Riverfront Times, May 5, 2021 by Riverfront Times

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MAY 5-11, 2021

RIVERFRONT TIMES

MAY 5-11, 2021

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RIVERFRONT TIMES

MARCH 6-12, 2019

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MAY 5-11, 2021

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MAY 5-11, 2021

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THE LEDE

“There’s always something positive. A lot of that you probably wouldn’t even see around this area [if you didn’t look for it]. I’d like people to know that it’s all right to stay in your lane and do what you do. ... You come out to the park and fly the kite, play ball or, you know, something positive.”

PHOTO BY THEO WELLING

NICK DORN, PHOTOGRAPHED WITH HIS GIRLFRIEND TOSHA ELDER AND THEIR SON NICK DORN JR. AT FAIRGROUNDS PARK ON SATURDAY, MAY 1

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The View from the ICU

r. Tiffany Osborn has watched the past thirteen months play out from a unique vantage as a doctor in the COVID-19 intensive care unit at Barnes-Jewish Hospital. You might have seen stories about her on CNN or St. Louis Public Radio, because she spent a year living in a camper outside her home to avoid spreading the virus to her family. Osborn is someone who understands sacrifice for others. She knows what that looks like — and what it doesn’t. This week, we’re publishing an essay she wrote about watching insurrectionists storm the U.S. Capitol while patients in her unit and their families tried to hold on. It’s a powerful reflection on sacrifice and family and service. Thankfully, not many of us have Osborn’s vantage point, but we might be a better country if more people listened to her perspective. —Doyle Murphy, editor in chief

TABLE OF CONTENTS Publisher Chris Keating Editor in Chief Doyle Murphy

E D I T O R I A L Digital Editor Jaime Lees Interim Managing Editor Daniel Hill Staff Writer Danny Wicentowski Contributors Cheryl Baehr, Eric Berger, Jeannette Cooperman, Mike Fitzgerald, Andy Paulissen, Justin Poole, Theo Welling, Ymani Wince Columnists Thomas Chimchards, Ray Hartmann Editorial Interns Jack Killeen, Riley Mack A R T

& P R O D U C T I O N Art Director Evan Sult Production Manager Haimanti Germain M U L T I M E D I A A D V E R T I S I N G Advertising Director Colin Bell Account Managers Emily Fear, Jennifer Samuel Multimedia Account Executive Chuck Healy Digital Sales Manager Chad Beck Director of Public Relations Brittany Forrest

COVER Gasping for Air

C I R C U L A T I O N Circulation Manager Kevin G. Powers

Watching the insurrection from a COVID-19 intensive care unit

E U C L I D M E D I A G R O U P Chief Executive Officer Andrew Zelman Chief Operating Officers Chris Keating, Michael Wagner VP of Digital Services Stacy Volhein www.euclidmediagroup.com

Cover design by

EVAN SULT

N A T I O N A L A D V E R T I S I N G VMG Advertising 1-888-278-9866, vmgadvertising.com

INSIDE The Lede Hartmann News The Big Mad Feature Cafe Short Orders Reeferfront Times Culture Savage Love

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Correction: A story on Fortunate Gooseberry in last week’s paper incorrectly reported the restaurant’s name. We regret the error.

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HARTMANN In Glock We Trust Gun worship emerging as Missouri’s state religion BY RAY HARTMANN

he Second Amendment comes first. The message ricocheted around Missouri like stray munitions from a shaky marksman: Pray all you want, but you’re not taking away our guns, even for the length of a church service. Churches, synagogues, temples and mosques have been placed on notice that they may no longer be a sanctuary from the gun lobby and its flock. The state House of Representatives has passed and sent to the Senate a bill that would remove houses of worship from the list of places where gun owners cannot pack heat. For now, places of religious worship are regarded as off limits for concealed carry of firearms. They’re on an exception list that includes police stations, sports arenas, prisons, courthouses and other government buildings, casinos, child-care facilities, amusement parks, airports, schools and colleges, and some bars. But were the Senate and Governor Mike Parson to agree to this latest nonsense, state government would try to blow a hole into the First Amendment. It would seek to regulate places of religious worship as places of private property ownership. Religious groups would be required by the government to post signs — meeting state specifications — were they to ban guns from their premises. There would be other rules as well. So much for the separation of church and state. Brought to you, largely, by the same Republicans who have complained bitterly about public-health restrictions on houses of worship during the COVID-19 pandemic. Citing the separation of church and state. St. Louis-area religious leaders expressed their indignation last week across denominational

lines, as reported by St. Louis Public Radio. About a dozen leaders attended the event organized by Archbishop Mitchell Rozanski of the Archdiocese of St. Louis. “We need to work against the violence that we see making headlines daily and not invite the very weapons that make those headlines into our places of worship,” Rozanski said. “We are going to stick to our guns and say, ‘There should be no guns in a house of God,’” Rabbi Amy Feder, senior rabbi of Temple Israel and president of the St. Louis Rabbinical and Cantorial Association, said. “Gun violence is the unspoken pandemic happening along with the other two pandemics of racism and COVID-19. As a follower of Jesus, my faith teaches me that places of worship are intended to be sacred ground to equip us to be peacemakers and peace casters,” Bishop Deon Johnson of the Episcopal Diocese of Missouri said. It’s certainly possible that the faith leaders will prevail upon cooler heads in the Missouri Senate to undo this latest round of gunner madness. But even if that happens, the affront to houses of worship is just one part of a larger bill with gun-law changes, only a few of which make any sense at all. Nothing good will come of this. In the real world, it’s unlikely that any lives will be saved. It’s far more likely, should some Wild West shootout erupt on a MetroLink train or MetroBus, that random tragedy would follow. It makes no sense from the standpoint of public policy. But it makes plenty of sense from the standpoint of public opinion. It could survive. There’s another provision that’s a real doozy. After declaring that keeping and bearing arms is a “fundamental right” — as if we hadn’t heard — the bill launches into a diatribe about how “all firearm businesses shall be deemed essential businesses.” The language is darkly comedic: “The general assembly hereby occupies and preempts the entire field of legislation” and “any existing or future orders, ordinances, or regulations that would prohibit, restrict, or reduce the operation of a firearm business are hereby, and shall be, null and void.” That’s right. “Any business engaged in the manufacturing, dis-

Get this: It’s still not a crime to fire a gun in celebration indiscriminately throughout Missouri. tributing, selling, or training, for the use of firearms or ammunition, (including) shooting ranges” cannot be regulated or restricted in any way by any government in Missouri. Not now, not never. Not even a little bit. Get the point? The way this law is worded, they probably could sell drugs to underage kids in a gun store and get away with it. They could stay open for Jell-O orgies 24 hours a day during a pandemic: Emergencies are specifically excluded as a reason to regulate these essential businesses. Enjoy your freedom, boys. Now, so as not to seem too cynical, let us note there are some changes in the new gun laws that are just fine. One reportedly was the original reason that Rep. Rodger Reedy, R-Windsor, introduced the measure. It would allow people to shoot firearms from a stationary motor vehicle “to protect livestock from predatory wildlife or dogs that are killing, wounding or chasing livestock.” (That’s not allowed now because you can’t shoot out of a car or truck.) From our metropolitan perspective, “Why not?” This is a perfect example of how the needs of rural and urban Missouri are divergent. There’s no need to project “one size fits all” gun laws on each other. If only rural folk felt the same respect for urban folk in this regard. Another measure makes sense, too, which would be lowering the age for concealed-carry permits from nineteen to eighteen. If the state’s going to have these, why shouldn’t it allow eighteen-yearolds who can vote and serve in the military to carry guns along with everyone else? A third fine measure would af-

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fect larger cities directly. But this one is truly illuminating as to how screwed up the state of Missouri has become regarding its guns. On its face, this one seems so easy: It’s called Blair’s Law, named in memory of little Blair Shanahan Lane, who tragically died at the age of eleven in Kansas City during a Fourth of July celebration. Blair had just lit her sparkler when she was killed by a stray bullet fired in celebration of the holiday by some random moron. He did end up pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter and served eighteen months in prison. But that’s only because she died and he was identified as her inadvertent killer. Get this: It’s still not a crime to fire a gun in celebration indiscriminately throughout Missouri. So you’d think passing a measure to outlaw that horrible practice would be a piece of cake, right? Think again. Blair died in 2011. She’d be 21 this year. And even though legislators have been trying to pass this simple measure that no rational person could possibly object to — simply making it a crime to fire a gun indiscriminately in a municipal area — this has been too heavy a lift for nearly a decade. The latest incarnation of Blair’s Law would only carry a Class A misdemeanor punishment for indiscriminately discharging a weapon in a city. Not even a felony on the first offense. And they still might not get it over the finish line this time, a full decade after this poor girl lost her life. If Blair’s Law were to squeak through, the legislators would probably have enough self-unawareness to celebrate their achievement as if they had acted promptly. Some moron would start shooting off his gun to mark the occasion. And the good folks of Missouri could stream to the houses of worship to pray for common sense to descend upon the state. Their guns close at hand. n Ray Hartmann founded the Riverfront Times in 1977. Contact him at rhar tmann1952@gmail.com or catch him on Donnybrook at 7 p.m. on Thursdays on the Nine Network and St. Louis In the Know with Ray Hartmann from 9 to 11 p.m. Monday thru Friday on KTRS (550 AM).

