Echo Magazine - Arizona LGBTQ Lifestyle - November 2020

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Let our Holiday Issue get you in the mood LGBTQ NEWS, VIEWS AND ENTERTAINMENT | Vol. 32, #2 | Issue 734 | November 2020 | COMPLIMENTARY

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INSIDE THIS

ISSUE Issue 734 | Vol. 32, #2 | November 2020

NEWS 8

Editor’s Note

12 News Briefs

COMMUNITY 38 Without Reservations 40 Bands 42 Recordings 44 Between the Covers 46 Talking Bodies 48 Not That You Asked

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Southwest Center for HIV/AIDS has a new director – meet Chuck Peterson After years of work in Minnesota’s non-profit sector, Peterson brings his collaborative leadership skills to Arizona to help eliminate the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

“Larger Than Memory” Installation View, Platt Photography, Courtesy of the Heard Museum

'TIS THE SEASON

Let our Holiday Issue get you in the mood LGBTQ NEWS, VIEWS AND ENTERTAINMENT | Vol. 32, #2 | Issue 734 | November 2020 | COMPLIMENTARY

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Larger Than Memory: Contemporary Art From Indigenous North America This current Heard Museum exhibition features works in various mediums and modalities by contemporary indigenous North American artists. Jenna Duncan discusses the art and speaks with Heard curator Erin Joyce.

Gift giving 2020: The ultimate guide

Survival tips for a stress-free holiday season

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As festive and fun as the holiday season can be, it can also be overwhelming and loaded with obligations, from shopping to hosting guests. Here are some tips to help combat the chaos.

Journalist and lifestyle expert Mikey Rox sources unique, interesting, and all around neato gifts to help you complete your holiday shopping.

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Courtesy of Mulligan’s Manor

Everybody deserves a Mulligan Mulligan’s Manor co-founders Jenny Diaz and Chuck Hawkins talk with Tom Reardon about their organization — Arizona’s only group home for LGBTQ youth in foster care — including some current challenges.

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Chef Gio Osso

In the Resisterhood: “Rainbow Warrior” Joanna Lohman tells her story in new documentary

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Niki D’Andrea talks to activist and former professional soccer player Joanna Lohman about the documentary Resisterhood and what fueled an increase in her fight for human rights.

WEB EXCLUSIVES Visit us at echomag.com to view our monthly issue + read new content uploaded throughout each week. We want to keep you entertained and informed!

Valley chefs share their home holiday favorites The holiday season can bring special culinary creations to the table; often from recipes that have been passed through generations. Jeff Kronenfeld talks to five local chefs about their holiday favorites.

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EDITOR’S NOTE

By Amy Young

T

he holiday season is upon us. It’s sure to be a little different this year, still being in the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Comment feeds on social media and news sites prove daily that the world is still rife with those who don’t think there’s anything to worry about. Let’s face it, if they don’t believe it at this point, they’re never going to. So, for those who still want to respect their surrounding humans, continue to mask up and enjoy the holidays in the safest ways you possibly can.

If you celebrate Thanksgiving or Friendsgiving, or just like to eat on that designated day, and cooking isn’t up your alley, we have compiled a short list of spots offering takeout meals. We also talk to some area chefs about the specific food they eat each year. Whether its something they prepare or just eat annually, we find out why those dishes are meaningful.

Do you know someone who needs a heated towel rack? Temperatures are dropping below 100 degrees, after all, so, brrrrr – keep that item from Mikey Rox’s annual gift guide on your short list. He always puts together a fun and festive list of goodies for the getting & gifting. It’s of course okay to buy yourself a gift, too. You deserve it – it has been a hell of a year.

If you’re thinking of offering an organization your support during the holidays, there are several to choose from, all with important and beautiful missions. In this issue, Tom Reardon talks to Jenny Diaz and Chuck Hawkins of Mulligan’s Manor. They are the state’s only group home for LGBTQ youth in foster care. They are feeling the weight of these challenging times. During these challenging

times, they are feeling the weight. Find out about the important services they provide.

Southwest Center for HIV/AIDS is another of our city’s beneficial organizations. They have a new director in Chuck Peterson.

Hailing from Minnesota, where he has a history of leadership roles in the non-profit sector, he is excited to use his skills to collaborate with other organizers to help end the AIDS pandemic in Arizona. Kelly Donohue talks to him about his plans and what he brings to the table.

November is Native American Heritage Month. Michelle Talsma Everson has compiled information on some informational and celebratory events happening around the Valley; in-person and virtual. Jenna Duncan spent time at the Heard Museum, viewing the Larger Than Memory: Contemporary Art From Indigenous North America exhibition, featuring several artists working in a variety of mediums. She discusses the work and talks with the museum’s curatorial staff.

We’re just three weeks away from the Presidential election. It’s an anxiety-inducing amount of time and next time I write this, we’ll have a result. And we’ll all have feelings about it. Stay safe, please, and enjoy this issue of Echo. Join us at echomag.com for the monthly issue + new content through the week. Happy holidays.

Amy Young is the editor-in-chief of Echo Magazine. A longtime journalist, her work has appeared numerous publications, regional to international. Please contact her at editor@echomag.com.

LGBTQ NEWS, VIEWS AND ENTERTAINMENT PUBLISHER: Aequalitas Media EDITORIAL EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Amy Young CONTRIBUTORS: Chris Azzopardi Kimberly Blaker Grace Bolyard Edward Castro Niki D'Andrea Kelly Donohue Jenna Duncan Buddy Early Michelle Talsma Everson Brian Falduto Jason Kron Jeff Kronenfeld

Megan Lane Laura Latzko Logan Lowrey-Rasmussen Tuesday Mahrle Judy McGuire Ashley Naftule David-Elijah Nahmod Tia Norris Timothy Rawles Tom Reardon Romeo San Vicente Terri Schlichenmeyer

ART DEPARTMENT PHOTOGRAPHY: nightfuse.com.

ADVERTISING DIRECTOR OF SALES AND MARKETING: Ashlee Singleton 602-266-0550x704 or Ashlee@echomag.com National Advertising Sales: Aequalitas Media at 312-600-8823 or sales@aequalitasmedia.com ECHO READERSHIP: 50,000 SUBSCRIPTIONS: $29/year Echo Magazine LLC MAILING ADDRESS: P.O. Box 16630 Phoenix, AZ 85011-6630 PHONE: 602-266-0550 EMAIL: manager@echomag.com Copyright © 2016 • ISSN #1045-2346

MEMBER:

Echo Magazine is published by Echo Magazine LLC, Inc. Echo is a registered trademark of Echo Magazine LLC, Inc. All rights reserved. Written permission must be obtained in advance for partial or complete reproduction of any advertising material contained therein. Opinions expressed therein are not necessarily those of the publisher or staff. Echo Magazine LLC, Inc. does not assume responsibility for claims by its advertisers or advice columnists. Publication of a name, photograph of an individual or organization in articles, advertisements or listings is not to be construed as an indication of the sexual orientation, unless such orientation is specifically stated. Manuscripts or other materials submitted remain the property of Echo Magazine LLC, Inc. 8

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NEWS BRIEFS

with the official hashtag #RockYourMocs.

“Established 2011, Rock Your Mocs is a worldwide Native American and Indigenous Peoples social media event held annually and during National Native American Heritage Month in the U.S. A. People wear their moccasins, take a photo or video or story, add the hashtag #RockYourMocs and upload to social media. This creates an online photo album for the world to see and enjoy.”

Programming on PBS PBS.org and pbs.org/show/world-channel If you’re looking to learn more about Indigenous cultures while being at home, check out some of the fall programming on PBS. Karen Bordeleau of PBS notes a few upcoming shows to consider: “Warrior Tradition” on November 2; “The People’s Protectors” on November 9; and “Without a Whisper - Konnon:kwe” on November 16. She adds that PBS is also home to PBS WORLD and “Indian Country Today.”

Pueblo Grande Museum pueblogrande.org

Celebrating indigenous culture A round up of Native American Heritage Month events Compiled by Michelle Talsma Everson

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or more than 100 years, there have been efforts to recognize the contributions and culture of Native Americans through a special day or month. Beginning in the early 1990s, Native American Heritage Month was officially coined. This year, due to COVID-19, many events to honor this designated month are available virtually (or, if in-person, safety measures are in place). Read on to see some of our top picks.

Heard Museum heard.org As of press time, the Heard Museum was still in the planning phases of its Native American Heritage Month events. To learn the latest, visit their website at heard.org. For those who haven’t been there in-person, the Heard Museum celebrates Native American Heritage Month all year round through its dedication to the advancement of American Indian art. “The Heard successfully presents the stories of American Indian people from a first-person perspective, as well as exhibitions that showcase the beauty and vitality of traditional and contemporary art,” according to the museum. Current exhibits include: Maria Hupfield: Nine Years Towards the Sun, the American Indian Veterans National 12

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Memorial, and many more. The museum is currently open with COVID-19 precautions in place.

Maricopa County Community College District (MCCCD) Virtual Events events.maricopa.edu Open to students and the community, the Maricopa County Community College District (MCCCD) is hosting virtual events that honor indigenous heritages and issues.

On November 2, from 10-11:30 a.m., they will host Indigenous Visions: Four Principles of Cultural Humility, which will share some of the accomplishments “of the peoples who were the original inhabitants, explorers, and settlers of the United States.” Then, on November 19 from 5:30-7 p.m., Chandler Gilbert Community College presents Adrienne Keene: Native American Mascots and Cultural Appropriation via YouTube Live.

Both events and more can be accessed by visiting the MCCCD events webpage.

Rock Your Mocs 2020 facebook.com/RockYourMocs From November 15 to 21, the Rock Your Mocs social media event takes place

While the museum is currently closed to the public due to COVID-19, they are offering monthly lectures to keep the public engaged. “These lectures will feature various topics from the fifth volume in the Pueblo Grande Archival Project Series (Archival Series) focusing on artifacts collected during excavations on and around the Pueblo Grande platform mound from the 1930s through the 1980s,” according to the museum. The November lecture will be by Laurene Montero, city archaeologist for Phoenix. E-mail Lary@pueblogrande.org for more information.

Native Communities and the Vote nativeamericanheritagemonth.gov A free webinar exclusively for educators, on November 18, learn how to “incorporate primary sources related to American Indian voting rights into your lessons. The webinar will share activities and resources from the National Archives and explore how to include discussions of evolving rights over time as related to Native Communities and the right to participate in Federal elections.” Register online ahead of time.

Why is it important?

According to statistics, more than half of the U.S. states did not mention any Native American studies in K-12 educational standards. Eighty seven percent of state history standards don’t cover Native American history after 1900. To educate yourself or your loved ones, visit nativeamericanheritagemonth.gov.

