Inlander 01/06/2022

WARMING UP LAWMAKERS PREP FOR CLIMATE BATTLE PAGE 8

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EDITOR’S NOTE

E

ach year the good people at PROJECT CENSORED do a deep dive into a world of news stories that, despite their obvious importance, rarely make their way into the mainstream media’s consciousness. Or, if they do actually make a little splash, they’re stories that require long-term research, follow-up stories and engaged reporters to truly reveal how they affect our everyday lives. Thankfully, the Project Censored folks share a guide to the most important stories that didn’t get enough attention each year, and we share that with you in this week’s Inlander (page 12).

Also this week, reporter Samantha Wohlfeil looks at how lawmakers and Gov. Jay Inslee might address the climate crisis in the upcoming Washington legislative session (page 8), staff writer Carrie Scozzaro explores a motherhood-centric art show at Spokane Falls Community College (page 25) and contributor Josh Bell reviews A Hero, the latest film from masterful Iranian director Asghar Farhadi (page 29), which opens in Spokane this weekend.

— DAN NAILEN, editor

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WHAT CHAIN RESTAURANT WOULD YOU LIKE TO MOVE IN CLOSE TO YOUR HOUSE?

EDITOR

GENE BRAKE: We don’t often eat at chains, but I would love to see three from South Texas that I truly miss: Whataburger, Bill Millers BBQ and Popeyes Fried Chicken. I’d also like to see an Ivar’s here, they do have the best fish and chips in the NW.

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Anytime I go to a city that has one I make sure I eat there.

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The Politics of Insurrection

After suspected treason during the War of 1812, an entire political party was eliminated; this November will be voters’ first chance to register their feelings about Jan. 6

BY LAWRENCE B.A. HATTER

A

s we watched a crazed mob break into the Capitol Building a year ago, commentators quickly turned to the War of 1812 to attempt to contextualize the scenes of violence unfolding on our screens. In 1814, British forces occupied Washington, D.C., setting fire to public buildings that included the White House. The comparison, however, didn’t hold up to scrutiny.

The War of 1812 was a conflict between two sovereign nations; it was not an act of treason in which American citizens attacked their own government. The British attack in 1814 adhered to the accepted rules of war; the invasion of the Capitol was an assault on the rule of law.

A year later, the analogy looks no better, particularly when we compare the political fortunes of the GOP in 2021 and the Federalist Party after 1815. President Trump whipped up his supporters into a frenzy that led to their occupation of Congress on Jan. 6, 2021. While the Federalist Party was not complicit in the British invasion of

1814, some of its members did discuss secession from the United States at the Hartford Convention to allow them to negotiate their own peace with the British Empire.

These two acts of treason, however, resulted in vastly different political outcomes. The Hartford Convention killed the Federalist Party, while the party of Trump seems to have emerged newly emboldened from the invasion of the Capitol.

T

he War of 1812 was a Democratic-Republican project. The party of Thomas Jefferson (and antecedent of the presentday Democratic Party) controlled the White House and Congress in 1812. Jefferson’s protégé, President James Madison, asked Congress to

declare war in 1812 for a smorgasbord of reasons, ranging from the British Royal Navy’s impressment of American sailors to the British Empire’s alleged “incitement” of Native resistance to U.S. colonization in the West.

Party politics was also part of Madison’s calculation. After Jefferson’s victory in the election of 1800, the Federalist Party of John Adams and Alexander Hamilton had found itself in the political wilderness for over a decade. But cracks were beginning to appear in the Democratic-Republic Party. Jefferson’s trade embargo, intended to force Great Britain to recognize the U.S.’s neutral trading rights during the Napoleonic Wars, was proving deeply unpopular among ordinary Americans. The Federalist Party finally began to make gains in the midterm elections of 1810, and Madison’s supporters in Congress grew nervous about what would happen in 1812. Not for the last time, an American president went to war to unite his party.

Federalist opposition to the war had reached a fever pitch by the fall of 1814. The conflict had devastated the maritime economy of New England, which was the party’s political base.

And the humiliating occupation of Washington, D.C., underlined the incompetence of the Madison administration’s conduct of the war. Something needed to be done.

New England Federalists met at Hartford, Connecticut, in December 1814 to discuss their common defense and constitutional amendments that would increase their power within the Union.

But the Hartford Convention became known as a hotbed of treason, with some delegates raising the prospect of New England secession.

The timing of the Hartford Convention could not have been worse. British and American diplomats signed a peace treaty on Christmas Eve 1814, while Andrew Jackson won his famous victory at the Battle of New Orleans on Jan. 8, 1815. Rumors of Federalist duplicity then spread around the country at the same time that Americans were celebrating peace and Jackson’s victory.

It was not a good look, and the Hartford Convention dealt a death blow to the Federalist Party, which did not field a presidential candidate after 1816.

The Hartford Convention became known as a hotbed of treason, with some delegates raising the prospect of New England secession.

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he implications of the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection for the GOP are still unclear. In the immediate aftermath of the invasion, some Republican congressional leaders did briefly distance themselves from the insurrectionists and their champion, but the power that Trump exercises over the party seems largely unchallenged a year later. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has done all that he can to stymie the House investigation into Jan. 6, while key individuals like Steve Bannon and former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows have stonewalled Congress.

We won’t know whether the Republican Party will pay a political price for the Jan. 6 insurrection until this November. But, so-called “moderate” Republicans like Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, who have recognized Trump’s complicity in the insurrection, have been punished by their own party, while far-right, attention-seekers like Marjorie Taylor Greene have only grown in power. All indications are that the GOP will not go the way of the Federalist Party. n Lawrence B.A. Hatter is an award-winning author and associate professor of early American history at Washington State University. These views are his own and do not reflect those of WSU.

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ENVIRONMENT

CLEANING UP Solar infrastructure could get a boost under Gov. Jay Inslee’s climate proposals.

8 INLANDER JANUARY 6, 2022

Washington politicians hope to keep climate in focus during 2022 legislature

BY SAMANTHA WOHLFEIL

W

ith the 2022 legislative session starting on Jan. 10, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and lawmakers have already started pitching climate change-oriented policies in hopes they can gather support and quickly pass their bills during the short session.

From accelerating emissions reductions by requiring electric appliances and heating in new home construction to offering “cash for lawn clunkers” like inefficient leaf blowers, the proposals vary significantly in size, cost and impact.

The session is scheduled to last 60 days, ending March 10, but there’s already a growing laundry list of ideas that could go up for debate during that time.

“I think we’re poised to have a lot of success on a lot of these things,” says Mike Faulk, Inslee’s press secretary.

“Just because it’s a short session doesn’t mean we don’t live in a critical time to get things done.”

Here, we break down some of the proposals that progressive leaders in Washington state hope will make it to a vote and get official funding.

BUILDINGS

Net-Zero Ready Building Code: In order to hit greenhouse gas reductions that Washington already established, Inslee proposes requiring electrification in construction by 2034. Specifically, any building construction started in 2034 or later would be required to use only electric equipment for appliances and heating, be wired for solar panels, and have capacity for electric vehicle charging and battery storage.

Reach Code: Cities can already go beyond the existing building code requirements for commercial construction, but Inslee’s proposal would expand that authority to include residential construction. This would enable cities like Spokane to reduce emissions in new home construction sooner than 2034. ...continued on page 10

JANUARY 6, 2022 INLANDER 9

NEWS | ENVIRONMENT “CLEANING UP,” CONTINUED...

That could include changes like limiting new natural gas hookups, a move that homebuilders, developers and Avista specifically tried to block in Spokane this fall with a ballot initiative, which the courts ultimately booted from the ballot.

Clean Buildings: In 2019, the Washington Clean Buildings Act required the state Department of Commerce to set energy performance standards for buildings over 50,000 square feet.

This new proposal would also require standards for buildings between 20,000 and 49,999 square feet, including large multifamily buildings. Technical assistance and some money would be available to help building owners meet the standards. Fines against buildings that aren’t compliant will go into a fund to offer that technical assistance and help buildings become compliant.

Solar + storage: Inslee proposes spending $100 million to install solar panels and energy storage systems on buildings around the state. His strategic climate agenda states that eligible recipients would include retail electric utilities, tribal governments, school districts, local governments, state agencies, housing authorities and nonprofits.

CASH FOR LAWN CLUNKERS

Playing off the popular Obama-era “Cash for Clunkers” program that offered federal money to swap out old, inefficient cars for newer ones, state Sen. Reuven Carlyle, D-Seattle, has proposed a “Cash for Lawn Clunkers” program for Washington.

People who turn in gas- or diesel-powered landscaping equipment could get $100 to $200 off the price of a more-efficient replacement.

“The deal here is simple, easy and lucrative for the

public: All you need to do is turn in any lawn equipment clunker – working or not – and the state will give you up to $200,” Carlyle says.

gas utilities to submit plans to the Utilities and Transportation Commission to spell out how they’ll meet the carbon reduction requirements from the 2021 Climate Commitment Act. The intent is to make sure energy prices remain affordable while utilities change the way they deliver power over the coming decades.

Energy efficient investments at state buildings: Inslee also proposes nearly $15 million in bonds to update HVAC and water heaters, install efficient boilers, and install LED lighting and solar at a variety of state-owned facilities.

Factory revamp: The governor also proposes funding a retrofit of a Whatcom County aluminum smelter to restart the plant with significantly reduced emissions, and giving a grant to the Grant County Public Utility District to build a new solar manufacturing facility. His budget proposal also includes money to help similar emissionsintensive, trade-exposed industries (think pulp mills, steel producers, food processors, etc.) as they plan for and implement decarbonization.

“All you need to do is turn in any lawn equipment clunker – working or not – and the state will give you up to $200.”

Inefficient internal combustion engines used in lawn equipment emit a huge amount of unburned fuel and hydrocarbons into the atmosphere, and they’re not regulated like vehicle engines. Incredibly, because of those inefficiencies, using a leaf blower for an hour emits about the same amount of smog-causing chemicals as driving a 2016 sedan all the way from Seattle to Los Angeles, according to data from the Environmental Protection Agency and the state of California.

Thankfully, there are now quieter, far more efficient electric options on the market, Carlyle says.

“My goal is to accelerate the transition from old-style internal combustion lawn equipment to electric, whether it’s cord- or battery-based,” Carlyle tells the Inlander.

Tongue-in-cheek, he adds, “I feel if this passes, I have a chance of winning the Nobel Peace Prize for bringing peace and quiet to Washington.”

UTILITIES/ENERGY

Decarbonization plans: Inslee’s plan also would require

ELECTRIC TRAVEL

Help switching to electric cars: Under another proposal from Inslee, Washingtonians could get a boost toward their purchase of an electric vehicle. Buying a new one?

You could get a $7,500 rebate. Buying used? You could get $5,000. Buying a zero-emission motorcycle or e-bike?

You could get a $1,000 rebate. Plus, if you make less than $61,000 a year you could qualify for another $5,000 in rebates, according to the governor’s plan. To qualify for the rebate, the cap on the price of the vehicles is suggested at

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no more than $55,000 per sedan or $80,000 for a van, SUV or truck.

Electrifying state vehicles: In November, Inslee signed an executive order to direct state agencies to switch all light-duty vehicles to electric vehicles by 2035, and switch all heavy-duty vehicles over by 2045. His suite of proposals asks for more funding to make that happen and invest in charging stations at state agencies.

Public transportation: Inslee’s proposed supplemental budget package also includes more than $347 million in funding for hybrid ferries in Puget Sound, grants to help local agencies shift to electric or alternative fuel buses, money for more electric vehicle charging stations, money for safe routes to school (walking, biking, etc.), funding for state bike paths and trails that connect regional trail systems, money for special needs transit, transit access in overburdened communities, and more. n samanthaw@inlander.com

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JANUARY 6, 2022 INLANDER 11

THE NEW NORMAL:

MORE CENSORSHIP Project Censored’s 2021 report of America’s most underreported stories shows old patterns are alive and well STORY BY PAUL ROSENBERG | ILLUSTRATIONS BY ANSON STEVENS-BOLLEN

P

roject Censored’s co-directors, Mickey Huff and Andy Lee Roth, draw a direct parallel between our world today to that of postWorld War I America, “when the United States faced another raging pandemic and economic recession. The United States then had experienced a crackdown on civil liberties and free speech in the form of Espionage and Sedition Acts; racial tensions flared during the Red Summer of 1919 as violence erupted from Chicago to Tulsa; Prohibition was the law of the land; and the first wave of U.S. feminism ended with the passage of the 19th Amendment.” At the time, they noted, “People yearned for a return to ‘normalcy,’ as then-presidential hopeful Warren G. Harding proclaimed.”

But it was not to be. “Millions of Americans ultimately had to adjust to an ever- and fast-changing world,” they write, including a rapidly changing media landscape, and we should expect much the same. Every major change in the media has brought the promise of expanded horizons and democratic possibility — the potential for a broader, more inclusive public conversation — only to see many of the old patterns of division, exclusion and demonization recur in new ways as well as old.

Project Censored isn’t alone in drawing parallels to a century ago, of course. The pandemic above all has expanded journalistic horizons, as a matter of necessity.

To a lesser extent, the threat to American democracy has done so as well. But many continue as if little or nothing has fundamentally changed. Day-to-day news stories perpetuate the fantasy that normal has returned. And in one sense they’re right: The normal patterns of exclusion and suppression that Project Censored has been tracking for over 40 years continue to dominate.

These patterns are reflected in Project Censored’s Top 10 list. Several stories this year deal with topics that have gotten widespread attention — but with aspects that have been virtually or entirely ignored. One story, for example, deals with prescription drug costs, a widely covered story, but with a significant difference in focus: how much those costs translate to in lost lives. Another story deals with police violence against people of color, but with a new focus that’s actually quite old: vicious police dog attacks.

The point of Project Censored has never been just to expose significant stories that have been ignored, but rather to expose them as portals to a wider landscape of understanding and action. In that spirit, here is our summary of this year’s Top 10 Censored Stories of 2021.

12 INLANDER JANUARY 6, 2022

PRESCRIPTION DRUG COSTS SET TO BECOME A LEADING CAUSE OF DEATH FOR ELDERLY AMERICANS “Soaring prescription drug costs have been widely reported by corporate news outlets,” Project Censored notes, but they’ve utterly ignored the staggering resulting cost in human lives. More than 1.1 million seniors enrolled in Medicare programs could die prematurely in the next decade due to unaffordable prescription drugs, according to a November 2020 study reported on by Kenny Stancil for Common Dreams. “As medicines become increasingly expensive, patients skip doses, ration prescriptions, or quit treatment altogether,” Project Censored explains, a phenomenon known as “costrelated nonadherence,” which will become “a leading cause of death in the U.S., ahead of diabetes, influenza, pneumonia, and kidney disease” by 2030, according to the study by the nonprofit West Health Policy Center and Xcenda, the research arm of Amerisource-Bergen, a drug distributor.

