Inlander 03/25/2021

MARCH MADNESS

THE ZAGS DANCE THEIR WAY TO THE SWEET 16 PAGE 25

GIVE HOPE A CHANCE

THIS WINTER OF OUR DISCONTENT WILL SOON BE OVER PAGE 6

MARCH 25-31, 2021 | FAMILY OWNED. COMMUNITY FOCUSED.

PLUS!

What we got wrong, Washington vs. Idaho and bullfighting lessons

ONE

YEAR

LATER Looking back at what we lost — and ahead to what we hope to reclaim PAGE 12

2 INLANDER MARCH 25, 2021

INSIDE VOL. 28, NO. 24 | COVER DESIGN: DEREK HARRISON

COMMENT NEWS COVER STORY CULTURE

5 8 12 25

FOOD FILM MUSIC EVENTS

28 30 32 33

I SAW YOU GREEN ZONE ADVICE GODDESS BULLETIN BOARD

35 36 38 39

EDITOR’S NOTE

I

don’t think I was in denial, exactly, but I tend to be skeptical whenever someone says the world is ending. Too often they’re wrong. I can’t recall how many times a relative has urged me to stock up on gold or beaver pelts because the economy was supposedly going to crash and we’d all be hunting and gathering again.

Anyway, a year ago, I had my doubts about the CORONAVIRUS. Then two things happened: March Madness — the college basketball tourney that generates hundreds of millions of dollars — was canceled. And then Gov. Jay Inslee shut down schools across Washington state, sending kids home to hunker down with their families. Suddenly, I knew the truth: The world, at least as we knew it, was indeed ending.

This week, we wanted to reflect on the terrible year behind us — on the people we’ve lost, on the fear, insecurity, resiliency and innovation — and to take a look ahead at the things we’re all yearning for (beginning on page 12).

Finally, it’s becoming a bit easier to imagine the world returning to something resembling normal, especially with kids heading back to school and our beloved Zags lighting up the tournament again.

— JACOB H. FRIES, editor

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WHAT’S SOMETHING POSITIVE FOR YOU THAT’S COME OUT OF THE PANDEMIC? BELLA CLAIRE-MARIE YORK: Absolutely, a good exercise routine with my girls. We started walking 3 miles every day, and upgraded to riding bikes about 5 miles a day. I love it!

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EDITOR’S NOTE

Normally, we ask our question of the week of people we randomly encounter on the street. But with the coronavirus pandemic, we instead asked our followers on social media to share their thoughts.

ANDREA LAPLANT: My husband works a lot but has been working from home for the last year, which has made our marriage so much healthier. While I know a lot of couples couldn’t handle being in the same house with each other all day, everyday, the pandemic has been a blessing in disguise for us.

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KAREN MOBLEY: Happily, the pandemic has brought me into stronger relationships with my neighbors. I am grateful for their support. I hope it has brought others good along with the challenges.

AMBER OOSTING: Before the pandemic I was an active alcoholic that worked 60-hour weeks in hospitality. Getting stuck in quarantine gave me a chance to breathe, finally stop drinking and get into therapy.

I started college last fall and have a 4.0! My whole life has changed from a year ago.

KATHLEEN MERRILL: I’ve learned how to be more efficient in breaking down large Amazon Prime delivery boxes. I don’t do it very often, and there are a bunch piled up in my garage, but I know how to do it more efficiently.

JENN COLE: We signed up for a meal service and started cooking every night! We have really honed our cooking skills and learned a lot.

STEVE BLYMYER: I’ve found a new love of home brewing!

WENDY McCALL SEIGNEMARTIN: I started hiking regularly and completed my first backpacking trip last summer. Since I was out hiking so much, I also became a volunteer steward for the Dishman Hills to give back to a great local trail system.

CASSANDRA WALLS ESPINOZA: I quit smoking on April 5th of last year after almost 20 years. I started at age 13. I’m almost one year free.

I was worried how I’d fare catching COVID. It was a change I’ve been ready to make for years now, and the circumstances pushed me to do it. n

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E

arly this year, a blinding snowstorm forced me to turn back from a harrowing I-90 trek across the state. On a more recent drive, though, I exited the freeway in search of a gas station at Snoqualmie Pass. The sun shone brightly and reflected off soaring rows of plowed snow, giving me a safe corridor to refuel.

Of course, this happens every spring, but not during a global pandemic or after the darkest presidency in memory. It feels good to have vaccinations underway and the Trump administration shoved to the curb. It feels good to have this winter in the rearview mirror.

It feels like… hope! (And you’re forgiven if you’ve forgotten that sensation; it’s been awhile.)

Hope is a tricky topic for anyone who doesn’t want to appear naïve, let alone a journalist trained to be skeptical. But, truth be told, the cracks in my hard-boiled shell had already begun.

That doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten the more than half a million people who have died from the coronavirus or that the toll didn’t have to be that high.

It doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten people who overtly bear arms but tell me I’m living in fear for thoughtfully wearing a mask. Or, who say, “We have to live our lives” without considering how many other lives that will take.

No, it will take a long time to forget this era of tragic stupidity, which exacerbated the pandemic and placed in charge a man who could see himself only as the victim. The prospect of his re-election was a recurring nightmare.

But that was then, and this is… wow!

By “this” I mean the rapid development of

a vaccine and the inauguration of a mature adult as the leader of the free world. Joe Biden wasn’t my first choice, but he appears to be the perfect president for this moment in history. He is calm, focused and driven by the facts. He doesn’t preen, whine or tweet.

He is gloriously boring. And — this can’t be overstated — he gets stuff done.

He’s an unlikely action hero in an era of expected inaction.

For instance, the American Rescue Plan, which sped through Congress without a single Republican vote, is a towering achievement brimming with baubles of hope, including:  Direct checks of $1,400 to most Americans.  A $300-a-week supplement to unemployment benefits.  A huge expansion of child tax credits and the Earned Income Tax Credit that will lift half of all children out of poverty and make child care a reality for millions of families. One of the more brutal aspects of the pandemic is how it has cost so many parents, especially mothers, their jobs.  Generous new subsidies that will reduce the premiums in Obamacare plans.  State and local aid that will forestall painful spending cuts and help schools reopen.  A huge infusion of cash for public health agencies and vaccination efforts.  Relief for restaurants, performing arts venues, movie theaters and museums.

Hope is a tricky topic for anyone who doesn’t want to appear naïve, let alone a journalist trained to be skeptical.

A

s someone who used to write about policy and politics, I find that list breathtaking. Any one of those bullet points would be a major bill by itself. Most of them have been proposed and debated ad nauseam over the years. To see them pass all at once is incredible.

And yet, people are carping about the things that weren’t included, and I have to wonder about their expectations. First time following politics? How do they ever have hope when they allow the perfect to be the enemy of the extraordinary?

Similarly, naysayers are picking apart the vaccines’ rollout rather than reveling in their availability. We are looking at everyone who wants to be vaccinated getting jabbed before Independence Day. Who thought that was possible last year at this time?

Back then, we had a president who knew how bad it was and lied. We had a president who touted quackery, browbeat the experts and couldn’t even keep himself safe.

Back then, I kept a journal as this nightmare unfolded. I was devastated as I came to realize what this would mean for family and friends. Would life ever be the same? Scientists are still searching for an AIDS vaccine. Would it take that long?

The last time I dined at a restaurant was early March 2020.

That’s also the last time I hugged my son. The last time I stepped into a store was Mother’s Day. My COVID pod has been my daughter, who attends college from home; my girlfriend; and her roommate mom. Everybody else has been kept at a distance.

I won’t pretend this has been particularly hard on me. It hasn’t been. I don’t have to go to work. I haven’t had to shepherd cooped-up kids through online learning. I haven’t lost any loved ones to the virus. I don’t own a business that’s teetering on the edge or already closed.

But optimism is pushing out fear, anxiety and sadness. Our hearts are becoming lighter. Our breathing is becoming easier.

Soon this long winter of our discontent will be history, just like the Trump presidency. So, go ahead and give hope a hug.

Because here comes the sun. n

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MARCH 25, 2021 INLANDER 7

BRIEFS

FROM INSIDE THE HOUSE

An outbreak strikes the Idaho Legislature, Washington extends the eviction moratorium, Beck Taylor to leave Whitworth and other news

BY WILSON CRISCIONE, DANIEL WALTERS AND SAMANTHA WOHLFEIL

A

year ago this month, IDAHO STATE SEN. DAVID NELSON of Moscow — a rare Idaho Democrat — delivered a warning from the floor of the Boise Capitol.

“If we continue meeting in this building, we risk sending home legislators all over the state that might be infected and could infect entire communities,” Nelson said. “I will not put my family, neighbors and community at risk.”

But when it came time for the 2021 legislative session, Idaho legislators once again met in-person at the Capitol. Now, Nelson’s fears appear to have been realized.

There’s been an outbreak, one bad enough to shutter the Legislature for a few weeks.

Six Idaho House members — Republicans Bruce Skaug, Greg Chaney, Julie Yamamoto, Ryan Kerby, Lance Clow and Democrat James Ruchti — have recently become confirmed COVID cases. A seventh, Boise Republican Codi Galloway, began quarantining. Two house staffers and one Senate staffer have also tested positive.

“I’m shocked it’s taken this long, to be honest,” Nelson says.

Last Friday, the Legislature voted to put the session on pause until April 6.

“You know, I just wish we could have not made this a political issue,” Nelson says. “We could have treated

it seriously.”

Among Republicans, he says, not wearing a mask almost became a badge of honor.

“The Republicans are appeasing their base who don’t believe in mask mandates, who almost don’t believe in COVID,” Nelson says. “Wearing a mask has become a mark that you’re a Democrat: ‘Only Democrats wear masks.’ It’s really hard to legislate if most of the body isn’t wearing a mask.”

Even after the outbreak, Idaho Speaker of the House Scott Bedke told reporters on a video conference call last week that while they would look at safety protocols when they return, they would “stop short“ of mandating masks.

Last week, the Idaho House State Affairs Committee even approved a bill from Republican Rep. Karey Hanks to ban local governments and health districts from imposing their own mask mandates. (DW)

BACK TO HIS ROOTS

In 2010, BECK TAYLOR left his old job as a dean at Samford University and took over as Whitworth University president. He said then that he hoped to be in Spokane for “a long, long time,” because it’s important that universities like

Whitworth have steady leadership.

Eleven years later, Taylor has announced he is leaving Whitworth. He’s going back to Samford, in Birmingham, Alabama, to become president there. Taylor tells the Inlander that he’s proud of the work accomplished at Whitworth during his tenure, but he didn’t want to pass up the opportunity to go back and work in a community that he’s “quite familiar with.”

“I felt it was an opportunity to return to something familiar, to be back in a part of the country that is close to family,” Taylor says.

Taylor led Whitworth through a period of increased student activism — both at Whitworth and campuses across the country. Taylor says he always tried to support student voices. In 2014, he participated in a “die-in,” laying on the ground with students and faculty to bring awareness to racial inequality.

“I think students go to college expecting to learn more about themselves and the world around them and the things they’re most passionate about,” Taylor says.

“I’ve always supported students finding a voice about those things and effecting change in the world they want to see.”

Taylor says he’s proud that Whitworth became a more diverse community in his time there by increasing the number of international and students of color. He also says he’s proud that the university has expanded its undergraduate and graduate degree programs. ...continued on page 10

Last Friday, the Idaho Legislature voted to put the session on pause until April 6.

MICHAEL SAUERS/CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 PHOTO

8 INLANDER MARCH 25, 2021

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MARCH 25, 2021 INLANDER 9

NEWS | BRIEFS

Beck Taylor’s last day as Whitworth’s president is May 31.

WHITWORTH UNIVERSITY PHOTO

“FROM INSIDE THE HOUSE,” CONTINUED...

th

April 16

CCGALASPOKANE.ORG

In a statement, Brian Kirkpatrick, chair of Whitworth’s board of trustees, praised Taylor for leading the university “during a dynamic period of growth and challenge.”

“Beck has faithfully and diligently navigated the disruptions caused by the worldwide pandemic. His stewardship and forward-focused leadership during these times is a testimony to his deep, abiding faith in Christ and his gifts as a thoughtful and vibrant leader.”

Whitworth decided last fall to open the campus for in-person classes, which was a controversial choice during the pandemic. Cases on campus remained low through 2020, before a spike in cases in January and February.

Taylor’s last day at Whitworth will be May 31. He will start at Samford on July 1. Whitworth has chosen Scott McQuilkin, who has been vice president for institutional advancement since 2009, to serve as interim president starting June 1.

Taylor tells the Inlander that Whitworth’s best days are ahead.

“I am very optimistic about the trajectory of the university,” Taylor says. “I’m quite confident that the board of trustees will be able to search for another president that will support the Christian mission, as well as the integration of faith and learning.” (WC)

FAMILY PLANNING AT RISK

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Washington-based PLANNED PARENTHOOD CLINICS and other family planning providers face an uphill battle as they push to be reimbursed at realistic rates for Medicaid patients.

Federal Medicaid funds are passed down to providers through states, which also pay into their local systems with matching money.

The Planned Parenthood affiliate in Western Washington has had to shutter three clinics so far this year due to budget issues, including lessthan-adequate pay from the system.

Currently, Washington’s Medicaid rates lag significantly behind Idaho, Oregon and Alaska when it comes to reimbursements for family planning office visits and services. A family planning

annual visit for a new patient in Washington is reimbursed at $94.80, compared with $134.65 in Idaho. Meanwhile a new patient office visit in Washington is reimbursed at $40.93, which is $15 to $17 less than in Idaho and Oregon — and $71 less than Alaska.

In fact, safety net family planning providers in Washington are losing on average $167 per Medicaid patient that walks through their doors, says Paul Dillon, spokesman for Planned Parenthood of Greater Washington and North Idaho, which has 11 clinics in Central and Eastern Washington. For years, providers have asked for higher reimbursement rates, knowing the losses couldn’t continue, but the Legislature hasn’t raised rates in about a decade.

“We just cannot sustain these losses,” Dillon says.

In the Spokane area, Medicaid patients make up about 44 percent of Planned Parenthood’s clients, meaning the budget impacts are happening here, too.

“We’re home to more rural areas where there’s a lack of providers and long distance travel creates huge barriers to care,” Dillon says.

“Our patients in a lot of these communities are mostly BIPOC, and almost half our patients are on Medicaid.”

There’s some hope help could be on the way, as Gov. Jay Inslee included $5.2 million for family planning care in his proposed 2021-23 operating budget, which secures $10.9 million in matching federal funds. No federal dollars may be spent on abortion care services, but the matching money can go toward the broad suite of other services provided, including STI screening and treatment, birth control, cancer screenings, vasectomies and more.

Planned Parenthood and other family planning providers hope to see the Legislature include that funding proposal in the final budget they pass before the current session ends.

