Inlander 03/21/2024

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get ready for the big dance with team profiles, player features, essays and more!

By seth sommerfeld and will maupin

page 14

16X8=GU Nuthi n’ b u t !teN

Yvonne Ejim powers one of GUs best ever teams

JUNE 29-30, 2024

No Pac-12 senioritis!

WSU defies expectations for its best season in ages

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EDITOR’S NOTE

For the Inland Northwest, March means crocuses and daffodils, bitter cold turning to blistering sun, and college basketball. Usually it’s a big Zag dance party, but this year they have some company on the court

Locally, that means that the Zags men’s and women’s teams will be joined at the NCAA Tournament by the Washington State University men’s team, and the women’s team from Eastern Washington University (page 22).

But there’s more. Our fair city is hosting the first round of the tournament this weekend. Eight teams, and their respective fans, are here through Sunday. The first game in Spokane happens Friday morning when the University of Alabama at Birmingham men tip off against San Diego State University. We give a rundown of the games happening here (page 18).

Also for this year’s MARCH MADNESS issue, Seth Sommerfeld takes a closer look at the career (so far) of Yvonne Ejim, who is fueling one of the best Gonzaga teams in program history (page 14). And Will Maupin sizes up the WSU squad, which is having one of its best years, ever (page 20).

So tune in, tip off and be nice to all the people here cheering all those other teams.

— NICHOLAS DESHAIS, editor

KYNZEE MANN

Flint or fire starter, or I feel like you could do pretty well with one of those little knife tools like a Swiss army knife… I feel like that would be good for survival.

MCCALL VAUGHN

Emergency pack.

What would be in your emergency pack?

Well, for in the wilderness just like having snacks, extra water and then if I hurt myself, a little first aid kit. And then hopefully I’d have cell service in case something happens [to] get ahold of people.

STEPHANIE LEEK

A book. I love to read.

What book would it be?

Well it would be the one I am trying to plow through at the moment, The Covenant of Water. Have you read it? It’s really good!

CRAIG GRUENIG

Maybe an umbrella so we could keep over the fire starter. Or maybe I should have a sleeping bag or something — something to stay warm, something I can cuddle up with next to the fire.

MATTHEW PLATERO

Probably a knife, because of the survivability. There’s so many different uses for a knife.

Bigger Vehicles, Greater Danger

The highways of the American West have become more deadly in recent decades

BY JONATHAN THOMPSON, HIGH COUNTRY NEWS

On July 29 last year, 17-year-old Magnus White left his Boulder, Colorado, home for a final training ride before competing in the UCI World Cycling Championships in Ireland. As he pedaled back to town in the shoulder lane of the Diagonal Highway, a major thoroughfare, 23-year-old Yeva Smilianska swerved out of her lane onto the shoulder. Her Toyota Matrix slammed into White, throwing him into a fence and killing him.

White was just one of the 6,800 motorists, passengers, bicyclists and pedestrians killed on the roads, highways and streets of the Western United States during the first nine months of 2023 alone. In the U.S., this region’s per capita death rate is rivaled only by that of the Deep South.

Every fatal crash has its own cause, whether it’s careless or distracted driving, high speeds, adverse conditions or any of a myriad other factors. But the regional trends — especially an

alarming rise in pedestrian fatalities — have deeper roots: highways designed to move cars quickly, rather than safely; a hunger for larger and larger vehicles; growing wealth inequality (and infrastructure disparities); and, most fundamentally, Americans’ car-centric culture, whose public policies and infrastructure value automobiles over humans at almost every turn.

18.5%; 11.2%; 5.5%

Percent of drivers involved in fatal crashes in the U.S. in 2021 that were, respectively: driving too fast for conditions; under the influence of alcohol, drugs or medication; or driving while distracted.

BIG CAR ARMS RACE

As motorists demand larger vehicles, auto manufacturers heed the call. The weight of the average car on U.S. roads has ballooned by 34% since 1980, with height and width also increasing.

About 6,800 people were killed on Western U.S. roads in the first nine months of 2023. AMY

While bigger cars typically are safer for their occupants, they pose a greater hazard to anyone or anything smaller they may collide with, a phenomenon known as “crash incompatibility.” A 2004 study found that for every life saved by a motorist who switched from a car to a light truck (SUV or pickup), 4.3 other drivers, pedestrians and cyclists were killed.

28%

Percent by which a collision with an SUV is more likely to kill a car’s occupants than one with another passenger car.

“A 2008 study found that an SUV traveling at 24 mph would have twice the impact force on a pedestrian’s brain as a sedan traveling the same speed. A 2004 study found that pedestrians hit by a light truck rather than a car are two to three times more likely to die..”

GROWING RISKS

While traffic deaths have been increasing nationwide alongside population growth, the West’s highways appear to be getting even deadlier over time, especially for pedestrians.

90 DAYS

Jail sentence for the motorist who struck and killed Christine Embree, who was riding her bike with her 16-month-old daughter in Southern California in August 2022.

THE INEQUITY OF HIGHWAY HAZARDS

Traffic crashes kill people of color and those with lower incomes at a disproportionately high rate. Indigenous people are twice as likely as white people to die on American highways, and the risk is even higher for people who are walking. Many drivers cannot afford larger cars that are safer for their occupants, leaving them at the mercy of ever larger and more costly SUVs. At the same time, low-income neighborhoods are less likely to have sidewalks, adequate street lighting or traffic-calming devices, making pedestrians more vulnerable. A 2019 study found that for every $1,000 decrease in the median income of a U.S. census tract, pedestrians are 1% more likely to be killed by a motorist.

58%

Percent of transportation-related greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. attributable to light-duty vehicles, including passenger cars, pickups and SUVs — about 14 times more than aircraft produce. n

Jonathan Thompson is a contributing editor at High Country News (hcn.org), where this first appeared. He is the author of Sagebrush Empire: How a Remote Utah County Became the Battlefront of American Public Lands.

SOURCES: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration; Environmental Protection Agency; Governors Highway Safety Association; Edmunds; Ford Motor Co.; Fuelly; “The ‘Arms Race’ on American roads: The effect of sport utility vehicles and pickup trucks on traffic safety,” by M.J. White; “The effect of front-end vehicle height on pedestrian death risk,” by Justin Tyndall; “Race and income disparities in pedestrian injuries: Factors influencing pedestrian safety inequity,” by J. Roll and N. McNeil; Los Angeles Times; Smart Growth America; Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

SHELLING OUT

A new law requires all eggs sold in Washington to be cage-free — is it driving up egg prices?

BY ELIZA BILLINGHAM

On a refrigerator door at My Fresh Basket, an eyelevel green flier with an illustration of three fluffy, yellow chicks blocks the view of the egg cartons.

“Senate Bill 1019,” it reads. “Signed August 2019, this senate bill bans the use of cage confinement for egg-laying hens and the sale of egg products from out-of-state operations not meeting cage-free standards.”

It ended with an explanation — or warning — that the law would “significantly impact current egg pricing.”

In simpler language, Washington state passed a law in 2019 that all eggs sold in Washington, including those produced in other states like Oregon, must be cage-free. The law went into effect on Jan. 1 and, if you believe the flier, is the reason egg prices are rising in Spokane.

It’s not just grocers. Amber Gunn, an analyst with the Mountain State Policy Center, blamed the legislation for “skyrocketing egg prices.” Seattle’s KIRO 7 News ran a piece saying the law “takes toll on bakeries.” And OregonLive reported that “more ethical eggs can mean higher prices.”

But is it that simple? And what does “cage-free” mean, anyway?

The new law may increase egg prices, especially at first. But the cage-free law isn’t the only factor, and maybe not the most important. There’s inflation and increased costs for feed, labor and materials. But the biggest impact on egg prices is a mysterious strain of the avian flu lurking in wild bird populations that’s wreaking occasional havoc on com-

mercial egg operations.

But so far, there are no fliers about bird flu on grocery refrigerator doors. There are, however, some customers who are happy to pay $4 a dozen so the birds get a better life, and others who wonder what the improvements are, and if they’re worth shelling out for.

THE FUTURE IS CAGE-FREE

In 2021, Willamette Egg Farms hen houses in Moses Lake started making the transition to cage-free. After Willamette was bought by Versova, a management team out of the Midwest, it started tearing down stacked battery cages and building cage-free aviaries instead.

Imagine a big barn with an open dirt floor in the middle. Three or four levels of perching space are stacked either like shelves or like stadium seating along the walls. Designated nesting boxes are in darkened, private spaces.

“From my seat, I believe that cage-free egg production seems like a very good system,” says Matthew Dean, chief financial officer of Versova. “It seems like a very good outcome for the birds themselves since they can exhibit those normal, natural behaviors. And I guess it feels right to me.”

In 2018, about 15% of all commercial hens lived in cage-free housing. By July 2023, that percentage jumped to upwards of 40%, thanks to different states passing bans on conventional production.

The new cage-free law in Washington requires all eggs sold in the state to be raised without cages and with at least

a square foot of floor space per bird. Both the Humane Society of the United States and various egg producers in Washington collaborated to propose the new legislation.

“What we found from working with producers is that they really want market certainty,” says Kate Brindle, a program manager at the national Humane Society. Animal welfare activists and a growing number of consumers have raised concerns about conventional egg production.

“The birds can’t even spread their wings,” Brindle says. “Each bird is given less space than the size of an iPad on which to live her entire life. They’re denied almost everything that’s natural to them.”

The public is putting pressure on egg producers and major egg buyers, she says, because “when people learn about that, it’s not the sort of cruelty that they want to support.”

“The future is cage-free,” Brindle says. “For example, McDonald’s just reached 100% cage-free. The producers see that and they realize that that’s the way the market is going.”

A square foot isn’t a whole lot of space — it’s about the size of a page in the Inlander. Plus, when birds are close together without the protection of cages, some worry that chicken-on-chicken violence can get out of hand.

“In terms of the chicken’s quality of life, that was my concern,” says Rep. Mary Dye, R-Pomeroy, who voted against the initial House bill in 2019. “Chickens have a

Cage-free hens at Willamette Egg Farms near Moses Lake. TONY REIDSMA PHOTO

pecking order. In a coop of chickens that are at-large, if one of them has a little red spot on them, man, the chickens will pick and pick and pick and pick. There’s a lot of loss and death in a chicken coop that is left in its social order. That’s stressful on the birds.”

Cage-free production does require more employee vigilance, says Versova’s Dean. Vulnerable birds need to be separated. Plus, young hens need to be trained to lay eggs in the proper nesting boxes and not on the floor. Farms need additional staff to monitor the aviaries more closely.

But a square foot is enough space for the hens to spread their wings, he says, and chickens like to be close together as a flock. Hens will often huddle close together even if they have room to spread out.

“It’s kind of fun to be in the barn, because some of the birds clearly have different behaviors,” he says. “Some of them are maybe a little lazy or want to be on the ground or low. And some of them are more aggressive and more adventurous. So it’s kind of fun to just watch the different personalities play on the barns.”

WIGGLE ROOM

When eggs were an average $0.88 per dozen in 1980, or even $1.45 in February 2020, egg producers could turn a profit by stacking as many birds as possible in one building to keep overhead low. Now, new laws mean new construction and fewer birds per building.

“Fewer birds in the barn means fewer eggs to spread our cost around,” Dean says. “The increased costs for the producer we pass on to our customers. I don’t think the cost difference has anything to do with any sort of greenwashing or anything like that. It really is our increased

production costs.”

California passed Proposition 12 in 2018, which required all eggs sold in the state to be cage-free by 2021. According to market research, there was an initial uptick in prices as egg producers constructed new cage-free housing systems. But when these outliers from the transitional year were removed, a dozen eggs were about $0.08 more than before the legislation was enacted.

Brindle assumes the same thing will happen in Washington — some initial price increase during this transition year, then a leveling out to prices similar to 2022 or 2023.

That may or may not be a comfort, considering egg prices in recent years have been steadily increasing and occasionally spiking.

A BIT OF EGG-SPLANATION

CAGE-FREE: A U.S. Department of Agriculture-regulated term. Chickens roam freely during their laying cycle and have unlimited access to food and water. There is no federal minimum space requirement.

FREE-RANGE: A USDA-regulated term that is the same as “cage-free” with continuous access to the outdoors. There is no federal requirement that the birds must go outside or have a certain amount of space inside.

If the eggs also bear a Certified Humane label, their production has fulfilled extra requirements set by Humane Farm Animal Care. Hens are housed with 2 square feet of space each, and the hens must be outdoors, weather permitting, for six hours per day.

PASTURE-RAISED: Not a USDA-regulated term. It is specific only if the eggs also bear a Certified Humane label, which means

“The big thing about price increases in agricultural products, [is that] there’s always a dynamic,” Dye says. “You can’t just say one thing is the sole contributor to the increase.”

Eggs are a commodity, she says, and very sensitive to changes in supply and demand.

There are about as many laying hens as there are people in the United States. Each hen can lay an average of

their production has met standards set by Humane Farm Animal Care. Hens must live outdoors with 1,000 birds per 2.5 acres (108 square feet per bird). The hens are rotated through fields and provided with housing at night to protect from predators. They can stay in the housing for up to two weeks per year in the event of inclement weather.

ORGANIC: A USDA-regulated term. Hens are uncaged indoors, given access to the outdoors and fed a diet that is certified organic by the USDA’s National Organic Program, whether that be grain, soy or other ingredients.

100% NATURAL: A USDA-regulated term but does not reflect production methods. The term certifies that nothing was added to the eggs like brine, flavoring or coloring.

—ELIZA BILLINGHAM

300 eggs a year, according to United Egg Producers. That’s up from 264 eggs a year in 2002, thanks to improved nutrition, genetics and flock management.

But the demand for eggs in the U.S. is also rising. In 2000, the average American ate about 250 eggs a year, according to the data-gathering website, Statista. That average is projected to reach almost 285 eggs this year.

So, if there’s about one hen per person in America, laying about as many eggs a year as that person eats,

there’s not much wiggle room. Unlike other agriculture commodities, the U.S. relies mostly on domestic egg production, usually importing about 1% of the eggs Americans eat each year.

If the consumer demand for eggs stays consistent but something interrupts egg supply, price is very sensitive to that change. One of the most persistent interruptions to American egg supply is a new, strange strain of avian flu.

“We’ve been going through a major disease issue in the U.S. for the last two years with bird flu,” says Dean. “The cage-free market itself is a little smaller than the conventional market, so when bird flu does hit the cage-free market, it might impact it more. There’s multiple issues at play when we talk about egg prices.”

Versova, which manages farms that are both cage-free and conventional, had two farms “go positive” for bird flu at the end of last year. They had to kill 4 million birds, as required by government regulations, to try to contain the disease, which is proving harder to eliminate than in the past.

“The last time the U.S. got hit with bird flu was in 2015,” Dean says. “That year, it came in the spring and was very impactful. But then once we got warmer weather, it kind of just went away and never came back. This particular strain of bird flu, for whatever reason, lingers in the environment longer. It does not seem to be consistent. It’s remaining very, very prevalent in the wild bird population, which is the most concerning thing.”

Scientists and veterinarians around the world are trying to figure out why this strain of bird flu is so much more resilient than previous strains, Dean says. Until it disappears, the cost of all eggs, cage-free or not, will continue to react.