“Even with Medicare insurance, what seniors pay is linked to a drug’s price,” the study explained, which allowed the researchers “to model how cost-related nonadherence would change under policies that would reduce drug prices, such as Medicare negotiation.” The study focused on five medical conditions that “signifi-

cantly affect seniors and for which effective pharmaceutical treatments are available,” including three types of heart disease, chronic kidney disease, and type B diabetes.

“The good news is that policy changes can curb the power of Big Pharma, resulting in far fewer avoidable deaths,” Stancil reported. “Medicare negotiation is projected to reduce drug prices and seniors’ costsharing, which could prevent nearly 94,000 seniors’ deaths annually and save $475.9 billion,” the study stated as one of its key findings. (A plan to lower drug prices for Medicare and the privately insured is part of the pending Build Back Better package of legislation.)

“The public’s understanding of the debate surrounding … proposed legislation designed to control inflation in prescription drug prices ought to be informed by accurate information about the grim repercussions of continuing the status quo,” Project Censored noted. “Sadly, the corporate media have failed to provide the public with such information for far too long, and the consequences could turn out to be deadly for millions of seniors.”

JOURNALISTS INVESTIGATING FINANCIAL CRIMES

THREATENED BY GLOBAL ELITES

Financial crimes of global elites, involving the flow of dirty money through some of the world’s most powerful banks, have made major headlines in recent years, most notably with the Panama Papers in 2016 and the FinSen Files in 2020. But we’d know a great deal more if not for the flood of threats faced by journalists doing this work — a major story that hasn’t been told in America’s corporate media, despite a detailed report from the British think tank Foreign Policy Centre (FPC), “Unsafe for Scrutiny,” released in November 2020.

The report was based on a survey of 63 investigative journalists from 41 countries, which found that 71% had experienced threats or harassment while doing their investigations, with a large portion of those (73%) experiencing legal threats as well. Its findings were described by Spencer Woodman in an article for the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.

“The report found that legal threats are chief among the types of harassment facing journalists conducting financial investigations, and often seek to exploit a skewed balance of power between oftenunderfunded reporting enterprises and the legal might of attorneys hired by the world’s wealthiest people and corporations,” Woodman wrote. “Focusing on frivolous cases known as ‘strategic lawsuits against public partici-

pation,’ or SLAPPs, the report asserts that such actions ‘can create a similar chilling effect on media freedom to more overt violence or attack.’” Legal threats are often communicated via private letters, “and, if successful in achieving their aim, the public will never know,” the report said.

Physical threats and online harassment were also a grave concern, but they were geographically uneven. “While no journalists surveyed in North America reported physical threats, 60% of respondents working in sub-Saharan Africa, and 50% of respondents from North Africa and the Middle East region reported threats of physical attack,” Woodman noted.

Project Censored noted Maltese reporter Daphne Caruana Galizia’s murder along with that of Slovak investigative journalist Ján Kuciak, adding that “According to FPC’s report, an additional 30 reporters from Brazil, Russia, India, Ukraine, Mexico, and other countries who were researching financial corruption have been murdered since 2017.”

The silence about this silencing has been deafening, Project Censored noted. There has been some coverage overseas, but to date “no major commercial newspaper or broadcast outlet in the United States has so much as mentioned the FPC’s report.”

HISTORIC WAVE OF WILDCAT STRIKES FOR WORKERS’ RIGHTS After millions of people were designated “essential workers” when the U.S. went into lockdown in March 2020, thousands of wildcat strikes erupted to challenge dangerous working conditions and chronic low wages, exacerbated by refusal to protect against COVID-19 and cutting or sharply increasing the cost of medical insurance for those who had coverage. A further strike surge was driven by “Black and Brown workers using digital technologies to organize collective actions as a way to press some of the demands for racial justice raised by Black Lives Matter and George Floyd protesters,” Project Censored noted. The nation’s fourth busiest port, Charleston, S.C., shut down during George Floyd’s funeral on June 9, for example.

At the labor news website Payday Report, Mike Elk created a continuously updated COVID-19 Strike Wave Interactive Map, which had identified “1,100 wildcat strikes as of March 24, 2021, many of which the corporate media have chosen to ignore,” according to Project Censored, including “more than 600 strikes or work stoppages by workers in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement” in June 2020 alone, according to Elk. “While local and regional newspapers and broadcast news outlets have reported on particular local actions, corporate news coverage has failed to report the strike wave as a wave, at no time connecting the dots of all the individual, seemingly isolated work stoppages and walkouts to create a picture of the overarching trend,” Project Censored reported.

The sole exception where there was national coverage was in August 2020 when highly paid baseball and basketball pro athletes walked out in violation of their

contracts to protest the shooting of Jacob Blake by Wisconsin police. The coverage ended quickly once they returned a few days later.

Wildcat strikes occur when workers simply stop working, often in response to a specific incident, such as employer actions putting lives at risk by skimping on protective gear or attempting to cut workers’ health care.

Elk noted that the 600 strikes in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement “is likely a severe underestimation as many nonunion Black and Brown workers are now calling out en masse to attend Black Lives Matter protests without it ever being reported in the press or on social media.”

Elk also noted that “many Black workers interviewed by Payday Report say that, once again, white labor leaders are failing to understand non-traditional organizing that has developed from viral social media movements.”

“CLIMATE DEBTOR” NATIONS HAVE “COLONIZED” THE ATMOSPHERE The United States and other developed countries in the global north are responsible for 92% of all the excess carbon dioxide emissions driving global warming, according to a study in the September issue of The Lancet Planetary Health. The U.S. alone was responsible for 40%, followed

by Russia and Germany (8% each), the United Kingdom (7%), and Japan (5%).

The study’s author, economic anthropologist Jason Hickel, told Sarah Lazare of In These Times that his research began from the premises that “the atmosphere is a common resource” and that “all people should have equal access” to a fair share of it. He calculated each nation’s fair share of a sustainable global carbon budget, based on population, along with an analysis of “territorial emissions from 1850 to 1969, and consumption-based emissions from 1970 to 2015.” In turn, this was used to calculate “the extent to which each country has overshot or undershot its fair share,” according to the study. Thus the above list of the largest climate debtors.

The results, he told In These Times, show that “the countries of the Global North have ‘stolen’ a big chunk of the atmospheric fair shares of poorer countries, and on top of that are responsible for the vast majority of excess emissions… [T]hey have effectively colonized the global atmospheric commons for the sake of their own industrial growth.”

In contrast, the study found that “most countries in the Global South were within their boundary fair shares, including India and China (although China will overshoot soon).” The leading climate creditors to date are India (34% of global “undershoots”), China (11%), Bangladesh and Indonesia (5% each) and Nigeria (4%).

“High-income countries must not only reduce emissions to zero more quickly than other countries, but they must also pay down their climate debts,” the study said.

“Just as many of these countries have relied on the appropriation of labor and resources from the Global South for their own economic growth, they have also relied on the appropriation of global atmospheric commons, with consequences that harm the Global South disproportionately.”

“Although it may be imperative to act ‘quickly and together’ to reduce carbon emissions, as Vice President Kamala Harris asserted at the April 2021 climate summit, corporate media have failed to cover … cutting-edge research, which demonstrates that the United States and other would-be leaders in addressing climate change are in fact, as the world’s worst climate debtors, disproportionately responsible for climate breakdown,” Project Censored notes. ...continued on next page

JANUARY 6, 2022 INLANDER 13

“THE NEW NORMAL: MORE CENSORSHIP,” CONTINUED...

CANARY MISSION BLACKLISTS PRO-PALESTINIAN ACTIVISTS, CHILLING FREE SPEECH RIGHTS

MICROPLASTICS AND TOXIC CHEMICALS INCREASINGLY PREVALENT IN WORLD’S OCEANS According to a pair of scientific studies published in the summer of 2020, microplastic particles and a family of toxic chemicals known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances or PFAS have become more widespread in the world’s oceans than previously realized and have begun to contaminate the global seafood supply. The two problems are related because PFAS — a family of highly stable “forever chemicals” with more than 4,700 known members — can occur as microplastics, can stick to microplastic particles in water, and are involved in the production of plastics.

In July 2020, a German-American study published in the scholarly journal Environmental Science & Technology revealed that PFAS — which are used in a range of products including carpets, furniture, clothing, food packaging and nonstick coatings — have now been found in the Arctic Ocean.

“This discovery worries scientists,” Project Censored explains, “because it means that PFAS can reach any body of water anywhere in the world and that such chemicals are likely present in our water supply.” This is concerning because, as Daniel Ross reported for Truthout, there are known human health impacts that include “certain

14 INLANDER JANUARY 6, 2022

cancers, liver damage, thyroid problems and increased risk of asthma. As endocrine disruptors, these chemicals have been linked to increased risk of severe COVID-19.”

Ross cited a number of other studies as well, noting that “emerging research suggests that one important pathway [for PFAS spreading] is through the air and in rainwater,” and that they had been widely detected in China, the U.S. and elsewhere.

“PFASs are probably detectable in ‘all major water supplies’ in the U.S.,” according to an Environmental Working Group study, Ross reported.

“What’s more, over 200 million Americans could be drinking water containing PFAS above a level EWG scientists believe is safe, according to the organization’s most recent findings.”

Aside from the Guardian, “no major news outlet has paid attention to the topic of microplastics in seafood,” Project Censored noted, referring to an October 2020 story by Graham Readfearn, reporting on a new Australian study indicating that at least 14 million tons of microplastics are likely sitting on the ocean floor — “more than 30 times as much plastic at the bottom of the world’s ocean than there is floating at the surface.”

Before the “critical race theory” moral panic fueled a nationwide uprising to censor discussions of race in education, there was an opposite moral panic decrying “cancel culture” stifling certain people — especially in education. But even at the peak of the “cancel culture” panic, perhaps the most canceled people anywhere in America — pro-Palestinian activists and sympathizers — got virtually no attention. Even though a well-funded, secretly run blacklist website, known as Canary Mission, explicitly targeted thousands of individuals — overwhelmingly students — with dossiers expressly intended to ruin their careers before they even began, and which “have been used in interrogations by Israeli security officials,” according to the Forward, a Jewish publication.

They’ve also been used by the FBI, as reported by The Intercept.

The website, established in 2015, “seeks to publicly discredit critics of Israel as ‘terrorists’ and ‘anti-Semites,’ Project Censored noted, but its careless style of accusation has caused a backlash, even among proIsraeli Jews. “While some of those listed on the site are prominent activists, others are students who attended a single event, or even student government representatives suspected of voting for resolutions that are critical of Israel,” the Forward reported. More than that, it reported three examples when Canary Mission was apparently retaliating against critics, including Jews.

But by far, its main targets are Palestinians, particularly activists involved with the global Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions or BDS movement that works to peacefully pressure Israel — similarly to South Africa in the 1980s — to obey international law and respect Palestinians’ human rights. As the Intercept reported in 2018, “While Canary Mission promotes itself as a group working against anti-Semitism, the blacklist’s effective goal is to clamp down on growing support for Palestine in the United States by intimidating and tarnishing Palestinian rights advocates with the brush of bigotry.”

While the FBI told the Intercept that it “only investigates activity which may constitute a federal crime or pose a threat to national security,” this didn’t match up with its actions. “If the FBI was concerned about criminal activity among the student activists, its agents made no indication of that in the interviews,” the Intercept reported. “They did, however, ask questions that echoed far-right propaganda about unproven links between pro-Palestine activist groups and militant groups.” ...continued on page 16

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JANUARY 6, 2022 INLANDER 15

“THE NEW NORMAL: MORE CENSORSHIP,” CONTINUED...

GOOGLE’S UNION-BUSTING METHODS REVEALED

THE

COURSE THE

THE

In 2018, Google dropped its longtime slogan, “Don’t be evil,” from its code of conduct. In 2019, Google hired IRI Consultants, a union avoidance firm, “amid a wave of unprecedented worker organizing at the company,” as Vice’s Motherboard put it in January 2021, while reporting on leaked files from IRI that provided a disturbing picture of how far Google may have strayed in its willingness to sabotage its workers’ rights. The 1935 National Labor Relations Act makes it illegal for companies to spy on employees and guarantees workers the right to organize and engage in collective bargaining.

“Nevertheless,” Project Censored noted, “companies like Google attempt to circumvent the law by hiring union avoidance firms like IRI Consultants as independent contractors to engage in surveillance and intimidation on their behalf.” “[E]mployers in the United States spend roughly $340 million on union avoidance consultants each year,” Lauren Kaori Gurley reported for Motherboard, but their practices are apparently so disreputable that IRI doesn’t identify its clients on its website “beyond saying the firm has been hired by universities, renewable energy companies, auto-makers, ‘the nation’s largest food manufacturers,’ and ‘several top 10 worldwide retailers,’” she reported. “[Leaked] documents show that the firm collected incredibly detailed information on 83 Seattle hospital employees, including their ‘personality, temperament, motivations, ethnicity, family background, spouses’ employment, finances, health issues, work ethic, job performance, disciplinary history, and involvement in union activity in the lead-up to a union election,’”

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Project Censored noted, “including descriptions of workers as ‘lazy,’ ‘impressionable,’ ‘money oriented,’ and ‘a single mother.’”

The documents Motherboard reported on didn’t come from Google, but from two Seattle-based hospitals owned by Conifer Health Solutions, who hired IRI on the sly — a common practice.

“Google is not the only Big Tech company to enlist union avoidance consultants in recent years. In fall 2020 and spring 2021, employees at Amazon’s massive fulfillment center in Bessemer, Alabama, launched a much-publicized unionization effort,” Project Censored noted. “As John Logan detailed in a lengthy article for LaborOnline, Amazon responded to the Bessemer drive by spending at least $3,200 per day on anti-union consultants Russ Brown and Rebecca Smith and by bringing in a second union-busting consulting firm,” as well as hiring “one of the largest law firms in the country specializing in union avoidance.”

Employees voted more than 2-1 against joining the union, but the election was overturned for a set of eight labor law violations — a decision that Amazon is appealing.

“There has been some establishment press coverage of large corporations hiring unionavoidance firms to undermine workplace organizing, mostly focusing on tech giants like Google and Amazon,” Project Censored noted. “However, there has been no corporate news coverage whatsoever of the sensational leaks that Motherboard released in January, and there has been very little in-depth corporate media reporting on the use of union-busting consultants in general.”

