Inlander 04/18/2024

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EDITOR’S NOTE

I’ve been looking into the past a lot lately. Back at my much younger self, who, at about age 12, decided what I wanted to be when I grew up was a journalist. I’d always loved books, storytelling, history and the power of the written word. So I set my sights on it, getting my first real taste of journalism during an 8th grade job-shadow assignment at The Spokesman-Review. That day I also discovered the paper’s teen section, Our Generation, to which I contributed as a high school freshman and sophomore. When that became a budget-cut casualty, I started Lakeside High School’s first student newspaper, The Eagle’s Eye Time flew and I was off to Washington State University to study journal ism while writing for WSU’s student paper, The Daily Evergreen. My very first story, about engineering students designing a health clinic in Africa, was picked up by The New York Times’ university wire service. After graduation I returned home and did a two-year stint at the Spokane Journal of Business I joined the Inlander team in July 2012, and recall telling friends and family it was my “dream job.” It still is.

Today, looking out my office window toward the downtown skyline and Monroe Street Bridge on a sunny spring day, I’m reflecting on how I got here, but also the big task ahead of me as THE INLANDER’S NEW EDITOR (and the first woman in the role!). With experience and ethical integrity to guide me — alongside the support of our stellar writers, editors, photographers, designers and many other staff — I’m thrilled for this next step. To Inlander readers, I’m always an email away (editor@inlander.com), and I welcome you to reach out with pitches, concerns or just to say “hi!”

— CHEY SCOTT, Editor

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HOW DO YOU MAKE FRIENDS AS AN ADULT?

NATHANIEL LOHMAN

I am a student in medical school here, so that’s helpful, although a lot of my classmates are a lot younger, so it’s hard to make friendships there. Otherwise, I bring my kid to the park, and I talk with the parents of kids that he plays with, or I strike up conversations with people at the bar next to me.

STEPHANIE CULTUM

That’s so hard. I would say making friends as an adult you have to get connected with different communities, whether that’s at work, at the gym. I feel like it’s a lot harder as an adult because when you’re younger you have different things to plug into, but as an adult you make the different connections for yourself.

EMILY GRYGAR

Honestly, it’s really hard, but I just try to stay as involved as I can and pursue a lot of hobbybased groups, so you know going downtown to go to reading clubs, stuff like that, I really like doing that and trying to be better about staying close with friends I had before as well.

CHRIS KNIGHT

For me, I find it helpful going to activities, es pecially things that are more fun to do socially, like outdoor activities like run clubs downtown, or even just going to the climbing gym and finding a buddy to climb with.

WHY I GIVE

ELIZABETH BRANDS

Right now, I am in college so it’s really easy to make friends through classes and clubs and things like that, but I haven’t had a lot of experience making friends outside of a college or a school setting, so it’ll be interesting to see how I am going to do that once I leave college and enter a real job. I can imagine myself probably trying to find some hobbies that I enjoy and maybe looking for friends within those communities.

“I give to Providence Hear t Institute because it gave me more time with my family.” Katy Bruya

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Cheered Up

You really should be watching women’s sports

BY TARA ROBERTS

In 2010, I was a broke, pregnant grad student with a toddler who never stopped moving or talking. My husband worked swing shift, and I hated being stuck in the house. So I decided one night to pack up my 2-year-old, Henry, and go to an Idaho Vandals women’s basketball game.

It wasn’t relaxing, exactly. But it was something different, and because I was a student, it was free. I found an empty stretch of bleachers where Henry could zoom around, and I bought M&Ms to dole out to him at each time-out. He zonked out when we got home, and I decided to go to another game.

After my younger son, Danny, was born, I strapped him in a baby carrier and caught a few more games. When the Vandal women won the regular season Western Athletic Conference title in 2013, we were cheering from the stands.

When Danny was a toddler, if you asked

him to name his favorite athlete, he’d scream, “ALI FOOOOOOOORDE!” like a tiny announcer. (Forde was one of the players who carried Idaho to more WAC and Big Sky titles.)

As my kids got older and required fewer bribes to get through a game, I realized I just plain enjoyed the sport — and the two glorious hours of turning off my anxieties and not thinking about anything but basketball.

I hadn’t really been into watching sports since I was a kid (RIP Seattle Supersonics). I’m absolutely terrible at playing basketball. But when I bought my first season tickets, the deal was sealed: I was a women’s basketball fan.

The Gonzaga women’s basketball team had the 10th-highest average attendance at home games among all women’s programs in the NCAA for 2021-22. ERICK DOXEY PHOTO

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AMY GOODMAN &

It wasn’t hard to notice that it was kind of an odd thing to be. I never had a hard time finding empty stands where my kids wouldn’t bother anyone. When we went to men’s games, it was glaringly obvious how much bigger the crowds were.