“The impact would be significant without this investment,” Dillon says. “We would see thousands of patients losing access to care in Central and Eastern Washington.”

Dillon points out that Washington has long

been a leader in women’s rights and family planning rights, including when in 1970 the state became the first in the country to legalize abortion by a vote of the people (before Roe v. Wade).

But, he says, if that right isn’t provided for those with the least ability to pay for it (e.g., the low-income people who qualify for Medicaid), then it could create disparities.

“A right isn’t a right unless you can access it,” Dillon says.

“Circling back to access and the importance of finances, family planning could become a right in name only for those who can’t afford it.” (SW)

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STAY-IN-HOME ORDER

In the last few weeks, the drumbeat of calls, text messages and emails into the Spokane Tenants Union have centered on one question: Is Washington Gov. Jay Inslee’s going to extend the state’s EVICTION MORATORIUM? That question, says Tenants Union director Terri Anderson, came both from vulnerable tenants and the social service agencies and caseworkers trying to help them stay housed.

With COVID-19 spreading across the state last March, Inslee passed an order banning landlords from evicting their tenants — or hiking rent — for all but a few narrow reasons.

But as unpaid rent piled up, tenant advocates like Anderson were bracing for the scheduled end of the moratorium on March 31, and fearing a tsunami of evictions shortly after.

“We were seriously looking at the bottom falling out, thousands of people losing their homes,” Anderson says. “The outlook was looking pretty scary.”

But last week, Inslee announced an extension of the eviction moratorium until June 30.

“We are acting in good faith for a lot of people who we know would be in very Gov. Jay Inslee dire situations without this moratorium,” Inslee said in his announcement.

He noted that $504 million in state and federal rental assistance funds were already being disbursed as well as hundreds of millions of dollars more from Biden’s recent massive stimulus bill.

SNAP, the local nonprofit that doles out rental assistance, plans to begin distributing $16 million in rental assistance funds this week.

“Help seems to be on the way,” Anderson says. “It doesn’t seem to be as hopeless.”

Sen. Patty Kuderer, D-Bellevue, says that the extensions give Washington state Democratic legislators more time to pass housing bills intended to protect tenants after the moratorium is done.

Her bill would require landlords to negotiate and mediate with tenants before an eviction, while another likely-to-pass bill would require a “just cause“ for an eviction.

Steve Corker, president of the Landlord Association of the Inland Northwest, is sympathetic for the need for the moratorium.

“Quite frankly it needed to go on until the pandemic is under control,” says Corker. But he’s worried that, as the moratorium has put pressure on small landlords who struggle if even one or two tenants aren’t paying rent, Spokane County will continue to lose low-income housing.

Corker says he’s seen an “unbelievable amount of sales of duplex and single-family home rentals,” and about half of them are turned into owner-occupied housing. Extrapolating from a recent survey of Landlord Association members, he estimates Spokane has lost about 100 to 150 rental homes this way.

“If the moratorium is lifted and you have evictions, there’s no place for them to go,” Corker says. “There’s no low-income housing.” (DW) n

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MARCH 25, 2021 INLANDER 11

Jack Spears, 93, seeing his son for the last time.

BRENDA SPEARS PHOTO

12 INLANDER MARCH 25, 2021

A YEAR AGO, COVID-19 TURNED THE WORLD UPSIDE DOWN. Many countries and

states told people to shelter inside for weeks, stop visiting family and friends, and limit trips outside to essential needs only.

At the time, shuttering most businesses and activities for two weeks seemed ludicrous to some. Twelve months later, much of life as we knew it before the pandemic remains closed or restricted in some way.

The human toll of the virus has been horrendous. More than half a million Americans died. Hundreds of them lived in the Inland Northwest. Many people have felt lonely and isolated, and mental health and substance-abuse problems have soared.

Hundreds of thousands were put out of work temporarily or permanently in just Washington and Idaho.

But a year into the pandemic, it’s not all bad news. Things are finally starting to turn around: Vaccine distribution is ramping up, and there’s hope for some semblance of a “normal” summer. Some larger outdoor gatherings are now allowed, and if trends continue, there’s hope this year will be much, much better. But the strong community support the Inland Northwest has shown will need to continue as the after-effects of this once-in-a-century event shake out. (SAMANTHA WOHLFEIL)

PEOPLE WE LOST A year into the pandemic, numbers fail to capture the loss caused by COVID-19

BY WILSON CRISCIONE

A

year ago, on March 27, 2020, Spokane County reported its first COVID-19 death. It was a man in his 80s. Like most deaths due to COVID-19, little was said publicly about him — not his name, his hobbies, nor how his loved ones felt about his passing.

We knew it would be the first of many COVID-19 deaths in the Inland Northwest. And it was: In Spokane, nearly 600 people have died. In North Idaho, 279 people have died of COVID-19.

They’re people like Stephen Colvin, an Air Force veteran who made a career in the electrical trade business locally. He died at 79 last August, leaving behind his wife, Peggy, along with many children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

They’re people like Joanne Samuel, a woman who loved arts and crafts, helping out at St. Patrick’s Parish in Spokane and who had recently traveled as a snowbird with her husband. She died on Dec. 10 in Arizona at the age of 69.

They’re people like Emily and Vincent Bozzi, the cofounders of Bozzi Media and publishers of Spokane Coeur d’Alene Living. Emily died of COVID-19 in December. A day later, Vince was reportedly admitted to the hospital, spending weeks on a ventilator before he passed away on Jan. 6.

A year ago, Dr. Anthony Fauci estimated that between 100,000 and 200,000 Americans could die of COVID-19, which he said was a middle-of-the-road estimate.

Today, around 540,000 people in the U.S. have died from COVID-19 complications.

Vaccines have helped slow deaths recently, but still more people are dying every day, often isolated alone in hospital rooms away from their family.

“It really bothers me that my dad had to go,” says Monty Spears, who lost his dad to COVID. “I didn’t get to say goodbye, and neither did the rest of the family.”

LONG-TERM CARE CENTERS

Ten months since he lost his dad, Monty Spears says he’s frustrated nursing homes weren’t more prepared for the pandemic.

“I feel like there should have been more preparation and protection of the older folks in nursing homes,” he says.

The first known outbreak of COVID-19 in the U.S. occurred in a nursing home in Kirkland, Washington.

More than 30 people died of the disease there. It signaled the danger COVID-19 would pose for the rest of the pandemic: COVID spread rapidly in congregate settings,

The family they’ve left behind may still struggle to process it.

“I don’t know where to cast the blame,” Monty says.

INDIRECT KILLER

Dorie Nelson died in January at age 92. and older individuals were more prone to it. Long-term care facilities, then, became potential death traps.

In the Inland Northwest, it took weeks after that outbreak for the virus to appear. But by April, the first major outbreak occurred at the Spokane Veterans Home.

At least 35 residents were infected with the virus, and eventually 10 residents who had COVID died.

Around the same time, the virus hit Life Care Center of Lewiston. By early May, 18 residents of the facility had died after contracting the virus, which made up all but one of the COVID deaths at the time in the LewistonClarkston Valley.

One of those deaths was 93-year-old Jack Spears, who was a Navy veteran and former mechanic. The Inlander spoke to his son, Monty, last spring shortly after his father died. The last time he’d seen his father was through the window at the facility, when Jack said he was doing OK but “wanted to get out of there” for a milkshake.

Nursing homes make up only about 5 percent of all cases, but more than one-third of all COVID deaths in the country. And that’s after a sharp decline in nursing home deaths since vaccines have become available.

In Spokane, 337 COVID deaths are associated with long-term care facilities, accounting for about 57 percent of all COVID deaths in Spokane. That’s slightly higher than the proportion in Washington overall, which has seen about half of COVID deaths linked to long-term care facilities.

People who are over 65, meanwhile, make up about 80 percent of deaths overall. In Washington, they make up 84 percent.

The true death toll from COVID-19 in the U.S. may be even higher than what’s been reported. Some COVID-19 deaths may go uncounted. Some people may not die from the COVID-19 infection itself, but from not receiving needed care when hospitals were overwhelmed.

During the pandemic, there have been 565,000 more deaths than in a normal year, according to CDC data.

That’s potentially 20,000 more deaths than normal that haven’t been attributed to COVID-19.

In Washington, overall deaths have been 9 percent above a normal year. Idaho has seen a 15 percent increase.

Katie Greenland, principal of Greenland Consulting and the wife of Sandpoint Mayor Shelby Rognstad, says she lost her 92-year-old grandmother, Dorie Nelson, shortly after Nelson tested positive for COVID-19.

But it wasn’t the virus that killed her.

Nelson was a music teacher when she worked. She was known for wearing bright hats and socks and being “full of vitality,” Greenland says. At 92, she lived on her own. But on Dec.19 she needed hip surgery after breaking her femur and was admitted into St. Anthony Hospital in Gig Harbor, Washington.

She tested negative for COVID multiple times before entering the hospital. But after her surgery, she tested positive. She recovered from her surgery alone in an isolated COVID ward in the hospital. She missed Christmas with her family. She developed a bed sore, it became infected and, on Jan. 20, she died. She would have been eligible for a vaccine just days later.

“Her time in the hospital, in isolation, was the longest period in her life separated from her family,” Greenland says. “She spent the final month of her life in isolation.”

Greenland doesn’t blame the doctors or nurses who cared for her grandmother. She knows the medical system has been stretched to its limits. But she misses her.

“We all knew her time would come,” Greenland says.

“But we are devastated that we all couldn’t be by her side and say our goodbyes in a good way.”

Knowing what it’s like to lose a loved one, she says her heart goes out to all those other families experiencing the same kind of tragedy.

“We often don’t see the faces of the pandemic,” Greenland says. “We only read about the numbers.” n

MARCH 25, 2021 INLANDER 13

ONE YEAR LATER YOUNG KWAK PHOTO

BUSINESS AS USUAL?

Shuttered during the pandemic: The White Elephant, left, and Fringe Salon & Boutique.

Though the Spokane area lost many businesses to COVID-19, the economy is already bouncing back

BY CHEY SCOTT

W

hen stay-home orders were issued one year ago in Washington and Idaho, forcing all nonessential businesses from retailers to restaurants to remain closed for weeks, many feared the worst: Would the region lose dozens and dozens of local businesses before the end?

In the months since, many independently owned businesses have permanently shuttered for various reasons. Some closed as a direct result of the pandemic, while owners of others saw the pandemic, paired with other factors, as an opportune time to depart. While plenty of local spots, mostly in the hospitality industry, have yet to reopen either by choice or regulation, the overall regional impact is in many ways much less dire than it could have been.

Patrick Jones is an Eastern Washington University economics professor and the executive director of EWU’s Institute for Public Policy & Economic Analysis, and he

says many measures of the regional economy show that Spokane County is faring notably better in economic recovery than the rest of the U.S. That includes local retail spending, which is up in several categories (home improvement, car sales, construction) while down in others (hospitality, entertainment), Jones says.

“We really won’t know the state of the world for 2020 for another three months, until July, when the fourth quarter numbers are out, but my hunch is that they were close to even with 2019,” he adds.

The general health of business in the region also looks promising.

“If you look at the number of businesses in the third quarter [of 2020], it was actually higher in Spokane County than the number in the third quarter of 2019,” Jones says. “From a number-of-business point of view, we didn’t lose any ground as of the end of September 2020.”

Despite that net gain, difficult decisions about the future were made this past year by several longtime business owners.

One local business loss widely felt by the community was the July 2020 closure of Spokane’s two White Elephant stores after being operated for 74 years by the Conley family. While sales were impacted some by Washington’s two-week shutdown last March, White Elephant co-owner Rich Conley says he and his siblings who ran the business founded by their father, John R. Conley, took the pandemic as an opportune time to move on.

“I guess after we were shut down for a while, it just kind of got us thinking a little different, and changing our priorities a little and paying more attention to family and being able to get together,” Conley says.

“And I was thinking about retiring,” he continues.

“After that, [the pandemic] helped me make up my mind; it was a good time to be done.”

The final weeks of White Elephant’s operations were bittersweet as customers of all ages flocked to the two stores, one on North Division Street and the other in Spokane Valley, to share memories with the Conleys and their employees and to shop one last time.

“Everyone had a story about when they came in for something, or when they bought their first toy or BB gun, and riding the elephant out front,” Conley recalls.

While the pandemic marked the end of an era for White Elephant, it also marked the start of a new one for another local business owner.

Tiffany Mulgrew had operated Fringe Salon & Boutique on Spokane’s South Hill for more than a decade when the pandemic arrived, bringing thoughts about making a transition to something new.

“COVID played a part in our closing, but it wasn’t the sole reason,” Mulgrew says. “If it hadn’t happened,

WASHINGTON LOSES NEARLY A QUARTER MILLION JOBS IN 2020 In March, April and May 2020, Washington saw at least a temporary loss of 421,500 part-time or full-time jobs as the unemployment rate jumped as high as 16.3 percent in April due to mandated closures of nearly all in-person services and activities, and as some employers reduced hours for their workforce.

Over the next several months, jobs started to slowly come back, according to unemployment statistics, and as of January 2021 the unemployment rate was about 6.1 percent.

But by November, with COVID spiking in communities across the country, there was another strict shutdown in Washington, and

14 INLANDER MARCH 25, 2021

the state lost more jobs in December before again seeing some growth in January 2021.

The state Employment Security Department reports that from January 2020 to January 2021, Washington state lost about 234,000 jobs, with three sectors hit the hardest. Leisure and hospitality by far had the greatest loss at 112,700 jobs, followed by government employment, which was down 48,400 jobs, and manufacturing, which lost 32,100 jobs.

Idaho certainly saw some job losses last April as well (about 78,500 fewer jobs than reported in March, according to Current

Employment Statistics survey data), but overall the state appears to have gained some jobs. The state reported a gain of 8,300 jobs over the last year compared to January 2020.

Idaho saw far fewer strict shutdowns of major portions of its economy than its neighbor, which may have contributed to those numbers. Interestingly, the state’s Department of Labor reports that the four Idaho industries hardest hit by pandemic losses were “information (-13.8 percent), other services (-6.3 percent), leisure and hospitality (-1.7 percent), and education and health services (-1.2 percent).” (SAMANTHA WOHLFEIL)

I would 100 percent still be running Fringe, and we would have remodeled [the store]. But looking back, because COVID happened, I’m glad because my lease was up and I was able to exit on a great note.”

Mulgrew closed Fringe last July to transition from retail to running a local marketing firm specializing in small business clients. Called UpSocial, the business is run by Mulgrew and one of her former Fringe employees who oversaw the boutique’s social media accounts.

The many challenges of operating a business during the pandemic also served as motivation for the founding of UpSocial.

“During COVID, we all had to use the internet to find businesses and information on what they were offering, especially in order to support them,” Mulgrew says. “I realized so many didn’t have social media, Facebook or Instagram, or weren’t posting there or didn’t have websites.”