“From my seat, the vast majority of the pricing volatility you’re seeing is not because of inflation or any other issues,” Dean says. “It’s bird flu purely impacting supply [while] consumer demand remains strong.” n

Sister States

Gov. Jay Inslee hopes local businesses can help rebuild Ukraine as Washington enters a “sister state” agreement with the war-torn Kyiv region

BY NATE SANFORD

As Russia’s invasion enters its third year, Washington state’s ties to Ukraine are growing stronger.

On Friday, Gov. Jay Inslee signed an agreement formalizing a “sister state” agreement with the Kyiv Oblast region of Ukraine, which is home to the capital city of Kyiv. The agreement commits Washington and its new Ukrainian counterpart to academic and economic cooperation.

Washington is the first U.S state to sign such an agreement with a region in Ukraine.

“We are intertwining our mutual destinies,” Inslee said.

Inslee signed the agreement on Friday at a ceremony with Ruslan Kravchenko, the governor of the Kyiv region. In an interview with the Inlander shortly after, the two governors said the agreement will benefit both regions.

“It allows us to build commercial opportunities for Washington businesses, selling goods and products to Ukraine,” Inslee says. “There’s going to be a huge demand because they have to rebuild the whole country.”

As part of the agreement, Kravchenko is developing a database of businesses in Washington and the Kyiv region to help connect buyers and sellers.

Kravchenko says roughly 29,000 buildings in the Kyiv region were destroyed by Russia’s invasion. About 17,000 have been restored, Kravchenko says, but there’s still more work to do that Washington building companies could

help with. He also sees opportunities for Ukraine’s sugar industry to partner with Washington candy producers, and for Washington-based companies to work on restoring and decentralizing Ukraine’s besieged electrical grid.

“Together with Washington state, we will collaborate to renew and restructure our country,” Kravchenko says.

Inslee says the agreement will also expand opportunities for military contracts with companies like the Bremerton-based SAFE Boats, which recently received a $100 million contract to manufacture patrol boats for the Ukrainian navy.

Before he was appointed governor of the Kyiv region in 2023, Kravchenko worked as the chief regional prosecutor in Bucha, a suburb of Kyiv city that saw some of the worst atrocities of the war.

Bucha was captured by Russians early in the invasion, and when Ukrainian forces retook the city in spring 2022, they found mass graves and civilians shot dead on the streets with their hands tied behind their backs. As regional prosecutor, Kravchenko oversaw efforts to search the devastated city and collect evidence of war crimes.

“We were able to collect enough evidence to prove that Russia was out to destroy us,” Kravchenko says.

During a ceremony on Friday, Kravchenko presented

Inslee with a metal locket showing images of life in Kyiv before the war. Inside the box was a piece of shrapnel recovered from the body of someone killed by a Russian missile.

“This was the killing weapon of Russia against Ukraine,” Kravchenko said. “This is the face of evil.”

Kravchenko said he hopes the item can go to a museum in Washington to remind future generations.

Inslee stresses that the sister state agreement is about far more than economic collaboration. It’s about democracy, he says. He describes the people of the Kyiv region as “some of the most courageous people on earth” for standing against the “atrocities of Vladimir Putin.”

Washington’s support for Ukraine has long been a point of pride for Inslee. The state Legislature set aside $19 million to support Ukrainian refugees at the start of the war, and Inslee says the new 2024 supplemental budget increases assistance by about half a million.

The state’s financial support will have to continue for “frankly as long as this madness by Putin continues and Ukraine emerges victorious,” Inslee says.

A total of 24,090 Ukrainian refugees who moved to Washington after fleeing the war have received assistance from Washington’s Department of Social and Health Services. About 10% of refugees who came to Washington ended up in Spokane.

“Washingtonians have an instinctual respect for people who show courage,” Inslee says.

Inslee says he hopes the agreement will also send a message to Congress showing support for the $60 billion military aid package to Ukraine that passed the U.S Senate but has been held up in the House amid opposition from some Republican legislators.

“The people of Ukraine, the armed forces, they’re being outgunned,” Inslee says. “I really appreciate the Ukrainian sons and daughters who are doing the fighting, all we need to do is provide the tools. That’s the least we can do for democracy right now.”

Inslee says he’s confident the aid package will pass.

“Anybody who understands the history of Europe has to understand that standing up for democracy — against an imperialist autocrat who wants to break the boundaries of democracies in Europe — is our fight,” Inslee says.

When discussing opposition to the aid package, Kravchenko brought up another Washington business he’d like to partner with Ukraine.

“Some individuals are saying we need to raise the white flag,” Kravchenko says. “The only white flag [we’re] ready to raise is for the Starbucks when they will open up in Ukraine.”

Kravchenko joined our interview a couple minutes late on Friday — he had just gotten a phone call from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the global face of the Ukrainian war effort.

Zelensky “was inviting Gov. Inslee to the Congress that will happen in May in Ukraine in Kiev,” Kravchenko says.

Leaders from all around the world will be gathering for the meeting of Ukraine’s Parliament, Kravchenko explained, and the Ukrainian government would be honored if Inslee gave a speech there.

“I received this from my leadership, and I pass this on to the governor,” Kravchenko says. “This will be very meaningful to us after signing this first memorandum between our states.”

Inslee didn’t make any firm commitments but appeared honored by the invitation.

“I’ll have to see if my governor responsibilities allow me to do it, but it is a huge honor,” Inslee says. n nates@inlander.com

Ruslan Kravchenko, the governor of Kyiv, and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee. COURTESTY OFFICE OF GOVERNOR JAY INSLEE

Idaho Pathology

North Idaho may do its own forensic work soon. Plus, Spokane Community College narrows its presidential search to three; and Lisa Brown floats furloughs and (hopefully not) layoffs.

North Idaho could get its first autopsy lab in Kootenai County, where forensic pathology work to examine local deaths would be conducted under local control. Currently, Kootenai and other nearby counties contract with the Spokane County Medical Examiner to conduct autopsies, and the county coroners then use that information to determine the cause and manner of death.

If Kootenai hires a medical examiner and autopsy assistant, that work could be conducted at the coroner’s office in Dalton Gardens. Members of the public can learn more about plans and provide feedback at a town hall meeting at 6 pm on Wednesday, March 27, at Kootenai County’s government building, 451 N. Government Way, Coeur d’Alene, Rooms 1A/B. There, the public will hear about the plan from County Commissioner Leslie Duncan, County Prosecutor Stanley Mortensen, and Kootenai County Coroner Dr. Duke Johnson. (SAMANTHA WOHLFEIL)

NEW SCC LEADERSHIP

When Kevin Brockbank became the chancellor of the Community Colleges of Spokane last May, he left his previous position as the president of Spokane Community College. SCC Vice President of Instruction Jenni Martin has been the acting president since Brockbank left. Now, SCC has identified three candidates to lead the college — Kendra Ericson, Michael Lee and Peter Williams. All three candidates have extensive experience in higher education administration, however, Williams is the only candidate who has previously worked for SCC — which is one of the largest community colleges in Washington. Private interviews and public forums are scheduled for all three candidates in early April. The final selection is anticipated at the end of April, and the chosen candidate is set to start working by July. (COLTON

RASANEN)

$50 MILLION HOLE

When she ran for office last year, Spokane Mayor Lisa Brown frequently criticized then-Mayor Nadine Woodward over the city’s budget deficit, which was estimated at the time to be $20 million. Now that she’s in office, Brown says she’s realized the financial situation is actually far worse: The city of Spokane faces a $50 million budget deficit across all its accounts. Brown and other officials have pinned the deficit on a number of factors, including inflation, a costly new police guild contract, one-time federal grants that were used for ongoing expenses and other unsustainable budgeting practices. During a meeting with the City Council last week, Brown floated several ideas to help close the gap, including optional or mandatory furlough days for city staff, leaving vacant positions unfilled, renegotiating contracts and finding new suppliers. Brown also thinks it will be necessary to go to the voters and ask them to raise taxes for a public safety levy in August — “both to sustain, frankly, the level of service that has already been committed to” and to fund “key investments that I believe will make a difference,” Brown said. The idea wasn’t without pushback, but the alternative, Brown said, is “layoffs or deep cuts.” (NATE SANFORD) n

TOM STOVER ILLUSTRATION

Yvonne Ejim’s All-American level interior play fuels one of the best Gonzaga teams in program history

BY SETH SOMMERFELD

While there are countless ways to judge a basketball team, there’s a concept among hardcore hoop heads known as “The Airport Test.” It’s fairly self-explanatory: If you happened to see a basketball team in an airport — just lounging around in casualwear waiting for their flight — would your first instinct when sizing them up be Dang, that’s basketball team looks intimidating as hell? Or would it be, Well those nice-looking folks are all wearing team gear — they must be a team… maybe basketball?

This year’s Gonzaga women’s hoops team wouldn’t exactly ace the Airport Test. No one on the team tops 6-foot-3, with the vast majority of the squad sporting relatively thin frames. But that split-second first impression belies the dominance the 2023-24 Zags have displayed on the court.

These Bulldogs have been one of the best teams in Gonzaga history — men’s or women’s — amassing a 30-3 record heading into the NCAA Tournament. The squad is filthy with skilled shooters: starting guards Brynna Maxwell, Kaylynne Truong and Kayleigh Truong all shoot over 40% from behind the 3-point arc. The Zags are top 10 in the country in pretty much every major offensive category

Giant Slayer

and as part of the team’s 24-game win streak, they didn’t win a single game by less than 11 points from Dec. 11 until March 12.

But the main reason these Zags put the Airport Test to shame is their somewhat unassuming 6-foot-1-inch killer in the post: Yvonne Ejim.

“She’s kind of the heart and soul that makes the team go right now,” says Maxwell.

Ejim, a senior from Calgary, Canada, has been the forceful, physical anchor of Gonzaga the past two seasons. While she’s listed as a forward, it only takes a minute of watching Ejim play to realize she’s actually a slightly undersized center who uses her athleticism, touch, drive and footwork to make her opponents look helpless. She’s top 25 in the country in scoring (19.8 ppg), and ninth in the nation in field goal percentage (61.3%) while shooting over 100 more attempts than the majority of the women above her. What Ejim may lack in traditional dominating height, she makes up for with her own personal favorite aspect of her game — her speed. She’s also unselfish for an elite big, which helps the sweet shooting Zags get even better looks.

“She’s a very good passer out of the post. She’s very smart. It’s a two-way thing: assists our way and assist Vonnie’s way,” says Kayleigh Truong.

“Vonnie’s not like a traditional post, she’s able to outrun the majority of

Yvonne Ejim’s play has brought the NCAA Tourney to the Kennel. ERICK DOXEY PHOTO

the people on the floor. So that makes it easy as a point guard, because now transition is one of the biggest things that we pride ourselves on in this program.”

After only seeing the court about six minutes per game as a freshman in the 2020-21 season, Ejim won WCC Sixth Woman of the Year during her sophomore campaign. The leap wasn’t a surprise to the coaches.

“She had a really great recipe of things coming in: very intelligent player, extremely hardworking, and then very open to coaching. And then as she received more opportunities, as she continued to improve herself, I think she saw the strides that she was making, and then really kind of doubled down in her efforts to continue to try to be the best player and best teammate that she can be,” says assistant coach Craig Fortier.

“I think the consistency in her game is certainly the most impressive thing,” he adds. “She’s shooting a tremendous percentage from the field, her assists, the way she’s defending without fouling. All those things are a combination of not just the experience, but also really leaning into all the little details. Offensively, her footwork is something that’s gone from OK to average to really phenomenal — to the level where we [have] other players watch how she does what she does.”

Ejim’s full skill set was on full display on Dec. 3 in the Kennel, when these Zags notched the biggest regular season win in program history. On that Sunday afternoon, Gonzaga blew out No. 3 Stanford by a score of 97-78. Not only was it a smackdown of one of the favorites to win the national title (the Cardinal are a 2 seed and have the fourth best odds to win it all), but Ejim went off. She dominated her matchup with the best center in the country, soon-to-be 3-time All-American Cameron Brink, with Ejim putting up 27 points and 12 rebounds to Brink’s 10 and 6.

If Ejim wasn’t on the national radar as an All-American caliber player before the Stanford game, she and her fellow Zags certainly were after that beatdown.

Growing up in Calgary, Ejim dreamt from an early age of dominating on the court — just not the basketball one.

“I actually started out in tennis. I wanted to be the next Serena Williams,” Ejim says. “But my older brothers played basketball, and my dad and my mom played a little bit too. So that got me into it at first. And then I went to a Steve Nash camp when I was super young.”

Basketball got its proverbial hooks into her thanks to her family, which makes a lot of sense when one zooms out and looks at the Ejim clan. Perhaps it helped that the Ejim kids could theoretically play a 5-on-5 basketball team… with a sub. Yvonne has 10 siblings: four older brothers, three younger brothers and three younger sisters. And she credits that age dispersion somewhat with motivating her to become the player she is.

“I think being able to look up to my older brothers has definitely helped me be the player. Just kind of wanting to be like them, and do the amazing things that they were able to do,” Ejim says. “And then also being an older sister to my younger siblings who play basketball, I feel like that also inspired me to want to do better in order to inspire them. I feel like I was getting the best of both worlds.”

It helped that as Ejim was growing up, basketball in Canada was also growing. Part of her aggressiveness on the court grew out of her time playing for Canadian youth national teams.

“A lot the physicality that I play with comes from playing internationally,” Ejim says. “A lot of my experience in FIBA has been very physical players and very tall post players from all around the world. So I feel like I’ve adapted a little bit of that from playing against all that competition. I like playing physical. I like being down low and getting into it with other post players.”

...continued on next page

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4:30 PM - CLOSE

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Breakfast Corn Beef Hash

8 AM - 11 AM

A classic corn beef hash with two eggs of your choice. Served with your choice of toast. $14.95

Creamy Barbecue Burger

7 AM - CLOSE

Beef patty topped with bacon, cheddar cheese, fried onions and creamy barbecue sauce. Served with french fries. $13.95

But while she may be an intimidating force on the court, Ejim’s off-court personality is far more casual. While she self identifies as a little “crazy in a fun way,” she has both an extrovert’s goofiness and a touch of introvert bashfulness to her. This GU team is incredibly close-knit, but Ejim even jokes that “I’m definitely around my teammates a lot more than I should be.” That time includes watching movies, hitting up restaurants with the Truongs, or getting into thrifting to up her style game. (On a style note for the many who may be curious — it took Ejim 25 hours to braid her trademark blonde mane of synthetic hair.)

While Ejim has a chance to cement herself as one of the best players in Gonzaga history in the upcoming NCAA Tournament, it won’t be the end of her journey in Spokane. Despite being a senior, she’s taking advantage of the NCAA’s COVID eligibility extension to come back and lead next year’s team. With the other four starters on this team being super seniors who used their extra year of eligibility this season, Ejim should be the rock to help the Zags retool instead of fully rebuilding.

“It’s just an honor to have players who want to stick around,” says head coach Lisa Fortier. “And I think that says a lot to their position coaches, I think it says a lot to their teammates, to the university and to our fans. We try to make it a place where they want to stay as long as they can and when they leave here they want to keep playing basketball. Vonnie is a remarkable player — obviously, everybody knows that. Vonnie is a terrific player who keeps getting better.”

While Ejim has eyes on playing in the WNBA, a big part of returning to Gonzaga is continuing her studies. And her schooling won’t end there: Because she wants to become a doctor, Ejim’s still got years in the classroom ahead of her.