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NEWS

Rural Missouri County Still Paying for Rogue Sheriff Written by

DOYLE MURPHY

ong after he was forced out of o ce and sent to federal prison, the bills from ex-Mississippi County Sheriff Cory Hutcheson’s reign keep coming — and they’re not cheap. Attorneys for the county in the Bootheel of Missouri filed a motion last week in hopes of capping the latest settlement — tied to a wrongful-death suit brought by the family of Tory Sanders — at 2 million. Sanders died in 201 in the county jail after Hutcheson and a crew of jailers dogpiled on top of him, kneeling on him at times in a case that drew new attention last summer following the murder of George Floyd in Minnesota. Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt, following the lead of his predecessor Josh Hawley, reviewed the case and declined to file criminal charges against Hutcheson. But the civil lawsuit continues. If a federal judge agrees to the 2 million proposal, the county will likely save some money. The family is seeking . million in addition to the 00,000 that the city of Charleston (where Hutcheson ran a notorious jail) has already agreed to pay in Sanders’ death. The city and county have paid more than 00,000 to settle Hutcheson-related suits brought in response to the alleged abuse of two other detainees — a woman who died of a fatal overdose while jailers mocked her and, in a separate instance, a pregnant inmate who lost her baby when jail staff refused her pleas for medical

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Ex-Sheriff Cory Hutcheson walks into the federal courthouse in St. Louis. | DOYLE MURPHY treatment. The city and county don’t admit wrongdoing in any of the cases. Hutcheson started as a sheriff’s deputy in 200 and eventually rose to the jail’s administrator. He clashed with the sheriff and was fired or quit, depending on whose version you believe, in 201 . He wasn’t gone long. He challenged the sheriff in the election that year and won, taking over as sheriff in January 201 . Hutcheson was already under investigation by the FBI at the time. He had been illegally tracking the cellphones of various people, including his former boss, state troopers and a judge, according to investigators. He was eventually arrested while in o ce on charges related to the phone tracking and a separate incident in which he was accused of manhandling and filing false charges against an elderly hairdresser who’d had a dispute with one of the sheriff’s relatives. Facing nearly two dozen criminal charges in state and federal court, he pleaded guilty in 201 to a count of federal wire fraud in connection with the phone tracing and was sentenced to six months in prison. His legal troubles had already forced him out of the sheriff’s o ce by then, but the

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Among many other cases, Hutcheson had been illegally tracking the cellphones of various people, including his former boss, state troopers and a judge, according to FBI investigators. fallout from his time with a badge is ongoing. In 201 , Mississippi County agreed to a 0,000 settlement with Tara Rhodes, who in 2014 begged for five days to be seen by a doctor as she struggled with complications of her pregnancy in the jail. She was eventually transferred across the state to a wom-

en’s prison, where staff quickly realized something was wrong and sent her for medical care. Doctors found the baby was protruding and stillborn. Hutcheson, who was then the jail administrator, was one of the defendants in the suit. He was also named in a suit brought by the family of Somer Nunnally, a 21-year-old mother of two who was dangerously high on prescription pills when she was arrested in 201 . She cried and begged for help in the jail, but jailers and cops only laughed at her, the suit alleged. She died on the floor of her cell. Charleston and Mississippi County settled in 201 for 2 0,000. The Sanders case is still pending. He was never charged with a crime during his fatal stay in Mississippi County but sought out police after getting lost driving from his home in Nashville toward Memphis. He is believed to have been suffering a mental-health episode and refused to leave the jail. Police and jail staff clashed with him periodically throughout the day, and Sanders was tased multiple times and pepper sprayed before Hutcheson and his subordinates pounced on him in a final confrontation. Three medical examiners later attributed his death to “excited delirium,” a controversial condition that numerous experts doubt exists. A fourth doctor hired by the family disagreed and concluded he’d likely asphyxiated as his assailants pressed down on his neck. Lawyers for the family, Hutcheson and the county have been going back and forth over the settlement. The county’s motion suggests they had a deal for 2 million, but Samuel Wendt, who is representing Sanders’ mother, has challenged that. Wendt didn’t respond to a request for comment from the RFT, but he told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch there was no deal yet and the county was trying to avoid paying an additional 1. million. Emails between the attorneys, included in the county’s filing, indicate the 2 million was the limit of the county’s policy with the Missouri Public Entity Risk Management Fund. The 1. million would go through a separate policy. n

Plan to Eliminate 98 Open Police Positions Advances

More Students Cheat in Virtual Classes, Missouri Researchers Find Written by

DANNY WICENTOWSKI

Written by

DANNY WICENTOWSKI

ith the backing of Mayor Tishaura Jones, St. Louis’ top budget board approved an amendment that seeks to reallocate 4 million of the police department’s budget, including the elimination of 9 unfilled positions. The amendment to the city’s spending plan — which still needs to pass a final vote in the Board of Aldermen — would not remove any active o cers from their jobs, but reflects what the mayor’s o ce calls “an opportunity to ensure that the right resources are distributed to the right call.” “For many years the budget has not supported the needs of the people and that’s why we’re seeing record numbers of homicides and other acts of violence,” Jones said in a statement after last week’s meeting of the Board of Estimate and Apportionment. “What we’ve been doing doesn’t work,” Jones’ statement continued. “This revised budget will start St. Louis on a new path to tackling some of the root causes of crime.” The 4 million diverted from unfilled police positions represents a small fraction of the department’s annual budget of more than 1 0 million, but it’s a big step for the new mayor’s agenda: In the campaign, Jones often critiqued the city’s yearslong efforts to shore up police staffing, arguing that more cops were not always the answer to crime while urging the city to instead “put the public back in public safety.” While Jones-the-candidate partially embraced the goals to “defund the police,” she used terms like “reenvisioning” to describe ways of reshaping the department, including a platform that argued that some

Chief John Hayden says the change wouldn’t affect department operations. | DANNY WICENTOWSKI emergency calls would be better be handled by social workers or a combination of o cers and mental-health professionals. Jones’ campaign speeches are now much closer to real policy. While cutting nearly 100 unfilled positions, the new budget retains funding to fill 0 remaining o cer vacancies. The budget will kick in at the start of the next fiscal year on July 1, 2021. Without 9 empty police positions to account for, here’s where the 4 million will go, according to the mayor’s o ce: 1. million will be allocated to the Affordable Housing Trust Fund. 1 million towards victim support services, including supporting funeral expenses, medical needs, childcare, mental-health support, case and crisis management, as well as trauma-informed support. 1 million towards increasing the capacity of health and human services to support the unhoused. 00,000 towards a rmative litigation, directing the city counselor’s o ce to provide legal support to the Civil Rights Enforcement Agency. The amendment passed 2-1 during last week’s meeting of the Board of E A, with both Jones and Comptroller Darlene Green approving — but the board’s third member, Aldermanic President Lewis Reed, said he couldn’t support cuts to the police department’s budget without knowing more about how the change would affect police operations and the department’s reliance

on overtime. “It’s hard to tell how we’re going to make up for the purchasing of fewer work hours,” Reed said. Jones referred Reed’s concerns to police Chief John Hayden, who said that he supports “the mayor’s notion” that the department’s resources tied to unfilled o cer positions “could be utilized somewhere else.” Operationally, Hayden said removing the nearly 100 unfilled positions wouldn’t affect the department’s crime-fighting capabilities because those positions have been empty for years and represent a “theoretical group of people.” “If someone would say ‘how does the amendment affect your current operations,’ it actually wouldn’t affect current operations at all,” Hayden added, “Because they’re people I don’t have.” Hayden acknowledged that the department had spent years attempting to fill its empty o cer positions, but explained that even with the Missouri legislature’s abolition of police residency requirements, St. Louis has only been able to “keep up with attrition.” “I haven’t been able to fill these spots,” Hayden said, concluding that the proposed cuts “wouldn’t prevent us from hiring more o cers.” The proposed budget now moves to the full Board of Aldermen, potentially setting up a showdown between the backers of Jones’ policing reform and Board President Reed, who was defeated by Jones in St. Louis’ March mayoral primary. n

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n ongoing study from Missouri State University suggests that the pandemic-era move to virtual instruction led to an increase in cheating — a result that surprised MSU faculty member James Sottile, who conducted a similar study in 2010 that yielded different results. In the previous study, Sottile, a professor in educational psychology, analyzed responses from 635 undergraduate and graduate students, finding little difference between the self-reported cheating behavior during online and virtual classes. At the time, the survey responses indicated students who did cheat were slightly more likely to receive answers from a friend during an online test than one conducted in a physical classroom. But as the pandemic hit, and courses shifted online in 2020, Sottile says he and his research partners wondered if the dynamic had changed. In February, he surveyed 698 college students with questions about their cheating behaviors since the pandemic. “We found that about 20 percent more students admitted to cheating during the pandemic, which is very surprising, and kind of scary,” he explains. “When you look at the moral development research, what we find is that people cheat for a reason. ‘Will it benefit me?’” It’s more than that: Sottile notes that whether a student cheats is also a matter of opportunity — and that’s what he believes has changed the most in the last decade. “When we started getting into it, I was surprised by how there’s been a huge industry in cheating through tech. There’s a lot of resources that students now have the opportunity to use in order to cheat, and that has greatly changed within the last ten years.” It’s not just Googling answers on your phone during a test, or asking a friend for previous years’ assignContinued on pg 10

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VIRTUAL CHEATING Continued from pg 9

ments: Sottile points to the popularity of homework-help websites like Chegg, which allows students to pose questions to the site’s experts, or the industry of ghostwriting services that provide unique papers and assignments in specialized courses, offering paying cheaters the opportunity to avoid being spotted by antiplagiarism programs. Earlier this year, in a separate study published in the International Journal for Educational Integrity, researchers at Imperial College London found a nearly 200 percent increase in the number of questions posted to Chegg. The study’s authors noted, “Given the number of exam-style questions, it appears highly likely that students are using this site as an easy way to breach academic integrity by obtaining outside help.” Sottile points to several possible variables that could increase cheating. Along with the expanded access to on-

“There’s a lot of resources that students now have the opportunity to use in order to cheat, and that has greatly changed within the last ten years.” line resources and quick-searching internet speeds, universities struggled to pivot to online classes, leaving teachers overworked and lacking familiarity with

It’s easier to cheat, and more students are doing it, a new study found. | COTTONBRO/PEXELS the tools meant to aid in busting cheaters and plagiarism. On the other hand, students may simply feel safer about taking the risk to cheat when their teacher isn’t actually in the room. Sottile and his researchers are in the midst of analyzing data from the third set of survey responses from students about

COVID-19 Restrictions Eased in City and County New rules allow full capacity, 3 a.m. last call for bars, restaurants Written by

DOYLE MURPHY

ore than a year after the first COVID-19 shutdowns in the St. Louis metro, the city and county have issued new orders to allow restaurants and other businesses to fully reopen — with a few caveats. St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones and County Executive Sam Page announced the end of capacity restrictions during a joint press conference on Monday morning. “Today, we’ve come together to take the next step in reopening St. Louis city and county,” Page said during the livestreamed news conference. Along with the lifting of capacity limits, bars will be able to push back closing time to a.m. again. Page and Jones cautioned that this isn’t a full return to normal but said the county and city have

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St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones and County Executive Sam Page are aligning policies. | TWITTER been able to make progress toward that goal thanks to compliance with previous orders. Businesses will still have to follow social distancing measures, such as spacing tables six feet apart. So restaurants won’t be allowed to pack people in like the pre-pandemic days just yet. Masks will still be required. There is also the issue of staffing. Restaurant employees who were either laid off or, if they