POLICE USE DOGS AS INSTRUMENTS OF VIOLENCE, TARGETING PEOPLE OF COLOR

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The use of vicious dogs to control Black people dates back to slavery, but it’s not ancient history, according to an investigative series of 13 linked reports, titled “Mauled: When Police Dogs are Weapons,” coordinated by the Marshall Project in partnership with AL.com, IndyStar, and the Invisible Institute.

They found evidence that the pattern continues to this day, with disproportionate use of police dogs against people of color, often resulting in serious injury, with little or no justification.

Baton Rouge, Louisiana, a majority-Black city of 220,000, is the dog-bite capital of America, with a bite rate more than double the next-ranked city, Indianapolis. According to Bryn Stole and Grace

Toohey’s February 2021 report: Between 2017 and 2019, Baton Rouge police dogs bit at least 146 people, records show. Of those, 53 were 17 years old or younger; the youngest were just 13. Almost all of the people bitten were Black, and most were unarmed and suspected by police of nonviolent crimes like driving a stolen vehicle or burglary.

PFIZER BULLIES SOUTH AMERICAN GOVERNMENTS OVER COVID-19 VACCINE “Pfizer has essentially held Latin American governments to ransom for access to its lifesaving COVID-19 vaccine,” Project Censored reports, the latest example of how it’s exerted undue influence to enrich itself at the expense of low- and middle-income nations going back to the 1980s, when it helped shape the intellectual property rules it’s now taking advantage of.

“Pfizer has been accused of ‘bullying’ Latin American governments in COVID vaccine negotiations and has asked some countries to put up sovereign assets, such as embassy buildings and military bases, as a guarantee against the cost of any future legal cases,” according to reporters at the Bureau of Investigative Journalism.

It’s normal for governments to provide some indemnity. But, “Pfizer asked for additional indemnity from civil cases, meaning that the company would not be held liable for rare adverse effects or for its own acts of negligence, fraud or malice,” BIJ reported.

“This includes those linked to company practices — say if Pfizer sent the wrong vaccine or made errors during manufacturing.”

“Some liability protection is warranted, but certainly not for fraud, gross negligence, mismanagement, failure to follow good manufacturing practices,” the World Health Organization’s director of the Collaborating Center on National and Global Health Law, Lawrence Gostin, told BIJ. “Companies have no right to ask for indemnity for these things.”

“Pfizer’s dealings in South America are not exactly secret,” Project Censored noted, but “As of May 2021, there has been no corporate media coverage of Pfizer’s actual dealings in South America or how the pharmaceutical giant helped establish the global intellectual property standards it now invokes to protect its control over access to the vaccine.”

Nor is this anything new, it concluded: “Big Pharma has a long, underreported track record of leaving developing nations’ medical needs unfulfilled, as Project Censored has previously documented.”

Baton Rouge is hardly alone. Approximately 3,600 Americans annually are sent to the emergency room for severe bite injuries resulting from police dog attacks. These dog bites “can be more like shark attacks than nips from a family pet, according to experts and medical researchers,” a team of five reporters wrote in October 2020.

Though the Black Lives Matter movement has significantly raised public awareness of police using disproportionate force against people of color, police “K-9 violence has received strikingly little attention from corporate news media.” There were exceptions: In October 2020, USA Today published a Marshall Project story simultaneously with the project, and in November 2020, the Washington Post ran a front-page story citing the Marshall Project’s reporting. In addition, NBC News covered Salt Lake City’s suspension of its K-9 program, “after a video circulated of a police dog biting a Black man who was kneeling on the ground with his hands held up.” But aside from these examples, “coverage appears to have been limited to local news outlets,” Project Censored concluded. ...continued on next page

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“THE NEW NORMAL: MORE CENSORSHIP,” CONTINUED...

ACTIVISTS CALL OUT LEGACY OF RACISM AND SEXISM IN FORCED STERILIZATION Forced sterilization was deemed constitutional in a 1927 Supreme Court decision, Buck v. Bell, after which forced sterilizations increased dramatically, to at least 60,000 forced sterilizations in some 32 states during the 20th Century, predominantly targeting women of color. And while state laws have been changed, it’s still constitutional, and still going on today — with at least five cases of women in ICE custody in Georgia in 2019 — while thousands of victims await restitution, as reports from the Conversation and YES! Magazine have documented.

“Organizations such as Project South, California Latinas for Reproductive Justice, and the Sterilization and Social Justice Lab are actively working to document the extent of this underreported problem — and to bring an end to it.” Project Censored noted.

But their work is even more underreported than the problem itself.

“During the height of this wave of eugenics by means of sterilization in the U.S., forced hysterectomies were so common in the Deep South that activist Fannie Lou Hamer coined the term ‘Mississippi Appendectomy’ to describe them,” Ray Levy Uyeda wrote in a YES! Magazine article, “How Organizers are Fighting an American Legacy of Forced Sterilization,” which

begins with the story of Kelli Dillon. Dillon was a California prison inmate in 2001 when she underwent a procedure to remove a potentially cancerous growth — and the surgeon simultaneously performed an unauthorized hysterectomy, one of 148 forced sterilizations that year in California prisons, and one of 1,400 carried out between 1997 and 2010.

Dillon began organizing inside the women’s prison, gathering testimonials from other victimized prisoners, “and provided the personal accounts to staff at Justice Now that was laying the groundwork to petition for legislation that would ban the procedures in prisons,” Uyeda reported.

She eventually sued the state of California for damages and helped to shape legislation to compensate victims (finally passed this year), a story told in the 2020 documentary film Belly of the Beast.

“California Latinas for Reproductive Justice is working to secure legislative change for victims of the state’s sterilization efforts between 1909 and 1979,” Uyeda wrote. It was recently signed into law, making California the third state with such legislation, following the lead of North Carolina and Virginia, in 2013 and 2015, respectively.

EAT. DRINK. REPEAT.

There was some corporate news coverage after ICE was accused of forcibly sterilizing detainees, but generally without “any mention of the activists resisting the practice. … Some establishment press articles on the topic of forced sterilization include comments from members of these organizations to provide context on the issue, but few spotlight the groups’ tireless organizing and record of accomplishments.”

Two exceptions cited were articles from Marie Claire magazine and Refinery29, “a website targeted at younger women.” This only began to change in July 2021, “with the Associated Press and other establishment news outlets reporting that California is preparing to approve reparations of up to $25,000 per person to women who had been sterilized without consent.” n Paul Rosenberg is a senior editor for Project Censored, a nonprofit news organization dedicated to media literacy and fighting censorship. Find out more at projectcensored.org

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VISUAL ARTS

Maternal Instincts Mya Cluff’s exhibition at SFCC explores the connection to and dividing line between mother and child

BY CARRIE SCOZZARO

R

eligion, politics, history, the natural world, fantasy, scenes from everyday life — these major themes comprise much of the art history timeline, the tail end of which includes modern subsets like expressionism, abstraction and conceptualism.

Where does motherhood fit in? Good question. And one to which Mya Cluff’s current exhibition Where Do I End, and You Begin? at Spokane Falls Community College provides numerous entry points, if not answers, for discussing the maternal experience.

“The short context of where my work is and where it came from is I had my oldest daughter in the middle of getting my [bachelor of fine arts],” says Cluff, who in 2017 graduated from Oregon College of Art and Craft, concentrating in ceramics.

“I had the double kiss of death being a ceramicist and wanting to make work about mothering,” Cluff says, acknowledging that clay and other so-called “craft media” have not enjoyed the same status as classic art forms, such as painting.

From an art history viewpoint, Cluff’s content is also atypical. Although ’60s and ’70s era feminists shone a light on disparities in art by or about women, motherhood in western art has been mostly whitewashed. Improbably asexual Madonna figures populated painting and sculpture into the early 1600s. By the 1700s, rosy-cheeked mothers and their progeny are depicted in lavish detail, no dirty diapers in sight. But it isn’t until the late 1800s that motherhood is rendered with more candor by artists such as impressionist painter Mary Cassatt. Even so, rarely is there an exposed boob, belly or — heaven forbid — actual childbirth depicted.

Cluff realized that although motherhood can be accomplished by roughly half the population, it’s surprisingly underrepresented in art history. And when it is shown, it lacks depth, she says.

“I found how on the surface [motherhood] can be very much sentimentalized and kind of sugar-coated and really wanted to figure out what the authentic view of it was,” Cluff says.

I

n her research, Cluff cultivated connections with an online community of like-minded artists and others whose maternal experiences were integral to their worldview and artmaking. She found Kaylan Buteyn’s Artist/Mother podcast, and Kate Fisher, whose website shows her working on a ceramic wheel with a toddler strapped to her back.

She was also inspired by the female-forward works of Käthe Kollwitz, Kiki Smith and Kukuli Velarde, as well as Mary Kelly’s ’70s conceptual piece entitled Post-Partum Document.

The influence of Janine Antoni’s skeletal artworks can be seen in Cluff’s depiction of a large white pelvic bone atop a

terra cotta-colored female bust entitled “Crown.”

“When I was making it I was thinking about more regal terms,” Cluff says. “I wanted it to be something that commemorates motherhood.”

But then someone suggested their own interpretation: “Ass hat,” says Cluff, laughing. She’s OK with that, she says, noting that making her work accessible to all — not just mothers — is important.

Broad-based accessibility is one of many reasons SFCC gallery director Cozette Phillips invited Cluff to exhibit at the college after seeing her work at the Emerson Center for the Arts and Culture in Bozeman, Montana.

“So many of our students are balancing the role of motherhood,” says Phillips, who took over the gallery from Tom O’Day after he retired last year. That includes students in unconventional mothering roles, caretaking for siblings, partners, parents and friends during COVID, Phillips says.

Another goal with the exhibition is to present numerous views of motherhood, says Cluff, who will lecture about her work and demonstrate sculpting techniques on Feb. 8, the closing day of the show.

“Cry It Out” is another terracotta female bust whose eyes leak, its contrasting white glaze suggesting both tears and milk.

“Mother in Memoriam” is a stoic, all-white, wall-mounted bust with the word “MOTHER” carved into it. A crack running width-wise bisects the figure’s downcast eyes, literally going through her head. The crack is filled with gold leaf, however, emulating the Japanese tradition of kintsugi or “golden joinery” to repair broken pottery and implying that cracks and repair work are integral to motherhood. It also reminds of the saying: That which doesn’t kill us makes us stronger.

“The Myth of Complete Balance” shows a kneeling, nearly life-size nude female figure balancing a gold-covered baby on her forehead. Some of the gold is flecked onto her upturned face, reminding of the enduring connection between parent and child.

“Heirloom (What is Passed Down)” may be the most accessible piece, regardless of one’s biology or parental inclinations. It shows a life-size girl painted white, holding a small but realistic-looking roaring bear against her bare chest — a riff on a child’s teddy bear, perhaps. We can easily put ourselves in the child’s place, looking warily out at the world, conscious of how we are distinct from but forever connected to our parents. In that way, “Heirloom” shifts the focus from motherhood to childhood, from the creator to having been the one created. n Where Do I End, and You Begin? • Through Feb. 8; open Mon-Fri from 8:30 am-3:30 pm • Free • SFCC Fine Arts Gallery, Bldg. 6 • 3410 W. Whistalks Way • spokanefalls. edu/gallery • 509-533-3710

“Heirloom” from artist Mya Cluff’s latest exhibition

JANUARY 6, 2022 INLANDER 25

CULTURE | DIGEST

THE BUZZ BIN

Vampire Lindsay Lohan hires a werewolf detective in the hilariously bad Among the Shadows.

IN THE CARDS? Six flicks about the “future” of 2022

W

BY BILL FROST

hy bother making plans for 2022? If the final quarter of 2021 taught us anything (like we can learn — see Don’t Look Up, the new Idiocracy), all we can plan on is everything being canceled.

Filmmakers in the Before Times, however, had big plans for the year 2022. Here are six movies from yesteryear set in “The Future” of 2022 to stream while you wait for your latest ticket refund.

THE TOMORROW WAR 2021, PRIME VIDEO

Packed with more clichés and Chris Pratt than anyone deserves to endure, The Tomorrow War was a $200 million(!) theatrical bomb-in-the-making that got rerouted to Amazon like a boatload of knock-off air fryers.

Soldiers from the year 2051 appear during the 2022 World Cup (finally, something happened in a soccer game) to draft fighters to travel to 2048 to fend off an alien invasion. Soon, ex-Green Beret Dan (Pratt in dead-eyed “Chris Pratt” mode) is swept up into a CGI shitshow with a “plot” human-centipeded together from better sci-fi flicks. Go aliens!

AMONG THE SHADOWS 2019, YOUTUBE

In 2022, a werewolf private detective (Charlotte Beckett) is hired by the vampire wife (Lindsay Lohan) of the European Federation president to find out who’s attempting to assassinate her husband over his … renewable energy policies? Among the Shadows is a supernatural/political thriller that fails hilariously on all genre fronts, with Beckett and Lohan dribbling out their lines like isolated hostages against a Walmart portrait studio green screen. The movie’s ending even has the Lohan-sized balls to set up a potential sequel — hey, it worked for 38 Underworlds.

THE PURGE 2013, HBO MAX

Over the past few years, The Purge has gone from “What a great idea for a terrifying horror movie!” to “What a great idea for a societal reset!” (See also: 2016’s The Purge: Election Year; the previous two elections.) In the year 2022, the United States is crimefree and prosperous, thanks to the annual “Purge,” a 12-hour period wherein citizens can commit any crime

26 INLANDER JANUARY 6, 2022

BOOM GOES THE DYNAMITE In a cinematic sense, 2021 was chock-full of high-profile musicals: West Side Story, In the Heights, Dear Evan Hansen, Annette (and that’s not even getting into the animated territory). But the most musical-centric musical of the lot is Tick, Tick… BOOM!. The Netflix adaptation of RENT composer/playwright Jonathan Larsen’s oneman show about the struggles with creativity and being a young artist in New York City in the early ’90s doesn’t reach the exquisite heights of West Side Story, but it’s an incredibly solid directorial debut for Lin-Manuel Miranda. Andrew Garfield does a bang-up job as Larsen, capturing the necrosis that pushes some of those close to him away, while bringing enough charisma and warmth to the role that you still root for him. The playfulness of lyrically looping duet “Therapy” and the Broadway cameo-packed dinner scene for “Sunday” make it a must-watch for theater lovers and a good time for casual musical enjoyers. (SETH SOMMERFELD)

they want and just get it the hell out of their systems.

