Riverfront Times, October 21, 2020

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THE LEDE

“Fundamentally, I think everyone should have a voice and everybody’s voice should be heard and should be counted. That’s why we work so hard to make it as easy as possible for voters to cast their vote, because that is their voice. Whether it’s a presidential year or it’s some tiny municipal election, it’s still so fundamental to a democracy.”

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PHOTO BY THEO WELLING

CAROLYN MCMAHON, 24TH WARD DEMOCRATIC COMMITTEEWOMAN, PHOTOGRAPHED WITH MATTHEW SISUL, 24TH WARD DEMOCRATIC COMMITTEEMAN, AT A FREE BALLOT NOTARY EVENT IN FRANZ PARK ON OCTOBER 18 riverfronttimes.com

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NO PLACE LIKE HOME

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ne of the more annoying comments people make about those living in low-income neighborhoods is “Why don’t you just move?” There are a million reasons why people don’t abandon their homes, even as they acknowledge the challenges. This week’s cover story, published in partnership with 63106 Project, is a profile of Beverly Jones who has been forced to temporarily move out of her Preservation Square apartment and is eager to return. The story is expertly reported and written by Denise Hollinshed, whose byline you might recognize from decades of work at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and it illustrates that fleeing doesn’t make everything better — for the person or the neighborhood. — Doyle Murphy, editor in chief

TABLE OF CONTENTS CAN’T

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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 Contributors Trenton Almgren-Davis, Cheryl Baehr, Eric Berger, Jeannette Cooperman, Thomas Crone, Mike Fitzgerald, Judy Lucas, Noah MacMillan, Andy Paulissen, Justin Poole, Christian Schaeffer, Theo Welling, Danny Wicentowski, Nyara Williams, Ymani Wince Columnist Ray Hartmann Interns Steven Duong, Riley Mack, Matt Woods A R T

& P R O D U C T I O N Art Director Evan Sult Editorial Layout Haimanti Germain 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 Jackie Mundy Digital Sales Manager Chad Beck Director of Public Relations Brittany Forrest

COVER Life Support

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

In the shadow of the pandemic, Beverly Jones fights to breathe... and breathe life into her community

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 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

Cover photograph

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COURTESY BEVERLY JONES Cover design by

EVAN SULT

The Riverfront Times is published weekly by Euclid Media Group | Verified Audit Member

INSIDE The Lede Hartmann News Feature Short Orders Culture Savage Love 6

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Founded by Ray Hartmann in 1977

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HARTMANN Bad Faith Josh Hawley and the art of the political lie BY RAY HARTMANN

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enator Josh Hawley is about to ma e it official that he’s a liar. Or that Judge Amy Coney Barrett is a liar. Or perhaps both. This isn’t rea ing ne s a ley is a no n commodity. ut the story is entertaining, ecause Hawley will prove himself a liar this week by having previously been willing to speak a disturbing truth. And y placing ra en partisanship a ove principle. a ley ill vote to confirm arrett as part of the epu lican arty’s historic em race of court pac ing for the .S. Supreme Court. The GOP has abandoned all

precedent and decorum in declaring arrett’s instant confirmation a national emergency, far more pressing than a pandemic. Hawley has long stated with great specificity — efore any camera or on any microphone to hich he could stampede — that he ould support only Supreme ourt nominees illing to declare pu licly that Roe v. Wade was rongly decided. ull stop. arrett fails the a ley test. She has assumed the customary position that she would never, ever allo her udicial independence to ecome compromised y something as unrelated as her lifelong commitment to ending omen’s reproductive freedom. hy, the very implication that she’d do such a thing is a igoted attac on her atholic faith, according to a ley, of all people. ut that’s another part of the story, for later. ere’s your o score arrett refuses to say Roe was wrongly decided. a ley has repeatedly said

he would vote only for a nominee who says Roe as rongly decided. a ley ill vote to confirm Barrett. Hope you enjoyed the game. Drive home safely. There shall be no suspense a out this. osco itch c onnell shattered all ugly stereotypes about turtles moving slowly by proclaiming last ee , “ e’ll go to the oor on riday the rd and stay on it until e finished. We have the votes.” One of those votes belongs to a ley. issouri’s unior senator ill proudly cast it in the name of a time honored elief — “the end ustifies the means — that President Donald J. Trump is believed to have brought home from osco along ith od no s what else) after taking his Miss niverse ageant there in to launch his presidential id. n a ley’s defense, his a andonment of any appearance of conscience is not some election eve stunt. He laid out the position

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he is reversing in no uncertain terms last July, long before Repu licans egan popping hampagne cor s ithin seconds of the ne s that ustice uth ader Ginsburg had died. ere’s hat a ley told the national media ac then, as reported by the Washington Post “ ill vote only for those Supreme Court nominees who have e plicitly ac no ledged that Roe v. Wade is rongly decided, a ley told the Washington Post’s o ert osta. “ y e plicitly acno ledged, mean on the record and before they were nominated.” a ley added, “ don’t ant private assurances from candidates. don’t ant to hear a out their personal views, one way or another. ’m not loo ing for forecasts a out ho they may vote in the future or predications. don’t want any of that. I want to see on the record, as part of their record, that they have ac no ledged in some forum that Roe v. Wade, as a

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legal matter, is wrongly decided.” Hawley added to NBC News last month: “I’m going to start by asking the question that I articulated before the Senate, which is, does this nominee — has this nominee recognized that Roe v. Wade was wrongly decided in 1973? … If they can’t beat the test, it doesn’t get further than that — I’m gonna vote no.” Of course, that was then, and this is now. The Post added that Hawley has now said Barrett does indeed satisfy his test. “There’s plenty of evidence, I think, to demonstrate that she understands that Roe is — in my words — an act of judicial imperialism,” Hawley told the paper earlier this month. “And I feel very comfortable with her on that issue.” Well, of course he’s comfortable with Barrett, because she’s lying about not being predisposed to overturn Roe. And she would seem to be lying about not having been dispatched by Trump on a political errand to dispose of the Affordable Care Act as well. Just consider the majesty of the hypocrisy herein. For decades, conservatives have demanded that judges follow the law, not make the law, and that they call balls and strikes without a whiff of judicial activism. But Hawley demanded a public commitment for a judicial vote on a matter of settled law? And he calls himself a constitutional scholar? Perhaps he should be more specific a out hich country’s constitution. Give Hawley credit for one thing: He is a political genius. Once again, he has almost hogged the political stage when the lights are brightest. Barrett will be up for the Oscar for Best Actress for falsely portraying an idealistic young judge with fealty only to the law and not anything of her extremist political side hustles. But our man Hawley deserves mention as Best Supporting Bad Actor: You can’t name a senator who has gotten more attention for himself. Hawley clearly sits among the front-runners for the Republican nomination for president in 2024, although it’s too early to read where this man of such ethical e i ility ill e positioning himself on the ideological spectrum. He’ll likely land somewhere between “far right” and “hey, these QAnon folks have a point.”

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Just consider the majesty of Hawley’s hypocrisy herein. Don’t underestimate Hawley’s ability to be whoever he needs to be. Keep in mind, this son of a banker, educated in private schools and a graduate of Stanford University and Yale Law School, has successfully marketed himself as a do n to earth lad from yover country courageously planting the ag against coastal elites. Hawley’s just “a native of smalltown Lexington, Missouri in rural Lafayette County” — as described on his senatorial campaign website — when that serves his interest. Other times, he’s a really brilliant liar. The Barrett hearings were the perfect setting for that. By way of background, Barrett was confirmed as a federal appellate udge in 7, and at her confirmation hearings, there was controversy over some Democratic senators wondering aloud about how much her Catholic faith might inform her judgment. This wasn’t exactly off topic: She had coauthored a law review article called “Catholic Judges in Catholic Cases.” One of the terrible “Democrats” raising questions was Republican Ted Cruz. That aside, Democrats knew better than to bring up the subject again in Barrett’s Supreme Court hearings. ith five atholics on the eight-member court, it’s not really a thing. That didn’t deter Hawley. “This pattern and practice of religious bigotry on the committee must stop, and it must stop now!” the senator bellowed. His passion jumped through televisions across America. In another time, the fact that the “religious bigotry” never started might have ualified this as an epic instance of a guy having the chair pulled out while trying to sit down. But not in this age, and not for this senator: Hawley’s “punishment” was a victory lap on Fox News, starring in Tucker Carlson’s never-ending grievance tour. The further Josh Hawley gets from the truth, the closer he gets to the top. n Ray Hartmann founded the Riverfront Times in 1977. Contact him at rhartmann@sbcglobal.net or catch him on St. Louis In the Know With Ray Hartmann and Jay Kanzler from 9 to 11 p.m. Monday thru Friday on KTRS (550 AM).