NEWS

According to Peterson, Arizona has a higher infection rate for HIV/AIDS than Minnesota.

Yet after meeting with Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego and other virus experts in the state, he discovered that the two states are very similar in terms of support, commitment to raising funds, focusing on those who are impacted disproportionately and overall ending the epidemic.

That being said, there’s one statistic that has stuck with him during his life of advocacy: 50% of young, gay Black men are more likely to become HIV positive within this lifetime because of stigmas and discrimination that impede access to healthcare and education.

“We see communities of color here in Arizona being impacted disproportionately and at a higher rate than the white community, and that was the same in Minnesota,” Peterson said. “We’re really looking into how to stop that trend.”

This national problem is exacerbated within the southwest region, which is why it is one of Peterson’s most pivotal concerns as he becomes acclimated to his new role.

A new life in Phoenix

Southwest Center for HIV/AIDS has a new executive director Meet Chuck Peterson

By Kelly Donohue

C

huck Peterson considers himself to be a collaborative leader who wants to work together with organizations from all sectors to eliminate the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Arizona.

The Southwest Center for HIV/AIDS has just hired him as its new executive director to achieve exactly this.

Peterson, who has spent many years serving in the nonprofit sector in Minnesota, was drawn to his new position when he learned of the latitude of services that The Southwest Center offers to its clients — as well as the organization’s aspirations to expand their care and become a well-known safe haven for the LGBTQ+ community.

“Too often, I watched the LGBTQ+ community in Minnesota not receive the best care possible, through a variety of stigma, discrimination, and a lack of access to care,” Peterson said.

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After spending so much time serving communities in Minnesota, Peterson knew that his new role at The Southwest Center for HIV/ AIDS would not only satisfy his love for learning, but also his need for a little fun in the sun.

“I am a continuous learner, and I’ve never run a healthcare clinic before,” Peterson said.

“And also, to get out of the weather I was enduring in Minnesota.”

He said that he’s also impressed by The Southwest Center’s quick response to the novel coronavirus pandemic. The organization’s quick moves to support at-home virus testing and remote peer groups within the community impressed Peterson and excited him for the position.

“The Center has been a leader in looking at new ways of delivering services remotely that I don’t think anybody in the HIV/AIDS field had ever thought of.” Peterson said.

As far as his plans for the upcoming year?

Peterson is looking forward to getting to know the Phoenix community throughout the next few months, as well as learning more from the LGBTQ+ and HIV/AIDS communities about potential gaps in healthcare and wellness services that the Southwest Center can fill.

The new executive director also said that he’s interested in learning “where the community would like to see the Southwest Center go, and then take all that information and really dive deep into strategic planning early next year.”

Peterson has a vision of transitioning the Southwest Center to an LGBTQ+ wellness center, as well as strengthening the center’s level of transgender care and support. Making the resource more accessible to Arizonans in general is a top priority, Peterson said.

FEATURE STORY

but realized that it was time for someone else to take over in his place.

Working together to end the HIV/ AIDS epidemic If there’s one thing you should know about Chuck Peterson, it’s that he’s not only a passionate learner, but a coactive leader.

The new executive director began his work at the Southwest Center toward the end of August and is already proud of the work his colleagues have achieved.

“The staff here is so resilient and so committed to the mission,” Peterson said. “I am inspired every day that I talk to people on our team, and also within the community.”

Strengthening the organization’s financial and human resources foundations is also a key goal of his for the upcoming year.

“Our staff is our greatest asset,” Peterson said. “If it wasn’t for them, the Southwest Center wouldn’t exist.”

Joining the fight against HIV/AIDS Peterson has had plenty of professional experience within the nonprofit sector, but philanthropic work wasn’t always a part of his career plan.

When his best friend was dying of AIDS in the early 1990s, Peterson, along with two of his other friends, served as his primary caregiver.

The experience opened his eyes to the reality of the AIDS epidemic and inspired him to work to create a solution.

“It was my first exposure in a deeper sense of the effects of AIDS during the early stages of the epidemic," Peterson said.

During this same time, a Minneapolis adult foster care home that was providing end-of-life care for people living with HIV was actively looking for someone to fill their executive director position. When Peterson heard of this, he threw his hat in the ring and was selected to fulfill the role.

Although he had never led an organization like it before this time, Peterson was excited to begin serving a more professional role within the HIV/AIDS community. Yet he soon learned that working with people who were actively being kicked out of their homes was oftentimes a more upsetting job.

“It was a pretty stressful period at the agency. I certainly saw my fair share of losses,” Peterson said. “After four years of that, I was kind of burned out because of the stress of that environment.”

Peterson ended up leaving that position and beginning work as vice president of the Minnesota Council on Foundations organization, where he focused on professional development and public policy work. It was there that he concentrated FEATURE STORY

on creating incentives for people and corporations to give to nonprofits.

Overall, Peterson is looking forward to networking with new people and agencies that share his same goals and seeing where Phoenix’s key players can intersect to fight the HIV/AIDS crisis.

He later switched gears and began serving on Clare Housing’s board of directors, where he eventually became board chair and eventually executive director. He ended up spending seven years with the organization, which makes affordable housing available for people living with HIV/AIDS. “It was probably one of the most amazing jobs I’ve ever had in my life,” Peterson said.

“We were a permanent supportive housing program for people with HIV/AIDS and served an extremely low-income homeless population.”

Peterson said that Clare Housing’s initiative was successful because it didn’t require sobriety and supplemented their work with a trauma-informed approach. During his tenure, he nearly doubled the organization’s housing capacity by building two low-income housing tax credit apartment buildings and tripled its scattered site housing program. He also helped provide the organization’s community care homes with 24/7 support for people who couldn’t live independently.

The Phoenix Fast Track Cities Initiative has a goal of ending the HIV/AIDS epidemic within Arizona by 2030. Peterson was able to achieve a similar goal in Minnesota in late 2018 and is working to meet with those leading the effort in the future. However, he knows that it will take more than just one program to combat the crisis at hand.

“We’re all in this together,” Peterson said.

“It’s not one single person or agency that’s going to end this epidemic, it’s the collective.”

When Peterson began working at the organization, Clare Housing was providing shelter for about 100 people. By the time he left, Peterson said, the organization was housing close to 1,200.

Peterson thinks it will be important for all of Phoenix’s HIV/AIDS programs to work together and move in the same direction in the future. By reinforcing each other’s missions rather than splitting up resources, Peterson said, the organizations will be less likely to “dilute their impact” within the community.

Beyond what he was able to achieve within the Clare Housing agency, Peterson shared another accomplishment that he’s proud of: in 2017, he was able to help pass legislation in Minnesota to create a statewide plan to end the HIV/AIDS crisis.

“I am incredibly passionate about ending this epidemic,” Peterson said. “I’ve seen it from the beginning and would really like to see it end within my lifetime. Anything that I can do to help advance that goal, I want to be a part of.”

The bill, HF 2047, laid out a cohesive plan to end the epidemic by reducing the number of HIV/AIDS diagnoses and providing more treatment, among other solutions.

Visit swcenter.org.

“It really felt good to have that unanimous support between parties to advance the work in Minnesota to end the epidemic,” Peterson said. “It was a community effort.”

Peterson said it was hard to leave after serving in that position for about seven years,

Kelly Donohue is a junior at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University. She is a South Jersey native and is studying journalism and crosssector leadership. Kelly hopes to someday become a broadcast and digital news reporter and/or civil rights lawyer.

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“Larger Than Memory” Installation View, Platt Photography, Courtesy of the Heard Museum

Larger Than Memory: Contemporary Art From Indigenous North America

By Jenna Duncan

L

arger Than Memory, on view in Heard Museum’s Grand Gallery, presents works by indigenous North American artists, produced between 2000 and 2020.

The title of the show was borrowed from a poem called “Grace,” published in 1990 by Joy Harjo: “I know there is something larger than the memory of a dispossessed people.

We have seen it.” This very current collection of artworks appears in time when so many things seem to be in a state of redefinition, revolution, and reimagining.

For this show, the museum commissioned several pieces and site-specific works.

At entry, enormous ceiling-suspended sculptures hang, almost weightlessly.

“Earrings for Big God,” by Eric-Paul Ridge, is a collection of three pairs of earrings, recreated to giants’ size.

One pair resembles turquoise jaclas (smooth stone necklaces or loops). The “stones” are really fabric stuffed with polyester stuffing like a pillow, veined with fake hair. Another pair look like creamcolored dentalium shell earrings, gray bells jangling at the bottom fake fur trim. These art

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objects made from mass produced materials (fake fur and fake hair, muslin, polyester fill) were bought at craft and fabric stores, instead of produced by hand in an artisan or home manner.

“It was the artist wanting to comment on the fetishization of the indigenous jewelry trade,” Erin Joyce, curator, says. She explains that in his hometown of Gallup, New Mexico, Ridge works in a restaurant. There he has observed indigenous artists who sell their items and he noticed buyers seemed to ascribe more value to pieces produced from more expensive materials. “Artists who didn’t have the same financial bandwidth weren’t valued as highly by the patrons,” Joyce says.

By working with easy to acquire, massproduced and inexpensive materials, the artist purposefully removed assigned notions of richness, exclusivity in the large-scale pieces.

Above the arches of the gallery, the images of King Kamehameha III and an upside-down Captain James Cook gaze down on visitors. This is the work of native Hawaiian artist Ian Kuili’i, who visited Heard

Museum in August and painstakingly cut all the thin slivers of vinyl by hand for the installation. Kuili’i, now based in Santa Fe, New Mexico, is well-known for his finely detailed paper cutout portraits. (Eight cutout portraits are also on view in the show.)

“For me, as a curator, it’s very important to discuss what to show with the artists, themselves,” says Joyce. “The idea may evolve through conversations with the artists.”

By posing Captain Cook, a European explorer largely known as “discoverer of Hawaii,” upside-down, notions of historic accuracy and who had the privilege of telling certain narrative, also become inverted. Kuili’i’s piece, titled “Monument,” interrogates the institution of monumentmaking, asking who makes them and in what communities are they placed, Curator Joyce explains.

Recent work is at the heart of the exhibit’s concept. But curators also wanted to include a broad diversity of artists, Joyce says. Curators selected from artists old and young, in various stages of their careers.

The result is a large show with work from FEATURE STORY

many different tribal communities across the U.S. and Canada. Care was also given to equitable representation of gender and sexual identities.

In many ways, Larger Than Memory breaks out of assumptions of what Native American art looks like and represents. Throughout the show, there is evidence of artists engaging with and challenging mediums and modes of production.