Cool, until the gated community of a rich white couple (Lena Headey and Ethan Hawke) is breached — can’t have that, now can we?

ALIEN INTRUDER 1993, YOUTUBE

Spaceship Commander Skyler (Billy Dee Williams, far removed from Star Wars) leads a team of convict workers to salvage a ship in deep space, as you do in 2022. To relax on the long trip, the cons get to spend their weekends in virtual reality with hot digital women — but one turns out to be real, and a killer alien. Yes, Alien Intruder has the ambitions of West World, Virtuosity and, well, Alien, but the budget of Mystery Science Theater 3000. Still, it’s fun to watch vet Williams and soap star Tracy Scoggins (as horny femme-fatale alien Ariel) acting their asses off.

THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON 1990, PRIME VIDEO & TUBI

An orbiting space crew that tends to the maintenance of nuclear satellites finds themselves adrift without power around the dark side of the moon and soon discovers a NASA shuttle that disappeared 30 years ago over … the Bermuda Triangle. Complicating matters, once aboard the shuttle, the crew encounters … the Devil. Satan in space? Wild. Despite being three decades old, The Dark Side of the Moon holds up, thanks mostly to the tense script by Carey and Chad Hughes (The Conjuring, Annabelle). As the trailer says, “Help is only 250,000 miles away.”

SOYLENT GREEN 1973, VOD

The world of 2022 is overpopulated, polluted and barren; supply shortages and riots are common; and only the rich elite can afford real food, water and housing. In other news, Charlton Heston sci-fi movie Soylent Green was released in 1973. The titular foodreplacement crackers for the poor masses are allegedly made from ocean plankton, but NYPD detective Frank Thorn (Heston) uncovers that it’s harvested from corpses: “Soylent Green is people!” (most Heston movies involved him yelling some apocalyptic shit). So, who’s up for a Beyond burger? n

KITTY WINNERS Owners of Spokane’s first and only cat cafe, Kitty Cantina, recently landed some sweet cash to help sweet, homeless kitties in the region. Tori and Justyn Cozza were recognized for their animal welfare efforts by winning a public vote in pet food brand Royal Canin’s Feline Foster Heroes Contest. The win nets a $5,000 grant to support SpokAnimal, the local nonprofit shelter for which the Cozzas volunteer to foster kittens and with which they partner to showcase adoptable cats at Kitty Cantina in North Spokane. Read more at felinefoster.org. (CHEY SCOTT)

RETURNING TO THE CODE It is basically impossible for the Wachowski siblings to make a non-divisive film. Ever since the original The Matrix, every entry in their collective filmography spawns legions of detractors and passionate defenders. Now solo, Lana Wachowski’s The Matrix Resurrections is no different, but it’s certainly worth a watch. The film, in theaters now, finds Neo (Keanu Reeves) and Trinity (CarrieAnne Moss) back in the Matrix for reasons that slowly reveal, and starts off with some really sharp meta commentary on reboots and rehashes, but then kind of punts on most of that and settles into standard Matrix-y beats with action that rushes to a climax. At times it feels like a rewrite of the clunky Matrix sequels, but it arrives at a satisfying endpoint as a result. (SETH SOMMERFELD) n

BUSINESS

Chain Reaction Regional restaurant owners capitalize on opportunities to expand their concepts with additional locations

BY CARRIE SCOZZARO

T

raveling up and down the East Coast in the family’s ’68 Buick wagon guaranteed two things: backseat skirmishes with my brother, and eating out, usually at a Howard Johnson’s, but plenty of forgettable chains, too. Sometimes we found family faves, like Bob’s Big Boy in the South for juicy burgers, crispy fries and a soda, while up north it was clam sandwiches and ice cream at Friendly’s.

Like so many whose formative dining experiences involved chains, my parents found them reassuring. They knew what to expect for food, prices and type of service — precious are the places that welcome all comers, especially kiddos and road-weary travelers.

That’s one appeal of restaurant chains, which, for the purpose of this story, we’re defining as having three or more locations, though in pricing and style they run the gamut.

Among regionally based chains, there’s fast food like Bruchi’s and Roger’s Ice Cream & Burgers, but also cafes like Rocket Bakery and full-service spots such as Twigs Bistro and Martini Bar and Bangkok Thai, all of them Northwest originals.

While good drive-thru traffic and high visibility are key to any Atilano’s location, Gonzalez says, Idaho was a different story.

Lower Idaho wages and taxes made expansion to Idaho attractive, but ensuring the restaurant had a presence in the Coeur d’Alene market was the real motivator, he says.

Moreover — although Idaho’s minimum wage is $7.25, the federal minimum, compared to Washington’s, which just increased to $14.49 — Atilano’s pays all of its staff Washington wage rates.

“If you don’t, then you pretty much don’t have employees,” Gonzalez says.

Will there be an eighth Atilano’s anytime soon? Maybe. As the father of two youngsters, Gonzalez factors work-life balance into the cost of doing business, even as he’s mulling Pullman’s potential.

“I’m a guy of opportunities,” Gonzalez says.

Panhandle Coffee & Cone now has three North Idaho locations.

FAMILY FIRST

The Gonzalaz family at the first Atilano’s, opened in 2009.

OPPORTUNITY KNOCKED

Atilano’s is another Northwest original, entirely family-owned and named for family patriarch Atilano Gonzalez.

“We noticed a hole in the market for our niche in Mexican food,” says Adrian Gonzalez, Atilano’s son who runs many of their seven locations, including the newest in Spokane Valley.

Gonzalez remembers painting Atilano’s inaugural Third Avenue location (opened in 2009) bright red and yellow, like a San Diego taco shop, he says. They announced on the reader board: “San Diego’s Best Burritos,” meaning with french fries inside instead of rice and beans, he explains.

Like the Gonzalezes, the Dillon family also had family in mind when creating what would become Panhandle Cone & Coffee.

“We never set out to take over ice cream sales,” says Jason Dillon, whose wife, Stephanie, is a nurse.

“It just evolved organically.”

They’d been making ice cream at home for years, and evaluated several food-related businesses and potential new homes before settling on ice cream, coffee and being based in Sandpoint.

“Small towns have, for lack of a better term, soul,” Dillon says. “You can feel the investment that people have made to make their town, community a better place.”

Panhandle Coffee & Cone launched in 2015, adding a store in Moscow a few years later and in Coeur d’Alene in summer 2021.

All adhere to the business’s niche focus: smallbatch ice cream featuring local ingredients like Athol Orchards’ apple cider syrup and regional coffee. ...continued on next page

JANUARY 6, 2022 INLANDER 27

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28 INLANDER JANUARY 6, 2022

FOOD | BUSINESS “CHAIN REACTION,” CONTINUED...

Equally important as the ingredients used is maintaining a small-town feel and providing opportunities for their staff, says Dillon, who used to be a pastor.

The couple don’t plan to expand to Washington; rather they want to revamp their Sandpoint location and expand its kitchen capacity.

Looking back, says Dillon, they didn’t know a lot about running a business — websites, social media, rules compliance, insurance, branding, etc. — but were fortunate to have help.

In a way, Dillon says he’s glad he didn’t know how much work it would be: “The first four years were exhausting… 60 to 80 hours a week.”

A CHAIN BY ANY OTHER NAME

Adam Hegsted knows exactly how much work it is to open a restaurant. He currently manages around 11 venues, although the number fluctuates, and while no two are the same — unlike the aforementioned regional chains — there’s often crossover in vibe or even menu items.

“It would be a lot easier to just make the same restaurant over and over,” says Hegsted, noting that it takes time to perfect things like service flow and food consistency.

A recognized industry leader locally and nationally, Hegsted evolved from an executive chef to chef-owner of his Eat Good Group of restaurants, plus the annual Crave! Northwest culinary festival and, most recently, a meal kit brand. His experience running eateries in both Idaho and Washington affords him unique insight.

For example, staffing is more challenging in Idaho, made worse by a lack of affordable employee housing, Hegsted says.

Idaho is also more seasonal.

“Basically, we count on making money in the summer so we can survive the winter,” he says.

Idaho’s tip credit adds more challenges, Hegsted says. The credit allows employers to pay tippable employees — front-of-thehouse servers and bartenders, for example — significantly less than minimum wage (as little as $3.35 an hour in Idaho) and ENTRÉE Get the scoop on local require tip pooling, again only food news with our weekly benefiting tippable employees.

Entrée newsletter. Sign up In Washington, not having at Inlander.com/newsletter. the tip credit has created a wage disparity, Hegsted says. Servers earn minimum wage plus tips, which cannot be shared, so back-ofthe-house employees like dishwashers, cooks and even managers make comparatively less.

Although Idaho’s $7.25 federal rate minimum wage “is a little ridiculous and needs to be raised,” Hegsted says, “it makes a lot more sense.”

Liquor licenses are another variable. Although on paper the cost of a liquor license is similar in the two states — $100 to $2,200 in Washington compared to Idaho’s $750, plus $50 more for beer/ wine — the process to acquire one is not.

Idaho limits liquor licenses per population, and there are fewer licenses than interested buyers, who can put their name on a waitlist and hope one becomes available, or try to buy one on the secondary market from someone not currently using their license, costing upwards of $300,000, Hegsted says.

Despite the differences, Hegsted continues to do business in both states.

Although Hegsted grew up in Washington, his first stint as a chef at the Coeur d’Alene Casino in 2008 meant relocating to Idaho, where he still lives. Meeting the local developer Greenstone’s owner Jim Frank, however, turned Hegsted’s attention toward Washington, and he’s been back and forth across the state line with his restaurants ever since.

“Our real goal in all of our restaurants is to cater to the neighborhood,” Hegsted says. “Listen to the people that live there and try to make something unique and special for them.”

“Really, I love both places, obviously,” he adds. “Just funny the way it worked out.” n

A Hero examines when doing the “right” thing goes wrong.

ALSO OPENING REVIEW

JUDGMENT DAY

THE 335

An all-star team of ass-kicking international female spies — played by Jessica Chastain, Lupita Nyong’o, Penélope Cruz, Diane Kruger and Bingbing Fan — must work together to secure a weapon of mass destruction.

(SS) Rated PG-13

No good deed goes unpunished in Iranian drama A Hero

BY JOSH BELL

U

sually, when a movie character finds a mysterious bag full of money, the worst thing they can possibly do is keep the money and hope no one finds out. The main character of Iranian writer-director Asghar Farhadi’s A Hero faces this familiar dilemma, and despite being in desperate need of the money, he ultimately decides to do the right thing. But for Rahim (Amir Jadidi), returning the bag of gold coins to its grateful owner is just the first step in an escalating series of misjudgments, white lies and impulsive errors that slowly add up to ruin his fragile redemption.

When Rahim is presented with the bag of money, he’s out on a two-day leave from his imprisonment for an unpaid debt, and since paying off his creditor would allow him to be released from prison, he’s already sacrificing security for morality by giving the money back. When prison officials find out about his selfless act, they seize on it as an opportunity for good publicity for the prison, to distract from a recent inmate suicide. Soon, Rahim is being interviewed on TV, and he’s already fabricating details of his account, to protect the identity of the fiancee his family doesn’t know about.

So the story unfolds, as every new incident presents

Rahim with a new ethical quandary, all in service of his efforts to pay off the bitter man who guaranteed his business loan. Rahim only wants to start a new life with his fiancee and his son, but each development in the saga of his good deed brings in new people with their own agendas, from prison officials to charity organizers to Rahim’s own family members. As usual, Farhadi builds a movie around melodramatic plot elements that could be lifted from a soap opera, but he delivers them in a naturalistic, understated style that emphasizes the human toll of each decision and betrayal.

Still, A Hero is less emotionally engaging than Farhadi’s best work (including Oscar winners A Separation and The Salesman), and at a certain point all of Rahim’s misfortunes become ridiculous and repetitive. Even as Rahim grows more and more frustrated with the demands placed on him, Jadidi’s performance remains grounded, and Rahim approaches every new setback with the same pained smile, determined to somehow make the best of the situation.

The creditor who refuses to forgive Rahim’s debt or even accept partial payment may seem like the bad guy, but Farhadi finds room for his perspective as well, to

illustrate that Rahim’s decision-making skills may have been suspect for quite some time.

Farhadi builds sometimes unbearable discomfort in small, mundane moments, from a meeting with a stubborn civil service functionary who’s supposed to give Rahim a job, to the recording of a social media message from Rahim’s son (who suffers from a severe speech impediA HERO ment) in defense of his father.

Rated PG-13 Directed by Asghar Farhadi Rahim’s plight is the product of Starring Amir Jadidi, Sahar both unique social conditions Goldust, Alireza Jahandideh in Iran (where debtors’ prisons remain legal) and the global proliferation of social media, making every feel-good story into a viral sensation that can quickly turn sour. The combination of traditional and modern values provides some fascinating tension to the story.

A Hero often works better as an examination of that tension than as the kind of finely observed character drama for which Farhadi is best known. Farhadi has put his various characters through so many inescapable predicaments that this latest feels a bit schematic, even if its individual elements can still create a powerful impact. n

JANUARY 6, 2022 INLANDER 29

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The Tender Bar is not a drink that goes down smooth.

Watered Down The Tender Bar leaves you thirsty for a better version of this memoir-turned-movie

BY CHASE HUTCHINSON

A

scattershot film adapted from the 2005 It is all about J.R. looking to be a writer and memoir of the same name by J.R. Moeh— as we know he succeeds due to the film being ringer, The Tender Bar is a story that never based on a memoir — it is woefully lacking a comes to life when making the leap from the sense of deeper engagement. You’ve seen this film page to the screen. before, and it doesn’t do anything unique with There are some intriguing performances that the stock narrative. There are moments of heart, are ultimately let down by a haphazard narrative including a standout scene where Christopher which only scratches the surface of the deeper Lloyd’s bitter Grandpa visits J.R.’s school in place themes it was grasping at. of his father. Still, much of the film rings hollow.

