Scene January 28, 2021

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| clevescene.com | January 27-February 2, 2021

| clevescene.com | January 27-February 2, 2021

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CONTENTS

JANUARY 27-FEBRUARY 2, 2021 • VOL. 51 NO 27 Upfront .......................................5 Feature ..................................... 10 Arts .......................................... 13

Film .......................................... 15 Eat ............................................ 16 Savage Love .............................. 19

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| clevescene.com | January 27-February 2, 2021

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UPFRONT

PORTMAN’S TESTICLE HUNT TO BE ABORTED IN 2022 CITING PARTISAN GRIDLOCK and a desire to spend more time with his family, Sen. Rob Portman announced Monday that he will not seek re-election in 2022 when his term ends.

“It has gotten harder and harder to break through the partisan gridlock and make progress on substantive policy, and that has contributed to my decision,” Portman said in a statement. “We live in an increasingly polarized country where members of both parties are being pushed further to the right and further to the left, and that means too few people who are actively looking to find common ground. This is not a new phenomenon, of course, but a problem that has gotten worse over the past few decades.”

Portman, who attempted to thread the needle in supporting some of former President Donald Trump’s worst and most egregious lies while maintaining a semblance of dignity and professionalism, said, “Over the next two years, I

look forward to being able to focus all my energy on legislation and the challenges our country faces rather than on fundraising and campaigning.”

He looks forward to re-entering the private sector and “being able to be more involved in the community and in our family business. And I plan to stay involved in public policy issues.”

“This is a tough time to be in public service. For many of the issues I am most passionate about, I will continue to make a difference outside of the Senate, beyond 2022,” he said. “In the meantime, I am hopeful that President Biden will follow through on his inaugural pledge to reach across the aisle, and I am prepared to work with him and his administration if he does. I was on the bipartisan call yesterday on a new COVID-19 package. I hope the Administration will work with us on a more targeted approach that focuses on things like vaccine distribution, testing and getting kids back to school.”

The Republican, who also served in the U.S. House, was first elected as Senator in 2011.

He made the announcement with nearly two years left in his term, he said, to allow prospective candidates ample time to get campaigns up and running. On that front, almost every frontline Ohio Republican is considering entering the fray.

On the Democratic side, both Congressman Tim Ryan and Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley have been mentioned as super early favorites. -Vince Grzegorek

Blaine Griffin Will Not Run for Cleveland Mayor in 2021 City Councilman Blaine Griffin told a virtual crowd at a New Year’s celebration earlier this month that he would not be seeking the office of Cleveland mayor in the 2021 election.

If not an outright surprise, the announcement was certainly news.

Griffin has long been considered a

natural heir to incumbent Frank Jackson and has been on virtually every short list of prospective mayoral candidates published since Jackson won his unprecedented fourth term in 2017.

But Griffin confirmed his decision with Scene, saying he would instead be running to retain his council seat in Ward 6.

“Unless something dramatically changes, I am running for council,” he said. “I am signing up for another four years.”

Griffin was recently appointed

by Council President Kevin Kelley as the chair of council’s Safety Committee, replacing outgoing councilman Matt Zone. And if Kelley runs for Mayor — as his colossal fundraising would seem to indicate — Griffin is the most likely successor as council president.

Griffin is the current majority whip on council and is seen as something of a peacemaker by his colleagues.

Griffin told Scene that he “just want[s] to be a good public servant,” and believes that for now, he can

| clevescene.com | January 27-February 2, 2021

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UPFRONT best serve his constituents as the representative in Ward 6. That area includes the neighborhoods of University Circle, Little Italy, Fairfax and Larchmere, with portions of Buckeye-Shaker, Slavic Village and Union Miles. With the ongoing expansion of the Cleveland Clinic and residential development in University Circle, Griffin’s ward remains one of the hottest in Cleveland. He was appointed to his seat in 2017, completing the brief remainder of former councilwoman Mamie Mitchell’s term. A few months later, he won a full fouryear term of his own.

Griffin did not say his current decision was influenced by other candidates in the 2021 mayoral race, but he has no doubt cast his gaze upon the horizon and frowned: The millennial nonprofit executive and hashtag hot shot Justin Bibb formally his campaign earlier Tuesday. Mayor Frank “There Is No Infrastructure” Jackson has given no public indication about his future, but may say to Hell with it, Feinstein-

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wise, and seek a fifth term to continue insulating his extended family from criminal prosecution.

The unapologetic HB 6 co-sponsor Sandra Williams and Basheer Jones have both indicated their interest, and young outsiders with stylized names and flamboyantly irrelevant credentials seem only too eager to stir the pot, destined for votes in the 200-500 range on primary day.

Zack Reed and a walk-in closet of very clean suits lurk in the wings.

Kevin Kelley has a fortune at his disposal, but will need something like two billion dollars — ~$10,000 for every impoverished person in Cleveland, disbursed in cash — to rehab his villainous image. The aging thespian Dennis Kucinich has more clout and electoral panache than the rest of the field combined, save Jackson. And it’s only a matter of time before the former mayor, Congressman and presidential candidate enters the fray with tornadic force.

Griffin might’ve eyed that approaching storm and battened down his hatches. He knows he can ascend the council ladder via a much smoother electoral path. In any case, he told Scene he wanted to continue to “lace them up and give it all I’ve got” as a councilman.

| clevescene.com | January 27-February 2, 2021

He affirmed that in whatever elected position he holds, he will continue to love Cleveland and work hard. -Sam Allard

Downtown Resident Suing City After Being Arrested Picking up Groceries During Curfew Mehdi Mollahasani, a downtown Cleveland resident of Middle Eastern descent, has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the city of Cleveland for his arrest on May 31, 2020 while attempting to get a grocery order during the city’s post-protest crackdown.

Following the demonstrations and violence during the May 30th George Floyd protest in Cleveland, Mayor Frank Jackson instituted a curfew for the downtown area to physically prevent demonstrators from gathering again.

The curfew zones and times were almost immediately criticized as over-broad overreactions for which the city provided little to no justification but nevertheless included militarized offices and vehicles as well as blocked highway exits and bridges.

Regardless, in accordance with the order, residents who lived

downtown were asked to remain at home except for work purposes or to gather essential items.

Mollahasani says in his lawsuit that he did just that — leaving his residence on East 9th to retrieve an Instacart order from a delivery driver who had been stopped by cops outside the restricted downtown zone. Before making it four blocks, he was confronted

by Cleveland police officers who “harassed him, and baselessly accused him of looting.”

Mollahasani hadn’t even attended the protest the previous day, let alone participated in any looting.

Despite showing proof of residency, and despite doing nothing more extraordinary than getting groceries and providing proof of the awaiting Instacart driver, police arrested him.

One said he “looked like” a looter.

“In spite of his compliance with every order of the officers, Cleveland Division of Police officers arrested him and caused him to be incarcerated in the Cuyahoga County Jail for days during the novel Coronavirus pandemic. He was later charged criminally and forced to defend himself in court.