Another example of the artists bending the rules and breaking free of constraints from their various mediums appears in Jeffrey Gibson’s “Brighter Days” (2019). From across the room, the piece looks like a carefully woven wall-hanging. But closer examination reveals a vividly colored geographic painting, fringed with beadwork.

Nearby, a mysterious white mass, comprised of broken-down stepstools, perches atop a large platform of black filing cabinets. Brian Jungen’s work, “Tombstone” (2019), uses modern, seemingly benign office equipment to represent a turtle shell alone and adrift on a black sea. Curator Erin Joyce explains that the turtle shape suggests Turtle Island, an indigenous name for North America, and the filing cabinets may represent the burden of governmental bureaucracy that tribal communities of the U.S. and Canada experience every day.

Placement and harmony are an important consideration when designing an exhibit, especially a group show. “Works can have interesting conversations with one another in a gallery space,” says Joyce. The museum curators decided they did not want to have all the paintings together, all the sculpture together, videos, photography with photography.

“It was exciting as the pieces arrived and we started installing them. You can’t always tell the details from a photograph,” Pardue says. “The one that really surprised me was Marie Watt’s piece.”

Watt’s enormous textile, “Companion Piece,” presents the image of a wolf, embroidered in black thread, across a number of reclaimed Army surplus blankets.

“Larger Than Memory” Installation View, Platt Photography, Courtesy of the Heard Museum

The wolf’s tongue is a stark contrast to the rigid Army green and black; the thread used for the tongue is bright pink. Pardue explains that examining the incredible detail, twists and turns, of each thread, and the enormity of the piece, really impressed her.

In “Miss America” (part of a four-part, continent-themed series) Monkman references a series of frescos by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo’s fresco “Apollo and the Continents” (1751-53). In Tiepolo’s works, Apollo the sun god, is central in the tableau.

Many works show a distinctive resourcefulness in finding and repurposing materials which helps build context and provides commentary. This resourcefulness is evident in two sculptural works by Cannupa Hanska Luger. “The One Who Checks and the One Who Balances” presents two figures in brightly-colored ceremonial dress.

The garments are made of felt, craft store materials and crochet. On the ground, near this couple, “This is not a snake” sculptural installation curves its way across the floor. It is made from salvaged barrels. The non-snake is a train of discarded items like oil barrels, utility buckets, wire and other junkyard odds and ends, leftover from the practices of extractive industries such as the oil industry, mining, military, and prison industrial complexes. Joyce says the artist describes it as a “grotesque monster of waste.” Started about a decade ago, he has added to the piece over time, and says it will continue to grow as long as these waste-producing industries continue to thrive.

“[Monkman] reclaimed that with Miss Chief.

She’s mounted atop a reptile and leading the charge against unwanted visitors to North America,” Joyce explains. In one corner of the painting, there is a turtle’s head, again referencing the land mass of North America.

Also found in the image: there’s a red-headed basketball player with angel wings, and a bird of prey alighting upon his gloved, falconer’s arm.

Another character looks like the white statue of liberty, topless, suckling a brown-skinned child, while wielding a yellow revolver in her free hand. In the background of the melee, there’s a pre-Columbian pyramid, flanked by the smoking embers of the Twin Towers. This is a very dense work with many characters and layers of meaning. To some viewers, it could read as a postmodernist statement, seeming to challenge and to redefine everything.

There is a blending between tribal histories and the influence of Europeans presented in many of the pieces. This cultural overlap would be difficult to avoid, considering the history of the last 600700 years. Kent Monkman’s painting, “Miss America” portrays a mélange of Native and American symbolism, with a healthy dose of irony mixed in. “[Monkman’s] work appropriates the European tropes of history painting, and he’s indigenizing it,” Joyce says. “You will see this in his gender-fluid, alter ego, Miss Chief Eagle Testicle.” Miss Chief appears in various different paintings as an interstellar time traveler. “She is there to reverse the Colonial gaze.”

“Larger Than Memory” Installation View, Platt Photography, Courtesy of the Heard Museum FEATURE STORY

Within Western art traditions, there is an idea that capturing a moment in history can be “the ultimate artistic expression.”

Regulars to the Heard and members will recognize a diptych by formerly local artist, Steve Yazzie. Yazzie has painted companion pieces, in dialogue with one another. In one painting, the artist sits on top of a rock, surrounded by evergreens. In the other image, a coyote sits occupying the artist’s studio. They are both inhabiting one another’s habitat. Joyce explains this was a return to painting for the artist.

Larger Than Memory is on view at Heard Museum through January 2021. For more information, visit heard.org.

Jenna Duncan is writer, community college instructor and artist based in Phoenix, Arizona.

She leads the training program for journalism at Glendale Community College. Her video art and documentaries have screened in Phoenix, NYC, and Berlin. Jenna holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from University of Arizona, an MFA in Creative Writing from Goddard College in Vermont, and a Masters in Media Studies from The New School.

Jenna is a freelance reporter and editor for a few local magazines and co-hosts a biweekly pop culture podcast with fellow Phoenix writer, Jared Duran, called HootNReview.

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Survival guide for a stressfree holiday season

By Kimberly Blaker

D

o you dread the hustle and bustle of another holiday season?

Between shopping, wrapping, baking, holiday cards, parties, and many other obligations and tasks, surviving the season can be a feat, let alone finding the time to enjoy it with your family. This year, why not make a pact to eliminate stress by following these tips?

Early planning First, close your eyes and think back to the last couple of years and how hectic and stressful they felt. What percentage of holiday activities and tasks would you need to eliminate to make the season truly enjoyable and relatively stress-free? During this process, don’t think about what you can’t remove. Just determine the percentage of reduction you need to make.

Next, make a list of everything you need to do during the holiday season, to which parties you›ll be invited, and how much money you’ll spend. Now cross off the least important, least necessary, and least popular events and tasks. Then review the list and calculate how much time and expense you’ve shaved off.

If you haven’t reached your predetermined reduction, go through your list again.

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Once you’ve decided which parties you’ll attend and the commitments you’ll make, plan how you’ll say “no” to all the others, so you’re not caught off guard.

Remember, you probably don’t notice or mind the imperfections in others’ holiday gatherings.

They’re just as unlikely to see any in yours.

Share in the preparation Enlist your family to help prepare for the holidays and divvy up the tasks.

Don’t expect perfection from yourself or your family. Remember, you probably don’t notice or mind the imperfections in others’ holiday gatherings. They’re just as unlikely to see any in yours.

Also, keep in mind the holiday season isn’t the time to be head cook. Plan potluck gatherings. Then, either suggest what each person should bring or, to avoid duplicates, ask guests to let you know what they’ll bring.

Holiday time-and-energy savers Save time in gift-wrapping by setting up a station in a spare room or the basement. Or stock a large box or basket with wrapping paper, ribbon, bows, tags, tape, scissors, and pens, so everything is stored in one place.

Have extras of everything on hand.

Keep cleaning to a minimum during the holidays. Dismiss unused areas guests won’t see or use, and clean only the obvious in rooms that will be seen. The barely-visible layer of dust on your baseboards is unlikely to be noticed with all the holiday decorations and festivities.

Make everyday meals quick and easy throughout the season. Soups, sandwiches, fresh fruit and vegetables, cottage cheese, pre-cut veggies and dip, and other prepared or semi-prepared healthy foods will suffice for one month of the year.

Do your holiday shopping early in the day on weekdays while your energy is high, and crowds are small.

Shop online or by catalog. If an item lacks details, search for a manufacturer’s website to get the information you need.

Give gift cards. Hard-to-shop-for recipients FEATURE STORY

will appreciate something practical. Gift cards to restaurants, department stores, sporting good outlets, specialty shops, or a massage, pedicure, or round of golf make great gifts.

Don’t overdo the baking. Your guests will likely have had their fill of holiday treats long before your gathering arrives. Also, the caring gesture of visiting or calling friends and neighbors, rather than delivering a plate of baked goodies, will be more enjoyable and meaningful for everyone.

Money saver Does your gift list grow each year? Decide with whom it’s essential to exchange gifts.

Then talk to extended family, friends, coworkers, and others about forgoing gift exchanges, putting a cap on the price, or drawing instead. You’ll likely learn many feel the same as you do.

Holidays with children Allow kids to spend the day they open their gifts at home. It’s hardly fair and often stressful for kids to leave their gifts behind that they’ve waited so patiently to open. In turn, this causes stress for parents. So, plan family get-togethers either on Christmas Eve or on the weekends before or after the holiday. If there’s no way around it, have an early celebration with your kids the day or weekend before the holiday.

Traveling and holiday visiting are also stressful for young children caused by

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changes in their routines and unfamiliar faces.

Have your kids help with packing, even if it’s only for the day, to make sure their favorite toys aren’t left behind. A security blanket or stuffed animal can also reduce stress for your young child in strange surroundings. Don’t forget to leave yourself plenty of time for rest stops as well.

Pace yourself, and don’t try to do everything in one day.

Finally, give yourself a break. Get plenty of exercise such as a brisk walk in the fresh air, and set aside time for relaxation, like a long bubble bath.

Things to do for next year

Get plenty of exercise such as a brisk walk in the fresh air, and set aside time for relaxation, like a long bubble bath.

Start your shopping early. Create a new tradition with a friend or family member and set a monthly shopping date for the upcoming year. By making a scheduled commitment, you’ll be more likely to follow through. Keep the early holiday shopping fun and choose a different town or shopping center for each trip, focusing on unique malls or trendy cities.

Avoid taking children shopping during the holidays. Ask your partner or an older child to babysit, trade babysitting with a neighbor or friend, or hire a babysitter. This will not only reduce stress, but it’ll also likely cut your shopping time in half.

Also, get a label printing software program or app early in the year and enter all of the addresses on your holiday card list. When the holidays roll around, you can print the labels and eliminate the most time-consuming aspect of sending out holiday greetings.

Care for yourself Enjoy holiday treats in moderation. High fat and sugary foods and the lack of healthy meals can lead to tiredness and stress.

Keep goodies stored in the freezer where they’ll be less of a temptation. Have plenty of convenient, healthy snacks such as raw vegetables and nuts on hand. Prepare low-fat meals that won’t bog you down.

Finally, remember the holiday season should be a joyful time for everyone, including yourself, to join in the good cheer with family and friends. Maximize ways to ease your stress to keep the “happy” in your holidays!

Kimberly Blaker is a freelance family writer. She also does blog and content writing for a variety of industries and is an expert in on-page SEO.

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Gift giving 2020: The ultimate guide

By Mikey Rox

I

Queer Agenda card game

n a year filled with more craziness than any of us ever expected, at least we have the holidays. What will they look like this year? Bright, beautiful, and back-to-basics.

Treat yourself and your loved ones to these come-on-be-happy presents hand-picked for LGBTQ+ friends and family.

