LEO Weekly Dec. 16, 2020

MAYOR’S RACIAL EQUITY PLAN: WHO DID HE (NOT) LISTEN TO?

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MAYOR’S RACIAL EQUITY PLAN : WHO DID HE (NOT) LISTEN TO?

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Volume 31 | Number 02 974 BRECKENRIDGE LANE #170. LOUISVILLE KY 40207 PHONE (502) 895-9770 FAX (502) 895-9779 FOUNDER

John Yarmuth EXECUTIVE EDITOR

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ON: GRASSROOTS GROCERIES, BLACK WOMEN TEAM UP TO FLOOD FOOD DESERTS

What took so long? #redlining #busing or #SystemicRacismIsReal —Dennis J Shaffner: magnusonart

HA hou @BlackMarketKY, @loufoodcoop, and Megan Bell’s Next Door Market are mo shining examples of what it looks like to turn up and create change whenfro no one else will. We applaud these women and hope that the commu- ent nity will continue to support them!

—Food Literacy Project @FoodLitProj_Lou day

I roll with some real ones. @cassiaspeaks and I featured in this @leAm oweekly piece along with Tammy Hawkins and Megan Bell. If you haven’t cel already, go ahead & make an investment into @BlackMarketKY. dem —Shauntrice Martin @ShauntriceLove not to ON: EDITOR’S NOTE, POLS, NOT RESTAURANTS of DESERVE COVID-19 IRE wh It’s long been established that [Republican state Senate Majority Floor ove Leader] Damon Thayer, [Republican state Rep.] Savannah Maddox and con the Kentucky GOP in general don’t care if people die. —Jason Puckett ref

ON: DAN CANON, JUSTICE BARRETT WON’T STOP KILLER COPS

This is what defund the police is really about. It’s not taking cops away from protecting people from dangerous situations — it’s about giving cops additional staff trained to handle certain situations that don’t require a person with a firearm. Remove the gun, reduce fatalities.

—Tron @TronDisney

ON: AL CROSS, GOV. BESHEAR NEEDS HELP MAKING PANDEMIC MESSAGES STICK IN KY You can’t help stupid people. Plus, they vote and breed.

—Steven Back

My suggestion: throw the ones that refuse to wear a mask in jail.

—Drew Duncan

ON: PHOTO SET, CHURCH PLANTS CROSSES TO MEMORIALIZE RECORD NUMBER OF CITY HOMICIDE VICTIMS That should help. — Pip Pullen

Pip Pullen, I’m not a Christian either and know nothing about this church. But I respect their giving names to those murdered each year. —Denise Holmgren

ON: UNDERCOVER COMMENTARY

Lane Levitch, lane@redpinmedia.com CONTRIBUTING ARTS EDITOR

Jo Anne Triplett, jtriplettart@yahoo.com

LEO Weekly is published weekly by LEO Weekly LLC. Copyright LEO Weekly LLC. All rights reserved. The opinions expressed herein are exclusively those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the position of the Publisher. LEO Weekly is available free of charge, limited to one copy per reader. No portion may be reproduced in whole or in part by any means, including electronic retrieval systems, without the express permission of LEO Weekly LLC. LEO Weekly may be distributed only by authorized independent contractors or authorized distributors. Louisville Eccentric Observer (LEO) is a trademark of LEO Weekly LLC.

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—Burton Kelsey [Ed. note: Joe does not wear glasses (except for aviator sunglasses), Burton, but you might want to consider it or get a new prescription.]

aut jou som ma par Wo Ky

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EDITOR’S NOTE

HANUKKAH II — HONORING 2020

By Aaron Yarmuth | ayarmuth@leoweekly.com HANUKKAH was never celebrated in my house when I was growing up. My Catholic mom and Jewish dad were fairly explicit from early on that figuring out religion was entirely up to me.

(So, holidays are for presents, and Sundays are for golf. Easy!)

Well, I finally figured one thing out: America deserves its own Hanukkah — a celebration of Americans defending their democratic institutions and values. (No, not the Proud Boys, but those standing up to the Proud Boys. Not the 126 members of Congress and 19 states attorneys general who supported a Texas lawsuit seeking to overturn the presidential election, but the conservative-majority Supreme Court that refused to hear the case.)

Now, I consider my claim to speak authoritatively on Judaism similar to my journalism credentials — technically, I have some legitimate claim of credibility on the matter, but I wouldn’t presume any title on par with the real leaders in either field (from Woodward and Bernstein to ProPublica and KyCIR… or my uncles Bill and Bob) — but

here’s a brief history of Hanukkah, from which we can draw important parallels: When high priests rededicated the Second Temple in Jerusalem by lighting the eternal flame in honor of God — after Jews rose against a professionally trained army to reclaim Jerusalem from oppressive GreekSyrian rule — one night’s worth of lamp (or menorah) oil “miraculously” burned for eight nights, when the oil supply could be replenished.

Hanukkah, the “Festival of Lights,” and the practice of lighting the menorah over eight nights, is a celebration of this miracle.

More than the particular miracle of the candle, however, Hanukkah represents the importance of reflecting on, celebrating and honoring the strength and resolve of the Jewish people — the miracle that Judaism survived against enormous odds.

(One historic detail of the Hanukkah story recounts when the Greek-Syrian army descended on Jerusalem, in addition to slaughtering thousands of Jews, soldiers sacrificed pigs within the sacred walls — adding humiliation to violent assault. How

Trumpian can a pre-Middle Ages tyrant be?)

I’m not just feeling particularly Jewish these days because it’s Hanukkah. Instead, seemingly every day brings another reminder of the physical and emotional threats to our most basic Americanness.

A county commissioner in Idaho last week had to leave a virtual meeting, which included a vote on a local mask mandate, “after getting a phone call that anti-mask protesters had surrounded her home,” NBC News reported. “My 12-year-old son is home by himself right now, and there are protesters banging outside the door,” she explained on the meeting. “I’m going to go home and make sure he’s OK.” A pro-Trump rally in Washington, D.C., over the weekend led to several confrontations with both counterprotestors and police.

Several people were stabbed, and multiple historically Black churches reported having Black Lives Matter signs destroyed, one burned in the street a few blocks from the White House.

Then, on Saturday night, the third night of Hanukkah, a man was attacked at a menorah lighting ceremony outside of the Jewish Student Center near UK. “The attacker grabbed the man and held his arm, dragging him for a block, and running over his leg. The car then sped off …” the center wrote in a Facebook post, as reported by Lexington Herald-Leader. Thankfully, the

man survived.

But just as lighting the menorah symbolizes the miraculous history of the Hanukkah story, so too was the victim’s response after the Lexington attack: “Before he left for the hospital, the newest hero of Chanukah insisted we light the Menorah, and not allow darkness to quench our light.”

Sadly, there will not be an abrupt end to these threats. We will not be able to ignite an eternal-American flame signifying the miracle of our American endurance toward a more perfect union. We have too far to go: Black lives still don’t matter to too many communities, including Louisville; Kentucky State Police still find training inspiration from quoting Hitler; each gun violence death adds to this year’s record, now at more than 150; and too many state lawmakers think the Democratic governor is more of a problem than taking steps to save their constituents from economic devastation resulting from the pandemic.

Despite everything, the man got up and lit the menorah. Despite Trump’s best, most authoritarian efforts, the Electoral College elected Joe Biden as President. And, protesters will continue to show up until equal justice is realized.

The courage and heroism shown by those under attack is a miracle and worth celebrating. •

UNDERCOVER

MANOFMETTLE.COM LEOWEEKLY.COM // DECEMBER 16, 2020

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INCOMING U.S. ATTORNEY, PLEASE INVESTIGATE TAYLOR CASE

By Ted Shouse | leo@leoweekly.com mandate to integrate public WELL, that’s that. schools. In 1962, President On Dec. 4, the Kentucky Prosecutors Kennedy sent U.S. Marshals Advisory Council denied the request of to Oxford, Mississippi, to Breonna Taylor’s family to appoint a special integrate the University of prosecutor to investigate the circumstances Mississippi. Both of these of her killing. Taylor’s family had asked federal interventions were PAC to appoint a new prosecutor to review necessary because locally the Kentucky Attorney General’s perforelected officials refused to do mance and potentially present charges to a their duty and follow the law. new grand jury. In a cramped, narrow readWhen president-elect Joe ing of the law, PAC said no.

Biden and vice presidentA provision of Kentucky law allows for elect Kamala Harris take the appointment of a prosecutor when the office, they will local commonnominate a new U.S. wealth’s attorney Sir or Madam: Your Attorney for the is “absent.”

Western District of Absent — that’s state counterparts Kentucky. Somewhere the word for in Kentucky, there is Jefferson County have failed the a man or woman who Commonwealth’s citizens of Jefferson will, within the next Attorney Tom months, assume Wine throughout County. An innocent few the awesome responsithe whole Taylor bility of enforcing the mess. After incorBlack woman was federal criminal law in rectly charging killed by police about half of our state.

Taylor’s boyfriend I would like to address Kenneth Walker, officers who were that person — simply Wine asserted a as a citizen and as a conflict of interest serving a warrant fellow member of the and has mainprobably based bar. tained a deafening Sir or Madam: Your silence ever since. in part on false state counterparts have He has been failed the citizens of absent. information.

Jefferson County. An But Wine has innocent Black woman not been alone. was killed by police officers who were servEvery elected Kentucky prosecutor who ing a warrant probably based in part on false has touched the Taylor case, from Wine to information. Louisville Metro Police detecAttorney General Daniel Cameron, to the tives believe that the officer who obtained prosecutors who make up the bulk of PAC the warrant should be investigated for have failed to pursue the case diligently. possible criminal conduct. Our local comTheir inaction communicates that the life monwealth’s attorney hastily charged the of an innocent woman killed by Louisville woman’s boyfriend with attempted murder. police officers means nothing compared to After it was shown that those charges were maintaining the status quo of treating police unsupported by the facts, he dismissed those officers as special under the law. charges.

History will not be kind to them. They He has sat silently in the face of months will join a long roll call of politicians who ignored the lives of Black victims in favor of of protests asking for a thorough investigation. Our attorney general was not candid continuing a two-tiered system of prosecuwith us. He told us things on television that tion: one for police officers and another for were incorrect. Three brave members of a the rest of us. grand jury took the unprecedented step of In 1957, President Eisenhower disasking to speak publicly about their experipatched federal troops to Little Rock, ence as jurors. When allowed to speak, they Arkansas, to enforce the Supreme Court’s

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LEOWEEKLY.COM // DECEMBER 16, 2020

Louisville defense attorney Ted Shouse.

openly and clearly contradicted the attorney general. When the PAC, a body of prosecutors with the ability to set this right, was asked to intervene, it refused.

Our state-level prosecutors have failed us.