All charges against him were

dismissed,” Mollahasani’s lawyers at Friedman, Gilbert + Gerhardstein said in a release.

His was far from the only arrest for violating the downtown curfew, which a U.S. District Court Judge ruled recently was problematic in general, saying simply being downtown after the curfew was not sufficient probable cause to arrest people.

That was, however, how cops interpreted it.

Notable among the other arrests was that of Anthony Body, a Bail Project employee, for violating curfew despite having his courtissued ID and traveling into downtown to do his job at the Justice Center.

About half of the 120 cases stemming from May 30 have been dropped to date. About 50 of those remaining involve curfew violations. Given the judge’s ruling, those will likely be dropped or result in fines.

“The defendant police officers abused their power in the most unconscionable way when they arrested Mehdi off the street and threw him into the notorious Cuyahoga County Jail for days for absolutely no reason,” said Sarah Gelsomino, partner at Friedman, Gilbert + Gerhardstein. “The City encouraged their police officers to sweep people off the streets and into the jail in order to prevent additional protest, and they did so without any concern for civilians, like Mehdi, who were living legally within the curfew zone.

The City and the defendant officers must account for this blatantly unconstitutional and unreasonable behavior of their officers.” – Vince Grzegorek

At Council Hearing, Chief Williams Doubles Down on May 30th Lies After testimony about the May 30th demonstrations from local activists Kareem Henton and Julian Khan at a Cleveland City Council Safety Committee meeting earlier this month, Police Chief Calvin Williams refuted the narrative that police had started the riots.

Williams said he’d heard this narrative repeatedly — though it had not been voiced by either Henton or Khan — and said it was simply not the case that police had ignited the violence outside the Cuyahoga County Justice Center.

On the contrary, he said, officers had withstood a barrage of objects heaved by protesters, “bricks, frozen

eggs, concrete, you name it,” for a full hour before Williams finally gave the order to disperse the crowd. At that point, officers began launching tear gas projectiles and an array of less-than-lethalmunitions.

“Trust starts with the truth,” he said, referring to the mistrust between the community and the police. “I can never let a lie stand.”

Seeing as Williams had broached the topic of truth and lies, Councilwoman Jenny Spencer took the opportunity to follow up.

She informed Williams that many of her constituents in Ward 15 had lost trust in him specifically, due to his comments in the aftermath of May 30th’s unrest. She asked him to clarify his allegations, which had been later denied by the Cuyahoga County Sheriff, that protesters breached the Justice Center during the confrontation.

Williams said he stood by his statements. He directed council to page 13 of the after-action, which contained a summary of how Cleveland Police came by this information. He’d responded in a similar way when asked the same question by Scene last month, when the after action review was first released.

Spencer then asked Williams to confirm whether or not there actually had been a breach, but Williams dodged, saying again that the original information had come from an officer with the county sheriff’s department, not the city of Cleveland. And anyway, he’d never said that he physically saw protesters inside the justice center, he said, and the information had no correlation with officers’ response to protesters. (Nevertheless, at a press conference the night of May 30, Williams said that protesters had not only breached the justice center but were starting fires and attempting to free the prisoners.

The origin of those incendiary embellishments remain unknown.)

Both Williams and Safety Director Karrie Howard said that the day’s events had been rigorously reviewed and that fault had to be accepted on both sides.

Spencer, meanwhile, continually sought comment from Henton and Khan, noting that the reason for the hearing was because the afteraction review had been written entirely from the police perspective.

Councilwoman Jasmin Santana concurred, and thanked committee chair Blaine Griffin for hosting the conversation, asking that activists and organizers be given a regular seat at the table in Safety meetings

in 2021.

Henton reframed comments by both Williams and Councilman Mike Polensek, who had been effusive in his praise of the police and who called the riots the “disgusting” work of “thugs and terrorists.” Henton said that regardless of where people came from to demonstrate — Cleveland, Lakewood, Solon or Pennsylvania — “people who are treated humanely aren’t coaxed into unrest.” He said that there were those present who were certainly eager to express their anger, but that their anger was a result of their humanity consistently being denied. He also said that when people blame others for unrest, it signified to him that they were avoiding personal responsibility.

Henton is the leader of Black Lives Matter Cleveland. He told Griffin that, unlike at other demonstrations in the past, no city officials had called or texted prior to May 30th about the day’s logistics. Only councilpeople Joe Jones and Jasmin Santana had been in contact. This was “kind of a surprise,” Henton said. -Sam Allard

Two Members of Self-Described Ohio Militia Charged with Participation in Capitol Riot Two members of a self-indentified Ohio ‘militia’ have been arrested and charged by the Feds for their participation in the Capitol riot on Jan 6.

Jessica Watkins and Donovan Crowl, both of Champaign County, have been charged with entering a restricted building or grounds; violent entry or disorderly conduct; and obstruction of an official proceeding.

They are both duespaying members of the Oath Keepers, a “large but loosely organized collection of militia who believe that the federal government has been coopted by a shadowy conspiracy that is trying to strip American citizens of their rights.”

And they are both tied to the indictment of Thomas Caldwell, a Virginia man referred to by Watkins as their “commander” who the Feds allege conspired to plan the attack.

In one message quoted by the FBI in his indictment, someone wrote, “All members are in the tunnels under the capital. Seal them in turn on gas.”

In another message quoted by

the Feds, Caldwell told Watkins, “We need to do this at the local level. Lets (sic) storm the capitol in Ohio. Tell me when!”

Watkins, who was arrested after returning to Ohio following a stay with Caldwell, was interviewed by the Ohio Capital Journal last week.

“To me, it was the most beautiful thing I ever saw until we started hearing glass smash. That’s when we knew things had gotten really bad,” she said, noting that, “I don’t want to call it a false flag, but it was some people hijacking what started off as a peaceful movement.”

“I didn’t commit a crime. I didn’t destroy anything. I didn’t wreck anything. If they want to charge me, that’s fine, but you’re welcome,” she said.

Charging documents cite the interview, evidence from videos and photographs, as well as posts made by Watkins on Parler, the recently de-platformed network favored by the right in which she wrote, ““Me before forcing

DIGIT WIDGET $565 million Total investment by the state of Ohio, the nonprofit economic development agency JobsOhio and the Cleveland Clinic to create a new socalled “innovation district” in Cleveland, centers on health care research.

$265 million Amount of the total investment dedicated to a new building on the Clinic’s campus, which will literally be called the Global Center for Pathogen Research and Human Health.

$261.7 million Philanthropic gift by the Lord Foundation to the Clinic in 2019, the largest single gift in the hospital system’s history.

$1 billion+ Estimated value of Cleveland Clinic property in Cleveland, on which it pays no property taxes.

| clevescene.com | January 27-February 2, 2021

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UPFRONT entry into the Capitol Building. #stopthesteal2 #stormthecapitol #oathkeepers #ohiomilitia,” and, “Yeah. We stormed the Capitol today.