NEWS

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Bill Barr Brings His Bullshit to St. Louis Written by

DANNY WICENTOWSKI

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.S. Attorney General Bill Barr is something of a rare sight these days, but last Thursday he swept into a conference room in St. Louis’ federal courthouse to helm a painfully brief press conference on the law enforcement initiative known as Operation Legend. And while Barr and the assembled police officials touted the program as successful, the details they unveiled fail to provide a compelling case that federal intervention has actually changed much about a historically violent summer in St. Louis. “The first duty of government is to protect the safety of its citizens,” Barr told reporters. “That is primarily a state and local responsibility, but the federal government can make a contribution primarily in the area of guns and gangs and drugs.” Barr’s remarks on Thursday lasted less than ten minutes and he took no questions — though questions remain about a federal operation touted as leading to 650 arrests, 219 weapons seized and 274 people facing federal charges. Beyond those numbers, the only data released by Barr’s press conference took the form of a single poster printed with crime statistics. It compared the eight weeks of St. Louis’ violent crime prior to August 13, when the St. Louis expansion of Operation Legend was announced, to an eight week-period that ended October 8. At the top of the poster was its gaudiest stat: A 49 percent drop in homicides, from 79 in the first eight weeks of summer to 40 in the following eight. It was this detail that Barr highlighted in his own remarks, along with a 38 percent drop in rape and 17 percent drop in aggravated assaults. Indeed, it looks like a sig-

U.S. Attorney Bill Barr came to St. Louis to claim success in the war on crime, and wouldn’t answer any questions. | DANNY WICENTOWSKI nificant outcome. At least, that’s how Barr presented it. “The federal government can bring to the table more than just additional resources,” he said, noting that the agencies have powers to detain “dangerous people” before trial in ways not available to local and state police. Barr added, “It’s the strength of the federal system that really makes a difference.” But it doesn’t take a room full of state and federal law enforcement officials to see that something is wrong with the supposed accomplishments of Operation Legend. The data presented is a careful statistical construction that is contradicted both in format and content by the city’s own homicide numbers. And while Barr attempted to use those numbers as a PR win at a time when he could really use one, the real story here is the off-the-charts, gut-wrenching number of murders that have hit St. Louis this year. So, no: The city’s homicides were not “cut” by 49 percent after Operation Legend came to town, as was suggested by Barr and the headline in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Not even close. It’s worth noting how uncommon it is to present a crime data comparison within the same year,

as Barr’s team did in order to get to that 49 percent figure. The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department’s monthly reports on crime and homicides are formatted for easy comparison over multiple years, and that’s how meaningful trends are identified — such as how the monthly homicide count typically drops in the latter part of the summer, just as it did in 2020. But 2020 is no typical year, and that’s where Barr’s team probably ran into trouble when they sat down to jostle some positive news out of their available data. Let’s stay with the supposed 49 percent “cut” in homicides. First off, it cannot be overstated how bloody the summer has been for St. Louis. Much of that blood was shed in June and July, which had a combined 85 homicides, roughly double the death toll recorded in even the most violent summers in St. Louis’ recent past. In August, when Operation Legend deployed federal agents to the area, the month ended with 29 homicides. September added 22. To date, those four months account for 68 percent of the year’s entire homicide count, which, at 211 killings, has already overtaken 2017 as St. Louis’ bloodiest year in nearly three decades — and there’s still two months to go. In 2017, the

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same four months accounted for 42 percent of its 205 total homicides; in 2019, the number was even lower, equalling just 26 percent of the year’s 194 killings. Simply put, 2020 is in a category of its own. Not only is the relative drop in homicides in the latter part of the summer consistent with trends in previous years, but the claim that 40 homicides over eight weeks is a success requires a suspension of memory (and information) of how uniquely bad things are. The numbers also caught the notice of St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner. “Attorney General Barr,” she tweeted after the press conference, “Let me clear my throat..! Did I hear you say since Project LeGend the #STL homicide rate is down by 49%? What data are you looking at? Bogus, short-term gerrymandered stats — insulting to the people of the City of St. Louis.” Even when you have all the stats, the causes of homicide spikes resist easy explanation. In 2017, an uncommonly violent November pushed what was a more “normal” year of murders beyond the 200 mark; a search of the Post-Dispatch newspaper archives going back decades shows headlines touting

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homicide rates “on pace” for a new record, only for the killings to wane with a change in the season. None of this mattered to Barr, who launched Operation Legend this summer at a time when federal agents were running wild in Portland, snatching protesters off the streets in unmarked vans and clobbering demonstrators under the guise of protecting federal property. President Donald Trump, who has insisted the “suburbs” are in danger from antifa and Black Lives Matter, promised a surge of federal officers in Democratic-run cities to restore “law and order.” Operation Legend, named after a murdered four-year-old boy in Kansas City, launched shortly after. The problem isn’t that Operation Legend failed to conclusively reverse St. Louis’ terrible homicide spike — that would be an unreasonable expectation that no one, not the police, prosecutors or politicians, would be able to meet. But this incoherency has followed Operation Legend since Barr announced its Missouri expansion in July, when he claimed that, in

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just two weeks, federal agents in Kansas City had made 200 arrests. That wasn’t true. At the time, Operation Legend had accounted for just a single arrest. Barr would later admit to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler that he “misspoke” about the 200 arrests; he had actually been referencing arrests from a previous federal operation not connected to Operation Legend, one that had ended with the arrival of the pandemic. During the judiciary hearing, Nadler told Barr that Operation Legend “appears to be little more than a repackaging of existing operations in these cities” and questioned the attorney general on his role: “Why join the president at the White House to announce a bold new operation that appears to be neither bold nor new?” And yet, on August 18, barely one week after Operation Legend arrived in St. Louis, Barr and his federal prosecutors seemingly tried to spin the same claim. This time, though, they didn’t spin an impressive arrest total, but a single high profile case The press release credited Operation Legend with the arrests of Sweetie Pie’s Tim Norman and an exotic dancer in connection to a 2016 murder-for-hire

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The city’s homicides were not “cut” by 49 percent after Operation Legend came to town, as was suggested by Barr and the PostDispatch headline. Not even close. plot that killed Norman’s nephew. The charges made national news. The public showing made Operation Legend look good, but they didn’t e actly fit ith the facts The criminal complaint against the exotic dancer, Terica Ellis, had een filed under seal in uly, more than a month before Operation Legend arrived in St. Louis; the St. Louis police had been investigating the killing since 2016. Once again, as Nadler had sug-

gested, Operation Legend appeared to be repackaging existing police operations already closing in on their targets. But it worked. Operation Legend had a win. Election years call for bold stances and new victories. On Thursday, Barr accomplished both for his boss with just a few minutes of platitudes and a minimum of scrutiny. Still, the optics ere a ing To arr’s left sat St. Louis police Chief John Hayden. Across the room sat St. Louis County police Chief Mary Barton. The chairs around them were occupied by senior federal and state la enforcement officers, each with decades of knowledge and understanding about what fighting violent crime in St. ouis means, and what it doesn’t. And yet, the public got a canned speech from Barr praising a program with numbers that only look good if you don’t think about them very hard. The public was given a poster board of statistics, a silent witness standing in the corner of the room, unaddressed and une plained efore aides shu ed reporters away. Meanwhile, the murders continue in St. Louis. The spike keeps spiking. But at least Barr didn’t have to answer any questions. n


Fake Priest Focus of New Podcast Written by

DANNY WICENTOWSKI

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he saga of a self-proclaimed priest who spent several years in Missouri — where he was accused of stealing from his followers — is the subject of a new podcast that features a rare on-the-record interview with Ryan Scott-Gevelinger. Gevelinger, who goes by “Father Ryan,” has traversed a dizzying history of identities and angles. The podcast, Smokescreen: Fake Priest, reaches deep into the mysteries at the center of this con man’s ability to avoid the legal consequences for his actions. The series follows the 30-year trail of criminal charges, victims, news reports and church communications. Along the way, it tells the story of a person whose facade of ultra-traditional Catholicism attracted a loyal group of elderly women, “nuns” who followed him across the country while bankrolling his churches and lavish spending habits that, at one point, even included maintaining a herd of llamas. At the center of the series is the question frequently repeated, in tones of exasperation, by host Alex Schuman: Why isn’t this guy in jail? “You go into a con story knowing that it’s about people being tricked, but you realize how emotional and deep it was, how personal some of these crimes are,” says Schuman, an investigative reporter from central Iowa. Schuman spent years investigating ather yan efore finally meeting him in person for an interview last month, during which the fake priest insisted that he’d been secretly ordained but, crucially, also admitted that he’d been previously kicked out of seminary. espite the holes in his onafides, Father Ryan has never seemed to lack for followers. Even with decades of public denouncements from church officials across the country, including those in the dioceses in Jefferson City and St. Louis, he al ays managed to find people willing to support his lifestyle. “You realize how emotional and deep it was,” Schuman says, describing the power Father

Father Ryan and his attorney in 2015 in Fayette, Iowa. | COURTESY OF THE COURIER/DENNIS MAGEE

“You hear so many people tell you, in such deep, emotional, honest ways, how much they believed in him. You feel like you’re listening to victims of emotional abuse, to survivors.” Ryan seemed to have over those who believed in him. “You hear so many people tell you, in such deep, emotional, honest ways, how much they believed in him. It’s strange. You feel like you’re listening to victims of emotional abuse, to survivors.” The podcast attempts to track Father Ryan’s activities in the years before he wound up in the Show-Me State. In a 2016 cover story, the Riverfront Times chronicled the fake priest’s arrival in the tiny town of Armstrong, Missouri, where he attempted to establish yet another church. Instead, things got very, very weird, as Father Ryan and his elderly nuns eventually attracted the suspicion of a retired dentist-turned-sheriff’s-deputy named Russ Harrison.