Mulgrew decided then she wanted to use the expertise she’d gained as a small business owner herself, with years of experience managing her own website and marketing her business across social platforms.

“I think a lot has changed now with people finding information online because we have a new habit that’s formed this last year,” she says. “Small business owners can’t afford to not have a website and active social media account.”

Mulgrew developed UpSocial to cater to small businesses that don’t have large marketing budgets.

“We’re really focusing on the small businesses that need something affordable,” she says. “We want them to be able to survive.”

O

f all industries, none have been impacted as severely as restaurants, entertainment and hospitality venues.

Just months into the pandemic, the Inland Northwest had lost several eateries and entertainment venues. One of those was the Pin, an all-ages music venue in downtown Spokane that hosted everything from metal bands to drag shows.

Other losses due directly to the myriad setbacks caused by COVID-19 include Beerocracy bar in Garland, Wolffy’s diner in Logan, Garageland bar downtown, and the River Park Square location of Tomato Street. (Its North Side and Coeur d’Alene spots are still operating.)

Among the restaurant casualties last year were also several that didn’t close solely because of the pandemic, like Central Food. Although owner David Blaine cited challenges of operating the restaurant during various stages of dining restrictions, his main reason was to focus on new endeavors. Nearby in Kendall Yards, chef Adam Hegsted announced at the end of 2020 that he was closing his restaurant Wandering Table, only to rebrand the space as the more casual, Mediterranean-inspired spot Baba, which opened last month.

During the same period in 2020, however, more than two dozen new restaurants opened, changed owners or expanded with additional locations across Spokane and Coeur d’Alene, according to the Inlander’s tracking of the industry.

Across the border in Idaho, business closures directly tied to the pandemic were, to our knowledge, nonexistent or nearly so.

Requests for data on such closures from the Idaho Secretary of State’s Office, which tracks business licenses, were unanswered as of press time.

While there’s plenty of ground to make up for, things are looking brighter for Washington state as a whole in 2021, says EWU economist Jones.

He says economic forecasters for the state of Washington have already revised their outlook for economic gains in 2021 a full percentage point higher than was previously predicted. Though he cautions he’s not an economic forecaster, Jones says we may see up to 2 percent GDP growth for the entire state by the end of 2021.

“What does this mean for Spokane? I think the economy will grow here, and because we are actually not that different from the state of Washington in terms of retail sales,” he says. “The information I am receiving says there should be quite a bit of pent-up demand. People are going to start spending, and they’ll spend on services they didn’t spend much on in 2020, and that includes restaurants.” n

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ONE YEAR LATER

COVID CORRECTIONS Public health got a lot about COVID wrong, but that’s science for ya

BY DANIEL WALTERS

A

Jay Dupuis sews non-medical masks at Spokane’s Royal Upholstery in March 2020.

year ago, we knew there was a lot we didn’t know about COVID-19.

But at the same time, there was a lot we thought we knew. We knew not to bother wearing cloth or surgical masks — that unless you were sick, they were ineffective. We knew that the viruses primarily spread on surfaces, and so we scrubbed our hands raw and coated the world in disinfectant. We knew that we needed to shut down playgrounds, parks and schools to get the virus under control.

But now we know that much of that was wrong.

ANYONE CAN WEAR THE MASK

In March 2020, Spokane Regional Health District’s health officer Bob Lutz argued that wearing a surgical mask was just as ineffective as wearing a bandana and advised against wearing either, arguing that they created a false sense of security.

Unless you were sick or a caregiver with a highquality N95 mask, he told the Inlander, you’re “better off washing your hands and practicing good cough etiquette than wearing a mask.”

Initially, it seemed to be the expert consensus. The surgeon general tweeted for people to “STOP BUYING MASKS,” arguing they were “NOT effective” for the general public. A Time magazine article headlined “Why People Aren’t Listening to Experts About Face Masks” expressed exasperation that people kept insisting on wearing masks anyway.

By May, the recommendations had reversed: Wear a mask, Lutz and other doctors were saying.

Public health officials had been pooh-poohing masks in part to protect the limited supply for medical professionals. But they’d also underestimated a key trait of the

16 INLANDER MARCH 25, 2021

YOUNG KWAK PHOTO

virus: Many people were spreading COVID without ever experiencing a single symptom.

While cloth and surgical masks were only mildly protective for you, they were a whole lot better at preventing you from infecting others without realizing it. While coronavirus particles were tiny, they typically hitched rides on bigger droplets. Even your lousy $2 masks could reduce the spray of those droplets.

SURFACE TENSION

A year ago, Spokane primary care physician Gretchen LaSalle saw a viral threat lurking on every surface. Noting reports that COVID could last on hard surfaces for as long as 72 hours, she wrote a blog post last March that LETTERS recommended ditching rings, Send comments to eliminating hand towels, cleaning editor@inlander.com. doorknobs daily, setting up an in-house “decontamination station,” and putting up sticky-note reminders everywhere to constantly sanitize.

It made sense back then, she says now.

“We knew this was a really deadly, deadly virus and didn’t want to put anyone in harm’s way until we had a better sense of a really good understanding of how it spreads,” LaSalle says.

But by July the Atlantic reported that there had been only one plausible report of surface-to-surface transmission. The studies showing COVID lasting on surfaces for days had incorrectly assumed a wildly high concentration of the virus.

Meanwhile, a study of an office tower in South Korea showed that, despite around 1,000 workers and residents hitting the same elevator buttons, the big outbreak was

largely limited to one part of a call center. Talking in a closed space was dangerous. Surfaces weren’t.

Dr. David Pate, former president of Idaho’s St. Luke’s Health System, says that surface spread was technically possible, but rare.

“I would have to be infected, sitting in your office, sneeze all over your keyboard, and you immediately start typing while you’re eating your sandwich,” he says.

“Something like that.”

But that didn’t mean we could breathe easy.

“Unfortunately, there was too little focus on airborne transmission,” says Pate.

We learned that the virus can hang around in the air indoors as small aerosol particles, gliding on airstreams across entire rooms. A whole new set of factors — ventilation, room size — had to be taken into account. The indoors were more dangerous than we thought.

But in the outdoors, the virus quickly dissipated into the air and was hit by sunlight, one of the all-time best disinfectants. One study found that the odds of catching COVID inside was 20 times higher than outside.

The purely outdoor gatherings that public health professionals worried about — anti-mask rallies, Black Lives Matter protests and spring break beach bacchanalias — weren’t the superspreader events we feared they’d be. Not only that, but the measures taken last spring to shut down parks and campgrounds may have been unnecessary.

“We probably didn’t need to actually shut playgrounds down,” Pate says.

AN OBJECT IN MOTION

The last year has been filled with such reversals.  We shut down schools, but then learned that in-person schools were far safer than we had expected.

Children had few symptoms and were unlikely to spread the virus to adults.  Hospitals canceled elective surgeries, only to discover that, with the right protective equipment, they could have continued to operate safely.  Early on, hospitals were desperately seeking more ventilators to save COVID patients’ lives. The lack of ventilator supply was condemned as a massive state and federal policy failure. But it turned out ventilators actually made things worse for the patient’s lungs and even sprayed COVID particles into the air.

“We learned that the more we could do to keep them off the ventilators, the better they would do,” says Dr. Dan Getz, chief medical officer at Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center.

Normally, when journalists write about what “science” says — about climate change and fluoride, about genetically modified crops and vaccines — it’s because it’s a topic that has been studied for decades. But in this case, we got to watch science happen in real-time in all its messy, error-prone glory.

“Believing in science means you believe in the scientific process,” LaSalle says. “You make a theory or a hypothesis, and then you test it. You test and retest and retest.”

Getting things wrong is embedded in that process. It’s just that we usually don’t have so many lives riding on every mistake. n

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MARCH 25, 2021 INLANDER 17

ONE YEAR LATER

Keri Barham volunteers with Meals on Wheels to deliver meals to seniors last March.

THE TOLL IT TOOK

YOUNG KWAK PHOTO

No hug for eight months, isolation-driven depression, no chance to grieve: Inside the pandemic’s disproportionate impacts

BY SAMANTHA WOHLFEIL

N

early everyone has struggled somehow over the last year as the COVID-19 pandemic halted daily routines, kept relatives and friends from visiting one another, and prompted a system of temporary restrictions, many of which remain in place a year later.

But some groups have been disproportionately impacted. Students struggled to learn remotely as their families had to navigate working and schooling from home. Virus outbreaks in some factories and essential industries had an outsized effect on minorities.

Older Americans have been particularly vulnerable: People 65 and older have made up nearly 81 percent of the country’s COVID deaths.

As the virus swept through senior living communities, killing many, visiting was shut down and residents were isolated even from one another. Family members have had to check in on their loved ones through windows or hope staff could help set up video chats. Within communities, socializing stopped as classes and events were canceled.

18 INLANDER MARCH 25, 2021

But people may not realize just how significant the impacts of those safety measures have been. A year has passed and seniors largely remain isolated.

“I think as humans we take for granted physical touch,” says Elise Biviano, owner of CarePatrol of Spokane, a free service that helps seniors get the level of care they need, whether that’s moving into assisted living or getting care at home. “As a younger person, I never felt justified complaining about my mask once, because I got to hug my family, and because I wasn’t confined to a 200-square-foot room in a skilled nursing facility with a roommate.”

One elderly couple that Biviano’s team works with was separated last year after one of them fell and needed more specialized help.

“About a month ago we were able to find them an adult family home where they could move in together,” Biviano says. “That was the first time they had hugged in eight months.”

Susan Ropp, a physical therapist in Stevens County, has struggled to help her mother, Thelma, who was diag-

nosed with dementia in November. The family initially thought it might progress slowly, but without her usual social activities or even family visits (paused last year due to the virus), Thelma’s condition rapidly deteriorated, Ropp says.

In January, her mother was hospitalized. Ropp wasn’t able to visit, and finding the right person at the right time over the phone proved challenging. She asked CarePatrol for help finding and placing her mom in an adult family home, where she’s been living since. But with current rules, only one designated family member is technically allowed to visit, and for just 30 minutes a day.

“The difficulty with that is my dad and her have been married 65 years. He can go up and visit her,” Ropp says, “but if I need to go up and visit because we do video doctor’s appointments, we’re kind of bending things to have me be there.”

Thelma spent many years helping people sign up for social services such as Medicare and advocating for her son with special needs. Under current rules, he can’t visit her right now. It’s hard to say how well Thelma’s doing because Ropp can’t be there often, but staff have said she struggles with aggression when she doesn’t understand what’s going on.

Ropp’s dad, Ralph, would love to take Thelma out for drives, but she’s not allowed to leave for any period of time without doing a two-week quarantine when she returns.

“They loved to go for rides,” Ropp says. “As soon as mom got in the car, she’d usually fall asleep, but she loved just having a little adventure.”

With vaccines rolling out to more groups, and most senior facilities already having vaccinated their residents, visiting policies may loosen up this year. But until then, the struggle and isolation for many seniors will continue.

R

acial and ethnic minority groups have also experienced more infections and deaths than expected from the virus.

The reasons for the disparities are complicated, and often multiple health equity factors are involved, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Some communities are more likely to live with larger numbers of people or with multiple generations in the same household, some are more likely to work in jobs that require in-person labor, and some face gaps in education, income, and access to insurance and health care.

Dr. Jesse Paulsen, a third-year psychiatry resident in the Seattle area, has spent the last year working at different clinics, including one that helps people who are refugees and minorities from around the world.

Paulsen says those groups have seen the greatest sense of social isolation of any he’s worked with this year.

Normally community events, churches and organizations help ease integration and create a sense of community, but the virus has decimated such connections this year, he says.

“It’s been disheartening to see people feeling all alone, or their family feels all alone, and the services we would normally connect them with aren’t there,” Paulsen says. “Their depression was caused not by a purely biochemical or personality based issue, it was because of the isolation.”

Around the country, minority groups have borne a larger burden. One study in Louisiana found that in one sample, 76.9 percent of patients who were hospitalized and 70.6 percent of those who died were Black, despite the fact that Black people made up 31 percent of the population served by that health system.

Most minority groups in Washington have made up a larger share of positive cases than would be expected. In particular, Hispanic people have accounted for 31 percent of positive cases reported, despite being 13 percent of the

state’s population. But just two minority groups saw disproportionate deaths: American Indian/ Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islanders.

In late June 2020, there was a significant COVID outbreak among the Marshallese community in Spokane. Despite representing about 1 percent of the population, the outbreak of more than 340 cases was at the time about one-third of all Spokane cases.

People from the Marshall Islands are part of the Compact of Free Association (COFA), which allows for dual citizenship and the right to live and work in the U.S. without a visa or green card.

The agreement was put in place following a devastating legacy of destruction. The U.S. tested nuclear bombs in the Pacific from 1946 to 1958, rendering entire islands uninhabitable and blasting people with radiation so that scientists could study the effects on humans.

Health disparities have affected multiple generations in the 75 years since then, says David Anitok, who was born in the U.S., grew up in the Marshall Islands and helped found the COFA Alliance National Network in Oregon in 2012.

“I think one thing that’s been exacerbated from COVID is the health impact in our communities and the history behind it with nuclear testing,” Anitok says. “This is a full circle. They dug [radioactive material] out for Hanford, flew it out to the Marshall Islands, and now our people are flying back to Washington to look for health care access. And now we’re dying in the soil the plutonium was created from. Our loved ones can’t afford to go back home; we have to bury them here.”

Like many who weren’t able to hold funerals for their loved ones, there’s a lingering grief this year. Anitok says three things in life are considered most significant in the Marshallese community: a child’s first birthday, weddings and funerals.

“Out of these three, there’s only one of them you don’t expect to get invited to — it’s the death,” he says, noting that everyone in a community typically just shows up to attend the funeral. “During the pandemic we couldn’t do that. We’re continuing to grieve. ... We haven’t been able to honor and respect the past, to be able to move on from that.

We’re still stuck in this year.” n samanthaw@inlander.com

ARTISTIC CONNECTION In a year without shows, the Inland Northwest arts scene found wider access through virtual routes

BY NATHAN WEINBENDER

I

t’s difficult to imagine there being any kind of silver lining to COVID-19 shutdowns, which (among so many other things) robbed us of in-person theater and music and comedy for a full year. As venues all over the Inland Northwest swept away tumbleweeds, a dark realization reverberated through the arts communities: Arts venues were among the first businesses to close their doors, and they will likely be among the last to reopen at full capacity.

Still, many arts organizations and individual artists have exhibited real resiliency in response to the pandemic, pivoting into online arenas and virtual spaces to reach audiences both new and old. It turns out there is something of a benefit to streaming, which creates an accessibility that hadn’t previously existed.

Just look at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival, the first major movie event of the year to go fully virtual. The Utah-based indie festival reported half a million views of its features and shorts programs, estimating that its virtual audience was “2.7 times larger” than a standard Sundance turnout.