Now, we turn to you, our federal prosecutor. We ask you to join a long line of federal officials who have stepped into the breach and righted wrongs that local authorities were all too willing to see ignored.

You have the power to clean this up.

Please, exercise your authority and investigate the facts and circumstances of Breonna Taylor’s killing. Give the citizens a full and complete accounting of what you find out.

When asked during the vice presidential debate whether justice had been done in this case, now-vice president-elect Harris responded, “I don’t believe so … And her life was taken unjustifiably and tragically and violently.” These are the words of a former career prosecutor, a trial prosecutor, a district attorney and a state attorney general.

Hear these words.

As you assume your duties, please remember, too, the words of Robert Kennedy, who was the Attorney General of the United States when those U.S. Marshals were sent to Mississippi. He said: “Every time we turn our heads the other way … when we tolerate what we know to be wrong, when we close our eyes and our ears … because we are too busy or too frightened, when we fail to speak up and speak out, we strike a blow against freedom and decency and justice.”

Investigate this case properly and pursue the truth. • Ted Shouse has been a criminal defense lawyer for 21 years.

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ATTORNEYS SAY THE DARNDEST THINGS

By James J. Wilkerson | leo@leoweekly.com ATTORNEYS ARE OFTEN considered pillars of the community. Often thought of as vigorous champions of justice, attorneys are bound by their rules of professional responsibility to be zealous advocates on their client’s behalf. Sometimes though, zealous advocacy leads to the absurd. And when it does, three years of professional school is not enough to keep bizarre statements from escaping a counselor’s lips. Often desperate, commonly offensive, and always cringeworthy, here are some of the darndest things attorneys have said about sexual assault.

IT’S NO LONGER THE ‘60S

We start in 2015, in the middle of Donald Trump’s first presidential campaign. While the eventual president has no shortage of his own questionable comments, this nugget of legal incorrectness comes from his thenlawyer, Michael Cohen. While defending the future 45th president from a decades old allegation that he forced himself on his thenwife Ivana Trump, Cohen would state: “You’re talking about the front runner for the GOP, presidential candidate, as well as private individual who never raped anybody.

And, of course, understand that by the very definition, you can’t rape your spouse. You cannot rape your spouse. And there’s very clear case law.”

There was actually a time when this statement would have been correct. The 1962 Model Penal Code qualified rape in the United States as an act perpetrated by a male against a female who was not his wife.

In the early 1970s, laws would be changed to require a husband and wife to no longer be living together in order for rape charges to be brought, with Oregon v. Rideout being the first case to challenge this cohabitation clause. While the husband in that case would ultimately be acquitted, the case placed a spotlight on marital rape and, by 1993, all 50 states had made marital rape illegal (despite there being some loopholes in some states’ laws).

Cohen’s statement is interesting because he graduated from Michigan’s Thomas M. Cooley Law School in 1991, three years after the state made marital rape illegal.

Therefore, raping your spouse was absolutely illegal the entire time Cohen was in law school. Surely, his criminal law professor must have mentioned this as it would have been a brand new state law his first

year of law school.

Cohen must not have paid much attention in his Professional Responsibilities class either as he was disbarred in 2019 for making false statements to Congress.

NON-EXPERT OPINION

Our next story takes us to 2020. As Cuba Gooding Jr.’s acting career started in the late 1980s, there are a variety of projects that may make his name a familiar one, including his Academy Award winning turn as Rod Tidwell in 1996’s Jerry Maguire or his breakthrough performance as Tre Styles in 1991’s “Boyz n the Hood.” My personal favorite performance from Gooding was his role as former football star, “alleged” murderer, and convicted Las Vegas heist puller, O.J. Simpson in 2016’s “American Crime Story: The People v. O.J. Simpson.” This essay however, isn’t a movie review; it’s an analysis on bizarre things attorneys say. And as such we look at Gooding’s attorney, Peter Toumbekis.

In June 2019, Gooding was arrested when a woman accused the actor of groping her breasts at a posh Times Square bar. This initial accusation led to a total of 30 separate women lobbing groping accusations at the actor and one woman coming forward with a rape accusation from 2013. On Aug. 13, 2020, Gooding’s legal team met with prosecutors at a preliminary hearing, where Toumbekis flexed his muscle as an unlicensed psychologist. When asked by Judge Curtis Farber if Toumbekis planned to take a line of questioning about a witness’ bra size, Toumbekis replied that he, in fact, did plan on asking these questions, arguing that small-breasted women can be delusional and their low self-esteem can incorrectly lead them to believe they have been assaulted.

As unfounded as this argument sounds on its face, my degree is in law, not psychology. So, I did what Toumbekis failed to do: I asked an expert.

“To be blunt: no research whatsoever supports this notion,” says Dr. DeDe Wohlfarth. Dr. Wohlfarth is the Director of the Child, Adolescent and Family Emphasis Area of Spalding University’s Psychology program. Her treatment philosophy is evidence-based and practical, two things that Toumbekis’ argument is not. “I know of absolutely no research that suggests that low self-esteem can make a person be

James J. Wilkerson.

delusional and falsely claim sexual abuse,” Dr. Wohlfarth continues. “Usually in psychology, we say ‘maybe/it depends on the context’ but this one… it is a no. Nada. No research support for this.”

Just as Dr. Wohlfarth rejects this theory, so did Judge Farber, who barred Toumbekis from this line of questioning. With both the psychological and legal worlds rejecting Gooding’s strategy, it appears his case is off to a fantastic start.

THAT’S NOT HOW CHILDBIRTH WORKS, LEON!

Our last story takes us to the glorious decade of neon colors and pop music that was the ‘80s. Anytime a story begins with a person on a crusade against women’s rights, you can go ahead and expect something offensive from the start. But that is the exact crusade that then-law clerk James Leon Holmes was on at the turn of the decade.

In 1980, Holmes wrote a letter in favor of a constitutional ban on abortion. One longstanding argument in favor of legal abortions is that it protects survivors who become pregnant with their rapist’s child.

Holmes disagreed with this stance however, stating “concern for rape victims is a red herring because conceptions from rape occur with approximately the same frequency as snowfall in Miami.”

As outlandish as this statement sounds, Holmes would not be alone in stating that rape victims cannot get pregnant from sexual assault. In 1988, Pennsylvania state Rep. Stephen Freind expanded on Holmes’ theory, stating that rape victims rarely become pregnant “because they secrete a chemical that kills sperm.” Seven years later in 1995, North Carolina Republican state Rep. Henry Aldridge, in an effort to eliminate state abortion funds for poor women, publicly stated that women do not get pregnant when raped because “the juices don’t flow” during an attack. Two decades later, Missouri Republican Todd Akin would sink his political career by saying that “victims of legitimate rape very rarely get pregnant because their bodies prevent them from doing so.” While Holmes’ remark would do very little to derail his legal career (which would take him to the level of Senior Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas), by 2012 the public showed it was not having any of this same foolishness from Akin, as he lost his bid to unseat Senator Claire McCaskill due to the remark.

Not only does “rape victims can’t get pregnant” fly in the face of common sense, it also flies in the face of everything I learned in my junior high school sex ed class. Were all of these “intelligent” men privy to an alternative curriculum? It turns out that this LEOWEEKLY.COM // DECEMBER 16, 2020

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Baraka - Meet Baraka, a

handsome Labrador mix who is four years old. This big hunk of love weighs around 90 pounds and, like a typical Labrador, is always trying to make new friends and thinks of himself as a small dog! Unfortunately, this is not Baraka’s first time at the Kentucky Humane Society. He has been dropped off at other shelters and even found as a stray - all for reasons completely unknown. We are sad to see him back at KHS once more, but it must be because he hasn’t yet found his true family. Baraka still has some puppy energy, enjoys playing tug of war (and playing with any toy known to man) and loves going on long walks! But once he’s had his fun, he’s more than happy to curl up next to you to watch some television. While Baraka loves people, he is not a fan of other animals and would need to be the king of his castle.

Baraka is a sweet and active boy who dreams of having a forever home where he can be cherished unconditionally. Maybe he has been waiting for you! He is already neutered, micro-chipped and up-to-date on vaccinations. Head over to kyhumane.org/dogs to schedule an adoption appointment at the East Campus, 1000 Lyndon Lane!

Turkey - Say hello to Turkey! This ten-month-old tabby with

tangerine fur has truly earned his name. The staff at the Kentucky Humane Society noticed a cat wandering around the property. Said feline would always elude people and run when approached. After a while, he showed up meowing at the front door and they were finally able to bring the teenaged tabby indoors. Turkey soon learned that humans are kind and friendly. Turkey has since made plenty of friends at KHS! We feel he would be a great companion for someone who wants a spunky pal or even an adventure buddy. He would likely still enjoy spending time outdoors in his new home - but in a safe manner this time around so that he doesn’t get lost. We’re all excited to see this bright guy go home. Could that be with you? Turkey is neutered, micro-chipped and up-to-date on his shots. Head over to kyhumane.org/cats to schedule an adoption appointment at the Main Campus, 241 Steedly Drive!

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theory goes all the way back to the 13th century. 1290’s Fleta, one of the earliest British legal texts stated “if, however, the woman should have conceived at the time alleged in the appeal, it abates, for without a woman’s consent she could not conceive.”

While Holmes is usually credited for bringing this archaic theory into abortion politics, in 2003 (16 years after the fact) he would publicly apologize for his “strident and harsh” rhetoric.

Better late than never, I suppose.

BONUS TRACK: ‘I ABSOLUTELY DON’T UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT’

Brock was only dry humping Chanel, he was not exposed and therefore not in a position to complete the act of rape.

I can see what Multhap was trying to do here. It is true that dry humping can be considered its own, low-risk alternative to intercourse; a point Multhap was trying to prove as a defense to Turners “Assault with Intent to Rape” conviction. While it is true that dry humping can exist on its own, it is also true that all forms of outercourse can serve as foreplay before sexual intercourse.

The Appellate Court agreed, pointing out that while Turner was clothed and only dry humping at the time he was interrupted by the graduate students who found him, a reasonable juror using common sense, could easily infer that if the grad students had not stopped Turner, who grinding away atop of an unconscious women whose underwear had been removed, and whom he had previously digitally penetrated, exposure and rape were right around the corner. The original judgment was upheld.

Despite one of my editor’s opinions otherwise, no list of “what the heck were they thinking” court statements would be complete without including the Brock Turner “Outercourse” defense.

