 E. 27th Ave. southsidescc. org (509-535-0803) SPOKANE ARTS ARTIST FAIR As part of this year’s Fall Fest events in downtown Spokane, Spokane Arts is hosting this event featuring local artist and artisan booths (indoors and outdoors) to display and sell their original work, and across all disciplines. Oct. 2-3 from 11 am-5 pm. Free. Pavilion at Riverfront, 574 N. Howard. riverfrontspokane.com VINTAGE QUILT APPRECIATION DAY AT PERKINS HOUSE MUSEUM Live music and vintage quilts entertain at this event in the historic 1880s mansion.

Volunteers in period dress and the local quilting club are also on site as hosts.

Oct. 2, 11 am-2 pm. Free; donations accepted. Perkins House Museum, 623 N. Perkins Ave. whitmancountyhistoricalsociety.org (509 397 2555) ASPCA & SUBARU LOVES PETS ADOPTION EVENT Made possible by grant funding from the ASPCA and Subaru, this one-day-only adoption event features dogs and cats from SpokAnimal. Oct. 3, 12-3 pm. Free admission; pet adoption fees vary. Subaru of Spokane, 423 W. Third. spokanimal.org BOOKS TO GO Bring a box, wear a mask and take as many titles as you want during this event to share with neighbors and friends. Church service at 10 am. Oct. 3, 9 am-1 pm. Free. First Presbyterian Church of Spokane, 318 S. Cedar. spokanefpc.org (509-747-1058) LOUIS COMFORT TIFFANY: TREASURES FROM THE DRIEHAUS COLLECTION A celebration of the artistry and craftsmanship of the Tiffany artworks from Chicago’s distinguished Richard H. Driehaus Collection. Oct. 3-Feb. 13, 2022. Open Tue-Sun from 10 am-5 pm. $7-$12. The MAC, 2316 W. First Ave. northwestmuseum.org HOW LATINA/LATINO REPRESENTATION CAN IMPROVE DEMOCRACY: Drawing from interviews, policy analysis, and personal experience, Professor Maria Chávez investigates the obstacles contributing to this underrepresentation and explores ideas for how to move toward a more inclusive society and a healthier multiracial democracy. Oct. 5, 6:30 pm. Free. Online: humanities.org/ event/online-how-latina-latino-representation-can-improve-democracy-2/

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SEPTEMBER 30, 2021 INLANDER 33

Spokane County Redistricting W A S H I N G T O N

Get engaged with the process to move Spokane County from three to five commissioners in 2022 HELP SHAPE THE REDISTRICTING PLAN Sept. 30 - info session at Cheney Public Library Oct. 7 - public hearing at Northern Quest

Comments due Oct. 12

Learn more at RedistrictSpokaneCo.com

Spokane String Quartet 3 P. M . S U N DAY O C TO B E R 3 M a r t i n Wo l d s o n T h e a t e r a t T h e F ox

Back on stage with music by Mozart, Mendelssohn a n d F r a n k B ri d g e

SAFETY NOTICE: STATE OF WASHINGTON MASK REQUIREMENT IN EFFECT. PROOF OF COVID VACCINATION OR NEGATIVE COVID TEST REQUIRED FOR ENTRY INTO THEATER.

w w w. s p o k a n e s t r i n g q u a r t e t . o r g

34 INLANDER SEPTEMBER 30, 2021

EVENTS | CALENDAR SPOKANE CANDIDATES CLIMATE CHANGE FORUM Gonzaga University’s Center for Climate, Society and the Environment hosts the third annual Spokane Candidates Climate Change Forum for voters to hear local candidates’ thoughts about the topic before the November election. In the Cataldo Hall Globe Room. Oct. 6, 6:30-8:30 pm.