“When I was younger, I definitely just loved the sciences and the maths and stuff like that,” Ejim says. “Just thinking about professionally what I

wanted to do, I believe that the medical field has helped me and my family a lot, and I wanted to give back to that. And also give back to people who don’t get as much accessibility to medical care as they need. Doctors are always in need, and I’d love to be like a presence that helps people.”

That said, Ejim’s additional year in Spokane is sure to make at least one group feel very unwell.

“There’s probably a WCC coaches group chat and they’re probably spamming like, ‘UGH! We gotta deal with her another year!’” jokes Maxwell.

But before anyone starts focusing on next year’s squad, this Gonzaga team has designs on a deep NCAA Tournament run. And it looked like all systems were go as the team was hardly challenged during its 24-game win streak. Then came the WCC Tournament Championship Game.

Down in Vegas, the Zags suffered their first loss in ages, a crushing 67-66 loss to Portland. It’s a tougher pill to swallow because not only had Portland upset GU in the prior year’s WCC title game, but the Bulldogs had just beaten the same Portland squad by 50 points two weeks earlier.

But perhaps that stumble could be the wake-up call these Zags needed heading into an NCAA Tournament where they have a legitimate shot at making the program’s first Final Four. Despite the loss, Gonzaga earned a 4-seed, the highest in program history, which means that GU gets to host the opening rounds of the NCAA Tournament here in Spokane at the McCarthey Athletic Center. They’ll open up against 13-seed UC Irvine on Saturday, and then would potentially play the winner of the matchup between 5-seed Utah and 12-seed South Dakota State.

And any sort of magical March run is likely to see Ejim carrying the load. While she might not tower over everyone at the airport, she’s a towering figure on the court.

“We don’t step off the plane looking like the Monstars,” says Craig Fortier. “But that being said, the Monstars didn’t win in the end.” n

Ejim is unflappable when leading Gonzaga’s offensive attack. ERICK DOXEY PHOTO

Welcome to Spokane!

WEST REGIONAL

Especially you, state of Alabama!

Alabama Crimson Tide

(27-7, 4-seed)

Expect action when Alabama takes the court. The country’s top-ranked offense scores 90.8 ppg thanks to a combination of blistering pace and shooting almost half their shots from behind the arc (46.8%). When guard Mark Sears (21.1 ppg, 43.1% from 3) and the rest of the Tide are rolling, they seem unstoppable. But when the shots aren’t falling, the team’s flaws — very subpar defense and tendency to be turnover-prone — become far more pronounced. Regardless, Bama doesn’t play boring games.

Charleston Cougars

(27-7, 13-seed)

Riding a 12-game win streak, Charleston is also an offensively-minded team, setting the stage for potentially the First Round’s most high-scoring shootout. The CAA Tournament Champion Cougars actually shoot a higher percentage of their shots from deep than Alabama, led by guard Reyne Smith whose 109 3-pointers made is tied with Stetson’s Jalen Blackmon for the most among any players in this NCAA Tourney field. Considering winning the 3-point battle is the simplest upset formula, Charleston at least has a puncher’s chance.

Friday, March 22

Charleston vs Bama - 4:35 pm on truTV

EAST REGIONAL

Auburn Tigers

(27-7, 4-seed)

Led by All-American candidate forward Johni Broome, the SEC Tournament Champions are an advanced stat dream team — No. 4 in the KenPom rankings with an efficient offense while playing the best 2-point defense in the country. When they’ve faltered, it’s usually been everyone around Broome struggling to score.

Yale Bulldogs

(22-9, 13-seed)

After winning the Ivy League title on a buzzer beater against Brown, Yale will have to out execute an Auburn team with much more size and physicality in order to pull the upset. While five players average double figures for the Bulldogs, their notso-secret weapon is 7-footer Danny Wolf, who can make it rain from behind the 3-point line.

Friday, March 22

Yale vs Auburn - 1:15 pm on TNT

St. Mary’s Gaels

(26-7, 5-seed)

What’s the opposite of a home court advantage?

After winning the WCC regular season and tourney titles, Spokane fans are likely to boo the heck out of St. Mary’s. Randy Bennett’s defensive-minded slow-it-down style of play has proved largely unsuccessful in the NCAA Tournament, but their balanced attack — five players average double digit points, led by the WCC’s best backcourt in Aidan Mahaney and Augustas Marciulionis — gives the team a high floor.

San Diego State Aztecs

(24-10, 5-seed)

Last season SDSU made the National Championship Game as a 5-seed. Will lightning strike twice? The Aztecs already have a win in Spokane this year, taking down Gonzaga in the Kennel in late December, and are led by the nation’s biggest breakout player — Jaedon LeDee. The senior forward jumped from a bench guy averaging 7.9 ppg to a forceful All-Americanlevel presence putting up 21.1 ppg and 8.4 rpg.

Meet the teams traveling to play the opening rounds of the NCAA Tournament at Spokane Arena

BY SETH SOMMERFELD

Grand Canyon Lopes

(29-4, 12-seed)

Expect the opposite of Bama-Charleston when Grand Canyon squares up with SMC, as both western schools rank top 20 in the country in field goal defense. The WAC Tourney Champs are still seeking their first DI NCAA Tournament win in their third trip to the Big Dance in the last four seasons. The man leading that charge is one of the best inspirational stories in the tourney — high-flying guard Tyon Grant-Foster (19.8 ppg, 6 rpg). After collapsing in the locker room due to a heart condition during his first game playing for Depaul in 2021, he had to step away from college hoops for two seasons, only to transfer to GCU and win WAC Player of the Year.

Friday, March 22

Grand Canyon vs SMC - 7:05 pm on truTV

UAB Blazers

(23-11, 12-seed)

After scorching an unexpected path to the AAC Tourney title, the UAB Blazers look to grit their way to an NCAA Tourney upset or two. The team ranks in the top 25 in rebounding and free throw attempts, a clear indicator of the effort with which this squad plays. The Blazer to watch is forward Yaxel Lendeborg, the American Conference Defensive Player of the Year who also averages a double double (13.9 ppg, 10.7 rpg). n

Friday, March 22

UAB vs SDSU - 10:45 am on TNT

(Second Round games to be played Sunday, March 24)

MARCH MADNESS MARCH MADNESS

Wheatfield Wonders

Washington State men’s basketball is having its best season in ages

BY WILL MAUPIN

There is a party on the Palouse that feels much more appropriate for football season than it does in March.

At the power conference level, there are few teams that have been around college hoops as long but have as little to show for it as Washington State. The Cougs have made the NCAA Tournament just six times in program history. They haven’t been since 2008, when now-Virginia head coach Tony Bennett was patrolling the sidelines.

After going through two coaches in the 10 seasons that followed (with just three winning seasons to show for it), the Cougars have found their guy in head coach Kyle Smith.

WSU’s record in Pac-12 play has steadily improved over Smith’s five-year tenure, with each season improving or maintaining the previous season’s record.

Despite that upward trajectory, there were questions entering this season. The Cougs lost the four leading scorers from last season’s team (all four of whom had eligibility remaining). DJ Rodman and TJ Bamba transferred away from Pullman, while Mouhamed Gueye and Justin Powell both turned pro early.

Despite losing a lot, the Cougs came into the 2023-24 season once again an old and experienced team thanks to the transfer portal. There are five seniors on the roster, three of whom are in the rotation, but only who began his career at WSU: forward Andrej Jakimovski.

“Andrej’s really special. To watch him grow up and become the leader, which is amazing coming from North Macedonia,” Coach Smith said ahead of senior night. “How this group has really been even-keel is a tribute to him.”

Another senior, Isaac Jones, leads the team in points and rebounds (15.4 ppg, 7.6 rpg). Jones, from across the state in Spanaway, began his career at Wenatchee Valley College before spend ing last season just down the road at Idaho.

While those two seniors have been huge for WSU, the breakout star is a freshman, albeit one who has been through your typical first-year player.

Point guard Myles Rice (15.3 ppg, 3.9 apg) is in his first year on the court for the Cougars, but his third year in the program. He spent his initial freshman season as a redshirt, expecting to develop his game and contribute the following season. But before he could help the Cougars chase any wins, he had to defeat a completely different foe: cancer.

While gearing up for the season, Rice underwent medical testing in September 2022 and was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

Rice’s comeback story is inspirational and has drawn plenty of national attention, but it’s truly his play on the court that has put him in the spotlight.

To many’s surprise considering the exodus of so many key players, the Cougs didn’t miss a beat at first. The team ran through their nonconference schedule posting a 9-2 record.

But then the seemingly inevitable Pac-12 stumble started. Two weeks into conference play, Wazzu found itself 1-3 in the Pac-12, with the lone win coming at home against last-place Oregon State. Were the Cougs going to take a page out of the football program’s playbook and Coug’ it yet again?

Spoiler alert: They didn’t. The Cougars recovered

By the end of the regular season, the Cougars were 23-8 overall and had cracked the Top 25. It’s already easily their best campaign since that 2008 team — one that ultimately made the Sweet Sixteen. And for Smith, it’s nice being able to fight from on top for a change.

“I think it’s just a new circumstance. We’ve been the hunters, the underdogs, forever,” Smith said with a laugh at a press conference earlier this month. “We’re getting some really good punches thrown at us.”

Like that 2008 team, this 2024 team has a shot to dance its way deep into the NCAA Tournament bracket. The 7-seed Cougars will get things started in Omaha against the 10-seed Drake Bulldogs on Thursday. It’s a challenging spot for WSU, as the Drake campus is just a two-hour drive from Omaha. A first round Cougs win could set up a showdown with 2-seed and Big 12 Tournament Champions Iowa State, who many experts thought deserved a 1-seed.

If they do make a run, the inspirational Rice — who won Pac-12 Freshman of the Year — will be vital. Which is fitting, because the third-year freshman is a lot like the Cougars as a whole. He was punched by cancer, but punched back and knocked it out. His team — as coach Smith says — is a counterpunching squad. They’ll take your best shot and throw an even better one right back. n

Left to right: Andrej Jakimovski, Myles Rice, Jaylen Wells ERICK DOXEY PHOTO

Hoopers

Hometown

A quick rundown of the local squads that made the Big Dance

BY WILL MAUPIN

Clockwise from upper left:

Yvonne Ejim

Jamie Loera

Anton Watson

Issac Jones

Gonzaga Women

(30-3, 4-seed - Portland Region)

The historic season rolls on for Gonzaga. It’s the best seed in program history — while head coach Lisa Fortier has twice guided the Zags to a 5-seed, the Zags have never been this high — and as a result the Zags get to host the first two rounds at home here in Spokane.

Yvonne Ejim (19.8 ppg, 8.5 rpg) and company will open against the Big West champs out of UC Irvine.

Gonzaga has not lost a game at home this season — the Zags’ last home loss came more than two years ago against BYU. By virtue of being named a top-4 seed, Gonzaga will host first and second round games at The Kennel. Should the team advance, they will play their second-weekend games in nearby Portland.

It’s as good of a draw as it gets for Gonzaga, in what has been arguably the best season Gonzaga women’s basketball has ever seen. Now it is time to capitalize on the rewards after such a phenomenal regular season, and those rewards are being delivered right to the Zags’ front door.

OPENING GAME: Gonzaga vs. 13-seed UC Irvine — Sat, March 23 at 4:30 pm on ESPN2

POTENTIAL SECOND ROUND OPPONENTS:

5-seed Utah or 12-seed South Dakota State

HWashington State Men

(24-9, 7-seed - East Region)

For the first time since 2008, the Washington State men’s basketball team is going dancing.

Unfortunately, that celebration was somewhat muted once fans of the Cougars realized that their team will have to play the Drake Bulldogs basically down the road from its campus. Drake is the lower seed, but their campus in Des Moines, Iowa, is a quick two-hour drive from Omaha.

So much for the better-seeded Cougars getting preferential treatment.

Wazzu will have some familiarity with their foes as WSU senior guard Joseph Yesufu began his collegiate career at Drake. That said, the senior is unlikely to play, as he’s been out with an injury since November.

Washington State’s first NCAA appearance since 2008 will last as long as freshman guard Myles Rice (15.1 ppg) and senior forward Isaac Jones (15.4 ppg) can keep the Cougars alive.

Wazzu’s toughness will be challenged in the opener against a Drake team that crashes the glass as hard as any team in the country.

OPENING GAME: WSU vs. 10-seed Drake — Thu, March 21 at 7:05 pm on TruTV

POTENTIAL SECOND ROUND OPPONENTS: 2-seed Iowa State or 15-seed South Dakota State

Eastern Washington Women

(29-5, 14-seed - Albany Region)

Head coach Joddie Gleason’s group has won 13 straight games and they’re now flying into a date with the Beavers in Corvallis.

The Eagles are heading to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1986 after winning the Big Sky Tournament. Their 29-5 record is by far the best in program history — the Eagles’ previous best in terms of wins was 21, a number they have easily outdone this season.

Sophomore guard Aaliyah Alexander leads the way with 14.7 points and 4.7 rebounds per game, but the Federal Way, Washington, product is far from the only local player on the roster. There are 11 Washingtonians who suit up for EWU, including three from the Spokane area.

Lewis and Clark High School’s Jacinta Buckley is averaging a strong 9.8 points and 6.1 rebounds per game as the local anchor to the Eagles’ interior attack.

OPENING GAME: Eastern Washington vs. 3-seed Oregon State — Fri, March 22 at 5 pm

ROUND OPPONENTS: 6-seed Nebraska or 11-seed Texas A&M

Gonzaga Men

(25-7, 5-seed - Midwest Region)

Just over a month ago, this team wasn’t making the NCAA Tournament. My, how times can change. Now a 5-seed, Gonzaga is not only in the Big Dance but is favored to win at least one game. Considering their track record — the Zags have made it to at least the Sweet Sixteen in every NCAA Tournament since 2015 — one game might be a bit of an underestimate.

Creighton transfer Ryan Nembhard has figured out how to fit his 6.7 assists per game into the team’s offense, and Wyoming transfer Graham Ike is delivering the goods with 16.5 points per game.

The Zags have found an attack that is hard to stop, and their opening round opponent is not a defense-minded team. A date with an injury-depleted Kansas squad looks enticing for the second round.

OPENING GAME:

Gonzaga vs. 12-seed McNeese State — Thu, March 21 at 4:25 pm on TBS

POTENTIAL SECOND ROUND

OPPONENTS: 4-seed Kansas or 13-seed Samford

New Bulldogs, Old Tricks

Gonzaga freshman guard Dusty Stromer was born on Aug. 9, 2003. He’s 20 years old. Not only has GU never missed an NCAA Tournament in Stromer’s lifetime, the Zags have been a top 4 seed a majority of those years and a No. 1 seed more often than a double digit seed.

For the players on this year’s squad, Gonzaga being elite is a given.

But after an uncharacteristically choppy season, the Zags aren’t expected to make a deep tourney run. Instead of playing here in Spokane, they’re a somewhat surprising 5-seed — sent off to Salt Lake City to play an upset-minded McNeese State Team. And the reward for a potential victory would likely be fellow perennial national title contender Kansas. Not only is nobody picking the Zags to make the Final Four, the Vegas oddsmakers predict this year will mark the end of GU’s ultraimpressive streak of making eight straight Sweet 16s.

So now it’s time to see if Gonzaga still has that (under)dog in ’em.