Other festivals have followed suit, with both South by Southwest and the Seattle International Film Festival going virtual this year. Right here in Spokane, the Jewish Cultural Film Festival changed up its model, offering a variety of events and screenings through a digital platform.

Neal Schindler, the festival’s director, says that all kinds of factors could keep audiences away from his event in a normal year — mobility issues, scheduling conflicts, bitter winter weather. But this year’s virtual attendance was actually higher than in-person attendance at last year’s event, and because virtual screening rights are slightly less expensive than in-person ones, the selection of films (seven features and two shorts) was wider than ever.

“We did send out a post-festival survey electronically, and a third of the people who responded said they’ve never been to the festival before,” Schindler says. “When I think about who came through the proverbial gates, there were a lot of folks I didn’t remember from previous festivals.”

Schindler points to other comments in that survey, from festivalgoers who were stuck at home and therefore watched more movies than they might normally. This virtual model will likely continue in the future, too: Schindler says the festival received a grant that will go toward hosting a hybrid event next year that combines in-person screenings and online-only events.

“There are plenty of people who will be delighted when we’re back in person,” Schindler says. “Our happy medium is that we’re hoping to do in-person screenings as well as some virtual components.”

Terrain, the local arts nonprofit, has also seen some benefits to hosting events in a virtual space. Co-founder Ginger Ewing says that, among the online-only events that Terrain threw in the past year, the biggest success was last fall’s virtual art auction and fundraiser. Not only did the event raise enough money to cover Terrain’s operational costs for a full year, but collectors from all over the country tuned in to bid on Spokane art.

“We were actually quite surprised by the people who were buying artwork from Seattle, or from the East Coast, or from California,” Ewing says. “Those people wouldn’t have been able

Norman Robbins, left, and Luis Mota during one of the livestreamed shows at Neato Burrito. YOUNG KWAK PHOTO to participate if it was solely an in-person auction. It expanded Terrain’s audience, but also [gave] exposure to the artists that we’re highlighting to a much broader audience.”

There are certain drawbacks to virtual-only events, of course: Setting up that online platform is a full-time job unto itself, and events like Terrain’s flagship arts showcase, which reliably draws thousands of people every October, probably wouldn’t work in an online format. But Ewing says Terrain is still open to hybrid, multiplatform events in the future — if it’s feasible.

“Will organizations have the capacity to do both?” Ewing says. “If we can, then that is certainly what we want to do, again, because it just opens and expands the audience. … To be quite honest, I’m a little ashamed that I didn’t think about it until I was forced to.”

Local musicians have also leaned into the accessibility of virtual venues. The downtown staple Neato Burrito has been closed to customers for a year now, but it has been serving as a makeshift TV studio manned by musicians Norman Robbins and Luis Mota. Since the fall, the duo has brought in an array of Spokane artists to perform for ticketed livestream events broadcast from Neato, and although the learning curve was steep, Robbins says they’ve now got it down to a fine science.

“It’s a very efficient setup now, compared to where we were when we first started. I’m hauling around so much less equipment, but I’m able to do so much more,” he says. “It’s basically like having a portable television broadcasting facility.”

The most popular events in the ongoing livestream series have been variety shows that feature a mix of live music, poetry, comedy and prerecorded sketches, a grab-bag format that Robbins admits he never would have considered had it not been for those online-only parameters. He and Mota are already talking with Neato owners Tim Lannigan and Patty Tully about continuing the digital series even after in-person audiences can return, a rare positive vestige of this hectic year of forced adaptation.

“We took advantage of every possible thing we could virtually. It’s just what we had to do to survive, and to keep people inspired,” Robbins says. “Through those challenges, we’ve discovered all these benefits to spreading art.” n

MARCH 25, 2021 INLANDER 19

ONE YEAR LATER

WILSON CRISCIONE PHOTO

YOUNG KWAK PHOTO

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, sporting a mask during a visit to Malden in September after the devastasting wildfires, and Kay Jorissen, a protester in North Idaho rallying last March against that state’s stay-home order.

YOUR MONEY OR YOUR LIFE Idaho saved more jobs during the pandemic, but Washington prevented more deaths

BY DANIEL WALTERS

W

ashington and Idaho have both emerged as champions during the pandemic. It’s just that they’ve been competing in different events.

On the economic front, Idaho is the clear winner.

This month, the New York Times heaped praise upon Idaho for having the biggest revenue recovery of any state, at least in the calculation of Brookings Institution economist Louise Sheiner.

From April through December of last year, Idaho saw its tax revenue actually increase by 10.4 percent. Its unemployment rate is 3.4 percent, the fifth-lowest in the nation.

Washington’s unemployment rate has still languished at 6 percent.

But when it comes to battling the virus itself, Idaho has experienced twice the infection rate as Washington and a 58 percent higher death rate.

Last week, the New York Times marveled at how Seattle — site of the first major coronavirus outbreak in the country — managed to do so much better fighting the coronavirus than the other biggest cities. If the rest of the country managed to do what Seattle did, the Times calculated, the U.S. would have had 300,000 fewer coronavirus deaths.

Compared to other states, Washington state has, adjusted for population, the fifth-lowest COVID caseload and the seventh-lowest death rate. Gov. Jay Inslee “is quietly finishing up arguably the best pandemic response record of any governor in the country,” the Week magazine’s Ryan Cooper wrote recently.

TIMELINE OF SIGNIFICANT COVID-19 EVENTS JAN. 21, 2020: Washington state man becomes the first confirmed case of COVID-19 in the United States.

FEB. 29, 2020: First Washington COVID death is the first reported in the U.S. (Research later shows people likely died from the virus a month or more earlier.)

MARCH 11, 2020: World Health

20 INLANDER MARCH 25, 2021

Organization declares a global pandemic. Washington Gov. Jay Inslee limits gatherings of more than 250 in three Puget Sound counties.

MARCH 13, 2020: Washington announces six-week statewide school closure. Idaho announces first COVID case.

MARCH 14, 2020: Spokane

Regional Health District confirms first three cases locally.

MARCH 15, 2020: Inslee announces closure of bars/restaurants, entertainment venues and recreational facilities, as well as gatherings over 50.

MARCH 23, 2020: Inslee announces Stay Home, Stay Healthy order, mandating all to stay home for two weeks. All nonessential businesses close or shift to remote work, in-person gatherings of any size are banned, churches close, and weddings and funerals are not allowed. A year later, things still haven’t fully reopened.

MARCH 16, 2020: Panhandle Health District confirms first case in North Idaho.

MARCH 25, 2020: Idaho Gov.

Brad Little announces 21-day stay home order.

MARCH 26, 2020: Idaho announces first three COVID deaths.

Congress passes CARES Act with $2 trillion in economic relief.

MARCH 27, 2020: Spokane County reports its first COVID death.

MAY 20, 2020: Spokane Regional Health District directs all to wear masks in public.

MAY 27, 2020: U.S. surpasses 100,000 COVID deaths.

JUNE 15, 2020: Panhandle Health reports first COVID death.

JUNE 23, 2020: Inslee announces statewide mask mandate.

Comparing one state to another is always messy, says Umair Shah, Washington state’s secretary of health.

“But I think policies matter,” he says. “And leadership matters. And when you follow public health, that matters.”

T

he difference in the way Idaho and Washington battled COVID was clear from the beginning.

During the first few months of the pandemic, Washington shut down its construction industry. Idaho let its keep running, boosting an already flourishing sector. Washington shut down campgrounds and parks. Idaho opened its up sooner and reaped an increase in tourism dollars — including from Washington.

“There’s a lot of evidence that some of the Washingtoners came over to our parks,” says Alex Adams, Gov. Brad Little’s budget director. “We didn’t see the slowdown that other states did around tourism.”

In June, facing surging summer COVID case numbers, Inslee issued a face-mask mandate statewide. Also in June, facing a similar surge, Little officially allowed every business in the state to reopen with few restrictions.

But in Idaho, a very vocal group of protesters wanted Idaho to imitate South Dakota, where restrictions were even looser. Idaho protesters broke glass, burned masks and yelled outside the homes of public officials.

Last week, Idaho lawmakers were looking to pass a ban on local mask mandates days before a COVID outbreak among legislators shut down the Legislature for weeks.

“Here in Idaho, what’s really been so disturbing is the individualism — I don’t want people infringing on my rights — versus the collectivism of ‘we have to all come together to help protect each other,’” says Dr. David Pate, a member of Little’s coronavirus workgroup.

W

ashington state officials are a lot happier with their population’s performance.

“I would say we owe the population in Washington state a lot of kudos for how they’ve handled it,” says Scott Lindquist, a state epidemiologist. “I know that it has been very restrictive at times.”

Those restrictions have had serious costs as well. Yes, Washington state also saw its tax revenues increase during the pandemic. But the Washington Hospitality Association describes the year as “a long slow march to economic slaughter,” noting that, according to Yelp, Washington restaurants suffered the fifth-highest closure rate in the nation.

There’s been an impact on our state’s mental health as well: In an emergency proclamation ordering Washington state schools to reopen for in-person instruction this week, Inslee rattled off a mountain of statistics about the deteriorating mental health of children in the state, suffering from isolation and the lack of in-person instruction. At Sacred Heart Children’s Hospital, for example, acute care admissions to the Inpatient Adolescent Psychiatric Unit increased 73 percent.

Pressed on whether, in retrospect, it was a mistake to shut down so much at the beginning — including outdoor activities like fishing — Lindquist refers to the scoreboard.

“Look at how we fared compared to almost every other state,” Lindquist says.

So far, at least 1,931 COVID-positive Idahoans have died. If Idaho had managed to match Washington state’s results, 716 of them could still be alive. n

“I would say we owe the population in Washington state a lot of kudos for how they’ve handled it.”

Much of Idaho stayed that way until October, when case counts spiked so high that Idaho hospitals had to send some non-COVID patients to other states to keep beds free.

Little reimposed limited statewide restrictions, but even then, the restrictions were looser than Washington’s.

Despite touting the effectiveness of masks, Little never issued a statewide mask mandate, relying on the rhetoric of personal responsibility and a slew of local governments and regional health district boards to make those decisions instead.

The results could have been worse. Even though a higher percentage of people had been infected in Idaho than most states, 38 other states have worse COVID death rates than Idaho. South Dakota had double the percentage of COVID deaths as Idaho.

JULY 23, 2020: Panhandle Health District mandates masks in public in North Idaho counties.

again; churches limited to smaller of 25 percent capacity or 200 people.

DEC. 11, 2020: U.S. approves first SEPT. 28, 2020: World hits more than COVID vaccine with emergency use 1 million COVID deaths. authorization.

NOV. 15, 2020: Inslee again closes bars and restaurants to in-person dining, after many had been able to reopen at 25 percent to 50 percent capacity. Gyms/indoor recreation close

FEB 22, 2021: U.S. hits 500,000 COVID deaths.

MARCH 3, 2021: Washington hits 5,000 COVID deaths.

MARCH 11, 2021: Inslee announces Washington will move to Phase 3 of reopening plan, with some outdoor events allowed again for the first time in a year with caps on capacity.

MARCH 16, 2021: Reported global death toll stands at more than 2.6 million. n

BEASTS AND BLOODSHED What a pre-pandemic Walla Walla bullfight taught one family about embracing the day

BY SAMUEL LIGON

T

he last cultural event Kate and I went to before the pandemic shutdown was an old-fashioned bullfight at a winery down in Walla Walla. We didn’t know how big the sport was down there; we didn’t know anything about the sport — if you want to call killing animals a sport. I call it murder. And that’s why we loved it so much.

Even before quarantine, all we could think about was murder — as if we already knew how hard everything was going to be from now on. Yes, we had read the Hemingway books, so we did know about the goring and the sadness and the beauty. And, yes, we knew matadors wore fancy pants and carried red capes and shiny swords. I don’t know how we knew that stuff. Cartoons maybe? Or maybe it all came from Hemingway? How do any of us ever really know anything?

Where does our knowing come from? That’s the kind of stuff you think about at a bullfight.

And when I say we knew nothing, I mean we thought the bulls would be fighting each Samuel Ligon other, like at a yak fight. But that’s not how it works at all. We certainly didn’t expect dragons or children singing folk songs.

The way it actually works is hard to explain. But, yes, you will be covered in blood by the end of it, yours and the bulls and the wine people’s. And, yes, you will laugh and cry harder than you ever have before. Our baby was only a fetus when we went so he didn’t get to enjoy it as much as he otherwise might have. Once the pandemic’s over, though, we’re going straight back to a bullfight, and we’re taking the baby with us. Kate’s going to write sad poetry about it, and I’m going to write sad fiction. The baby’s going to cry.

And somehow all that sadness and death will help us understand why we should treasure every moment a little more than we already do, even if we have to quarantine forever. Like Hemingway said: “Baby shoes are for babies.” Or like my older son said so many times as a toddler telling his toddler joke: “You gotta poop in your pants.”

And while the matadors aren’t supposed to poop in their pants because the pants are so expensive, sometimes they do it anyway. Hell, we all do.

That’s what bullfighting finally teaches us, everyone out in the sun, diapered up, drinking wine, the dragons circling — something about: I don’t know. Fairness? Sportsmanship? Is QAnon part of it somehow? You want to know what it’s really like? It’s like Burning Man or the Great Depression or one of those really good Civil War battles, but with bulls running around. At least, I think they were bulls. We didn’t really watch that part. There’s a lot going on is what I’m trying to say. And all that stuff, plus the bulls — that’s why we’re so excited. n Samuel Ligon is the author of three novels and two collections of stories. In 2012, Ligon and his wife, Kate Lebo, started Pie & Whiskey — raucous literary events featuring pie, whiskey and readings about those eponymous things — and together they edited a 2017 collection of works called Pie & Whiskey: Writers Under the Influence of Butter & Booze.

MARCH 25, 2021 INLANDER 21

ONE YEAR LATER

The local band Fun Ladies, fronted by Patty Tully, plays a set at the Big Dipper during the Inlander’s Volume Music Festival in 2019.

ALICIA HAUFF PHOTO

REMEMBER WHEN...

Locals recall their last taste of “normal” pre-shutdown, and what they’re looking forward to most post-COVID

BY DAN NAILEN

D

espite the St. Paddy’s parade being canceled, the Irish Drinking Team Spokane chapter was still hosting its annual pub crawl in downtown Spokane on March 14, 2020. I had big plans to join.

When that morning arrived, though, downing shots and belting drinking songs with a couple hundred strangers seemed like not a great idea, given the little I knew about COVID-19. Instead, I headed to River Park Square, where I was so freaked out by the virus-related reading on my phone that I bailed halfway through Invisible Man. Many of us can recall that last “normal” thing we did.

We asked a few folks involved in the Inland Northwest arts scene about what they remember, and what they look forward to as “normal” returns. Their answers have been lightly edited for length and clarity.