Free; registration required. Gonzaga Cataldo Hall, Addison and Sharp. bit. ly/2021ClimateForum CHALK WALK Celebrate the start of Domestic Violence Action Month (DVAM) with YWCA Spokane and write and draw messages for the community in Riverfront Park. Share your stories, affirmations, definitions of healthy relationships, and more with us through chalk. Join any time between 12-3 pm to be part of the celebration. Oct. 6, 12-3 pm. Free. Riverfront Park, 507 N. Howard St. ywcaspokane.org/dvam-oct6/ WHY DENY SCIENCE? In this talk, philosopher Michael Goldsby sorts through the tactics and reasons many people use to argue against scientific claims.

Discover how to discuss scientific issues without being dismissive and learn about the richer discussions one can have when science, philosophy, and logic intersect. Oct. 6, 5:30 pm and Oct. 27, 6:30 pm. Free. Online: humanities. org/event/online-why-deny-science-3/

FESTIVAL

DOWNTOWN FALL FEST The festive feeling of a fall farm is transported to the heart of downtown Spokane; highlights include singalongs, magic shows, roaming dancers and more. Oct. 2-3 from 11 am-5 pm. Free. Downtown Spokane. downtownspokane.org LILAC CITY COMICON The Lilac City Comicon promotes awareness of local artists and businesses from around the Inland Northwest in the pop culture realm, and includes cosplay contests, a vendor market, games, special guests and more. Oct. 2, 10 am-6 pm and Oct. 3, 10 am-4 pm. Spokane Convention Center, 334 W. Spokane Falls Blvd. lilaccitycon.com (279-7000) OKTOBERFEST 2021 2.0 If you missed the first West End Oktoberfest weekend, Golden Handle is continuing the celebration with $3 pours of all Oktoberfest beers at its taproom. Bavarianstyle brats, pretzels are served with all-natural, housemade mustard. Oct. 2, 1-9 pm and Oct. 3, 1-6 pm. The Golden Handle Project, 111 S. Cedar St. goldenhandle.org/oktoberfest STONELODGE FARMS FALL FESTIVAL Includes food, vendors and fun activities for all ages, as well as a pumpkin patch and fresh pumpkin donuts.

Oct. 2-24; Sat-Sun from 10 am-5 pm.

Stonelodge Farm, 6509 Stonelodge Rd. (509-991-4389) SPOKANE PRIDE DRIVE-THRU FESTIVAL & CAR PARADE This year’s PRIDE celebration is a special drive-thru event with local nonprofits, businesses and, of course, drag queens. An inclusive health corner offers vaccines and HIV testing. Masks required any time guests are not in their vehicle. Oct. 9, 4-8 pm.

Free. Spokane Arena, 720 W. Mallon. facebook.com/spokanepride/events

FOOD

SUNSET SIPPER RESORT BLEND WHISKEY TASTING An exclusive tasting and reveal of the custom single

barrel bourbon made exclusively for The Coeur d’Alene Resort in partnership with Maker’s Mark Distillery. Sept. 30, 6-7 pm. $45. The Coeur d’Alene Resort, 115 S. Second. cdaresort.com YAPPY HOUR Celebrate with the Better Together Animal Alliance and your canine companion at the Ponderay PetSafe Dog Park. Enjoy local beer, music sunshine and community. Last Thursday of the month from 4-7 pm through Sep. 30. Free. Ponderay Petsafe Dog Park, 870 Kootenai Cuttoff Rd. bettertogetheranimalalliance.org ROCKET WINE CLASS Rocket Market hosts weekly wine classes; sign up in advance for the week’s selections. Fridays at 7 pm. Price varies. Rocket Market, 726 E. 43rd Ave. rocketmarket.com PREPARE TO PRESERVE Join this fiveweek online course for the in-home consumer who wants to learn about food preservation and food safety. (Online session also offered, starting Oct. 6.) Meets in person Saturdays from 1011:30 am, Oct. 2-30. $75. WSU Spokane County Extension, 222 N. Havana St. extension.wsu.edu/spokane/event/prepare-to-preserve-2/ (509-477-2048) WORLD FAMOUS APPLE DUMPLINGS Take-out dumplings are available Saturday (10 am-4 pm) and Sundays (12-4 pm) the first three weekends of October. $5/dumpling. Green Bluff United Methodist Church, 9908 E. Greenbluff Rd. (509-979-2607) ALL YOU CAN EAT PANCAKE BREAKFAST Pancake breakfast served with eggs, sausage and OJ, plus fresh homemade applesauce. Sundays from 8-11 am through Oct. 17. $7/adults; $3.50/ under 12 years. Green Bluff Grange, 9809 Green Bluff Rd. (509-279-2607) CIVIC EATS: SOUTHERN STYLE Civic Eats is back with a menu inspired by its upcoming virtual production, “Civic Presents: Mark Twain.” Orders available for pick-up Oct. 15 from 4-6 pm at Spokane Civic Theatre. Order by 7:30 pm on Oct. 7. $20+. form.jotform.com/spokanecivictheatre/civiceatssouthernstyle