Notable among them is Ben Affleck as Uncle In particular, an early love interest that J.R. Charlie, a charming Long Island bar owner discovered in college is as perplexing as it is pewhose devil-may-care attitude makes him an destrian. If some of the other characters were paunlikely father figure to Tye Sheridan’s J.R. Yet per thin, Briana Middleton’s Sidney is rendered that is exactly the role Charlie will have to practically invisfill when his sister (J.R.’s mom), played by ible. This is despite THE TENDER BAR an underutilized Lily Rabe, moves back Middleton’s best Rated R into the family home as she looks to start efforts as she tries to Directed by George Clooney fresh. She brings along J.R., potrayed in instill a flat characStarring Ben Affleck, Tye Sheridan, Lily Rabe his childhood years by the precocious ter with something At the Magic Lantern Daniel Ranieri in his debut, who spends resembling more Streaming on Amazon Prime Jan. 7 much of his early time there listening to than one dimension. his absent and alcoholic dad. Said father Instead, she exists is a broadcast personality known as “The Voice,” just to give J.R. his first heartbreak, which he and the radio is a way that J.R. tragically attempts then carries with him as a resentment that weighs to connect with him. Charlie soon takes the kid the film down. under his wing, giving him humorous yet heartThe direction by George Clooney, whose felt advice on what it means to be a good man. previous outings behind the camera have at least Affleck is the best part of the film, delicately been engaging, just is not up to task here. There capturing the caring yet crude energy of Charlie is nothing particularly interesting visually or in as he imparts wisdom to his nephew, all while how the story is framed. In fact, there are many tending bar. Much of the film is spent seeing J.R. scenes where the film does wildly out of place grow up with all the various eccentric characters zooms at inopportune moments that feel like they found in the bar serving as his support network. are lifted from a sitcom.

Barring Affleck’s performance, there is not There is possibly something going on about much noteworthy about The Tender Bar. It is all masculinity and abandonment that exists just unrather trite and meandering, a by-the-numbers derneath the surface of the story, though it never coming of age story with most characters proving is excavated. Instead, The Tender Bar is content to be paper-thin approximations of real people at to serve you a stiff yet bland drink and chat it up best. without much of anything substantial to say. n

PHOTOGRAPHY

Schock Treatment Go-Go’s drummer Gina Schock draws on all eras of her Rock and Roll Hall of Fame career for her new photo book Gina Schock (bottom left) and her Go-Go’s bandmates show that rock ‘n’ roll is glamorous business.

BY DAN NAILEN

GINA SCHOCK PHOTO

B

elieve it or not, there was a time when everyone didn’t walk around with a camera in their pocket, ready to document every meal, party or concert attended.

That makes the people who did chronicle that preiPhone era all the more important as amateur historians, eyewitnesses to things like the birth of punk rock or the explosion of ’80s pop music in all its cocaine-fueled, neon-colored garishness. ...continued on next page

JANUARY 6, 2022 INLANDER 31

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32 INLANDER JANUARY 6, 2022

MUSIC | PHOTOGRAPHY

DRUMMER ASKS DRUMMER

Y

ou might know Cameron Smith as the excellent drummer for local bands Fun Ladies and Silver Treason, for her 30-plus years playing in the Northwest, or even from her role as a Spokane social worker. But you might not know Smith is a serious Go-Go’s and Gina Schock fan. We did, Cameron Smith so we had Cameron send some questions for us to ask one of her earliest beatkeeping influences. Responses have been edited for length and clarity: SMITH: What was the first time you could envision yourself as the drummer in a band?

SCHOCK: That was when I picked up drumsticks and I put headphones on and I decided to play drums! I just knew I wanted to play drums. That was it. I just knew I was gonna play drums. I’m gonna play drums. I know it. I love it. I feel it. It speaks to me. It’s who I am.

Have you ever written a part that you later regretted because you had to keep playing it?

No, no, never. Anything I have ever written, I’ve refined it over and over and over until it is what I love. And if I don’t love it, I don’t play it, man. That’s what it is.

I refine that shit.

Do you have a favorite Go-Go’s song to play?

No, I love all the beats I come up with. They all make sense, and they’re all about elevating the song. They’re not about drumbeats, they’re about what I can give to the song to elevate that song and make it better, and make that song shine.

Whatever those beats are, they’re all about the song, babe.

Do you have any kind of a pre-show ritual you always have before a show?

I meditate a little bit. I get my calves and arms massaged, and my neck and my shoulders, I get them massaged about a half-hour before the show. I get a practice pad out and start doing my rudiments on the pad, just to loosen up so when you walk on stage you don’t freeze up. Because I’m a nervous Nellie, and I just need to loosen up before I go on stage and feel comfortable so I don’t tighten up.

What’s the longest you can go without playing before you get cranky or weird?

It’s right now! I haven’t played in years, and I’m freaking out. But now I’m back into it. n

“SCHOCK TREATMENT,” CONTINUED...

Go-Go’s drummer Gina Schock grew up at the intersection of punk and pop, and was packing a little pointand-shoot camera until she could afford a “real” one.

She’s collected hundreds of those pictures, tracing her and her bandmates’ journey from scrappy club upstarts to arena-filling Rock and Roll Hall of Famers, in a new book called Made in Hollywood: All Access with the Go-Go’s.

“There’s three things in life that always appealed to me,” Schock explains via phone, sporting a thick Baltimore accent that lingers even after decades in Los Angeles. “It was photography, old films, and it was music.

I loved all of them in a major, major way. So I was always carrying around a little clunky Instamatic.”

Made in Hollywood spans Schock’s entire life, but primarily focuses on her years on stage behind the drums.

Those started when she first toured as part of a punk band backing John Waters’s infamous Pink Flamingos “Egg Lady” Edith Massey, and continued into divey L.A. clubs before the Go-Go’s hit it big in the early ’80s. Thanks to Schock’s photographic habit, the book holds intimate shots of friends and tourmates like the Police, X, Joan Jett and David Bowie, as well as nonrockers the Go-Go’s met like Dolly Parton and Johnny Cash. When we talked, Schock had just added another new famous friend to her collection at the Go-Go’s Hall of Fame induction: Sir Paul McCartney.

Schock originally intended Made in Hollywood to be a coffee-table book, all photos and little in the way of stories. But her publisher pushed her to add context, and Schock went to work telling the tales beyond the lens.

“I’m not really a writer,” Schock says, “but when I started looking at these photographs, it became so apparent that I could write about them. You look at them, and you remember everything that was happening at that very moment in time. And the stories just pour out.”

She’s not alone in telling that story. Longtime friends like Jodie Foster, the B-52s’ Kate Pierson, and Paul Reubens (aka Pee-Wee Herman) contributed their own memories to the book, as did all of her fellow Go-Go’s, who she’s been playing with on and off for more than 40 years.

The Go-Go’s are touring again in 2022, celebrating their recent accolades and perhaps inspiring another photo book from Schock down the line. She’s got plenty of material to work with after nearly a half-century of taking pictures.

“They’re in drawers, under the bed, everywhere, you name it,” Schock says. “I really need to write another one because I have a ton more photographs. I have so many more photos that y’all haven’t seen.” n Made In Hollywood: All Access with the Go-Go’s is available now.

UPCOMING SHOWS HOT CLUB OF SPOKANE Sat, Jan. 8 at 7 pm Lucky You Lounge Free VIVIAN LEVA AND RILEY CALCAGNO Mon. Jan. 10 at 8 pm Lucky You Lounge $12

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JOAN MARCUS PHOTO

THEATER FIDDLE ME THIS

Telling the story of a Jewish family in pre-revolutionary Russia, Fiddler on the Roof is a classic tale of family, love and changing times that anyone can relate to. As Tevye butts heads with his three oldest strong-willed daughters about marriage, in the background, life in Russia is rapidly changing for the Jewish population. The production is filled with classic Broadway hits such as “Tradition,” “Matchmaker, Matchmaker,” and “If I Were a Rich Man.” Not only is Fiddler heartwarming, it’s also humorous, joyful and will leave you yelling “L’Chaim!” as the characters navigate their way through their changing lives.

— MADISON PEARSON Fiddler on the Roof • Jan. 11-15 at 7:30 pm, also Jan. 15 at 2 pm and Jan. 16 at 1 and 6:30 pm. • $42-$100 • First Interstate Center for the Arts • 334 W. Spokane Falls Blvd. • broadwayspokane.com • 509-279-7000

34 INLANDER JANUARY 6, 2022

MUSIC NEW YEAR’S REVERBERATIONS

SPORTS COMIN’ ROUND THE MOUNTAIN

Vivian Leva and Riley Calcagno • Mon, Jan. 10 at 8 pm • $12 • Lucky You Lounge • 1801 W. Sunset Blvd. • luckyyoulounge.com • 509-474-0511

Cross-Country Skiing Lessons • Select dates from January-March • $34-$59 • Mount Spokane State Park • 26107 N. Mt. Spokane Park Dr. • spokanerec.org • 509-755-2489

The first weeks of January 2022 are an absolute dead zone for concerts. Seemingly nothing is happening. Thankfully, Vivian Leva and Riley Calcagno are here to prevent January from starting out totally concert-free. The young folk singer-songwriter duo’s 2021 self-titled debut LP rings out with warm rootsy harmonies. Both musicians were raised in the Appalachian musical tradition, and it can definitely be heard in the Southern lilt of Leva’s Virginian vocals. Starting the year with the optimistic spirit of some Americana tuneage is never a bad option.

— SETH SOMMERFELD

As citizens of the Inland Northwest, we’re used to a little snow. It’s not always fun to drive in and shoveling isn’t at the top of the list of fun winter activities, but why not make lemonade out of lemons this winter? Spokane Parks & Recreation is offering cross-country ski lessons through March for anyone age 13 or older. Learn the basics of cross-country skiing while spending time with family and enjoying the views from atop Mount Spokane. Ski gear is included in the fee for the two-hour lesson, but if you’ve got your own, you’ve saved yourself about $20.

— MADISON PEARSON

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THEATER FITTING THE SHAPES TOGETHER

Catch the debut production of Neil LaBute’s The Shape of Things by the Upstart Players, a group of mostly Spokane-based theater artists so recently formed they don’t yet have an online presence. The dark romantic comedy follows four college students who “make mistakes and have flaws, and want to love and be loved, just like every other human,” says director Erin Sellers.

LaBute’s 2003 play included gallery scenes, thus the staging at Art Spirit.

“The audience will be surrounded by art, as they watch performance art, which I hope will lend to them watching with an analytical eye, as well as just be enjoyable,” Sellers says.

— CARRIE SCOZZARO The Shape of Things • Fri, Jan. 7 and Sat, Jan. 8 at 7:30 pm • $10 • The Art Spirit Gallery • 415 Sherman Ave., Coeur d’Alene • 208-827-6847

VISUAL ARTS GUEST APPEARANCE

The first exhibition of the new year for Saranac Art Projects features five guest artists, some of them former Saranac members, like Hannah Koeske, who explores relationships in her paintings. Mana Mehrabian’s photography addresses “identity, power, perception, and the body.” Ellen Picken’s new paintings work with the subject of silent moments and dreams. Local college art instructor Lena J. Lopez Schindler’s work refers to the U.S.-Mexico border.

And visiting assistant professor Emily Somoskey explores how humans experience space. The work covers a range of media and content in a show titled Presencing, opening this weekend.

— CARRIE SCOZZARO Presencing • Jan. 7-29; open Fri-Sat from 12-8 pm • Free • Saranac Art Projects • 25 W. Main Ave. • sapgallery.com

numericacu.com Federally insured by NCUA JANUARY 6, 2022 INLANDER 35

Reggae CDs and Blues You had music on tapes or CDs downtown. With the hair, I didn’t notice if you had any. I don’t know anything about your offer, or if I’m too late to listen to a track or find out about the artist. Or was this just a brief sentiment?

A BARBER WHO MADE MY DAY I came into your shop looking for a change during a major life transition. I asked you to make some recommendations and went with it. We chatted about Christmas plans, your cooking tomato sauce from fresh tomatoes. I tried to steal a joke from a comedian, and you caught me. Thank you for your kindness. It made a rough weekend rougher. I’m kicking myself for not asking for your number before I left. Perhaps next time.

I SAW YOU HAPPILY EVER L’AFTER I saw you through the window and knew we were at the start of a memorable adventure. You looked a-door-able. I had been feeling a little blue, but seeing you vastly improv-ed my mood.

I want to walk into the bar and give you 185 roses, which might be the world’s worst idea, but I want you to know how I like my lover like. I volunteer my heart to you.

IYKYK. Happy birthday!

ANY DOG OUT THERE? Snuggie (10 months old) purebred Lakeland Terrier is looking for a friend. Yes, I realize this is NOT a dating site! lol Lakelands are a vanishing breed. NO, I am Not looking to breed her.

Just would like to find someone in the main part of Spokane with a Lakeland and with a fenced-in backyard for play dates. She grew up around other terriers before I got her, so she is socialized but with the usual terrier attitude toward playing. I would like to find someone with a like-sized dog and age for her to work off some of the steam that doesn’t get worked off on LONG daily walks. Not sure how we’re going to communicate but would like to know if someone out there has a Lakeland.

2AM@CASINO1/3/22 As I was walking out u asked to use my lighter. Ur name is Anthony, and I think u were trying to hit on me. U said u would maybe write an isawu for me and asked my name. U were very respectful and polite. If I wasn’t such a hot mess right now and stuck in my miserable marriage, I definitely would have liked to continue chatting with u. I like ur look very handsome guy.

SOUND OFF

CHEERS CDA SUPER ONE Christmas Eve. You were behind me in checkout, and when I couldn’t find my wallet, you paid for my groceries.

I was so surprised and moved by your generous act I started to cry. Thank you so much for brightening my day. Now, let me tell you “the rest of the story.” I’d been stressed, as this has been a difficult year. I haven’t worked since February; I had cancer surgery last year and am long overdue for follow-up to assure it hasn’t returned; I expect to lose a beloved elderly pet soon. But most of all, I haven’t worked mostly because my mother was having health issues and she died in August. We were facing our first Christmas without Mom. At the time of our encounter, I had not 100% decided whether to be sad and lonely by myself, or (possibly) sadder and lonelier with my siblings. Again, thank you so much for your much appreciated kindness. May we all strive to put kindness out into the world. Happy and healthy 2022 to you, and to all. (P.S. had a nice reflective Christmas with siblings) TO THE COUPLE WHO RETURNED A NEW MOM’S WALLET I didn’t realize how real “mom brain” was until experiencing it myself. I had forgotten I put my wallet in my baby’s stroller at the Valley Mall, and when my husband loaded it into the car, my wallet must have fallen out. As we pulled into our driveway, I got a call from my dad that someone was calling to find the owner of my wallet (smart of the person to look for a number to call in my wallet!) We were able to meet up a few hours later to pick it up. It was such a blessing that it was you who picked it up!! I easily could have had

a major disaster on my hands had it fallen into the wrong hands. Thank you so much for being a good person and allowing this new momma to have one less worry!!

“

SISSIES? Stop giving nonvaccinated sissies attention by complaining about “them.”

After listening to the explanation of a burly man(?) in my building, I learned that “I’ve always been scared of needles. When I see

Cathy, Cathy, Cathy... You’re in the wrong lane again..