Father Ryan in the 1970s before beginning his life as a fake priest. | COURTESY JOHN BROWN At first, arrison had een a friend and believer in Father Ryan’s ministry, but he’d eventually file a report outlining his allegations of financial e ploitation involving one of the church’s nuns. Harrison’s report led to Father Ryan’s arrest, but the charges for financial e ploitation ould ultimately be dropped once the nun in question refused to testify against Father Ryan, to whom she’d already given $80,000. The only criminal charge that stuck was for felon in possession of a firearm, for hich ather Ryan pleaded guilty and was sentenced to five years’ pro ation in . n 994, as the finance director of Edgerton, Wisconsin, Father Ryan had been convicted for felony misconduct in pu lic office for cashing a $30 check for $300.)

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But the fake priest didn’t simply disappear. ne year later, he filed a federal lawsuit against Harrison and the Howard County Sheriff’s epartment. The filing accused Harrison of making “many sexual advances, many times on Fr. Ryan” and conspiring to “destroy” the church through the criminal investigation. According to court records, the parties settled the lawsuit in 2017 for $92,750. However, Father Ryan is currently suing his attorney and private investigator over their cut of the settlement, which, after legal fees and expenses, left just over $2,000 for the plaintiff. That private investigator, John Brown, is a former academic with a Ph.D. in horticulture. He’s also a ey figure in ather yan’s almost-downfall. Brown had been drawn into Father Ryan’s orbit through a friendship with Harrison, and in 2016, when the RFT first intervie ed ro n, he’d already begun working for Father Ryan’s legal defense. At the time, he maintained that the holy man was being unfairly persecuted for his beliefs. Brown wasn’t just a true believer in Father Ryan. He maintained that the real con ict that had u bled over in Armstrong wasn’t between a deputy and a priest, ut a fight aged on the spiritual attlefield. ro n elieved there was a literal demonic possession in the octagonal church where Father Ryan had established the “abbey.” It was a strange contention but one that Brown went to great lengths to substantiate, even hiring a team of “paranormal investigators” to evaluate the church for signs of the devil. Reached by phone, Brown tells RFT that he remains convinced of one thing The supernatural in uence on the case. “There were demons in that church,” he insists, “even if you don’t believe it.” But in the intervening years (and subsequent lawsuit) Brown has changed his mind about Father Ryan. He now says that he regrets his role in defending the fake priest, including his decision to pay more than $5,000 in court costs to keep the then-criminally-charged Father Ryan out of prison in 2015. “I should have never paid that money — he should have gone to prison,” Brown says. “I believed Father Ryan, I believed what he said, and I believed he was a priest. Right now he’s still asking for donations. He’s still conning people.” Property records show that Father Ryan now lives in northern Illinois, in Savanna. He continues to present himself as a priest. n

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Action St. Louis Gets People to Vote

Councilwoman by Day, Children’s Book Author by Night Written by

RILEY MACK

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Written by

MATT WOODS

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ction St. Louis’s #WokeVoterSTL campaign has reached out to 23,000 St. Louis residents to help register and educate them on ballot issues for the upcoming general election. The goal is to expand that number to 50,000 by election day on November 3. The grassroots racial justice organization’s executive director Kayla Reed says registration and mobilization are the two keys to the campaign’s mission in a collective effort to fight for the interests of the community. Started by Ferguson activists, Action St. Louis has become a political force in recent years. Its work on the Close The Workhouse campaign led to St. Louis aldermen passing a plan earlier this year to close the Medium Security Institution in St. Louis, and it’s been active in major local races. Its #WokeVoterSTL campaign launched in 2016 as a year-round effort to get more more people engaged in the political process, work that has included hosting candidate debates and voter drives. The campaign focuses on majority Black areas in St. Louis, aiming to provide education to “build community power and strengthen black political participation in local, state and federal elections.” The nonpartisan voting effort aims to educate voters about ballot races beyond president and vice president, Reed says. Reed highlights the importance of the governor and secretary of state races for this year’s election, two races in which the Republican incumbents face strong challengers. Missouri Governor Mike Parson is challenged by State Auditor Nicole Galloway, the Democratic nominee. Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft faces St. Louisan Yinka Faleti, a West Point graduate who served as executive director of Forward Through Ferguson. Reaching out to speak with residents means knocking on people’s doors and making phone calls.

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Kayla Reed is the executive director of Action St. Louis. | DOYLE MURPHY

VOTING RITES

PART 2 OF AN ONGOING SERIES The canvassers hit 8,000 homes and the callers made 15,000 dials as of the first ee of this month. Reed says her team centralizes most of its efforts in neighborhoods in north city, north county, Jennings and some areas of south St. Louis. Washington University’s Center for Social Development Director of Voter Access and Engagement Gena Gunn McClendon says it is harder to vote in many Black and poor communities in St. Louis than non lac and a uent areas. McClendon authored a September 2019 report titled “Will I be Able to Cast My Ballot?”, which studied poll locations in the November 2018 election based on race and poverty level. Results showed that an area’s racial makeup was associated with voting process issues. Longer lines, higher frequency of machine breakdowns and less accessibility for people with disabilities are a few forms of voter suppression the study outlines. “I can’t say there’s a particular reason that it happens, but it happens,” McClendon says. Race alone does not explain voter suppression. Low income also plays a role in which polling places function well and which ones don’t. In 2018, nearly 27 percent

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of the city’s Black population lived in poverty according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The white poverty rate in St. Louis stood at about 7 percent for the same year. McClendon says it is too early to tell if voting conditions have gotten better in St. Louis because a major election has not taken place since the 2018 study. One thing McClendon says the city improved upon is its openness to receiving assistance from community organizations that want to help people vote. McClendon says she hopes that organizations like Action St. Louis can help create a culture of voting. The people voted into office, she says, have a direct impact on community issues like safe streets and minimum wage. McClendon points to the youth of the Action St. Louis team as an advantage in the fight for voter access. “The work that I do may not connect with a 25-year-old,” McClendon says. “But what Action St. Louis is doing is more likely to connect with a younger person.” Reed says Action St. Louis will continue the #WokeVoterSTL campaign through election day on November 3. McClendon says she hopes the conversation can continue after the election so local organizations can continue to work together. Reed says a perfect scenario for this year’s election would be better voter turnout, residents using mail-in and absentee voting and preventing COVID-19 as best as possible. n

hen Aja La’Starr Owens, 39, wakes up in the morning in her Jennings home, a long day of serving her community awaits her. Whether it’s her position as a councilwoman for the city of Jennings, a director for various community groups or as a children’s book author, Owens is dedicated to making her hometown a better place. Jennings is not an easy city. The median household income of $32,383 is 40 percent lower than that of the state, and the violent crime rate is among the worst in north St. Louis County. Owens is one of the many who are dedicated to change this narrative of her city.

“Growing up in our family was like the ‘village mentality.’ Everybody played a part in our upbringing.” For her, it all started when she returned home after graduating college. “I started really paying attention. All these abandoned homes used to have families living in them,” she says. “When I realized it’s not like that anymore, I thought to myself ‘What more can I do?’” Running for office was never the plan for her. As an artist, she couldn’t imagine herself in a political career — until 2019. Owens decided that a creative mind may be exactly what her city needed. Voters agreed; Owens defeated longtime councilwoman Carol Epps to represent Jennings’ fourth ward. A year later, Owens spends her days dealing with the nuisances in hopes of making everyday life better for Jennings’ residents. Whether it’s traffic, neighbor noise levels, stray dogs, dumped trash, or unmanned lawns, Owens is able to work one-on-one with her community to fix problems around the city. With the rest of her day, she gives workshops on trauma and well-


Jennings Councilwoman and children’s book author Aja La’Starr Owens. | COURTESY OF AJA LA’STARR OWENS ness to residents as part of her work with nonprofit organizations. “When it comes to me personally,” she says, “I guess I’m last.” Even after her workday has ended, Owens still has her community at the back of her mind. What originally started as a stress reliever after long days at work, has now become a career for Owens. In her “free time,” Owens writes children’s books, filled with stories about kids of all different backgrounds. She particularly believes it’s important to highlight the experiences of kids of color, who don’t typically see themselves represented in media. The subject matter for the books is directly inspired by Owens’ childhood in Jennings and the family that supported her in creating them. “Growing up in our family was like the ‘village mentality,’” she says. “Everybody played a part in our upbringing; it was all about being kind and respectful to people.” Watching her mom cook dinners for families in need and visit patients in the hospital is where Owens says she learned her compassion. “That was the root of who I am. It was how I learned how to be of service to others,” she says. Owens similarly learned from the hardships of living in Jennings. “Sometimes in our community, we experienced trauma,” she says. “We always were able to use our writing as an escape.” “I’ve seen some of the conditions that kids are exposed to, and they’re around a lot of trauma. When I think about my community, especially right now, we’re in an area where there’s a lot of crime, abuse, neglect, homelessness,” she says, “When I consider the stories I write, I have those kids in mind.” Owens’ first children’s book, Rock What You Got, is based on a poem she