MUSIC

WSU SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Celebrate the return of the WSU Symphony Orchestra, performing pieces by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Alex Shapiro and Yasuhide Ito. Sept. 30, 7:30-9 pm.

Free. Bryan Hall Theatre (WSU), 605 Veterans Way. events.wsu.edu/event/ orchestra-concert-4 (509-335-7696) FACULTY ARTIST SERIES: OCTUBAFEST This year’s Oktubafest begins with WSU’s tuba and euphonium professor Chris Dickey performing a faculty recital. The concert features original works for euphonium and tuba, including two world premieres of music by Katahj Copley and Wayne Lu. Oct. 1, 7:30-9 pm.

Free. Bryan Hall Theatre, 605 Veterans Way. events.wsu.edu (509-335-7696) COEUR D’ALENE SYMPHONY: TRANSCENDENCE: MOZART’S (R)EVOLUTION The season opener program includes Marianna Martines’ Sinfonia in C major; Mozart’s Piano Concerto no.

23, ft. Daniel Hughes and Beethoven’s Symphony no. 7. Oct. 2, 7:30 pm. $10$20. Schuler Performing Arts Center, 1000 W. Garden Ave. cdasymphony.org SPOKANE STRING QUARTET The first concert of the quartet’s 2021-22 season features a program of works by Mozart, Mendelssohn and Frank Bridge. Oct. 3, 3 pm. Martin Woldson Theater at The

Fox, 1001 W. Sprague Ave. spokanestringquartet.org (509-624-1200) AUDITORIUM CHAMBER MUSIC SERIES The University of Idaho brings world-renowned chamber music performers to campus each year. The series’ 2021-22 guests are as follows: Tempest Trio (Oct. 5), The Baltimore Consort (Nov. 16), Invoke (Jan. 27), Los Angeles Guitar Quartet (April 15). All performances start at 7:30 pm. $10$25. UI Administration Building, 851 Campus Dr. uidaho.edu/class/acms FALL CHORAL INVITATIONAL North Idaho College presents its fall choral concert featuring performances by the NIC Cardinal Chorale, NIC Chamber Singers, choirs from Lake City and Coeur d’Alene High Schools and CDABrassXFive. Oct. 5, 7:30 pm. Free. Schuler Performing Arts Center, 1000 W. Garden Ave. (208-769-3275) UTOPIA REPAIRED: NEW AMERICAN MUSIC FOR OBOE A recital of new music for oboe from American composers Alex Shapiro (Washington), Laura Kaminsky (New York), Ingrid Stölzel (Kansas) and James Stephenson (Illinois). Oct. 5, 7:30-8:30 pm. Free. Bryan Hall Theatre (WSU), 605 Veterans Way. events.wsu.edu (509-335-7696) WSU SYMPHONIC BAND & SYMPHONIC WIND ENSEMBLE Celebrate the return of live performances with the WSU Symphonic Band and Symphonic Wind Ensemble. Concert includes works by Jennifer Jolley and Frank Ticheli, plus composers-in-residence James Stephenson and Zachery Meier.