By the time attorney Eric Multhaup appeared before a California appellate Despite only court in 2018, his serving half of his A LITTLE client Brock Turner GOES had already succeeded already ridiculously RESEARCH in becoming the poster A LONG WAY boy for collegiate It’s interesting how low sentence, sexual assault and powerful the smallTurner would seek est bit of research white privilege. After being convicted of can be. It can save an appeal in an sexually assaulting you from claiming a Chanel Miller, Turner effort to avoid reg- long-outdated rule as would be sentenced current. It can also istering as a sex to only six months in spare you from showjail; a move that would ing your complete lack offender for life. ultimately lead to trial of knowledge of the Judge Aaron Persky female anatomy. And being recalled and also fired as a high school if these stories tell us anything, it’s that for tennis coach. attorneys, legal research is a practice that should extend long past the years of law Despite only serving half of his already ridiculously low sentence, Turner would school. It is also a practice that should not be seek an appeal in an effort to avoid register100% delegated to overworked law clerks. ing as a sex offender for life. It was at the And, who knows, it just may save you from appeal hearing that Multhaup argued that being the butt of public ridicule when somenot only was there not enough evidence to one is writing an article about attorneys who convict Turner, but all his client was guilty have gotten sexual assault all wrong. • of was “sexual outercourse” as his pants remained on during the assault.

James J. Wilkerson, J.D., is the director While I am certainly familiar with of Staff Diversity and Equity and the Deputy sexual INTERcourse, sexual outercourse Title IX Coordinator at IU Southeast. This was a new term to me, so I did my Googles was first published by “I Taught the Law” at for further research. Healthline describes medium.com/i-taught-the-law, “untold stosexual outercourse as an ambiguous activity, ries of the rules, institutions, and people that meaning different things to different people. govern our lives (without too much legalIncluded in the list of activities that count ese),” as written by lawyers, law professors, as outercourse are kissing, massage, mutual students and other legal professionals. masturbation, oral sex, anal sex and Turner’s pastime of choice, dry humping. Multhap attempted to convince the court that as

NEWS & ANALYSIS

REPUBLICAN ECON 101...

OR: ‘IF NO ONE CAN AFFORD BARBECUE, IT DOESN’T MATTER WHAT MY TAX RATE IS’

By John Yarmuth | leo@leoweekly.com ABOUT 100 YEARS AGO, President Calvin Coolidge famously said, “The business of the American people is business.” Ever since, and probably even before, the American people, including most Democrats, have thought of the GOP as the business party.

Business people have overwhelmingly supported Republicans with dollars and votes.

A lot of that support has related to Republicans’ aversion to taxes and regulation, but there also seems to have been an assumption that Republican politicians are better economists than are Democrats.

Hahahahahahahahaha.

Among the many things I have observed over my relatively long life is that there are several different kinds of economics. There are household economics, business economics, macroeconomics, theoretical economics, political economics and probably many other kinds. To a certain extent, they all intersect, or should intersect, in the United States Congress.

In my 14 years in that Congress, I have concluded that Republicans there don’t understand any of them.

Case in point — why this is critically important now — is the Republican stubbornness, led by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, which now jeopardizes the lives of millions of Americans and the future of the American economy.

This very week we should be enacting massive financial assistance to Americans, who are not only needlessly suffering through no fault of their own, but whose personal suffering will metastasize throughout the economy and limit our ability to grow. We may pass a slimmed down relief package, which most economists — real ones — deem woefully inadequate.

Instead, the American people and economy are being held hostage by one man, McConnell, who proves on a daily basis he has no idea what he’s talking about when it comes to economics. Unfortunately, he has Republican sheep in both the House

THORNS & ROSES THE WORST, BEST & MOST ABSURD THORN: SILENCE IS COMPLICITY

and Senate, who won’t defy him.

For months now, McConnell has said he wants to pass “targeted relief,” as if that really is a thing. It evokes something New York Times columnist Paul Krugman wrote this week: “What Republicans say they believe flows from what they want to do.” Or don’t want to do, as is the case here.

McConnell has not wanted to pass anything that House Democrats proposed. He hasn’t wanted to pass anything close to a trillion dollars, even though virtually everyone outside of Congress knows a trillion dollars in relief is still not enough. And he hasn’t wanted to have some of his members have to take a tough vote that might hurt their reelection chances in 2022.

But back to targeted relief. In May, House Democrats passed the Heroes Act, a $3.2 trillion dollar package that “targeted” Americans who lost their jobs due to the pandemic, state and local governments that have lost significant revenue due to the pandemic, schools that are trying to figure how to reopen safely and businesses that are suffering due to the pandemic, among others. Virtually everything passed

by Congress can be characterized as targeting some people or organizations, including the massive tax cuts of 2017, which targeted the wealthiest Americans and largest corporations with massive benefits they didn’t need.

Republicans “believe” that tax cuts pay for themselves, even though every analysis shows that they do not, but they believe that because they want to cut taxes.

Republicans “believe” that large deficits and debt place a huge burden

on future generations when they don’t want to pass measures that will help alleviate poverty, expand health care to our citizens, or more recently, to repair our deteriorating national infrastructure, but not when they want to cut taxes.

Republicans “believe” that the social safety net discourages work when they want to cut food stamp benefits, but not when they want to subsidize agri-business and oil drilling.

Republicans “believe” that investments are good for the economy when they want to give tax breaks to hedge funds, but not when they don’t want to invest in the education of our future workforce.

Republicans can be educated, however. One was my brother Bob, who runs the family’s barbecue business. He always voted Republican because he wanted to pay less tax. Back in 2008, he called to tell me he was contributing to and voting for Obama and all Democrats in that election.

“That’s great, Bob,” I said. “What was your epiphany?”

He answered, “I finally figured out that if no one can afford barbecue, it doesn’t matter what my tax rate is.”

Sometimes economics is really simple. McConnell should brush up. • U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth, founder of LEO, has represented Kentucky’s 3rd Congressional District since 2007 and is now chairman of the House Budget Committee.

More than 120 Republicans in the U.S. House signed on to the ridiculous, Texas-born lawsuit designed to subvert the Constitution and give tRump a win. Amazingly, Kentucky’s delegation of brown-nosers was not on that list. U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth, founder of LEO, tweeted that it “seems ludicrous to applaud my fellow members of the KY Delegation for not joining ... their GOP colleagues in sedition, but I do. There’s a low bar for high praise in 2020.” Yet, even as an increasing trickle of Republicans retreat from this Trumpian sideshow, one lawmaker has demonstrated his complicity through his silence: U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell. (Update: McConnell finally conceded Joe Biden won. But where was he for four years, and how could he be silent during his colleagues’ calumnious behavior? Courier Journal columnist Joe Gerth summed it up best in perhaps his best but certainly his shortest column. Under the headline: “Joe Gerth: My thoughts on McConnell finally acknowledging that Trump’s a loser” he wrote: “About time.”)

THORN: ...AND A SIDE OF COVID-19

While Gov. Andy Beshear temporarily closed restaurants to inside dining to keep people from dying, Indiana did not. Last week, Jeffersonville, Indiana was so busy that Red Yeti chef Michael Bowe told The CJ that downtown there felt “like a resort town.” Seems that lots of Kentuckians crossed the river for a Vodka and Virus with their COVID-19 cacciatore.

ROSE: PORCH PIRATES WILL BE SO CONFUSED The first frosty doses of a COVID-19 vaccine came through the UPS Worldport air hub en route to arms near you (hopefully).

THORN: WHY ARE PROTEST LEADERS DYING?

Another Louisville protest leader has been fatally shot: Kris Smith was found dead inside a vehicle in the 200 block of North 26th Street. The city has had more than 150 homicides this year, a record. The FBI announced the arrest of a man on federal carjacking charges in connection with the death of passionate and popular protest leader Travis Nagdy. We hope they got the right person, but we want to hear more details about that arrest — not necessarily the police version.

ROSE + THORN: ‘O CAPTAIN! MY CAPTAIN!’

CJ Editor Rick Green certainly deserves a rose for boosting the paper’s relevance and expertly guiding it to award-winning work during these historically riven times, but a thorn must be awarded because he announced he is taking a buyout after less than three years on the job. We will miss you @KentuckyRAG LEOWEEKLY.COM // DECEMBER 16, 2020

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MAYOR’S RACIAL EQUALITY PLAN: WHO DID HE (NOT) LISTEN TO?

By Danielle Grady | dgrady@leoweekly.com

MAYOR GREG FISCHER has declared racism a public health crisis in Louisville and prescribed a cure: an Advancing Racial Health Equity plan. But, some Black leaders and community organizers say Fischer failed to properly consult them and the public during the creation of his executive order, signed Dec. 1.

“I know that we serve 1,000 folks weekly, and they didn’t call us,” said Taylor Ryan, executive director and founder of the nonprofit Change Today, Change Tomorrow, which serves the city’s Black community. “I know several other entities who are grassroots-led organizations who also did not receive a call. And this happens all the time when there are data reports, when there are statistics, when there are polls.”

According to a list provided to LEO by the Mayor’s Office, Fischer used a wide range of sources to inform the plan: “pieces” of the Build Back Better Together Initiative, a coronavirus solutions group which contained focus groups comprising community members and leaders; a community survey in the search for a new police chief; the Resilient City Plan, a 2019 report that required community discussions; a list of recommendations provided by mostly Black leaders called A Path Forward; research from the U.S. Conference of Mayors; and Metro government department representatives,

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LEOWEEKLY.COM // DECEMBER 16, 2020

who consulted “their contacts.”

“Louisville Metro Government has been committed to engaging the community in all our work over the past decade, and we recognize that that’s key to achieving our overall goal of moving this city from tragedy to transformation,” said Jean Porter, the mayor’s spokesperson, in a statement.

Anthony Smith, the executive director of Cities United, was one of the community leaders who signed A Path Forward, and he was also a part of the Build Back Better Together Initiative. And, yet, he doesn’t think the mayor’s administration did enough to engage the public.

“I think folks have been asking for the city to make racism a public health issue. So, I think you know it’s good you see that it’s done. But I also think that there was a missed opportunity to do it in partnership with those who have been really on the ground pushing for it,” he said.

Also, he said he did not know the Build Back Better Together initiative would be used to create such a plan, and as such, he doesn’t feel as if he was a part of that process.

With his Build Back Better Together group, Smith has been working on how the city should proceed with public safety as it emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic. The mayor did not sit down to talk with A Path Forward either, he said,

which has since become a group that regularly meets in small teams.

During the mayor’s presentation, Fischer thanked Keisha Dorsey, a Black council member whose district includes Shively and West Louisville, for helping him with the executive order. She told LEO that his declaration in and of itself did not require “community input beyond that in which he already had.” She views Fischer’s accompanying plan as a “skeleton framework” outlining areas where racism is most detrimental to the community, which will be enfleshed later in a process that will require community engagement.

“What I think should occur after this are task forces to create very detailed strategies that address not just the issues outlined in the executive order, but also those that we hear from the community,” she said.