GThe Gonzaga men need to embrace the identity that put the program on the map - underdogs

BY SETH SOMMERFELD

onzaga built its name as the plucky team from somewhere in Washington that isn’t Seattle (those exist?!?) with a name that nobody could pronounce correctly (and some national basketball analysts somehow still can’t).

The team that put the school on the map (and probably saved the university from financial freefall) was the 1998-99 squad. The 10-seed Zags improbably pulled off three upsets to reach the Elite Eight. It was a pure distillation of what people love about watching the early rounds of the tourney — the small school playing better team basketball to knock off the more established power teams with bigger stars. It’s a formula that this year’s Zags need to follow in order to make any noise.

For the first few months of this season, Mark Few’s guys looked like they might not even make the tournament. Point guard Ryan Nembhard seemed to lack a feel for the game, sprinting up the floor with no control. Nolan Hickman, Nembhard and Stromer couldn’t hit an outside shot to save their lives. Graham Ike was solid,

but seemed a step show. The Zags came up short in every big nonconference game.

While Gonzaga fans have admittedly been spoiled by the program’s success, it was a depressing slog to watch a GU team play so disjointedly after years of elite free-flowing basketball grace.

But things turned around when Ben Gregg replaced Stromer in the starting lineup. Ike started dominating in the post. Nembhard found some much-needed pace control and his distributor groove. The guards started hitting from the behind the arc. And the wins against teams like Kentucky followed.

The Bulldogs won 14 of 15 games, and the narrative flipped to “Why did all these haters ever not believe in this Zags team?” But don’t let anyone gaslight you with that line of thinking — the team was unfun and not great. More importantly, that line of thinking discounts how much the players and coaching staff have worked to

improve throughout the season.

But the good vibes hit a wall in the WCC Championship Game against St. Mary’s. The ugly play reemerged as the Gaels knocked off GU while holding them to a gross season-low total of 60 points.

Was that last game a fluke? Or was the fluke actually the hot stretch, when the Zags were beating down conference opponents during an extremely down year for the WCC?

We’ll have our answer after this week’s NCAA Tournament action.

In order for GU to keep its Sweet 16 streak alive they need to tap into that defiant “nobody believes in us” passion. For this year’s Zags to live up to the new expectations for the program, they need to play with that old Gonzaga spirit. The Bulldogs need to embrace being underdogs once again. n

These Bulldogs want to prove that they’re not all bark and no bite. ERICK DOXEY PHOTO

DANCE

Dancing Around the World

Alegría

Dance is celebrating its first year with a gala showcasing styles and dancers from near and far

BY SUMMER SANDSTROM

Dance is all about expression, movement, freedom and community. Alegría Dance & Entertainment strives to make the art accessible to everyone, regardless of their experience level.

The Spokane-based company was founded in January 2023 by Jesse Rennaker, who spent four years dancing in Los Angeles before returning to the Inland Northwest.

“I wanted to start something here locally in Spokane and bring the knowledge and my experiences dancing outside of Spokane to the area,” Rennaker says.

Alegría started with about five dancers and now has more than 20. The company primarily focuses on Latinbased dance styles, like salsa, bachata and hustle, but Rennaker says one of his goals is to expose both dancers and audiences to a wider array of styles, including hiphop or jazz.

Currently, the group offers two types of classes: weekly training sessions for its core dancers, including rehearsals and performances, and classes open to the public.

“You could take one class only, or you could take all of them,” Rennaker says. “We offer that also for people that want to have an outlet to dance but are just not on the same schedule as people that might have more interest or time to be able to connect consistently to dance training and practicing.”

Alegría has performed a number of times in Spokane, and also at events in Las Vegas, Portland, Denver and Seattle this past year.

The company frequently invites dancers from outside the area to perform and teach classes as well, further broadening the styles of dance that can be experienced locally.

“We bring in other professional dance artists that are from countries where some of these dances originated, or [who] have many years of experience in those specific dance styles, and they provide classes to the public and they also do shows,” Rennaker says. “We brought in a total of 17 professionals last year, and they were from places like Cuba, Mexico, New York, Miami — just all around the world.”

To mark Alegría’s one-year anniversary, the company is throwing a Hollywood Glamour-themed gala. An introductory salsa partnerwork lesson kicks off the evening, which also includes dinner and a cash bar before the evening’s performances. Honduran guitarist Josue Castro plays live during the dinner hour.

A number of other Spokane-area dance groups, including Quiero Flamenco and Vytal Movement Dance, are set to perform in addition to Alegría’s dancers. Guests Ahtoy Juliana and Edwin Tolentino from New York City; Alién Ramírez from Cuba, and two dancers from Miami’s C.A.M. Dance Company are also on the program.

All of these guest dancers are leading classes before the gala as well, with sessions on the Latin hustle, bachata, salsa caleña and more. Interested members of the public can find a complete schedule and sign up for a session ($20-$60) on EventBrite.

“When people go to the gala, they can see what Latin hustle looks like from the professional artists and then also take classes from the professional artist,” Rennaker says. “It’s basically trying to reinforce some of the things that we’re teaching in the classes and also trying to make a more diverse set of dance styles available to people.”

To cap off the evening Rennaker says there will be live DJ music from one of the company’s own members and, of course, dancing.

“What’s really unique about our event is that it’s really focused on the arts. It’s not supposed to be a community fundraiser, but more so a celebration of art and culture,” Rennaker says. “I hope people find something really cool to wear and they just come out and have a good time with us at the gala.” n

Alegría Gala: A Night of Elegance • Sat, March 23 from 5-10 pm • $75-$950 • Riverside Place

• 1110 W. Riverside Ave. • Facebook: Alegría Dance & Entertainment • Instagram: @dance.alegria

Alegría Dance founder Jesse Rennaker (center) performs a bachata with fellow company dancers. YOUNG KWAK PHOTO

IS TIKTOK WORTH IT?

One culture writer’s take on the potential TikTok ban, and why that’s not good

BY SUMMER SANDSTROM

TikTok is arguably my favorite social media platform.

You can watch videos of cats being silly, learn about upcoming astrological transits, keep up to date with the latest fashion trends — really, there’s a video of literally anything imaginable on that app.

But after the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill on March 13 seeking to ban the app in the U.S. unless it’s divested to a new owner — part of an ongoing battle that started in 2020 over concerns of the app’s Chinese ownership creating national security risks — the platform might vanish from our phones for good.

Don’t get it twisted, TikTok has its issues.

For one, the amount of time I’ve personally spent on the app — scrolling through video after video when I could’ve spent that large chunk of time on more meaningful, fulfilling tasks — is astounding. It’s addictive, and you can easily get stuck mindlessly doom scrolling.

Plus, misinformation can spread like crazy on TikTok (and every other social media platform), making it crucial that users research a topic or preface something they saw there with, “I saw this on TikTok but…”

TikTok also is a capitalist dream. When a product like Bloom Nutrition Greens & Superfoods Powder or Stanley Cups trends, your entire “For You Page” is often flooded with ad after ad trying to convince you to buy something.

It also makes comparing yourself to videos that document literal seconds of someone’s life, edited in an aesthetic way that leaves out anything negative, really easy. TikTok videos are also shared all over the internet, arguably contributing to the many mental health issues exacerbated by social media.

But, that’s part of living with social media and the internet. These apps have unfortunate effects on everyone, and it’s still uncharted territory we’re learning to navigate.

Even though TikTok definitely has its downsides, it’s a really cool platform in a variety of other ways.

It allows people to connect over niche interests and share relatable stories that wouldn’t be as widely accessible on other apps. TikTok lets people express themselves and their creativity in a really easy way that doesn’t require intensive knowledge of technology or the algorithm. And it brings light to social issues, be it global like the Israel-Palestine war or local like a small town recovering from a climate disaster.

There are a number of musicians, artists, authors and other creatives who’ve gone viral on the app and gained opportunities that may not have been available otherwise. While this example may be rare, TikTok definitely helps establish communities small and large.

In my opinion, the pros and cons of TikTok and its effect on users is heavily dependent on each individual. I love it, but also know plenty of people who hate it for very legitimate reasons.

That same statement can be applied to every social media platform, and they all store information about us. While there are laws each must abide by, that doesn’t make companies like Meta or X any less problematic, or mean that there aren’t concerns about the way they influence people and use their data.

The internet isn’t perfect, and it’s hackable. While this may be a slightly nihilistic Gen Z opinion, so much of our data is out there already and could be misused at any moment. Despite concerns about TikTok posing national security risks, especially in regards to how it could influence elections, I think it would be a shame to lose the platform altogether, assuming the Senate sides with the House’s decision and its Beijing-based owners don’t sell it.

It’s a really fun app, albeit addictive and slightly problematic at times, but it would be detrimental to lose access to the sense of connectedness and community that it’s built for so many. n

THE BUZZ BIN

BIGGER & BETTER

Crafters and creatives alike, rejoice! As of last Friday, March 15, Art Salvage Spokane has finally reopened in its new building on North Foothills Drive! The creative reuse nonprofit, which sells donated art supplies and other materials to keep them out of the waste stream, had operated in a small space on North Ash Street for five years, and was definitely ready for an upgrade by the time it announced its move in October 2023. The new space features a lobby and a large retail area full of salvaged goods and art supplies ripe for the picking. A grand opening celebration is happening on April 20, coinciding with Earth Day weekend. Learn more about Art Salvage’s mission and its programs at artsalvagespokane.com. (MADISON PEARSON)

FROM BOXING TO BASEBALL

In celebration of Black History Month, the Spokane Indians and The Black Lens newspaper partnered to unveil a new logo and uniform honoring Spokane civil rights advocate Carl Maxey. The new black-and-red uniforms will be worn by players on April 19 in conjunction with Jackie Robinson’s birthday, as well as on Juneteenth (June 19), with both games being dubbed “King Carl Night.” The logo depicts a red boxing glove with a golden crown on top. Laden with symbolism, the design nods to many of Maxey’s achievements and serves as a tribute to his civil rights activism, legacy in Spokane and the Spokane Indians’ ongoing commitment to support communities of color. A portion of all proceeds from King Carl-branded merchandise will be donated to the Sandy Williams Fund at the Carl Maxey Center. (MADISON PEARSON)

THIS WEEK’S PLAYLIST

Noteworthy new music arriving in stores and online on March 22.

WAXAHATCHEE, TIGER’S BLOOD

If you haven’t paid attention to indie folkie Katie Crutchfield’s ascent to becoming one of the best living American songwriters, now’s as good a time as any to jump on the proverbial bandwagon.

SHAKIRA, LAS MUJERES YA NO

LLORAN

After making it through a high-profile divorce and tax fraud case, the hip-shaking pop star’s 12th LP focuses on resilience (while still doing plenty of hip-shaking).

ROSIE TUCKER, UTOPIA NOW!

The pop rocker makes taking shots at capitalism sound so damn catchy on their latest album. (SETH SOMMERFELD)

The clock is ticking for TikTok...

SERE-iously Good Advice

Air Force women honored at Fairchild give advice on how to succeed, no matter who you are

BY ELIZA BILLINGHAM

Fifty years ago, women had just been allowed to compete in marathons, a feat that had previously been considered too physically demanding for a female body.

Today, Senior Airman Kortney James is a Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape (SERE) specialist and instructor for the Air Force, one of the most physically and mentally demanding jobs in the U.S. Armed Forces.

James was one of about a dozen women honored by Fairchild Air Force Base during a special Women’s History Month incentive flight. On March 9, an all-female maintenance crew readied a KC-135 Stratotanker to be flown by an all-female flight crew serving a group of allfemale honorees.

Each woman on the four-hour flight was chosen by a supervisor for being “outstanding” in their respective jobs, from office work to active service. Women make up about 20% of the workforce at Fairchild.

But instead of working, the group got to take a Friday morning off and spend it hanging out at cruising altitude, wandering into the cockpit to watch the pilots (wo) man the controls and laying side by side with the boom

operator as she refueled another Air Force jet midair.

“I love being able to come alongside other people in the military or outside the military and make them feel loved and supported,” says Christina May, the wife of an active duty Air Force serviceman and the organizer of the flight. “I definitely know as a spouse, it can feel lonely. I can only imagine [what] that’s [like] as an active duty member.”

One of the reasons James chose SERE in the first place was because of the camaraderie the intense program breeds.

“The pipeline was really a team dynamic that I craved,” James says. “I think that’s what makes this job super unique — the connections that you make, and the people that you get to engage with and make pretty much lifelong relationships [with], regardless of how short they are.”

James is small and compact, built but lean, with tightly curled hair neatly French-braided into pigtails. She’s relaxed in the early morning, sipping on a bright pink energy drink. Her training has prepared her to

survive in the Arctic and the desert, how to resist torture, how to keep herself going in desperate circumstances. She’s now responsible for training other military personnel on how to do the same in case they get shot down, lost or captured behind enemy lines.

Yes, she can do a lot of pull-ups and push-ups. Yes, she’s spent hours rucking through the forest. But the hardest part of the job isn’t physical, she says. It’s mental.

“Your mind ends up giving up before your body does, right?” she says. “People have so much more than what they think. I think that’s why they push us so much through training. I don’t think it could ever compare to somebody that’s actually isolated. Because if we give up, then how are we going to teach? How are we going to be an advocate for an isolated person?”

“Your mind ends up giving up before your body does, right? People have so much more than what they think.”

James opens the pocket flap on the sleeve above her right shoulder. Inside, there’s a small flipbook with a handwritten list on the first page.

“This is a notebook that I wrote three years ago,” she says. “I always keep it with me. I wrote things that I felt I needed to hear from myself to push me along.”

From an elite SERE specialist herself, here’s some advice no matter who you are, where you are in life, or what you’re trying to achieve:

1.) Just don’t quit. “It’s so simple. But as long as you don’t quit, that’s very powerful.”

2.) Remember your own “why.” “Everybody needs a purpose in their life, right? To go through any type of training, you need a ‘why’ behind it. If you don’t have a strong enough ‘why,’ I feel like a lot of people don’t make it.”

3.) Be confident. “Confidence can bring you such a long way. You know the saying, ‘Fake it till you make it?’ A lot of times, we do that throughout life.”

4.) Make small goals. “That way you can attain them, and it pushes you along further.”

5.) You are more than your physical capabilities. “People are going to fail a lot. I fail sometimes once a week, if not every single day. I’m learning constantly. And that’s what I love about this job — it’s an exponential amount of knowledge that you get to learn.”

6.) Imagine yourself already achieving your goals. “I saw myself being a specialist six months before I even joined. I said, ‘This is what I’m going to be, this is what I’m going to do. How do I want to portray myself? How do I want to help others? That really led me to just push through.”

7.) Know that you’re good enough regardless. “That’s an overall life thing. All of us just want to be enough, right? Regardless of what you go through, you’re enough, regardless of what that looks like. That’s a big one that I wanted to remind myself.”

8.) Continue to help and guide others. “That was my overall purpose of joining — to guide and help others. That was sort of my ‘why,’ but my ‘why’ changed so much. It changed throughout training, but my overall feeling of value that I got from this job was guiding others and just making those connections.”

9.) Remember that comfort is a silent killer. “I think that is something we can apply to life as well. Comfortability can destroy anyone. We have to continue to do things that are uncomfortable to push us along. That’s just part of life.” n

The 2024 honorees of Fairchild’s Women’s History Month incentive flight, including Kortney James (front row second from right). ELIZA BILLINGHAM PHOTO

LOCAL PRODUCT

PURE IMAGINATION

Inspire Motion Chocolates wants to change the way you — and the world— eat chocolate

BY ELIZA BILLINGHAM

Gwendolyn Koren’s grandmother’s maiden name was Hershey. Yes, that Hershey.