PATTY TULLY

co-owner of Baby Bar/Neato Burrito and singer for Fun Ladies

On Saturday, the 14th of March 2020, I was asked to bartend the memorial for Kelly Fay Vaughn at Berserk. It

22 INLANDER MARCH 25, 2021

was a sad and beautiful night. There was a lot of music, dancing, crying and sharing of memories. On March 16th a bunch of us had decided to go out as a last hurrah and then moments later knew that the idea was ridiculous and that we should all head home having no idea what was to come. Neato and the Baby closed on the 17th.

When things return to a sort of normal, I am looking forward to seeing live shows again and playing music in front of people — like for real in front of people. I hope it gets to a point when we can shake hands again. I was just really starting to enjoy shaking hands with people.

CHRIS COOK

Spokane poet laureate and Spokane Symphony musician

On Sunday night, March 8, my wife, Kathi, and I divided and conquered: She went to hear The Sweeplings with a girlfriend, and I went to Spokane Comedy Club to see one of my favorite comedians, Rory Scovel, who was following Tool’s tour. On 3/10, Young Kwak came over to take some photos for the upcoming Inlander Poetry

Issue, which was to include my guide to upcoming live poetry venues and events. My datebook abruptly starts looking like a ghost town after 3/12, when I hit two Spokane breweries: Iron Goat for lunch, and Steel Barrel for a planning meeting for the exciting new season of Lit Crawls: beer and live poetry at neighborhood bars and pubs. Not to be.

One of the carrots that’s been dangling in front of me, compelling me onward, is the thought of resuming Broken Mic, our weekly jam-packed poetry open mic that I co-host at Neato Burrito. This includes the additional lure of burritos with Thai peanut sauce and habañero salsa, washed down by a lovely Patty pour from Baby Bar, and surrounded by good friends.

SHARMA SHIELDS Spokane author

I’ve kept and cherished a small ticket stub from a Lewis & Clark High School production of Shrek, which was the last big event my kids and I attended before our public lives were shuttered. My friend’s son Matthew starred as Shrek, and my children still gush about how funny and

wonderful he was in the starring role, and my memories of the event are both joyous and poignant, as if somehow I understood at the time that this would be a last gathering for us, which of course I didn’t. What swiftly followed intensified the memory for me. Memories are infinitely strange in this way.

I can’t wait to take the kids to live music events. I miss the Bartlett, which of course is no longer around, but I loved that all-ages venue. We had planned to take our son to a Flaming Lips or Deep Sea Diver concert prior to the pandemic, and now I’m eyeballing the Gorge and daydreaming about how awesome it would be to share that beautiful landscape and a concert with my family there. That said, I can’t help but feel that a return to normalcy will involve its own small traumas. This has been a tumultuous time, pulling away from casual togetherness and gatherings, and I can’t help but feel that there will be some awkwardness and hesitation when we begin to share spaces again. Weirdly, I both look forward to it and fear it! This dread may simply show how distressing this last year has been. We will all need to heal.

DAWSON HOERNER co-owner, The Big Dipper

The last big event we went to before the shutdown was Pivot at the Washington Cracker Building Feb. 6th (2020). I really love that series and thoroughly enjoy the speakers, venue, wine bar and packed house. It is a community-centric event, where locals tell deeply personal stories to what feels like a room of friends. (I’m saying this as someone who has never spoken at the event, so speakers might feel differently, but I hope not.) The event is something that just can’t be the same without a live audience. The audience is absolutely and solidly there for the speakers, it’s lovely.

We had our second “Live at the Big Dipper” show Feb 1. That was a packed, messy, loud, sweaty event that we worked on for weeks beforehand and would have not been worth any of it without the audience. For us, it was what we were all about in February. It was to be the start of a new angle on our live music hosting, one that we had been formulating since we opened. We hosted the show, filmed it and were working on editing for the rest of the month and beyond. We are hoping to get back to it.

What we can’t wait to get back to? Live music, of course.

JENI HEGSTED

executive director of Emerge art space in Coeur d’Alene

The last event I attended in March 2020 was the Emerge Ceramic Showdown Throwdown and Cup Frenzy.

This event was so much fun and filled with incredible energy. I have a background in ceramics, so this had been something I had been wanting to do for years. The event had 350 cups for $15 each, drink choices, DJ music and a wheel-throwing competition. It was a very packed house.

The next week COVID hit, and we were all sheltering in place. It was surreal and made the event seem like a dream.

I would love to go to an outdoor concert this summer. I miss live music. I would love to be able to attend Bazaar and Terrain this year. I need art events in my life again, and these are a couple of my favorite events I always look forward to!

KRIS DINNISON

Spokane author and co-owner of Atticus and Boo Radley’s

My last [pre-COVID] event of any kind was Brooke Matson’s poetry book launch at the Civic about a year ago.

It was a beautiful celebration of her book In Accelerated

March Madness games in the Spokane Arena in 2011.

Silence, with music and a big crowd of poetry lovers to cheer her on.

[Looking forward] I don’t really have one crowdrelated activity (although we are really hoping Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds reschedule their tour because we had awesome tickets to see them in Portland this fall). I am most excited to just have people gather in any setting without worrying if they’re putting themselves and other people in danger. To celebrate, dance together, have shared experiences of music, art, theater, anything, really, just seems like the most wonderful thing to me. I know I took it for granted before, but now I see it as such a luxury, such a gift.

CLAIRE DAVEY

Auntie’s Bookstore events coordinator

I certainly had a great meal at Nudo in March and at least one fun night out at Berserk in February, but the moment that feels most emblematic of The Before Times is smaller and weirder. It’s equally inaccessible to me now, but I think of it fondly and often — one of my last interactions with a stranger that didn’t have that fearful, desperate edge.

In mid-February, I was heading into the women’s bathroom at Auntie’s as a woman I didn’t know was coming out. Apparently, I startled her because she screamed. And then I screamed. And then she screamed louder. And then I did, too. We stood there and looked at each other for a second and then started to crack up.

Standing about three feet apart, we laughed loudly, open mouths carelessly spewing airborne particles and germs and whatever else is so dangerous these days. Probably a full minute later, we stopped to catch our breath. She told me to have a nice day, and then we went our separate ways.

I miss talking to strangers. I miss low-stakes absurdity.

MATT GIBSON

event planner and former Spokane Arena general manager

With me, fun and work seem to go hand in hand. I was putting together a little beverage soiree in conjunction with the Spokane Lilac Festival when all this wonderfulness came down like a hammer. I was at an events workshop in mid-February when the news came down from the NCAA that the men’s basketball tournament was, at that time, simply postponed. That was a fiercely grim gut punch that things were about to get really bad. I

made the decision to shut down operations and prepared to ride things out.

My tastes are simple: I can’t wait to go to David’s Pizza or No-Li Brewhouse again when either place is packed with people for a sports event. The camaraderie that comes from those happenings is so incredibly precious. I never in my lifetime thought those times would go away for anything, even when things got bad. This isolation has been disastrous for so many. Luckily, it seems that things may be looking up. My fingers are crossed!

MELISSA HUGGINS

Spokane Arts executive director

One of the last things I remember going to was SpIFF! [Spokane International Film Festival] which happened at the end of February, beginning of March, before the severity of the pandemic felt real in Spokane. I remember congratulating Chase Ogden, whose documentary film Super Frenchie was closing out the festival, and now here we are a year later and his film is about to be released in theaters and screened all over North America. At least one good thing to come out of this insane year for artists, thank goodness.

I was also taking a writing workshop at this time last year with Emma Noyes and Laura Read, and if I’m remembering right, the last session of the workshop was canceled because of the governor’s shutdown order. I didn’t even get to submit my essay to the book project because Spokane Arts went into hyperdrive, working to provide support and funding to artists who’d just lost months’ worth of gigs overnight; there was no time to think about anything else.

The crowd-related activity I’m most looking forward to? For me, it’s concerts. There is just no substitute for live music in all its forms. Indoor, outdoor, almost regardless of genre, I can’t wait. Whatever the rules end up being for safety, as an audience member I’ll do it happily, because at least we’ll get to listen to live music at some point this year, and musicians can start to make a living again. There was a point months into the pandemic when the case counts weren’t so bad, and a friend hosted a very small porch concert. Three local singers were up on the porch, with a handful of people spread out in lawn chairs, everybody wearing masks and distanced. The second, and I mean the second, those women started singing, tears were streaming down my face. After being deprived of live music and that communal experience for so long? It was life-affirming, just to sit there for an hour and hear a few folk/country songs live. I’ll never forget it. n

MARCH 25, 2021 INLANDER 23

ONE YEAR LATER

Paul McNutt says, “Life is better than it ever has been.”

SOBERING YEAR During her bout with COVID, the author writes, “I didn’t change my clothes for five days. All I did was sleep and survive. ” SAMANTHA WOHLFEIL PHOTO

BREATHING BAD I’m 30 and COVID kicked my ass. Please get vaccinated

BY SAMANTHA WOHLFEIL

H

onestly, the first few days I was sick with COVID-19, I started to understand why some people have described it as “just a bad cold.” Sure, I had all-over body aches with hot and cold flashes, and I ran a low-grade fever for a day. But about four days after symptoms started, I actually started to feel better.

Then the real difficult symptoms came on.

I started to have that unique cough. No sore throat, no drippy gunk from my nose. But I had sporadic dry coughing fits that seemed to come straight from my lungs for a few minutes at a time, then I’d go hours without coughing again.

I had next to no appetite. I was extremely fatigued. A brain fog set in making things feel dreamlike even before I started taking cold medicine.

I took sick time from work, and while I’d already been holed up at home for days, I dug into a strict schedule of sleeping as long as possible, then moving to my couch to lay down and binge TV. Maybe I’d get enough energy to eat one meal that day. Around 4 am, I’d usually wake up on the couch, move to my bedroom and fall asleep again. I didn’t change my clothes for five days. All I did was sleep and survive.

Eight or nine days into symptoms, my breathing was so strained that walking down to my building’s front door to pick up necessities delivered by loved ones became a massive task. No matter how slowly I went, even taking breaks, walking up just two flights of stairs sent me into a coughing fit. It felt like I’d just sprinted up 15 stories.

Thankfully I have a strong support network of friends and family who delivered me food, vitamins and medicine, and checked in on me regularly while I was isolated in my

24 INLANDER MARCH 25, 2021

apartment. I had a telehealth appointment with a doctor and was prescribed an inhaler and cough suppressants, and a friend was able to pick up the prescription.

But I was scared to realize that even if I wanted to go get that medicine myself, walking a block to my car was out of the question. I cried hard that afternoon, both scared of the independence I’d lost in just a week, and overwhelmed as many people, some I rarely talk to, messaged me to check in and offer support. It was comforting knowing how many people care about me, but at a certain point you get the sense that everyone has suddenly been reminded you will die someday.

The next day I felt even worse. The day after was worse still. In my morning check-in text with my mom, I let her know that walking to the next room left me panting.

The doctor had told me to try the meds for a few days and monitor how I felt. I promised that if the inhaler still didn’t seem to be helping by that evening, I’d go to the ER. Thankfully, that day was my turning point. Within several hours I started to improve. By the next morning I could breathe significantly better, and I actually had energy. Days later my cough was gone, and I felt good enough to leave my building for the first time in two weeks.

Before, I had worried about older loved ones getting the virus. I never thought it would affect me that badly, but it did. Just because it didn’t affect you much doesn’t mean it can’t horribly affect someone else. Not being able to breathe is one of the scariest ways I can think of to die, and the way hospitals remain now, it’s also incredibly lonely. So my request is simple: Please continue to take this seriously, and please, get vaccinated. n

F

or a lot of us, this pandemic has been about just hanging on — to our sanity, to our health, to our sobriety.

Paul McNutt knows the feeling.

When the Inlander called him a year ago, he was on the ragged edge. He’d gone two months without using meth. But his grandma had died, the pandemic had hit, the lockdowns had shuttered his Narcotics Anonymous meetings, and the temptation to use again had him desperately dialing a number on the Narcotics Anonymous pamphlet for support.

Two months ago, McNutt called the Inlander to tell us he was a year sober.

Today, he’s overflowing with joy.

“My life is better than it ever has been,” he says. “I’ve got my driver’s license back. I’ve got a newer used truck.

I work at Ameristar Meats. I’m a beef grinder. I work with a phenomenal crew.

I’ve got respect in the workplace again.

I’ve got self-respect again. That took a long time to get back.”

Yeah, there were tough times, he says. Christmas was even more depressing than usual.

“When you turn on the TV, it’s nothing but bad news,” McNutt says.

“People are dying everywhere.”

Sobriety takes a hell of a lot of work, he says, especially during a pandemic.

“You have to substitute the time you were an addict with other things to keep you sober,” he advises.

So he says he started going for long walks. He visited every single public park in Spokane. He started bowling with his co-workers. He began attending church on Sundays, redisovering the religious faith that he’d lost after his brother’s suicide four years ago.

He gained 50 pounds, and he’s proud of it.

“I’m definitely willing to send the message of sobriety out to the world,” McNutt says. “I sent an email to the Ellen DeGeneres Show, but she never got back to me.”

— DANIEL WALTERS

ZAGS

FAMILY STYLE Andrew Nembhard and Aaron Cook are the latest transfers to fit right in with the Zags high-flying style

BY WILL MAUPIN

G

onzaga’s long been known as a team loaded with international players. Or as a program that uses redshirt years to turn relatively unknown players into breakout stars. It used to be called Guard U for its string of great point guards, and then it became known for the big men it’s sent to the NBA nearly every year of late.

Equally important to those successes, though, have been the players transferring to Gonzaga after starting their college careers elsewhere. Two seasons ago it was Geno Crandall. Last year it was the duo of Admon Gilder and Ryan Woolridge. And this season it’s been Andrew Nembhard and Aaron Cook. They’re all guards who were stars for their previous teams, but came to Gonzaga and accepted smaller roles in exchange for team success and a shot at a deep run in March.

“I think it speaks to the way we put our arms around guys who are new here, whether you’re a freshman or you’re a transfer,” senior Corey Kispert says. “I think both of those guys [Cook and Nembhard] would say they felt welcome right away and have kind of found a family in Spokane.”

Nembhard, who started for the Florida Gators before coming to Gonzaga, said exactly that.

“The family environment,” Nembhard says. “I really realized that right when I stepped on campus because of the way the guys interact with each other and how they brought me in.”

Not long after making that realization, Nembhard was handed a surprise that he worried could disrupt the balance within that family.

Cook, a graduate transfer from Southern Illinois, knew he’d be able to play this season. But Nembhard, a junior, would be required by NCAA rules to sit the season out. The Zags appealed to the NCAA for a waiver, and just two days before the first game of the season, the NCAA granted it, allowing Nembhard to join this year’s squad. ...continued on next page

SWEET 16 MATCHUP Top-seeded Gonzaga plays 5-seed Creighton in the Sweet 16 on Sunday at 11:10 am on CBS.

Aaron Cook can score, and really brings defensive prowess to the Zags’ perimeter.