Rock What You Got was Owens’ first children’s book. | COURTESY OF AJA LA’STARR OWENS wrote for herself about loving the skin she was in, a story that has resonated with many of the children who read it, she says. “I’ve dealt with depression and mental health issues, so it was an affirmation poem that I wrote for myself to love who I am — to tell myself to embrace my differences,” she says. Today, Owens has published eleven books. Knowing that purchasing them may be a barrier for some children, Owens and her sister have donated copies to shelters and daycares around the city. They want to assure that any child that needs the stories’ message will receive it. “It’s really important to me to pour back into the very community that poured into me,” she says. No matter how she applies herself in serving her city, Owens works every day to make this vision a reality. “Jennings will always hold a special place in my heart,” she says, “We’re warriors — that’s our mascot. We really hold true to that.” n

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ta c o w e e k official passport

Hacienda Mexican Restaurant

Chicken Mole

A savory chicken mole taco in a corn tortilla, topped with fresh lettuce, Mexican cheese, and thinly sliced radishes, alongside a chicken tinga taco topped with fresh lettuce, Mexican cheese, and tomatoes. With a side of our traditional Spanish rice. 9748 Manchester Rd, St. Louis | haciendastl.com | (314) 962-7100

The Wood Shack Soulard

carnitas

Pulled pork taco with Baja slaw, chimichurri, cotija cheese, pickled jalapeño 1862 S 10th St, St. Louis | thewoodshacksoulard.com | (314) 833-4770

Carnivore

FAJITA STEAK TACO

Grilled steak sautéed with peppers, onions, mushrooms, topped with cheddar, Housemade Salsa and sour cream

FRIED CHICKEN TACO

Hand-breaded chicken, fried and topped with housemade pico, cheddar and our fresh Sriracha aioli 5257 Shaw Ave, St. Louis | carnivore-stl.com | (314) 449-6328

J. Smugs Gastro Pit

Philly Cheesesteak

Smoked brisket, bell peppers, onion, mushrooms, provel, sour cream

The Blue Duck

Barbacoa pork taco

With fried corn, chipotle crema, marinated cabbage, cotija, cilantro on corn tortillas. 2661 Sutton Blvd, Maplewood | blueduckstl.com | (314) 769-9940

El Toluco Taqueria & Grocery

Pick 2 for $5

Al Pastor pork - made with secret ingredients Carnitas pork - tender shredded pork Carne asada steak - served with our tasty tender mix of sirloin and ribeye 6 inch soft corn tortilla shell doubly wrapped with cilantro and onions 14234 Manchester Rd, Ballwin | eltolucotaqueria.com | (636) 686-5444

Red Knot Culinary

Duck Confit “Carnitas” taco

With duck fat flour tortillas, lime crema, cotija, salsa verde, pickled red onions, radish, and cilantro 4127 Manchester Avenue, St. Louis | red-knot-culinary.square.site | (314)-201-3344

Bootleggin’ BBQ Tavern

Soft tacos

With either smoked pulled pork or smoked chicken topped with bbq sauce, lettuce, tomato, onion, and cheese. Package deal! Get 4 plus a quart of margaritas for $25 1933 Washington Ave, St. Louis | bootlegginbbq.com | (314) 405-2020

Alambre Taco

Shrimp, ground brisket, grilled jalapeños & onions, mozzarella, parmesan cheese

Chipotle Chicken Tinga

Smoked chicken with sautéed onions smothered in chipotle sauce, queso fresco 4916 Shaw Ave, St. Louis | jsmugsgastropit.com | (314) 499-7488

Taco Circus

Two taco combo

One chicken thigh al carbon and one Al pastor both on corn or flour tortilla, cilantro, onion, 2 tacos for 5.00 4940 Southwest Ave, St. Louis | www.tacocircus.com | (314) 899-0061

Taco Buddha

Taco al Pastor

Grilled chile & pineapple-marinated pork, grilled pineapple & red onion, slaw, cotija, cilantro, and corn tortillas

Jackfruit Taco al Pastor

Jackfruit braised in chiles and pineapple, grilled pineapple & red onion, slaw, cotija, cilantro, and corn tortillas 7405 Pershing Ave, University City | tacobuddha.com | (314) 502-9951

BLT ‘s (Breakfast Lunch and Tacos)

2 BBQ chicken tacos

Chicken, robust sweet hickory bbq sauce, sharp cheddar, cilantro, pico on flour tortillas

Seoul Taco

Choice of 2 Tacos for $5

Protein options include chicken, spicy pork, bulgogi steak, and tofu. Tacos are made with sesame vinaigrette salad mix, green onions, crushed sesame seeds, Seoul sauce, and a wedge of lime. 6665 Delmar Blvd, St. Louis | (314) 863-1148, 46 Four Seasons Shopping Center, Chesterfield | (314) 548- 6868, 4099 Chouteau Ave, St. Louis | (314) 925-8101 | seoultaco.com

2 Hipster Tacos

Black beans, sweet potatoes, cotija cheese, avocado topped with lime aioli on corn tortilla (vegetarian or vegan without cheese and aioli) Both $5 dine-in and $5.50 carry-out 626 N 6th St, St. Louis | stlblts.com | (314) 925-8505

Alpha Brewing Company

pork chili verde street tacos

Pit Stop

Made with in house pickled green tomato salsa 4310 Fyler Ave, St. Louis | alphabrewingcompany.com | (314) 621-2337

Pork belly taco

Pickled onion, bell peppers, sweet spicy sauce

El Burro Loco

Tofu taco

Crispy Tofu, purple cabbages, carrots, cashew cream

Salmon taco

Grilled salmon, tomato pico, green salsa 2130 Macklind Ave, St. Louis | pitstop-stl.com | (314) 696-2999

Steak taco

Made with corn tortilla, onion, and cilantro served with rice and beans. 313 N Euclid Ave, St. Louis | elburroloco.org | (314) 224-5371

Sunny’s Cantina

El Burro Loco Downtown ‘La Bamba’

Steak taco

Made with corn tortilla, onion, and cilantro served with rice and beans. 1101 Lucas Ave, St. Louis | elburroloco.net | (314) 833-3211

Bobbo’s Tacos Food Truck

Klassic K

Our signature taco bursting with nuanced flare. grilled flank steak topped with a carrot, cabbage, onion and mint slaw.

Kung Fu

Our little vegan fighter looking for revenge from the carnivores who said they would “never.” grilled tofu, candied jackfruit, pickled carrots, and Bobbo’s green sauce. bobbosstacos.com | (314) 285-8872

OG Palmas

Mushroom street taco

Cilantro, onion, seared cheese, roasted guajillo sauce 7356 Manchester Rd, St. Louis | oglaspalmas.com | (314) 645-3364

Diablitos Cantina

2-taco plate with rice and beans.

Guests can choose which tacos they’d like. Happy hour is 3-6 Tues-Friday featuring 1/2 price snacks and Margarita specials. 3919 West Pine, St. Louis | diablitoscantina.com | (314) 535-9700

Amigos Cantina

White fish filet

Seasoned with our own spicy rub, seared, topped with our zesty yogurt sauce 120 W Jefferson Ave, Kirkwood | amigoskirkwood.com | (314) 821-0877

Taqueria Z

Chicken or papas and poblano

2 tacos with rice and beans 109 E. Park St. Edwardsville | taqueriaz.com | (618)-307-5018

Cantina Laredo

Tacos al Pastor

(2 tacos served with rice) Savory, spicy and a little bit sweet. Slow roasted pork seasoned with peppers, fruit juices and spices served on soft corn tortillas. Topped with a traditional mix of onions, cilantro, and pineapple and a lime wedge. Served with our cilantro lime rice. 7710 Forsyth Blvd, Clayton | cantinalaredo.com | (314) 725-2447

Alta Calle

Fish taco

Beer battered tilapia fish, served in a flour tortilla, topped with chipotle mayo, slaw, pico de gallo and homemade fresh cheese 3131 S Grand Blvd, St. Louis | altacallestl.com | (314) 282-0840

The Taco & Ice Cream Joint

Michoacán style carnitas

Spicy, juicy carnitas cooked for 4 hours in Manteca de Puerco, with jalapenos, pickled onions, and guac, on a corn tortilla served with an El Jimador Margarita 2738 Cherokee St, St. Louis | facebook.com/tacoandicecreamjoint | (314) 224-5799

Sunny Pastor

Braised pork, sweet and spicy pineapple pico, cumin crema, queso fresco, and green onions on a corn tortilla 6655 Manchester Ave, St. Louis | sunnyscantina.com | (314) 944-8226

Presented by

$5 taco plates across the bi-state

Fo r m o r e in fo

or f ull list of r estaurants, visit st ltacoweek .com 14

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Beverly Jones is eager to return to the neighborhood that has supported her. | COURTESY BEVERLY JONES

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In the shadow of the pandemic, Beverly Jones fights to breathe... and to breathe life into her community

LIFE SUPPORT BY DENISE HOLLINSHED

B

everly Jones can hardly wait to get back to the neighborhood that she knows and loves. It’s a neighborhood that’s hard to love and in the time of the pandemic even more difficult. Jones had been a long-time resident of reservation S uare in St. ouis’s . The ipcode ta es in a couple of s uare miles north and west of downtown and is home to , people. is iconic among social scientists, ut not in a good ay. t has een identified as having the worst social determinants of health in the region. A study conducted earlier in this decade through a colla oration involving researchers at Washington University and St. ouis niversity sho ed the average life expectancy for a child orn in as 7 years old. That’s eighteen years less than the anticipated life span in — layton, the St. ouis ounty seat, hich is made up largely of a uent hite families. f course, this research came before the pandemic and before a crime spike this year that has stricken many neigh orhoods in . Aggravated assaults in ere up percent in the period since 9 arrived, according to an analysis of St. ouis olice crime data.