But today, the distant descendent of Milton Hershey himself is trying to upend the dairy-defined, over-refined chocolate industry that his empire practically rules.

“We have a really milked-down idea of what chocolate is,” Koren says.

She wanted to offer something more pure, more local, and more delicious.

In 2023, Koren launched Inspire Motion Chocolates, a line of dairy-free dark chocolate sweetened with raw honey from Spokane-area honey farms. The decadent, guilt-less morsels aim to change your life and change the world of cocoa. By ditching inflammatory ingredients, using only compostable packaging and taking advantage of unique local honey flavors, Koren offers customers sweet treats that are good for body, soul and planet.

“We know inspiration as that drive to do something, to be something or to change something, but ‘inspire’ is also ‘breathes,’” she says. “And then ‘motion’ is your mobility, yes, your ability to feel good and move and be active in your life, as well as the motion of those changes

in your psychology and your spirit. And in the bigger picture, with the packaging and the food ingredients, I want motion in the industry.”

Trios of small, flower-shaped chocolates can be found in and around Spokane at various price points (between $4.50 and $7) in places like Method Juice Cafe, My Fresh Basket, Garland Mercantile, Garden Spot Market and Floral, and Outlaw BBQ’s pastry case. If you’re a bride at Glover Mansion, you’ll find a custom box of Inspire Motion chocolates in your bridal suite for free. You can compost the packaging completely — the only remnants might be the chocolate smudges on your fingertips.

Koren cut dairy out of her diet for nutritional reasons as a late teen. When she was pregnant with her first son, she started experimenting with a paleo chocolate recipe, something that would satisfy her sweet tooth without flooding her gut with cream.

She perfected a recipe with just cocoa powder, coconut oil, salt and raw honey that she and her bodybuilder husband loved. She bought flower molds just to make the tiny treats prettier for her family.

Since they’re so minimally processed, the chocolates

don’t hold up the way a Snickers does. They need to be refrigerated, and they’re prone to gathering moisture. And they’re very much actually chocolate. The straight cocoa powder isn’t softened with milk, and although the raw honey plays perfectly with the bitter cocoa, it doesn’t cover it up. The flavors Koren adds are just as unapologetically strong and unique — lemon coconut, lavender, strawberry, orange or cayenne, plus classics like almond butter or peanut butter.

If you like dark chocolate and untouched, uninhibited flavor, you’ll love these tempting treats. As friends gradually snitched more and more from Koren’s stash of chocolates, they started asking if she would sell some sweet little florets to them, too.

“I heard it so many times, like, ‘This is the best chocolate that I’ve ever had,’” Koren says. “I was flattered, but I was also not interested. I had a little kid, and I’m really involved with my children. I do all the education at home. I want to be a present person and parent. But when my [second son] was born, I started thinking more seriously about what I wanted to do.”

If Koren took the chocolate idea seriously, she knew she would stick with her dairy-free recipe. Plus, using

“Sweets are important,” says Gwendolyn Koren. YOUNG KWAK PHOTOS

honey as a sweetener makes the chocolate a lower glycemic food and a better option for people managing diabetes.

But if Koren was going to put something on the shelf, she didn’t want to contribute to the plastic-forward packaging that dominates grocery stores and landfills.

“I wanted to make sure that I was still giving people something convenient that they can just grab off the shelf, but it’s totally compostable,” she says. “The label is compostable. The ink is compostable. The package is compostable, and it’s backyard compostable, too. You could bury this little package that you find in groceries and stores around town, and you can put it in your backyard and it’ll decay completely.”

This spring, Koren is releasing Easter-inspired candies like big bunnies filled with coconut whip, tiny chicks and eggs nestled in purple paper “nests,” and small pairs of bunny ears and bunny butts in eight different flavors.

“People love Easter candy, and they usually buy really low quality Easter candy,” she says. “So I’m challenging people to buy high quality Easter candy.”

On her chocolates’ boxes, Koren adds little blurbs like, “Chocolate should be a pleasure, and not a guilty one,” or “Challenge the norm.” But labeling food “good” or “bad,” “normal” or “weird,” “guilty” or “clean” can sometimes lead to a whole host of unhelpful thoughts about food.

“I think everybody has some sort of struggle with their relationship with food, because we’ve been inundated with so many different ideas our whole lives,” Koren says. “I definitely want people to have a healthy relationship with food. But it’s a very personal thing. Everybody has to take that into their own hands. How are they going to stop stressing out about food so much and be able to relax a little bit? There’s a difference between stressing about it and being aware of it.”

Koren graduated from massage school and spent years learning about the biomechanics of the body. She and her whole family are passionate about fitness, health and nutrition. But she doesn’t fixate on restrictions.

“We crave sweets when we actually need protein,” she says. “But sweets are important. It’s fun. It’s just part of life. So I don’t think that anybody should be denied that because of an allergen or if they’re counting their macros. Wherever they are in nutrition, the potential for having a sweet should still be there.”

Nutrition is a journey, Koren says, just like running a business is. Koren has big dreams for where Inspire Motion Chocolates could end up, eventually wanting her own name to be mentioned in the same breath as Hershey.

“My big vision with this is that I slowly expand to different cities, different states and different countries. In the 30-year plan, it’s everywhere, but there’s a kitchen in every locale that is sourcing honey from a local farmer. The chocolate will come out tasting different every time because of the flora or fauna, and it will be that much more special.” n

Follow Inspire Motion Chocolates on Instagram @inspiremotionchocolates, and message Koren there for special orders.

Pure lemony goodness.

OPENING IN THEATERS

GHOSTBUSTERS: FROZEN EMPIRE

When the new batch of Ghostbusters (Paul Rudd, Finn Wolfhard, Mckenna Grace) head to New York City to convene with the old Ghostbusters (Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson), they must stop an evil force looking to send the world into a new Ice Age. Literal spine chilling! Rated PG-13

IMMACULATE

Spokane’s Sydney Sweeney looks to add “Scream Queen” to her growing resume with this horror film where she plays a nun in a rural Italian convent who’s plagued by terrors after she experiences an immaculate conception. Rated R

THE PEASANTS

A bold adaptation of Władysław Reymont’s Nobel Prize-winning novel, this historical drama details the lives of peasants in a small village over the course of four seasons. But here’s the stunning hook — after shooting the film with actors, a team of 100+ painters made oil paintings of every shot to make this an elevated animated film for adults. Rated R At the Magic Lantern

ALSO OPENING:

LATE NIGHT WITH THE DEVIL PROBLEMISTA

LUCA (2021)

Road Trippin’

Pacific Drive offers up an immersive sci-fi Pacific Northwest driving gameplay with somewhat frustrating survival mechanics

BY DAVID SALTZMAN

Driving through the Olympic Peninsula is something of a Pacific Northwest rite of passage. It’s a landscape so unique and majestic it must be experienced firsthand: the primeval forests carved through by winding, tenuous roads, the violent coast and snowcapped mountains, and, of course, the disembodied voices calling out as you drive through shifting clouds of interdimensional mist.

Pacific Drive

The new car-based survival game Pacific Drive offers an evocative, atmospheric portrayal of a warped Pacific Northwest where you play as the caretaker of a spooky, beat-up station wagon trying to escape a walled-off Olympic Peninsula, which has become tragically haunted by science after a mysterious experiment goes wrong. Think Lost meets Little Miss Sunshine. Each expedition sends you and your jalopy out to explore another route through an enigmatic Olympic Exclusion Zone, unlocking traits and equipment you can then use to power up future runs and, eventually, to find your way home. Even if clunky mechanics prevent Pacific Drive from being the smoothest of rides, there’s intrigue to be found while unlocking the mysteries of the Zone.

crafting gadgets and maintaining your car. The better the whip, the better chance to dodge wandering chaos rifts as you navigate depressingly realistic weather conditions and reckon with a kind of wandering alien squid that’s always looking to knock your beloved wagon off into a tree. It is a fresh take on the survival genre, one that offers an even weirder and more unexpected version of the Olympic Peninsula than the real one (which is really saying something).

Available on Playstation 5 & PC

In practice, this means a lot of scavenging supplies,

The environment is absolutely the star: Warped by a kind of generic science accident, the fabric of reality itself is constantly shifting in the Zone. Distortion fields twist the landscape, roads blip in and out of reality as you drive over them, and strange creatures roam unseen beyond the trees. Walled off for decades and filled with the accident’s mysterious energy, the Zone has given rise to an unnatural ecosystem inhabited only by a few stranded researchers, their bygone experiments, various unnatural entities and, now, you. Despite all this weirdness — in part, because of it — the game’s version of the Olympic Peninsula feels uncannily authentic, the real and unreal complementing each other to depict a world both recognizable and deeply strange.

And what a gorgeous world it is. Pacific Drive excels at evoking the impressive physicality of the Pacific Northwest, from the majestic firs to the sheets of hanging moss to the misting rain that blows in and lasts for days. The best parts of Pacific Drive involve winding through the forest on a dirt road that’s turning to mud beneath your tires and you can barely see the robots for the raindrops streaking across your windshield, your wagon almost out of gas but with just enough to make it home… as long as you don’t go look down that one last side road. But… you’ve just got to pull off and look. That’s the beauty and the horror of Pacific Drive — you’ve always got to look.

Unfortunately, one reason you’ve always got to look is that the fiddly crafting aspects of the game often require it of you. The driving controls, for their part, are taut and accessible, and the in-cockpit controls are both intuitive and surprisingly immersive, but remaining gameplay is your standard survival fare: scavenging, crafting, durability-watching, and walking just a little slower than you’d like.

This would all be more tolerable if harnessed to a plot and characters able to bear the moment-to-moment narrative, but the atmospheric complexity of Pacific Drive is largely skin-deep. While the scientists you meet are entertaining, funny and useful as generators of chummy exposition, they’re also very familiar. We’ve met these stereotypes before — the jaded idealist, the curious junior partner, the disgruntled artisan with a heart of gold — and these versions will do the job and nothing more. They carry, but do not lift. The plot is much the same: While the first hints are enthralling, it ultimately lacks the substance of the best science-fiction worlds, compensating for its lack of depth with atmospheric weirdness.

That’s ultimately the conundrum of Pacific Drive: It delivers a wildly interesting PNW world to explore… only to make you do some very boring things in it. n

The Olympic Peninsula has never been this eerie...

VIDEO GAME REVIEW

Alien Nation

Netflix’s 3 Body Problem finds the Game of Thrones creators struggling to adapt the complex sci-fi novels

BY JOSH BELL

Like the George R.R. Martin novels that David Benioff and D.B. Weiss adapted into their mega-hit HBO fantasy series Game of Thrones, Chinese author Cixin Liu’s Remembrance of Earth’s Past sci-fi trilogy has a massive fan following for its intricate world-building and sweeping, epic narrative. So their new Netflix series based on Liu’s books comes with extraordinarily high expectations. Co-created by Benioff, Weiss and Alexander Woo, 3 Body Problem (titled after the first book) is an ambitious but disjointed sci-fi epic about an impending alien invasion, without the sprawling grandeur that Benioff and Weiss brought to Game of Thrones.

Oxford-educated physicists, all of whom are drawn into a worldwide conspiracy related to the apparent breakdown of basic laws of physics. Theoretical physicist Jin Cheng (Jess Hong) is the closest that 3 Body Problem has to a protagonist, a smart and determined scientist who discovers a mysterious virtual reality game that tasks its players with saving a seemingly doomed world.

3 Body Problem

Created by David Benioff, D.B.

Weiss, Alexander Woo

Starring Jess Hong, Benedict Wong, Liam Cunningham

Liu’s novels are set in China during the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s and ’70s and feature mostly Chinese characters, and there’s already a Chinese liveaction adaptation (Three-Body, which streams in the U.S. on Peacock).

Streaming on Netflix

So it’s reasonable that Benioff, Weiss and Woo relocate most of the story to the Englishspeaking world, although it comes at the loss of some cultural specificity. They haven’t just transposed the narrative to another setting, though — they’ve also essentially invented a new central ensemble, giving the characters dull interpersonal drama that feels especially inconsequential in the face of Earth’s potential conquest from the stars.

The most engaging storyline in 3 Body Problem sticks closest to Liu’s original conception. After witnessing the public execution of her university professor father, fellow physicist Ye Wenjie (Zine Tseng) is forcibly recruited by the military to work at an isolated clandestine outpost with a purpose far greater than merely competing with other nations. In the early episodes, Ye’s story alternates with the less compelling present-day scenes, as her actions decades ago bring about startling global consequences.

Tseng is fantastic as the stubborn, almost nihilistic young Ye, and Rosalind Chao plays the older, more subdued Ye with a quieter kind of authority. She’s connected to a group of five

The plodding virtual reality scenes, which dominate the first half of the eight-episode season, are dreadful, with shockingly ugly special effects for a series with such a huge budget. The game itself is just an elaborate expository device, which gets dropped once the characters learn about what’s really going on. Outside the game, Jin and her friends all eventually encounter the operatives of a secret agency dedicated to investigating the consequences of Ye’s past decisions, including Benedict Wong as an amusingly grumpy former cop and Liam Cunningham as the agency’s condescending, arrogant leader.

In addition to Cunningham, the cast includes fellow Game of Thrones alums John Bradley and Jonathan Pryce, both of whom are wasted in relatively small parts. Benioff, Weiss and Woo build a large cast of characters but fail to make any of them interesting, and while the creators barrel through plot elements from all three of Liu’s books, they drag the show down with tiresome bickering among Jin and her increasingly irritating former classmates.

Liu’s novels are known for their attention to scientific detail, and 3 Body Problem understandably tones much of that down for the Netflix audience. Yet what’s left just comes off as a generic alien invasion story that takes itself way too seriously, with some strange, half-formed ideas at the edges. The acting is passable but never affecting, the scope feels limited, and the attempts at philosophical discourse are clumsy at best. Whatever captivated American readers when the novel was first translated into English in 2014 is barely evident in this ungainly, forgettable TV series. n

The Americanized version of the Chinese sci-fi tome is lacking.

The Bitch is Back

POP ROCK

Resting(Prism)Bitchfaces.

MELANIE RADFORD PHOTO

Albuquerque’s Prism Bitch combines energetic rock bliss with theatrical flair

BY SETH SOMMERFELD

It’s almost cliché at this point, but Prism Bitch started the exact same way as every other legendary band that resides in the pantheon of epic rock…

…as an experimental theater project.

On second thought, Prism Bitch might be a tad atypical.

And that’s a very good thing.

It all began in Albuquerque, New Mexico, when Chris Walsh and Lauren Poole had the idea of putting together a production for the local Blackout Theatre Company back in 2015. The show was going to be based around Walsh playing a guard at a women’s prison who’s formed a band with some of the inmates and sneaks them out to play shows at bars and clubs. But that type of musical theatrical experience requires one little thing the duo was lacking at the time — an actual band.

So Walsh picked up his guitar, Poole learned how to play bass, and the pair recruited drummer Teresa Cruces and new-in-town singer/guitarist/ keyboardist Lilah Rose to try to give their theoretical theater piece the musical zest it required.

But there was just one major “problem” — playing together as a band was a lot more invigorating than the actual theatrical project.