But, Porter characterized the mayor’s plan as containing “dozens of specific action steps,” many of which are already being implemented. However, it is also a “living, breathing plan,” she said, that is open to edits. “… As new ideas or strategies are proposed (such as the forthcoming proposals from the Build Back Better, Together initiative), they will be reviewed and potentially incorporated,” she said. “Our hope is that community groups, businesses and individuals will embrace the tenets of the

Chanelle Helm of Black Lives Matter Louisville speaking at a rally in 2017 | PHOTO BY BRIAN BOHANNON.

Mayor’s Executive Order, review the fuller plan and offer thoughts on how to strengthen it, and work with us to drive strategies forward that build racial equity throughout our city.”

The community, said Smith, is watching for what comes next, but he and other local Black leaders — including Chanelle Helm with Black Lives Matter Louisville — are skeptical that the public will be properly engaged in the mayor’s next steps, either because, as Helm said, they won’t be asked or, as they both said, because they’ve been disenfranchised by past actions and community engagement efforts from Metro government.

“Nothing of what [Fischer’s] doing is any different than what he’s done before,” Helm said.

THE PLAN

The mayor’s racial equity plan contains seven focus areas, such as public safety and children and families, each with its own set of “action steps,” totaling over 40. Several of the action steps have been previously proposed by the

Other focus areas are Black employment, Black wealth, affordable housing, health and voter participation.

These are problem areas that members of the community already had been talking about, said Smith. And, because of that, they have plans on how tackle them. mayor or are already in the works, such as a $3.5 million contribution to a community grocery store, which Metro Council passed in its budget this summer.

But, the action steps don’t come with an implementation date, and in many cases, a dollar amount. Some will require budget approval (such as doubling funding to the Affordable Housing Trust Fund), and others cannot happen without changes to state or federal law (such as a minimum wage increase).

Other focus areas are Black employment, Black wealth, affordable housing, health and voter participation.

These are problem areas that members of the community

already had been talking about, said Smith. And, because of that, they have plans in some cases on how to tackle them.

“The ideals are good things, but we’ve got to have the right stuff around it,” he said. “And I think part of that is some of this could have been pulled from the community activists and community leaders that have been part of this for a long time.”

Ryan said that it’s important to consult organizers like her, because they are in touch with community needs.

“There is such a disconnect between the larger organizations in the city and the actual people that they so call serve,” she said. “They’re not a great representative of the LEOWEEKLY.COM // DECEMBER 16, 2020

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Executive Director for Change Today Change Tomorrow Taylor Ryan and Councilman David James. | PHOTO BY KATHRYN HARRINGTON. Councilwoman Keisha Dorsey.

people because they don’t even know their names, they don’t know where they live, they don’t know how many kids they have. They don’t really know their needs. Oftentimes people will ask for one thing and an organization will give them another.”

In the meantime, Dorsey is working on putting together a legislative agenda that she said will complement the mayor’s executive order but also go beyond it by including more specific, targeted goals.

She’s developing her agenda through her work on the city’s Trauma Resiliency Community Team, which she said is equipped mostly with representatives from nonprofits and academia who work with people on the grassroots level and a few from the corporate world. They’ve been reviewing various documents from the community, she said, including A Path Forward and demands from several groups and people including Breonna Taylor’s family, the Kentucky Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression and even a set that Dorsey was handed on the streets of West Louisville.

Eventually, Dorsey plans to host feedback hearings with the community via Facebook.

BUILD BACK BETTER TOGETHER The problems that community members have observed with how the city came up with its racial equity plan — and its other initiatives over the years — are represented in Ryan’s and others’ experiences with Build Back Better Together.

The initiative was announced at the end of May — just as public outrage over Breonna Taylor’s death was swelling

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LEOWEEKLY.COM // DECEMBER 16, 2020

into mass protests and before reforms were being discussed.

Build Back Better Together was described as a way to forge solutions on how to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. It would have “equity at its heart,” however, and address root causes of inequities, said Chief Equity Officer Kendall Boyd in the city’s press release announcing it.

The initiative, known as BBBT, would have a steering committee comprising leaders in government, business, the nonprofit sector and the community, as well as neighborhood representatives. And, there would be seven teams covering different focus areas including arts and culture and the economy.

As Smith said, the mayor’s racial equity plan was not mentioned at the meetings he attended.

Dorsey, who is also involved with the initiative, said she saw the group’s purpose as addressing COVID-19 but also social and racial justice. But, she is not sure if members were told that they’d be contributing to a racial equity plan.

Although, she said, there were members of the Mayor’s administration at the meetings who were reporting back to him. There was also a variety of people involved in her focus group, she said, including community activists who organized Louisville’s racial justice protests.

Ryan was one of those asked to join BBBT. She attended one session, because she wanted to have “a seat at the table” and hear what was being discussed. But, she never returned.

Ryan said she felt as if having multiple work groups wasn’t effective. She also didn’t think anything concrete was done at the meeting. That’s not how she operates.

“I don’t understand why I’m sitting on meetings, councils, boards and there isn’t action created from every

meeting,” she said. “So, it’s a lot of visioning and a lot of planning, but not a lot of actual implementing.”

Plus, as the director of a small charitable organization, she’s not only doing service work but administrative tasks: answering phones, emails and promoting the nonprofit through social media and media communications. She just didn’t have the time, she said.

Helm, with Black Lives Matter Louisville, has served on community engagement groups created by Metro government before, such as the Synergy Project Steering Group, which was supposed to collect ideas on how to repair trust between police and the community. She wants more community members to serve in groups, too, because even though they might think it’s “bullshit,” someone needs to be there to quash it, she said. But, she can’t bring herself to join another one.

“It’s a bunch of people fronting and stunting about the things that people need when they know that they can actually give up that seat and give it to somebody else,” she said.

Smith said he’s not sure if the mayor will be able to elicit feedback on his plan from the people he needs most.

“I think that’s one of the struggles right now,” he said.

“There are a lot of people to reach out to, but are people willing to be at the table now?”

Helm said the city needs to change how it consults the community.

“We’re sitting there asking them to really invest in community organizers,” she said. “The shit that they’ve been doing doesn’t really work. You’ve got to get people who are willing to meet people where they are. Talk to people on the streets, create new spaces and stuff. And they’re just not really willing to do that.” •

STAFF PICKS THURSDAY, DEC. 17

The West Louisville Chess Club Christmas Party!

816 East Broadway | Search Facebook | No cover | 6 p.m.

If you’re one of those people who watched “The Queen’s Gambit” on Netflix and decided to become a late-blooming chess prodigy, here’s your chance to see if CHECKMATE you’re actually the next Beth Harmon. The West Louisville Chess Club, a program for at-risk and underprivileged children, is hosting a Christmas party and blitz tournament. It’s $10 to compete, and first place winners will receive cash prizes. Or, you can bring a dish and cheer on the actual kid whizzes. –Danielle Grady

SATURDAY, DEC. 19

Fistful Of Ale Presents: Laren J. Rapp

Fistful of Ale | 2708 Paoli Pike, New Albany | Search Facebook | No cover | 7 p.m.

Not that you need an excuse to go for some of the best tacos in the area, but Fistful of Tacos (one of the original New Albany-based food trucks, since 2015) has much more to BOTTOMS UP see and try at Fistful of Ale. And, I don’t mean the sharp-craft cocktail creations, 20-tap craft beer or new pub menu. Go for the food, drink and free performance by musician, writer and “peace-activist” Laren J. Rapp. You can preview Rapp’s vibe and talent on Soundcloud, or see his video rendition of “Simply Having A Wonderful Christmas Time” played on his tree guitar (“tree-taur”), posted on his Facebook page. It’s the perfect pre-holiday Saturday. —Aaron Yarmuth

SATURDAY, DEC. 19

Super Beautiful Christmas Celebration Event Super Beauti | 4420 Dixie Highway, Suite 132 Search Facebook | Free | 9 a.m.-6 p.m.

SATURDAY, DEC. 19

Dinner In Paris

Riot Cafe | 574 S. Fourth St. | Search Facebook | 7 p.m.

International travel was mainly a red light situation in the year of the corona pandemic, but BONJOUR Riot Cafe is trying to replicate an evening in one of the world’s delicious cities, Paris. Featuring cuisine, cocktails and entertainment influenced by the French capital, the Dinner in Paris event is meant to help you break free of that same old 2020 routine.

Music will be provided by Le Petite Musique. —LEO

Dane Waters singing and Mike O’Bryan on accordion as Le Petite Musique. | PHOTO BY BILL WINE.

Bringing joy to others is the true meaning of Christmas, we say. That is what Super Beauti plans to do for its first Super Beautiful Christmas Celebration, along with CELEBRATE other activities and festivities: Have breakfast and picture with Santa and Mrs. Claus, join in a gingerbread workshop (for kids and adults), or stop by for some sweet treats and the super beautiful fashion show.

But, please consider participating in the daylong toy drive for children whose families may be suffering hardships due to the pandemic.

You can also support local “cheftrepeneurs” and other vendors while getting some shopping done. Also, in the true spirit of Christmas 2020, gift bags will be given away to some of “Louisville’s own Frontline Superheroes fighting the war on COVID-19, in healthcare, social services, activism and neighbors helping neighbors, and visitors may contribute to provide relief to children whose parents are unable to provide due to the economic hardship brought on by this pandemic.” Masks are required. —LEO

Jackie Paynter-Mayfield, owner of Super Beauti.

LEOWEEKLY.COM // DECEMBER 16, 2020

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STAFF PICKS

SATURDAY, DEC. 19

SUNDAY, DEC. 20

Champ’s Rollerdrome | 9851 Lagrange Road Search Facebook | $8 | 10 p.m.-midnight

The Palm Room | 1821 W. Jefferson St. | 5 p.m. | No cover

Adult Skate: Old School Session It’s the ‘90s, you’re in eighth grade. You’re listening to “Jump Around” by House of Pain at a school field trip to the roller rink. You’re constantly checking to see if your crush ROLL is watching you, but they’re distracted by the arcade games. Champ’s Rollerdrome wants to take you back to those not-2020 times with an Adult Skate night, complete with jams from the ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s — so (pretty much) no matter what generation you’re from, you’ll still get to escape. —LEO

Groove Theory

The Louisville blues, jazz and soul lounge, The Palm Room, presents a night of live music this weekend. Groove Theory will feature Ralph Adams, The Palm Room MELLOW Show Band and DJ Lifesaver. The Palm Room was recently reopened in the Russell Neighborhood after receiving a loan from the city. It was initially founded as Joe’s Palm Room in 1967, and it has reopened at the original location.

—LEO

SUNDAY, DEC. 20

‘Twas The Hike Before Christmas

Falls of the Ohio State Park | 201 W. Riverside Drive, Clarksville Search Facebook | Free | 1-2 p.m.

Need motivation to get outside and be active during the short, cold days of winter?