Made by and for the LGBTQ+ community, the Queer Agenda card game prompts players to participate in rowdy dares and answer inappropriate questions – because you’re goddamn right it should. $25; fitzgames.com

We Are Beautiful ring There wasn’t much glitter or glam in The Year That Wasn’t, but you can change that.

One-hundred percent of proceeds from Pharoun’s 22k gold, rainbow-edged We Are Beautiful cocktail ring (also available in sterling silver) will benefit civil-rights organization Southerners on New Ground. $260; pharaoun.com

Therapeutic journal Stressed? Join the club – if clubs were a thing right now. Until then, try the Write Here & Tear therapeutic journal, which encourages users to jot down their troubles then tear ’em up. Journaling and paper tearing have proven results, too, with 55 percent of survey respondents reporting relief, and another 35 percent relaxation. $20; shop.nicolerussell.com

Embossed rolling pin Imprint whimsical holiday scenes – including detailed snowflakes, trees and reindeer – onto sugar cookies, piecrusts, and even pastas from solid beech wood rolling pins that’ll give Martha a run for her baking-maven money. $35; embossedco.com

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Heated towel rack Spas and bathhouses were but a memory this year, but you can bask in hot hugs from the comfort of your own home.

This heated towel rack keeps your fluffy terrys dry and 90 percent more hygienic between washes — an appreciated feature during a Covid-19 Christmas. $500+; bathroombutleronline.com Rainbow safety razor Iridescent anodized zinc and brass alloy add a splash of queer panache to your Dopp kit on a safety razor — cant be too careful in Final Destination 2020 — that changes appearance depending how light hits it. Just like you, boo. $30; shave.net Holiday-icon dessert set Set your socially distanced dessert table in style with Molly Hatch’s modern heirloom ceramic plates and mugs featuring matching icon prints of candy canes, Christmas trees, gingerbread folx, holly, ice skates, and snowflakes. $16-$18 each; mollyhatch.com Sustainable swabs and tissues LastSwab and LastTissue replace single-use Q-Tips and Kleenex for convenient, washable, good-foryou-and-the-environment stocking stuffers. Because there is no Planet B. $12-$24; lastobject.com

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Pot for Pot kit Pot for Pot DIY cannabis growing kits produce up to eight ounces of ganj in 80 days so you can turn your kitchen, patio or desk with natural or artificial light into a money-saving personal dispensary. Ships to all 50 states – and states of mind. $100; apotforpot.com

Craft Caribbean rum

Robot vacuum

You can file the bright and radiant Don Q Reserve 7 aged Puerto Rican rum under “Fucking Necessary,” and serve it on the rocks at this year’s six-feet-from-insanity holiday party. $25, donq.com

Yeedi’s K650 automated vacuum – boasting bigger suction, less noise, high-efficiency filtration, and made of durable anti-scratch tempered glass – lessens the Cinderell-y workload while you work from home. $220; amazon.com

Gummy sweet-treat tower Taste the rainbow of a foot-high sweets tower from Dylan’s Candy Bar – including bears (gummy ones, of course), Razzmataz rainbow bites, red Australian licorice, and sour poppers (not the kind you’re used to) – packaged in striped, tiered boxes and tied with a bow. $50; dylanscandybar.com #FakeFacts game No, this card game isn’t based on Donald Trump’s presidency – not entirely, at least – but it will provide hours of fun trying to identify and fools others with bizarre, surprising, and unpredictable trivia. Easy to play virtually over Zoom, too. $15; thegamecrafter.com

Spongebob Pride Pop! Pride celebrations were largely cancelled this year – because what wasn’t – but you can shine on anytime of year, queer, with a Funko Pop! Pride stocking stuffer in the form of verified gay-con Spongebob Squarepants. $11; funko.com

Evil Eye earrings Fourteen-karat-gold evil-eye earrings encrusted with .08 carats of diamonds will provide cheeky edge to a New Year’s Eve look that’s not lookin’ back. 2021 or bust, baby! $260; styletypology.com Mikey Rox is an award-winning journalist and LGBT lifestyle expert whose work has been published in more than 100 outlets across the world. He currently lives in his van, ho-hohoing around the country. Connect with Mikey on Instagram @mikeyroxtravels Mikey Rox is an award-winning journalist and LGBT lifestyle expert whose work has been published in more than 100 outlets across the world.

He splits his time between homes in New York City and the Jersey Shore with his dog Jaxon. Connect with Mikey on Twitter @mikeyrox.

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In the Resisterhood: “Rainbow Warrior” Joanna Lohman tells her story in new documentary ISI Photos

By Niki D’Andrea; photos courtesy of Joanna Lohman

W

hen former professional soccer player Joanna Lohman took the stage at the Women’s March in Washington, D.C., on January 21, 2017, she was clutching pages of a prepared speech.

But it was three hours into the assembly, and she decided the crowd had been standing still long enough. With a grin, she tore up the speech and started pacing the stage. “It is time that we move! It’s time that we march, and we rise up!” she yelled. “Let me hear you!

When I say ‘rise,’ you say ‘up’!”

It’s a scene captured in the new documentary Resisterhood, which follows the journeys of six diverse activists (see sidebar) working to protect civil rights and inspire others to join the movement in the wake of Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration.

Producer/director Cheryl Jacobs “CJ”

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Crim spent almost three years filming Lohman and the other activists as they spoke at events, ran for office, marched, and even got arrested. The Women’s March that Lohman attended was the largest single-day protest in U.S. history, and the springboard of a movement that led to the 2018 mid-term election putting a record number of women into the U.S. Congress.

The film — available on Tubi, Roku, Pluto TV, and other platforms — premiered on Amazon Prime on September 22, aka National Voter Registration Day. Not a coincidence.

“Every single person who’s over the age of 18 needs to get out and vote,” Lohman says over the phone. “That is the strongest way we can exercise our democratic rights, and come November, if we all go out and vote, we will flip who our president is and hopefully FEATURE STORY

be taking steps in the right direction when it comes to human rights and LGBTQ equality.”

A former member of the United States women’s soccer team and midfielder for the Washington Spirit, Lohman’s life was soccer until 2017, when she tore her ACL in the Spirit’s season-opening game. Her injury, which ultimately became the impetus for her full-time activism, happens on camera in Resisterhood, and Lohman says watching it was an emotional experience.

“I was really heartbroken,” she says, “but then to see where my life has gone since was really uplifting for me. It also really inspired me to continue on my mission, because with COVID, it’s difficult sometimes to keep that momentum because you’re stuck inside, you can’t see people, and you feel really isolated.

And now with RBG’s death and the Supreme Court vacancy, it’s just hard to not get lost in the negative. So, I think that this movie came at the exact right time because I think I really needed something positive.”

Lohman, 38, was well-known to soccer fans for her blonde “Johawk” hairdo with artistic patterns shaved into the sides, and for being out and proud. The self-proclaimed “Rainbow Warrior” says as a professional athlete, she

received messages from people who told her she helped them come out to their parents and to feel strong and be their authentic selves. “I never in a million years thought that by living my own personal truth and by being open and honest that I would have this impact,” Lohman says. “And it really propelled me to take a stronger role and to be more of an activist because I realized I could be a voice.”

“I realized how privileged I was to go to work every day and feel a hundred percent supported to be myself,” she continues.

“When I go to Africa, for instance — I went four years in a row — it’s illegal to be gay in those countries. So, to know the platform that I have is safe, I think that being an activist was something that I had to do and it just fit so organically in my life.”

As we head toward Election Day on November 3, Lohman says the message of Resisterhood is more important than ever. “I think the message of the movie is not only to keep the faith and to keep hope, but really to lean on one another and lean on the strength of our community,” she says. “We have outlasted worse times in our history, and this will pass, but we need to really rise up and to have a strong voice during this election so we are not forgotten and we are heard.”

Meet the Resisterhood “The film did a great job of painting a broad picture of human rights. It wasn’t just one story or two stories,” Joanna Lohman says. “I felt like everyone can relate to someone in this film and can take pieces from their own missions and really find hope and inspiration from it.”

Meet Lohman’s fellow Resisterhood activists: Dr. Jean Gearon. The greatgranddaughter of a suffragist who participated in the original women’s march in 1913, psychologist Gearon transformed her eight-member book club into the Women’s Alliance for Democracy and Justice, with more than 400 members.

Margaret Morrison. Now 84, Morrison marched from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, in 1965. She continues to participate in marches today.

Luis and Soraida Gutiérrez. ThenU.S. Congressman Luis Gutiérrez (Illinois-D) and his wife advocated for the rights of Dreamers and immigrant families and inspired their daughter Jessica Gutiérrez to run for Chicago’s City Council.

Mimi Hassanein. A woman of Egyptian heritage, Hassanein ran for public office with the support of her large family, including 15 grandchildren.

Niki D’Andrea is a Phoenix-based journalist and editor whose career spans 28 years and includes editor positions at Phoenix New Times, PHOENIX magazine, and Times Media Group. Her scope of coverage has included political elections, drug culture, funding for HIV treatments and medicine, LGBTQ art, fringe sports, and celebrities. When not chasing stories, D’Andrea cheers on her favorite sports team, the Phoenix Mercury, and enjoys playing classic rock records from her collection of vinyl albums.

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Everybody deserves a Mulligan Mulligan’s Manor is Arizona’s only group home for LGBTQ youth in foster care, and they need support

By Tom Reardon; photos courtesy of Mulligan’s Manor

T

Mulligan’s Manor is the only group home that specializes in helping LGBTQ+ youth who are in foster care in Arizona. Let that sink in for a second. “Only” is a lonely word. It can wrap itself around your heart and squeeze the tears out of your eyes so quickly and painfully that you do not have time to think about how similar “only” and “lonely” sound.

According to the Arizona Department of Child Safety’s website, there are currently 19,000 children in foster care in Arizona. In a study entitled, “LGBTQ Youth in Unstable Housing and Foster Care” by Laura Baams, PhD, Bianca D.M. Wilson, PhD, and Stephen T. Russell, PhD, just under 900,000 students in California between the ages of 10 and 18 were surveyed and the numbers reflected that 30.4% of youth 10-18 in foster care identified as LGBTQ+.

If the numbers in Arizona are even half that high, that means that there are 2,850 LGBTQ+ youth in our current foster care system and there is only one Mulligan’s Manor, where there are only eight beds available at any given 26

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Mulligan’s Manor founders Chuck Hawkins and Jenny Diaz

he heart is an amazing organ. It can break then heal only to break again.

It can beat so fast you feel as if it will explode out of your body or swell to an unimaginable size and when it finds another heart to bond with, it is miraculous.