Teargassed, the whole, 9. Pushed our way into the Rotunda. Made it into the Senate even. The news is lying (even Fox) about the Historical Events we created today.”

Crowl, another member of the militia and a former Marine, was charged with similar supporting evidence in addition to information from an interview he did with The New Yorker. He, “confirmed to the writer that he entered the Capitol, saying that he went to Washington, D.C., to ‘do security’ for’ “V.I.P.s’ whom he declined to name. Crowl also stated to the writer that his intentions had been peaceful, and that he had never been violent. At the same time, he admitted during this interview that he ‘expelled three fucking people’ whom he said had been injured. He further elaborated about ‘patriots [who] dragged this fucking maggot off the wall and started beating his ass.’”

The Ohio State Regular Militia was formed in 2019 by Watkins and has appeared at various protests in Ohio. -Vince Grzegorek

Class Action Suit Targeting Cleveland Clinic’s Billing Practices Gets Big Victory

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| clevescene.com | January 27-February 2, 2021

A Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas judge Thursday denied the Cleveland Clinic Foundation’s motion to dismiss a potential class-action lawsuit targeting the hospital’s billing practices.

Judge John P. O’Donnell ruled that the suit may go forward, and that the arguments advanced by the Clinic’s legal team — basically, that certain Ohio consumer protection laws don’t apply to the Clinic because of exemptions for transactions between physicians and patients — were faulty or unconvincing.

Daniel Myers, attorney for plaintiff Amanda van Brakle, told Scene he was glad the case can move toward a trial.

“Since this case started, more people have come forward with issues, and we’ve filed additional cases against other hospitals engaged in similar conduct,” he wrote in an email. “If the case is ultimately successful, we look

forward to hopefully getting hospitals to be transparent with pricing upfront, preventing many surprise medical bills, and requiring accurate medical billing for patients of Ohio hospitals.”

The suit emerged after van Brakle underwent a radiology exam at a Lakewood Cleveland Clinic office in 2018. She was never provided an estimate for the procedure, and the partial payments that she submitted over time were not regularly and coherently applied to her balance. An initial lawsuit filed in October sought up to $5 million in damages and alleged that the Clinic’s unfair billing practices created confusion, caused undue stress and resulted in the financial ruin of many patients.

The Clinic argued in its motion to dismiss that unlike goods and services which have a known price, the medical services it provided were dependent on a specific patient’s needs, whether or not that patient had insurance, and the specific terms of the insurance plan.

But Judge O’Donnell refuted that line of argument. He ruled that radiology and imaging services, which are outpatient procedures and, at least in Van Brakle’s case, were not administered by a physician, are “the very definition of a routine test.” There was nothing preventing the Clinic from knowing the procedure’s approximate cost and furnishing a written or oral estimate up front, regardless of van Brakle’s insurance status.

O’Donnell also agreed with county precedent in ruling that even though physicians are exempt from the Consumer Sales Practices Act, the hospitals they work for are not. -Sam Allard

TownHall and Scene Agree to Settlement of Lawsuit We are pleased to report that Scene and TownHall have finally settled their legal dispute related to Scene’s inaccurate report regarding the race and gender of the subject of a social media post made by a TownHall manager last May. Scene has admitted that its report was inaccurate, and sincerely apologizes for the error. Regarding the settlement, TownHall owner Robert George stated, “I will always stand up for my patrons and employees when faced with false and misleading allegations.”

scene@clevescene.com @clevelandscene

| clevescene.com | January 27-February 2, 2021

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FEATURE MARTIN SWEENEY & THE CORRUPT MACHINE Marty Sweeney weasels his way back into office, aided and abetted by Cuyahoga County Dems

By Sam Allard

Sam Allard

Sam Allard

A BATTERED REGION WATCHED in disbelief as one of its slimiest career politicians weaseled his way back into elected office last weekend.

Martin Sweeney, the former doubledipping Cleveland city councilman and Ohio state rep with a sordid history of sexual harassment accusations and corruption-adjacent behavior, beat two other candidates in a vote among Cuyahoga County Democratic Party precinct committee members in District 3. Sweeney will now serve the remainder of retiring Councilman Dan Brady’s term.

Both the result of last Saturday’s vote and the mechanisms by which it was achieved should be considered nothing less than travesties. They are the latest and among the

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most explicit answers to a series of questions which have lately befuddled local leaders: Why is voter turnout so low? Why is there a dearth of up-and-coming political talent in Northeast Ohio? Why is the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party such a laughingstock statewide?

That Sweeney is an embarrassing candidate needs not be belabored.

His history of misconduct should be disqualifying on its own, but apart from that, he is a thumbtwiddling insider who is skilled at manipulating the levers of Party machinery but utterly unconcerned with the region’s most urgent problems. He didn’t even bother coming up with a platform before the vote. In an interview, he told local

| clevescene.com | January 27-February 2, 2021

reporter Richard Andrews that he “greatly missed public service” and that he planned to “dedicate himself to constituent service.” And in brief introductory remarks last Saturday, after he was nominated by his own sister, he told CCDP electors that he was running on one promise: to answer the phone.

People should take Sweeney at his word. His return to public life is mostly because he misses getting phone calls. He misses the Godfatherish thrill of being the kind of guy who bestows and calls in favors.

“Constituent service,” for the record, is the unfortunate cross to bear of city councilpeople, not county councilpeople. And that’s mostly because Cleveland has been so bad at

basic municipal functions for so long.

It’s a situation which redounds to the advantage of Cleveland lawmakers, because they can keep winning elections by cutting grass instead of crafting policies that support the wellbeing of residents citywide.

It also redounds to the advantage of local developers, lawyers and accountants for big business, because they can craft policies that support their clients’ wellbeing, knowing that council members are far too busy with constituent phone calls to think critically about their votes. Sweeney either doesn’t know or doesn’t care that county council’s duties are more focused on budget oversight.

County councilmembers’ salary of $53,000 per year is a substantial

haul for their part-time work. But for Sweeney, it’s not (or at least not entirely) about the cushiness. It’s about the power, about his vision of himself as a power player. Sweeney’s aura is more or less that of a dimestore Irish mobster, and the elected leaders in town who regard him as an insufferable buffoon are correct to a point. But his buffoonishness belies his political acumen. Like other oldschool machine politicians, Sweeney conceives of politics as sport, as gamesmanship, entirely removed from the needs of constituents.

To him, the work of a politician is transactional: back-slapping, gladhanding, quid pro quo-ing, etc. And he’s very good at it.