Whether it’s your first trip to the Falls of the Ohio BOOTS MADE FOR WALKING or the first trip in a long time, you’re sure to discover something new and interesting on this one-hour guided hike through the fossil beds of the Falls. Naturalist Alan Goldstein leads a family-friendly hike through the barren undergrowth toward Fisherman’s Point, so long as the weather cooperates and river level, too. In the event of high waters, the event will be moved to the picnic area where, organizers promise, “caroling and poetry are optional.” The event is free, although parking in the main lot is $2. —LEO

WEDNESDAY, DEC. 23

Woofy Wednesdays!

Old Louisville Brewery | 625 W. Magnolia Ave. Search Facebook | No cover | 5-9 p.m.

The good hoomans at Old Louisville Brewery love good dogs, and we love how much they love dogs. Which is why we love Woofy Wednesdays: You don’t have to come up PUP with an excuse to go have some pints, the dogs are your excuse to go have pints!

Those who bring their (well-behaved and leashed) pups receive VIP-pint prices, as well as goodies for the dogs for helping out.

If you can’t take advantage on Christmas Eve eve, you can still take advantage of Woofy Wednesday on New Year’s Eve eve, Dec. 30.

—Aaron Yarmuth

Doges from past events and doge regulars at the Old Louisville Brewery.

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STAFF PICKS

Beginners Welcome!

THROUGH DEC. 27

‘Spiritual Auto-Biography’ By Rex Lagerstrom KORE Gallery | 942 E. Kentucky St. | koreartgallery.com | Free

Much has been written about how the pandemic can be used as a time of self-reflection and gratitude. That seems to REFLECTION fall in line with the philosophy of Rex Lagerstrom, whose virtual art show examines healing. “I want my work to convey a sense of peace and comfort,” he said. “I deeply respect the work of artists who use their talents to challenge or educate their audiences but that’s not what interests me. There is so much turmoil and suffering in the world around us, I’m interested in providing a moment of peace and reflection.” Through December, KORE Gallery will be offering 20% off all artwork displayed online and in the gallery. —Jo Anne Triplett ‘Chartres Mandela’ by Rex Lagerstrom.

Encaustic on panel with oil polychrome.

THROUGH DEC. 31

‘Sweet And Savory’

Kentucky Fine Art Gallery, Leslie Spetz Custom Picture Framing 2400 C Lime Kiln Lane | lesliespetzcustomframing.com | Free This year’s holiday show at the Kentucky Fine Art Gallery features smaller works by Jaime Corum, Susan GALLERY Hackworth, Robert Halliday, Greta Mattingly and David O. Schuster. Besides their individual work, the artists are also doing something different by creating a group of themed paintings — in this case, julep cups in a 5-square-inch format (these can be purchased individually or as a group). The gallery is offering a 20% discount on the framing of any local original art for the holidays.—Jo Anne Triplett

‘Color Bloom #1’ by David O. Schuster. Acrylic on panel.

THROUGH DEC. 31

Miracle On Market

The Green Building | 732 E. Market St. | miracleonmarketlouisville.com Wednesday-Saturday, 5-11 p.m. | No cover It’s going to be a strange Christmas, one that might not include our usual gatherings of family and friends, but Miracle On Market, a holiday pop-up, is trying to keep FESTIVE the spirit alive. Featuring a long list of festive cocktails and themed food, Miracle On Market is basically a bar/restaurant in a heated tent connected to The Green Building. And while you’re in NuLu, check out some of the local shops. Carryout is available. Reservations are encouraged for dining. —LEO

YOGA

ON BAXTER

GIFT CERTIFICATES

AVAILABLE! 1611 Eastern Pkwy. @ Baxter Ave. (502) 558-9177 www.yogaonbaxter.com

“We love offering LEO Weekly at Half Price Books.

Alt-weeklies are important in every city and our shoppers love their arts and music coverage.” Tory Herron, Kentucky District Manager.

Half Price Books

10220 Westport Rd, Louisville, KY 40241 (502) 326-8585

https://www.hpb.com/097

If you'd like a LEO Weekly rack at your business, email distribution@leoweekly.com Drink one of these SanTaRex cocktails at Miracle on Market.

LEOWEEKLY.COM // DECEMBER 16, 2020

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MUSIC

AS STIMULUS TALKS DRAG ON, THE RISK GROWS FOR LOCAL INDIE VENUES

By Scott Recker | srecker@leoweekly.com HEADLINERS MUSIC HALL co-owner Billy Hardison said that the future of indie venues is in the hands of the federal government.

He said that he and many other indie venue owners and operators are risking their personal futures to keep their small businesses from closing, holding onto hope that they’ll be included in a second stimulus package.

“The glimmers of hope we’ve been given, and our need to want to believe in that now, as independent operators, we’re basically putting our own families more at risk,” Hardison said. “We’re leveraging our personal situations to save our businesses in hopes that Congress does the right thing and passes this.”

After the coronavirus surge largely crushed the idea of socially-distanced concerts in the final quarter of 2020, local indie venues are now desperate for a potential relief package that includes the Save Our Stages Act, which would establish a nationwide $10 billion grant program for live venue operators, promoters, producers and talent representatives.

While volatile negotiations are dragging on in the U.S. Congress this week, local venue owners said that they’ve been accumulating increased debt and are taking on more risk yet refusing to shut their doors, due to the chance that federal support is on the way.

The Save Our Stages Act has bipartisan support. The fear is that stimulus talks fall through before the year’s end, or that the Save Our Stages gets chopped from a package.

Hardison said that he and his partners at Headliners are depending on the Act to pass to take their business off life support. And, as the Kentucky precinct captain for the National Independent Venue Association, the lobby group behind the Save Our Stages Act, he said that he has heard from several venues in the same situation.

“At some point you reach a wall where you start to reach into your savings, and you start looking at putting up your personal assets as collateral,” Hardison said. “We’re looking at loans for bridge funds, to get us over the hump, and that’s what everybody seems to be doing.”

Adam Hartke, a music venue owner from Wichita, Kansas, is the Advocacy Committee co-chair of NIVA. He appeared before the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Manu-

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facturing, Trade, and Consumer Protection on Tuesday. In a statement to LEO, he said that without immediate federal assistance the outlook for indie venues is grim.

“We are collectively at the edge of a cliff,” Hartke said. “Many of us are holding on as best we can, for as long as we can, but the time we are able to wait is almost gone. Without swift action from Congress before the end of the year, we are facing a catastrophic situation.

Mom and pop venues are waiting alongside their workers hoping Congress delivers. We need to pass the Save Our Stages Act and an extension of PUA [Pandemic Unemployment Assistance] with an overall COVID relief package now, not next month, not in the spring. If we continue to wait, our industry will not survive.”

WHERE IT STANDS

The Save Our Stages Act was initially introduced to the Senate in July by bipartisan sponsors — Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minnesota.

Since then, it’s gained more than 200 cosponsors in Congress. The goal is for it to be included in a second federal stimulus package, talks for which have fallen through for several months now.

Stimulus talks have heated up this week in Congress, with government funding running out Friday night, but as the clock ticks, Democrats and Republicans are still at an impasse.

It’s unclear what the chances are for the Save Our Stages Act to be attached to a stimulus package that would pass through the chambers of Congress and on to the President, but U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth, D-Louisville, said he will continue to fight for it.

“Today, we witnessed the first COVID vaccines being given to frontline workers, and with them, the beginning of the end of

Wax Fang at Headliners Music Hall. | PHOTO BY NIK VECHERY.

this wretched pandemic,” Yarmuth told LEO on Monday. “But for local businesses, the end won’t be soon enough — not without help. Without federal assistance, we will lose many of the cultural treasures that make our community special, not to mention Louisville’s 18,000 jobs in the arts prepandemic. I will continue to do everything I can to ensure the Save Our Stages Act is included in the next relief bill. So much of Louisville’s culture and character depend on it.”

A HEALTHY ECOSYSTEM

Indie venues in Louisville range in capacity from just over 100 to several thousand, and they are all an important part of keeping the local live music ecosystem healthy. There are hundreds of live bands and musicians in town, and when they’re just starting out, the small stages can inject a sense of confidence and professionalism. And the medium stages can help them launch into touring.

White Reaper has played the entire spectrum of indie stages in Louisville. Over the past half decade, the band has gone from playing the city’s smallest stages to touring internationally. Keyboardist Ryan Hater stressed the importance of those indie venues of all sizes.

“Growing up, going to independent venues like Skull Alley, and places like that back in the day, I would see people my age playing in a venue like that, and that made me want to play music,” Hater said. “That made me want to go start a band. There’s so many good places to see peers play music, and that’s just inspiring, or lighting the fire.”

One of the smallest live music venues in town, Third Street Dive might not book the big names that other venues do, but they have a lot of character, something often found at the tiny stages. And they still get bands from across the nation, an important boost for the venue, and a pivotal stop for a young band.

“We draw bands nationally, not just locally, so we get known nationally, through bands that come from New York and LA and Las Vegas and Chicago,” said owner Lynne Frost. “So all of that is very important for Third Street Dive’s reputation as a live music venue.”

While Frost said Third Street Dive has received around $100,000 in grants and loans, she also stressed the need for more support, especially as a business that’s downtown and tourist dependent.

“Basically, my sales are down 80% from last year,” Frost said. “There’s been no profit, we’re running in the red.” •

FOOD & DRINK

Taco Choza’s street corn elotes bear a tasty schmear of queso and a generous shake of red chile powder.

RECOMMENDED

TACO CHOZA’S BURRITOS ARE BIGGER THAN YOUR SLED... WELL, ALMOST

By Robin Garr | LouisvilleHotBytes.com IMAGINE YOURSELF with a burrito on your plate. A hefty El Compadre burrito from Taco Choza — that’s a good one. Are you getting hungry? I sure am! Lift it, feel its weight, admire the tasty char marks on its textured wheaten surface. Mmm, mmm, good.

This is what I love about a burrito: When you bite through that tasty, flour tortilla wrapper, your first mouthful incorporates a collection of goodies. With Taco Choza’s signature El Compadre, that’s going to be meat, reddish-tinted Mexican rice, two kinds of beans, salad greens, a dash of pico de gallo, a taste of guacamole, a bit of sour cream and a drizzle of queso, all coming together in one symphonic gulp.

That’s a lot to like, and I think it helps explain the burrito’s enduring popularity. It’s no coincidence that this portable lunch in a wrapper became a favorite that you can find everywhere from your local taqueria to such fast food big names as Chipotle, Qdoba and Moe’s.

I’ll pass on the giant chains, with the possible rare exception of Chipotle, but I’m happy to pick up one or two burritos at a local Mexican spot, particularly if I’m in a mood for one big burrito in favor of, say, four or five tacos. I like Taco Choza, which has been around for just over two years and whose name translates as “Taco Hut.” I like that.