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kept their jobs, found themselves working under extra-chaotic conditions and the added threat of catching the virus have been slow to return to an industry where low pay and a lack of health insurance have been the default. Even at the previous capacity of 0 percent, restaurants and bars have struggled to find enough workers. Jones and Page say they are syncing the city and county rules so that businesses and customers

their cheating behavior. He’s hoping the results provide more specific insights into how students’ moral behaviors have changed as their opportunities to cheat have expanded — and with educational institutions weighing blended classrooms and hybrid models of instruction, those opportunities won’t simply disappear with the end of the pandemic. n

won’t fall under differing orders as they flow back and forth across municipal borders. The new rules follow a rise in vaccinations, especially for those and older. In the city, a quarter of all residents are fully vaccinated and 4 percent of those and older are fully vaccinated, according to the New York Times vaccine tracker. In the county, the numbers are 1 percent and 9 percent. The rules in the city and county were among the strongest in the state. Along with capacity limits, the two governments implemented mask mandates. Page noted that Missouri Gov. Mike Parson left it to individual municipalities to sort out their own rules instead of creating a unified state approach. A study released eight months into the pandemic showed that strategy led to a sharp contrast in the spread of the COVID-19 in counties that had mask mandates and neighbors that did not. Jones and Page urged people to continue being cautious and to get the vaccine if they haven’t already. There is plenty of supply throughout the region, including a mass vaccine site that is operating a.m. to p.m., seven days per week at the Dome at America’s Center ( 01 Convention Plaza) and taking all comers for first and second doses of the Pfizer vaccine. For those who can’t leave their homes to get the vaccine, the St. Louis Fire Department is making house calls to administer shots. To set up an appointment or get more info, call 14- 12- 91 . n

THE BIG MAD Royal Mess Made-up neighborhoods, a rooster AG and Kroenke sucks in Europe, too compiled by

DANIEL HILL

elcome back to the Big Mad, the RFT’s weekly roundup of righteous rage! Because we know your time is short and your anger is hot: KROENKE SUCKS IN EUROPE, TOO: St. Louis could have stopped billionaire sports mogul Stan Kroenke: Whether that meant uttering his true 72-letter name, posing an unsolvable riddle, beating him at chess — whatever it would take to rid the world of this sports cancer. Instead, Kroenke has become the Colossus of Chodes, sitting astride two continents, two sports, as he has moved on from ruining American football to doing his damndest to uglify the beautiful game of soccer. But Stan, man, you really fucked up this time. It was easy to steamroll a single city when all you aspired to be was a manshaped mistake who owns an L.A. football team, but then you go to Europe? And you try to stage a twelve-team coup to form an NFL-like patsy league? And you thought the hyper-competitive fans would appreciate how teams wouldn’t have to win to retain their spots? Bless your heart. It took just three days for six teams — including London’s legendary Arsenal Football Club, which Kroenke owns — to retreat, leaving the proposed “European Super League” in shambles. The implosion set off new calls for Kroenke to sell his team, and, in what must have been a devastating personal moment, the billionaire reportedly apologized to the players and head coach. You love to see it. REPRESENTING THE WILL OF THEMSELVES: Missouri Republicans have had enough of representative democracy, it turns out, and they’re just going to decide what’s best for the people of this state regardless of the will of the voters. It’s an issue that’s been mounting, and one that came to an enraging head a few weeks back when Lake St. Louis Rep. Justin Hill decided that, no, his constituents who voted for Medicaid expansion can’t have it, because he knows what’s best and the voters are too dumb to decide things for themselves. (Did we get that right, Justin?) And now, seeing as how the commoners didn’t throw any tea into

the harbor or anything, the “party of personal freedom” has apparently decided to codify imposing their will on the people of this state, pushing simultaneously for laws that would make it harder to vote and harder to get an initiative on the ballot. Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft was even quoted as saying, “Fuck democracy anyway, all my homies hate democracy” — no wait, we got that wrong, but only by a little. “The people elected the legislators to represent them,” he said. “We are not a democracy.” Sounds absurdly unAmerican, but if that’s going to be your point, why don’t you represent the goddamn people then? If only there were a way they could all band together and tell you what it is they want … THE CROWN DISTRICT?: There have been tons of headlines lately about the “Crown District” and how it’s being converted into an up-and-coming area. It’s being advertised as a fancy new area where all the hottest entertainment will be located. We’d never heard of the Crown District until recently and had no clue where it was, so we had to look it up. Oh, the heart of this new district is at the corner of Chippewa Street and Kingshighway Boulevard? Yeah, we’ve seen some entertainment there before, like the dude who was just chillin’ there in nothing but his sneakers. Or like the thousands of drunks rolling through the Jack in the Box. It’s also where a very large group of registered sex offenders live (look it up), there’s no public parking to speak of, and that mostly terrifying large intersection is the opposite of bike- or pedestrian-friendly, but sure, let’s try to make it into a new entertainment district. FULL OF SCHMITT: St. Louis and St. Louis County announced on Monday that bars and restaurants could return to 100 percent capacity. Attorney General Eric Schmitt is hyped. He reminded everyone that he sent a letter a couple of weeks ago complaining about the county’s efforts to limit the number of people killed by COVID-19. And sure, more than 310,000 Missourians have become fully vaxxed, cases have dropped and the county has started coordinating with the city’s new mayor in the weeks since. But Schmitt is still pretending he bent the county (he doesn’t explain the city’s decision) to his will by sending that letter. “Following my warning about the trampling of individual liberties, St. Louis County Executive Sam Page reversed course and eased many restrictions today,” Schmitt bragged in a press release. We asked the county about Schmitt’s grandstanding. Spokesman Doug Moore shrugged it off: “Every rooster thinks he made the sun come up.” n

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Gasping for Air Watching the insurrection from the COVID-19 intensive care unit By Tiffany Osborn, MD, MPH

was preparing to intubate Kacey* in the COVID-19 intensive care unit when I looked up and saw Americans storming the U.S. Capitol on his television.

“What the hell is going on?” I thought. “Is this real?” While the nurse was getting intubation drugs, I looked over to my respiratory therapist, a friend and colleague with whom I have worked for several years. “Larry … look.” I nodded up at the television, which showed people crowding the Capitol entrance and some breaking windows. It felt like watching a swarm of angry bees attacking everything in sight. Kacey was on non-invasive ventilation — BiPAP. It is similar to the CPAP masks some people wear for obstructive sleep apnea, but he needed it to keep his oxygen level marginal. He was trying to talk through the BiPAP and kept holding up four fingers as he tried to update me on what was happening, but I could not understand. “Save your breath,” I urged him. This was especially hard. I had become attached — again. But how could you not? He is such a nice guy — charming, funny and used to being in control. He owns

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his own business — built it from the ground up, he said. Now, he was scared. He had heard all the stories. He knew that being sick enough to need a breathing tube meant he could die. He has a family he loves. He has friends who are like family. I understood. For the first couple of days, though, he looked good. Each day he asked how I thought he was doing. “You are the healthiest patient I have in the ICU right now,” I told him. A lot can happen in 24 hours. I frequently tell my kids, “We have the family we are born with, and those we pick up along the way.” Kacey clearly ascribed to the same ideas. He had friends coming out of the woodwork to check in on him. He told me the first day we met that he had a close family friend who was a pulmonary/critical-care doctor. Kacey asked me to talk with him. His friend and I had been in communication for a few days already. I could see why they were friends — I don’t think either one

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of them had ever met a stranger. That afternoon was going to be a painful discussion. At the moment, he was still holding my hand, as he had been since I told him he was going to need a breathing tube. He was scared, and I was concerned for him. “It’s OK. I’m right here, Kacey. I’m not going anywhere. We’re going to take care of you.” He squeezed my hand twice in rapid succession. This had become how he communicated “thank you” while air was insu ated into his lungs through the mask on his face. As I waited for the drugs, I looked up again. The crowd on the television had grown, and someone with a stick or bat was hitting a man who appeared to be a police o cer. I looked away as images flooded my mind. I saw the face of a 99-year-old World War II veteran who had died from COVID earlier that morning. I saw his daughter sitting by his bedside, holding his hand while talking with him. I heard his daughter’s voice telling us how her father’s military plane had gone down over the Himalayas during a monsoon. He was the only one who walked away. He had survived World War II. He had survived a plane crash. He succumbed to the war on COVID. I saw the faces of the patient and family I left just moments Continued on pg 15

Dr. Tiffany Osborn and her colleagues have spent the pandemic tending to people gravely ill with COVID-19. | COURTESY OF WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE

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Henry Shimabukuro with his wife Miki celebrating their 59th wedding anniversary in July 2020. | COURTESY SHIMABUKURO FAMILY

GASPING FOR AIR Continued from pg 12

ago. They were next door, sharing a wall with Kacey’s room. Because Henry was dying, he was allowed two family members. His wife and daughter were at his bedside, and several others were on the phone. Henry had come to the mainland from Hawaii in his early twenties, looking for new opportunities, a new life. He met his wife at church in Chicago. He became a graphic artist, and after he retired, he taught art to children. We had reached this point several times already. His daughter raced to the hospital one night because we thought we were going to lose him. This time, we were. As I left the room, a small voice came over the phone: “I love you, Grandpa.” I bit the inside of my lip and left the room, closing the sliding glass door behind me. Henry was not going to make it to his 60th wedding anniversary, just a few months away — he was going to die in the same month that my World War II patient would have turned 100 years old. For some reason, all this made what I was seeing on the television seem even more wrong. “Dr. Osborn, what doses do you want?” I turned to the resident. “Ian, what do you think?” I work at a teaching facility, and the next generation must learn. We made the decisions on the drugs and proceeded to put Kacey to sleep and temporarily paralyze him. I watched on the monitor as Ian skillfully moved the tongue out of the way. We could see part of the vocal cords. I pressed down on the thyroid cartilage and moved it

slightly to the left for him. Now we could fully see the cords — the gateway to the trachea. We quickly completed the intubation, and Larry began the process of securing the breathing tube and connecting the ventilator. I looked up at the TV screen again. Someone appeared to be hitting another person with a pole that was flying the American flag. Here we were, hooking Kacey up to a machine that would provide more effective breaths for him while I was watching something that took away mine. Then I closed my eyes and saw the face of my husband on the day he was mobilized to Afghanistan as an Army Special Forces o cer. He was smiling and trying to dance with his eight-months-pregnant wife while Bob Marley’s song “Three Little Birds” played in the background. A few days before, he had gone through the paperwork and administrative details I needed to know while he was overseas. “This file has all the bank account information. Here is the power of attorney. Oh, this is the folder with information if I need a flag.” “What do you mean if you need a flag?” “This organization provides the flag for the co n.” He met my eyes and tried to smile reassuringly. “If it is needed.” I just stared at him. “Really?” I thought. “Did you really have to tell your eight-months-pregnant wife about the co n-flag folder?” I understood him. Organization and preparation is how he cared for me as we faced him leaving. Still, it was a completely guy thing to do. So smart and yet so not. I had several choice thoughts for him — which I said quite elo-