“The first show we ever performed was at a punk rock open mic night. And we had seen Lilah perform solo stuff, but we had never performed with her,” Poole says. “She’s just really good at following her instincts and it isn’t contrived at all. And so she’s like running around with the tambourine around her neck, like running out into the audience. And me and Chris are like, ‘Oh, this is going to be a really fun f---king band.’”

The music that pours out of Prism Bitch is riotously fun. Much of the band’s pop rock overflows with mirth like the buzzing innuendo-filled “In N Out” (from their most recent LP, 2021’s Perla) or the recently released, gleefully vapid weekend party anthem single “City Nights.” But the group attacks things with a love and friendship ethos, so there’s sincerity among all the silliness. That emotionality shines through on tunes like the melancholy but uplifting “Starlight,” which was written after the band went through some personal losses.

“I think laughing and crying are just different sides of the same coin,” says Walsh.

“Humor doesn’t mean you’re not talking about something serious,” Poole adds. “You have to laugh or you’ll cry.”

Because the band started as a play, there’s always been an inherent theatricality to Prism Bitch. Not only does that bent include the sweet manic energy the group performs with each night, but also in its coordinated fashion choices: colorful tracksuits, pilot and stewardess garb, matching jumpsuits, etc.

“Lauren is a costume designer and went to school for that,” Rose points out. “She is really good at taking whatever costumes we get and personalizing them and making them look good on us. We’re all from different sporting backgrounds

and theater backgrounds, so we like uniforms and we like costumes.”

“It’s also fun to get into a headspace before a show where you’re like, ‘Alright, I’m going to put on my rock outfit and rock,’” adds Poole. “Because whatever tiredness that seeps in from traveling or driving through gas stations in your regular day clothes, it is kind of a cool headspace to slide into when you put on your band outfit.”

Hailing from the outsider art outpost that is Albuquerque certainly is embedded in Prism Bitch’s DNA. Part of what made the members fall in love with being in the band was its just initially being just another artistic side project, something that living in their New Mexico city offered the bandwidth to explore.

“Albuquerque has a small scene, but it’s filled with a lot of weird weirdness. That’s definitely informed what we do,” says Walsh. “There’s kind of a BS barometer in Albuquerque. They can smell when something is fake or not genuine. And that keeps you in check a lot.”

“Especially when we started, Albuquerque was one of the cheaper places where you could live and actually work a job where you’re working like 30 hours a week or less, and you can pay rent. And then you have time to do whatever artistic thing that doesn’t pay you that you want to do,” says Poole. “As we got touring, and we were meeting bands that lived in bigger markets like LA, I personally felt really grateful because the vibe creating out of somewhere like Albuquerque is that you’re doing it because you love it, not because you’re able to make money. You have the opportunity to follow your own instincts and not feel like, “Uh oh, there’s a trend I’m missing.’”

One of those people in bands that they met while touring was Built to Spill’s Doug Martsch. After hearing he’d watched a Prism Bitch set at Boise’s Treefort Music Fest, the band approached him after he played a set with his other band Treepeople and literally just asked if Prism Bitch could open for Built to Spill next time the group toured through Albuquerque.

“If you don’t ask, it’s not going to just happen,” Poole says.

It turned out to be fortuitous because not only did the band become one of Built to Spill’s go-to touring mates (a club that also includes Spokane’s own hiss punk queens Itchy Kitty), but Cruces actually joined up as Built to Spill’s drummer starting in 2019.

After making another Treefort venture this week, Prism Bitch will head north to kick off a mini tour alongside pals Itchy Kitty with a sure-to-be-overly-packed gig at Pacific Ave Pizza. Expect a blast of effortless fun, because that’s the only way Prism Bitch operates.

“When our personalities come together, we just end up having fun,” says Poole. “If you try to do it, then I don’t think it comes through as genuine.” n

Spokane String Quartet

WITH GUEST CELLIST JOHN MARSHALL AND VIOLIST SARAH BASS

3 P.M. SUNDAY, MA R CH 24

BI NG C ROSBY THE ATE R

Fr an z Sc hub ert: De a th and the Ma id en

W .A Moz art: Vio la Quintet

J oh n Ad ams : Fe ll ow Tr av e le r

ALL SEATS GENERAL ADMISSION ADULTS $25 SENIORS $20 UNDER 18 AND STUDENTS WITH ID FREE

ww w.s pokanestring q ua r tet.or g

RAP DANNY BROWN

INDIE ROCK MICHAEL CERA PALIN

Admittedly, Danny Brown is somewhat of an acquired taste. The Detroit rapper certainly stands out from the pack with his often abrasive and high-pitched nasal voice, one that proves too big a hurdle for some hip-hop heads. But those who aren’t turned off by his atypical delivery tend to love it. Pretty much every album he puts out receives loads of critical praise and is a near-lock to make most major publications’ year-end lists. This includes both of his 2023 efforts: Quaranta and his collaborative record with JPEGMafia Scaring the Hoes. Brown’s unique style is also beloved among fellow artists, having shared tracks with everyone from Kendrick Lamar and Eminem to Insane Clown Posse and Run the Jewels. They’re all down with the Brown… are you?

— SETH SOMMERFELD

Danny Brown, Hook, Bruiser Wolf • Wed, March 27 at 8 pm • $28 • All ages • Knitting Factory • 919 W. Sprague Ave. • sp.knittingfactory.com

Thursday, 3/21

J BING CROSBY THEATER, Mania: The ABBA Tribute CHAN’S RED DRAGON ON THIRD, Thursday Night Jam CHECKERBOARD TAPROOM, Weathered Shepherds

J J KNITTING FACTORY, GWAR, Cancer Bats, Fuming Mouth

J MCCRACKEN’S PUB AND BBQ, Sentimental Journey

J QQ SUSHI & KITCHEN, Just Plain Darin

RED ROOM LOUNGE, Hip-Hop Night

ZOLA, The Rub

Friday, 3/22

AK ASIAN RESTAURANT, Gil Rivas

J THE BIG DIPPER, Buffalo Jones, Silver Treason, Betsy Rogue

BOLO’S BAR & GRILL, Laketown Sound

CHAN’S RED DRAGON ON THIRD, Eternal Jones

CHINOOK STEAK, SEAFOOD & PASTA, Echo Elysium

CUTTER THEATRE, Kosh

THE DISTRICT BAR, Desperate Electric, RCA

J THE GRAIN SHED, Haywire

IOLITE LOUNGE, Jayden Cornett

IRON HORSE (CDA), Heather King Band

KNITTING FACTORY, 2000s Party

MOOSE LOUNGE, Karma’s Circle

NIGHTHAWK LOUNGE (CDA CASINO), Pastiche

PEND D’OREILLE WINERY, Oak Street Connection

RED ROOM LOUNGE, Live DJs

THE RIDLER PIANO BAR, Just Plain Darin RIVAURA, Pamela Benton ZOLA, Robot Love

Saturday, 3/23

J THE BIG DIPPER, Hayes Noble, Sick Pay Holiday, Dry Ice, Kneebone

J BING CROSBY THEATER, Laurel Canyon Legacy

BOLO’S BAR & GRILL, Laketown Sound

BULLHEAD SALOON, Usual Suspects

J CAFE COCO, B

THE CHAMELEON, Summertime Sadness

CHAN’S RED DRAGON ON THIRD, Tuck Foster and the Tumbling Dice

CHINOOK STEAK, SEAFOOD & PASTA, Echo Elysium

HISTORIC DAVENPORT HOTEL, Thomas Pletscher Trio IRON HORSE (CDA), Heather King Band

J KNITTING FACTORY, Emo Nite MOOSE LOUNGE, Karma’s Circle NIGHTHAWK LOUNGE (CDA CASINO), Pastiche

PEND D’OREILLE WINERY, Kosh

RED ROOM LOUNGE, Live DJs ROSE GARAGE BREWING CO., Just Plain Darin

J SIRINYA’S THAI RESTAURANT, Pamela Jean SPOKANE TRIBE CASINO, Soul Proprietor

TAPS BAR AT SCHWEITZER, Quarter Monkey ZOLA, Mister Sister

Sunday, 3/24

If you couldn’t tell from the elite strained-pun band name, Atlanta rock trio Michael Cera Palin has a pretty decent sense of humor. But the group isn’t a one-joke pony. The band’s sound mixes the sonic elements of indie rock, emo and pop punk with some incredibly dense literate lyrics. Not a ton of bands casually drop lines like “Oh, the casualty of casualties for some cheap crypto-valhalla for hellhounds!” (“Crypto”) or “When transient scripts rarely strike so deeply by their resemblance, do you hate me or am I just hard to please?” (“Bono!! Bono!!”). Calling to mind artists as disparate as AJJ and Jonathan Coulton, MCP offers a jolt of fresh sonic fun.

— SETH SOMMERFELD

Michael Cera Palin, Dream Machine, Inside Slurs, Hell Motel • Sun, March 24 at 7:30 pm • $15 • All ages • The Big Dipper • 171 S. Washington St. • thebigdipperspokane.com

J J THE BIG DIPPER, Michael Cera Palin, Dream Machine, Inside Slurs, Hell Motel CURLEY’S, Theresa Edwards Band THE DISTRICT BAR, Moon Walker, Mom Rock HOGFISH, Open Mic KNITTING FACTORY, Shrek Rave

J J NORTHERN QUEST CASINO, Melissa Etheridge

J SOUTH HILL GRILL, Just Plain Darin

Monday, 3/25

J J THE BIG DIPPER, Ché Aimee Dorval, Light In Mirrors, Nathan Chartrey

EICHARDT’S PUB, Monday Night Blues Jam with John Firshi

J PACIFIC AVE PIZZA, Prisim Bitch, Itchy Kitty, Iron Chain RED ROOM LOUNGE, Open Mic Night

Tuesday, 3/26

THE CHAMELEON, Wild Party, Bhudda Trixie PEND D’OREILLE WINERY, Jennifer Stoehner ZOLA, Jerry Lee and the Groove

Wednesday, 3/27

BACKWOODS WHISKEY BAR, Brenden McCoy

J THE BIG DIPPER, Pink Fuzz, Children of Atom, Where?

J BING CROSBY THEATER, Jump: America’s Van Halen Experience

J = THE INLANDER RECOMMENDS THIS SHOW

J = ALL AGES SHOW

THE DRAFT ZONE, The Draft Zone Open Mic

J J FIRST INTERSTATE CENTER, Disney Princess: The Concert

J J KNITTING FACTORY, Danny Brown, Hook, Bruiser Wolf

PEND D’OREILLE WINERY, Bob Beadling

RED ROOM LOUNGE, Red Room Lounge Jam

J TIMBERS ROADHOUSE, Cary Beare Presents

J ZEEKS PIZZA, Carli Osika

Coming Up ...

J J THE PODIUM, Dethklok, DragonForce, Nekrogoblikon, April 28, 7 pm.

J J THE BIG DIPPER, Not For Nothing: Circles Album Release Show with Pulling 4 Victory, Thundergun Express, Her Memory, May 3, 7 pm.

J J NORTHERN QUEST CASINO, Boyz II Men, May 15, 7:30 pm.

J J SPOKANE ARENA, Lil Wayne, Kash and King, May 16, 8 pm.

J J KNITTING FACTORY, Metal Mayhem: Outer Resistance, Enemy Mine, Mezzanine, Fate Defined, Dayshadow, May 18, 8 pm.

J J THE BIG DIPPER, Agent Orange, Messer Chups, The Dilrods, May 22, 7:30 pm.

J J KNITTING FACTORY, Portugal. The Man, Reyna Tropical, May 23, 8 pm.

J J GORGE AMPHITHEATER, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Ken Carson, Irontom, May 31, 7 pm.

J J KNITTING FACTORY, The Wallflowers, June 1, 8 pm.

J J NORTHERN QUEST CASINO, Daryl Hall, Elvis Costello & The Imposters, Charlie Sexton, June 4, 7 pm.

J J KNITTING FACTORY, Taking Back Sunday, Citizen, June 6, 8 pm.

J J NORTHERN QUEST CASINO, Third Eye Blind, Yellowcard, Arizona, June 8, 6:30 pm.

J J THE BIG DIPPER, The HIRS Collective, Psychic Death, Blacktracks, Spooky, June 11, 7:30 pm.

J GORGE AMPHITHEATER, Beyond Wonderland, June 22 & 23.

J J GORGE AMPHITHEATER, Noah Kahan, June 29.

J J GORGE AMPHITHEATER, Odesza, Tinlicker, Drama, Golden Features, July 4, 7:30 pm.

J GORGE AMPHITHEATER, Odesza, Bob Moses, Drama, Golden Features, July 5, 7:30 pm.

J GORGE AMPHITHEATER, Odesza, Ben Böhmer, Drama, Golden Features, July 6, 7:30 pm.

J J GORGE AMPHITHEATER, Blink-182, Pierce the Veil, July 14, 7 pm.

MUSIC | VENUES

219 LOUNGE • 219 N. First Ave., Sandpoint • 208-263-5673

ARBOR CREST WINE CELLARS • 4705 N. Fruit Hill Rd., Spokane Valley • 509-927-9463

BABY BAR • 827 W. First Ave. • 509-847-1234

BARRISTER WINERY • 1213 W. Railroad Ave. • 509-465-3591

BEE’S KNEES WHISKY BAR • 1324 W. Lancaster Rd.., Hayden • 208-758-0558

BERSERK • 125 S. Stevens St. • 509-315-5101

THE BIG DIPPER • 171 S. Washington St. • 509-863-8098

BIGFOOT PUB • 9115 N. Division St. • 509-467-9638

BING CROSBY THEATER • 901 W. Sprague Ave. • 509-227-7638

BLACK DIAMOND • 9614 E. Sprague Ave. • 509891-8357

BOLO’S BAR & GRILL • 116 S. Best Rd., Spokane Valley • 509-891-8995

BOOMERS CLASSIC ROCK BAR • 18219 E. Appleway Ave., Spokane Valley • 509-368-9847

BUCER’S COFFEEHOUSE PUB • 201 S. Main St., Moscow • 208-596-0887

THE BULL HEAD • 10211 S. Electric St., Four Lakes • 509-838-9717

CHAN’S RED DRAGON • 1406 W. Third Ave. • 509-838-6688

COEUR D’ALENE CASINO • 37914 S. Nukwalqw St., Worley • 800-523-2464

COEUR D’ALENE CELLARS • 3890 N. Schreiber Way, Coeur d’Alene • 208-664-2336

CRUISERS BAR & GRILL • 6105 W Seltice Way, Post Falls • 208-446-7154

CURLEY’S HAUSER JUNCTION • 26433 W. Hwy. 53, Post Falls • 208-773-5816

THE DISTRICT BAR • 916 W. 1st Ave. • 509-244-3279

EICHARDT’S PUB • 212 Cedar St., Sandpoint • 208-263-4005

FIRST INTERSTATE CENTER FOR THE ARTS • 334 W. Spokane Falls Blvd. • 509-279-7000

FOX THEATER • 1001 W. Sprague Ave. • 509-624-1200

IRON HORSE • 407 E. Sherman, Coeur d’Alene • 208-667-7314

IRON HORSE BAR & GRILL • 11105 E. Sprague Ave., Spokane Valley • 509-926-8411

JOHN’S ALLEY • 114 E. Sixth St., Moscow • 208-883-7662

KNITTING FACTORY • 911 W. Sprague Ave. • 509-244-3279

MARYHILL WINERY • 1303 W. Summit Pkwy. • 509-443-3832

THE MASON JAR • 101 F St., Cheney • 509-359-8052

MAX AT MIRABEAU • 1100 N. Sullivan Rd., Spokane Valley • 509-922-6252

MILLIE’S • 28441 Hwy 57, Priest Lake • 208-443-0510

MOOSE LOUNGE • 401 E. Sherman Ave., Coeur d’Alene • 208-664-7901

MOOTSY’S • 406 W. Sprague Ave. • 509-838-1570

NASHVILLE NORTH • 6361 W. Seltice Way, Post Falls • 208-457-9128

NORTHERN QUEST RESORT & CASINO • 100 N. Hayford Rd., Airway Heights • 877-871-6772