The spicy El Compadre Burrito at Taco Choza offers your choice of beef, chicken, or shrimp in an oversize, fully packed burrito. | PHOTOS BY ROBIN GARR.

Before we talk about the food, by the way, let me tell you another reason I admire this place: its way of doing things. Consider this Facebook post from the owner on Nov. 21, the day after Gov. Andy Beshear’s most recent dining-in shutdown order: “If you are not working/not getting a paycheck/struggling to make ends meet and run out of food or necessities … please don’t let yourself or your kids go to sleep with an empty stomach. Don’t be afraid or embarrassed to send me a private message. I am more than happy to help. I will drop and go or order for delivery. No one has to know and I will pretend it never happened. What’s understood never has to be explained.”

I admire a restaurateur who acts like that, and the least I could do was head to Taco Choza for lunch. We brought home a couple and sides — it made more than enough to nosh on for about three days.

The menu leans heavily toward tacos, offering an assortment of 20. Almost all are $3.99, with a couple of fancier models — beef barbacoa and a salmon taco — for $4.50. Salads are $5.99 and $9.99; quesadillas are $4 (for plain cheese) or $9.99. Sides and specials are $2.50 to $9.99 (for the menu-topping special, a torta de Cordoba, a traditional Mexican sandwich with your choice of grilled steak, chicken or pork carnitas). Beer, sangria and margaritas are available, along with horchata and Mexican

Taco Choza’s hulking Burrito Vegetariano is loaded with a healthy collection of tasty veggies along with Mexican rice and two kinds of beans.

LEOWEEKLY.COM // DECEMBER 16, 2020

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FOOD & DRINK

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT | BOOKS

KENTUCKY GOLFER GETS TRUE CRIME TREATMENT

By T.E. Lyons | leo@leoweekly.com “The Murder of Marion Miley by Beverly Bell (South Limestone/University Press of Kentucky; 260 pages, $19.95)

Crackling crisp, freshly fried tortilla chips and mild but tomato-rich salsa at Taco Choza.

Taco Choza’s hefty burritos leave just about enough room in the takeout box for a generous portion of queso.

and domestic soft drinks.

The burrito department offers a choice of the signature El Compadre; a fajita-stuffed burrito and a meat-free burrito vegetariano.

You can also order a burrito bowl with all of the filling and none of the tortilla, but why would you want to do that? They’re all $9.99.

Burritos come tightly wrapped in redand-white checkered paper. They are huge, rolled in sturdy flour tortillas a bit more than 14 inches in diameter.

We tried an El Compadre burrito and a meatless Vegetariano (both $9.99). They both start with a base of similar filling ingredients rolled into a big, grill-warmed tortilla: red-tinted Mexican rice, pinto beans and black beans, diced raw green pepper, onion and tomato. They’re also boxed with a tub of thick, mild but faintly earthy queso and your choice of hot pale-green jalapeño salsa or hotter reddish habanero salsa.

El Compadre adds your choice of grilled steak, chicken or shrimp. We chose the steak option and got a good half-cup of cubed grilled skirt steak that had been seared on one side. The ingredients were drizzled with pale-green jalapeño salsa and finished with torn pieces of iceberg lettuce, then rolled — not too tightly — into a loose cylinder with the ends folded in.

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In lieu of meat, the veggie burrito added tasty, fresh veggies to the rice-and-bean base. In addition to larger portions of good quality, tender but not mushy black and tan beans were fresh spinach leaves, strips of grilled red and green pepper, sautéed onions and queso.

Chips and salsa ($2.50) came in a brown paper bag that got home covered with stains from the abundant oil in which they were fried. So yes, they were deliciously greasy but crisp and fresh. The salsa was mild but well flavored, a thick tomato puree without adornment.

Two cobs of Mexican street corn on wooden skewers ($3.50) were a good representation of traditional Mexican elotes. Still warm after their trip home, the yellow corn had been coated with a mix of queso and mayonnaise and heavily sprinkled with mild red-chile powder, with a fat wedge of lime alongside for garnish.

Lunch for two came to $27.54, plus 30% tip.

TACO CHOZA LOUISVILLE 3922 Westport Road 409-5080 tacochoza.com

NOVELIZATION OF TRUE CRIMES: In the five-plus decades since it was begun with Truman Capote’s big bang, this genre of writing/publishing has expanded phenomenally.

The core concept is still fascinating, given that the fundamental feature organizing bookstores and libraries is division between fiction and nonfiction. True crime novels, it would seem, are The Little Bastards that Could.

Among the ways that true crime authors set and maintain hooks in their readers is through establishing a need for lots of time-period detail, or matters of geographic curiosities, or knowledge of special skills. Author Beverly Bell is very well prepared, as her historical tale is brimming with all of these: a murder case with a primary victim whose success brought her teasingly close to being a household name; settings featuring old-money institutions in the Bluegrass and beyond; and the world of 1930s golf, when many of today’s “hallowed traditions” had barely gotten off the ground.

Often true crime novels are at their best contrasting the lives of victim and perpetrator. Bell sets this up in outstanding fashion, with thoroughly researched reportage alongside realistically imagined dialogues and might-have-happened vignettes. Of course it’s easy to be sympathetic with the young golfer of the title. But we also get a very full picture of the harsh luck of one Tom Penney, who doesn’t see how his decisions (and sometimes indecision) lead him on a downward and tragic path.

The author’s bio cites her magazinewriting, and part of the greater enjoyment in this read is how the best of the short chapters stand by themselves but simultaneously play out careful threads of continuity.

The details aren’t shoveled on in piles, so it’s a gradual process that readers come to know of tangential matters like the involvement of Bing Crosby (or, closer to home, Kentucky historical figures Happy Chandler and Robert Bingham). And there’s poignant — but not sentimentalized — consideration for matters such as the ambitions of the man who must face his own history in the wake of losing his daughter. (“The excitement when you understand you play better than most; the bitter pill when you realize you’re still not good enough. The chill when you spot that spark in your child. And then the fear. Of wanting her to be like you, but not too much.”)

Full appreciation of true crime books can depend on how they stick the landing. A trial and the ratcheting tension toward punishment aren’t the full picture — there’s also portrayal of resumed lives for the survivors of violence. This can be a difficult final act, as the slam-bang action and courtroom drama have been left behind, so the remaining pages are a major shift with reduced excitement. One model for doing this well is Joseph Wambaugh’s “The Onion Field,” where aftermath incidents and dialogue are very carefully limned to maintain a controlled field of concern. Bell goes further afield, and this is likely to work best for readers already interested in true crime in general, or specifically this crime’s period or place or specialized interests (e.g., women’s roles in sports). Numerous chapters thoroughly peek in on Marion Miley’s closest friend, as well as the saga of Miley’s father. The author has worked hard to build reader investment in these people — but a percentage of the later chapters don’t fully realize the sought-after balance of revealing flashbacks, contemporary realizations, and metaphors for greater concerns. Some just move the characters along in realistic struggles of grieving, until the wrap-up offers opportunities for healing. •

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT | THEATER

CONDENSED RABBI HESCHEL BIO-DRAMA IS WEIGHTY

By Marty Rosen | leo@leoweekly.com IN 1938, the Polish-born Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel was living in Frankfurt, Germany, when he was arrested by the Gestapo and deported to Poland. In 1939, he left Poland for England, several weeks before the German invasion. From there he immigrated to the United States, where he taught for awhile at the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati and spent the balance of his career teaching at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America.

When Heschel died, in 1972, his obituary in The New York Times described him as “a man of action as much as a man of words,” and it enumerated not only his lengthy and influential bibliography but his activism on podiums and at rallies. During the ‘60s, he actively engaged in the civil rights and anti-war movements, marched with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Selma, marched in the major anti-war protests of 1967 and joined with a couple of dozen other theologians in a 1968 manifesto accusing the U.S. of war crimes in Vietnam.

But it’s possible that Heschel’s most startling and lasting legacy stems from his work in the early ‘60s as an envoy from the American Jewish Committee, or AJC, to the Second Vatican Council, which convened in 1962 under Pope John XXIII and concluded under Pope Paul VI in 1965.

Vatican II had an enormous impact across all aspects of the Catholic Church. But in the post-Holocaust world of the 1960s, part of Pope John XXIII’s agenda and Pope Paul VI’s achievement was to scrutinize the Church’s long history of institutionalized anti-Semitism and find ways to repudiate it and move forward. That work produced a document called Nostra Aetate (“In Our Time”), which for the first time repudiated centuries of anti-Semitic teachings, most prominently the holding that Jews were guilty of deicide; ended the mandate to convert Jews to Catholicism and officially recognized the legitimacy of both the Jewish and Muslim faiths.

By every account, this was the most challenging issue taken up by Vatican II, and it was Rabbi Heschel and his Vatican counterpart Cardinal Augustin Bea who ultimately were able to forge what turned out to be what Heschel viewed as an imperfect but acceptable compromise.

Through Dec. 20, Bunbury Theatre and

Tom Luce and Jason Maina in ‘Heschel.’

ShPIel Performing Identity are partnering on a streaming presentation of an adapted and condensed version of Colin Greer’s 2010 bio-drama about Heschel, “Imagining Heschel” (here, with the subtitle, “Scenes from a Play.”)

Directed and adapted by David Chack, with a running time of slightly more than an hour, it’s a thoughtful and wide-ranging play, notwithstanding the fact that it plays out in tightly encapsulated, carefully staged scenes. Technical standards are exemplary and quite polished: Paul T. Carney, music and sound; Gerald Kean, theater technical director; Hannah Brooks, costumes and makeup. Video production is credited to Videobred: Raphael Cecil, director; Misha Kidwell, director of photography; Steve Hurst, Parker Smith, Patrick Hogan, cameras; location sound and post-production sound Rick Boone; and editor, Steve Hurst.

This sort of idea-driven drama can be difficult to stage in live performance — because stage action is almost by definition limited, and a series of serious one-on-one colloquies can quickly run dry. But Chack and company have employed the video medium to good effect — “Imagining Heschel” may actually play better on video than it would on stage.

Tom Luce plays Heschel with understated gravitas, wit and a quiet emotional reserve that feels suited to the often close-in videography — well, close in, if you’re

viewing this on a tablet or computer screen; it might be different streamed to your TV. At times, Luce’s understated irony is barbed — as when Heschel makes a barbed remark about Cardinal Bea’s role in the church during the Nazi regime, when Bea (Richard Kautz) was confessor to Pope Pius XII. Kautz is a fine and measured interlocutor and partner with Heschel, and their discussions offer a useful, if somewhat dispassionate, survey of the issues they confronted.