This story is part of the 63106 Project and was produced in partnership with the Pulitzer Center. Additional support was provided by the St. Louis Press Club. ones is 7 years old. She suffers from lupus, fi romyalgia, osteoarthritis, and perhaps most significantly , a lung disease that makes it hard for Jones to breathe through a mas . So at times she has rolled the wellness dice and simply gone ithout one. She has other orries as ell. T o of her children and a grandchild are in prison here they are vulnera le to 9. And she no has had in her care a grandson, age t elve, and a granddaughter, si teen, ho are struggling ith having their mom and older brother in prison. n all, ones is mom to four daughters, and grandma to seventeen, plus t o great grand ids. “ don’t have time to e sic , Jones said when we visited last month, “ ecause am helping every ody else. ut no she has ta en ill. ast ee , ones te ted to say she had been feeling poorly and that a test that she took last week revealed that she has een infected 9. As of this riting she is uarantining. er granddaughter is ith her, and her grandson is living ith a cousin for the time being.

The three of them had een living in a safer neighborhood while renovations ere under ay in ones’s su sidi ed housing community in reservation S uare, which is managed by McCormack aron Sala ar S . The hiatus might have been a good time for ones to apply to stay put at the orth Sarah Apartments, another MBS complex near the city’s trendy and posh Central West End and Grand Center Arts District. There she has a t o story, three bedroom townhome with access to ashers and dryers, a fitness center, computer stations and a community room. Or she might have considered moving out of the city altogether. ut, no, ones has een hell ent on returning to . t’s the place where she raised her children, here she came to grips ith her drug addiction, then got clean with help from a neighborhood agency, race ill Settlement ouse. She cele rated years of so riety in uly . ithin she found or helping others in her community, first as a volunteer, ut then slo ly or ing her way into better paying positions at race ill. A supervisor encouraged ones, a ormandy igh School graduate, class of ’ , to continue her schooling. So at night she hit the books. She

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earned an associate’s degree in human services and a certificate of proficiency in criminal ustice at St. ouis ommunity ollege in . She ent on to a achelor’s degree at Fontbonne University in , then three years later, earned a master’s degree in usiness management at Fontbonne. Jones got laid off at Grace Hill in , and her illnesses have limited her, ut she has found other ays to serve, or ing most recently at MERS Goodwill and with o orps, a training program for disadvantaged youths. ones served full time for five years with Job Corps and now works there on a part-time basis helping clients with career development. “She has such a road ac ground and e periences, says evelyn uthrie, residential living manager with Job Corps. Her a ility “to get up every day and invest in people is phenomenal. Jones observes that many social service workers come into her neighborhood with good intentions, ut they live else here. They cannot possi ly have the insights she has to serve her community. So she feels it’s especially important to return, even as many residents are looking for a way out. ncluding a neigh or ho is

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LIFE SUPPORT Continued from pg 15

also portrayed in this 63106 storytelling project, Kim Daniel.) Jones is realistic about the challenges in Preservation Square but believes there is a core of great people who will continue to have her back as she has had theirs. “We take care of each other,” Jones says of her neighbors. “If I left town, went on vacation, my neighbors looked out for my place. They made sure my doors were locked. If I had mail being dropped off y the post office or UPS or FedEx, I know my neighbors would take care of my package, and I knew that I would have it when I got home.” Jones started the tenant association at Preservation Square Place in 2016 so that she and other tenants would be kept informed of the changes that were being made at the apartment complex as part of the rehab project. Now she has something more to keep her eye on. With the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency breaking ground last fall on a $1.7 billion facility on 97 acres in 63106, there’s hope the surrounding neighborhood will blossom along with it. But Jones is skeptical about the good intentions of the federal government, the city and redevelopers. “I’ve heard so many things about the new NGA site coming and you know it’s going to be a different neighborhood” when the facility opens in 2025, Jones says. “But then on the ip side of that coin ’ve also heard that what they want to do is get rid of a lot of the people who are currently there, and then bring new people in with new development, new housing, new opportunities. But why not for the people who already live there?”

Never Perfect, But Ever Savvy

Jones has devoted all of her professional life to focusing on families and young people. Her admirers say she has put countless youths back on the right track or kept them heading in the right direction. And yet, as noted, two of her own children are in prison, along with a grandson. That would be Danielle Jones Mack, 35, who has served over a decade in prison for murder. Jones’ eldest, Linda Bradley, 41, is at the St. Louis City Justice Center where she awaits a sentencing hearing on a gun violation. Grandson Michael Whitney, 24, is serving time at the acific orrectional Center for vehicle theft and assault against a law enforcement

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officer. ones’s t o other daughters are solid citizens. Patricia Ballard, 37, is a homemaker and raising four children with her husband in a home not far from Jones. Her youngest, Anita, 29, lives in Dellwood with her child and attends nursing school aiming to be a licensed practical nurse. Jones acknowledges she could have been a much better mom to her kids, though she adds that her children should also be accountable and own up to their own mistakes. Everybody needs to be accountable for what they have done, she believes. She would never blame her parents. Jones’s father Lawrence Jones worked most of his life as a skycap and while now fragile remains a doting grandfather, great-grandfather and great-great grandfather. Her mother Berniece, who died in 2013, raised their eight children, setting an example for them. “My mother was beautiful. She dressed nice. When she put herself together, it was like, ‘Wow, I want to do that, too.’” In the 1970s, the couple moved from the city to a nice home in the county and gave young Beverly and her siblings every opportunity to fit in at hat ere then reasonably good public schools in the Normandy School District. But young Beverly was ever curious, restless and entrepreneurial. Unfortunately, in the early going she took those attributes in the wrong direction. “I guess my mom would say that I’ve been an adult my entire life. It was always: Why this? Why that? ith me. al ays tried to figure out hat fit me. ot ust doing hat you’re supposed to do — playing jacks and jump rope, cheerleading, majorettes, drum major. That never worked for me. My mother was a homemaker. But that’s not what I wanted for my life.” Jones started dating and smoking marijuana at thirteen, became a mom at fifteen and started selling joints at school at sixteen. Later, she would both sell and use more potent narcotics, including PCP, which she called “an elephant tranquilizer.” Jones never married, and at the age of eighteen, she began living with her boyfriend. She had her second daughter at age twenty, in 1983, third daughter in 1985 and her fourth daughter in 1991. She would live off and on with her common-law husband for 20 to 25 years. They are no longer together. During the time she used, Jones says, her home became a drug house where her clients would buy and use their drugs. She would drop her children off with


Beverly Jones, center, at a social justice conference in Jefferson City. | COURTESY BEVERLY JONES her mother, and say, “I’ll be back.” “Did I ever get in trouble?” Jones says. “Yes, I did. I was never perfect, but I learned how to be savvy very early. Was it always legal? Of course it wasn’t, but am I ashamed of it? No, I’m not, because that makes me who I am right now. I think that’s why I like working with young people, because we put so much on them and we don’t even realize it as adults that their minds are somewhere else. And we want them to do this. Well that doesn’t fit every ody. “I look at myself now and say I have the best of both worlds and put it together. I go to work. I make money. I do stuff in my community. I know what I want to present to the world.” In the meantime, she has been struggling to hold her family together. Jones says her grandchildren have not enjoyed living with her. They are unhappy with the rules Jones has in her home, such as keeping their rooms clean, doing chores and abiding by curfews she sets when they go out. “They don’t like me because I make them responsible for what they do,” she says. “They are making choices on their own, but they are not going to get their way. That’s not the way it is done.” Jones says they are unsettled by the fact that both their mother and brother are locked up. “They don’t like it at all,” she says softly. “They don’t talk about it.” Her granddaughter is a student at Soldan and has been schooling at home, and her grandson is back in the classroom at Carr Lane Middle. He has been struggling with behavioral issues that Jones says are difficult to handle. hen his mother encountered her own

struggles, her son was placed in foster care. “I got him out of the foster care system when he was two or three,” Jones says. He may soon have to go back to foster care if the behavioral issues continue. “I think they need counseling to get their frustrations off because it doesn’t work well on me,” she says. “They have built up anger, and they are acting out in every way imaginable, and I’m supposed to accept it. Life is not made up like that. There’s consequences for everybody.” At times, she feels the weight of other people’s expectations — real or imagined. It makes her bristle. “This is the time I’m supposed to have for myself, but I’m focused on what I have to do for them. I am supposed to be past this stuff.” Jones says not being able to visit her incarcerated children and grandchild has een difficult. “That drives me crazy,” she says. “I can only wait for a phone call. Heaven knows that I want to know what they are up to.” Her anxiety ratchets up when she thinks about her grandson, Michael, who has been battling a form of leukemia, though he is now in remission. If he gets CO, she fears it might finish him.