NYNE BAR & BISTRO • 232 W. Sprague Ave. • 509-474-1621

PEND D’OREILLE WINERY • 301 Cedar St., Sandpoint • 208-265-8545

THE PODIUM • 511 W. Dean Ave. • 509-279-7000

POST FALLS BREWING CO. • 112 N. Spokane St., Post Falls • 208-773-7301

RAZZLE’S BAR & GRILL • 10325 N. Government Way, Hayden • 208-635-5874

RED ROOM LOUNGE • 521 W. Sprague Ave. • 509-838-7613

THE RIDLER PIANO BAR • 718 W. Riverside Ave. • 509-822-7938

SEASONS OF COEUR D’ALENE • 1004 S. Perry St. • 208-664-8008

SPOKANE ARENA • 720 W. Mallon Ave. • 509-279-7000

SOUTH PERRY LANTERN • 12303 E. Trent Ave., Spokane Valley • 509-473-9098

STEAM PLANT • 159 S. Lincoln St. • 509-777-3900

STORMIN’ NORMAN’S SHIPFACED SALOON • 12303 E. Trent Ave., Spokane Valley • 509-862-4852

TRANCHE • 705 Berney Dr., Wall Walla • 509-526-3500

ZOLA • 22 W. Main Ave. • 509-624-2416

COMMUNITY HELP WANTED

As the saying goes, it takes a village. And for community-centric nonprofits, that sentiment is even truer. For those looking to lend their time, talents or other resources to help make the Inland Northwest a better place for all, the historic Woman’s Club of Spokane is hosting nearly two dozen local nonprofits for its Volunteer Fair, an event that club leadership hopes to see return annually as part of Women’s History Month. Among the groups tabling the event are Feast World Kitchen, Meals on Wheels, Habitat for Humanity, the Jonah Project, Thrive International and many others. To encourage folks to drop by and learn about volunteer needs and how to get involved with a nonprofit whose mission speaks to them, the event offers free lunch.

— CHEY SCOTT

Spokane Volunteer Fair • Sat, March 23 from 11 am-4 pm • Free • Woman’s Club of Spokane • 1428 W. Ninth Ave. • thewomansclubofspokane.org

VISUAL ARTS LET IT FLOW

A lot of anxieties come with being human, including the worry that we aren’t doing enough. It’s hard to be inspired to make change when uncertainty about our planet’s climate looms overhead and takes up precious brain space. To help navigate this unique grief, local artist Elyse Hochstadt and grief recovery specialist Elle McSharry facilitate this art-focused workshop that allows participants to explore their grief and anxiety related to climate change through the process of wet felting a tear-shaped piece of art, active listening and optional sharing. The tear each participant creates is meant to acknowledge that grief and will become a part of the River of Tears sculpture, a living memorial in recognition of this uncertain moment in time.

— MADISON PEARSON

River of Tears • Sat, March 23 from 1-5:15 pm • $25 suggested donation • Shotgun Studios • 1625 W. Water Ave. • fb.me/ e/9TOVwcZnp

MUSIC POP PRINCESSES

Calling all Disney-loving adults and their children: If you know every word of “Let It Go” by heart, you’ll want to check out the upcoming Disney Princess: The Concert. Immerse yourself in princess-sung classics like “A Whole New World” and “Just Around the Riverbend,” performed by Broadway professionals Alyssa Fox (she’s currently on standby as Elsa in Broadway’s Frozen), Syndee Winters (playing The Lion King’s Nala on Broadway) and Hiba Elchikhe (she’s played Aladdin’s Jasmine). While the performers won’t be dressed in costume, audience members are encouraged to wear their best royal attire for an evening filled with 30 renowned songs. Animation and theatrical effects accompany the music to create that special Disney feel.

— ASHLYN NORRIS

Disney Princess: The Concert • Wed, March 27 at 7 pm • $39.50$69.50 • First Interstate Center • 334 W. Spokane Falls Blvd. • firstinterstatecenter.org

GET LISTED!

Submit events online at Inlander.com/getlisted or email relevant details to getlisted@inlander.com. We need the details one week prior to our publication date.

COMMUNITY CAPTIVATING CRYSTALS

Crystal lovers, fossil collectors and jewelry enthusiasts will certainly want to head to the Spokane County Fair & Expo Center this weekend for the 64th annual Spokane Gem, Mineral and Jewelry Show. Each year, a diverse group of gem collectors, jewelry designers and rock hunting enthusiasts gather together to sell and showcase a variety of goods all sourced from the Earth’s crust. This show is great if you’re looking for gifts and rare pieces to add to your collection or just want a fun excuse to go shopping for pretty crystals. The show runs for three days, and you can buy one ticket that covers the entire event. There are a number of vendors at the show each year and plenty of dazzling and historic items available for viewing and purchase.

— SUMMER SANDSTROM

Spokane Gem, Mineral & Jewelry Show • Fri, March 22 and Sat, March 23 from 10 am-6 pm; Sun, March 24 from 10 am-4 pm • $7-$8 • Spokane County Fair & Expo Center • 404 N. Havana St. • fb.me/e/5902WfEBW

THEATER TROY STORY

Most people over the age of 18 know the story of The Odyssey, Homer’s epic poem about the Greek hero Odysseus’ journey from Troy to Ithaca after the 10-year Trojan War. A fun story on its face, but it takes a bit of brain power to read and understand the ancient Greek text. This stage production of The Odyssey is Gonzaga Theatre’s first in a new initiative called “Theatre for Young Audiences” featuring more digestible versions of familiar tales. The play focuses on the adventures of Odysseus and his loyal, made-up-for-thisproduction, pal Dumbocles. The pair encounter plenty of pitfalls on their trip to Ithaca including a cyclops and some Greek gods. Whether you’re 12 or 22, this production is sure to take you on a journey of epic proportions.

— MADISON PEARSON

Theatre for Young Audiences: The Odyssey • March 22-24; Fri-Sat at 7:30 pm, Sat-Sun at 2 pm • $10-$15 • Gonzaga University Magnuson Theatre • 502 E. Boone Ave. • gonzaga.edu/theatreanddance

I SAW YOU

TO MSS.PEARL This is for you beautiful you read this section all the time and have wanted some one to post in here for you well I hoped to save it for the day I asked you to marry me but I don’t know if that day will ever come we just can’t seem to get it right but I know my heart still belongs to you beautiful and every day since the day you laid your head on my chest just above my heart I have loved you so here’s to you my pearl. Forever yours (Jason)

DAMN! WISH I WAS YOUR LOVER… I recently started meeting with the person I originally posted these about again. I don’t think he ever knew about them, if he did, he never mentioned them. To the person who thought they could be about you, I hope you too have the chance to reconnect with your disgruntled poet. I think for me and my darkeyed beautiful boy, our time is fleeting, but I’ll cherish the ride and silently hope for more.

CHEERS

MY FOUR ANGELS My car broke down on Ash a couple of nights ago, and four individual men that came to my rescue. One pushed the car, one helped me steer the car to get it off the road, one brought me water as I said my mouth was so dry from the shock. The first man was the first angel that was there. Jolly on the spot and then gave me a jump as I ran my battery down from the hazard flashers I engaged, I guess. Fortunately I wasn’t blocking all the lanes, just the middle. I don’t remember

all of their names, but there was Elijah and Kohl and the other two who know who they are. The actions of these men gave me joy of knowing that there are still good people out there. Thank you to you all.

A SMILE IN THE COFFEE To the sweet barista on Dishman-Mica that made our day on Friday! My daughter and I LOVE it when we get to see you!! Chatting about your little one, always makes us giggle!! THANK YOU Anna.

TWO GODS TWO GODS of the Bible. The Old Testament and New Testament have different Gods according to their teachings. The New Testament has Jesus, but the Old Testament is based on the “Code of Hammurabi” from ancient Babylon, almost 2,000 years before Jesus. This is where we find the “eye for an eye” quote that is so popular. There were different standards for justice for different classes of society, just as there are today. The Old Testament God was jealous and all about vengeance, retribution and payback. Whereas the New Testament God was about love and forgiveness.

BANKRUPTCY NO. 7 COMING UP? First $5 million, then $92 million, now $454 million. Since the DOJ can’t manage to prosecute an open insurrection, I guess we’ll go the financial crimes route like Capone. Just another wannabe mobster to be jailed by the IRS.

CHEERING INLANDER A surfeit bit of inner word-play missed But noticed! And appreciated! Did not change the message gist Yet shared the inside clever twist!

Kudos!

(Knowledge has no use without purpose)

DIDN’T GET THE JOB Most interviewers will instead of just saying you’ll call and then disappear. I just want you to know I do appreciate you letting me know definitively under what criteria I wouldn’t get the job (no call back on Friday). Thank you, you’re a real one. Hope you found somebody worthy!

RE: LIBRARIES SAVED MY SANITY I read with interest the cheer in last weeks Inlander about using the library to provide interaction and activities for a child. One library you might want to visit soon is the new one downtown. After tens of millions of dollars were spent, it’s quite nice. There are some fantastic views of the river also

that I would encourage you to try and see.

DANCE LIKE NOBODY IS WATCHING! To all the people singing and dancing their hearts out in their cars, thank you for putting a smile on my face!

LIBRARIES SAVED MY SANITY Cheers to all the local libraries providing so much entertainment for small children during these cold months, especially the new Spokane Valley library. As a stay-at-home parent I’m often at a loss as how to provide entertainment and social interaction for a busy 2-year-old. Libraries to the rescue! So many fun classes and play structures. I surely would have lost my mind this winter without them, and their kind and helpful staff. Thank you!! Sincerely, a very tired mom.

CALLING RADIO TALENT! To the super friendly employee at the Dollar Tree on Sullivan. I’ve seen you work there for years! You, my friend, have a voice for radio, to the point that my coworkers and I have talked about it. Whoever is in charge of the Dollar Tree, give him a raise because he is always polite and helpful. Whoever is in charge of radio talent in Spokane, go find his voice at the Dollar Tree, no joke. A voice for radio. Rock on Justin.

BRAVO! Kendall Yards walkers! If you were to walk out the back door of the Inlander and down the very steep hill toward the river there was a garbage pile of epic proportions! No longer. This has happened VERY recently. My dog is a smeller and stops to do that EVERY five feet it seems. So, I often look over the edge (and have walked down there along the river) at this eyesore. However, yesterday while walking I was gobsmacked that the entire pile had been thoroughly cleaned up! Truly a wonderful thing, and I salute those that stepped up to make Spokane a better place. Thank you!

SPOKANE’S THOUGHTFULNESS Last

Tuesday my caretaker & I went to Quan’ s for a watch repair, Ferguson’s for a quick breakfast, then for some groceries at the Shadle Walmart. Quan’ s was friendly and serene. We sat at Ferguson’s counter

because all the booths were taken. Upon leaving the waitress said that another person had paid my bill. Then while checking out at Walmart, we found that the man in front of us had paid for a Walmart shopping bag that I needed.

paid, and you couldn’t even do the courtesy of leaving a “sorry” note. You are what’s wrong with the world, and you obviously felt entitled enough to drive off without a care in the world and no consideration for what this would do to me or my life. It’s inexcusable

These generous actions clearly showed the humanity of Spokane’s residents. I am so pleased and thankful that I experienced the kindness of all of them.

THE FLOOR EXPERTS Thank you once again, Brothers Flooring. To Andy, Blake, Arthur, and Sam you people are great to work with. Once again you have exceeded my expectations. Beautiful tile job. Thanks again from George and Vicki.

JEERS

BRAIN FRYING To the superior moms smoking up with their kids in the car. I’m not against the green but don’t hot box your kids. If my own toddler hadn’t been with me, I would have called you out in your Range Rover. Don’t be shocked if someone calls child welfare. Shame on you. It’s one thing to enjoy on your own, but when your kid is exposed non-stop like that... Be a better parent.

EAGS Jeers for choosing competitive athletics over jazz.

BAWLER BALLER I hear the former NBA anti-vaxxer is suing the state’s AG. Go back to SLC, and take your conspiracy theories with you!

HIT AND RUN To the lowlife inconsiderate jerk that felt the need to COMPLETELY sideswipe my Audi in a parking lot a couple weeks back. I honestly have nothing nice to say. I worked hard to purchase this vehicle outright and earned the right to a nice car. You, however, took it upon yourself to ruin the ENTIRE side of my vehicle and not just scratch it from bumper to bumper but completely crunch it, and now it’s no longer drivable. I have a job and bills that need to be

and completely disgusting.

UNSAFE DRINKING WATER It is outrageous and unacceptable that Al French and the Spokane Airport Board refuse to cooperate with WA Dept. of Ecology to complete a remedial investigation to determine the full extent and locations of harmful PFAS chemical contamination. We need a feasibility study to evaluate cleanup options. The health of our neighbors on wells is at risk. Google Spokane PFAS for more information. Get involved and voice your concern.

GREEN MACHINE I LOVE the downtown happenings... the parades and livelihood. But what the heck? About 5,000 people at the St. Paddy’s Day Parade, and you bring your dogs? If that dog would have bitten my children, I would have sued your a** so fast! Don’t forget I would have taken you to the cleaners!!! Think before you act, people!!