Oct. 6, 7:30 pm. Free. Bryan Hall Theatre (WSU), 605 Veterans Way. events.wsu. edu/event/wind-ensemble-concert

SPORTS & OUTDOORS

SPOKANE CHIEFS SEASON OPENER The Spokane Chiefs begin the 2021-22 season at home against the Tri-City Americans on Bud Light Opening Night.

2, 7:05 pm. $17-$37. Spokane Arena, 720 W. Mallon Ave. spokanechiefs.com LOCALS DAY AT SILVER Calling all Silver Valley residents: if you live between Mullan and Rose Lake, you’re eligible for a free gondola ticket. Guests must bring a proof of residence. Oct. 3, 9:30 am-4 pm. Silver Mountain, 610 Bunker Ave. silvermt.com (208-783-1111) SPOKANE CHIEFS VS. EVERETT SILVERTIPS Regular season match. Face coverings required for all guests ages 5+. Oct. 3, 5 pm. $17-$37. Spokane Arena, 720 W. Mallon. spokanechiefs.com A VIGIL FOR THE HEALING OF THE EARTH Join Faith Leaders and Leaders of Conscience of Eastern Washington and North Idaho and learn about groups overcoming the effects of pollution and climate change. Oct. 3, 3-4:30 pm. Free. Old Mission Sate Park, 31732 S. Mission Rd. 208-682-3814) REI SEASONAL SKI RENTAL Spokane REI rents downhill skis for the duration of the winter recreation season, but supplies are limited. Get fitted and rent starting October 4 (members only).

REI, 1125 N. Monroe St. (509-328-9900)

THEATER

SUNSET BOULEVARD Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Tony Award-winning musical masterwork of dreams and desire nestled in the shadowed hills of Hollywood.

Sept. 30-Oct. 10; Wed-Sat at 7:30 pm and Sat-Sun at 1:30 pm. $18-$23. Regional Theatre of the Palouse, 122 N. Grand Ave. rtoptheatre.org (509-334-0750) DR. JEKYLL & MR. HYDE A staged adaptation of the classic novella by Robert Louis Stevenson. Oct. 1-3 and 7-10 (times vary). $12. Pullman Civic Theatre, 1220 NW Nye St. pullmancivictheatre.org THE DURABLE BARFLY By Kelsey Rain, MFA Candidate and performed for the First Bite New Play Series via Zoom. An adult comedy based on the true story of Michael Malloy. Oct. 1-2 at 6 pm, Oct. 3 at 2 pm. Free. Online at uidaho.edu/theatre A HALLOWEEN SPOOKTACULAR An hour-long production featuring some of Halloween’s most famous friends and foes. Oct. 1 at 7 pm, Oct. 2 at 3 pm, 5 pm and 7 pm. $26-$36. Kroc Center, 1765 W. Golf Course Rd. kroccda.org SHAKESPEARE IN THE PARK: THE COMPLETE WORKS OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE (ABRIDGED) Spokane Shakespeare Society’s their inaugural season of professional theatre under the stars. Oct. 2-3 at 2 pm. Free. Riverfront Park, 507 N. Howard St. (509-625-6600) SHEN YUN Shen Yun’s artistic vision expands theatrical experience into a multidimensional, inspiring journey. Oct. 5, 7:30 pm. $82-$152. First Interstate Center for the Arts, 334 W. Spokane Falls Blvd. firstinterstatecenter.org (509-279-7000)

Is refinancing rigHt for you?

VISUAL ARTS

ARCHIE BRAY RESIDENT SHOW A showcase of established and emerging contemporary ceramic artists from the world-renowned Archie Bray Foundation in Helena, Montana. Opening reception Oct. 1 from 5-9 pm; open by appt. through Oct. 29. Oct. 1, 5-9 pm. Free.

Kolva-Sullivan Gallery, 115 S. Adams St. kolva-sullivangallery.com FIRST FRIDAY Art galleries and businesses across downtown Spokane and beyond host monthly receptions to showcase new displays of art. First Fridays of each month from 5-8 pm. Details at firstfridayspokane.org.