The Unifier

Pamela Meanes, an attorney with Thompson Coburn, one of St. Louis’s sil stoc ing la firms, met Jones in 2014 at one of the protests over the police shooting of Michael Brown. Meanes appreciated her assertive manner and saw that so many people were looking to her for guidance or her assent. “ found her to e a unifier, Continued on pg 18

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LIFE SUPPORT Continued from pg 17

Meanes says. “I saw leaders seek her out.” As did Meanes when she became president of the National Bar Association, a nearly century-old organization of predominately AfricanAmerican attorneys and judges. Meanes was seeking connections with protesters to help the cause hile eeping a lo profile. “Beverly to me was a conduit because of her commitment and her continued desire to see change in the region,” Meanes says. The National Bar Association took a stand and questioned how the grand jury weighed the evidence that concluded that Darren Wilson should not be indicted in the shooting death of Michael Brown. Meanes says you would never know that Jones had her own troubles haunting her during that time. “Beverly never placed her burdens on anyone else,” Meanes says. “Most people didn’t know.” “I think she used it as fuel to make her go stronger,” she says. In the meantime, Jones is in a holding pattern dealing with COVID-19, and waiting and waiting on c ormac aron Sala ar to finish renovations so she can move back

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Beverly Jones’s family during a reunion about five years ago. | COURTESY BEVERLY JONES to Preservation Square to advocate for her friends and neighbors. “That neighborhood is important to me,” she says. “I want to be a part of the reason why it comes back.” Denise Hollinshed served as a crime reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch for 21 years until retiring in 2019. In her work, she has

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specialized in writing stories that go beyond crime to examining root causes, such as poverty and social determinants of health. Before Ferguson Beyond Ferguson, a nonprofit racial equity project, is telling the story of families in 63106 one by one over the course of the pandemic. This is the first chap-

ter in Beverly Jones’ life. Reporter Denise Hollinshed will be following the challenges she faces until the pandemic abates. The Riverfront Times has published other stories as part of the project and so have other St. Louis media. You can find an archive of the stories at https:// beforefergusonbeyondferguson. org/63106-project/


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CULTURE

[TOO SOON]

R.I.P. Kim Massie Remembering a St. Louis blues and soul legend Written by

JAIME LEES

K

im Massie has gone up to play the big gig in the sky, and we St. Louisans are heartbroken. Local social media accounts lit up last week as the news of her passing spread across town. Massie was St. Louis’ best and most celebrated blues diva. She was not only one hell of a singer, she was also a born entertainer who interacted with her audience in unique and fabulous ways. Massie could have you laughing at a dirty joke and then crush you with the power of her voice all within a few minutes. She was magical. She was magnetic. And she was ours. Her musical home away from home, Beale on Broadway, closed abruptly early last year after serving for nearly two decades in St. Louis’ famed “blues triangle” alongside fellow Broadway mainstays Broadway Oyster Bar and BB’s Jazz, Blues and Soups. Not only did Massie play the last-ever show at Beale on Broadway, she held court there twice a week for nearly twenty years as she built up her reputation as a powerful and charismatic performer. Off stage, Massie was just as warm and charming. Her Facebook Live videos were great, too, and in them she would talk directly to fans, give advice and even show off what she’d been cooking in the kitchen. Massie was a common sight around town — and not just in the blues clubs. She popped up all over the place, doing performances at parties, events, festivals and more. She headlined our own Riverfront Times music festival last year, and we’ve honored her skills

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Thanks for all the memories, Kim Massie. We’ll miss you. | PRESS PHOTO many times over the years, including giving her our “Best Vocalist” award on multiple occasions. Massie even played on stage under the Gateway Arch in 2007, opening for Cyndi Lauper in the Live on the Levee series. Many people think of Cyndi Lauper as a novelty ’80s star, but Lauper has serious singing chops — and even she was clearly impressed by Massie, asking if they could sing together on stage. They sang together for Lauper’s versions of “Girls Just Want to Have Fun,” “Time After Time” and Etta James’ “At Last.” It was a night for the St. Louis music history books, and when this reporter mentioned the performance to Massie the next year at one of her shows, her eyes got wide and she grabbed my arm excitedly and said of Lauper, “That tiny little white girl can sing! I had no idea!” Massie’s path to becoming a local music icon took many twists and turns. Like many blues singers, she grew up singing in the Black church, but she has never confined herself to the e pected. In fact, classic rock was some of her favorite music to listen to as well as perform, and she was fond of mixing things up on stage at the blues clubs with a little bit of Led

Zeppelin. “I don’t like being pigeonholed or stereotyped. You see this Black woman so you’re thinking gospel, or jazz or blues, something like that. OK, yeah,” she told St. Louis Public Radio last year. “But I’m much more. And that’s what keeps me workin’.” Through her years, Massie morphed from church singer to award-winning karaoke queen before scoring legit gigs singing with St. Louis blues icon Oliver Sain. She hustled and struggled for decades to become one of the most respected and trusted artists in town. You knew if you hired Massie for a show that she would give it her all. And it seems as though she did give it her all until the very end. Though her family has not yet released details about her passing, Massie endured myriad health problems. She had thyroid surgery a few years back and had recently fought off pneumonia and sepsis. In February of this year, she’d even survived a heart attack that happened on stage at BB’s Jazz, Blues and Soups. St. Louis won’t be the same without her. So we send up a big R.I.P. to Kim Massie, who will remain a legend forever. n


Blue Light Specials In pandemic times, it’s challenging to find things to do that don’t put yourself or those around you in danger. And while we’re inclined to suggest that the safest event is no event, we also know that sounds a lot like abstinence-only sex ed, and you guys are probably gonna fuck anyway. So consider these recommendations your condoms: not foolproof, but safer than other options. We only recommend events that take precautions, but ultimately you’re in charge of your own health, so proceed with care. We also list live-streamed events, which are the safest of all, though admittedly not the same. Live-streamed events are the masturbation of events in this way, because — you know what, we’re gonna go ahead and abandon this metaphor before we get in over our heads.

WET HOT AMERICAN SUMMER LIVE READ 9 p.m. Saturday, October 24. Livestreamed event. Suggested donation $20.20 and up. wethotamericansummer.com. In the canon of all-time best bad movies ever made, Wet Hot American Summer stands in a class of its own. The 2001 summer-camp sexcomedy satire was near-universally panned by critics upon its release (Roger Ebert wrote his entire scathing one-star review in the style of Allan Sherman’s “Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah,” as sure an indication as any that the film’s a surdist comedy was not crafted for his ilk), but it has since attained a dedicated cult following, in part due to the sheer star power of its ensemble cast. Written by David Wain and Michael Showalter of MTV’s sketchcomedy series The State and directed y ain, the film features performances by Paul Rudd, H. Jon Benjamin, Bradley Cooper, Amy Poehler, Christopher Meloni, Elizabeth Banks, Ken Marino, Molly Shannon, Joe Lo Truglio and many more who have since gone on to become household names in the world of comedy. This week many of those same cast members will reunite for a live read, via Zoom, with all funds going to support the Biden Victory Fund. The read will include “the beloved classic plus bonus selections from every iteration of Wet Hot American Summer,” according to its event page, as well as a Q&A and appearances by some “special guests.” And while it’s true that such events have been in vogue lately — earlier this month the cast of Veep raised more than $500,000 for the Biden campaign during a similar reunion — you can bet that this particular cast of irreverent

improv alums will not be content to deliver the material exactly as written, making this a must-see for diehard fans, critics be damned. Walla Walla Hoo! If you’ve only seen the original, now would be a great time to fire up the et i o and catch up on the eight-episode prequel series, First Day of Camp, and its fellow eight-episode sequel to the movie, Ten Years Later. It’s a safe bet some of those aforementioned “bonus selections” will draw from that material.

MS. HY-C & FRESH START W/ ROLAND JOHNSON 12 p.m. Saturday, October 24. The Lot, 714 Cerre Street. $13 to $16. No phone. The recent passing of the legendary Kim Massie left a massive hole in St. Louis’ soul and blues scene, one that’s not li ely to e filled anytime soon. But St. Louis is a blues town through and through — and not just the sporting-on-ice variety — so the music cannot and will not stop. Luckily the blues is a music born of struggle and strife, of pain and loss, and its healing powers are just what the doctor ordered to get us through these toughest of times. Luckier still is the fact that St. Louis’ bench is deep, with talent including Ms. Hy-C and her Fresh Start band, a group that took home the top honors in the 35th annual International Blues Challenge in Memphis last year. Beating out more than 200 fellow competitors from across the world, the group secured a prize that included $3,000 in cash, recording time at Showplace Studios in New Jersey and slots at several blues festivals all over the country. Those honors came with special

Smino is just one of the artists performing in Planet Afropunk. | 70MM recognition from St. Louis’ Board of Aldermen as well, which passed a resolution recognizing the achievement and remarking that “this success puts [St. Louis] squarely on the map.” That’s high praise indeed, and while we’re not trying to make comparisons to the incomparable Kim Massie, we are thankful that St. Louis’ long legacy of blues and soul talent will live on in her memory. If the Shoe Fits: We’d be doing a disservice to throw the word “legendary” around willy-nilly, but in the case of both Massie and St. Louis mainstay Roland Johnson, it’s more than apt. Johnson will join Ms. Hy-C & Fresh Start onstage at The Lot for this show, lending his soulful voice to the festivities. Tickets can be purchased by the two- or four-person outdoor pod at jamopresents.com/tickets.