RE: MINE Whenever you make a baby, that body ain’t just yours anymore. Instead of abortion clinics, we need more mental health hospitals. n

BENEFIT

DEMPSEYS REUNION SHOW A reunion, silent auction and raffle for the Pride Historic and Remembrance Project. March 22- 23, 5-8 pm. $25. nYne Bar & Bistro, 232 W. Sprague. fb.me/e/4V0SpkzQH

EMPTY BOWLS 2024 Sample soups and receive a handcrafted ceramic bowl. Benefits Gonzaga’s Campus Kitchens program. March 27, 11 am-1 pm. $15$25. Gonzaga Cataldo Hall, Addison and Sharp. gonzaga.edu

COMEDY

BLUE DOORS & DRAGONS A unique improv comedy journey guided by the

whims of the dice, audience suggestions and creativity of Blue Door improvisers. Fridays at 7:30 pm. $9. Blue Door Theatre, 319 S. Cedar. bluedoortheatre.org

SAFARI Blue Door’s version of Whose Line based on audience suggestions. Saturday at 7:30 pm. $9. Blue Door Theatre, 319 S. Cedar. bluedoortheatre.com

OPEN MIC MONDAY Hosted by local comedian Anthony Singleton, this open mic welcomes artists and entertainers of all genres. Open to all ages. Every first and fourth Monday of the month from 7-9 pm. Free. Lyyv Entertainment, 8712 E. Sprague Ave. lyyv.tv (509-557-3999)

THE PUNDERGROUND An improvised punning competition for up to 12 contes-

tants. March 28, 7:30 pm. Pay what you want. Blue Door Theatre, 319 S. Cedar St. bluedoortheatre.org

COMMUNITY

31ST ANNIVERSARY POWWOW A two-day event featuring a family night (3/22) where families can participate in name givings, rejoinings, memorials and honoring of passed loved ones as well as two Grand Entry dances (3/23). March 22, 7 pm and March 23, 11 am-11 pm. Free. Coeur d’Alene Casino, 37914 S. Nukwalqw. cdacasino.com

SPOKANE GEM, MINERAL & JEWELRY

SHOW Dealers from around the country gather to sell fossils, crystals, miner-

als, gems and jewelry. March 22-24; Fri-Sat from 10 am-6pm, Sun from 10 am-4 pm. $7-$8. Spokane County Fair & Expo Center, 404 N. Havana St. fb.me/ e/5902WfEBW (509-477-1766)

33 ARTISTS MARKET Artists include Morgen Morgan, Megan Perkins, Ink & Honey Co., Jorden Heidl and others, plus an interactive art activity from Spokane Zero Waste and live music. March 23, 11 am-5 pm. Free. The Wonder Building, 835 N. Post St. 33artistsmarket.com

THE MID-CENTURY WORLD OF MILLWOOD Explore the style of homes built following WWII, showcasing post-war life and architecture. March 23, 3-4 pm. Free. Argonne Library, 4322 N. Argonne Rd. scld.org

CelebrateEaster

SHADLE PARK BOOSTERS SPRING CRAFT SHOW Featuring 150+ local crafters, artisans, bakers and small businesses. March 23, 9 am-5 pm and March 24, 10 am-3 pm. Free. Shadle Park High School, 4327 N. Ash St. fb.me/e/8B6QNrFT5

SPOKANE VOLUNTEER FAIR Learn about 20+ nonprofits working to keep Spokane a great place. March 23, 11 am-4 pm. Free. Woman’s Club of Spokane, 1428 W. 9th. thewomansclubofspokane.org

POWER PERSUASION LUNCH & LEARN Representatives from Spokane Ethical Influence Training discuss the power of persuasion for business. March 27, 11 amnoon. Free. The Hive, 2904 E. Sprague Ave. influencetrainerwa.com

EVENTS | CALENDAR

FILM

THE ZONE OF INTEREST Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höss and his wife Hedwig strive to build a dream life for their family in a house and garden beside the camp. March 22, 7-9 pm and March 24, 4-6 pm. $8. The Kenworthy, 508 S. Main St. kenworthy.org

MET LIVE IN HD: ROMÉO ET JULIETTE

An opera adaptation of Shakespeare’s story of two star-crossed lovers. March 23, 9:55 am-noon. $20. The Kenworthy, 508 S. Main St. kenworthy.org

MOSCOW FILM SOCIETY: THERE WILL BE BLOOD Silver miner Daniel Plainview moves to California and cons local landowners. March 27, 6:30-9 pm. $8. The Kenworthy, 508 S. Main St. kenworthy.org (208-882-4127)

FIGURES Matej and Zuzana Dolinay go to the remote jungles of Africa and attempt to make a documentary about one of the most venomous snakes in the world. March 28, 6 pm. $17. Magic Lantern Theatre, 25 W. Main Ave. magiclanternonmain.com (509-209-2383)

FOOD

WESTERN CIDER LAUNCH PARTY Be among the first to taste Western Cider craft ciders, get your hands on exclusive swag and meet the makers. March 22, 5-8 pm. Free. Coeur d’ Alene Cider Co., 1327 E. Sherman. cdaciderhouse.com

COOKIE DECORATING CLASS Jamie Roberts from Three Birdies Bakery teaches cookie decorating techniques. March 24, 11 am-1:30 pm. $85. The Kitchen Engine, 621 W. Mallon Ave. thekitchenengine.com (509-328-3335)

THAI CURRY CLASS Nick Ivers guides participants through the basics of Thai cooking. Learn methods commonly used in Thai cuisine while cooking a green curry meal. March 24, 4-6:30 pm. $85. The Kitchen Engine, 621 W. Mallon Ave. thekitchenengine.com

WASTE DIVERSION A presentation on different waste diversion strategies including recycling and composting. Walk through the process of making your own homemade vegetable broth. Registration required. March 25, 5:306:30 pm. Free. Second Harvest, 1234 E. Front Ave. secondharvestkitchen.org

pm. $57-$81. Bing Crosby Theater, 901 W. Sprague. bingcrosbytheater.com

CROOKED KILT Crooked Kilt plays traditional and eclectic Celtic music using fiddle, accordian, bodrhan, djembe, guitar, piano, pipes and vocals. March 23, 6-8 pm. $12-$15. Create Arts Center, 900 Fourth St. createarts.org

SPOKANE STRING QUARTET Spokane Symphony violist Sarah Bass joins the Spokane String Quartet for a quintet by Mozart. March 24, 3-5 pm. $20-$25. Bing Crosby Theater, 901 W. Sprague Ave. bingcrosbytheater.com

DAKHABRAKHA A world music quartet and ethnic chaos band from Kyiv, Ukraine. March 26, 7:30 pm. $15-$48. Myrtle Woldson Performing Arts Center, 211 E. Desmet Ave. gonzaga.edu/ mwpac (509-313-4776)

SPORTS & OUTDOORS

BUILD YOUR OWN TERRARIUM Create a dish garden or terrarium with one of Ritters’ expert designers. March 23, 2-3 pm. $70. Ritters Garden & Gift, 10120 N. Division St. 4ritter.com

SPOKANE VELOCITY Regular season game versus the Northern Colorado Hailstorm. March 23, 6 pm. $21-$41. One Spokane Stadium, 501 W. Gardner Ave. spokanevelocityfc.com

BRICK WEST RUN CLUB Run starts/ ends at Brick West and changes every week. Every Tuesday at 6 pm. Free. Brick West Brewing Co., 1318 W. First Ave. bit.ly/brick-run

GARDENING WITH NATIVE PLANTS

Discover the plants that work best for your landscape and how to incorporate them. March 27, 6:30-7:30 pm. Free. Moran Prairie Library, 6004 S. Regal St. scld.org

THEATER & DANCE

BROOK & BULL WINEMAKER DINNER Founder and winemaker Ashley Trout discusses the paired wines that accompany the Latin feast. March 28, 6-9 pm. $100. Beverly’s, 115 S. Second St. beverlyscda.com

WILL IT WAFFLE? Work in teams to create a culinary dish with materials provided and impress the judges to win a prize. For middle and high schoolers. Register online. March 26, 4-6 pm. Free. Indian Trail Library, 4909 W. Barnes Rd. spokanelibrary.org (444-5331)

MUSIC

THE BEAUTIFUL MIND OF ROBERT SCHUMANN Schumann pieces performed by pianists Matt Goodrich and Melody Puller. March 22-23, 7 pm. $15$50. Music Conservatory of Sandpoint, 110 Main. sandpointconservatory.org

A TASTE OF IRELAND The story of Ireland’s tumultuous history delivered with a pint of Irish wit. Watch worldclass performers blend melodic folk mash-ups, live a capella tap and heartwarming story telling. March 22, 7-9

set sail for more hijinks on the high seas. March 23, 3 pm. $50-$80. First Interstate Center for the Arts, 334 W. Spokane Falls. broadwayspokane.com

VISUAL ARTS

SARAH THOMPSON MOORE: OUTSIDE-IN Moore is a sculpture artist who primarily focuses on large, site-specific installations. This exhibition features a sampling of smaller works. Mon-Fri from 10 am-4:30 pm, Sat from 10 am-2 pm through March 22. Free. Bryan Oliver Gallery, Whitworth, 300 W. Hawthorne Ave. whitworth.edu

ALEXIS MAKI: BEYOND LAND AND

SEA This exhibition focuses on the appearance of a landscape and the ways it can be manipulated to create a new place. Mon-Fri from 10 am-6 pm, Sat from 10 am-2 pm through March 31. Free. Colfax Library, 102 S. Main St. whitcolib.org (509-397-4366)

RIVER OF TEARS A sculpture composed of tears felted by workshop participants for the purpose of create a living memorial to this unique moment in Earth history. March 23, 1-5 pm. By donation. Shotgun Studios, 1625 W. Water Ave. fb.me/e/1roabyToy

HEARTISTRY: ARTISTIC WELLBEING

A relaxed and inspiring environmnt for self-discovery. Participate in basic artistic concepts and activities or respond to a mindfulness prompt. Every Tuesday from 3-5 pm. Free. Spark Central, 1214 W. Summit Pkwy. spark-central.org

WORDS

TARA KARR ROBERTS: WILD AND DISTANT SEAS Moscow-based author Tara Karr Roberts reads from her debut novel Wild and Distant Seas. Sharma Shields leads a Q&A session. March 21, 6-7 pm. Free. Central Library, 906 W. Main. spokanelibrary.org

GIRLS NIGHT! THE MUSICAL A journey into the lives of a group of female friends as they visit their past, celebrate their present and look to the future on a wild and hilarious night out. March 22, 8-10 pm. $46-$69. Bing Crosby Theater, 901 W. Sprague. bingcrosbytheater.com

I THOUGHT I KNEW YOU Jen returns home to comfort her devastated parents after her brother, Cody, deliberately explodes a van in Louisville, killing himself and five other people. March 22-April 7; Thu-Sat at 7 pm, Sun at 2 pm. $25-$30. Stage Left Theater, 108 W. Third. stagelefttheater.org

THE ODYSSEY A retelling of the Odyssey reimagined for young audiences. March 22-24; Fri-Sat at 7:30 pm, SatSun at 2 pm. $13.50. Gonzaga University Magnuson Theatre, 502 E. Boone. gonzaga.edu/theatreanddance

ALEGRIA GALA: A NIGHT OF ELEGANCE & EXPRESSION A night of live music and performances from international and local artists. Dinner, desserts, an intro salsa lesson and open cash bar also included. Benefits Alegria Dance & Entertainment. March 23, 5-10 pm. $75$125. Riverside Place, 1108 W. Riverside Ave. fb.me/e/aYrSjV0HI

MENOPAUSE THE MUSICAL 2 Five years after their chance encounter in a department store, these beloved ladies

PATRICK CARMAN: THE TERROR IN JENNY’S ARMPIT Patrick Carman reads from and signs The Terror In Jenny’s Armpit the first in his new middlegrade Bonkers! series. March 22, 6-8 pm. Free. Auntie’s Bookstore, 402 W. Main Ave. auntiesbooks.com

EIJA SUMNER: THE GOOD LITTLE MERMAID’S GUIDE TO BEDTIME Celebrate the publication of Eija Sumner’s new children’s book. The author reads, signs and answers questions. March 23, 2:30 pm. Free. The Kenworthy, 508 S. Main St. bookpeopleofmoscow.com

BROKEN MIC Spokane Poetry Slam’s longest-running, weekly open mic reading series. Wednesdays at 6:30 pm; sign-ups at 6 pm. Free. Neato Burrito, 827 W. First Ave. bit.ly/2ZAbugD POETRY AFTER DARK EWU MFA students lead discussions about craft elements, style and form in poetry. Every second and fourth Wednesday from 7-8 pm. Free. Spark Central, 1214 W. Summit Pkwy. spark-central.org

PRESCHOOL STORYTIME PLAY& LEARN Share books, songs and fun. After storytime, spend some time with learning activities. Every Wed nesday from 10-11 am. Free. South Hill Library, 3324 S. Perry. spokanelibrary.org

VIRTUAL BOOK CLUB: THEIR FINEST BY LISSA EVANS In honor of Women’s History Month, discuss Their Finest by Lissa Evans. Register to attend. March 27, 12-1 pm. Free. Central Library, 906 W. Main Ave. spokanelibrary.org n

Remembering the Madness

Reefer Madness was a bad movie by 1936 standards, but it still matters in 2024

BY WILL MAUPIN

March is a time for basketball madness, but what about all the other kinds of madness? I’m talking about Reefer Madness and, no, I don’t mean that time you got a little bit too stoned.

I mean the 1936 film that Google rightfully classifies as a comedy on top of its more intentional designation as a thriller.

The movie is bad. It wasn’t meant to be bad, but oh boy is it. It’s a truly terrible 1-hour, 8-minute watch, though that is what has made it an enduring classic in the nearly 90 years since its release.

In the film, young people (played by actors who are very obviously adults complete with receding hairlines) lose their minds as the result of smoking what would now be referred to as “mids,” or mid-grade cannabis.

In the film, multiple people end up dead because, uh, a few young people decided to get stoned?

The movie is known as an “exploitation film,” a genre that takes on niche, not-socially-acceptable subjects

and portrays them as exactly that. Reefer Madness shows cannabis users as utterly depraved individuals, wholly resigned to allowing weed to dominate their every whim, even if it means others have to die.

It was a popular genre at the time — Reefer Madness joins the 1938 release of Sex Madness in making modern audiences question whether the Great Depression of the 1930s was an economic problem or if people back then were just taught to be depressed and bored.

Unfortunately, these were more than just bad films meant to fill time at the local cinema.

Reefer Madness played right into the anti-cannabis spirit of its day.

Within a year of the film’s release, cannabis was formally made illegal in the United States thanks to the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937. That law laid the groundwork for the federal prohibition on cannabis that exists to this day.

No, Reefer Madness did not cause cannabis prohibition.

But it was certainly part of the groundswell that led to the laws that rule our country to this day.

Nine decades ago there was an audience for this type of film, but this type of film was also made to expand such an audience.

It’s a bad movie, though it is a fun watch, which appropriately illustrates the twisted views on cannabis that permeated American society nearly a century ago. Watch it and laugh today, but then think about how its legacy still impacts American cannabis policy in 2024. n

Reefer Madness’ 1936 movie poster

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point

41. N, S, E, or W

43. Talk trash about

45. Write-___ (some nominees)

46. Number of three-letter chemical elements

47. Blues rocker who’s good at hauling stuff?

52. Prefix for drama

53. “Roots” author Haley

54. “Anchorman” anchorman Burgundy

55. Colts’ fathers

56. Big wheel

57. Rapper/actor who’s good at holding together documents?

60. Vow words

61. Curse-inducing stare

62. Graceful shade tree

63. ___ Moines, Iowa

64. Picks up for another year

65. “The Waste Land” author’s monogram DOWN

1. Sings like a bird

2. Montreal CFLers

3. English actress Wilde of “Carrie” and “Wonder Woman 1984”

4. ___ au vin (French dish)

5. Kwik-E-Mart owner

6. Director Lars von ___

7. Le ___ (French seaport)

8. Starting lineups

14. It’s a blast 17. ___ minute

21. Scales of the zodiac 23. 1998 Wimbledon champ Novotna 24. Food package date, informally 25. Yokels, in Australian slang

52.

55.

57.

58.

59.

27. Andre the Giant’s role in “The Princess Bride”

31. Irish actor Stephen

32. Body of morals

34. Companion that’s great for apartments (and won’t run off)

35. They’re found in the epidermis

37. Alphabetical listing

38. Sound the horn

42.

44. Try hard

47. Michelangelo masterpiece

48. Bypass a vowel

49.

50.

51.

9. The Beatles’ “___ Blues”

10. “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” setting

11. Fernando’s friend

12. Largest island of the Philippines