TIP AND A HUG! To the anonymous woman who gave me a tip and a great hug while I was delivering fuel in Sandpoint, THANK YOU! You are making this world a better place!!

ANGELS AT FIREHOUSE SUBS Wanted to acknowledge the crew working at Firehouse Subs on North Division on Sunday! I left my purse on the chair when we were done eating there. Didn’t discover it ‘til we got home. Called, they said they had it safe in the backroom! I was SO grateful, in tears.

The integrity and honesty of young people is often questioned in these times, but today I was the recipient of their honesty, integrity and admirable intentions! My husband is having heart surgery in three days; if I’d lost all my personal belongings in my purse, the stress on top of that would have been simply horrible for us! To the Angels of Firehouse Subs: Bless You with our sincerest appreciation! You’re the BEST of human beings!

CHEERS TO THE STCU/BEST OF BROADWAY Cheers, and thank you, to the STCU/Best of Broadway for offering Student Rush tickets to the Broadway Show, “Anastasia”. It made a day at the theater VERY affordable to many families.

JEERS RE: TEARING DOWN AN ICON FOR FAST FOOD If you did a little research you’d find out that the Conley family (owners of both White Elephant locations) sold their property directly to Panda Express.

The City of Spokane played a minor part.

Uninformed accusations are lame.

1. Visit Inlander.com/isawyou by 3 pm Monday. 2. Pick a category (I Saw You, You Saw Me, Cheers or Jeers). 3.

Provide basic info: your name and email (so we know you’re real). 4. To connect via I Saw You, provide a non-identifying email to be included with your submission — like “petals327@yahoo.com,” not “j.smith@comcast.net.”

36 INLANDER JANUARY 6, 2022

THE UNVACCINATED INFRINGE ON THE RIGHTS OF THE VACCINATED For those claiming that their “freedoms” include the right to refuse to receive COVID vaccinations, they need to understand that

with this refusal comes a number of other rights, including: (1) the freedom to contract COVID and spread it to your family, friends, neighbors and community; (2) the freedom to contribute to the continuing overburden of our already overworked hospital and health care providers; (3) the freedom to contribute to the real possibility of renewed shutdown of businesses, restaurants and entertainment venues, putting others’ financial well-being at risk; (4) the freedom to getting laid off as the pandemic continues to threaten our economy; (5) the freedom to put vaccinated people with immediate health issues such as strokes, heart attacks and tragic traffic accidents at risk as the unvaccinated continue to overcrowd the already limited numbers of ICU beds; and (6) last but not least, the freedom for your loved ones to watch as you die a slow and painful death, and as a result leave them not only with their loss, but also huge medical bills. As a reminder, existing laws, regulations and societal norms come with numerous limitations to your “freedom.”

While driving, you are not allowed to text or drink alcohol; but you are required to follow the rules of the road, wear your seatbelt, stop at red lights and stop signs, yield to emergency vehicles, etc. You do not have the freedom to smoke wherever you please, walk around in public with no clothes on, refuse to pay sales tax on purchases you make, or yell “Fire” in a crowded auditorium when there is none. These limitations (and many others) on “rights” are necessary, for without them our society would become chaotic and unruly, threatening the health, safety and well-being of all. So please spare me your insistence that your refusal to receive the COVID vaccinations is an infringement of your “rights” — your claim severely impacts the rights, livelihood and health of those doing the right thing and getting vaccinated.

”

the needles on TV being put into arms of those being vaccinated I just cannot go thru it.” So, macho men — “we” who have weathered the storm and have had this painless injection — see “you” for who you are: sissies!

WORRY ABOUT THE OTHER WASHINGTON Cathy, Cathy, Cathy... You’re in the wrong lane again. Why are you promoting a state initiative when you should be working to solve the gridlock in Congress? I just received a drama-filled letter from CMR promoting an initiative challenging the state’s long-term health care bill. Under Cathy’s smiling face, the letter contains inaccurate and misleading information about the new law. She neglects to mention that the governor has asked for implementation to be delayed while the Legislature works to modify or delay its effect. Once again, CMR is casting blame instead of proposing solutions. Get off I-5, Cathy, and get back on the D.C. Beltway.

Instead of always blaming Dems for everything... get to work, support better health care. n

THIS WEEK'S ANSWERS T G I F

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M U T E S H E W C O M A L R O N A D J W E I G A A D V G R I E P U R I S T E N

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T R E X P E P A I R L Y O T C H S E O S O T T S

F A B R I C S S H A M

W E R E O K T H E N E R V E

O R O S

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A M B E R

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NOTE: I Saw You/Cheers & Jeers is for adults 18 or older. The Inlander reserves the right to edit or reject any posting at any time at its sole discretion and assumes no responsibility for the content.

EVENTS | CALENDAR

COMEDY

ADRIENNE IAPALUCCI Comedy fans might recognize Adrienne from her performances as a semifinalist on season 7 of NBC’s Last Comic Standing or her recent appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman. Jan. 6-8, Thu-Sat at 7:30 pm, Fri and Sat at 10 pm. $12-$26.

Spokane Comedy Club, 315 W. Sprague. spokanecomedyclub.com NEW YEAR, NEW YOU The Blue Door Theatre players take New Year’s resolutions and show how it could go in this all-improvised spoof. Fridays in Jan. at 7:30 pm. $8. Blue Door Theatre, 815 W. Garland Ave. bluedoortheatre.com SAFARI A “Whose Line”-esque, fastpaced short-form improv show with a few twists and turns added, based on audience suggestions. For mature audiences. Saturdays at 7:30 pm. $8. Blue Door Theatre, 815 W. Garland Ave. bluedoortheatre.com (509-747-7045) PAULY SHORE Pauly Shore tasted superstardom in 1990 when his precedentsetting MTV show “Totally Pauly” hit the airwaves to major fan approval. The show ran for six years, leading him to numerous television and film roles. Jan. 13 at 7:30 pm, Jan. 14-15 at 10:30 pm. $25-$33.

Spokane Comedy Club, 315 W. Sprague. spokanecomedyclub.com PAULY SHORE: STICK WITH THE DANCING Unlike Shore’s traditional stand-up shows, “Stick With The Dancing” is a one man show where Shore talks about stories from his childhood. Jan. 14-15 at 7:30 pm. $25-$33. Spokane Comedy Club, 315 W. Sprague. spokanecomedyclub.com PAULY SHORE Q&A Ask Pauly Shore any questions you have about his movie career. Donations to the local humane society are recommended. Ages 18+ with valid ID. Jan. 15 at 2 pm. Free. Spokane Comedy Club, 315 W. Sprague. spokanecomedyclub.com (509-318-9998) JON “POLAR BEAR” GONZALEZ JGonzalez is a standup comedian, podcaster and entertainer living in the heart of Texas. After getting involved in the local comedy scene, Jon quickly found success through the release of multiple comedy skits which went viral on TikTok. Jan. 16, 7:30 pm. $29-$39. Spokane Comedy Club, 315 W. Sprague. spokanecomedyclub.com (509-318-9998)

COMMUNITY

DROP IN & PLAY Join staff, volunteers and other members of the creative community to play board and card games

together in a relaxing, positive environment. Thursdays from 12-2 pm. Free.

Spark Central, 1214 W. Summit Pkwy. spark-central.org (509-279-0299) HORTICULTURE SERIES An introduction to the principles and practices involved in the identification, selection, development, production, and care of horticultural plant material. Jan. 6, 9 am. $132.24-$315.99. WSU Spokane County Extension, 222 N. Havana St. extension. wsu.edu/spokane (509-477-2048) LOUIS COMFORT TIFFANY: TREASURES FROM THE DRIEHAUS COLLECTION A celebration of the artistry and craftsmanship of the Tiffany artworks from Chicago’s distinguished Richard H. Driehaus Collection, highlighting masterworks never before presented in a comprehensive exhibition. Open Tue-Sun from 10 am-5 pm through Feb. 13. $7-$12. Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture, 2316 W. First Ave. northwestmuseum.org MAKING SPIRITS BRIGHT Every year, the Extreme Team lights up Cowley Park for the kids at the Sacred Heart Children’s Hospital. This year, a few additional trees were decorated, and inspirational messages fill the sidewalks. Through Jan. 31; site music daily from noon-9 pm. Free.

Cowley Park, Sixth Ave. and Division St. kxly.com/features/extreme-team/ ONLINE STORYTIME Children have fun learning while reading stories, singing songs and sharing fingerplays during storytime. For ages 2-5 and their families. Registration required. Weekly on Thursdays from 6:30-7 pm and Fridays from 9:30-10 am. Free. scld.org LGBTQ+ SENIORS OF THE INW All LGBTQ+ seniors are invited to join weekly Zoom meetings, Fridays at 4 pm. “Senior” is roughly ages 50+. If interested email NancyTAvery@comcast.net to be added to the email list. 4-5 pm. Free. facebook.com/SpokaneLGBTSeniors COUNTRY WESTERN DANCE Cathy Dark teaches line dances as well as some partner dances like the Cowboy Cha Cha. Singles and couples of all ages are welcome. No experience necessary. Jan. 8, 7-10 pm. $8-$11. East Spokane Grange, 1621 N. Park Rd. spokanefolklore.com (509-928-0692) HOT CHOCOLATE PARTY & STORY TIME Join Miss Delaney for hot chocolate and equally delicious stories. This event is held in the Community Room; registration is required. Jan. 8, 11 am-noon. Free.

Coeur d’Alene Public Library, 702 E. Front Ave. cdalibrary.org (208-769-2315) BIRDING IN THE LAND OF THE MAYAS Paul Nistico presents photos and infor-

mation about the colorful trogons, toucans, parrots and many other birds that he and his wife Patsy saw during their 2016 trip to the Central American country of Belize. Jan. 12, 7 pm. Free. audubonspokane.org

FILM

BACKCOUNTRY FILM FESTIVAL This annual event is part of SOLE’s Annual Reach & Teach Kids Fundraising Campaign to raise awareness and essential funds so local area youth can experience SOLE’s SnowSchool Experience program at the Mountain Field Campus at Schweitzer Jan. 7, 6-10 pm. $7-$25. Panida Theater, 300 N. First Ave. winterwildlands.org/ backcountry-film-festival UNITED BY WATER In conjunction with the MAC’s exhibit “Awakenings,” are regular public screenings of the documentary “United by Water” created by the Upper Columbia Unified Tribes (UCUT). The film follows the first tribal canoe journey and gathering at Kettle Falls, Washington, since the Ceremony of Tears in 1943. Saturdays at 1 pm; first and third Wednesdays at noon. Included with admission. Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture, 2316 W. First Ave. northwestmuseum.org (509-456-3931) TRIVIA: BROOKLYN NINE-NINE Trivia covers fun facts about New York’s wackiest precinct. For adults; registration required. Jan. 13, 6:30-7:30 pm. Free. Online at scld.org

FOOD & DRINK

ROCKET WINE CLASS Rocket Market hosts weekly wine classes; sign up in advance for the week’s selections. Fridays at 7 pm. Call to reserve, or register online.

Price varies. Rocket Market, 726 E. 43rd Ave. rocketmarket.com (509-343-2253) WINTER MARKET Sip on local beer and shop from local vendors at Lumberbeard’s Winter Market, happening select Sundays through March. Next dates: Jan. 9, Jan. 16 nand Jan. 30 from 2-4 pm. Free.

Lumberbeard Brewing, 25 E. Third Ave. lumberbeardbrewing.com KILL THE KEG & SERVICE INDUSTRY NIGHT This weekly special includes $2 off select GHP beer, $1 off select guest beer and a 20% discount for service industry patrons. Tuesdays from 3-9 pm.

The Golden Handle Project, 111 S. Cedar St. goldenhandle.org (509-868-0264) MEDICAL PERSONNEL APPRECIATION

Emergency Contraception Vending Machines

NIGHT All medical and healthcarerelated personnel, students, staff and professionals receive a 20% discount off all GHP beer and food. Wednesdays from 3-9 pm. The Golden Handle Project, 111 S. Cedar St. goldenhandle.org WINTER STEWS & RAGOUTS TO WARM YOUR SOUL Learn to prepare classic food items to warm your spirits including Boeuf Bourguignon from France, South American pork stew and an Italian tortellini hearty soup with sausage and kale.

Substitutions to accommodate dietary restrictions available. Jan. 13, 6-8 pm. $69. Spokane Community College, 1810 N. Greene St. campusce.net/spokane/ course/course.aspx?c=1152 (509-2796144)

MUSIC

DJ NIGHT ON THE ICE Get your ‘skate’ on with DJ A1 for themed nights, music, lights, contests and more every Friday from 6-9 pm through Jan. 28. Numerica Skate Ribbon, 720 W. Spokane Falls Blvd. riverfrontspokane.com (509-625-6600) AN ELVIS TRIBUTE Celebrate Elvis’ birthday with a musical tribute by Ben Klein and company. Jan. 8, 6 pm. $12-$15. Cutter Theatre, 302 Park St., Metaline Falls. cuttertheatre.com/store (509-446-4108) MATTHEW LEVINE SONGWRITING CLASS Matthew Levine’s career has seen him writing songs of many styles: choral, cabaret, pop, gospel, musicals, etc. Musicians of any level can learn new songwriting tools during his 8-week class at Clearwater Music. Tuesdays from 4-5:30 pm, Jan. 10-Feb. 28. $20/lesson; $120 prepay for all 8 lessons. Clearwater Music, 9107 N. Country Homes Blvd. clearwatermusicserves.com (661-472-9920) CHORALE COEUR D’ALENE: SPRING AUDITIONS New members can sign up for a simple 10-minute audition. You will be asked to vocalize a bit and exhibit the ability to sight-read. Jan. 10-12, 5-8 pm.

Free. Peace Lutheran Church, 8134 N. Meyer Rd. ChoraleCdA.com (208-7650727) WEDNESDAY EVENING CONTRA DANCE Join the Spokane Folklore Society each Wednesday for contra dancing. First-time dancers get a coupon for a free dance night. Contra is danced to a variety of musical styles from live bands. All dances are taught and walked through, then called to live music. Events feature a different band and caller each week. Come 15 min. early for a lesson.

Proof of Covid-19 vaccination required.

Wednesdays from 7:30-9:30 pm. $7/ members; $10/general (18 and under

free). Woman’s Club of Spokane, 1428 W. Ninth. womansclubspokane.org (509869-5997) JOJO SIWA D.R.E.A.M. THE TOUR Tickets to the JoJo Siwa show originally scheduled for June 2021 are still valid.