PLANET AFROFUNK: A FREE DIGITAL FESTIVAL 4 p.m. Friday, October 23 through Sunday, October 25. Live-streamed event. Free. planetafropunk.com. Afropunk Fest, the annual celebration of music, arts and culture created by Black artists that is now international in scope, returns in digital form this year, thanks of course to COVID-19. This year’s virtual fest will feature artists from across the world, including Common, Bootsy Collins,

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Kenyan rapper MC Yallah, Soweto punk group TCYIF, Ari Lennox, Tobe Nwigwe, Serpentwithfeet and St. Louis’ own Smino. The three-day event is entirely free, and in addition to the music it will feature a lineup of speakers — including The Daily Show’s Dulcé Sloan, journalist Ivie Ani, actress Amanda Seales and activist Tamika Mallory — educating viewers on matters important to Black culture here in the United States and across the world. The festival will also feature immersive “digital destinations” — an art gallery, a look at Black hair “through the eyes of creators, innovators, visionaries and artists,” and discussions about prison reform, systemic racism and the criminal justice system. In total, the program of events is sure to be entertaining, but just as important, it will be enlightening as well. Several Good Causes: Though you can technically take in the full Planet Afropunk experience without lightening your wallet, organizers are encouraging viewers to kick some money to a variety of social justice causes, in keeping with the fest’s long-running woke mindset. The Bail Project, Equal Justice Initiative, Black Futures Lab, Color of Change, Movement for Black Lives and Fair Count are all worthy organizations, and you should consider throwing them some cash if you are able. For more information, visit planetafropunk.com. n

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[SIDE DISH]

Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff Melanie Meyer of Tiny Chef won’t let a pandemic stop her restaurant dream Written by

CHERYL BAEHR

A

fter opening Tiny Chef inside the Silver Ballroom (4701 Morganford Road, 314-832-9223) in April 2019, Melanie Meyer was riding a wave of success. She’d developed a loyal customer base for her playful take on Korean cuisine. She was honing her own skills in Korean cooking, coming to the style of food in recent years as a way to connect with her roots, and she as having fun, finally reali ing her longtime dream of running a restaurant. It was an incredible year, and Meyer was prepared to keep building on that momentum — until COVID-19 threw everything into question. “There was a lot of anxiety when the Ballroom shut down,” Meyer says. “It was one of those things where you go nonstop every day for the year we were open to nothing, and it was like, ‘What do I do ith myself ’ t as definitely an eye-opening experience.” Like other hospitality professionals, Meyer has found the COVID-19 pandemic to be a hugely challenging time. When everything began to shutter this past March, the talented chef worried that everything she had worked for was at risk of falling apart — something she couldn’t bear because of how personal the restaurant is to her. Wondering what to do, she took a solo trip to Colorado with her dog, hiked, cleared her head and tried to figure out her ne t steps. With giving up not an option, she decided to put her head down and do whatever it took to save her nascent brand.

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Tiny Chef was just getting started when the pandemic hit, so Melanie Meyer had to think quickly and creatively. | COURTESY MELANIE MEYER “When I got back, I needed to do something, so I started Tiny Chef Takeout,” Meyer says. “It was just soups and kimchi, and whenever the world started to open up a little again, I reduced my hours to Friday, Saturday and Sunday, because I couldn’t afford to waste product and wanted to make sure that, on the days I am open, I can have momentum where I can sell what I make.” Now that the Silver Ballroom is open again and she is the sole proprietor of Tiny Chef (the brand is no longer affiliated ith arty ear i a, hich used to share the space), Meyer is again working in the kitchen on the weekends, offering carryout through either the inside counter or the street-facing window. She’s expanded her offerings to include Korean street tacos, bibimbap and a rotating special, as well as monthly crab boils, ttekbokki and her fiery “ uclear oodles. She even has plans to put in a fryer so that she can start doing mandu (Korean dumplings) and Korean fried chicken. Though that sort of expansion during such uncer-

OCTOBER 21-27, 2020

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tain times may seem risky, Meyer knows she has to keep moving forward, bolstered by the support she’s received over the past year. “I’m incredibly grateful for the support — it’s been really great,” eyer says. “ hen first started this, I didn’t believe in myself whatsoever. I even had a job lined up in case it failed. The support I’ve received has been so surprising and definitely ma es me ant to do more and better.” Meyer took a break from the kitchen to share her thoughts on what it’s like to be in the industry during such fraught times, how she maintains a sense of normalcy and what gives her hope to keep going. As a hospitality professional, what do people need to know about what you are going through? It’s rough. Trying to maintain a continued customer base when it is a terrifying world right now is a challenge. ut ’ve een fighting all year to keep working, keep my head above water, and I still try to keep a positive outlook. What do you miss most about the way things were at your job be-

fore COVID-19? definitely miss tal ing to the people who dine in. I always try and talk to each person about their meal or food in general. This is a hard question, but I think what I miss the most is the feeling of normalcy — to walk up to a table without hesitation and be able to share a laugh. To see a friend dine in and give them a hug. What is one thing you make sure you do every day to maintain a sense of normalcy? Matcha green tea or black tea. A mug of either will always start a day off right. What have you been stress-eating/drinking lately? h ee , the list is too long have been buying a whole lot of popcorn lately. And instant noodles. Always instant noodles. What are the three things you’ve made sure you don’t want to run out of, other than toilet paper? and saniti er, soap and face masks. You have to be quarantined with three people. Who would you pick? Oh, this is a tough one. I don’t believe I could possibly choose. But animals must also be allowed, please Once you feel comfortable going back out and about, what’s the first thing you’ll do? This is a long-shot dream, but I ould love to finally go ac to Korea. I haven’t been back since I was born there. I would love to visit the orphanage I came from, possi ly find my irth family and eat all of the food. What do you think the biggest change to the hospitality industry will be once people are allowed to return to normal activity levels? Hopefully there will be a lot of empathy. I hope people have seen how hard we, as an industry, have been working to stay open and relevant. If it takes a few more minutes for your food or drink, know that it’s because the people making these are taking utmost precautions for you to safely enjoy a meal and a drink. What is one thing that gives you hope during this crisis? The future is always changing, and we, as people, are adaptable and fighters. love seeing other usiness owners not give up on their dreams, and I see them continue to crush it. I hope to follow in their footsteps. n


[SLOW FOOD]

The Soft Sell Missouri Man lists frozen discontinued Taco Bell tacos for sale at only $200 Written by

DANIEL HILL

A

mong the many cascading travesties that have defined the year 2020, Taco Bell’s inexplicable culling of many of its most popular items from its menu rates up there at — well, not very high, actually, but it is still a solid and unnecessary kick in the balls during an already awful year. The news broke back in July that America’s favorite house of varying amalgamations of cheese, meat, sour cream, beans and tortilla would be removing some of the more novel forms those five ingredients take from its menu “in an effort to streamline operations,” while eliminating all of its potato options outright. Among the casualties of the bloodbath are the Grilled Steak Soft Taco, Loaded Grillers (Cheesy otato, eefy acho , the 7 ayer Burrito, the Quesarito, the Beefy Fritos Burrito, the Spicy Tostada, Triple Layer Nachos, the Spicy otato Soft Taco, heesy iesta otatoes, achos Supreme, hips & Dips, and the Mini Skillet Bowls. The massacre even includes the fast-food chain’s beloved Mexican i a, leading to an online petition to save the famed at foodstuff that has garnered more than 100,000 signatures. So, against this backdrop, we at RFT were excited to see that one local visionary had the forethought to secure and free e three no discontinued otato Soft Tacos and list them for sale on Facebook Marketplace for the low, low price of only $200. According to the listing, the tacos are in “mint condition” and were brought straight “from drive through to free er. “These a ies are rare the ad reads. “ ever een eaten We reached out to the seller,

As it turns out, though, Hoban is having second thoughts about selling the third. When he purchased the tacos, he explains, he ordered a few for himself to free e and eat as ell, hich have since been consumed. As it happens, the otato Soft Taco was Hoban’s favorite item on the menu, and seeing as how he may well be in possession of the last one in the world, he’s hoping to find a ay to replicate it and ensure that its potato-y goodness lives on. “Once I got down to the last one reali ed that e need to preserve this for future generations to experience this delicious being,” he says. “So Facing extinction, the fate of possibly the last Potato Soft Taco on Earth rests in one man’s hands, I’m holding onto it right now, and he’s getting hungry. | BRYANT HOBAN and I’m hoping someone comes along and wants to maybe help me with preserving this — conserving the oBryant Hoban of O’Fallon, Mis- then when I heard Taco Bell was souri and learned that the entre- discontinuing the otato Soft, de- tato Soft.” Hoban says he’s open to donatpreneurial scheme is part of a cided it’d be a good opportunity larger fro en fast food usiness to test this idea out before McRib ing his last otato Soft Taco to science, ith fingers crossed that idea for hich the otato Soft Ta- season.” So far, things are going according they could “retrieve the taco DNA cos are simply a trial run. “I’ve had this idea of ‘investment to plan. Hoban says he’s already for cloning” a la Jurassic Park. sandwiches’ where, like, you’d buy sold t o of the fro en tacos — he Though he concedes “everything a limited-offer sandwich in bulk, e plains that he couldn’t find a has its price,” he’s now more infree e it, and then sell it later for buyer for the full set of three, but terested in conservation than a profit, o an e plains. “ ou he was able to sell two to individual compensation. “I mean, if you had the last panuyers — at a tidy profit. know, like the McRib — McDon“ sold them for 7 apiece, he da, you wouldn’t sell that on Faceald’s only offers it once a year, but n the demand doesn’t go away. So says. “I recouped my investment.” book, right?”