Yes, a heart is an amazing thing and in an undisclosable Tempe location, there is an organization whose heart is incomparable to any other in our state.

time. This represents only 0.2% of the possible need and remember that is only if Arizona numbers are half has high as California.

We cannot disclose the exact location because we live in a world where people who live in fear, ignorance, and hate will go there and attempt to destroy what co-founders Jenny Diaz and Chuck Hawkins have lovingly, and sometimes painfully, built and nurtured since 2011. This fact alone is heartbreaking, but the truth of the matter is even worse: Mulligan’s Manor is in trouble.

As a 501c3 non-profit organization (which means they are one of only two non-profit group homes in the greater Phoenix area), Mulligan’s Manor finances are a matter of public record and things are not good.

According to Hawkins, a 63-year-old military

veteran who spent an astounding 19 of his 33 years serving our country in combat, due to Covid-19, the group home is about $40,000 behind where they need to be for this year and he’s not sure how that shortfall is going to be made up.

A talker, Hawkins has no problem sharing the story of Mulligan’s Manor, but it is one that he almost did not have a role in.

When Diaz, who is also his wife, told him that she wanted to open a group home for LGBTQ+ youth because she had found out they were treated the worst in the system, he initially didn’t want any part of it. In fact, it caused him to move out of their house and the two have not lived under the same roof since.

One day, though, Diaz called Hawkins and told him she needed some help.

“She (Diaz) said, ‘I have a kid who needs to be transported and my car is not big enough,’ so I said, ‘Okay, tell me what I have to do.’ She gave me the information and I drove down to county hospital to pick up this kid,” remembers Hawkins, who is built similarly to a pit bull terrier in that he looks as if you could not knock him over if you tried.

Hawkins proceeds to share a story that would make almost anyone cry.

The child he was picking up at Maricopa County Hospital had been severely injured by his father for coming out as transgender, according to Hawkins. At first, the hospital staff seemed to be extremely cautious as they regarded Hawkins as he waited to meet the FEATURE STORY

boy he was picking up. A sheriff and a hospital security guard came and sat with Hawkins as he waited which caused his post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) from years of combat to begin to flare up.

After about 45 minutes, a now irate Hawkins went back up to the nurse’s station to ask what was going on, but this time, he was asked again why he was there.

“My wife asked me to come pick up a young man. I’m from Mulligan’s Manor,” said Hawkins.

The hospital staff person quickly apologized and led Hawkins back to a room with a curtain around it.

“Inside this room, I could see there was water and a little bit of blood on the floor and there was a ruckus going on behind the curtain. As I pulled the curtain back, I could see that they were holding this kid down to water pick his wounds to clean the wounds out and this kid was fighting them. They were trying to hold him down and when I saw that, my PTSD just triggered, and I let out a drill instructor’s voice and said, ‘What in the blankety blank blank are you doing to this kid?’ and everyone stopped what they were doing and the kid even looked at me. The doctor asked who I was, and I explained to him why I was there. I went over to the kid and said, ‘Are you ok?’ and he said, ‘I’m scared,’” says Hawkins and his voice is clearly beginning to waver as we talked on the phone. He continued: “I looked at that kid and I said, ‘Well, it looks to me like they are trying to patch you up and as soon as they patch you up, you can come with me. And don’t worry, nobody is going to hurt you. Anyone that tries to hurt you is going to have to come through me.’ So I held this kid’s hands and they put 236 staples in this young man’s back because his father had found out that he wanted to be a girl and tied him to a tree and took a bull whip to him.”

from Mulligan’s Manor and if Mulligan’s Manor needs it and I can’t provide it, I will go find it,” says Hawkins.

In the years since Hawkins came around to the mission of Mulligan’s Manor, countless children have come through their doors. Many of the children, now adults, return for holidays and some act as mentors to subsequent residents. Some also still reach out to Hawkins or “Mr. Chuck” or “Papa Chuck” as he is called when they need help and this year has seen those calls multiply due to the pandemic and our current economic climate.

Currently, Mulligan’s Manor can also use some help. Hawkins is fond of saying, “I’ll take anything. Heck, I’ll take a pair of socks,” but the reality is that there is a need for not only cold hard cash, but also help. The children and young adults who reside at Mulligan’s Manor need mentors, clothing, and access to healthcare that is not always covered by funds from the state. In fact, according to Hawkins and Diaz, the state only provides about 60% of the costs of keeping the house going.

Hawkins, whose title is Chief Operating Officer, continues to take no money from the home and Diaz, also 63, is the Chief Executive Officer and resident Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW), only takes $1.83 per week in order to qualify for workman’s comp if that need should ever arise. They do have other staff who work at the house, but they are proud of that just under 99 cents of every dollar that comes into their coffers goes directly to the kids and that includes what they pay their staff. Find another 501c3 that can boast that type of percentage of how their funds are allocated and then you will know of two who can honestly make that claim.

to be too good to be true, it is only because you may be looking at how amazing Diaz and Hawkins are to be doing what they do. It is a large, comfortable home in the East Valley and it even has a pool, but it is far from perfect.

As you drive up, it is apparent which house in the neighborhood is a group home if you know what you are looking for and that is not an insult in any way. The interior is inviting and even warm, but it also is the home of teenagers who are dealing with some heavyduty trauma. There is anger and hurt and pain, but also love, healing and budding pride.

It is still, though, a hard place to be and it can take a toll on even the most weathered warrior.

“I want to retire, but Mulligan’s Manor is important to me,” says Hawkins who has some serious health concerns he is privately facing.

Diaz echoed the same sentiment, but the question remains. What will come of Mulligan’s Manor if we, as a community, do not step up and support it? Diaz and Hawkins will not be here forever to fight this fight and provide a haven for these kids. This heart needs to continue to beat for those who need the love it so generously provides.

Tom Reardon loves to write about people who are doing something to contribute to our community in a positive way. He also loves his family and family of friends, his pets, music, skateboarding, movies, good (and bad) TV, and working with children to build a better world. Tom’s favorite movie is Jaws, his favorite food is lasagna, and he loves to play music with his friends. He’s a busy guy, but never too busy to listen to what you have to say so tell him a story.

If some aspects of Mulligan’s Manor seem

Hawkins took the boy to Mulligan’s Manor and ended up staying there with him for three straight days because of how scared he was that his father was going to come for him. Hawkins was the only one who the boy would let change his bandages or put salve on his back.

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“I’ve been there ever since. After about six months, he was able to talk about it. Was able to socialize with other people because we let him be who he wanted to be. I learned a lot of things then. To me, it is about letting the kids be who they want to be, and they have to learn to do it safely. During those three days, I made a pledge to myself that I will do the best I can and that I will never take a dime

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Hidden In The Hills Artist Studio Tour

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Aric Mei’s family cooks every part of the turkey for their Thanksgiving feast. Images courtesy of Aric Mei

Valley chefs share their home holiday favorites Story and photos by Jeff Kronenfeld Chef Kevin Binkley; photo by David Zickl

I

s there a holiday dish that transports you back in time?

For me, it’s my Dad’s latkes. There’s the sound of the oil popping and then the aroma as he places the steamy potato pancakes on the table. The toppings are sour cream, jelly and applesauce, and there’s plenty of each. It isn’t really a holiday without at least a dozen or so of these greasy carb cakes stuffed in my belly.

Chefs also have their cherished favorites.

We spoke with five of the Valley’s finest greasy spoons to see what foods embody the holiday spirit for them. Some revel in elaborate dishes that take hours if not days to craft. Others prefer something simple yet sentimental. Learn what foods fill the hearts and bellies of these pros during the holiday season while getting tips on how to make these delicacies for your holiday crew.

Kevin Binkley of Binkley’s Restaurant Since 2004, Kevin Binkley has dazzled the Valley with his epicurean culinary stylings. Around these parts, his surname is 32

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Chef Gio Osso. Photo courtesy of Gio Osso

synonymous with the most sumptuously over the top dining experiences. However, when it comes to the holidays, he doesn’t need anything fancy.

Binkley explained his Yuletide favorite is a dish made of oysters and cream which doesn’t even have a formal name. Every Christmas growing up, Binkley’s stepfather would bring a big pot of cream to a boil before pouring the steamy white fluid over raw oysters. This firmed and plumped the little mollusks up just enough.

Of course, Binkley has made some slight tweaks over the years. He starts by sweating some chopped garlic in butter until it turns translucent. Next, he adds and reduces a little white wine before turning off the stove and tossing in the shucked oysters. The chef recommends smaller oyster varieties harvested from the cold waters of the Pacific Northwest. Then, you just pour in the steaming cream spiced with white pepper, salt and the littlest bit of nutmeg. Let it sit for four minutes and, voila, it’s done. Of course, you can’t forget the most important ingredient, and one Binkley’s stepfather never scrunched on.

“The best part about eating good food is when somebody’s love has gone into it,” Binkley explained. “You taste that and I think every year I had that with my stepfather.”

Gio Osso of Virtù Honest Craft and Pizzeria Virtù Gio Osso’s parents are from Italy, which is still where most of his family lives today. Both his restaurants reflect these Mediterranean roots, as do his holiday traditions. He closes both businesses on Thanksgiving and Christmas to give his employees and himself time with loved ones. While these may be two days off for the ever-hustling chef, they’re not days outside a kitchen.

Even after this pasta cake is out of the oven, it’s still not quite done. Again, Osso stresses patience. He advises giving the dish plenty of time to cool and congeal. If you don’t, he warns all your hard work could end up a hot soupy mess.

For this chef and his family, lasagna is as much a part of Christmas as the tree.

He hopes his three ravenous children will continue the family ritual someday, just as he does every December.

“It’s a tradition in my family for as long as I can remember and I’m sure before then, too,” Osso said. “It’s my mom’s recipe. My mom’s no longer with us, so, therefore, it holds a special place in my heart, too.”

James Fox of Vecina James Fox is one half of the culinary tag team behind Vecina, a restaurant whose inspired takes on Latin classics made it Arcadia’s favorite new neighbor last year. Of course, his family knew of Fox’s talents in the kitchen long before this. Whether it’s Thanksgiving, Christmas or another holiday gathering, this chef knows his relatives expect to see his butternut squash soup on the menu.

This family favorite begins early at the farmer’s market, but it won’t break the bank since there are no pricey cuts of meat. After picking up some ripe gourds and other produce, Fox prepares a vegetable stock with garlic, onions, ginger, shallots, celery and black peppercorns. When that’s ready, he tosses in some peeled butternut squash and maybe some carrots too. After cooking that down, the soup gets blended to the perfect consistency.