This isn’t just an Idaho problem. So what’s the deal?

My friend Cara Hawkins-Jedlicka, who studies women’s sports in the media at Washington State University, puts it well: “The easy answer is misogyny. But that’s also the hard answer.”

Like so many things, the deeper answer involves a ton of intertwined factors — and some self-reinforcing systems.

People can’t watch games if they can’t find them. The past few years’ NCAA women’s tournaments have set viewership records in large part because the games are actually on TV, on common channels. That’s a pretty new thing.

People also need to hear about games. Research shows that colleges spend more money on average promoting men’s teams than women’s. A 2023 ESPN analysis uncovered that “an overwhelming majority of Power 5 athletic departments tweeted more about men’s teams than women’s.”

Media coverage plays a role, too. I used to share a glaring example with my journalism students: One of our local newspapers divides their online content into “Gonzaga Basketball” and “Gonzaga Women’s Basketball.” As if one is the real thing, and one needs a qualifier.

If you’ve noticed more women’s basketball stories in general in the past couple years, it’s not an accident. Cara cites two big changes in 2022: The NCAA women’s tournament was finally allowed to use the “March Madness” branding, and more women athletes took control of their own brand through the change in NCAA name, image and likeness (NIL) rules.

“The storylines have always been there, the players have always been there, but it wasn’t getting attention,” Cara says. “The talent has always been there, but it wasn’t getting attention because it wasn’t easy to find.”

Promotion and coverage matter. People only have so much attention to give, and we tend to give it to things that are familiar and accessible.

Our habits, in turn, shape perception: “No one watches women’s sports because you don’t hear about them or know where to watch them” morphs into “No one watches women’s sports.”

But if you were one of the 18.9 million people who watched the women’s NCAA title game on April 7 — like Cara and I did with a group of our friends in a bar that was showing the game, right there on ESPN — you saw a different slogan on T-shirts in the stands: “Everyone Watches Women’s Sports.”

So now, all 18.9 million of us need to live up to that.

In the Inland Northwest, we’re surrounded by universities with women athletes who need your support. Not really into basketball? Choose another sport. Watch the games on TV or streaming. If they’re not available, tell the universities, TV networks and streaming services you want to see them. Ask your local media to cover women’s sports equally to men’s. If you’re close enough to show up to events in person, show up. Buy season tickets if you can. If you have kids, take them along — and encourage them to cheer for their schoolmates in youth and high school girls’ sports, too.

For my own part, I’m determined to expand my fandom. A friend who lives out of town and I decided that we’re going to turn women’s basketball into a way to stay connected, and we picked NCAA and WNBA teams to follow together. (WNBA League Pass is only $35 a year!) Our big goal is to catch a Seattle Storm game in person.

And, of course, I’ll be back in the ICCU Arena this winter to watch the Idaho Vandals, my favorite team, no matter the score or season. Maybe I’ll see you there. n

POLITICS

Live and Let Live

Libertarian Party of Washington hosts presidential candidates forum, elects new chair, celebrates weed, firearms and freedom at convention held in Spokane

BY NATE SANFORD

It’s tax weekend in America — and one group of Washingtonians is especially unhappy about it.

“Taxation is Theft!” reads the flag flying above the Woman’s Club of Spokane, where about three dozen liberty-minded people from across the state have gathered for the Libertarian Party of Washington’s annual convention.

The party has about 180 dues-paying members statewide. As Libertarians, they seek a “world in which all individuals are sovereign over their own lives and not forced to sacrifice their values for the benefit of others,” the party platform says.

Inside the Woman’s Club, members of the party are listening to six of the 30 Libertarians running for president this year as they debate issues like immigration, foreign wars and abolishing various federal agencies. Two candidates — Chase Oliver and Jacob Hornberger — are on stage in person, and the rest are appearing by videoconference.

“The federal government carpet-bombs us as citizens, and the local government holds a gun to your head,” Lars Mapstead, a tech entrepreneur from California who is running for president, tells the crowd.

With about 700,000 registered voters in the 31 states that report Libertarian registration statistics, the Libertarian Party might be the third-biggest political party in the country, but it doesn’t change the fact that America runs on a two-party system. There are tens of millions of Democrats and Republicans, and the odds of any of this year’s Libertarian candidates becoming president are astronomically low.

An audience member named Miguel Duque acknowledges as much in a blunt question posed to the candidates at the end of the town hall.

“None of you are going to be president,” Duque says. “Every four years, Libertarians spend time attending meetings, Zoom calls, listening to podcasts where you ask them

for money. And you end up getting very, very few votes, and often very little attention for that matter.”

Duque goes on to ask the candidates what they would do if the party’s delegates chose to nominate “none of the above” at this year’s national convention.

The question is met with awkward laughter. The moderator apologizes to the candidates, and says they can ignore it.