That helps explain why every election he’s involved in has absolutely nothing to do with substantive issues and tends to be mired in controversy. In 2018, after he’d voluntarily surrendered his state rep seat to pave the way for his daughter, Bride Rose Sweeney, he faced Nickie Antonio in a State Senate race. He doled out payments to pivotal CCDP sources to ensure that he’d win the party’s endorsement. As journalists, we’re not allowed to call these payments “bribes” because the United States has largely legalized bribery via campaign finance rules, and it’d be libelous to suggest that candidates simply following those rules had engaged in criminal behavior.

But for Sweeney, the effect of the payments was identical. He paid people for “consulting” that magically led them to change their votes, resulting in his party endorsement. Antonio still won the race, thanks to her huge margin of victory in Lakewood.

More concerning than Sweeney as a candidate, though, is the degree to which the Party bent over backwards to help him secure Brady’s seat.

(Imagine wondering why there’s a dearth of up-and-coming political talent in Cuyahoga County.

Imagine!)

Prior to Saturday’s vote, there were procedural decisions from Party leadership that led many to believe Sweeney was up to his old tricks. For starters, he’d only recently registered an address in the county’s third district. Unlike the city charter, where residency is immaterial for council members, the county charter mandates that a councilperson must reside in the district for at least 30 days before their appointment. No one believes for a moment that Sweeney actually lives at this newly registered address on Governor Avenue. He still owns his home in Cleveland’s Jefferson

neighborhood in Ward 16 — just across the border of the county’s 2nd District, represented by Dale Miller — which is where his and his daughter’s campaign committees are both headquartered, according to campaign finance filings. Still, the Party was content to look the other way and treat Sweeney’s candidacy as legitimate.

Even more problematic, from the perspective of those who participated in the process and spoke to Scene on background, was the Party’s insistence on filling vacancies on its central committee prior to Saturday’s vote. The County Charter dictates that when a vacancy occurs on county council, the replacement shall be selected by precinct committee members of the same political party from the same district as the vacating member. Sweeney, who is regarded as a master votewhipper and vote-counter, evidently recognized that he didn’t have enough votes to guarantee a victory.

Sweeney’s main opponent was 33-year-old lawyer Brendan Heil, a ward leader in Cleveland’s Ward 15. He had gained the support of a number of political leaders in the district, including Cleveland Councilwoman Jenny Spencer, Councilman Kerry McCormack and State Sen. Nickie Antonio. He was nominated Saturday by former City Councilman Matt Zone.

There are a total of 85 available precinct seats in District 3 (which includes the cities of Brooklyn, Linndale, and chunks of Cleveland’s Wards 16, 15, 14, 13, 12, 11 and 3).

As of December, roughly a third of those seats were vacant.

Sniffing an opportunity, Sweeney allies began lobbying CCDP leadership to fill these vacant seats prior to the vote. Cleveland Councilman Brian Kazy, whom Sweeney had appointed when he left city council, was said to have led this charge, though there was only one eligible vacancy in Kazy’s ward. There was nothing mysterious about the strategy. The Sweeney camp simply wanted to stack the committee with new supporters to help tip the scales.

Party Chairwoman (and newly minted U.S. congressional candidate) Shontel Brown didn’t seem to mind. Or at any rate she agreed with Sweeney allies that as many of the vacant seats as possible should be filled. Her thinking may have been influenced by Party Vice Chair Kevin Kelley, who is also the President of Cleveland City Council.

Richard Andrews reported that it was former County Executive Ed FitzGerald who alerted Sweeney to

Dan Brady’s retirement in the first place. FitzGerald has long been a Kelley ally and now serves as a key member of Kelley’s mayoral campaign team.

Regardless, getting additional votes was crucial for Sweeney. CCDP lawyer Sandy McNair sent a memo on Dec. 15 (attached above) saying that the Party planned to call a special meeting of the Executive Committee to name these new precinct committee members. They would be appointed at a meeting Jan. 9, per the memo, exactly one week before the vote on Brady’s replacement.

Well, that didn’t sit well with a number of Party members who reached out to Scene after the memo. They were distressed that the Party appeared to be violating its own bylaws. A rule is in place, after all, which says that appointees to the Central Committee may not vote until 60 days after their appointment. McNair anticipated that objection in his memo, noting that the Ohio Democratic Party had advised them that that rule was unenforceable.

Those who reached out to Scene said the rule was nevertheless a good one. Its being technically unenforceable should not be interpreted as license to break it, they felt. In fact, it seemed designed to prevent exactly the sort of scheme Sweeney was attempting to orchestrate. If Shontel Brown sincerely cared about filling these vacancies, they suggested, why not wait until after the Brady replacement vote so that city and ward leaders could assemble precinct committee members based on credentials other than allegiance to a particular candidate?

No such luck. More than 20 vacancies were filled on Jan. 9, meaning that 74 of the 85 total precincts seats were then occupied.

Three of the new appointees came

from Ward 15 (Brendan Heil’s strongest base of support), and several came from Brooklyn, Kevin Kelley’s Ward 13, and Dona Brady’s Ward 11, all of which ultimately meaningfully contributed to Sweeney’s victory.

The Saturday vote was a disaster logistically. It took two rounds of voting, and every manner of Zoom snafu, for Sweeney to obtain a majority. Sixty-five of the 74 electors were present on the call. In the second round, Sweeney won 35 out of 65. Brendan Heil got 27. Ryan Ross, a third candidate who billed himself as a “man of the people,” got one vote, down from five in the first round. There was one abstention.

Sweeney won all seven votes from precinct leaders in Brooklyn and took all but two of the 15 available in Ward 11.

Party insiders told Scene that the Ward 11 votes were likely what sealed Sweeney’s victory. Sweeney is thought to have made a pact with Dona Brady — the Ward leader and former councilwoman there, not to mention the wife of the retiring Dan Brady — not to run for city council in Ward 11 in exchange for her support.

Both Dan and Dona Brady have long-standing antipathy toward Sweeney, but Dona was reportedly happy to steer her ward’s votes in his direction to ensure that he wouldn’t infringe on city council territory she still regards as her fiefdom, potentially wresting control from her personal appointee, Brian Mooney. (Some have even speculated that Dan Brady’s retirement, which was announced shortly after Scene reported that Sweeney was laying the groundwork for a council run in Ward 11, was a defensive maneuver, the Bradys’ attempt to coordinate a sinecure for Sweeney in exchange for his butting out.)

The appearance of questionable activity during the roll call vote cast additional doubt on Sweeney’s behavior. Not only did he have multiple precinct committee members voting out of his home, and at least one using his own Zoom account, his daughter Bride Rose was also assisting a committee member who never visibly appeared on the call.

The whole thing was a mess, in which the messiness sure seemed like a coefficient of the shadiness. One precinct committee member told Scene that they hesitated to come down too harshly on Sweeney for providing technical assistance. It’s possible other voters may have been doing similar things.

And one person who cast a vote for Heil did so via phone, without

| clevescene.com | January 27-February 2, 2021

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Like other old-school machine politicians, Sweeney conceives of politics as sport, as gamesmanship, entirely removed from the needs of constituents.