Fox explains there are two variations, one dessert-like and another more of a first-course

Vecina’s Duroc pork chop

Vecina’s Faroe Island salmon tacos

In the Osso household, the first dish on the holiday table is lasagna. This means prep starts early, because, according to Osso, you

can’t rush a lasagna. It begins with a tomato sauce slow cooked throughout the day with pork, beef and other goodies. When at last ready, the sauce is carefully layered with long flat noodles, a ricotta mixture, pieces of sausage and — this is the special part — hardboiled eggs.

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Aric Mei’s family feast; courtesy of Aric Mei

soup. The sweet tooth edition gets cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and other ingredients that stir controversy when in a latte. The starter style can be spiced a few ways, with Fox sometimes adding aji amarillo, a Peruvian chili paste that is pure peppery gold.

When Fox shared the family favorite at Vecina last year, it was served with a sort of arugula pesto (pureed arugula, jalapeno, lemon juice and parmesan cheese), which Fox explained cuts through the rich soup with a perfect herbaceous acidity. Finally, he topped it all with a curlicue of crispy carrot.

“If it’s cold outside and you want something to warm your soul, this is the perfect thing to do that,” Fox said. “It’s just something my family has always loved.”

George Frasher of Frasher’s Smokehouse, Mrs. Chicken, and Frasher’s Tavern George Frasher usually spends his holidays sweating over a stove so other people can share meals with their families. When you run as many restaurants as he does, it’s a hazard of the industry. Still, these working holidays aren’t without perks. Foremost among them are a peppercorn steak soup that can stand alone, serve as a sumptuous gravy or get poured over noodles for beef stroganoff.

This is another dish that takes all day, so Frasher recommends popping a bottle of wine and engaging in some good conversation while the aromatic soup cooks. In the smokehouse, Frasher cuts all his own steaks, 34

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and, for this dish, he uses pieces of beef tenderloin. If you want to try it at home, he recommends picking up a teres major steak.

After you sauté the hunk of meat, the next step is to whip up a béchamel sauce. The simple white sauce might sound intimidating, but don’t be fooled, it’s just butter, flour and milk. To this, Frasher adds peppercorns, rosemary, brandy, and other herbs and spices. Then, he lets it cook all day.

The results are a delectable soup with a nearcult following. In fact, Frasher is even planning to give this popular dish its very own Facebook page. As always, this cook is a man of the people who shows his love through his food.

“It warms the heart every time I think of that peppercorn steak soup,” Frasher explains. “It’s a nice hearty dish that is able to be used in a variety of ways. People absolutely love it, so that’s why it’s special to me. We came up with it at Frasher’s and it’s my own little soup that I can share with people.”

Aric Mei of The Parlor Pizzeria Aric Mei not only helms one of Phoenix’s swankiest pie shops, but he also practically grew up in pizzerias. With much of his family also in the restaurant industry, holiday meals are extremely important. For Mei and his wife Sarah, herself an accomplished pastry chef, prepping for Thanksgiving can eat up almost a week.

It all starts with getting the best birds. Mei swears by the small flock of heritage breed turkeys from Two Wash Ranch, a local poultry farm. Unlike the rotund meat monsters carved

up by the tens of millions every November, these are slimmer and less ungainly. When Mei first tried one, it was like he’d never eaten turkey before.

The next step is prep, which Mei also doesn’t scrimp on. Instead of popping the whole bird in the oven, Mei and his family carefully carve it into separate parts. Each is then prepared in the manner best suiting its particular qualities. The breasts are roasted in a wood-burning oven, while the thigh gets cooked in a pan with butter and herbs. Every piece is used to create a feast that truly brings their big family together.

“In my humble opinion, that’s how every turkey should be cooked,” Mei said. “This country has really become enamored with this idea of pulling a whole turkey out of the oven and it goes down on the table, but it’s really — from a gastronomy standpoint — not what the bird wants. The breast meat versus the thigh meat versus the leg meat versus the giblets. They all want to be cooked in different ways, and so for us, it’s really important that we do that.”

Jeff Kronenfeld is an independent journalist based out of Phoenix, Arizona. His writing has been featured in Java Magazine, the Arts Beacon, PHXSUX, and the Phoenix Jewish News, where he received the Simon Rockower Award for excellence in news reporting from the American Jewish Press Association. Links to his previously published work are available at www.jeffkronenfeld.com.

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acorn squash. This last dish is puréed and can go toe-to-toe with any pumpkin pie, which Frasher’s also sells. There is also gooey cake made from a cherished family recipe. George has two other restaurants as well, including the fiery Mrs. Chicken and Frasher’s Tavern in Old Town Scottsdale.

2. Hint of Soul Lynn Minor’s meteoric rise in the Phoenix culinary scene is all the more incredible because of the timing. Her soul food catering company went from side hustle to brick-and-mortar restaurant faster than you can say Crown Royal peach cobbler, which happens to be one of four luxurious desserts Minor is offering this year. The others are a seven-flavor pound cake, a Lori Hassler, who co-owns the Farish House with her husband

A sign from Chula Seafood Uptown

WITHOUT RESERVATIONS

Turkey hacks: Six Thanksgiving takeout options Jason Dwight, co-owner of and executive chef for Persepshen

Story and photos by Jeff Kronenfeld

I

n the play A Woman of No Importance, Oscar Wilde quipped you can forgive anyone after a good meal, even your family. Whether your holidays are political slugfests, beatific reunions or sloppy Zoom nightmares, the meal is what brings us together. Planning any kind of safe gathering during a pandemic isn’t easy, and that’s without adding a homemade feast to the to-do list. For those not culinarilyinclined, cooking for even a small group can be the source of considerable stress.

Luckily, many Valley restaurants are ready to serve as your holiday heroes, albeit with aprons in lieu of capes. Are you looking for a meal made with only locally sourced and organic ingredients? Is someone in your quarantine bubble vegetarian or vegan? Or maybe you’re hankering for some classic comfort food to fill your belly and soul?

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Whatever dietary restrictions or cravings have got you sweating in the kitchen after midnight, worry not.

We’ve compiled this list of six restaurants offering to-go feasts so that you can focus on what really matters. Plus, you have the added bonus of knowing your hard-earned fiat currency will help a local business and its workers stay afloat during these trying times. This year let someone else pack your cornucopia full of piping-hot happiness and try to abide if not forgive that one uncle we all dread being seated next to.

1. Frasher’s Smokehouse While there are many pretenders to the title of grill master, few if any more deserve it than George Frasher. This East Valley meat impresario provides everything you need for a classic Thanksgiving feast save for the awkward small talk. Three sizes of smoked turkey are available at Frasher’s Smokehouse: small (10-12 pounds for $45), medium (16-18 pounds for $65) and large (2224 pounds for $85). These birds are soaked in brine for three days before getting barbecue sauce massages and a trip in the smoker. They come ready for transport and with easy reheating instructions. Frasher’s also offers whole or half pit hams at $130 and $80 apiece.

Frasher’s has all the fixings available, too, including stuffing, collard greens, garlic mashed potatoes, corn, candied cranberries topped with toasted walnuts, and roasted

lemon pound cake and a caramel cake.

As far as fowl, Hint of Soul offers roasted chickens for $55, stuffed roasted chickens for $75 and Cajun-roasted chickens for $65.

If bird isn’t your word, Honey Maple hams can be had for $55.

In terms of sides, there are everything you might expect to see on a happily packed holiday table. Of course, this includes Minor’s seven cheese baked mac, as well as garlic mash, dressing, collard greens, garlic butter green beans, yams, and cornbread. An added bonus to ordering here is you might bump into Brittney Griner or another Phoenix Mercury star, given that Hint of Soul is something like the squad’s unofficial soul food purveyor.

3. Persepshen We detailed Persepshen’s almost extremist commitment the DIY ethic — and the mouthwatering results they produce — way back in the pre-COVID-19 month DINING OUT

of February, 2020. While COVID-19 has changed much in the intervening months, it hasn’t changed the locally sourced delicacies served up by Jason and Katherine Dwight, Persepshen’s founders and co-owners.

This year they’re offering Thanksgiving Eve Family meal specials for dine-in or to-go, as well as pies good enough to make even the best bear break bad. The meal consists of a charcuterie board, wood-fired pizza, salad and four overloaded chocolate chip cookies. Persepshen’s charcuterie boards are literal works of art so beautiful it almost hurts to ruin them with my grubby fingers. Since the restaurant only works with what’s in season, the specific makeup of the boards varies, but they will include three dry cured salumis, a pate, a terrine, three seasonal pickled vegetables, blueberry ginger jam, IPA mustard and sesame seed lavosh bread. The meal is $65 per person, and don’t worry, it’s a whole lot of food for the money.

As for the pastries, they’re baking pumpkin and apple crumb pies. The pumpkin will have a graham cracker crust and bourbon maple Chantilly made from organic Vermont maple syrup and Peralta Bourbon from Tempe’s own Adventurous Stills. And, of course, the gourds are local.

The apple crumb pie will have a ridiculously flaky dough crust packed with local organic apples topped by candied nuts crumbs.

4. The Farish house The Farish House’s unique blend of French cuisine with an American twist is the perfect way to turn your Thanksgiving meal to 11.

Owner and head chef Lori Hassler crafts dishes as decadent as they are wholesome.

She can’t help you with the turkey course this year, but when it comes to sides and pies, she’s got your back.

First, you can’t go wrong with The Farish House’s roasted duck fat fingerling potatoes. Another Farish house staple on the holiday menu is the Le Mac, a delectable orgy of aged gouda and Tillamook sharp cheddar melted into a French béchamel topped with lemon zest, parmesan brittle and parsley. A second fancy spin on spuds are the Potatoes D’Auphinois, which are scalloped potatoes drenched in a buttery garlic béchamel and completed by a grana Padano crust. For something green, there are the roasted brussels sprouts with caramelized bacononion-cranberry-golden raisin relish and walnuts.

If you are not drooling yet, then the roasted beets, sweet potatoes, squashes, okra, carrot, and turnips laced with North African spices should wake up your salivary glands. Last but not least is the sweet corn brioche bread pudding, a stuffing stuffed DINING OUT

George Frasher, the owner of Frasher’s Smokehouse, Frasher’s Tavern and Mrs. Chicken, where he is pictured here

with Vidalia onion, flecks of sweet red pepper, freshly grilled corn, and a hint of ginger. Three kinds of pie are also available: Hatch Apple Crostata with cheddar-brown sugar streusel, a red chile pecan pie and a bittersweet chocolate tarte.

5. Chula Seafood Squalls, L.A. traffic and even a global pandemic can’t keep Chula Seafood’s small armada of fishing vessels in port for long.