Jan. 13, 7 pm. $40-$70. Spokane Arena, 720 W. Mallon Ave. spokanearena.com SPOKANE SYMPHONY MASTERWORKS 4: ECKHART RETURNS Conductor Laureate Eckart Preu (2004–19) returns to conduct Wagner and Bruckner. Jan. 15, 8 pm and Jan. 16, 3 pm. $19-$48. Martin Woldson Theater at The Fox, 1001 W. Sprague Ave. spokanesymphony.org (509-624-1200) SATURDAY WITH THE SYMPHONY: A CHILDREN’S PROGRAM Come join members of the Coeur d’Alene Symphony on the third Saturday of the month for some music-filled fun. Jan. 15, 11 amnoon. Free. Coeur d’Alene Public Library, 702 E. Front Ave. cdalibrary.org/libraryevents/january-symphony

SPORTS & OUTDOORS

CROSS COUNTRY SKI LESSON Learn the basics of cross-country skiing at Mt. Spokane. Lessons are taught by Spokane Nordic Ski Association’s certified instructors. Fee includes equipment rental and two hours of instruction. Show up a half hour prior for gear fitting. Sno-Park Permit required. Additional information emailed after registration. Meet at the Mt. Spokane Selkirk Nordic Area. Sessions are offered on select dates through March, from 10 am-2 pm (see website for details). $34/$59. Mt. Spokane State Park, 26107 N. Mt. Spokane Park Dr. Register at spokanerec.org (509-755-2489) SPOKANE CHIEFS VS. EVERETT SILVERTIPS Regular season match. Face coverings required for all guests ages 5+.

Special: Coeur d’Alene Casino night. Jan. 7, 7 pm. $17-$37. Spokane Arena, 720 W. Mallon Ave. spokanechiefs.com MT. SPOKANE SNOWSHOE TOUR Learn the basics of snowshoeing during this guided hike on snowshoe trails around Mount Spokane. Pre-trip information emailed after registration. Fee includes snowshoes, instruction, walking poles, trail fees, guides and transportation.

Meet at Yoke’s Fresh Market in Mead.

Ages 13+. Jan. 8, Jan. 22, Feb. 6, 9 am-1 pm, Feb. 13, Feb. 19 and March 5, from 9 am-1 pm. $25/$29. Mt. Spokane State Park, 26107 N. Mt. Spokane Park Dr. Register at spokanerec.org (509-755-2489)

We have Emergency Contraception Vending Machines at our locations in Yakima, Pullman, Moses Lake, Spokane, and the Spokane Valley! These are located outside for safe 24-hour access. Boxes are $25, credit or debit only. ppgwni.org | 1-866-904-7721

JANUARY 6, 2022 INLANDER 37

EVENTS | CALENDAR

Our journalism makes a difference, and so can you.

Learn more at Inlander.com/Insider 38 INLANDER JANUARY 6, 2022

SKATE SKI INTRO LESSON Skate skiing is done on groomed ski tracks and resembles a skating motion with skiers pushing off laterally and using both poles at the same time to propel forward. This basic class covers using your equipment, body position, stopping, slowing, cornering, balance, push off, momentum and glide. Taught by Spokane Nordic Ski Association P.S.I.A. certified instructors. Fee includes daylong equipment rental and 2 hours of instruction. Sno-Park Permit required.

Additional information emailed after registration. Meet at Mt Spokane Selkirk Nordic Area. Jan. 8, 10 am-noon and Feb. 26, 10 am-noon. $35/$75. Register at spokanerec.org (509-755-2489) SNOWSHOE TOUR AT 49 Tour the trails of 49 Degrees North. A guide offers tips on better control and how to have more fun on snowshoes. Fee includes trail pass, guide/instructor, poles, snowshoes and lunch. Pre-Trip information emailed after registration. Meet at the 49 Degrees North Nordic Area Yurt.

Ages 15+ Jan. 8, Feb. 12, March 6 and March 19 from 10 am-2 pm. $43. 49 Degrees North, 3311 Flowery Trail Rd. Register at spokanerec.org (509-755-2489) SNOWSHOE & WINE TASTING Enjoy a day of snowshoeing the trails of Mt. Spokane followed by wine tasting at Townshend Winery in Green Bluff.

Snowshoes, guides, walking poles and transportation included (wine tasting is guests responsibility). Additional information emailed after registration. Jan. 9, Feb. 20 and March 20 from 10 am3:30 pm. $40. Register at spokanerec. org (509-755-2489) CHEAP SKATE TUESDAY Free skate rentals are included with each paid admission, every Tuesday through Feb. 22. Masks required. $5.95-$7.95.

Numerica Skate Ribbon, 720 W. Spokane Falls Blvd. spokanecity.org/riverfrontspokane (509-625-6600) MLK WEEKEND AT SCHWEITZER Annual MLK weekend highlights include the Northern Lights fireworks show and more. Jan. 14-17. Schweitzer, 10,000 Schweitzer Mountain Rd. schweitzer. com/event/mlk-weekend/ SPOKANE CHIEFS VS. EVERETT SILVERTIPS Special: Seattle Kraken ticket sweepstakes. Jan. 14, 7 pm. $17-$37.

Spokane Arena, 720 W. Mallon Ave. spokanechiefs.com (279-7000) SPOKANE CHIEFS VS. KAMLOOPS BLAZERS Special: Numerica piggy bank giveaway. Jan. 15, 7 pm. $17-$37.

Spokane Arena, 720 W. Mallon Ave. spokanechiefs.com (279-7000)

THEATER

THE SHAPE OF THINGS BY NEIL LABUTE Join the Upstart Players for two performances of Neil LaBute’s thrilling and dark romantic comedy that shows us a semester in the lives of four deeply connected individuals. Jan. 7 and 8 at 7:30 pm. $10. The Art Spirit Gallery, 415 Sherman Ave. fb.me/e/2KET7Z7t4 (208-827-6847) FIDDLER ON THE ROOF Featuring a talented cast, lavish orchestra and stunning movement and dance from Israeli choreographer Hofesh Shechter, based on the original staging by Jerome Robbins, Fiddler introduces a new generation to the uplifting celebration that raises its cup to joy! To love! To life! Jan. 11-15 at 7:30 pm, also Jan. 15 at 2 pm and Jan. 16 at 1 and 6:30 pm. $42-$100.

First Interstate Center for the Arts, 334 W. Spokane Falls Blvd. broadwayspokane.com (509-279-7000) CORPUS CHRISTI A moving and thoughtful story of faith, redemption, love and betrayal. Lead character Joshua, struggles with his identity, not only as a gay young man, but as a Christlike figure which some have come to follow as the messiah. Jan. 14-30, Thu-Sat at 7 pm, Sun at 2 pm. $20-$25. Stage Left Theater, 108 W. Third Ave. stagelefttheater.org (509-838-9727)

VISUAL ARTS

AWAKENINGS: TRADITIONAL CANOES & CALLING THE SALMON HOME The MAC, in collaboration with the United Tribes of the Upper Columbia, tells the story of the annual inland canoe journey, from the purchase of old growth cedar logs and carving the dugouts, to the annual launch and landing at Kettle Falls, through contemporary and historic canoes supported by the words of those who have experienced it. Open Tue-Sun 10 am-5 pm through Aug. 21. $7-$12. Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture, 2316 W. First Ave. northwestmuseum.org (509-456-3931) CONTINUOUS LINES: SELECTIONS FROM THE JOE FEDDERSEN COLLECTION Joe Feddersen (Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation) is an artist working in print making, glass and traditional materials, whose work is featured in the MAC’s permanent collection. Based in Omak, he spent a career teaching at Evergreen College in Olympia and exhibiting nationally. This exhibition features work from Feddersen’s personal collection of contemporary American Indian art, reflecting his friendships and artistic interests over the past few decades. Tue-Sun from 10 am-5 pm through Feb. 6. $7-$12. Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture, 2316 W. First Ave. northwestmuseum.org KEIKO VON HOLT & KAREN ROBINETTE This First Friday reception opens the gallery’s two-month exhibit featuring local art teacher and gallery member Keiko Von Holt and Karen Robinette, both local watercolor artists.

Both are inspired by the nature of the Northwest and their artwork is entertaining and impressive. Thu-Sat from 11 am-4 pm through Jan. 29. Free. Avenue West Gallery, 907 W. Boone Ave. avenuewestgallery.org (509-838-4999) MYA CLUFF: WHERE DO I END, AND YOU BEGIN? Mya Cluff is a visual artist focused primarily on figurative ceramic sculpture. As a mother and an artist, she searches for the beginnings and endings of self-hood as she navigates the relationships she has with herself, her children, her family, and society within a maternal context. Jan. 4-Feb. 8, Mon-Fri from 8:30 am-3:30 pm.

Free. SFCC Fine Arts Gallery, 3410 W. Whistalks Way, Bldg. 6. spokanefalls. edu/gallery (509-533-3746) POTTERY PLACE PLUS GUEST ARTIST: JUAQUETTA HOLCOMB Juaquetta is known throughout the Inland Northwest for her handspun yarns, which she has been creating since 1993. She also knits, crochets and weaves shawls, hats and scarves. Through Jan. 29, open daily from 11 am-6 pm. Free. Pottery Place Plus, 203 N. Washington St. potteryplaceplus.com (509-327-6920) RECENT ACQUISITIONS: SELECTIONS FROM THE SAFECO ART COLLECTION Seattle-based Safeco Insurance began

collecting art in the 1970s and sought to build a collection that reflected “the creativity and diversity of the communities it served.” Recognized nationally as a model for corporate collecting, the collection evolved to capture a uniquely Pacific Northwest aesthetic. Eventually, it was distributed amongst several Washington state institutions, including the MAC. Tue-Sun from 10 am-5 pm through Feb. 7. $7-$12. Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture, 2316 W. First Ave. northwestmuseum.org ADAM BLALOCK Blalock starts the New Year at the Liberty Gallery with a solo show of his work. He uses both contemporary and traditional forms of painting to convey emotion and to express the sensation of nature. Through Jan. 30, open daily 10 am-8 pm. Free.

Liberty Building, 402 N. Washington. spokanelibertybuilding.com (509-3276920) VIRTUAL ART SHOW: CALL FOR ARTISTS Submit a picture of a piece of art you created, drew, painted, sculpted or built on the theme of “happiness” that is also family-friendly. Registration required, and open through Jan. 29. Free. scld.evanced.info/signup/list?df=list&n d=150&kw=virtual+art+show FIRST FRIDAY Art galleries and businesses across downtown Spokane and beyond host monthly receptions to showcase new displays of art. First Fridays (Jan. 7) of each month from 5-8 pm. Details at firstfridayspokane.org.

FIRST FRIDAY OPEN HOUSE The Artists-In-Residence (and one WriterIn-Residence) have been working for nearly five months and invite the public to come see their progress during First Friday Artwalk. Come visit their studios and check out their work. Tours of the building also be available. Jan. 7, 5-8 pm. Free. The Hive, 2904 E. Sprague Ave. spokanelibrary.org FIRST FRIDAYS WITH POAC First Friday arts events in Sandpoint, organized by the Pend Oreille Arts Council. First Friday (Jan. 7) from 5:30-7:30 pm. Pend Oreille Arts Council Gallery, 110 Main St. artinsandpoint.org (208-263-6139) THE FIRST TIME I EVER HEARD THE BLUES Karen Christeson-Swanson makes paintings, drawings, and mixed media artworks. Her new collection depicts women’s struggles and honors them. Jan. 7-28; open Fridays from 4-8 pm. Free. Kolva-Sullivan Gallery, 115 S. Adams St. kolva-sullivangallery.com RIVER RIDGE ASSOCIATION OF FINE ARTS 50TH ANNIVERSARY SHOW The Association celebrates its 50th anniversary with a show filled with art from its members. Reception Jan. 7 from 5-8 pm. New Moon Art Gallery, 1326 E. Sprague. rrafaofspokane.com SARANAC ART PROJECTS PRESENTS: PRESENCING Featuring recent works

by Emily Somoskey, Mana Mehrabian, Ellen Picken, Lena J. Lopez Schindler and Hannah Koeske. Jan. 7-29, FriSat from 12-8 pm. Reception Jan. 7 from 5-8 pm. Free. Saranac Art Projects, 25 W. Main Ave. facebook.com/ events/585188475888192 SPOKANE RIVER SOUND ACTION Spokane River Sound Action records and listens to the river from above and below. These recordings are presented in immersive, quadraphonic sounds and video projections at GUUAC by the Spokane Laboratory Art + Residency artists, Mill Canyon Sound Actions and joined with very special guests in a live-

streamed performance on Jan 11. Show runs Jan. 7-23, Fri from 4-7 pm and Sat from 10-3 pm. Free. Gonzaga University Urban Arts Center, 125 S. Stevens St. facebook.com/GUUAC/ OIL PAINTING WITH LAURA NOVAK Learn the basics of oil painting including composition, value, how to paint what we see and color theory throughout the course. For adults. Sessions offered Jan. 11-Feb. 3 and Feb. 8-March 3; meets Tue/Thu from 9-11 am. $160/ session. Spokane Art School, 811 W. Garland Ave. spokaneartsschool.net PERSPECTIVE DRAWING WITH TOM QUINN Perspective is to drawing what grammar is to writing and scales are to music. It provides a structure to art by dictating where objects must be placed and which directions the angles go to achieve that vital third dimension of depth. For adults. Jan. 11-Feb. 15, meets Tuesdays from 12:30-2:30 pm. $120. Spokane Art School, 811 W. Garland Ave. spokaneartschool.net ACRYLIC PAINTING WITH TOM QUINN Students are introduced to the highly forgiving, versatile medium of acrylic paint. For adults. Meets Wednesdays from 10 am-noon, Jan. 12-Feb. 16. $120. Spokane Art School, 811 W. Garland Ave. spokaneartschool. net (509-325-1500) BASIC DRAWING WITH TOM QUINN An introduction to drawing for people who have not taken formal art classes and may need to attain confidence in their drawing skills. For adults. Meets Wednesdays from 3-5 pm, Jan. 12-Feb. 16. $120. Spokane Art School, 811 W. Garland Ave. spokaneartschool.net DROP IN & DRAW Join a creative community for this weekly free-form drawing program. Explore different artistic mediums, develop skills and ideas and cultivate imaginative thinking through art. All skill levels welcome. Supplies and projects provided. Hosted by local cartoonist Nanette Cloud. Wednesdays from 5:30-7 pm. Free. Spark Central, 1214 W. Summit Pkwy. spark-central. org (509-279-0299) INTRODUCTION TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY WITH ROGER DUBOIS Switch your digital camera off “AUTO” and learn to capture the pictures in your imagination. Unleash your creativity while learning to master the fantastic new world of digital photography. For adults. Meets Wednesdays from 6:30-8:30 pm, Jan. 12-Feb. 16. $120. Spokane Art School, 811 W. Garland Ave. spokaneartschool.net PORTRAIT DRAWING WITH TOM QUINN An artist who attains confidence at drawing portraits will have the confidence to draw anything. Begin with the anatomy and proportions of the human head, and move on to the skills of creating a convincing likeness. For adults. Meets Wednesdays from 12:30-2:20 pm, Jan. 12-Feb. 16. $170. Spokane Art School, 811 W. Garland Ave. spokaneartschool.net DAILY DRAWING WITH MEGAN PERKINS In four sessions, artist Megan Perkins demonstrates drawing techniques, styles and tools to inspire you to draw daily. She also discusses equipment and the way they affect the look of a drawing, and shares tips and exercises to help students learn to draw such as blind contour, negative space and measuring. Online class, meets Saturdays from 6-8 pm Jan. 15Feb. 5. $80. spokaneartschool.net ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS WITH HANNAH CHARLTON Students create small illuminated manuscript pages

from famous fairy tales. For adults.