SPOKANE WATERCOLOR SOCIETY JURIED MEMBER SHOW Guest juried by Molly Murrah of the Northwest Watercolor Society. Reception Oct. 1 from 5-7 pm; on display through Oct. 29, Mon-Fri 10 am-5 pm. Free. Spokane Art School, 811 W. Garland Ave. spokaneartschool.net SPOOKANE Superstition, folklore, urban legends and things that go bump in the night are inspirations for October’s Liberty Gallery show. Oct. 1-30, daily 10 am-6 pm. Free. Liberty Building, 402 N. Washington. spokanelibertybuilding.com THERE & BACK AGAIN A show featuring the work of John Thamm, Roch Fautch, Rick Davis, Jesse Swanson, Darrell Wilcox, Hank Chiappetta, Matt R. Wolf and Jared Anderson. The show signifies their return from COVID isolation and a celebration of the rebuilding of a double shotgun building in Peaceful Valley. Oct. 1, 5-9 pm and Oct. 2, 1-4 pm; continues Fridays through October from 5-9 pm or by appointment. Free. Shotgun Studios, 1625 W. Water Ave. (509-688-3757) WAX & WOOL A collection of new works, material research, visual translations and residue by Lisa Nappa and Chris Tyllia.

Inspiration for this exhibition comes from a desire to engage deeply with mundane materials and processes; specifically, the melting of wax and tufting of wool fiber.

Oct. 1-30; Fri-Sat 12-8 pm. Free. Saranac Art Projects, 25 W. Main Ave. saranacartprojects.wordpress.com n

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Now on Inlander.com: National and international stories from the New York Times to go with the fresh, local news we deliver every day SEPTEMBER 30, 2021 INLANDER 35

Some local strains really bring the noise, and the funk.

STRAINS

Packing a Punch These three high-potency cannabis strains range from 25 to 33 percent THC

BY WILL MAUPIN

P

otency has increasingly become the name of the game in the world of cannabis as THC concentrations are reaching ever greater heights. If you’re looking to find the strongest cannabis around, we’re here to help. Just remember, these strains do not mess around.

36 INLANDER SEPTEMBER 30, 2021

Exercising caution when consuming them would be wise even for experienced users with high tolerances.

WEDDING PIE

An indica-dominant hybrid that packs a punch with

THC content reaching up to 26 percent, Wedding Pie is a great late-night “snack” just before bedtime. This relatively new strain is a cross between two other indicadominant hybrids, Grape Pie and the extremely popular Wedding Cake — Wedding Cake was named strain of the year in 2019 by industry website Leafly. Caryophyllene and myrcene are the dominant terpenes, giving this pie a unique peppery flavor.

There are a few Wedding Pie options available in the region, but Longview-based producer Mama J’s takes the top spot when it comes to THC. Their flower clocks in at 25.7 percent, making it a decent starting point if you don’t want to jump straight into the high THC deep end.

Find it at Royal’s Cannabis and Sativa Sisters. ...continued on page 38

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SEPTEMBER 30, 2021 INLANDER 37

GREEN ZONE

NOTE TO READERS Be aware of the differences in the law between Idaho and Washington. It is illegal to possess, sell or transport cannabis in the State of Idaho. Possessing up to an ounce is a misdemeanor and can get you a year in jail and up to a $1,000 fine; more than three ounces is a felony that can carry a five-year sentence and fine of up to $10,000. Transporting marijuana across state lines, like from Washington into Idaho, is a felony under federal law.

“PACKING A PUNCH,” CONTINUED...

SCARLET QUEEN

Grown on the rolling hills of the Palouse, Burnwell’s Scarlet Queen, simply called Scarlett, is one of the strongest flower options on the market. This sativa-dominant hybrid is a cross of two other queens, killer and space. Scarlett inherited the sticky buds its parents are known for but significantly upped their punch, landing at 30.6 percent THC. It also took on the myrcene levels of its parents, giving it a traditionally herbal flavor.