BRETT WILHELM/NCAA PHOTOS VIA GETTY IMAGES

MARCH 25, 2021 INLANDER 25

CULTURE | ZAGS “FAMILY STYLE,” CONTINUED...

“I think he was so cognizant of not stepping on guys’ toes,” head coach Mark Few says of Nembhard. “He could see that there was a special team here, and some pretty identifiable core people in it, and he was very concerned he didn’t want to mess with that.”

The NCAA’s decision gave the Zags three starting-caliber point guards, and Nembhard was the newest of the bunch. For most of the season, he and fellow point Cook came off the bench.

By February, though, Nembhard had played his way into the starting lineup.

Averaging 9.2 points and 4.2 assists per game, Nembhard has become one of the key cogs in Gonzaga’s vaunted offensive attack.

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“Now that he’s been around them enough and enjoyed his own success and understands what we need him to do, I think he’s become more offensively aggressive, and even defensively,” Few says.

When starting point guard Jalen Suggs missed time with an injury suffered against West Virginia, in the closest game the Zags have played this regular season, Nembhard stepped up and scored 19 points and had six assists off the bench. His offensive prowess has led to the lineup of himself, Suggs, Joel Ayayi, Kispert and Drew Timme — a small lineup with only one traditional big man — to be referred to as Gonzaga’s “death lineup.”

For Cook, the impact has been mostly on the other side of the ball. Much like Geno Crandall two years ago, Cook was a critical starter for a mid-major program. He averaged over 10 points per game across his sophomore and junior years before an injury sidelined him for most of last season. At Gonzaga, he’s averaging just 4.4 points per game but has become arguably the team’s best perimeter defender.

When he’s had the chance to show off his offensive game, though, he’s done so in impressive fashion, like in February against San Diego when, on back-to-back possessions, he threw down explosive dunks. In a normal season with fans in the building, those 30 seconds would have seriously tested the structural integrity of the Kennel. He’s a high-flying player who fits perfectly in Gonzaga’s high-flying style of play.

“It speaks to the brand of basketball we play on the floor and how easy it is to fit into it,” Kispert says of the transfers. “You just have to do what you’re best at, and the rest will take care of itself.”

Whether it’s because of the family atmosphere, the style of play, or probably both, Nembhard and Cook have excelled at doing what they do best, like the transfers who came before them.

They’ve come into a program, in the weirdest season possible, and fit right in. The rest has taken care of itself.

“We have a standard we hold ourselves to every day, and we just talk about being us,” Nembhard says. n Gonzaga plays Creighton in the Sweet 16 on Sunday at 11:10 am on CBS.

CULTURE | DIGEST

Shark Tank Inspiration NANCY’S GREATEST Nancy Sinatra isn’t usually name-checked among the most iconic pop stars of the swingin’ ’60s, but she amassed a terrific body of work at the height of her fame, and the new compilation Start Walkin’ features her best songs from the years she was signed to Reprise Records. The collection includes classics like “Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down),” “These Boots Are Made for Walkin’” and “You Only Live Twice,” as well as some of Sinatra’s effortlessly suave duets with mentor Lee Hazlewood. Retrospective albums like this are also useful for discovering deep cuts, and among my favorites here are the Mamas and the Papas-esque kiss-off “How Are Things in California” and the slinking “Kind of a Woman.” (NATHAN WEINBENDER)

W

BY SAMANTHA WOHLFEIL

hen the economy sucks, people could lose their homes, and banks don’t want to lend money, isn’t it kind of crazy to push forward with a new business?

Kinda, yeah!

But easy as it is to wallow in pandemic uncertainty, I’ve been inspired recently, not only by stories of current ventures, but by the folks who forged ahead during the Great Recession.

Many lost their jobs or homes, and it was nearly impossible to get risky loans when the show Shark Tank first aired in 2009.

I recently picked that show (via Hulu) to fill my evening TV binge time, and I’ve been surprisingly riveted by the negotiations and clever ideas that come forward during the many seasons. Inventors pitching new gadgets are fascinating, but so are the fairly normal people trying to make it big with their ideas for websites, clothing, even cupcakes.

THE BUZZ BIN

THIS WEEK’S PLAYLIST There’s noteworthy new music arriving in stores and online March 26. To wit: FIRST AID KIT, Who By Fire. The idea of these ladies tackling a Leonard Cohen tribute album makes me happy.

SUZI QUATRO, The Devil In Me. If straightforward guitar rawk is your thing, let this 70-year-old legend show you how it’s done.

EVANESCENCE, The Bitter Truth. Remember when their 2003 debut sold 17 MILLION COPIES!?!

Strange days. (DAN NAILEN)

Nearly every episode I find myself looking up a company or two on my phone while watching, because I want to know if they made it. Some appeared to get massive investments from the sharks, but never signed the paperwork. Others, desperate for money, fought the sharks to get an investment while holding onto even the smallest portion of their companies, but it ended up being worth it because of the wild success that television and a multimillionaire backer can bring.

The one constant every episode is a group of entrepreneurs who are passionate, optimistic, and willing to invest whatever time, energy and money it might take to make their dream come true.

Sometimes you even see a good idea that simply struck too soon, like the woman who, a decade ago, pitched a business making goofy surgical masks and was told it would never catch on in this country.

Of course, some pitches are… bad. Thanks to years of watching cooking shows, I’m a confident armchair chef who will point out when someone on Chopped should’ve obviously known that Rocky Mountain oysters have a membrane you need to remove first, duh! Now, I’m finding that Shark Tank has me shaking my head when someone pitches a “$1 million” company when they’ve only sold 200 jackets out of their garage. Rookie mistake! Words like gross sales, net profit and patent pending are on my checklist as I critique not just the ideas, but the financial ask.

It’s incredibly difficult to be an entrepreneur, so I’ll stick with being a writer for now. But it’s comforting to be reminded that the “American dream” was alive during the recession and wild success was possible even then. There’s hope for inventors, dreamers and doers now, too. n

POWERFUL STUFF Soul! is not a new show, but it’s new to me (and relatively new to Amazon Prime), and if you’re looking for an incredible glimpse into the Black community from 1968-1973, this pioneering variety show made for a New York City PBS outlet is it. I delved into Soul! for the incredible live performances by the likes of Stevie Wonder, Al Green, Patti LaBelle and Gladys Knight, but I was glued to my couch thanks to the show’s wonderful mix of interviews (Muhammad Ali, Sidney Poitier), readings (poetry and prose!) and the cool vibes of host Ellis Haizlip, the show’s creator who takes over emcee duties about five episodes in. (DAN NAILEN)

SOUNDTRACK THAT SLAYS Good intentions do not a great movie make, and rest assured, Moxie is not a great movie. But the Netflix flick directed

by Amy Poehler certainly has its heart in the right place with its story about a ’90s-era riot grrrl’s high school daughter getting politically activated to take on the patriarchy via old-school means like ’zines. It’s ultimately too long and too preachy, but it’s still great to see a diverse room of young women pogo-ing to Bikini Kill’s “Rebel Girl.” (DAN NAILEN)

STRANGER THAN FICTION The Netflix true-crime docuseries assembly line continues unabated, and their latest, Murder Among the Mormons, is as grim and compulsively watchable as you’d expect.

It begins in Utah in the early ’80s, when an enterprising archivist presented the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints with what he said were historical documents that challenged Mormon doctrines, and those discoveries resulted in backroom deals, moral panic and a string of bombings. Directed by Jared Hess, best known for Napoleon Dynamite, and Tyler Measom, the series only runs three episodes, so it avoids the bloat that kneecaps so many of these shows. (NATHAN WEINBENDER)

MARCH 25, 2021 INLANDER 27

Bartender Stephanie Goldsmith at Night Owl

DRINKS

YOUNG KWAK PHOTO

A LONG LAST CALL Local bartenders reflect on the past year of COVID-19 restrictions and personal challenges

BY CHEY SCOTT

A

fter a year of uncertainty, several bartenders in Spokane are hoping soon to be back behind the bar without interruption as pandemic recovery continues one year after its onset.

Despite Spokane County’s move this week to Phase Three of Washington state’s reopening plan, allowing eating and drinking establishments to move to 50 percent capacity, some bars still haven’t reopened since the initial stay-home order last March. One of those is Berserk, a downtown Spokane bar and live music venue.

“We’re feeling extremely positive about not having to close [permanently], which would be terrible to us all,” says Berserk co-owner Beth McRae, who operates the bar with her husband, Lon, and business partner James Hunt. The venue has a fourth silent owner.

“We spent our two-year anniversary in COVID jail, and hopefully not again for the third, which is June 6,” McRae continues.

In the time since Berserk closed up for its last night of service over a year ago, McRae says she was hired full-time by Volunteers of America to cook meals at its Hope House women’s shelter. She says Lon is still on unemployment, and they’ve been trying to save by not making unnecessary purchases. Hunt, meanwhile, has been streaming live DJ sets on Twitch to bring in some income until the bar reopens.

Even as other bars across the state have been allowed to reopen under ever-changing guidelines, one thing that’s held back Berserk is its liquor license classification

28 INLANDER MARCH 25, 2021

as a nightclub. Until recently, venues in this class were excluded from reopening until Phase Four. Newly revised guidelines issued in early March now stipulate that such venues can operate if food is served, among many other rules, including a ban on dancing and a requirement that all guests must be seated during any live performances.

McRae says Berserk’s owners are now working on plans to reopen under this change at a date yet to be determined.

To comply with these temporary rules, other bars in downtown Spokane have added limited food offerings, including Night Owl. The bar is located on a popular downtown block of nightlife venues between Main and Spokane Falls Boulevard, and has partnered with local restaurant Tasty Bun to serve reheatable snacks alongside its craft cocktails.

Bartender Stephanie Goldsmith landed at Night Owl last spring after bars could reopen following the state’s initial spring lockdown that lasted about two months.

Before that, Goldsmith worked at Bon Bon and the Viking, but couldn’t resume either position because Viking reduced staffing and Bon Bon inside the Garland Theater still hasn’t reopened.

This past year, she says, “was definitely a roller coaster. I think I realized once they announced the shutdown was happening that it was going to be longer than two weeks, but I don’t think any of us could have predicted it would have been a year that we’d be going through this still.”

Goldsmith also hosts the Whiskey Women Wednesdays series with fellow bartender Sailor Guevara, which moved online when COVID-19 hit.

“Since then, it’s transitioned from a side project to full cocktail classes online, and each week it’s a different program with components delivered to your door,” she says. “It’s been a lot of fun, and it’s really cool bringing people together.”

While things slowly ramp back up at Night Owl, Goldsmith says she and other staff have kept busy working on updates to the space, such as adding LED lights and a new sound system.

“It’s been really nice over these past few weeks to see people slowly open back up. We finally have a little bit of hope that we’re moving forward,” she says. “When we reopen [fully], it’ll be a really great place for cocktails and dancing.”

O

ther bartenders displaced from previous gigs include Jasmine Barnes, formerly general manager of the Garland Theater and Bon Bon. She’s taken a role as assistant manager of Nectar Beer and Wine in Kendall Yards, and says she probably won’t be returning full time to the Garland when it reopens.

“I’m 100 percent going to help them reopen, being I was there the longest and worked in every part of it,” Barnes adds. “My heart is in Garland, and I’ll go make sure everything reopens smoothly and leads to success, but I’ll be staying with Nectar since they gave me such a

great opportunity and I’ve really grown with the staff there.”

While the scattering of former employees-turnedfriends like those at Bon Bon and the Garland Theater isn’t uncommon, Barnes says she’s also aware that several of her former colleagues are still “patiently waiting to get right back to Garland.”

“We were such a tightknit group of folks,” she says. “It is really hard when I think about Bon Bon and all my regulars. I feel like I lost my entire group of friends and my client base. It’s been really difficult not seeing anyone anymore, and I miss making cocktails.”

Not all established bartenders, however, were forced to leave longtime employers, including Simon Moorby at Hogwash Whiskey Den and Inland Pacific Kitchen. He’s been managing the bar programs at both venues since they opened in late 2016.

Though it’s certainly not been business as usual, Moorby and his team, which includes his girlfriend and fellow bartender Erin Fasbender, have gotten creative with to-go cocktails during the weeks Hogwash and Inland Pacific Kitchen (IPK) have been open. Both have operated with an on-and-off schedule due to restrictions, and when business has slowed down to a trickle. “[Takeout] seemed to go better at certain times, and then again it wasn’t, and nothing was sustainable,” Moorby says. “It wasn’t enough to keep the business afloat, and we went through several phases with [to-go] and also trying to juggle with the idea of reopening at a lesser capacity, which we finally did in June at IPK because it was a safer environment” than Hogwash.

Moorby says through all the ups and downs, he feels fortunate to have the support and understanding of the restaurant and bar’s owners, Darby and Jovanka McKee. “They’ve made sure none of us are struggling financially, and luckily we don’t find ourselves in that situation, whereas, unfortunately, a lot of businesses can’t say the same.” n

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FESTIVAL

VIRTUAL AUSTIN A look at the best features we saw at the online-only 2021 SXSW Film Festival

BY NATHAN WEINBENDER

L

ast week, the South by Southwest festival became the latest cultural institution to go the virtual route, presenting nearly a week’s worth of music, comedy and movies in an entirely online format. I attended the film festival portion of SXSW, an activity that involved me barely leaving my couch for a few days, skimming through an on-demand platform that boasted 75 features and even more shorts.

Unlike with this year’s Sundance, I didn’t see anything that really blew me away, but there was still plenty of good stuff, especially in the realm of documentaries.

Here are my favorites, all of which should be available to stream in the near future.

THE FALLOUT

DIRECTOR: MEGAN PARK The winner of the festival’s narrative jury prize, this perceptive and quietly effective drama examines how a diverse group of teenagers transform in the wake of a school shooting. Former Disney Channel star Jenna Ortega plays a wallflower who ends up hiding in a

30 INLANDER MARCH 25, 2021

The Fallout

bathroom with the most popular girl in school (Maddie Ziegler) as a gunman takes over the halls, and their friendship deepens as they work through what happened to them. Writer-director Megan Park, making her feature debut, avoids after-school special histrionics, adeptly exploring the isolation and dissociation that comes in the wake of trauma.

KID CANDIDATE

DIRECTOR: JASMINE STODEL This entertaining documentary focuses on Hayden Pedigo, 24-year-old musician in Amarillo, Texas, who dressed up in a thrift-store suit, posed as a prospective city council member and filmed an Adult Swim-style gag campaign ad with his friends. But once the video goes viral, Pedigo realizes he might have a political point of view that could actually benefit his community, and so he begins running his campaign in earnest. It’s a minor film, running just over an hour, but Pedigo is an engaging subject, and the movie ends up having something to say about the insidious nature of corporate politics.