[SHORT ORDERS]

Pueblo Nuevo to Close This Month Written by

CHERYL BAEHR

T

he St. Louis restaurant community is about to get a little less delicious: Pueblo Nuevo (7401 North Lindbergh Boulevard, Hazelwood; 314-831-6885), a bastion of Mexican cuisine in Hazelwood, is closing. The restaurant announced the news on its Facebook page, stating that October 29 will be its last day of service.

The Morales family, who has owned the restaurant for 37 years, did not cite a reason for the closure, simply stating that, “It is a crazy, wild world we are living in and we ask that you be patient, be kind to each other and support your local businesses if you are able.” The statement also thanks their loyal customers and asks anyone with memories of the restaurant to share them with the family. Celebrated for its ability to balance traditional Mexican fare with Tex-Mex favorites, Pueblo Nuevo was one of the culinary highlights of its stretch of North Lindbergh Boulevard in north county. Known for its birria, tamales and pozole, the restaurant was beloved by patrons from around the city, who would make the drive for a taste of the Morales family’s cooking. Though the Moraleses did not explicitly mention the COVID-19 pandemic as the reason for their closure, it’s no secret that the outbreak has wreaked havoc on the industry, with restaurants forced to survive off takeout business

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and reduced-capacity dine-in service. We have reached out to Pueblo Nuevo and will update with any additional information, should it become available. In the meantime, you can read the Moraleses’ entire statement below: “It is with heavy hearts that we have to announce Pueblo Nuevo will be closing after 37 years. We would like to thank the community, friends, family and regulars for all the support over the years. It has been amazing! We have laughed, cried, ate, drank, danced, cooked, loved, prayed and partied together and we are grateful for it all! It is a wild world we are living in and we ask that you be patient, be kind to each other and support your local businesses if you are able. It has been an honor to serve you and we will truly miss it! Our last day of service will be Thursday October 29th- we hope to see you sometime between now and then! If you have any photos or memories please share them!” n

OCTOBER 21-27, 2020

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SAVAGE LOVE DON’T GIVE UP BY DAN SAVAGE Hey, Dan: Borrowing Gen Z’s love for labeling everything, I’m a 46-year-old homoromantic asexual Canadian faggot. For me that means I’d like to love and be loved by another man but I’d hate having sex with him. To add a vexing complication, I also need some sort of power imbalance. Ideally, I would fall somewhere between being a man’s sub and being his slave. I’ve been searching for this since I came out in my early twenties. I’ve tried everything: online, bars, hobby groups, friends, hookups, vanilla relationships, single Masters, dominant couples, sex workers. I’ve spent thousands of dollars on both men and therapy, but here I am busted, miserable and alone. The point is that no one — and I mean absolutely no one — wants what I want. My dream dude doesn’t exist. It’s easy to tell someone to move on, that there are other fish in the sea, etc., but sometimes your sea is a puddle and you really are the only guppy. I’m considering ending my life before the end of the year. I can’t shake the deep sadness and disappointment and misery that I feel — and this isn’t even touching on my current unemployment or newly chronic health issues. What would you do if you were in my shoes? How does one switch off the built-in romantic drive? Sought A Dom Accepting Sad Singlehood I’m sorry you haven’t found your ideal man, SADASS, or the right dominant couple or a vanilla guy you could love and a dominant sex worker you could see on the side. ot everyone finds their ideal mate/position/situation, despite our best efforts, which is why it’s important that we build lives for ourselves that are rich and rewarding while we look for our dream dude(s). Because then even if we’re unhappily single — or e find ourselves unhappily single again — we would still have meaning and pleasure in our lives. And that makes it easier for us to live in hope that, should all the planets align, it could still happen for us or happen for us

again. (Please note: I’m qualifying “single” with “unhappy” here not because all single people are unhappy — which is absolutely untrue — but because this single person, SADASS, is unhappy.) I have to assume it has happened for you once or twice, SADASS. While none of your relationships with any of the vanilla guys, single Masters, dominant couples or sex workers you’ve met along the way turned into long-term connections, there had to have been some good times and real — if not lasting — connections over the years. Instead of seeing those relationships as a string of failures because they all ended, SADASS, you should see them as a long series of successful short-term relationships. And while you may regret that none lasted for years or decades, there’s nothing about being partnered that immunizes a person against regret. If you were still with one of those vanilla guys, you might always regret not meeting a Master; if you were with a Master or a dominant couple, you might regret — from time to time — not having a more egalitarian relationship. Although you say you’re not interested in having sex, SADASS, your interests are erotically charged. If your erotic-if-notsexual fantasies are causing you distress — if you want to switch off your built-in romantic/erotic drive — anti-depressants often lower and sometimes tank a person’s libido. For most people that’s an unwelcome side effect, but you may find it a lessing — at least for now, SADASS, while you’re dealing with your health and employment issues. It’s an extreme move, but it’s far less extreme than the one you’ve been contemplating, so it might be worth discussing with a sex-positive, kink-positive, reality-aware therapist. Finally, please don’t end your life. The world is a far more interesting place with you in it. And hile finding a romantic partner is never the solution to our problems — it’s only the start of a whole new set of problems — I’ve heard from countless people over the years who found something close to what they were looking for in their 50s, 60s and even 70s. But it can’t happen for you if you aren’t here for it. Crisis Services Canada maintains a 24-hour suicide preven-

“I’m sickened that this person I care for voted for Trump! Do I end it?!?” tion hotline: 833-456-4566. In the United States please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 800-273-8255. Hey, Dan: I’m a bisexual man who works on a military base with so many hot men. But how the hell do I even get a quick cock to suck without getting fired for coming on to the wrong guy? Or beaten up? How do I approach someone who could be interested? It’s been forever since I’ve had a guy! Don’t tell me to try Grindr. I already did, and most of the guys on there are not my style, and the two that were blew me off. I wish I was totally straight or totally gay ’cause the bisexual world is really depressing! Basically I’ve Got Unfulfilled Yearnings Totally gay guys get blown off on rindr and Sniffies and econ all the time. Totally straight guys get blown off on Tinder and Farmers Only and Christian Mingle all the time. I’m not minimizing the unique challenges bisexuals face as bisexual men and women — biphobia is real — but everyone faces rejection, BIGUY. And while some gay guys don’t wanna date bi guys, you aren’t looking for a date. You’re looking for a dick to suck. So get back on Grindr. When you see a hot guy on the street, on the subway or at your military base, quickly open Grindr — or Scruff or Sniffies or econ or all of the above — and if they’re on there too, send ’em a message. If they’re interested, they’ll write back. If they aren’t, they won’t. And if you’re worried a guy won’t let you suck his dick if you tell him you’re bisexual and you don’t mind blowing guys who might be biphobic, don’t disclose your bise uality on your profile and stic to “Sup?” and “Looking?” when you message them. And you know … back when

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men picked each other up in bars … you had to make eye contact with a lotta guys before you locked eyes with the right guy. If you made eye contact with a guy who wasn’t interested — if you weren’t his style or his type — he wouldn’t make eye contact with you again. That’s essentially what a guy is doing when he “blows you off” on Grindr: He’s taking a quick look, deciding you’re not for him and looking away — the same thing you’re doing to guys who aren’t your style or type. Guys who left the bar after two guys looked away never got to suck a dick, BIGUY, so don’t give up after a couple of guys blow you off on Grindr. Just keep looking around. Hey, Dan: I’m a 60-something straight woman. A few years ago, a longtime male friend and I, both in very unhappy relationships, did what I’d never done in my life: We cheated on our partners. We both ended our other relationships and the resulting two years have been wonderful. My guy is smart and funny, and the sex is very, very, VERY good. We don’t live together and see each other on weekends. Now for the problem: I think he voted for Trump. While he’s a political conservative, he’s not crazy and he has some reasonable viewpoints that I can tolerate even if I disagree. But not Trump. I don’t think a good person votes for Trump. Practically speaking, it doesn’t matter, because we live in solid blue Washington state and all our electoral votes will go to Biden, but I’m not sure I can fuck someone who voted for Trump. But if I end things with him there’s a good chance I’ll never have sex again. I don’t think there are many opportunities for 65-year-old averagelooking women, even ones with healthy libidos. Thoughts? Update: Before I could even hit send on this email, Dan, I found out that, yes, he voted for Trump. I’m sickened that this person I care for voted for Trump! Do I end it?!? Oh Fucking Hell Yes you do, OFH, and you tell him why: Elections have consequences. Better a trusty vibrator than an unworthy Trump voter. mail@savagelove.net @fakedansavage on Twitter www.savagelovecast.com

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SWADE

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