If you want sustainably harvested seafood for your Thanksgiving, then your voyage ends here. They have live lobsters for preorder, oyster stuffing kits, smoked fish platters and smoked fish bagel bundles. Of course, they also have loads of other fresh fish and seafood too. Both the Phoenix and Scottsdale locations boast glass cases filled with a veritable rainbow of tuna, salmon, halibut, scallops, and other saltwater treats.

Chula is the perfect place to help keep a pesky pescatarian from causing a splash.

6. Green When it comes to vegetarian and vegan cuisine, nowhere is quite as verdant as this Valley favorite. Chef Damon Brasch and the rest of the Green team are serving up cruelty-free fare to go for what they have dubbed ThanksLiving. On the menu is seitan turkey breast with “giblet” gravy, though no giblets were harmed in the making. For your voluminous holiday carbs, they offer organic cranberry stuffing with toasted walnuts. Roasted garlic smashed potatoes, smoked paprika organic sweet corn, fried brussels sprouts and local artisan breads round out the meal. Dessert is a winter berry organic oat granola cobbler. If you preorder now, all this can be yours for only $27.50 for adults and $12.50 for kids.

Jeff Kronenfeld is an independent journalist based out of Phoenix, Arizona. His writing has been featured in Java Magazine, the Arts Beacon, PHXSUX, and the Phoenix Jewish News, where he received the Simon Rockower Award for excellence in news reporting from the American Jewish Press Association. Links to his previously published work are available at www.jeffkronenfeld.com.

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BANDS

Kristen Ford: A queer alt-rocker driving forward in uncertain times

By Timothy Rawles; photos by Amber Nichole 40

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H

ow does an energetic rock musician like Kristen Ford stay sane during a pandemic?

She makes music of course. But that’s the easy answer. Beneath her spirited façade the queer artist is re-evaluating some things during this time and it’s making her music better than it ever was.

“I feel like a completely different person,” she told me during our interview about her latest EP No Plans now available on music apps or directly through her website.

I was at a little disadvantage honestly. I had never heard of the singer which is a shame because immediately after listening to her song “Happy” for the first time I went through her catalogue on iTunes and fell in love with her sound and lyrics. “Well, welcome aboard the Kristen Ford wagon,” she laughed over the phone.

Ford is based in the music capital of the world, Nashville Tennessee, and until recently performed 100 live shows a year. COVID-19 put her on hiatus which, she explains later, was probably a blessing disguise.

Described as an alt-rocker, I asked the singer what exactly that meant to her and if that moniker aptly describes her new EP No Plans.

“I consider alternative rock to be like … it’s a willingness to be heavy and I think it speaks to instruments like real drums, bass, electric guitar, and song structure that is sort of that tried-andtrue first chorus,” she explains. “Maybe there’s a solo, maybe not. I think that pop music — popular music — has increasingly gone electronic and increasingly gone less and less chords; it’s the same loop repeating. I love dance music, I love seeing the direction that pop makes through its evolution. I used to love early Radiohead and Nirvana and Jagged Little Pill. I think in a way it’s easy for my music to sound like it came out of the early 2000’s or the late 90’s. That was really neat to work with Rachel Moore, the producer on No Plans because she, I think, really brought it into 2020 and incorporated synthesizers and having restraint to allow the story of the song to speak.”

Perhaps her song “Bulletproof” from her 2004 album Dinosaur best exemplifies that sentiment.

In one layer the instrumentals are driven by percussion and guitars to a steady beat but the lyrics, add an additional charge: “All this bullshit that we’ve been through; we were just learning to be bulletproof.” The delivery is calm and serene, even though the narrative takes the listener into deeper storytelling. I shared this thought with Ford.

Kristen chuckles at my assessment, “I love that you use the words ‘calm’ and ‘serene.’ If you spend like five minutes with me on a personal level, I’m a pretty high energy person and it’s almost to the point of mania.”

Timothy Rawles is an award-winning journalist and California native who moved to Arizona with his husband and two children in 2019. He attended San Francisco State University many years ago and somehow managed to pass math and continue pursuing his journalism degree. His story is not as interesting as the people he writes about, but Timothy has discovered that everyone has one, and good or bad, they all share the same thing; heart.

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RECORDINGS

T

he name of the game this month is survival, I think, for all of us. Each of the songs below touch on some type of quest for selfpreservation, even if it just surrendering yourself to love. Explore and enjoy. May humanity win one this time around. See you on the other side.

By Tom Reardon

Trixie Mattel – “Video Games” Sometimes, as a reviewer, you’re at a disadvantage when a song comes along that is a cover, but you are not familiar with the original at all. So, apologies to Lana Del Rey, but I’m going to judge “Video Games”

by Trixie Mattel on its own merit and not reference the original again. This song touched me. As a dude who played a fair amount of video games as a youth, but never let them stand in the way of interacting with a significant other, at first, I thought the song was about being ignored because of video games. I couldn’t have been more wrong.

As I listen closer and, admittedly, read the lyrics, I know it is actually about falling in love. Mattel exudes a sincerity of voice that is both captivating and refreshing in this era of false bravado and flat out dishonesty. I’m very thankful that this landed in my inbox. I think you will be, too.

it is starting to feel as if these guys are just going through the motions. Kind of like how some people feel about the Strokes, you know? As if a group of talented musicians got together and said, “Let’s be this genre because not many people are getting famous right now in this genre.” “Model Village” is not particularly exceptional, but the urgency of the tempo and the vocal patterns present in the song elevate it to something fans of post-punk music will find fairly listenable.

There is noticeable angst here, in bunches, like the last mile to your house when you really have to relieve your bowels.

Eli Smart – “Cruella Deville” There are zero reasons that Eli Smart won’t be huge. This quickly infectious jam hooks you in and doesn’t let go. It also helps that Smart is a pretty darn good guitar player and the jazz six string breakdown around the 3-minute mark drops hints that the best is yet to come from the young Hawaiian who traveled to Liverpool for college. Handsome as the day is long, Smart will have boys and girls swooning for years to come, too, so check out “Cruella Deville” (another great song name) for a reminder of how fun summer can be.

Basic Elements – “Hide” Idles – “Model Village” There are very few bands doing the postpunk sound better than Idles right now, but 42

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Basic Elements, is a revelation more than it will ever be “retro.” The band made Phoenix their home during their substantial run from the mid-’80s to early ‘90s and “Hide” is a staple from their early shows. Equal parts Simple Minds, Fixx, and U2, “Hide” feels just a vibrant today as it did in 1985 and the production from Ed Buller (Psychedelic Furs/ Suede) is top fucking notch. As you listen, you will be transported back to a seemingly simpler time, yet when we truly think about it, the ‘80s were almost as crazy as today.

We didn’t have social media constantly bombarding us with the inanity of our leaders in those days, but we sure do now, and this is what Basic Elements does a wonderful job of in reminding us that it is necessary sometimes to “hide from your leaders.” Political songs are often not this good, nor do they remind you of dancing in the backroom of 80s Phoenix teen club, Tommy’s but everything about this release is cool, down to the nod to Gang of Four’s Entertainment record cover.

Kudos to the boys from Basic Elements. We are glad you are back!

I have to admit that I’m not a big fan of the term, “Retro.” Maybe it is my age that gives it away as I fear that there is someone younger, cooler, and prettier that is looking at me and thinking, “Retro dude.” Either way, “Hide” by

Tom Reardon loves to write about people who are doing something to contribute to our community in a positive way. He also loves his family and family of friends, his pets, music, skateboarding, movies, good (and bad) TV, and working with children to build a better world. Tom’s favorite movie is Jaws, his favorite food is lasagna, and he loves to play music with his friends. He’s a busy guy, but never too busy to listen to what you have to say so tell him a story.

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BETWEEN THE COVERS

By Terri Schlichenmeyer but she didn’t tend to stick with them for more than a few months. Because of that, when, at the edge of adolescence, Ava finally told her parents that she was a girl, Hassouri thought it was another “phase.”

To her own later guilt, she refused to believe her child.

Though Hassouri was a pediatrician, her first identity was as the mother of three children, two boys and a girl, and now what? She was confused, wounded, and greatly saddened. She and her husband had carefully named their offspring according to family tradition, and now one of them wanted a new name and new pronouns that sounded wrong to Hassouri’s ears. She mourned that her secondborn would never become the man she’d envisioned. She cried and grieved. And yet, she writes, there really were just two options.

Found in Transition: A Mother’s Evolution During Her Child’s Gender Change by Paria Hassouri, MD c.2020, New World Library $25.95 / higher in Canada 215 pages

I

n your mother’s book, you were known before you were born.

She noted every kick, every head-bump, every stretch you made as she carried you. She felt your burps, and when you rolled over. And though she’d never met you, she recognized you the minute you arrived because your mother knew you before you were born. But as in the new book Found in Transition by Paria Hassouri, MD, a mother can’t know everything.

“I choose figuring it out,” she said. “I choose my child.”

Reading Found in Transition is tough — not for what it is but for what author Paria Hassouri says. It’s almost like sandpaper on a sunburn.

Foremost, there are a lot of hard truths inside this memoir, for which Hassouri states “I have to own them and be honest about them,” and that took courage — although confessions seem to be necessary here, for her and for readers. This book, in fact, would’ve been much different absent those harsh, sometimes incomprehensible feelings and thoughts; readers may’ve even sensed that it wasn’t quite complete. No, it would have been the lesser without its brutal truths from this maternal point of view, because here’s the thing: though Ava is a constant presence in a memoir that truly wouldn’t exist without her, this is really not her story. It might make you angry, it might make you cry, but this tale belongs to her mother; indeed, Found in Transition is onehundred-percent a mother’s book.

She always wanted to be a mom.

Born in the U.S., raised in Iran, Paria Hassouri was a teen when she returned to the U.S., where her mother insisted that Hassouri and her sisters get an education.

But schooling was secondary in Hassouri’s eyes. She’d wanted children since she was a child herself, and was particularly eager to have daughters, though she was not terribly disappointed that her first two babies were sons.

For much of her life, the second-born, Ava, had been a handful.

There were many conversations with teachers through the years, Hassouri recalls: teachers worried that Ava was depressed, had behavioral issues, or was suicidal. Ava was a smart kid with great creativity, and she loved to try new things, 44

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nd sparks flew.

Forget the beginning of a new romance; the

middle is where the best part is, the boy-meets-boy part where everything’s a first. First hand-hold, first hug, first kiss, that’s what you want to see.

Sparks. Embers for a flame to come, maybe even some heat.

And in Heartstopper Volume 1 by Alice Oseman, that›s what you get.

Fourteen-year-old Charlie Spring hadn’t meant to come out as gay. It happened and he never really had control of it: one day, nobody knew and then everybody did. He was bullied, of course, and though there were a few guys in his class that he called friends, he never truly knew who he could trust.

Take, for example, Ben Hope.