LANGUAGE LESSONS

DIRECTOR: NATALIE MORALES Filmed in quarantine, this is a gentle character study about a Spanish teacher (Morales) and one of her adult students (Mark Duplass), whose relationship becomes more complicated after his husband dies. The structure becomes almost epistolary, as they send each other video messages and learn more about each other than they ever thought possible. Morales and Duplass are the only actors on screen, and though we’ve seen a few lame shoton-Zoom films in the last year, this one avoids simple gimmicky because their performances are so rich.

LILY TOPPLES THE WORLD

DIRECTOR: JEREMY WORKMAN If you’ve ever been entranced by one of those internet videos of elaborate domino arrangements being knocked down, then this is the documentary for you. It’s about Lily Hevesh, who has racked up more than a billion YouTube views with her intricate Rube Goldberg setups, and the film chronicles how a shy kid from New

FILM | SHORTS Hampshire became an internationally recognized internet personality doing her best to convince the world that playing with dominoes can be art. By the end of the film, which won the documentary jury award at SXSW, we’re more than convinced.

THE LOST SONS

DIRECTOR: URSULA MACFARLANE Similar to the recent documentary hit Three Identical Strangers, this is a twisty true-life tale that involves a kidnapping, a fateful reunion and a case of mistaken identity.

It centers on a man named Paul Fronczak, who discovered as an adolescent that he had been nabbed from the maternity ward mere hours after he was born, and wasn’t found and brought back to his parents for nearly two years. When Fronczak becomes a father himself, he starts questioning who he really is, and the bizarre circumstances of his saga unfold like a great page-turner.

OPENING FILM NOBODY

A new riff on the Death Wish formula, starring Bob Odenkirk as a meek suburban father who goes into full-on revenge mode after his family is attacked. (NW) Rated R

NOW PLAYING BOOGIE

LONG WEEKEND

BORAT SUBSEQUENT MOVIEFILM

THE MARKSMAN

CHAOS WALKING

MINARI

COSMIC SIN

NEWS OF THE WORLD

THE COURIER

NOMADLAND

THE FATHER

PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN

HONEYDEW

RAYA & THE LAST DRAGON

JUDAS & THE BLACK MESSIAH

TOM & JERRY

LAND

WONDER WOMAN 1984

Fresh Off the Boat creator Eddie Huang’s debut feature is the heartwarming but streetwise underdog story of a high school basketball star’s NBA aspirations.

(NW) Rated R The Kazakh TV journalist returns to America with his daughter in tow, encountering Mike Pence, Rudy Giuliani and the coronavirus. Also streaming on Amazon Prime. (NW) Rated R

SWAN SONG

DIRECTOR: TODD STEPHENS The great Udo Kier stars as a flamboyant, long-retired hairdresser who learns that one of his best friends has died and that she wanted him to do her hair and makeup for her open-casket funeral. So he sneaks out of his retirement facility and makes his way to the other side of his tiny Ohio town, reuniting with estranged figures from his past and rediscovering his own purpose. The film lives and dies by Kier’s performance, and it’s a terrific one: He drolly chain-smokes, dispenses withering scorn and dances to Robyn. What more could you want?

TOM PETTY: SOMEWHERE YOU FEEL FREE

DIRECTOR: MARY WHARTON Tom Petty’s 1994 album Wildflowers is one of the late musician’s most serene collections of songs, and yet during its creation, he was fretting about the future of both his marriage and his band the Heartbreakers. The behind-the-scenes doc Somewhere You Feel Free uses archival footage and contemporary interviews to really dig into Petty’s creative process, and though I can’t imagine anyone outside the realm of die-hard fans finding much to enjoy here, it’s great to see Petty back at work again. The music, of course, is also pretty excellent.

UNDER THE VOLCANO

DIRECTOR: GRACIE OTTO Another compelling musical doc, this one is about legendary music producer George Martin and the famous recording studio he built on the Caribbean island of Montserrat. It was an idyllic place that attracted the likes of Paul McCartney, the Police, the Rolling Stones, Dire Straits and Elton John before being destroyed by a 1995 volcanic eruption that also took out most of the neighboring village. The film has a ton of old footage and photos and plenty of interviews, and it explores both the benefits and drawbacks of creating art in the midst of paradise. n

Based on a series of YA sci-fi novels, two teenage misfits (Tom Holland and Daisy Ridley) find each other on a telepathic, mostly male planet on the brink of civil war. (NW) Rated PG-13 In a future where humans and aliens coexist, grizzled soldier Bruce Willis comes out of retirement to stop a hostile extraterrestrial takeover. At Hayden Discount Cinema. (NW) Rated R Inspired by true events, Benedict Cumberbatch plays a London entrepreneur who becomes involved in Cold War intrigue and is soon in over his head. (NW) Rated PG-13 Anthony Hopkins is earning raves as an aging widower slipping further into dementia, who refuses treatment from daughter Olivia Colman. (NW) Rated PG-13 A couple seek shelter at an isolated farmhouse on a trip through the countryside, where a mysterious fungus induces strange cravings. At Hayden Discount Cinema. (NW) The true story of Black Panther visionary Fred Hampton (Daniel Kaluuya) and the FBI informant (Lakeith Stanfield) who infiltrated the organization in the late 1960s. (NW) Rated R Robin Wright directed and stars in this drama about a woman who moves into a mountain cabin to hopefully recover from past trauma. At Hayden Discount Cinema. (NW) Rated PG-13

An old-school rom-com with fantasy trapplings, centering on a struggling writer whose chance encounter with a carefree woman changes his perception of the world. (NW) Rated R Here’s yet another gritty Liam Neeson thriller, and this time he’s a rancher living on the U.S.-Mexico border who becomes protector of a Mexican boy running from a cartel. (NW) Rated PG-13 Writer-director Lee Isaac Chung borrows from his own life in this delicate story of Korean immigrants who settle onto a rural Arkansas farm in the early ’80s. (NW) Rated PG-13 From director Paul Greengrass, a Civil War vet (Tom Hanks) is assigned to retrieve a White girl from a Native tribe and return her to her biological family. (NW) Rated PG-13 The most acclaimed film of the year, a fiction-documentary hybrid starring Frances McDormand as a widow who has embraced a nomadic existence. Also streaming on Hulu. (NW) Rated R Carey Mulligan’s Oscar-nominated performance drives this pitch-black comedy about a self-imposed avenging angel who aims to take down predatory men.

(NW) Rated R The latest Disney animated feature, a multicultural fable that follows a teenage warrior’s hunt for the titular creature.

Also streaming on Disney+. (NW) Rated PG The beloved cartoon cat and mouse get their first mostly live-action feature, with the likes of Chloe Grace Moretz and Michael Pena as their human friends. Also streaming on HBO Max. (NW) Rated PG This divisive sequel to the 2017 blockbuster brings Diana Prince into the era of Reaganomics and Day-Glo, where an ancient, wish-fulfilling artifact threatens humanity. (NW) Rated PG-13 n

MARCH 25, 2021 INLANDER 31

DOCUMENTARY

Simply the Best Tina Turner’s reconsiders her own legacy in the new HBO documentary Tina

BY NATHAN WEINBENDER

T

ina Turner’s career is the stuff of legend. She started wowing audiences when she was still a teenager, escaped an abusive marriage and reinvented herself as a stadium-filling rock star when she was well into her 40s. All the while, she was cementing her reputation as one of the most high-energy performers to ever take the stage, a heedless and magnetic entertainer who would never allow you to take your eyes off of her.

The new HBO documentary Tina is a monument to the soul music legend, and it looks back at her storied life with fresh eyes. Along with a wealth of archival interviews and sensational concert footage, Turner, 81, weighs in on her own past from her home in Switzerland, where she has retired with her second husband. The film, directed by Daniel Lindsay and T.J. Martin, considers not only her biggest hits but her conversion to Buddhism, the racism and sexism she experienced as a Black woman in a White male-dominated field, and the emotional neglect she endured from her parents.

Born Anna Mae Bullock in west Tennessee, she didn’t become the Tina Turner we know until she moved to St. Louis in the late ’50s and met Ike Turner, a guitarist and bandleader who instantly recognized the grit and temerity of young Bullock’s voice. Turner changed her stage name without telling her (he reportedly intended the alias to be applicable to whatever vocalist might replace Anna Mae later on) and took her on the road with his blues revue, and their mentor-student relationship

32 INLANDER MARCH 25, 2021

became romantic. They got married in Tijuana after Tina got pregnant, and before Ike had legally separated from his previous wife.

It’s now well known that Ike was domineering and abusive, leaving Tina alone for long stretches to care for their kids (including some from one of his many previous marriages) while he descended further into cocaine addiction.

“Everyone was always happy around my mother,” Tina’s son Craig says in the film, “but she was always sad.”

Of course, Ike Turner is the imposing figure that casts a long shadow over Tina’s life, and it’s nearly impossible to talk about her past without mentioning him. Even after they’d separated, she was still stigmatized as one half of a double act, as an incomplete performer. The documentary includes old interviews and TV appearances in which Tina is asked, “Where’s Ike?” and has to laugh it off. Those journalists probably didn’t realize how truly hurtful those questions were, because most of them were unaware that Ike abused and tormented her for years.

Their violent relationship was previously chronicled in the 1993 drama What’s Love Got to Do with It, with Oscar-nominated performances by Angela Bassett as Tina and Laurence Fishburne as Ike. Adapted from I, Tina, a bestselling memoir that Turner wrote with Kurt Loder, that film begins right before Tina meets Ike and ends shortly before her ’80s superstardom, and focuses mostly on the low points of the performer’s life.

The prescribed narrative of Tina Turner has long been seen as one of overcoming adversity, and she certainly has cleared hurdles that nobody should have to. The issue with said narrative is that it defines Turner by the abuse she survived, rather than the talent that sustained her. There’s so much more to her story, artistry and influence that gets plenty of screen time in Tina, particularly the anecdote about how she and producer Terry Britten took a forgettable, plastic demo called “What’s Love Got to Do with It” and made it into the No. 1 smash that would turn her career around.

The power of the music is what elbows its way to the front of the stage in this telling of the Tina Turner story: the commanding attitude of “A Fool in Love,” the barreling momentum of “Proud Mary,” the gargantuan sonics of “River Deep — Mountain High,” the sultry pop attitude of the Private Dancer album.

What’s Love Got to Do with It is a film about abuse, and it’s a powerful one. But Tina is a film about artistic and personal triumph, and that’s how it should be. Turner has described this documentary and a recent Broadway musical biography as her farewell to her fans, a way to end her career on an upbeat note. In that sense, it’s good to see Turner take control of her own story again. n Tina premieres Sat, March 27, on HBO. What’s Love Got to Do with It is available to rent via Amazon, Google Play and YouTube.

TRIVIA TOLKIEN TEST

As a newly minted reader of The Lord of the Rings trilogy (yes, it took three decades to finally sit down and read the masterwork), I can’t begin to express my excitement that this event hosted by the Spokane County Library District is making a virtual return. I’m already working on a punny team name and quizzing my partner Will daily on random LOTR facts. Trivia is set to cover both the books and films, so it’s not a bad idea to set aside 11+ hours for an extended edition marathon to brush up. I’ve personally moved on now to The Silmarillion, Tolkien’s famously dense mythology setting up all that happened in the early eons of Middle Earth, long before the events of the trilogy. While those stories aren’t likely to show up for this event, it’s a good plan to make sure you at least know the names and significance of famous LOTR locations, characters, swords and perhaps even Gandalf’s horse.

— CHEY SCOTT The Lord of the Rings Virtual Trivia • Sat, March 27 at 2 pm • Free • All ages • Registration required at scld.org

STAGE GREEK TO ME

Antigone is one of the few surviving plays credited to the ancient Greek dramatist Sophocles, and it’s generally considered one of the most well-known pieces of its era. The final chapter in a trilogy (which also included what is arguably Sophocles’ most famous text, Oedipus Rex) that tackled myth and legend, it’s a tragedy about the aftermath of war, the limits of power and familial loyalty.

Gonzaga University is taking on this timeless material with a staging that unites its theater and dance departments, and the production will be livestreamed from the university’s Magnuson Theatre this weekend. You’ll have three opportunities to see it (all of which are free), streaming through the university’s Facebook page and YouTube channel.

— NATHAN WEINBENDER Antigone • Fri-Sat, March 26-27 at 7:30 pm, Sun, March 28 at 2 pm • Free • Streaming at facebook.com/gutheatredance

WORDS POWER OF VOICE

Washington State University’s 45th annual Murrow Symposium is finally happening after being postponed last March for a year. During the virtual event hosted across two days, student participants can access master classes and networking spaces; there are also sessions open to the journalism-curious general public and for high school students. On March 30 at 5 pm, NBC Nightly News and Dateline NBC anchor Lester Holt will receive the Murrow Lifetime Achievement Award in Journalism. Holt was the first Black solo anchor in a weekday nightly newscast with NBC Nightly News, and is giving his keynote speech virtually. Events continue March 31, including panel discussions on various topics such as getting your first TV gig, the power of voice, college advice, entrepreneurship, communication in times of crisis and more.

— NATALIE RIETH 45th Murrow Symposium • Tue, March 30 and Wed, March 31 • Free • Details at murrow.wsu.edu/symposium

MARCH 25, 2021 INLANDER 33

EVENTS | CALENDAR

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Considering the behavior of some fans, the good people at Coeur d’Alene Casino are rolling the dice by serving a projectile like meatballs as part of the meal that comes with a standup show by Gabriel Rutledge. Of course, they might know that the Olympia-based comedian is funny enough that any beef sphere-tossing hecklers are unlikely, or that Rutledge moves faster than he looks. This dinner and comedy show includes spaghetti and garlic bread as well, and a cocktail is included in the ticket price. But most appealing is Rutledge’s quick wit and ability to work his surroundings into his tried-andtrue material about his family and his misspent youth. One can only imagine the casino’s Nighthawk Lounge could inspire some good jokes from the past winner of the Seattle International Comedy Competition and the Laughing Skull Comedy Festival in Atlanta. Check him out gabrielrutledge.com and then consider a quick trip to Worley for dinner.

— DAN NAILEN Dinner and Comedy Show with Gabriel Rutledge • Thu, March 25 at 6:30 pm • $40 • Coeur d’Alene Casino Nighthawk Lounge • 27068 S. Highway 95, Worley, Idaho • cdacasino.com/event/dinner-comedy-show-4

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MUSIC NO STRINGS ATTACHED

The St. Lawrence String Quartet is playing at the University of Idaho as part of the school’s annual Auditorium Chamber Music Series. The quartet is composed of Geoff Nuttall (violin), Owen Dalby (violin), Lesley Robertson (viola) and Christopher Costanza (cello) and was established in 1989 in Toronto.

The group’s performances are most known for their intensity and broad repertoire. The quartet has an ongoing residence at Spoleto Festival USA, earned two Grammy nominations and was appointed ensemble-in-residence at Stanford University in 1998. At Stanford, the group directs the music department’s chamber music program and collaborates with other schools, including those outside the arts, on campus. Some of the quartet’s recent work includes performances with Gustavo Dudamel and the LA Philharmonic, Marin Alsop and the Baltimore Symphony, and the European premieres of John Adam’s second string quartet.