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appearing on the Zoom call either.

A number of participants Saturday told Scene that the voting process was never clear to them ahead of time and that the Zoom proceedings were chaotic, time-consuming and a challenge for those with unreliable internet connections. One participant said they never even received the Zoom link.

But the result of the chaos was exactly as party leadership drew it up: a Marty Sweeney victory. Now, the son of the Honorable Gerald Sweeney and father of State Rep. Bride Rose Sweeney gets to believe once again that local elected office is his birthright.

Brendan Heil may or may not seek the same seat via election next year.

He has every right to throw up his hands after this dispiriting episode.

He is the President of the Cuyahoga County Young Democrats, and while he didn’t say so to Scene explicitly, he must be discouraged by what Sweeney’s return to elected office communicates to party members in their twenties and thirties, especially those considering runs of their own: basically, don’t bother.

Sweeney’s victory was met with instant shrieks of horror and gasps of exhaustion on social media.

Several party insiders said that while the local party’s reputation was already in the toilet, the Sweeney machinations would damage it further still. Cuyahoga County represents the largest potential bloc of Democratic voters in the state of Ohio, and yet the party is viewed to have no serious voter engagement, no bench of rising political talent, and no charismatic elected leaders pounding the pavement for national Democrats. Where were Armond, Frank and Marcia through the summer and fall, many have wondered, as Joe Biden got demolished in Ohio?

And where will Marty be?

In all likelihood, he’ll be exactly where he said he’d be: on his phone, hashing out deals to advance or preserve his own interests.

One of the foulest odors in this whole repulsive bouquet emanates from the Bradys, veteran city politicians who still feel compelled to make deals on Sweeney’s terms.

Quick question: Why? Was the threat of Sweeney’s last name and his single mailer about the U.S.

census so terrifying that the only available recourse was to find him some cushy elected part-time gig? Is Brian Mooney that vulnerable, that the gentlest whiff of competition from Sweeney was enough to force Dan Brady into retirement? (If so, that should embolden other potential candidates in Ward 11.)

The obvious alternative would have been to call Sweeney’s bluff. Force him to run a campaign in Ward 11 from his home in Ward 16. Call him out for not living there, for not giving a shit, for his florid resume of misconduct. Prove to voters by asking him the most basic factual or issuebased questions that he has no idea what he’s talking about.

Well, Brendan Heil attempted to do something similar. He was diplomatic about it, but his supporters certainly weren’t shy about sharing that Sweeney was not technically living in the District, as required by county charter. Heil was proactive with the media, and presented a platform to precinct committee members. He stressed the idea of putting people first, focusing on health and human services as the pandemic raged. He said things voters might hope to hear from a conscientious candidate about the county jail scandal and his longterm goals. It’s not that Heil was himself an overwhelming candidate.

It’s that by comparison, Sweeney looked like a total clown. At the Our Revolution candidates’ forum earlier this month, he was literally miming answering phones.

Heil’s defeat, then, tells us nothing about the candidates themselves and everything about the rot within the party machinery. The levers Sweeney pulled, and the levers CCDP leadership were only to eager to pull on his behalf, demonstrates the inequality of the playing field and the partiality of the referees.

It shows how rules can be bent and conveniently re-interpreted without technically being broken, but only for a select few.

In the same way I couldn’t call Sweeney’s consulting payments “bribes” in 2018, I can’t say that he “cheated” here in 2021. But now, as then, the effect is the same.

sallard@clevescene.com t@scenesallard

Photo by Anthony DeMarco

ARTS

THERE AND THEN

Prama Artspace and Gallery tackles geography and place in first exhibition of 2021

By Shawn Mishak PRAMA ARTSPACE AND Gallery rings in the New Year with its first exhibition of 2021 with “Place: work by Anthony DeMarco and Lena Atomika,” which debuted on Jan. 22.

The two-person exhibition runs through Feb. 21st. and features two photographers, both Parma natives, capturing location as a character in the narrative of their images while contemplating the concept that the geography of an image can give us a reflection of who we are and how places are tied to memory.

“Place to me indicates what ties us to this 3D experience in life, as defined by our senses in ‘time and space,” said Atomika. “It is our unique association in the word linking us to the specific times in space which mold our experiences and ultimate realities. And how we choose to view/capture the moment helps to define us as beings within those experiences.”

Atomika’s image “Golden Hour,” which is a photographic term meaning the period of daytime

shortly after sunrise or before sunset, shows the viewer an arid landscape with leafless trees and grasses leading off into the distance to meet a drab, grey skyline.

The image conveys a feeling of desolation, emptiness and thirst.

Atomika suffered a near-deathexperience in December of 2010 when a Redwood tree crashed through the roof of the cabin where she was staying, pinning her beneath it. The experience informs her work.

“My focus is Human Resilience and my intent is to inspire others who may be facing a challenge and/or struggle themselves,” said Atomika.

Atomika describes her work as spontaneous art, which is apropos since she is an improv and sketch comedy graduate of The Second City and Upright Citizen’s Brigade.

Referring to the spontaneity required to do improvisational theater, “I use that same frame of mind and ‘lens’ when capturing images for my photographic work,”

said Atomika.

The second photographer, 77 year-old Anthony DeMarco, is a lifelong Parma resident and a former art instructor at Parma Senior High for over 30 years. DeMarco attained a B.S. and a M.A. in Art Education with a focus on Photography. He also did with some graduate work in Cinematography while there. ”I approach photography from a cinematic perspective” said DeMarco.

“I have always been interested in how the director of photography selects that first shot of a movie…

It is one of the most important shots…This shot gives a great deal of information to the viewer about where, when and what they are about to see.”

DeMarco’s image of Notre-Dame du Haut by Franco-Swiss architect Le Corbusier is an image which elicits a feeling of otherworldliness with the building’s bulbous roof slopes, its concave walls and windows which resemble computing punch cards of the early 20th century. Two men wade in the

foreground like two passengers about to board some sort of extraterrestrial space ship.

“When you look at my photographs you will notice that they have a tranquil quality about them,” said DeMarco. “These are a collection of interesting places I have seen and that may inspire viewers to use their imagination of what happened in those locations.”

DeMarco hopes that someday he will create a photograph which will “change the way we live” and that he “just might be remembered for.”

Curator and owner Sean Mabin just celebrated Prama’s second anniversary on Nov. 5, 2020, on which day he also tragically suffered a heart attack from blockage in his left ventricle. Luckily, doctors were able to put in a stint and he is on his way to a paced recovery.

He is thrilled to be hosting these two photographers and to have the gallery up and running.

scene@clevescene.com t@clevelandscene

| clevescene.com | January 27-February 2, 2021

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| clevescene.com | January 27-February 2, 2021

Courtesy Magnolia Pictures

FILM

TALENTS IN SOUTH BEACH

One Night in Miami is an actors’ showcase with timely relevance

By Sam Allard ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI, THE directorial debut from Oscarwinning actor Regina King, is a vivacious movie of ideas. Based on the stage play by Kemp Powers, it imagines a gathering of four of the 1960s’ most famous and controversial Black men.