Heschel’s relationship with his driver, Jonah (Jason Maina) is more emotionally rich. Jonah is a young African American whose simmering rage about racial injustice challenges Heschel’s deeply compassionate philosophy. In one fiery exchange, Jonah challenges Heschel’s commitment to peaceful change by citing a mantra adopted

by Meir Kahane and the Jewish Defense League: He asks the rabbi: “Is peace your responsibility? Or is it ‘never again?’”

In other telling interchanges that highlight the fraught political and cultural context in which Heschel worked: His meetings with Father Brian O’Malley (Bailey Story), a conservative Irish priest and Carol Radnor (Lindsay Palgy), a TV interviewer, touch on other contentious issues that were in play. For O’Malley, the church’s focus on ecumenism has sidelined the quest of the Irish Catholics for independence. And when Radnor mocks Heschel’s call for peace and compassion, the rabbi responds

with exhortation to look into the faces of the enemy, “see the enemy in the mirror,” and “reach out to God with the strength of radical amazement.”

‘IMAGINING HESCHEL’

BY COLIN GREER Bunbury Theatre Streaming: Bunburytheatre.org Through Dec. 20 $10-$15

‘HELP SANTA SAVE CHRISTMAS’ IF YOU’RE LOOKING for lighter, kid-friendly holiday fare from a local theater company, The Little Colonel Players are streaming “Help Santa Save Christmas,” a delightful tale about a classic Christmas problem: solving logistical delivery challenges when the demand for toys exceeds the load-bearing capacity of Santa’s sleigh! •

‘HELP SANTA SAVE CHRISTMAS’

Little Colonel Players Streaming: littlecolonel.net Unlimited viewing: $10, individual; $15 for the family LEOWEEKLY.COM // DECEMBER 16, 2020

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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT | ART

THE MAP IS NEVER THE COUNTRY: SUSANNA CRUM’S ‘WATERSHED GLOBE PROJECT’

By Sean Patrick Hill | leo@leoweekly.com I HAVE LONG BEEN fascinated by maps.

As a child, when my father would take me on long car trips, he always made a point of stopping at a service station whenever we crossed a state line to pick up a map for me which, back then, were free to travelers.

As we passed through the country, I would follow our progress on the roadmap; Rand McNally was a style I came to recognize.

A roadmap is only one facet of describing a country. A roadmap has no relief, only paths of travel, names of towns and locations of rest stops. One of the few aspects of nature that the roadmap acknowledges is, of course, rivers. And rivers, from the beginning of cartography, remain one of the primary routes of travel to be detailed in maps of any century, and it is one river in particular that is described by printmaker Susanna Crum.

In Watershed Globe Project, open now at the Carnegie Center for Art and History, the Ohio River serves as the focus of cartographical investigation, whether it be via two-dimensional map, a video installation or a physical globe. The project asks us how we have understood the world — specifically, the Ohio River through its representation as a map symbol — and, in turn, how a map can maintain our relationship with our sense of place.

As part of the show, it is valuable to look at the series of old maps included in the exhibit. The oldest, John Filson’s 1783 map of “Kentucke,” is clearly if whimsically inaccurate, more artful and fanciful than what we might find in a modern topographical map — even on Google’s satellite maps — though, as Filson insists in the text itself, it is “drawn from actual observation.” One marvels at what is detailed on the map, nearly 250 years old: “fine cane” lands, “natural meadows,” and a region with an “abundance of iron ore,” the last of which details how the land might be put to use by the people of the time. The map also details the towns belonging to the Shawnee and Mingo, landmarks long vanished, if not outright destroyed — along with, tragically, those meadows and canebrakes.

Two maps of Floyd County are also on display. One from 1859 shows, in sidebar images, the notable houses of the county, along with several insurance offices and a jewelry store, a none-too-subtle suggestion

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‘Watershed Globe’ by Suzanna Crum.

of what was most important in the nineteenth century and therefore what was worth mapping, just as the Culbertson Mansion is prominent on Google maps today. A later map details the Floyd County comprehensive plan from 1992; “The purpose of planning in Floyd County,” the text intones, “is to assure that desired growth occurs in an orderly and efficient manner.” To this end, the terrain, much like Filson’s rendition, carries a legend populated by interpretations of the landscape — residential areas, environmentally-sensitive areas, industrial zones, flood plains and parklands. The map is a map not of the literal terrain but of usage, intended or actual.

Crum’s video installation demonstrates this evolution of maps by drawing, in the

‘Map I.’ | Cyanotype.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT | ART

course of less than three minutes, the development of how the Ohio River Valley, specifically Jefferson County, has been depicted as a map over time. As you can imagine, the very shape of the river has changed, as our precision of “actual observation” increased, along with the attendant tools like aerial photographs and GPS. It is fascinating to watch the changes and haunting, at the same time, when one sees the disappearance of what were once large ponds and creeks, until the landscape becomes more urbanized, more utilitarian.

Central to the show (and literally in that it stands in the center of the gallery) is the

“Watershed Globe,” mounted on an antique stand. On its surface, the Ohio River is figured as the equator, indicating its centrality to our lives. In addition to the globe is “Gores I,” which features these same areas of the map contained between the latitudes of the globe but flattened, a facsimile drawn so as not to distort the territory. The gores are at once familiar to anyone who has seen a map in school or in an encyclopedia, and here they are used to simultaneously limit geographical distortion as well as present a different kind of distortion; after all, a map is a distortion of the actual landscape, regardless.

The creation of a “three-dimensional space” that the gores attempt to embody on a globe can never, in fact, be anything more than two-dimensional. As such, the twodimensional image of the gores themselves — printed as a large-scale cyanotype — becomes its own landscape, an imaginative field that enacts an imaginative river. Such art, all things considered, may be all we are capable of understanding: A map is often our own subjective representation of the world.

The show begs the question, what would a map of the Ohio River actually look like?

Or our growing city, for that matter? The river, clearly, is more than a blue wriggle on a road atlas and the road more than a line, however twisting, between two points.

The river, for its part, is an entity beyond representation, but then the penciled road, too, is not easily demonstrative of the road that is actually there, channeling its own streams along its curbs, for example, with its accretions of asphalt, concrete and brick.

Roads, too, like our understanding, change over time.

Perhaps the most stunning image is “Map I,” a large-scale cyanotype (a traditional medium for mapmakers) that shows, in layers, the many representations of the Ohio River through the valley we call home.

Extinct ponds and creeks are overlaid with roadbeds in a chaotic overture to the sweep of time as much as the sweep of the river that bisects the image. We see in the cyanotype, with its blue tint, the “blueprint” that both cartographers and architects have used, which indicates by association the professional aspect of mapmaking. At the same time, the cyanotype is a tool of artists and we are reminded that, in the final analysis, the mapmakers themselves were artists.

The nine small framed prints known as “Artifacts,” drawn in ink, graphite and colored pencils, suggest the direct approach of the artist. They waver between a childlike representation and, in the same fashion, a primitive approach to describing the territory that suggests petroglyphs. Each map focuses, as the artist states, on one particular bend in the river, how it is refined over time through our evolving vision. In one, we see fanciful mountains, like something from the maps drawn for The Lord of the Rings. In another, the playful quality disintegrates into black and red travel routes, emblematic of railroads and pikes and shades contained by the political and municipal boundaries that are both real and imagined so that, by the end, the initial elements of a map — ponds emptying into streams, a river weaving southward — shift to its utility to humans, to

commuters, even to shoppers.

“The process of drawing,” says Crum, “allows for detailed study of maps over time.” The landscape we know, or think we know, has been drawn and redrawn over time, not least of all by us, the viewer. Each of us carries in our minds a series of maps: how to get our child to school the quickest, where a particular shoe repair shop is, a quiet place to take an evening walk. But such maps are generalizations; all maps, in truth, are generalizations, a vague sketch.

One need only look at a Rand McNally to see where deserts lie, or farmland, or even burgeoning housing developments in the suburbs as enormous white spaces. As far as the map is concerned, there is simply nothing there to make a legend of.

But what Crum surely intends us to think is that the space in the maps is filled by our imaginations, the source of all legends. To map our city is a way to pinpoint a place where something significant happened. Such maps occur in the past: Here was my first kiss, here where my father was buried, here where I first saw a bald eagle. These are the survey markers of our lives.

A map, though, is also about the future: Here is where I need to be for my vacation next summer, the meeting tomorrow, the job interview next week. Or, as is often the case with us, here is the prettiest route, a drive through overhanging trees, with an occasional view of the sky.

“A city is many worlds in the same place,” writes Rebecca Solnit, and this is precisely because there are so many of us making maps. The world itself, coupled with our imagination, is the only map we will know. Were we to combine every map of the mind, as Crum suggests with the everchanging video or the cyanotype resembling geology as much as cartography, we might, as William Blake suggests, see the world as it truly is: infinite. •

‘WATERSHED GLOBE PROJECT: SUSANNA CRUM’

Through Dec. 19 Carnegie Center for Art & History, Sally Newkirk Gallery 201 E. Spring St., New Albany, Indiana carnegiecenter.org

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63 Dubbing need 64 Used a stun gun on 65 ____ pants 66 Take a dive, maybe 67 Digital-imaging company that used to make film 71 Apt rhyme for ‘‘baloney’’ 73 Dating notation: Abbr.

74 Start of a seasonal request 75 ‘‘Fluff Yeah’’ slipper sandals, e.g.

76 ‘‘Gotcha’’ 78 Helical bit 79 Be off the mark 80 GPS calculation: Abbr.

81 Exam for H.S. jrs.

84 Original tale of robot rebellion 85 Boxed a bit 86 Untethered 87 Biblical mount 88 Team spirit 90 Spanish term of affection between young women 91 Spring in northern Africa

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Knee part, for short Fan group?

Like ‘‘alter ego’’ and ‘‘alma mater’’ Prayer hands, for one ‘‘. . . or ____ think!’’

Part of L.G.B.T.Q. Short race, for short Your: Fr. ‘‘When the country was fallin’ apart, Betsy Ross got it all ____ up’’ (‘‘Maude’’ theme lyric) Albanian coins Something that’s often rigged TV’s Burrell and baseball’s Cobb Looks longingly Band that won the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest Minnesota’s state bird Orlando-to-Miami dir.

Role for Patti LuPone and Madonna Brand X Flock member Spotted bean ‘‘Well, I’ll be,’’ to a Brit Offspring of a 43-Down Taiwanese PCs Big butte A dime a dozen, say?

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Keys near G’s Actor Rutger of ‘‘Blind Fury’’ Keister Less friendly Assistance Peninsula shared by Italy, Slovenia and Croatia Art-shop worker’s manual?

Urbanize Spit it out!

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SAVAGE LOVE

By Dan Savage | mail@savagelove.net @fakedansavage

GAY DREAM BELIEVER

Q: I'm wondering if you can help me with some dream interpretation. If it helps for context, I'm a single 29-year-old gay man.