Acrylic painting on canvas, Henry Shimabukuro, 2020. | COURTESY SHIMABUKURO FAMILY quently in my mind. Of course, when I opened my mouth, all that came out were sobs weighed down with the fear that he might not come home. Through crumpled, soggy tissues, I told him our discussion on that topic was over. After that, it was not hard to get him to make the two videos before he left. One was of him reading three children’s books as if he were reading them to Ashley, after she was born. I figured if we “read books with Daddy” by video, maybe he would not seem strange to her when he returned. The second video was a message from him to her. Something I could give her when she was old enough if he did not come home. After he was gone, I would double check all the doors at night to make sure the house was locked. That had been his job. For some reason, it never felt as safe when I did it. More unsettling was waking up each morning wondering if that would be the day someone would pull into my driveway to tell me he was not coming home. In the ICU, I looked up again at the mob on the TV. We made sacrifices for our country — not for

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this. I bit my lip again. “Great job, everyone. His oxygen saturation looks good. We will see how he does over the next couple of hours. We will have a low threshold to prone him.” Had my voice cracked? Had anyone noticed? When I left the room, tears welled. Luckily, people cannot really see much when you are wearing goggles, a face shield and a mask, but I knew I needed to find a private space. It happens like that sometimes. When the focus required to get the job done is no longer required, the emotions poke their heads around the corner and climb over all the walls you put up to complete the task. There is one bathroom in the ICU, and it is about the size of Barbie’s closet, so not very popular. I locked the door and hung my goggles and face shield on the door’s coat hangers, next to a pair of goggles that had been there for a few days. Quietly, carefully, I let myself cry. Now I saw the face of Uncle Olan. He served in World War II as one of Carlson’s Raiders, the precursor to today’s Special Forces. He was

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Uncle Olan as a young soldier before his injury. | COURTESY DR. TIFFANY OSBORN

GASPING FOR AIR Continued from pg 15

smiling at me. I never really registered the facial deformities from his injuries that my family discussed. Maybe the surgeries were just that good, or maybe I saw him through the eyes of a child who loved him. I saw the beloved uncle in the bathrobe who raised an eyebrow, watching me struggle with our games of candy poker or candy blackjack in his room at the VA. He made sacrifices for his country — not for this. I thought of my grandfather and the World War II injury that marred his voice and caused him to speak in a cadence that was sometimes di cult to understand. I thought of my sister-in-law, who served the military legal system her entire career, and her parents, who also served our country. The Korean War Memorial says it simply: “Freedom is not free.” Those sacrifices were not made for the freedom to invade the nation’s Capitol. Many things are contributing to what is happening in our country, but what I thought about that day was misinformation — conception and propagation. Both the manipulators and the manipulated should be held accountable for their actions. I was angry, sad, disappointed and scared. As I wiped away tears in the Barbie-closet bathroom, I realized what happened that day does not represent the America I know. We are not defined by what occurred. We are defined by how we respond. Although it feels dark, light emanates from truth. It emanates from kindness, from courage, from caring for one another. Those are the threads of light woven through the fabric of the American culture I know.

Dr. Osborn with her husband Jeffrey the day before he was deployed for Operation Enduring Freedom. | COURTESY DR. TIFFANY OSBORN “I understand this is not enough,” I thought, “but it is enough to start.” I put on my N95 and grabbed my goggles and face shield off the door hook. I needed to check in on bed 5. She is so friendly and full of life. She would invite the janitor to dinner if he was not moving too fast down the hall in front of her room. Every day she asks, “Am I going to be okay, Doc?” The day prior I started telling her, “You are the healthiest person in my unit right now.” “Dr. Osborn!” The nurse caught me as I was walking out of the Barbie-closet bathroom. “Yes?” “Henry just died. The resident is in another room, and someone needs to pronounce him.” “Thank you. I’ll take care of him,” I said, and walked toward his room. n *Most patient names were changed to protect privacy. Patient families gave permission/signed HIPAA permission forms for their stories to be used in this essay. Dr. Tiffany Osborn is professor of surgery and of emergency medicine at Washington University School of Medicine who works in the intensive care unit and emergency department. She is the Physician Champion for BJC HealthCare Sepsis Quality Improvement. She co-directs the COVID Critical Care Committee, the Convalescent Plasma Program, and Contingency and Crisis Standard of Care at BarnesJewish Hospital. Dr. Osborn has been featured on NPR and CNN, as well in radio interviews and local media. She’d like to thank Jeannette Cooperman and Judy Martin Finch for their thoughtful review.

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AWARD-WINNING FLAVOR

B E ST I N S H OW

9 4 P O I N TS

97 P O I N TS

WHISKIES OF THE WORLD 2015

U LT I M A T E S P I R I T S C H A L L E N G E 2015

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CAFE

[REVIEW]

Rise and Shine Songbird is destined to be St. Louis’ go-to for outstanding breakfast fare Written by

CHERYL BAEHR Songbird 4476 Chouteau Avenue, 314-781-4344. Thurs.-Fri. 9 a.m.-2 p.m. and Sun.-Mon. 9 a.m.-2 p.m. (Closed Saturdays for the Tower Grove Farmers’ Market; closed Wednesdays.)

hris Meyer and Mike Miller didn’t set out to make the perfect breakfast sandwich. Really, all they wanted to do was provide a little something for people to eat after noticing the popularity of breakfast items at the Tower Grove Farmers’ Market, where they ran their booth, Kitchen Kulture. When they first started doing the market there were already several vendors doing breakfast, and the market seemed saturated with good options, so they focused on their prepared-food business and left the morning fare to others. However, over the years, Meyer and Miller noticed breakfast vendors dropping off one by one. Figuring that they had the following and know-how to put something together, they set out to fill the market’s breakfast void, experimenting with different ideas and trying them out on their customers week in and week out. Over time, what developed was a crowd-sourced specimen of breakfast sandwich perfection called the Combo — flawlessly, buttery-griddled sourdough, a gooey egg, applewood smoked bacon, a sprinkle of sea salt and a drizzle of honey — that developed such a cult following it came to define their booth. The Combo is the cornerstone of the menu at Meyer and Miller’s new restaurant, Songbird, which opened this past November in the Grove. A sister eatery to their beloved Lindenwood Park spot,

Janie’s Mill rye biscuits with house-cured salmon, The Combo sandwich and sprouted grain English muffin with turkey sausage. | MABEL SUEN

Chris Meyer, co-owner of Songbird, helped expand on breakfast-sandwich perfection. | MABEL SUEN Kounter Kulture, Songbird came to be after the pair realized that they needed a daytime-focused business that would be not only a home for their breakfast sandwich, but also an opportunity for their staff to work together and seek out new opportunities within their restaurant family. Finding the right space solidi-

fied their vision. Thanks to a regular, pre-COVID catering gig with Square in Cortex, Meyer and Miller would regularly drive through the Grove and fell in love with the more residential area just north of Manchester’s main commercial drag. When the storefront at the corner of Chouteau and Taylor avenues came open, they knew they

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had their spot and got to work on developing their ideas as well as the space. This included their daytime-focused offerings, as well as a partnership with their longtime friends at Sump to run the restaurant’s coffee program. The COVID-19 outbreak temporarily put their plans on hold, but it also allowed Meyer and Miller time to really think through what kind of restaurant they wanted Songbird to be. After months of planning and figuring out how to navigate running a food business during a pandemic, they opened their doors for curbside service on November 28, bringing to life a soulful spot that is sure to become the city’s go-to for outstanding breakfast fare. Songbird is so successful because it evokes the easy comfort of breakfast nostalgia while maintaining Meyer and Miller’s commitment to quality, local sourcing and thoughtful touches. Easily recognizable yet inspired, the menu builds upon the popular Combo with items like a Sprouted Grain English Muffin, another outstanding breakfast sandwich that pairs a Buttonwood

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SONGBIRD

Continued from pg 19

Farms turkey sausage patty with an over-medium farm egg cooked so perfectly it survived even the twenty-minute journey back to my house. The English mu n made from Lindley Mill flour is more rustic than traditional sourdough, and pairs beautifully with a nutty brown butter aioli. The mushroom and kale frittata is perfection of the form. The hearty greens, earthy mushrooms and cheddar cheese are folded into a custard that’s both impossibly rich and light as air at the same time. A side of mixed greens with a bright plum vinaigrette balances the dish. Songbird’s take on steak and eggs is St. Louis through and through. In place of a generic tbone, Meyer and Miller pair two fried eggs with a nine-ounce Newman farm pork steak and cheesy grits. There is no Maull’s to be seen on this plate, though; instead, apple compote adds just a note of sweetness to the pork, giving the dish a lovely brunchtime feel. Meyer and Miller credit one of their cooks, Chino, with the breakfast tamale; he should receive an

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Janie’s Mill rye biscuits with house-cured salmon, creme fraiche and sieved egg. | MABEL SUEN award for such an example of breakfast glory. The cotija cheesefilled masa serves as the base for a deeply rich and savory black bean stew. There’s just a whisper of spice on the finish, though you can amp that up with Songbird’s piquant hot sauce (recommended). Cilantro crema and a fried

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egg crown this outstanding dish. Songbird’s collaboration with Sump goes beyond just coffee service. The Sump coffee poundcake is a wonderful, almond flour breakfast treat that’s nutty and subtly sweet. Served with housemade coffee jelly and luscious coconut cream, this is exactly what

you want to pair with Sump’s first-class coffee. Hopefully, diners will be able to linger over a slice of that poundcake and a cup of coffee on Songbird’s patio soon. Meyer and Miller envision the small restaurant as a combination of takeout and dinein service, with limited seating indoors and a bit more outside on the sidewalks that line the side of the building. In the meantime, however, they’ve absolutely mastered curbside, not just in terms of accuracy and ease of ordering, but in how well their food translates to takeout. Dishes are beautifully packaged with the same care as if they were being plated for whitetablecloth service, and the food is flawlessly cooked. Case in point, the yolks on every egg I ordered were still runny when I went to eat them roughly twenty minutes after they were packed up — no small feat, but would you expect anything less from the people who’ve made their name by giving us breakfast-sandwich perfection?