— SPENCER BROWN St. Lawrence String Quartet • Sun, March 28 at 4 pm • Free • Streaming online at SLSQ.auditoriumseries.org

49 volunteers and now has 499! To say that you folks rock is the understatement of this “horrible-hopefully-oversoon-thanks-to-you” pandemic.

THE INLANDER Thank you for letting me try to be heard as I express how I feel. Born and raised in Spokane. I love you. We’ve got this. Hugg KIND CAMPERS A few years ago I took my grandkids to Round Lake to camp.

One late evening my little dog got out of the trailer and took off. I thought I could catch her so left the trailer in my long (but not long enough) T-shirt, no shoes and my phone. I was unable to catch the dog, and my phone died, and it was really dark out. I was very disoriented, and even though I was still in the campground, I was hopelessly lost. Note this was 63-year-old grandma who was unsteady on her feet and worried about her dog. After stumbling around I came across a group of campers around their campfire. I must have been quite a sight. I was in tears and totally distraught. I asked if they had a map I could use, and they immediately led me to a chair to sit down. The women offered to drive me to the campsite, and the guys set off to look for my dog. When we got to the campsite there was that silly dog.

I know I thanked them then, but I want them to know I will always remember their kindness.

I SAW YOU NEVER ALONE To my Ginger, everyday I see you trying so hard and I want to tell you how proud of you I am. You provide for our family, give us everything we could ever want, and you make us feel safe and loved. I am here for you, for whatever you need. Thank you for all the ways you make our lives brighter.

You are never alone my love. Your Happy Jappy

CHEERS SATIVA SISTERS FAMILY THANK you to the incredible staff at Sativa Sisters. You all make a customer feel comfortable, welcome and make me want to keep coming back. I appreciate how friendly and knowledgeable you all are. Your kindness does not go unnoticed!!

MY TRUCK WAS BROKEN DOWN IN YOUR DRIVEWAY While driving by Launch Powersports of Spokane on Highway 2 the fan on my truck came loose and I was forced to pull over in their driveway blocking it partially. I was there for about 40 minutes while making repairs and Launch Powersports sent a pair of representatives to make sure I was OK. Instead of complaining about my truck blocking their business, they offered their mechanics and miscellaneous parts if I needed them to get back on the road. Launch Powersports has restored my faith in humanity. You are a Class Act! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

VOLUNTEER COORDINATORS ROCK! CHEERS! To the Vaccination Clinic Volunteer Coordinators! Especially to Summer, who manages the Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) at SRHD, Jennifer at Deaconess, and the folks at DOH at the Arena and others too numerous to mention. Best Volunteer experience I have had as they make sure we are informed, safe, warm and equipped.

MRC began the year with approximately

JEERS JEERS TO THE SHOOTER AND THE SHILL It wasn’t that “He had a bad day.” It is that he felt entitled to have nothing but Good Days. In his mind, the fact that he was angry that he couldn’t

“

number and only sent an officer out again 7 months later to shut me up. I lost family heirlooms as early as 1800s.

One was a sketch of Sitting Bull 1894 given to my great-great-grandfather who was good friends with Buffalo Bill Hickock and Troupe. Even sold items I had saved from my two sons who had

maybe even get a job.

DOUBLE DIP If you’re old enough you probably remember the “Double Dip”!

That’s a vanilla cone that is dipped twice into warm chocolate sauce. Yum! Of course in the modern world double dip would be when the City of Spokane

Launch Powersports has restored my faith in humanity. You are a Class Act!

have something he wanted, or that he wanted something his God told him he shouldn’t have, he felt entitled to lash out violently. Do you know who is having a bad day? The families of the victims going to the morgue to identify their murdered wife, husband, brother, sister, child. Going to be an awful lot of bad days for people having to arrange services, funerals, and burials for someone they had been planning meals, outings, vacations, and the rest of their lives with. Tempted with an apple, eh?

I think she should have brained him with the apple and left him lying under the tree!

SPOKANE POLICE JUST LAUGHED I called Crime Check eight times in 2019.

Without my permission a friend stole all my personal belongings and then sold them on Craigslist, eBay, Facebook marketplace, yard sales. When the police talked to him he told them I was on a lot of prescriptions and was worried about me. No more than anyone else plus I had only been two days after having a four and half major surgery.

Instead of caring about my concerns (1.) told me to lay off the drugs (2.) I had nothing of value (3.) just take my loss and get on with my life (4.) If I didn’t like it then move (5.) Handed me a note with the phone number for Frontier Behavioral telling me I needed help (6.) Refused to give me a report

SOUND OFF

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.”

died—Jeremy at 9 months in 1977 and Robby 28 in 2007. I had pictures and they could of cared less. I was treated with so much disrespect I just cried, which fueled their funny bones. At one point one officer plops down on the loveseat crosses his legs throughs his arm over the back and says “I hope you don’t mind if I sit down.” So far I have not had any agency who is willing to help or hear my story until I wrote a letter in the Free and For Sale section of the Neighborhood newsletter. This person made thousand of dollars off my life. I’m 66. Disabled in 2001 after being in a chemical fire at my job. Stroke in 2002. No one bothers calling Spokane police because they could care less and that’s a fact in our neighborhood Rochester Heights. Thanks for nothing.

JUNKY STORE ON SPRAGUE SHOPPER Jeers to the Biden-voting, miserable whiner who wants to shut down a local business that’s been around as long as I can remember. Seems you are disgruntled because you obviously don’t understand how to follow arrows and your foodstamp card was probably declined. Go home to your parents basement and continue shopping at the big chain store that herds people in like cattle. You’ll fit right in, although I’m surprised you would even eat meat with all the methane gas they produce.

Seriously get a life, join the real world,

”

raises property taxes AND applies for some of the 350 Billion dollars of the 1.9 TRILLION that American taxpayers are going to have to repay someday. OH???

You thought this was FREE money?

Just printed up somewhere East of here that just comes out of thin air? OR some Billionaires pocket through taxing those terrible people for having the brains to make more than you or I? You don’t think they can pay to come up with ways even with a Democratic President to protect their wealth? The Uber Rich can do that. The kind of rich will be screwed tax wise ALONG with the middle class (think working class) too. So there won’t be any actual relief for the tax-paying people of Spokane if they can double dip just more to waste by the City. But that’s all right as you’ll be the ones paying it back--Right? n

THIS WEEK'S ANSWERS A S M I ONBA I D P O E M

L A V A

P A C E M A K E R

I K E A S

P E L T S

E V I A N

S T O M E I E I K W A R D S A A R M O T T O O N K L E I U L ANBA L D S O F F S I C A C I NBA C O N N B A S C O L E S E X

P O S H A G U T N T O O P L E D C

T A K E N R A S H

A B U I L S X O N

J O I P M E ENBA N R E Z I N C P A I P B A B B L E

S P A K E

H I N E S

T O F U

I D O L

B L O T

E E L S

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.

The Ultimate Guide to the region’s Summer Camps!

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MARCH 25, 2021 INLANDER 35

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BY WILL MAUPIN

E

ven where it’s legal, cannabis continues to confound employees and their employers.

Last week, the Daily Beast reported that the Biden administration had fired multiple White House staffers for their past drug use. The White House hasn’t gone into great detail, but reporting from the Associated Press noted that the staffers’ past drug use includes, but may not be limited to, cannabis. The moves come despite the fact that the Biden administration had previously stated that past drug use would not necessarily be a disqualifying factor for employment within the administration.

It’s worth remembering that Biden’s previous administration was led by a president, Barack Obama, who openly admitted to his past cannabis use.

The shakeup at the White House raises a significant question about employee rights when it comes to cannabis. While the drug remains illegal at the federal level, it’s legal in 15 states and, notably, the District of Columbia. Which is a stark reminder that legalization does not absolve someone of any and all consequences associated with cannabis use.

Generally speaking, it’s still legal for an employer to punish an employee for cannabis use — even if that use takes place after work hours. Some of the states that have legalized cannabis have explicit-

36 INLANDER MARCH 25, 2021

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ly written into law rules allowing employers to terminate employees for cannabis use. In terms of recreational cannabis, Washington’s state code does not mention employment. With medical cannabis, however, the law is clear.

According to RCW 69.51A.060(7), “nothing in this chapter requires an accommodation for the medical use of marijuana if an employer has a drug-free workplace.”

In a 2011 case, Roe v. TeleTech Customer Care Management, the Washington Supreme Court ruled that the unambiguous language in the state code pertaining to employee rights and medical marijuana allows employers to punish, including through termination, employees for their drug use.

That is reflected in a workplace guide published by the Washington State Human Rights Commission. The state agency states, “even though recreational marijuana use may be legal in Washington, it is still illegal under federal law, and employers can decide to prohibit employees from using marijuana or to not hire persons who test positive for marijuana use.”

Of course, you can be fired for being drunk on the job. You can be fired for being high on the job. In Washington, even though it’s legal to get high, you can be fired for getting high off the job as well. n

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MARCH 25, 2021 INLANDER 37

GREEN ZONE

NOTE TO READERS 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 five-year sentence and fine of up to $10,000. Transporting marijuana across state lines, like from Washington into Idaho, is a felony under federal law.

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.

RELATIONSHIPS

Advice Goddess SPITE

In my romantic relationships, conflicts bring out a side of me that I don’t like. I fly into a rage and end up making ugly comments I later regret. In the moment, it’s like I can’t stop. I’m shocked by the level of anger I have, and I’m afraid to enter relationships as a result. ­

—Exploding Woman

AMY ALKON

There are obvious shortcuts in anger management, such as: “Never go to bed angry. Smother the unreasonable idiot next to you so you can get some

sleep.”

Anger gets knocked as a toxic emotion, but when somebody’s disrespecting or fleecing us, our blowing up suggests this won’t end well for them v in a way our being all “Hey, no prob, bro” does not. Research by evolutionary psychologist Aaron Sell suggests anger evolved as a “bargaining” tool to help the angry person resolve conflicts of interest in their favor.

Sell observes that anger is one of a few emotions (like sadness) that “regulates” others’ behavior as well as our own. Anger rises in us when we perceive someone is treating us unfairly ­— not putting enough value on our well-being v and motivates us to get them to mend their ways. It motivates the person we’re angry at through two means: the prospect that we’ll “withdraw benefits” (like by shutting off the sex spigot) like sex or the perks of friendship) or “inflict costs” (like by throwing public tantrums or hacking off the left arm of all their shirts).

So, anger is a potential solution, a negotiating platform. The problem comes when you express it in counterproductive ways, leaving you embarrassed, ashamed, out of a job, or in the slammer. Going explosively ugly at a romantic partner is like using a shoulder-fired missile launcher to get martini olives out of a jar. Sure, it works to remove the olives v and you might eventually find a few specks of them on the cable guy’s truck two streets back.

To be human is to be occasionally explody, but habitual exploders tend to be driven by some or all of this trio: conflict avoidance, irrational beliefs, and/or unannounced needs.

Conflict avoidance: People avoid difficult conversations to avoid the unpleasantness that comes with. Unfortunately, avoiding conflict doesn’t make it go away, and the unpleasantness only grows; it’s just all on their end, continually eating them up inside and making them angrier. In contrast, when you confront somebody, the discomfort is momentary. It also solves a problem ­— either by prompting them to come around or finding out that they probably never will.

Irrational beliefs: Pop the hood of rage and you’ll typically find the irrational belief that psychologist Albert Ellis sometimes sums up as “People MUST always treat me well!” (or MUST this or that). In fact, Ellis explains, it’s rational to prefer to be treated well, but nobody “must” do anything. There’s only how they do behave and how you’ll decide to behave in response.

“Catastrophizing” is Ellis’ term for a companion irrational belief: “It will be HORRIBLE if they treat me badly!” “Horrible” is getting flattened to death by the secretly motorized walls of your bathroom closing in on you or getting chased and eaten by giant cockroaches. But somebody being kind of a jerk to you will merely be disappointing, annoying, frustrating, and/or depressing. You’ve survived all of these feelings before, and you’re sure to do it again. And again.

Unannounced needs: People blow up over their needs that keep going unmet ­— which really isn’t reasonable or fair when these needs remain unannounced. No, you can’t just hint or decide that a man “should just know” what you want. Yes, you have to tell him. He can’t read your thoughts on his Kindle.

Present your needs as a feelings-driven “ask” rather than an attack, which sets him up to listen instead of fight back. For example: “I feel X way when things go like this. Here’s what I’d prefer.” If he cares about you, hearing that you feel bad should evoke empathy and make him want to make you feel better v possibly by doing what you’re asking. At the very least, he might tell you he can’t and explain why.

To change your habitual ragey response to conflict, pre-plan and even practice a more rational reaction. Should a discussion start getting heated, suggest taking a break and maybe take a walk solo to calm down. Lapses are probably inevitable, so try to avoid them, but expect them and forgive yourself. Telling your partner about your efforts might help him forgive lapses, too, as well as giving him hope for your future together. Ideally, his pet name for you should be something boringly endearing like “honey,” “darling,” or “babe,” as opposed to the nickname of my (now-reformed hothead) friend Hiroko ­— Japanese for “magnanimous” ­— whose former boyfriend couldn’t help but call her “Hiroshima.” n ©2021, 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)

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7. Center 8. Fancy-schmancy 9. Literature Nobelist Juan Ramón ____ 10. Amenity at many a wedding reception 11. Talked like Moses or Abraham?

12. Cheryl of “Curb Your

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38. Stop along the Trans-Siberian Railroad 41. Doze (off) 42. Home to the 72,000-foot volcano Olympus Mons 44. “Awakenings” drug 45. Corporate $$$ overseer 46. “Takes care of” 49. Only inductee into both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the National Inventors Hall of Fame 51. Syrup of ____ 54. Futuristic tracking device 55. “Apollo 13” costar 57. Title pig in a 1995 film 60. ____ Sports Bureau (stats record keeper) 61. Where LeBron James and others finished their 2019-20 pro season ... or one of four in this puzzle’s grid 65. Dickens’ “____ of Two Cities” 66. Some are tightly wound

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34. Not up to the job 35. Meat substitute 35 36 36. “Dancing With Myself” singer Billy 39. World Oil Outlook publisher 40. Reckless 43. Tea parties, e.g.

47. Team supporters, collectively 48. Org. concerned with broadband access 50. ____ Xtra (Dr Pepper rival) 58 59 51. Stores whose bathroom sinks are named for Swedish bodies of water 52. Bombards 53. Water with the Alps in its logo 54. Desk tray “NBA” 56. Previously 58. Rorschach image 59. Serpentine swimmers 62. ____-en-Provence 63. Rain-____ (bubble gum brand) 64. SEAL’s org.

MARCH 25, 2021 INLANDER 39

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