For just about as long as I can remember, I've been having mildly unsatisfying sex dreams in that the dreams never seem to lead to sex itself. My dream partners range from people I work with to people from high school to celebrities I'll never get the chance to meet. I never dream about someone I wouldn't want to sleep with in the waking world, given the opportunity. The scenarios are generally different as well.

Sometimes the sexual tension is palpable but we're in a crowded room. Sometimes we get close enough to get started but the setting is off. Sometimes we start to get hot and heavy but the dream ends just prior to the sex. In each case I wake up frustrated and masturbate to finish the fantasy. I've been pretty sexually starved during the pandemic, Dan, so you can imagine my frustration when I woke up this morning having almost had dream sex with Andrew Rannells. Can you think of why this might be happening? Any advice would be appreciated!

Distancing Real Earnestly And Missing Erotic Romps

3

A: “Well this is certainly VERY interesting,” said actor, singer, and author Andrew Rannells. “I’m honored I made the list of people DREAMER would actually have sex with in real life, if given the chance.”

Seeing as this two-time Tony-Award nominee is taken—Rannells fell in love with Tuc Watkins, one of his co-stars in Boys In the Band on Broadway, and the two men now live together in Los Angeles—there’s not much chance of something happening between an anonymous “Savage Love” reader, DREAMER, and Rannells, one of the stars of The Prom on Netflix. But Rannells was more than happy to do a little amateur dream interpretation for a fan.

“As for the root of this issue,” said Rannells, “I suppose it could have something to do with not having the confidence of actually following through with the full act? Maybe while awake he could experiment with fantasizing about a more complete experience and see if that changes his dream life?”

My two cents: perhaps these dreams are lingering evidence of some shame about your same-sex desires—which is why your dream universes conspire to prevent you from having gay sex—or perhaps the continued existence of bigots who would prevent gay men from having sex preys on your subconscious mind and manifests in the

form of these frustrating/frustration dreams.

Or maybe there’s no way of knowing what the hell is going on here and trying to attach meaning to something as random as a dream is a waste of time or a scam or both.

The real takeaway here, DREAMER, is that you now have Rannells’ permission to masturbate about him whenever you like—or at least that’s how I would interpret his encouragement to fantasize about “more complete” experiences with the men who populate your dreams, Rannells included. You didn’t need his permission to masturbate about him, of course, and as a general rule we shouldn’t need to ask the people we want to jack off about for their okay. But Rannells basically offered, DREAMER, so have at.

“Ultimately, we can't control our dreams,” added Rannells. “For instance I have a recurring stress dream where I am supposed to be driving Jessica Lange somewhere and I can't get the GPS to work. What does it mean? We'll never know.”

Follow Andrew Rannells on Instagram @ AndrewRannells.

Q: After years of receiving oral sex from girlfriends who were careful to never inflict any sort of pain on my testicles, I met a woman who wasn’t so careful. For our fifth date, she came back to my place and we watched a movie. After the movie we began to kiss and soon she was making love to my stiff penis with her mouth while rather roughly massaging my testicles. However this came to be, I was liking it quite a bit. The more pressure she applied to my testicles, the harder my penis became. This has never happened to me in my 33 years of lovemaking! I actually asked her to squeeze my testicles harder and harder and I can honestly say my penis was harder than it has ever been. Against my better judgment, I asked her to squeeze my testicles as hard as she could. After several seconds of the most intense pressure she could provide, I had the most powerful orgasm I have ever had. All of a sudden, I was dizzy and my vision went black. When I finally came back to reality, there was an extraordinary amount of come all over the place. She has made love to my penis dozens of times since in the same manner. My question: Will there be any physical complications to my newly discovered taste for this kind of play? I look forward to your response!

This Exquisitely Sensuous Torment Enhances Sex A: Ball busting—the kink you stumbled on—is inherently risky, TESTES, in that you

could actually rupture, aka “bust,” one or both of your balls. Hence the name. But considering how much pleasure you’re deriving from this and considering how short life is and considering how long you’ve been sexually active and considering how little use you’re gonna get out of your balls once you’re dead, TESTES, I don’t see any reason why you should deprive yourself—at this stage—of this newly discovered sexual pleasure. Well, actually… I can see one reason why you might want to knock this off: when it comes to ball busting, TESTES, there’s no way to eliminate the risk of a physical complication that lands your sack in the emergency room and E.R. nurses and doctors have enough on their plates right now. So maybe give your balls a break until after the pandemic is over and then go nuts.

mail@savagelove.net Follow Dan on Twitter @ FakeDanSavage.

On the Lovecast, learn all about your pelvic floor with Dr. Rachel Gelman. www.savagelovecast.com

CLASSIFIED LISTINGS

LEGAL

MULTIPLE FACILITIES – MULTIPLE UNITS Extra Space Storage will hold a public auction at the location indicated: Facility 1: 5807 Bardstown Road, Louisville, KY 40291: December 23, 2020 – 1PM Units: A022 Facility 2: 7900 Dixie Highway, Louisville, KY 40258: December 23, 2020 – 1PM Units: 110, 663, 668, 847, 947 Facility 3: 6708 Preston Highway, Louisville, KY 40219: December 23, 2020 – 1PM Units: 117, 138, 4020, 439, 446, 481, 529, 637, 645 Facility 4 (ANNEX): 4010 Oaklawn Drive, Louisville, KY 40219: December 23, 2020 – 1PM Units: 9044, 9076, 9108, 9137, 9177, 9248, 9249 Facility 5: 5420 Valley Station Rd, Louisville, KY 40272: December 23, 2020 – 1PM Units: 195, 260 Facility 6: 8002 Warwick Ave, Louisville, KY 40222: December 23, 2020 – 1PM Units: 303, 3059, 357, 416, 621 Facility 7: 4605 Wattbourne Ln, Louisville KY 40299: December 23, 2020 – 1PM Units: Facility 8: 11440 Blankenbaker Access Dr, Louisville, KY 40299: December 23, 2020 – 1PM Units: Facility 9: 201 E. Market Street, Louisville, KY 40202: December 23, 2020 – 1PM Units: Facility 10: 6456 Outer Loop, Louisville, KY 40228: December 23, 2020 – 1PM Units: 9026, 515, 303, 6014, 6010, 616 The auction will be listed and advertised on www.storagetreasures.com. Purchases must be made with cash only and paid at the above referenced facility in order to complete the transaction. Extra Space Storage may refuse any bid and may rescind any purchase up until the winning bidder takes possession of the personal property.

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NOTICE OF SEIZURE AND INTENT TO FORFEIT Notice is hereby given that the United States Department of the Interior is hereby commencing a forfeiture proceeding against the following items of wildlife or wildlife products, which were seized in Southern District of Florida on the dates indicated because they were involved in one or more violations of any of the following laws: Endangered Species Act, Title 16 U.S.C. Sec. 1538; the Marine Mammal Protection Act, 11 U.S.C. Sec. 1371-1372; the Lacey Act, 16 U.S.C. Sec. 3372; Wild Bird Conservation Act, 16 U.S.C. Sec. 4901-4916; or the African Elephant Conservation Act, 16 U.S.C. Sec. 42214245. These items are subject to forfeiture to the United States under Title 16, U.S.C. Sec. 1540(e); 16 U.S.C. Sec. 1377; or 16 U.S.C. Sec. 3374, and Title 50, Code of Federal Regulations, Section 12.23. Any person with an ownership or financial interest in said items who desires to claim them must file a claim with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Office of Law Enforcement, 1875 Century Blvd Ste 320, Atlanta, Georgia 30345; Telephone 404/679-7057. Such claim must be received by the above office by September 24, 2018. The claim will be transmitted to the U.S. Attorney for institution of a forfeiture action in U.S. District Court. If a proper claim is not received by the above office by such date, the items will be declared forfeited to the United States and disposed of according to law. Any person who has an interest in the items may also file with the above office a petition for remission of forfeiture in accordance with Title 50, Code of Federal Regulations, Section 12.24, which petition must be received in such office before disposition of the items. Storage costs may also be assessed.

FILE NO.

SEIZURE DATE

VALUE

2020402907

9/1/2020

$1650

ITEMS One (1) American Alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) (Leather products (small manufactured including belt, wallet, watchband)), One (1) (Mollusc shell) (Jewelry (other than ivory))

LEOWEEKLY.COM // DECEMBER 16, 2020

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C H I C A A G F A A B B A J A B S

GET YOUR

Republic Bank Bus Stop • 10100 Brookridge Village Blvd Party Center - Fern Creek • 5623 Bardstown Rd Street Box @ Piccadilly Square • 5318 Bardstown Rd Jay “Lucky” Food Mart #1 • 5050 Billtown Rd Cox’s - J-Town • 3920 Ruckriegel Pkwy Bearno’s Pizza - Taylorsville • 10212 Taylorsville Rd Louisville Athletic Club - J-Town • 9565 Taylorsville Rd Cox’s - Patti Ln • 2803 Patti Ln

PICK-UP LOCATIONS

L.A. Fitness • 4620 Taylorsville Rd Habitat ReStore - Taylorsville • 4044 Taylorsville Rd

Third Street Dive • 442 S 3rd St

Feeders Supply - Hikes Point • 3079 Breckenridge Ln

Jeffersonville Public Library • 211 E Court Ave

Street Box @ Heine Bros • 3965 Taylorsville Rd

TAJ Louisville • 807 E Market St

Paul’s Fruit Market - Bon Air • 3704 Taylorsville Rd

Climb Nulu • 1000 E Market St

Jewish Community Center • 3600 Dutchmans Ln

Come Back Inn • 909 Swan St

Street Box @ Marathon Frankfort Ave • 3320 Frankfort Ave

Stopline Bar • 991 Logan St

Boone Shell • 2912 Brownsboro Rd

Logan Street Market • 1001 Logan St

Ntaba Coffee Haus • 2407 Brownsboro Rd

Metro Station Adult Store • 4948 Poplar Level Rd

Beverage World • 2332 Brownsboro Rd

Liquor Barn - Okolona • 3420 W Fern Valley Rd

Kremer’s Smoke Shoppe • 1839 Brownsboro Rd

ClassAct FCU - Fern Valley • 3620 Fern Valley Rd

Big Al’s Beeritaville • 1743, 1715 Mellwood Ave

Hi-View Discount Liquors & Wines • 7916 Fegenbush Ln

Mellwood Arts Center • 1860 Mellwood Ave

Happy Liquors • 7813 Beulah Church Rd #104

KingFish - River Rd Carry Out • 3021 River Rd

Bungalow Joe’s • 7813 Beulah Church Rd

Party Mart - Rudy Ln • 4808 Brownsboro Center

Full list at LEOWEEKLY.COM/DISTRIBUTION 22

LEOWEEKLY.COM // DECEMBER 16, 2020