Songbird The Combo ............................................... $11 Breakfast tamale ...................................... $10 Steak and eggs ......................................... $13 • Curbside pickup only

SHORT ORDERS

meals in the restaurant to putting food boxes in trunks of cars. Still, he feels lucky that he’s been able to serve people and looks forward to continuing to do so, no matter what the other side looks like. “Some of the changes to the experience of being in a restaurant are COVID-related, and some were already there,” Carr says. “I don’t know what this will do to dining out. Some people will continue to want to look at menus and order on their tables. Some like to look at what a restaurant is serving in advance on their phones — personally, I like being surprised and letting the story reveal itself. However, I don’t begrudge people for their preferences. One will do one thing and another will do something different. Our culture is rushing to judgment, and we also have very short memories.” Carr took a moment to share his thoughts on the past year, his daily rituals and who the people in the restaurant business all owe a debt of gratitude.

[CAFE]

Stay the Course For Avenue’s Bryan Carr, pleasing diners remains “the main thing” even during COVID-19 Written by

CHERYL BAEHR

hen Bryan Carr describes his motivation for getting into cooking, there is one word he keeps coming back to: curiosity. A liberal arts major in college, Carr found himself unsure of what path he would take after graduation until some friends’ experiences in a professional kitchen piqued his interest. Inspired to check it out, he left Missouri for California and quickly discovered he’d found his calling. “Back then, if you wanted to be serious about cooking, it meant going to New York or California,” Carr says. “I like the outdoors and knew I wasn’t going to have any money for a while, so I figured I’d rather be poor in California.” Carr feels fortunate for his time in California. For ten years, he worked in restaurants in San Francisco and Napa Valley, learning everything he could about cooking by working hard and listening. Eventually, though, he felt the pull to be close to his family in Potosi, so he left the West Coast and headed to St. Louis. Here, he worked for the St. Louis Club and a few other properties before striking out on his own. In 2002, he opened Pomme and its sister restaurant Pomme Cafe & Wine Bar in downtown Clayton, which quickly became two of the area’s most popular dining spots. However successful they were, though, he could not get over the logistics; the two restaurants were separated by another storefront, making it di cult to run them as complementary concepts. After twelve years, he decided to close the two restaurants and merge them at a new location just a few

Bryan Carr knows the industry has changed, but he’s determined to stay the course. | DIANE CARR blocks away. The result of that merger, Avenue (12 North Meramec Avenue, Clayton; 314-727-4141), has been a staple of the Clayton dining scene since it opened in 2014 — something Carr credits to his inclination to stay completely focused on what he’s doing and not worry about the “food scene” at large. “I don’t try to ignore it, but I am just so busy and absorbed with my own thing,” Carr says. “There is this quote: ‘The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.’ Keeping that in mind at all

times is very important.” One external force Carr has been forced to reckon with over the past year is the COVID-19 pandemic. He describes himself as fortunate; not only have he and his loved ones stayed relatively healthy throughout the year, but he’s also been surrounded by a team and customer base that has been willing and able to adjust and accommodate for the challenges the virus has posed. He admits it’s been quite a change going from plating food for diners who linger over two- and three-hour

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What is one thing not many people know about you? I bake a lot of bread at home. I particularly enjoy baking bread outside in our kettle cooker. What daily ritual is non-negotiable for you? Reading newspapers. I like the quote that “journalism is the first draft of history.” Who is your St. Louis food crush? I admire Nobu Kidera at Nobu’s. He has been doing things the right way for a long time without making a fuss about himself. Which ingredient is most representative of your personality? Salt, because it is at its best when not easily noticed. What is your after-work hangout? Home. I like to read in bed at the end of the day. What is the most positive thing in food, wine or cocktails that you’ve noticed in St. Louis over the past year? The public has shown enhanced consideration for food-service workers. Who’s the one person to watch right now in the St. Louis dining scene? It’s not one person, but I think that immigrants are very important. I don’t know how the hospitality business will remain viable without them. n

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[FOOD NEWS]

Dream Team Noto Italian Restaurant hopes to build on its success Written by

CHERYL BAEHR

hen Josh Poletti first walked into Noto Italian Restaurant (5105 Westwood Drive, St. Peters; 636-317-1143), he was just a customer, curious to find out why everyone was making such a fuss about the wildly popular eatery. Blown away by the place, he quickly became a regular and eventually found himself staying one night until 1 a.m., talking shop with the restaurant’s co-owner, Wayne Sieve. That conversation turned into a job offer that now has him working as executive chef alongside Sieve and Sieve’s wife, Kendele Noto Sieve, to create a new menu that firmly places Noto in the conversation as one of the top Italian restaurants in the St. Louis metropolitan area. “I came here all the time and love this place,” Poletti says. “It’s small and quaint, and what drew me here was that I get to focus on quality and finishing touches that you don’t get to do at larger restaurants. I get to make sure that every single bite is perfect.”

[REOPENINGS]

Bailey’s Range Reopens After Jeep Crash Written by

CHERYL BAEHR

white Jeep Patriot crashed through the front window of downtown restaurant Bailey’s Range (920 Olive Street, 314-241-8121) in late April, shattering the glass and steel facade, as well as the nerves of the staff and patrons inside. The incident happened at approximately 11:30 a.m., just after the restaurant opened for the day’s service. No one inside the restaurant was hurt; it wasn’t clear whether the driver of the Jeep was injured. News of the crash was posted on the Bailey’s Range Facebook page that afternoon, though there was no information

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New executive chef Josh Poletti’s innovations include the citrus salad. | WAYNE SIEVE Poletti, a veteran chef whose resume includes Niche, the Libertine, Louie, the Smokehouse Market and Prasino, joins the Noto team fifteen months into its run. As Sieve notes, it’s a crucial point for the restaurant having gained a robust following of both St. Peters locals and those from the St. Louis side of the river, he and Kendele are eager to build upon what their guests have come to love about the place. That means offering the authentic Italian cuisine and Neapolitan pizzas that guests have come to love, while pushing diners to try something on the cause. The restaurant was forced to close for the remainder of the day and evening to clean up and board the windows — a tough pill to swallow considering the year of revenue loss that restaurants have had to endure due to the pandemic. “It’s hard, especially after the past year, to have to turn business away, but we are so grateful to our amazing team and the first responders who were immediately there to help all involved,” the post reads. Rather than dwell on the incident, however, owner Dave Bailey feels extremely fortunate that it did not result in tragedy. “Everyone has had a hard and emotional year, so we are not about to sweat some broken metal and glass,” Bailey says. “We are so thankful no one was hurt.” The popular burger spot reopened for normal business hours the following Sunday; Bailey credits the resiliency of his team and the first responders for making that possible. “We are so grateful for the help from our staff that cleaned up,” Bailey says. “From the St. Louis Metropolitan Police

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a little different, including offerings on the completely revamped menu. He believes the trust he and Kendele have gained over the last year plus will give people the confidence to try new things, even if that means leaving their comfort zones. “People will still recognize things, but any changes we are doing are only for a better product and better quality,” Sieve says. “Things are executed at a higher level but still familiar. I think there are only three things staying on the new menu. We’re taking our number-one pasta sellers and changing them — but

change is good. I wouldn’t want to be doing the same menu and executing the same pastas day in and day out. That gets boring. To keep people intrigued and excited, change is needed. It allows experimentation and education and growing. I know some people will be upset, but the vast majority will be excited because it’s only going to be better.” Some of the new dishes Noto diners can expect include gnocchi with guanciale, white wine, tomato conservation, pesto and pecorino Romano cheese and malfada (a ribbon-shaped, wavy-edged pasta noodle) with smoked salsiccia ragu and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. Poletti is also excited about doing composed salads, including a citrus salad with arugula, radicchio, blood orange, orange, grapefruit, pistachio, ricotta salata and honey vinaigrette, as well as housemade charcuterie, a craft he has honed over his many years in the kitchen. Poletti and the Sieves are enthused about the opportunity to stop and rethink what they want Noto to be — something Sieve says happened as a result of the pandemic. As he explains, things were extremely busy pre-COVID, then came to a screeching halt, giving him and his wife a moment to take a breath and focus on what they wanted to become in terms of the big picture. Now, with Poletti on the team, they feel confident they are achieving that. “This is our dream team,” Sieve says. “For those who think it can’t get any better, just try it.” n

This Jeep made a disastrous entrance at Baileys Range. | COURTESY DAVE BAILEY Department to the St. Louis Fire Department and St. Louis Streets Division, everyone worked so hard that we were able to reopen back up the next morning.” Beyond the shattered glass, Bailey is hoping that the situation does not shatter the confidence of patrons who might focus on this negative event. Instead, he

remains bullish on downtown and sees this as a blip in an otherwise upward trend — one he is confident will continue. “Downtown is the beating heart of this city,” Bailey says. “Vaccines at the dome, baseball back at the stadium, the Wheel, the zoo, the museums, the architecture — all of it. St. Louis is one amazing town.” n

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RIVERFRONT TIMES

[FOOD NEWS]

Tai Davis and Grand Spirits Launch Dinner Series Written by

CHERYL BAEHR

thrilling new dinner series celebrating the food and spirits of Mexico is bringing together four heavy hitters in the St. Louis food and beverage scene. Conexión, a celebration of agave and tacos, launches Wednesday, May 5, at Brennan’s Work & Leisure (3015 Locust Street, 314-620-3969) and will feature food from the talented Tai Davis paired with drinks from Grand Spirits, a beverage consulting company from the genius cocktail minds of Ray Edwards, Michael Fricker and Kyle Harlan. According to Fricker, who is also the beverage director at the Gin Room, the idea for Conexión arose organically during conversations with Davis. Both share a deep respect and appreciation for regional Mexican cuisine and mused about doing something together to express that. “He’s just an electric person and is just so authentic and real with who he is

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and what he wants to be,” Fricker says of Davis. “We met up one night with Ray, had drinks, made food and really connected. When Tai said he wanted to do this pop-up, we were 100 percent in. We wouldn’t do it if we didn’t have a true understanding of Mexican cuisine.” Fricker says that this respect for Mexican food and spirits is the defining characteristic of Conexión. After spending nearly a year cooking alongside a friend’s grandmother at a taco cart in Oaxaca following culinary school, Fricker developed a passion for its culinary tradition — something Davis, too, embraced after several stints in Mexico. He emphasizes that they are eager to show their love for the food and drink in a way that showcases the rich traditions. For Davis, the format for this expression is the taco. Conexión will explore the various regional cuisines of Mexico, all the while centering on the street-food staple. The first dinner will focus on the cuisine of Oaxaca, with each subsequent dinner (the plan is to do one per month) looking at a different region, but through the same lens. Dishes for the first dinner include a green chorizo taco with sweet potato, fried egg, tomatillo salsa and queso fresco; a fish tempura taco with pico de gallo, Mexican creama and charred lime; and beef soup with guajillo chiles and bocoles. As for the drink component, Fricker is excited to showcase a different agave spir-