After Cassius Clay (Eli Goree) defeats Sonny Liston to claim the world heavyweight title on February 25, 1964, he is joined by Malcolm X (Ben Kingsley-Adir), Sam Cooke (Leslie Odom, Jr.) and Jim Brown (Aldis Hodge), at a nearby motel for what they assume will be a festive after party.

“I was hoping to get some pussy tonight,” Jim Brown mourns, when he intuits that the evening appears to be on a different course.

Indeed. The meeting is an opportunity, staged by Malcolm X, for these towering figures of the era to discuss the Civil Rights Movement and their place within it. Each of the four men arrive at the hotel on the cusp of pivotal moments in

their lives: Clay’s public conversion to Islam, Brown’s transition from the NFL to Hollywood, Sam Cooke’s exploration of more mission-driven songwriting, and Malcolm X’s schism with the Nation of Islam.

Some of them have secrets. Some of them have agendas. All of them, they recognize, have enormous platforms and power.

The central dispute is between Malcolm X and Cooke, who are also the script’s most fully realized characters. (Ben-Adir and Odom should therefore be frontrunners among the ensemble for awards consideration.) Their protracted argument about the tactics by which Black celebrity should be marshaled in the service of social justice is the ideological lynchpin of the film.

Their arc, including a climactic shouting match, a late flashback, and an emotive coda courtesy of Odom, is the film’s most satisfying.

At times, Clay and Brown can seem almost incidental.

For better or worse, this fictional

account is a stage play adapted for the cinema. (The four men really were friends and did get together on that night in Miami, but the script takes dramatic liberties with the setting, the timeline of the surrounding events and, naturally, the exact conversations.)

King stretches the material with occasional scene shifts, but the strength and weakness of the movie is its dialogue. It would be ruined without effective performers who are able to channel the physical presence of the figures they are called to impersonate without drifting into caricature. Clay was only 22 at the time of the first Liston fight, for example, and Goree plays him with boyish bravado, which feels true to the nature of a young man sincere in his commitments, but also uncertain in his methods.

The visual presentation of the story – the production design, costuming, lighting – creates a rich period-accurate atmosphere that emphasizes the paranoia of

outspoken dissidents in an era of FBI surveillance and routine violence against Black people. It also evokes the claustrophobia of both the stage and the ring. As the men roam around their tiny hotel room, bantering and debating, they are all like boxers, ducking and feinting and trying to land knockout blows.

The theatricality of the script, and its fan-fictional premise, can sometimes feel more like a thought exercise than a narrative. But these thoughts are important, and the ideas that germinate resonate profoundly in the age of Colin Kaepernick. King’s movie is a sterling debut by any measure, but one metric that’s hard to quantify is how it may spawn similar conversations among Black performers and athletes of today, whom society continues to instruct to stay in their lane, to “shut up and dribble.”

sallard@clevescene.com t@scenesallard

| clevescene.com | January 27-February 2, 2021

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Photo by Doug Trattner

EAT

THE FRIENDLIEST GHOSTS

With Amba, Chef Doug Katz adds an Indian pivot perfect for these times

By Douglas Trattner WITHIN MOMENTS OF ROLLING my window back up, the interior of my car was imbued with the honeyed aromas of an Indian spice market.

As my windshield fogged over with the steam of dinners future, it was all I could do to not pull over halfway home to tuck into a few crisp samosas. They say we eat first with our eyes, but my bag full of Amba proved otherwise.

I still haven’t quite wrapped my head around how odd it is to pull up to a building one day to procure South American fare and return a few days later to the very same building to obtain Indian food prepared by the same crew.

Depending on which hats they happen to be wearing, culinary elves deep inside that cloistered building are dispatching cuisines from a kitchen that simultaneously is home to both.

In the post-Fire world, Doug Katz has filled much of his attention to opening virtual eateries that shun dine-in eating in favor of pick-up and delivery. Chimi, which debuted in June, presents Katz’s and chef Cameron Pishnery’s take on South American cuisine, while Amba, which followed in November, offers the team’s take on Indian food. Katz would be the first in line to tell you

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that Amba is not intended to serve as a definitive example of *authentic* Indian cuisine, but rather the chef’s personal exploration of flavors and textures inspired by that country.

To simulate a restaurant experience at home, we transfer hot foods from paper take-out containers to warm serving plates. We pile high the steamed rice, lay out the buttery naan and pop the tops of the many colorful chutneys that serve as meal’s condiments. Dinner kicked off with a bang thanks to those flaky

broccolini. The kitchen takes its time roasting the vegetables and it shows in the form of great color and texture on the food. Dried mulberries add intriguing sweet-tart pops throughout.

Another pair of dishes nicely illustrates the diversity and range of the offerings. In the spicy keema ($17), ground lamb and warm spices form an earthy stew that feels like a familiar Indian restaurant-style dish. In the sambar ($19), however, delicate flanks of lingcod – a buttery,

AMBA 1975 LEE RD., CLEVELAND HTS. 216-650-9620 AMBACLE.COM

samosas ($12), veggie-filled pastries that arrive in the familiar triangular shape. The mellow, comforting flavors provide the perfect backdrop to test out the chutneys, which range from tart and sweet to herby and hot.

For what Katz calls “Indian-hot,” add an order of the absolutely incendiary lal chutney ($1), a Ferrari-red tonic that scorches on contact.

On the other end of the spectrum is the brassica poriyal ($10), a bright and citrusy vegetable medley of crisp-tender cauliflower and

| clevescene.com | January 27-February 2, 2021

flaky cod-like fish with milkywhite flesh – sits in a flavorful, mildly spiced broth that keeps the meat moist. These two delicious but distinctive dishes will have you reaching for steamed rice and tender naan (which is included). Not included but worth every penny is the biryani ($12), a splashy rice dish studded with fresh herbs, saffron, peas, raisins, slivered nuts and crispy fried onions.

For dessert, we enjoyed a fat square of golden honey cake ($7),

a moist, rich cake with restrained sweetness. A slick of sharp yogurt sauce below and a sprinkle of chewy coconut above added a nice boost.

Ghost kitchens were enjoying momentum before the pandemic, but have since picked up speed for obvious reasons. Diners – especially those of us in Cleveland, where delivery options had been limitless as long as it was pizza – are the ones who benefit the most. Who doesn’t love the convenience of ordering and paying online for effortless curbside pick-up and delivery. For me, meals at home, regardless how delicious, can never replace the social experience of a restaurant visit with friends. But until that all returns, we’re lucky to be fed and fed well.