Don’t let the smooth, subdued packaging fool you; this is without question an in-your-face strain.

Find it at Cannabis & Glass, Spokane Green Leaf and Cinder.

TROPHY WIFE

A strain that lives up to its name, Trophy Wife takes the top spot as far as I could find when it comes to the THC content of flower available locally. And, it’s local, too. Spokane Valley’s Phat Panda grows a Trophy Wife that registers at just over 33 percent THC. An indica-dominant hybrid with a lot of limonene in the terpene department, Trophy Wife is a citrusy mood booster.

It’s part of Phat Panda’s platinum line of products, which means they’ll set you back a bit more than most of their offerings. But with this one it’s worth the price. Find it at Cannabis & Glass, Green Light and The Vault. n

RELATIONSHIPS

Advice Goddess BEDDER LATER

I’m a woman in my 20s seeking a boyfriend. On the first date, I like to have a few drinks and, if the guy and I hit it off, have sex to see whether we have physical chemistry.

Lately, I’ve had a string of great first dates — flowing conversation, emotional rapport, and what seemed to be long-term potential — yet they all ghosted me after sex. Are men still living in the Victorian Age? —Confused

AMY ALKON

The wait to have sex with you mirrors the mandatory waiting period to buy a plastic squirt gun.

That said, you aren’t wrong to want to figure out up front whether there’s sexual chemistry. As for just how “up front” to do that, there’s reason to slow your roll — even if it means you get involved with a few guys who turn out to be sexual duds.

Because a woman can get pregnant from a single ill-advised naked romp, women evolved to be the “choosier” sex — to take a “hmm, we’ll see...” approach: stand back and assess a man’s potential to “provide” and willingness to commit before dropping their panties (and everything else) on his bedroom floor.

Men co-evolved to expect female choosiness and to need to prove themselves over time to women of high mate value: women who can hold out for just the right guy. In short, men tend to value (and stick around for) what’s hard to, uh, grope.

Women are also more likely to succumb to a sort of alcohol-induced blindness, which psychiatrist Andy Thomson, in an email to evolutionary psychologist David Buss, called the “Prosecco perception bias,” after the Italian sparkling wine. Buss, who included this in his book, “When Men Behave Badly,” explains that women have less of the alcohol-detoxifying enzyme, alcohol dehydrogenase. (That’s why women get more rapidly drunk than men, even when they throw back less alcohol per pound of body weight.) “Because alcohol stimulates bonding endorphins, women are more likely to misread interactions with men” when tipsy, Buss explains, and “overestimate the likelihood of an emotional bond and a long-term relationship.”

Sure, there are blissful long-term relationships that started out with no-stringsattached sex. However, because you’re a woman hoping to find a boyfriend, having sex on the first date is a risky strategy. There’s a way to get a guy to stick around after sex, and it’s to wait to have it till he’s got feelings for you — though, admittedly, zip-tying him to your headboard works, too.

GHOSTING STORY

I’m a straight guy using dating apps. What’s with the constant flaking guy friends and I experience from women we’re meeting for first dates? One woman on Hinge texted me to confirm 30 minutes before we were meeting at a bar but never showed and stopped responding to my texts. The next day, she complained that her phone had died. Another girl on Bumble agreed to have drinks, but when I texted her the day of, she unmatched. This extreme rudeness only happens with women I meet on dating apps, not those I meet in person, like at a friend’s party. Any idea why? —Disturbed There are valid reasons to be a no-show for a date with no explanation, for example, the experience so many of us have of being abducted by aliens who don’t have a charger that fits our phone.

This rudeness you’re experiencing — all these women treating you like a disposable object instead of a person with feelings — isn’t caused by app use, per se. The problem, as I explain in “Good Manners for Nice People Who Sometimes Say F*ck,” is that we are now “living in societies too big for our brains”: vast, transient “strangerhoods.”