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Tai Davis is teaming up with Grand Sprits for a new dinner series. | MABEL SUEN its maker at each event. For the inaugural dinner, he and the Grand Spirits team will be highlighting the local company Una Vida Tequila, pairing a different tequilabased cocktail with each of Davis’ dishes. Though they are still putting the finishing touches on the cocktail menu, guests can expect a banana-washed punch, Una Vida Reposada with herbal elixir and a clarified

mole negroni. In addition to the dinner, there will be a tasting table and educational presentation. “We want to educate as much as entertain,” Fricker says. Tickets for Conexión can be purchased through Eventbrite for $75, inclusive of food and drinks. Two seatings — one at 5 p.m. and one at 7 p.m. — are available. n

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REEFERFRONT TIMES

[DISPENSARY REVIEWS]

Tommy Chims Smokes Jane Dispensary’s Weed Written by

THOMAS CHIMCHARDS

he scientologists are not happy about Missouri’s new foray into medicinal marijuana. An April 18 newsletter sent out by the church-affiliated Citizens Commission on Human Rights of St. Louis, titled “The Proliferation of Weed in Missouri,” makes clear their opposition to the nascent industry. But interestingly, theirs is not the Reefer Madness fears of old that smoking the devil’s lettuce will lead to bouts of criminal insanity and wildly reckless behavior. Instead, the concern seems to be that it will become a tool for those dastardly psychiatrists to use to further ensnare and oppress their patients. “Cannabis can only chemically mask problems and symptoms, it cannot and never will be able to solve problems,” reads the newsletter in part. “People in desperate circumstances must be provided proper and effective medical care. Medical, not psychiatric, attention, good nutrition, a healthy, safe environment and activity that promotes confidence will do far more than the brutality of psychiatry’s unproven drug treatments.” Is this hyperbole? Sure. Is it also dangerous nonsense? You betcha. But wait, does anybody really care what the Church of Scientology thinks about cannabis anyway? Nah, not at all. It could make things pretty interesting at the next meeting of the neighborhood association, though. That’s because Jane Dispensary (6662 Delmar Blvd, University City; 314-464-4420) has just opened a mere two blocks away from the church’s St. Louis head-

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A “flower hour” sale offered a welcome discount on C4-branded strains during a recent visit to Jane Dispensary. | THOMAS CHIMCHARDS quarters — and their philosophy regarding weed’s psychiatric effects couldn’t be more different. According to its website, “Jane Dispensary not only offers premium cannabis products, but we’re committed to cannabis education.” They plan to host seminars and workshops to help customers “learn about safety, types of cannabis, and the physical and mental health contributions of cannabis.” As a person with an obviously malfunctioning brain and a lack of overall respect for the teachings of the church of scientology, I figured I’d stop in and see for myself what Jane’s products can achieve. Housed in the space that formerly held the Vault clothing store in the Loop, the dispensary has a boutique feel that sets it apart from other local shops — looking around its small, spare waiting room, words like “quaint” and “artisanal” and “small batch” all came to mind. I approached a woman behind a desk who asked for my medical card and ID, and who directed me to remove my mask and show my face to a security camera. The shop was packed when I arrived, owing to a “flower hour” flash sale that saw eighths being discounted at 40 percent off for 60 minutes only. I’d seen the sale advertised on social media, and based on the bustling atmosphere the day of my visit, evidently so did everyone else. Being that Missouri requires a one-to-one patient to employee ratio for all dispensaries, I had a seat for five minutes or so while I waited for a

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member of staff to emerge from behind the doors to the floor of the shop. Once inside, I told my budtender that I was here for the sale. She led me to the checkout counter, a long glass case that contains small jars of flower with magnified lids. The sale covered

only C4-branded strains; on hand during my visit were eighths of White 99, Bubba Fett, Wedding Cake and Gelato, as well as Flora Farms-branded Purple Diesel, Post Traumatic Purple and Blue Dream. I went with an eighth of the Bubba Fett and an eighth of the

S T H U G HIGHER THO From the altered mind of

THOMAS CHIMCHARDS Welcome to Higher Thoughts, wherein ol’ Tommy Chims smokes one strain from this review — in this case, Wedding Cake — and then immediately writes whatever comes to mind in the hopes of giving you, dear reader, a clearer picture of its overall mental effects: no rules, no predetermined word counts and, most crucially, no editing. Here we go: JANET PEERED AT the morning sunrise out her kitchen window before gripping her coffee mug and walking to her porch. She’d recently found that watching the bus pick up the local children for school was just the thing she needed to start her day, their smiling faces serving as a distraction from the loneliness that had crept into her life of late. But today, Janet wasn’t alone. To her surprise, she found a man in a disheveled suit sitting asleep next to a briefcase. She let out a surprised shout that awakened the man, who let out a surprised shout of his own be-

fore collecting himself. “Hello ma’am, the name’s Dorian Belle, door-to-door doorbell salesman,” he said, lifting himself off the ground. “I’ve been sitting on your porch all night long. Do you know why?” Dorian smiled as he delivered the pitch that had made “Dorian Belle” a household name in the high-stakes world of door-to-door doorbell sales: “Because you don’t have a doorbell.” In that moment, Janet knew that she’d be opening up her wallet today — and, maybe, also her heart.

Was that helpful? Who knows! See you next week. Thomas K. Chimchards is RFT’s resident cannabis correspondent and aspiring door-to-door doorbell salesman. Email him tips at tommy.chim@riverfronttimes. com and follow him on Twitter at @TOMMYCHIMS.

Bubba Fett launched itself to the top of my list of favorites immediately, even if I did find the words, “Don’t panic, you’ll be fine, just high” in my notebook upon a review.

Jane Dispensary adds the boutique medical marijuana feel to the Delmar Loop neighborhood. | COURTESY JANE DISPENSARY Wedding Cake, each only $33 after the 40 percent discount. The shop had also just gotten in a selection of Honeybee edibles, so I bought a bag of Black Cherry Cola gumdrops ($36). After taxes — $4.30 in Missouri sales tax, $3.58 in St. Louis County sales tax, $1.53 in University City sales tax and $4.08 in cannabis sales tax — my total came to $115.49. I dug into the Bubba Fett first. I was a little surprised to find that the C4-branded pouch was filled with teeny tiny little “popcorn” nuggets, the kind that you’d get for a discount at some of the Illinois dispensaries — but then I remembered that I’d gotten my bag at a pretty deep discount, too, so there really wasn’t anything to complain about. I was greeted with a dark, rich, slightly skunky smell as I broke the small, mostly darker green nuggets up. On inhale this strain has a flavorful, sweet taste that had me coughing at first, but soon smoothed out into an enjoyable smoke. Let me tell you, this strain is downright stupefying. Before I’d

even finished the bowl I felt as though I’d been smacked in the face with a shovel of stonedness, and the bags under my eyes felt like they weighed a thousand pounds. This indica-dominant strain clocks in at a considerable 20.54 percent THC, so it shouldn’t be particularly surprising that it’s so strong, but I was still taken aback. My chronic pain melted away and I felt relaxed and happy, and pretty hungry. Honestly, popcorn nuggets aside, this strain immediately launched itself to the top of my list of favorites, even if I did find the words, “Don’t panic, you’ll be fine, just high” in my notebook upon a review. I’ll be making sure to keep some Bubba Fett in my captain’s cupboard going forward. The following day I got to work on the Wedding Cake. Another indica-dominant strain with a THC rating of 18.63 percent, this bag boasted some more fluffy buds, covered with trichomes, dark orange hairs and purplish dark patches. Upon opening the bag I was met with a rich, spicy scent,

on the floral side with some sour and skunky notes. This strain is pretty sticky on breakup; it might have been better for me to use a grinder. (I’ve always enjoyed the tactile sensation of using my fingers, but I know that’s not the case for everyone, so word to the wise.) True to its name, the Wedding Cake was sweet and flavorful on inhale, and shortly after smoking I was chatty and smiling uncontrollably. Like the Bubba Fett, this strain is pretty damn strong and probably best for those with a high tolerance, though I wasn’t nearly so outright incapacitated with this one. Next, I tried the Honeybee gummies. Brought to life by longtime St. Louis chef Dave Owens, who worked as the chief chocolatier for Bissinger’s for twelve years before signing on to work with Proper Cannabis on their line of edibles, the black cherry cola gumdrops come in a package of twenty, each with 5 percent THC content. I ate seven of them, and let me tell you, if I wasn’t concerned I’d be blasted to the moon

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if I kept going I would have gleefully consumed several more. More often than not, edibles are created with the primary intention being to mask the taste of the THC; here, creating something downright delicious was clearly the motivating factor. At first bite you’re met with a tart black cherry flavor, which softens out to the cola taste on the finish. It’s similar to a cherry snow cone, but in gummy form — sweet, but really well balanced and not syrupy. As for their effects, the 35 milligrams of THC I consumed left me with a relaxed “take the edge off” high, not too overpowering, and I was still able to function as normal, but with a noticeable decrease in chronic pain. I’ll probably eat more next time. If these are the psychiatric effects I’ve been warned/encouraged about, I’m all the way on board. It can be hard to take some of the claims that cannabis evangelists make about its alleged cure-all effects seriously, and I’d personally be more inclined to tell someone to go ahead and see a medical professional for their mental health needs than to tell them to smoke a joint. But then too, it can be hard to take the scientologists seriously like, ever. Seriously, scientology guys, maybe you should head two blocks down and take a visit to Jane to pick up some of their wares. It might chill you out a little. n

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RIVERFRONT TIMES

[ D R U G WA R ]