Meets Jan. 15 and 22 from 9-11:30 am. $65. Spokane Art School, 811 W. Garland Ave. spoakneartschool.com INTRODUCTION TO NEEDLE FELTING WITH ELYSE HOCHSTADT Learn how to give shape and add detail to wool fiber using notched needles while creating a winter wonderland-inspired craft. Ages 16+ Jan. 15, 12-5 pm. $68.

Spokane Art School, 811 W. Garland Ave. spokaneartschool.net MOSAICS WITH LISA SORANAKA Explore the basics of designing and creating an outdoor mosaic for your garden, including discussion of which surfaces work best and what materials to use. For adults. Offered Jan. 15 and Feb. 26 from 10:30 am-4:30 pm. $60.

Spokane Art School, 811 W. Garland Ave. spokaneartschool.net

WORDS

ART IN THE GARDEN Local gardener Phyllis Stephens speaks about her love for the beauty of art and gardening.

She combines her two passions and explores the possibilities in the art of gardening in her presentation. Jan. 6, 6:30-9 pm. Free. CenterPlace Regional Event Center, 2426 N. Discovery Place Dr. tieg.org (509-688-0300) 3 MINUTE MIC Spokane’s long-running first Friday poetry open mic. Readers can share up to three minutes’ worth of poetry. This is an uncensored event, though 3MM tries to be responsible when young listeners are present. Jan. 7, 7 pm. Free. Auntie’s, 402 W. Main. auntiesbooks.com (509-838-0206) BOOK CLUB WITH A BEVERAGE Participants read the book of the month on their own, then gather for a discussion led by local writer Jenny Davis.

A complimentary glass of wine (21+) or a bottle of water is included. Each month’s book title is announced a month in advance on the MAC’s website. Event limited to 12 people. Jan. 9, 1-3 pm. $18/$20. Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture, 2316 W. First Ave. northwestmuseum.org DROP IN & WRITE Bring works in progress to share, get inspired with creative prompts and spend some focused time writing. Hosted by local writers Jenny Davis and Hannah Engel.

Tuesdays from 5:30-7 pm. Free. Spark Central, 1214 W. Summit Pkwy. sparkcentral.org (509-279-0299) AN EVENING WITH TEJU COLE Cole’s presentation touches on multinational identity and finding fresh and potent ways to interpret art, people and historical moments. With his finger firmly on the pulse of race relations in America, Cole knows the power of art when it comes to examining the distribution of justice, intersectionality and social movements. He’ll share his experiences with how the power of the written word can be used to evoke emotions, conjure memories and achieve real change. Followed by an interview session with SCC Dean of Arts and Sciences Gwendolyn Cash-James and an audience Q&A. Jan. 12. Free. scc.spokane.edu/News-Events/Live-Events/ Live-Events-Registration?evt=1 AUNTIE’S BOOK CLUB: NEW FICTION Host Claire started at Auntie’s in 2018; some of her favorite writers are Marilynne Robinson, Alice Munro, Graham Green, Elif Batuman, Ben Lerner, Otessa Moshfegh, and Miriam Toews. Meets on the second Thursday at 6 pm; see Auntie’s website for current title. Free.

Auntie’s Bookstore, 402 W. Main Ave. auntiesbooks.com (509-838-0206) n

+

Now on Inlander.com: National and international stories from the New York Times to go with the fresh, local news we deliver every day

JANUARY 6, 2022 INLANDER 39

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A LOOK AHEAD

Cannabis in the New Year Three things to watch in 2022

BY WILL MAUPIN

T

he start of a new year is the perfect time to take stock of what’s to come over the next 12 months, and in the world of cannabis, 2022 is poised to be a year full of major stories.

Here are three things to keep an eye on.

GROWING LIKE A WEED

Legalization came to eight states last year, and early signs point to a similar number joining the club in 2022. Legislators in five states — Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri and New Hampshire — have pre-filed bills for the 2022 session that would bring legalization to their states. Meanwhile, activists in seven states — Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio and South Dakota — have been cleared to gather signatures for 2022 ballot measures on legalization.

At the federal level there are proposals for federal legalization emerging from both sides of the aisle. There are also a number of smaller bills set to work their way through Congress this year focusing on specific aspects of cannabis policy such as social equity, banking regulations, protections for veterans and red tape surrounding research.

PUBLIC OPINION PLATEAU

When Gallup first polled Americans on the issue of cannabis legal-

40 INLANDER JANUARY 6, 2022

ization back in 1969, just 12 percent of respondents were in favor.

In 2013 that number climbed above 50 percent and kept rising to 68 percent by 2021. However, that was no change from 2020, when it also sat at 68 percent. Since 2017, support nationally has been hovering in the mid-60 range. After decades of support in the 20-30 percent range, could the mid-60s be the new normal when it comes to support for legalization?

AN IMPORTANT ANNIVERSARY

On Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2012, Washington voters passed Initiative 502 by a margin of 55.7 percent to 44.3. With that, the state became, along with Colorado, the first in the nation to legalize cannabis. One month later, the will of the voters became law, and on Dec. 6, 2012, possession and use of cannabis by adults in the state of Washington was officially legal.

In the 10 years since, the state’s legal market has grown from nonexistent to a thriving sector of the economy. Perhaps nothing better illustrates how important the cannabis market has become than when it was declared to be essential during the pandemic lockdowns of 2020.

The 10-year anniversary of the vote to legalize cannabis in Washington happens to fall on a weekend, creating a perfect opportunity for those who wish to celebrate. n

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NOTE TO READERS

BE AWARE: Marijuana is legal for adults 21 and older under Washington State law (e.g., RCW 69.50, RCW 69.51A, HB0001 Initiative 502 and Senate Bill 5052). State law does not preempt federal law; possessing, using, distributing and selling marijuana remains illegal under federal law. In Washington state, consuming marijuana in public, driving while under the influence of marijuana and transporting marijuana across state lines are all illegal. Marijuana has intoxicating effects; there may be health risks associated with its consumption, and it may be habit-forming. It can also impair concentration, coordination and judgment. Do not operate a vehicle or machinery under the influence of this drug. Keep out of reach of children. For more information, consult the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board at www.liq.wa.gov.

Be aware of the differences in the law between Idaho and Washington. It is illegal to possess, sell or transport cannabis in the State of Idaho. Possessing up to an ounce is a misdemeanor and can get you a year in jail and up to a $1,000 fine; more than three ounces is a felony that can carry a fiveyear sentence and fine of up to $10,000. Transporting marijuana across state lines, like from Washington into Idaho, is a felony under federal law.

JANUARY 6, 2022 INLANDER 41

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*2018 Media Audit

There’s a woman in my yoga class I’d like to ask out.

Though she’s friendly to me, I worry that this could lead to awkwardness in class if she rejects me or if we date but things go poorly. I have a two-year relationship with this class — much longer than my fantasy relationship with her. What should I do? Grow a spine and go for it regardless of the eventual consequences — or fish in a different pond?

—Stuck

Spines are not to be grown promiscuously.

In other words, there’s no one-size-fits-all answer to your question. Unlike 7-Elevens — pretty much the same in Boise as they are in Bumpass, Vermont — people vary wildly. Individuals have individual levels of “risk tolerance” (or what risk intelligence specialist Dylan Evans calls “risk appetite”): their ability to bear potential losses, should their initiative go toiletward.

Take the question “Should you risk $5,000 on a seemingly profitable investment?” Well, that depends on who “you” are — emotionally and, in this case, financially.

Because your risk tolerance will vary in different situations, answering that takes more questions — situation-specific questions. For example: Do you shrug off losses...or flog yourself bloody like the weird albino monk in “The Da Vinci Code”? Financially, would losing the 5K be a bummer or an enduring nightly bummer when the inability to pay your rent leads to your taking up residence in a walk-in ATM? Apply this method to your dilemma, “Can I afford to ask out the hot lady from hot yoga?” Tempting as it is to overdramatize — rewrite what would likely be a somewhat uncomfortable situation into an epic disaster movie — drill down to the actual worstcase scenarios. For example, would getting a “Thanks, but I’m not ready to date” from the lady really trigger the giant zombie jellyfish apocalypse — or the rather mundane urge to temporarily relocate your mat to the other side of the room?

Consider that awkwardness between people — some big uncomfortable something hanging in the air — usually stems from somebody acting all weirded out. There’s a remedy for this should asking her out go badly: preplanning to keep your cool — to act like the guy you were before you hit on her. In practice, how hard might that be? You’re probably inviting her to join you for “a coffee” after class — which few of us immediately recognize as code for “a midmorning orgy in my sex dungeon.”

SAVE THE INUNDATE

On dating apps, guys who message me always end up losing interest. My friend thinks my repeatedly replying before the guy writes back is the problem. I’ll reply to a guy’s first message and, while awaiting his response, have more to say and add messages (usually no more than four). I’m an enthusiastic person. What’s the problem with showing that honestly?

—Authentic Woman Most of us bring an important understanding to our workplace: The fact that we have a feeling is not reason to let it give us marching orders. That’s why, when our idiot boss makes us stay late to complete a “super important assignment” (busywork no one will ever look at), we say, “Sure thing!” — and only picture ourselves attaching battery cables to his nipples at a CIA black site.

Admittedly, anger is an obvious target for emotional restraint. But enthusiasm, while praised on elementary school report cards, should not be flung around like birdseed. Chances are your storm of messages — a monologue in the space for a conversation -- sends the wrong messages about you, such as: “desperate” and “has the social skills of a 5-year-old.”

Unfortunately, avoiding the impulse to act on our emotions is hard work.

Psychologists Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky explain that emotions are “fast”: popping up immediately — automatically — and motivating us to act. Rational thought, however, is “slow” (and, frankly, lazy). We have to yank it out of bed and feed it a bunch of mental energy to make it do its job — for example, explore whether our emotions’ directives might have ruinous consequences. This feels, shall we say, unfun — and also depressing when all we can do is damage control after some off-leash emotion has blown up our life.

Consider that the “job” in online dating is not getting someone to like you but seeing whether you like them enough to take it beyond the small screen. As an experiment, you might put your impulse to reply on a strict diet: One message from a guy. One reply from you. Period. As a perhaps helpful model, try to come off like a rare vintage of fine wine — that is, hard to get — as opposed to red wine spilled across a white shag carpet (impossible to get rid of...save for a willingness to broaden one’s stain removal methods to include arson). n

©2022, Amy Alkon, all rights reserved. • Got a problem? Write Amy Alkon, 171 Pier Ave, #280, Santa Monica, CA 90405 or email AdviceAmy@aol.com (www.advicegoddess.com)

42 INLANDER JANUARY 6, 2022

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of Esther is read 59. ____ twist 60. “Tom’s Diner” singer Suzanne 61. Longtime U.S. congressman ____ Hoyer 62. Broadway backdrops 63. Musk who, in 2021, called himself “the first person with Asperger’s to host [SNL] -- or at least the first to admit it”

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DOWN 1. “Weekend, here I come!”

2. Naïve sort 3. Furious 4. Bird that, despite its name, can make soft grunting sounds 5. Dennis, to Mr. Wilson 6. Like some twins and grins 7. Leakes of “The Real Housewives of Atlanta” 8. Sue at Chicago’s Field Museum, e.g.

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35. “Milk me!”

36. “Battlefield Earth” author ____ Hubbard 37. “r u 4 real?”

38. Ski slope conveyance 39. Tall, dark or handsome: Abbr.

40. Paul : U.S. :: ____ : Italy 41. The Princess of Power, in cartoons 42. It rebranded to its circled letters in 2018 45. U.S. gymnast Raisman with three Olympic gold medals 46. First name of a film character whose letters appear in “Harrison” 47. Attention-getters for people with short attention spans (see circled letters) 55. “Peer Gynt” composer 56. Wedding promises 57. Tooth part 58. Jewish holiday when the book

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ACROSS 1. Make a little shorter 5. Suffix with puzzle 9. It may be blurted when yelling “#%@!”

14. Spiritual leader often pictured sitting cross-legged 15. On any occasion 16. Aptly named American Eagle store 17. “Su-u-ure” 18. Number of square feet in a square yard 19. “The Pianist” Oscar winner Adrien 20. It rebranded to its circled letters in 1994 23. “Be there in a ____!”

24. Last letters sung in “Old MacDonald” 25. It rebranded to its circled letters in 2015 33. Deep sleeps 34. Estate tax payers

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9. Silk and wool, for two 10. “Don’t worry about us” 11. Top awards for Spanish Olympians 12. Frees (of) 13. Susan of “L.A. Law” 21. Fam. members 22. Explorer who proved that Greenland

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30. Late-night TV host ____ Ruffin 38 31. Surf sounds 32. “Swiper, no swiping!”

41 speaker of children’s TV 33. Hammer feature 44 37. Mythical figure known for ribaldry 46 38. “What chutzpah!”

40. Like a person recovering 50 51 52 53 54 from a bad cold, maybe 41. Bogus 57 43. Cried “Uncle!”

60 44. Gorillas beat theirs 47. In ____ (stuck) 63 48. Not looking good at all 49. Singles at bars, e.g.?

“ADS” 50. Like some threats is an island 51. Santa’s coat?

25. Throng 52. Père ____ (Santa Claus, in France) 26. Word derived from the Japanese for 53. Packed with plasticware, perhaps “picture writing” 54. Obsessive fan, in slang 27. Fling 55. One might say “Recalculating” after a 28. Scientist who was friends with wrong turn Mark Twain 35

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