We didn’t evolve to be around strangers and aren’t psychologically equipped to live in a world filled with them because the psychology still powering our thinking (and behavior) today is adapted for small ancestral hunter-gatherer societies. Ancestral humans might’ve been stuck with pretty much the same 25 people for much of their lives (per estimates by anthropologists Robert L. Kelly and Irven DeVore) and might’ve have had a larger surrounding society of perhaps 100 to 150 people.

In the tiny ancestral world, the need to preserve one’s reputation was a psychological police force that kept even rotten people from acting their rotten worst. (This is still a factor today in small towns where everybody knows everybody.) In contrast, strangers “meeting” in the virtual world — on apps that are basically eBay for dates — have no shared social context, so...bye-bye fear of reputational ruin!

In other words, when connecting via an app, it’s probably a good idea to expect unreliability. You might even bring a book to read in case a woman ends up running a little late — uh, intends to leave you sitting there at the bar until you decompose. n

©2021, Amy Alkon, all rights reserved. • Got a problem? Write Amy Alkon, 171 Pier Ave, #280, Santa Monica, CA 90405 or email AdviceAmy@aol.com (www.advicegoddess.com)

38 INLANDER SEPTEMBER 30, 2021

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39. “[sigh] ... We just dealt with this” (or what the circled letters spell in each of their answers) 44. Contents of l’océan 45. Bit of cunning 47. Arizona birthplace of César Chávez 48. ____-backwards 49. Truly unlikely 55. Pal of Seinfeld and Costanza 56. Bit of trivia 59. Unappealing 65. First of the Medicis to rule Florence 66. Ancient Greek region 67. Ugandan dictator Amin 68. How Rome wasn’t built?

69. Low-tech fire starter 70. ____ B or ____ C of the Spice Girls 71. Respected elders 72. “For crying out loud!”

73. Actors Harris and Helms

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1. Type of question with two possible answers 2. Divvy up 3. “When it rains, it pours” sloganeer 4. Lhasa ____ (dog breed) 5. “Buzz off!”

6. Cocoon makeup 7. Height: Prefix 8. Thoroughfare in Anytown, USA 9. Maroon, in a way 10. Long way to go?

11. Supersonic speed 12. Roman emperor after Galba 13. Nair rival, once 14. Salk and Pepper, in brief 22. First name in Russian literature 23. “This is SO frustrating!”

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1. Thanksgiving side dish 4. Indian state along the Himalayas 9. Halley of Halley’s comet 15. Grp. with the hits “Evil Woman” and “Do Ya” 16. Abbr. seen on 76ers jerseys 17. Like Felix Unger vis-à-vis Oscar Madison 18. 35mm camera type 19. Conductor Georg with 31 Grammys 20. They’re produced by hives 21. Lacking a healthy glow, say 24. Nebraska native 25. French “Cheers!”

26. “Shh!” 34. Rihanna hit with the lyric “please someone come and rescue me” 36. Stress, it’s said 37. First word of a fairy tale 38. “THERE you are!”

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27. Amy who wrote “The Joy Luck Club” 28. In the past 29. It’s at the center of some court battles 30. British singer-songwriter Rita

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40. OB/____ 41. Middle of Q3 on co. reports 42. Forerunners of texts, in 54 53 brief 43. “Uh-uh” 56 57 58 46. A shore thing to happen 50. Naval petty officer 61 62 63 64 51. Irks 52. Stan of Marvel Comics 66 67 53. Harden into bone 69 70 54. On vacation 57. Gave up 72 73 58. Flip response?

59. Having candy before “NOT AGAIN” dinner, say 60. “____, can you see ... “ 31. “Don’t rush in!”

61. Either of two “Unforgettable” singers 32. First U.S. color TVs 62. Together, in Toulouse 33. ____ ex machina 63. Bowling targets 34. Like lumber, in a mill 64. Sworn statement 35. Most populous four-letter state 65. Legendary Spanish knight El ____ 47

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