Governor to Commute Sentence of Man Serving 22 Years for Weed Written by

DANNY WICENTOWSKI

ourteen years after Robert Franklin tossed a one-pound brick of marijuana out of his SUV window in an unsuccessful attempt to avoid arrest, the now 41-year-old father has had his sentence commuted by Governor Mike Parson. Franklin’s arrest in February 2007 led to a 22-year prison sentence for marijuana distribution, but in the following years, Missouri legalized medical cannabis and eliminated its harsh “threestrike” mandatory minimum sentencing law that ensured prior drug offenders — even those convicted of non-violent marijuana offenses like Franklin — would face a minimum of ten years in prison without the possibility for parole. “I spent all of my 30s incarcerated,” Franklin told the RFT in an April 19 phone interview from the Moberly Correctional Center. “It’s kind of depressing. I’m keeping hope alive, but I’m kind of losing the battle.” At the time of the interview, Franklin had already waited years for a response to his clemency application, with only silence to show for it. “It seems like they’re giving people clemency,” he said, “but they’re forgetting about me.” But Franklin was wrong. His interview, featured in an April 28 RFT story titled “Weed Put Robert Franklin in Prison. He’s Begging Mike Parson to Get Him Out,” was published online just two days before he received the news of his commutation. In prior clemencies, the governor has declined to offer details on the selection process, and so it’s not clear when or why Franklin’s case landed on the top of a backlog of more than 3,000 clem-

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Robert Franklin was sentenced to 22 years in prison for a weed case. | CANA CONVICT PROJECT ency applications. In multiple interviews, Franklin and his supporters at the nonprofit Cana Convict Project told the RFT that they could only guess at the status of his application. All that is different now: Pending a parole hearing, Franklin could soon be leaving prison, making him one of just nine Missouri inmates to do so after being labeled a “prior and persistent drug offender” — and the first case related to marijuana charges. Franklin’s case was first featured in a 2016 RFT cover story that delved into the impact of the “prior and persistent” drug sentencing law. As subsequent investigations revealed, the resulting prison sentences were vastly disproportionate compared to the average prison time served by people convicted of violent crimes, even murder and rape. However, while the sentencing law was repealed in 2017, the legislature failed to make the cor-

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rection retroactive — meaning that the state’s harshest drug law continued to trap non-violent offenders in life-altering sentences without a chance at parole. Before Franklin, the last time a Missouri governor freed a cannabis-related drug offender was 2015, when Gov. Jay Nixon freed Jeff Mizanskey from a life sentence that would have guaranteed death behind bars. When Franklin first spoke to the RFT in 2016, he said Mizanskey’s dramatic story of freedom sparked anticipation for further cannabis clemencies. Those clemencies did not materialize, and, during the next seven years, Franklin had a front-row seat to Missouri’s reformed drug sentencing laws, which no longer mandate ten-year minimums or allow prosecutors to cite a defendant’s prior drug history as cause to “enhance” low-level charges and add decades of extra prison time. After the 2017 repeal, the new

criminal code made drug offenders charged with the same crime as Franklin eligible for parole. Today, these offenders can qualify for early release after serving a percentage of their total sentence: In 2020, according to prison data, Missouri released more than 1,200 drug offenders who had served an average of 21 months, about 30 percent of their total sentences. Overall, Missouri prisons released nearly 5,800 inmates in 2020. They served an average of 52 percent of their total sentences. The average time served was less than four years, and among those released, 85 percent were approved for parole so they could continue serving their sentences outside prison. Franklin, though, was stuck. He said it was disheartening to watch people charged with similar drug crimes cycle through prison, parole and freedom — particularly when cycled through prison multiple times. “I’ve seen one guy five times, a repeat offender,” Franklin recalled. “And they just let him out again, and he got caught again.” Though he struggled to maintain hope in prison, Franklin dreamed of the opportunity to be the father his daughter deserves. In 2007, she had been just eight months old and riding in the backseat of Franklin’s SUV when he attempted to discard a brick of weed and avoid the Missouri state troopers who were chasing him. “I’m not the man that I was then,” Franklin said during his April 19 interview. “I would never have my daughter in that position, being the man I am now, and definitely wouldn’t have had a pursuit with her in the car.” Franklin’s daughter is now fourteen. He said that he talks to her every day, “trying to raise her over the phone.” “I’m seeing people get pardoned, but basically I have to keep hope alive for my daughter,” he added. “She doesn’t have any memory of me being free. I need to keep hope alive for her.” Christina Frommer, the founder of the nonprofit Cana Convict Project, spoke to Franklin shortly after he received the news of the governor’s commutation on Friday. “When he told me, I almost passed out and kind of went into another dimension,” she said in a Facebook message. “I made him repeat it like 30 times to make sure I heard him correctly.” According to Frommer, Franklin has a parole hearing set for June 3. He could be released as early as July. n

CULTURE

[HOMESPUN]

Into the Deep End St. Louis rap group 4Deep releases debut album The Big Gang Theory, just in time for your second dose of the vaccine Written by

YMANI WINCE

he most frustrating facet of the pandemic for music fans has been the absence of live shows. It’s been a struggle to listen to an artist’s latest work and not be able to see them in concert. But even as live performances remain largely on hold, one local rap group is looking to bring forth the live music vibes the social scene has been missing in the form of a new release. Comprising Emanuel “Eman” Freeman, Jordan “J. Pounds” Pounds, Kenneth “Chad Savage” Hibbler and Drue “Breauxgawd” Pounds, 4Deep evolved from four friends making music solo and sometimes together to a dedicated group of local heavy hitters. Following a year and some change of few local music releases and even fewer live shows, the group’s latest venture, The Big Gang Theory, packs just the right amount of vitamin D to lift your pandemicexhausted spirit. The Big Gang Theory is the first full-length effort 4Deep has released, following a handful of singles and Soundcloud tracks spanning back several years. Its single “Solstice” boasts a smooth vibe with bold lyricism and a clever, hooky earworm of a chorus that serves as a perfect summer soundtrack for emerging from your pandemic cocoon. It’s also the strongest example yet of the group’s dedication to getting serious about its craft. The group agrees that mainstream artists such as Outkast, Pharrell and Kanye West have all been inspirations to them, but more than that, spending

The Big Gang Theory is the debut full-length effort from St. Louis’ 4Deep. | KEATON JONES time with one another as friends and artists — especially during the relative downtime brought on by COVID-19 — has fueled the unique sound they’ve created. “We don’t sound like anything that’s out,” says Eman. “But the way we make music influences each other.” “When the pandemic set in, we noticed all of our flaws with our music,” Breauxgawd adds. “We were able to sit with our music for a decent amount of time and figure out what we needed to change to make it better.” And so the past year for the group has been about growth, refining their sound, and finally making a complete body of work come to life. That meant making sure studio time could fit within ever-changing COVID regulations, and making decisions for the album the group could unanimously agree on. “We had songs from two years ago and songs from two weeks ago on the album,” Eman says. “It was just kind of molding them to be able to speak a story into existence.” The bulk of the work for the album took a little over a year to complete, the group says. And while some artists were able to

dedicate themselves to ample studio time, 4Deep had to be strategic and meticulous when it came time to record. Most studios that remained open did so with limited hours and COVID precautions in place. “Some of the studios we’d go to had to switch things up to be COVID compliant,” Chad Savage says. “You couldn’t have more than one person recording at a time, so everyone had a plan for what they were doing and working on while they’re in there for an hour.” In making The Big Gang Theory, the members of 4Deep say they were passionate about promoting a positive theme for listeners to relate to, since brotherhood and supporting one another define the group’s dynamic. “I just want people to feel good about themselves,” says J. Pounds. “I think it’s feel-good music. It’s empowerment. I want you to feel like you can do whatever you want to do.” But The Big Gang Theory is not an album made simply to inspire; it’s “got something for everyone on there,” says Chad Savage. “We have the songs for people in the club, something to smoke to, something

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to chill to. It’s different modes and moods of music for sure.” The group’s members agree they can feel the growth in their sound versus the singles they’ve dropped in the past. And since the album took more than a year to create, the group was careful about not announcing it as finished prematurely. “The mind that we have when we’re making music is if we really like it, we’re not worried about if others are gonna accept it,” Chad Savage says. “We’ll play the song over and over before it’s even released.” As more vaccine doses are injected into arms across the country and life begins to show promise of semi-normalcy, the question of how live music will look in a post-COVID society remains. The group has goals of potentially holding live performances this summer, maybe releasing a limited collection of 4Deep apparel and accessories, and of course, creating more music. But for now, the goal is to enjoy the process, keep growing and continue building the strong bond the four have with one another. They plan to do it all. Together. n

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RIVERFRONT TIMES

Hope you’re ready to do the Time Warp once again, St. Louis. | POSTER

[FILM]

Skyview to Show Rocky Horror A Repertory Theatre production of Hamlet from 2017. | PETER WOCHNIAK

[ S TA G E ]

Repertory Theatre Resumes In-Person Shows Written by

JACK KILLEEN

fter a year of stage-less plays and empty auditoriums, the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis has announced its return to in-person performing. From May 28 through July 11, just in time to conclude the 20202021 season, the Rep will be showing Mlima’s Tale. Tickets go on sale May 20 at repstl.org. Subscribers will have earlier access to tickets and seating. As described in a press release, Mlima’s Tale is “the story of a majestic and powerful African elephant murdered for his tusks.

RIVERFRONT TIMES

From beyond the veil of death, Mlima’s spirit follows the path of his tusks on a captivating and haunting journey through the dark world of the international ivory trade.” The play comes from two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lynn Nottage. After an odd year, the Rep’s return to in-person theater comes with a safety plan approved by the St. Louis County Health Department. Mlima’s Tale will show at the Center of Creative Arts’ Berges Theatre, a first-time venue for the Rep, and seating will be limited to 30 percent of capacity. Guests will sit in pairs according to household with at least six feet between them and other pairs, and temperature checks will be conducted on everyone who steps foot in the building. Audience members are required to wear a mask at all times, indoors or out. Performers won’t be required to wear masks onstage, though they’ll don them everywhere else and will be extensively tested for COVID-19 during the weeks of rehearsal. “We have been working tirelessly behind the scenes with our various partners to safely bring the magic of live theater back to the stage and cannot wait to welcome everyone home,” Hana S. Sharif,

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Augustin Family Artistic Director at the Rep, says. That tireless work, naturally, involves the implementation of a lot of COVID safety measures. The Rep’s comprehensive, county-approved plan to keep actors, staff and attendees safe was developed with help from Dr. Stephen Liang and Dr. Joseph Cherabie of Washington University School of Medicine’s infectious diseases division. (For more on the Rep’s COVID safety measures, visit repstl.org/ visit/covid-faqs.) “We have learned as an organization how to be more adaptive, nimble and innovative than ever before,” Sharif says. “We are so grateful for our Rep family that stood by and supported us during the pandemic and encouraged our safe return to live theater.” The last time the Rep presented an in-person performance was in March of 2020, showing only a few presentations of The Cake. Since then, the Rep has been in perpetual discussion with St. Louis-area government entities as well as five labor unions to bring in-person theater back, safely, to the public. As the 2020-2021 season concludes, and plans for the 20212022 season near an end, the Rep promises to be vigilant in making ongoing changes, creeping back to normal as the situation allows. n