Ben was an older boy who Charlie hung around with sometimes, and when he really thought about it, Charlie knew in his heart that Ben was just using him. He was all kissy and stuff when nobody was looking but Charlie knew down-deep that Ben would never let anyone see them together. He knew for a fact that Ben even had a girlfriend.

Ben was not forever; Charlie knew that much, and it was discouraging. And then he got paired up with Nick Nelson in first-period class.

Just one grade ahead, Nick was tall and handsome and friendly. He had light hair, an easy smile, and he put Charlie at ease the day they met. Soon, they were talking about things outside of class. Nick got Charlie on the school rugby team. They texted and emailed long after school hours and they became good friends.

And Charlie started to fall in love.

But Nick Nelson was totally straight, everybody knew that, right?

Everybody but Nick: once, he’d had a mad crush on a girl but that was in seventh grade. Now he couldn’t stop thinking about Charlie. He wasn’t sure what that

Heartstopper Volume 1 by Alice Oseman c.2020, Graphix Scholastic $14.99 / higher in Canada 288 pages meant, exactly, but it scared him a little. Was Charlie feeling the same way?

While you’re reading Heartstopper Volume 1 there are two basic sounds that will come from your lips: “Awwwwww” and “Arrrrrrgh!”

The first will escape repeatedly because this is one really sweet book about first love and first realization. It’s gentle and not TMI, and even if you’re well past the new-love stage and in a committed relationship, it’ll remind you of those first where-do-I-put-my-nose kisses.

Author-illustrator Alice Oseman tells this boy-meets-boy story with drawings that show the roller-coaster of teenage crushes and the awkwardness of early romance. Through those drawings, she also quietly lets readers know that some people struggle to understand their sexuality and that’s okay.

To further the realism, there are bullies in this story, and a boy who almost seems dangerous.

Oh, and that other sound you’ll utter?

It comes at the end with a cliffhanger. Yep, you’ll have to wait for the Happily Ever After.

Arrrrrrrgh!

Terri Schlichenmeyer, The Bookworm, lives on a hill in Wisconsin with two dogs and 13,000 books. She’s been reading since age 3 and, to this day, she never goes anywhere without a book.

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TALKING BODIES

relevant, time-sensitive); but let’s take things a bit further. Expanding on black-or-white, all-or-nothing thinking above, goals need to have a bit of fluidity to them alongside all of that specificity.

First, consider your experience with the pursuit in question. For example: a novice at weightlifting would take years to get to a professional bodybuilding level; whereas an amateur who has been doing competitions for years is likely more within striking distance. If you’re new to something, give yourself more of a cushion to make sure goals are reachable. Don’t just charge into battle, guns blazing, with all of that ego.

Brain training to boost your physical training

By Tia Norris

I

t’s no secret that the most successful athletes in the world have not only their physical game on lock, but also their mental game as well. Fitness is so much more than muscles, in fact, experienced coaches will say that most of fitness is actually in the athlete’s mind. And when I say “athlete,” I’m taking about you, too! From the weekend warriors and casual gym goers all the way to the professionals, the psychological muscle is the one that must be flexed most often for the best, most sustainable, results.

While we could discuss sports psychology for over a hundred articles, let’s cover today some of the biggest mental hurdles that I help my clients to clear in their pursuit of a healthy lifestyle.

Perfectionism is not cool “Perfectionism” is usually seen as a positive trait among high-performing individuals; but it actually is rooted in deep fear, insecurity, and anxiety. What’s worse, because it appears productive on the outside, many perfectionists fear they will be unsuccessful without such a powerful drive toward the details. Ask any perfectionist how they feel, deep down, about this character trait and they will admit how ensnaring the endless cycle can be.

I see perfectionism every single day as a trainer — it shows up as over-thinking technique to the point of not hitting your potential on the exercise; agonizing over food logging and wasting time worrying 46

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about every single calorie; or even worse, dark feelings of inadequacy, self-loathing, or even self-sabotage when there is perception of missing even the tiniest detail, workout, or task. Know that there is an unmistakable difference between striving for excellence and striving for impossible standards.

Of course, I am not a licensed therapist and for deeply rooted patterns around perfectionism, I recommend seeking professional help. To start though, begin by recognizing the costs of being overly perfectionistic … recognize the waste of resources, time, energy, emotions, and more, that go into meeting your amorphous arbitrary standards. Recognize that no one does everything perfectly all the time. What would you tell a young child, or someone you really love, when they mess up? Begin to develop your own inner dialogue as if you were talking gently to the most important person in your life … because you are.

Be patient, recognize the diminishing returns of perfectionism, and re-calibrate your standards for yourself to be more graceful, forgiving, but still high-performing.

Dive into the goal setting process a bit further Similarly, many people begin fitness ventures without having realistic expectations of what to expect, and when, and in what quantity.

Yes, we all know about SMART goal setting by now (“specific, measurable, attainable,

Second, consider your confidence level and past success with achieving similar goals.

For example: if you’ve tried and failed to lose weight several times over the past few years, perhaps look at your goal setting to see if you’ve set the bars impossibly high, or if you’ve bitten off far more than you could chew each time. At this point in my career, I hardly believe in the black-and-white, overnight approach. Momentum is best built slowly, incrementally, over a long period of time, while building confidence little by little along the way.

Be intentional, grateful, and don’t forget how badass you are.

Each workout, you need to set intentions both for the workout itself, and for the longterm training cycle. The most catastrophic mistake people make with workouts is just “phoning them in”, with no mindfulness and no gratitude for how amazing their body is. Take even just two minutes before each workout to be grateful for what you’re doing — remember when you were injured and couldn’t exercise? Or do you have someone in your life who is too injured, too sick, or too busy to exercise like you do? Be grateful for what you can do and watch your workouts and your physical self-transform.

And on another note, I work with plenty of CEO’s, doctors, and other badasses who are excellent at their work but “can’t seem to get it right” with fitness. It’s the same thing!

Determination, organization, goal setting, resilience — imagine if you were as successful at fitness as you are with your career, money, or other areas of your life. Harness your strengths and pour them into the physical world.

To get the most out of your physical self, you need to also be connected to your mental and emotional self. A holistic approach is the only sustainable bet. Start with a realistic appraisal of your mental strengths and weaknesses, inject gratitude and sharper goal setting, and start to get your mind to work for you.

Tia Norris is the president and head trainer at FitPro, LLC, a local fitness company. Find out more at fitprollc.com.

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NOT THAT YOU ASKED

someone esteemed in educational and scientific circles as a bona fide expert.

Mr. Public favors doing his own research — which amounts to seeing a meme that confirms his worldview and/or reading a discredited treatise about a topic — than trusting genuine research done by experts who’ve spent decades working in their arena. This was never more evidenced than when millions of Americans dismissed the warnings and advise of Dr. Anthony Fauci and the World Health Organization on COVID-19 and chose to be believe a few quack doctors who were easily debunked and disgraced.

Stupid is as stupid does

By Buddy Early

E

arlier this summer, at the height of protests regarding police brutality, one of my (former) friends started circulating a racist and alarmist message on social media. It was a warning about a group referred to as “they.” It started as a text message that Susie Housecoat sent to Linda Goodslippers, who screenshot it and sent it to Julie Minivan, who pushed the button on various social media platforms and every Tom, Dick, and Mary gullible to such hysteria shared it with friends and acquaintances.

Truth is, I don’t know where it began — could’ve been started by a “Phoenix mom” as it alleged, or by a fat slob in the basement of his parent’s home, or by a Russian instigator — but that’s not really important in this context. What is important is that it picked up traction amongst “regular” Americans.

The “they” referred to in this message was clear: black people. “… They are planning to start raping and murdering white women and children that are out on the streets” is what the message stated.

The message claimed to have sources in law enforcement, i.e. Phoenix Police and Homeland Security.

This type of fearmongering should be recognized by anybody with some god damn common sense. But plenty of people fell for it. It’s why candidates from Arizona’s own appointed senator Martha McSally to Maricopa Country Sheriff hopeful Jerry Sheridan to Donald Trump himself have decided to traffic in such schemes. Each of them has been firing up their bases by citing “liberal mobs” in the streets. Their

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respective opponents, if you believe them, support such non-existent mobs that threaten our safety and peaceful way of life.

The year 2020 has revealed a lot about us, our fellow Americans, and our country in general. One of the things this year has revealed is that we are stupid. We are a stupid, stupid country. We might be more stupid than we’ve ever been.

(I had a college English professor who insisted no one should ever use the word stupid, that we should use the word dumb instead; but dumb is not strong enough for this column, so I apologize to that professor, whatever her name was.

Furthermore, there are folks who suggest that both words are ableist, and only used as insults, to put down or undermine another. To that I’d say: that’s exactly what I’m doing.)

In in age when we have more correct information at our fingertips and incredible educational institutions among us, our collective disdain for intelligence is at an all-time high. This is evidenced every time someone disparages the intellectual elite or scoffs at a real-life expert in a particular field who is merely trying to share facts.

Ivy League Graduate is now used as a pejorative. The truly ironic part is that the people who argue “we need to stop letting all these foreigners come to benefit from our top-rated universities, then go back to their own countries” are usually the same ones ridiculing anyone who matriculated at such a place.

Joe Q. Public prefers to get his information from an idiot rather than

We’ve seen this stupidity in many other forms in 2020: believing every child trafficking theory posed on social media without applying reason; disbelieving seasoned and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists despite verified truths; accepting numerous lies about Black Lives Matter, Antifa, and Colin Kaepernick without using good judgment; and promoting crackpot conspiracy theories about microchips, 5G signals and the Deep State.

I have no delusion that I am, in fact, a member of the intellectual elite. I’m pretty smart by many standards, but let’s face it: I studied at Arizona State University where I graduated with a C+ average, and despite my education and professional experience I still have to Google certain words for accurate spelling. But in an effort to become smarter I read newspapers and web sites and watch news channels because I desire to be educated about the world.

And maybe that’s the problem. Many Americans don’t take the time to learn from those in the know. It’s easy to attack the true intellectual elite (Bill Gates, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Barack Obama) because their highbrow knowledge is viewed as unattainable to John Meatloaf and Helen PotPie. Better to listen to those who exhibit minimal intelligence (Donald Trump, Sarah Palin, Joe Rogan) because they are “like us.”

I mean, that’s the only explanation I can think of.

Let me clear, if this reads like I am mocking average Americans with my use of Everyman monikers and other invectives … I absolutely am. If you don’t want to be labeled stupid, then don’t practice stupidity. You have the power to choose.

Buddy Early grew up in Tempe and has been involved in various communities across the Valley since.

He is a former managing editor of both Echo Magazine and Compete Magazine.

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