For Katz and company, Amba and Chimi offer real-time R&D – the opportunity to kick the tires of a potential brick-and-mortar restaurant that could come to fruition one day. The prolific chef has even hinted at a third such concept to join the Cleveland Heights ghost kitchen, which will require an entirely new wardrobe of hats for those industrious elves.

dtrattner@clevescene.com t@dougtrattner

Photo courtesy Mar Mar Pizza Kitchen

EAT BITES

Mar Mar’s Pizza Kitchen joins the pizza pop-up fun

By Douglas Trattner WE CAN ADD MAR MAR’S PIZZA Kitchen to the long list of pizzathemed pop-ups to open during the pandemic. The business, run by Mario and Angela Santo Domingo, has taken over the kitchens of Rosso (formerly Red, the Steakhouse) in Beachwood.

The business launched in the middle of December and has expanded from a weekend-only operation to one that runs from Wednesday through Sunday.

The main attraction is the pizza, made with chef Mario’s homemade dough. The thick Sicilian-style squarecut pies come by the quarter or half sheet. Selections range from a vegan creation to the Meat Sweats, loaded with pepperoni, sausage, salami, banana peppers and jalapeno. Another features Buffalo fried chicken with blue cheese and hot sauce. For those who prefer the classics, there’s a cheese or pepperoni pizza, or simply build your own from a selection of toppings.

The pies are joined on the menu by a small selection of big, fresh-tossed salads, subs stuffed with meatballs, chicken or eggplant parmesan, and a handful of pastas and entrees like cavatelli and meatballs. Snacks and sides include cheesy garlic bread and chicken wings.

To check out the menu visit the website. To place an order call 216316-3355. The pick-up address is 3355 Richmond Rd., around the corner from the Blu (former Moxie) space.

Residents of Beachwood can have Mar Mar’s delivered for free thanks to the Beachwood Delivers program. And speaking of…

Beachwood Extends City-Run, Free Restaurant Delivery Service Through End of February In a novel experiment to put more money into the hands of local restaurants instead of third-party companies during tumultuous Covid times, the city of Beachwood in December launched a pilot program that offered free delivery to residents from a select batch of Beachwood restaurants, ferried by city-paid drivers.

“Rather than relying on legislation to cap delivery fees, our city has removed the middleman by becoming the middleman,” Mayor Martin S. Horwitz said at the time.

A month later, the pilot program has been such a success that Beachwood announced it’s being extended.

“As of January 10, our restaurants saved $5,879 with our fee-free service, compared against the 30-percent charged by third-party delivery apps,” Mayor Horwitz said in a press release. “And our customers saved an estimated $9,000 in menu upcharges, increased taxes, and service and delivery fees. With numbers like that, extending Beachwood Delivers through February was an easy decision.”

The Last Page Restaurant Coming to Pinecrest in February The Last Page (100 Park Ave., Suite 128, 216-465-1008), a restaurant described by its owners as a “modern American concept,” is expected to open its doors at Pinecrest by mid-February.

The restaurant, which is going into a newly constructed space opposite “Central Park,” is owned by Todd Leebow, CEO of Majestic Steel and entrepreneur with his sights set on building a hospitality brand. In addition to The Last Page (TLP), his recently formed Kind of One Concepts plans to continue developing and operating hospitality ventures.

“As a group, we’ve been working on this concept for almost two years, with plans originally to open sooner, however due to the COVID circumstances, we pushed our opening to align with when we felt we would be able to service the guest and not compromise their safety and experience,” Leebow stated. “With recent developments on the COVID vaccine and knowing that starting a restaurant off the right way is critical, we couldn’t think of a better time to bring a new guest experience to the Cleveland market.”

The Last Page will be open seven days a week and feature an all-day menu during the week and a brunch

menu on Saturdays and Sundays. The deeply experienced culinary team includes Culinary Director Jordan Rolleston, Head of Culinary Brad Race and Chef de Cuisine Logan Abbe.

Guests can expect an eclectic menu with global influence. On the menu will be snacks and appetizers such as sweet potato chips with rye sour cream, salmon belly spread with everything crostini, colossal shrimp with horseradish cocktail sauce, and sweet and spicy dry rubbed ghost wings with umami ranch.

Soups and salads include charred broccoli miso, a broccolini Caesar, and sesame Brussels sprouts with kimchi yogurt. For sandwiches, there will be a pho French dip, yum-yum chicken sandwich, and a smash burger with bacon marmalade, horseradish aioli and crispy onions.

For larger plates, there’s salmon with black garlic soubise, Niman Ranch flat iron steak with pickled shiitake and arugula, whole branzino with sweet Thai chili sauce, and lamb chops with labneh, eggplant puree and harissa.

The attractive and well-appointed interior will have seating for up to 138 indoors and an additional 50 on the patio.

Penny Barend Tagliarina Joins Terrestrial Brewing as Director of Culinary After seven years as one of the Lady Butchers of Saucisson, Penny Barend Tagliarina has parted ways with Melissa Khoury to join Terrestrial Brewing Co. (7524 Father Frascati Dr., 216-465-9999), where she was brought on as Director of Culinary Operations to oversee an expanding food program.

“I love what we did [at Saucisson] and I’m super-proud of everything she and I accomplished,” says Tagliarina.

“And I’m very supportive of what she will continue to do, but I just really f-ing missed cooking.”

After the installation of a small

catering kitchen at the brewery, Tagliarina rolled out a new weekend brunch. A recent menu featured a roster of breakfast sandwiches and West Coast-style burritos. One was stuffed with jalapeno and poblano braised pork shoulder with scrambled eggs, black beans, cumin rice, cheese, crema and salsa. Another starred chile and orange braised beef with all the trimmings. To drink, there’s beer, of course, but also mimosas, bloody Marys and fresh juices from Daily Press.

Dessert items have included stoutinfused cinnamon rolls with sweet cream cheese frosting and cinnamon sugar-dusted bread pudding sticks served with dark chocolate and orange ganache dipping sauce. New menus are rolled out each week to keep things fresh.

“These are foods that are rooted in my California history, but I want to make sure it’s approachable,” says the chef.

Diners who aren’t comfortable eating on-site can order ahead for take-out, hopefully grabbing some fresh beer to go at the same time.

Tagliarina’s talents won’t be limited to weekend brunch for long, she promises. The brewery currently is building out an upper level space that will feature a full kitchen, bar and two-tiered balcony. Down the road, the space will be used for dining, private events and live music.

Until then, Tagliarina will gradually step up service. She hopes to add weeknight snacks and weeknight dinners, as well as expanding weekend brunch to all-day affairs.

“It’s fun to be cooking again,” she says. “It’s fun to get an immediate response on whether or not people are into what I’m doing. And it’s exciting to see that many people coming on weekends.”