Written by

JAIME LEES

ow that the Tivoli Theatre in the Delmar Loop is owned by a church, nobody knows for sure if some of its more risqué entertainment options will return when the building starts hosting films again. Lucky for us, the Skyview Drive-In (5700 North Belt West; Belleville, IL; 518-223-4400) is happy to take over as the place to hit up for midnight showings. On Thursday, May 27, the Skyview is showing a midnight classic: The Rocky Horror Picture Show. And in addition to the film, attendees can see a performance from Flustered Mustard, a St. Louis-based Rocky Horror Picture Show shadow cast. For the uninitiated, a “shadow cast” means that there will be people acting out the entire film below the screen, with all of the appropriate costumes and dialogue memorized. The group will also spark and encourage all manner of audience partici ... pation. And just so that you know, if you’ve never been to a showing of Rocky Horror before, you have to use red lipstick to draw a giant “V” (for virgin) on your forehead for the event. We don’t make the rules, we’re just passing them on. Tickets are just $10 per person (cash only), and the box office opens on the night of the event at 11:15 p.m. For more information, visit the Skyview Drive-In event page on Facebook. n

[PROM]

9 Mile Garden Will Host ’80s-Themed Prom Written by

JAIME LEES

t looks like 9 Mile Garden (9375 Gravois Road, 314-390-2806) is going to be one of the hottest spots in St. Louis this year — in addition to offering tasty food, they’re also showing movies all summer long and hosting fun outdoor events. Coming up on Saturday, May 22, 9 Mile Garden is hosting an ’80sthemed prom for adults. If you’ve forgotten how to dress yourself during the pandemic, don’t worry. You can do no wrong at an ’80sthemed prom. You can end your long social hibernation in neon fishnets, ru ed dresses and side-

All your dreams can come true at an ’80s prom for adults | VIA FLICKR/YELP ponytails, as God intended. The event starts at 6 p.m. and stays raging until midnight, so you’ll have six full hours of posing in the photo booth, taking selfies, noshing on food-truck delights and maybe even finding somebody special out on the dance floor. Music will be provided at this outdoor event by the Provels and the DJs from Dead As Disco, and there will be food trucks open all night including Fire & Ice Cream,

Guerrilla Street Food, the Red Dirt Revival, Sedara Sweets & Ice Cream, the Spud Shack, Sugarfire, Truck Norris and more. This is a ticketed event, and the Garden and the Canteen will be closed to the general public while you’re there dancing to the best pop and new-wave hits of the decade. There are many different levels of ticket tiers and lots of options to upgrade the experience to make your adult prom night

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something special. From 9 Mile Garden: “Prom-goers can select between three different ticket tiers: General Admission, VIP, and VIP Limo. Each tier includes entry to the prom, access to the photo booth, and one complimentary beverage of their choice from the Canteen, starting at $30 a ticket, or $50 per couple for the General Admission tickets. “For attendees looking for the full prom experience, VIP tickets are $60 a ticket or $100 per couple. VIP tickets include one entrée from any food truck of their choosing, one ra e ticket, and access to the VIP mezzanine area where 9 Mile will have unlimited punch and hor d’oeuvres available, all in addition to the general admission tier. “No perfect prom night would be complete without a 30-minute limo ride around St. Louis. The VIP Limo tickets are priced at $100 per ticket and the limo ride will be scheduled at the time of purchase to take place throughout the night of the prom. The VIP Limo ticket also includes everything previously mentioned within the General Admission and VIP tiers.” To purchase tickets, visit 9 Mile Garden’s website at 9milegarden. com. n

MAY 5-11, 2021

RIVERFRONT TIMES

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SAVAGE LOVE SWITCHED ON BY DAN SAVAGE Hey, Dan: You’ve said that everyone is entitled to a “zone of erotic autonomy.” I was wondering if you thought that “zone” extends to sending thousands of dollars to a “FinDom.” I’m a 33-year-old straight woman and I love my husband and we have a great (or so I thought) sex life. He’s very dominant and controlling in bed and I’m very submissive and I thought we were well matched sexually. So it was a shock for more than one reason when I stumbled over evidence that he’s been sending money to a female sex worker who calls herself a FinDom. This has been going on for nearly three years! It seems clear from their messages (I have read them all) that they’ve never met in person (she clearly states that she never meets in person with her subs), but she sends him degrading personalized videos after he sends her money roughly once every other month. The amounts are small but they add up. We are more than comfortable so the issue isn’t the money. And while my husband has never complained about what I spend on a personal trainer or my hair or body treatments (admittedly a lot), this is obviously different because he’s masturbating over these videos. I don’t really want to degrade him and I obviously couldn’t dominate him financially as our finances are shared. My husband says he doesn’t want to be degraded by me but he was nevertheless willing to pay a complete stranger to heap insults on him?!? I don’t understand. I thought we had a great sexual connection. I also thought I knew who he was erotically. I’m confused and don’t know what to do. Feeling Insecure Necessarily, Doubts About Marriage Now First things first: ou actually have a great sex life (from the sound of things), your husband clearly loves you (if this if your only issue), and his dominance in the sack isn’t an act, FINDAMN, it’s just that having control isn’t the only thing that turns him on. It’s just that every once in a while he wants to give up control. Maybe

he should’ve come to you to get this need met and couldn’t bring himself to ask — for fear of rejection, for fear of spoiling your D s dynamic — or maybe he sensed you wouldn’t enjoy degrading him and or being degraded by you wouldn’t work for him. Backing up for a second: ou say you’re “more than comfortable,” FINDAMN, which is filthy-richperson code for “we have tons of money.” So while I’m opposed to one person in a marriage spending significant amounts of money without their spouse’s knowledge, I’m going to climb out on a limb and guess that this isn’t money you missed. No mortgage payments went unpaid, no vacations were canceled, no kids were yanked out of private schools. Even if your husband sent this woman 9,999 over the last three years — the highest figure that keeps us in the “thousands” range — that works out to 2 a month. I’m guessing the actual amount spent was far less than that, FINDAMN, and in no way impacted your comforts. (But here’s hoping Joe Biden’s tax hikes on the wealthy do ) As for the seeming contradiction — your husband dominates you and submits to this woman — it’s not that hard to explain what’s going on. While you’ve probably never been to a big gay leather fetish event, FINDAMN, if you should ever go you would meet dozens of men who have both Doms and subs. So the guy you saw being dragged around on a leash on the first night will be dragging someone else around on a leash the second night. That’s because very few people into power exchange are 100 percent dominant or 100 percent submissive one guy can bring out a gay guy’s submissive side and another guy can bring out his dominant side. Similarly, you seem to bring out your husband’s dominant side — much to your delight — while this other woman brings out his submissive side. So it would seem your husband is a bit of a switch in his case, FINDAMN, he’s mostly dominant but also enjoys being submissive too. And being submissive to an online FinDom once in a while doesn’t mean there’s anything inauthentic about your husband when he’s dominating you. If you don’t want to degrade

Have you thought about one of those guys — or all three of them — while you were masturbating or having sex with your husband? your husband — if you or if he or if you both prefer your roles to be fixed (which is common among kinky switches) — and your husband is willing to keep this connection 1. online only, 2. below an agreed to amount, and . to himself (if you don’t want to hear about it) or shared (if you do), I think you should allow your husband to have this outlet. Again, you can spare the money and your husband hasn’t done anything stupid — he hasn’t given this woman access to your savings accounts or written her into his will. He’s paying this woman for a little dominant time and attention every now and then. And while what your husband did (basically purchased some interactive porn) does feel cheating-adjacent I gotta ask have you ever hired a personal trainer just because he was hot? Have you ever chosen a hairdresser because you liked to look at him? Have you ever gone out of your way to get body treatments from a VGL male masseuse? And then thought about one of those guys — or all three of them — while you were masturbating or having sex with your husband? If you can identify any small zones of erotic autonomy that you’ve carved out for yourself, FINDAMN, allowing your husband to continue enjoying the small zone of erotic autonomy he’s carved out for himself might come a little easier. Hey, Dan: I’m a 27-year-old gay man who’s having a hard time. I’m in relationship with a spectacular guy. He’s a 25-year-old bisexual man. He’s smart, funny, extroverted, and has lots of friends and lots of ex-fuckbuddies. We are deeply in love and neither of us has ever felt that before. It’s been five months

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and nothing could be better — except the fact that I’m deadly insecure. He’s got tons of friends, he’s extremely attractive, and sexually he’s perfect. He’s a top who knows how to use his big dick and he has infinite endurance. I’m the opposite of all that: I have a few friends, I’m an average/ugly guy with an average/small dick, it’s not easy for me to get a solid erection, and it takes me just a couple of minutes to come. I keep comparing myself to him: he’s perfect and he can fuck anyone, and I’m ugly and sexually inept compared to him. These feelings are killing me. I Can’t Be The Right One our boyfriend, who could apparently have anyone, has chosen you. So you’re either far more appealing — physically, emotionally, socially — than you give yourself credit for, ICBTRO, or your boyfriend gets off on the power imbalance. But if the latter were true, if he was manipulating you with his looks dick, you would know. ou would be painfully aware of it, and you would’ve mentioned it in your letter if your boyfriend had leveraged his looks and or his dick to get you to do things you didn’t want to do or put up with things no one should put up with. (If he had said something to you like, “ ou’ll never leave me because you can’t do better,” you would’ve included that.) So I’m guessing you’re a lot more appealing — physically, emotionally, socially — than you’ve allowed yourself to realize. Instead of worrying about whether this relationship will last forever (and most don’t), ICBTRO, try to enjoy the boyfriend you’ve got right now. Speak to a doctor about ED meds for your dick and speak to a shrink about your low self-esteem — because if anything is going to prematurely kill this relationship, it’s your insecurities. our boyfriend may not want to be with you forever, ICBTRO, and you may not want to be with him forever. But if you want to be with him for as long as you can, you’ve gotta get a grip on your insecurities. He can’t help you with those. And if you can’t help yourself, ICBTRO, find a therapist who can help you. mail@savagelove.net @FakeDanSavage on Twitter www.savagelovecast.com

MAY 5-11, 2021

RIVERFRONT TIMES

MAY 5-11, 2021

riverfronttimes.com

MAY 5-11, 2021

RIVERFRONT TIMES

Riverfront Times, May 5, 2021

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