Weekend brunch runs Saturdays and Sundays 10 a.m.-3 p.m.

dtrattner@clevescene.com t@dougtrattner

| clevescene.com | January 27-February 2, 2021

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| clevescene.com | January 27-February 2, 2021

SAVAGE LOVE THE BOYFRIEND EXPERIENCE

By Dan Savage Hey, Dan: Sex-positive bi woman here. I’ve recommended your column to many people over the years to help them feel normal and human in their kinks, fantasies, sexuality, etc. But I’m having a more difficult time extending similar acceptance to myself. I was in a three-year relationship with a cis straight man. I recently moved across the country for graduate school, and this was the catalyst for me to put my foot down about opening the relationship in order to get my sexual needs met. He agreed and we tried being open, but he found it too emotionally challenging so now we’re on a “break.”

When we were together he showed me love in many ways, Dan, but he would not eat my pussy or finger me or use a vibrator or any other sex toys on me. He quit his own therapy for depressive symptoms and anxiety after just three sessions; he won’t do couples therapy; he won’t even have a conversation with me about why, exactly, my pussy and sexual pleasure are aversive to him. Even hearing me moan in pleasure or arousal seemed to make him recoil.

All he wanted was blow jobs and occasional sessions of intercourse.

He had some ED issues that he felt bad about, but I told him multiple times that erections are not a big deal for me — what I like about sex is the intimacy, the play, and mutual pleasure. He is not a bastard, but the sex remained phallocentric. Writing this, I know that I made a reasonable decision for myself. Yet I continue to be wracked with guilt over pursuing (pandemic-safe) sex when I know this guy, who I love very much and care about very deeply, still has feelings for me and still wants to us be together, exclusively.

Two questions: Do you have any idea of what gives, based on your experience? I’ve been trying to understand and open the lines of communication for years. And how do I stop beating myself up for hurting his feelings when my friends keep telling me I gave the relationship my all and I know that my soul couldn’t stand any more one-sided sex?

Feminist Under Compulsive, KinkInduced Nauseous Guilt

You’re not responsible for the hurt feelings your ex-boyfriend — please make that break permanent — more than earned. You gave him three years and God alone knows how many blowjobs, and he either didn’t love you enough to work on himself or he’s so damaged he’s incapable of doing the work. Either way, FUCKING, your ex-boyfriend is not in good working order, sexually or emotionally, and that’s not gonna change. He won’t talk to a shrink about his own shit, he won’t see a couples counselor about your shared shit, he won’t touch your pussy, and he doesn’t want anyone else to touch your pussy — oh, and if you make even the slightest sound during sex, if a moan or, God forbid, a request should escape your lips, he recoils. Charitable reading: Your exboyfriend is a closeted necrophiliac and any sign of life from you turns him off. Slightly less charitable read: Your ex-boyfriend was raised to believe that sex is something a woman endures, not something a woman enjoys, and any sign that you might actually enjoy sex turns him off.

I don’t know what his issues are, FUCKING, and neither do you. All we know for sure is that he has issues and, whatever else they might be, they are disqualifying. You asked for the only accommodation that might make it possible for you to stay in this relationship and stay sane — opening it up so you could seek sexual satisfaction elsewhere — and he couldn’t handle it.

Hey, Dan: My girlfriend of six months got drunk one week into a work-related physical separation, ghosted on me, went to a hotel, and had sex for two days straight with another man. She then called and confessed everything.

She’s remorseful and says it was alcohol-related and that she doesn’t remember the details. My take is that if she was too drunk to remember the details, she was too drunk to consent, which equals rape, right?

I encouraged her to file a police report and get this rapist off the streets. She says she doesn’t know his name or number and doesn’t want to pursue legal action. She does remember the sex was unprotected and took Plan B today and is getting

a full STI screening. She’s exhibiting signs of trauma — I’ve been down this road with an ex — and I’m trying to be supportive, but I don’t think I can continue. Would I be the biggest asshole in the world to end this? Other details: She was married to a woman for the past five years, and I was the first man she was ever with until this rape happened. I’m 50 years old, she’s 28 years old. What the fuck do I do? She’s fragile, and I’ve been supporting her financially for the last six months, which is weird since her job pays twice what mine does.

Just Seeking Guidance It’s entirely possible your girlfriend was black-out drunk that whole weekend and incapable of offering meaningful consent and the person she was with knew she was too fucked up to consent to sex — and wasn’t too fucked up to consent to sex himself — and she was raped.

It’s also possible your girlfriend was drunk but not so drunk she couldn’t consent, JSG, and is overstating how drunk she was because she doesn’t want to share the details with you — details you aren’t entitled to. It’s also possible she was raped and is reluctant to go to the police because she knows telling her story — which could be entirely true — won’t result in an arrest, much less a prosecution, and so going to the police wouldn’t get this rapist — if the guy is a rapist — off the streets and could cause her further trauma.

Zooming out for a second … you assume a man forced your girlfriend to do something she didn’t want to do (fuck him all weekend) and your response is to force your girlfriend to do something she doesn’t want to do (file a police report). You need to stop that. If you think she’s showing signs of trauma, you should urge her to seek help from a rape counselor or trauma specialist, i.e., someone in a better position to assess the situation than you are, JSG — someone who doesn’t have cause to feel conflicted or resentful or angry about what did or did not happen that weekend.

And if you want to end the relationship, you should, JSG. You can break up with someone without being an asshole or abandoning them. Offer her your support — offer

your emotional support, withdraw your financial support — and give her the names of some local rape crisis centers in your area.

Hey, Dan: I’m a 59-year-old gay man with a problem I’ve struggled with for all of my active sex life. I rarely orgasm during sex. I’m now involved with a couple that has welcomed me to be part of a loving relationship, and they want me to be as satisfied as they are. I enjoy pleasing both of them, but they also want me to be pleased. I appreciate this, but I feel pressured to come and I just can’t. Anytime I feel pressured to do anything, I start to feel defensive and shut down. I enjoy being with these men very much, and I want so much to share myself with them. How can I overcome this? I feel like I’m letting them down, and to be honest, I feel like there’s something wrong with me because I can’t orgasm during sex. Any help you can suggest is greatly appreciated.

Can’t Orgasm Mostly Ever This couple sees orgasm as a sign of sexual satisfaction, COME, and it’s usually a pretty good sign. And while it’s always better to err on the side of satisfying a sex partner — you don’t wanna be like FUCKING’s ex-boyfriend — there are people who can’t come during partnered sex or at all. We should do whatever it takes within reason to get our partners off, but if a partner tells us they don’t need to come or can’t come but still enjoy sex? We need to take their word for it. So, COME, explain to your boyfriends that you love sex and you love getting them off but you rarely come during sex yourself and feeling pressured to come makes those rare events rarer still. Promise them that you’ll say something when you feel like coming and be clear about what they can do for you when that time comes.

Questions? mail@savagelove. net. Follow Dan on Twitter @ FakeDanSavage, savagelovecast.com.

mail@savagelove.net t@fakedansavage www.savagelovecast.com

| clevescene.com | January 27-February 2, 2021

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| clevescene.com | January 27-February 2, 2021