Oliver chooses to respond, arguing that a well-run presidential campaign can still help build up the party and increase national attention.

“You’re right, the chances of winning the presidency is an uphill climb, but do I believe it’s impossible? Absolutely not,” Oliver says. “What is totally possible is having more membership, more ballot access, more major party status and growing our party foundation up.”

After the town hall, Oliver goes outside, where he smokes a joint and chats with other convention attendees. The lapel pin on his suit is a logo for the party: a torch with a flame that looks like an eagle.

Oliver’s campaign has raised $68,284 in individual contributions — more than double any of the other Libertarian candidates this year. In 2022, Rolling Stone described him as the “most influential Libertarian” of the year when he ran for a Senate seat in Georgia against Republican challenger Herschel Walker and Democratic incumbent Raphael Warnock. He got 2% of the vote — possibly acting as a spoiler candidate and forcing the race into a runoff.

One of the most common arguments people make

The Libertarian Party of Washington promotes small government and individual freedom. ERICK DOXEY PHOTO

Details revealed next week.

“LIVE AND LET LIVE,” CONTINUED...

against voting third party is that it’s effectively throwing away your vote. A Democrat or Republican is all but guaranteed to win. If you dislike both, why not just vote for the lesser of two evils?

Oliver disagrees.

“If you’re voting for someone that you don’t truly believe in, you’re throwing your vote away,” Oliver says. “We get this accusation that we are spoilers, that we’re somehow spoiling the election for you. The truth is, Libertarians and Libertarian candidates are just participating in the system that we have.”

‘LIBERTY IS EVERYTHING’

The Libertarian Party occupies an odd place in American politics.

The party was formed in 1971. Members promote a strong view of individual rights and a significantly reduced federal government.

“We just don’t want to control what other people are doing,” says Sydney Wissel, a member of the Washington branch of the party.

The party has historically promoted gun rights, ending the war on drugs, same-sex marriage, lowering taxes, ending capital punishment and eliminating the welfare state in favor of private charities.

“We’re very different from the Republicans,” Wissel says. “I mean, Republicans are usually more open to talking to me than Democrats, but they’re really different. They really seem suspicious of us, about the drugs, about the openness to having no government at all that a lot of us feel.”

Miguel Duque, the convention attendee who asked the presidential candidates about the fact that they aren’t going to win, says he started becoming interested in libertarian philosophy in college, during Ron Paul’s 2012 presidential campaign.

“He just threw me for a loop, because he was running as a Republican, but he was espousing all these libertarian ideas that I thought were unlike any of the Republican views,” Duque says.

Duque joined the party shortly after. It’s where he met his wife, Anna Duque, who was elected as chair of the state party in 2021 and stepped down during this year’s convention to take care of their new child.

“A big aspect of what brought me to the Libertarian Party is basically just to meet like-minded people,” Miguel Duque says. “We have a lot of fun.”

The party’s three-day convention in Spokane featured a lot of bureaucratic debates over changes to bylaws and other business. But it also had indoor laser shooting, a magician, karaoke, a brief burlesque show and kegs of “liberty light beer.”

One table displayed products from Bodhi High, a local cannabis brand. Another table featured gun accessories and used military helmets. Many attendees were openly carrying handguns. Three wore cowboy hats, and one wore a kilt.

A massive banner that said “FREE ASSANGE” and “Journalism is not a crime” hung at the entrance to the convention space, a reference to Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks founder the U.S. government has attempted to prosecute for leaking classified documents.

A Libertarian version of the “In this house we believe” yard signs with rainbow text hung on the wall next to the military equipment, declaring that “The news is propaganda / The state is organized crime / Taxation is theft / Socialism is the gospel of envy / All gun laws are an infringement / Liberty is everything.”

(While the party invited almost all major media outlets in Spokane to the convention, the Inlander was the only one that showed up.)

Anna Duque, the former party chair, says she some-

times hears the stereotype that libertarianism is maledominated — just a bunch of “fedora-wearing dudes in their basements.” But it’s not accurate, she says.

“There’s a lot of different types of people involved in the Libertarian Party,” Anna says. “We’re human beings, and human beings have a variety of interests and needs and desires and motivations.”

Indeed, the ratio of women to men at the Washington chapter’s weekend convention appeared close to equal. One of the weekend’s featured speakers was Bess Byers, a digital marketing specialist for Reason, a Libertarian magazine, who gave a talk about the challenges of making libertarianism more inviting to women.

LOCAL RACES

The Libertarian Party of Washington’s membership has decreased in recent years. The total number is about 180 now, down from closer to 400 in 2020, Anna Duque says.

“Membership is kind of low right now, but it tends to bottom out, and I’m assuming it’s going to go back up pretty soon,” she says. “It tends to go in cycles, it drops down to its lowest right before presidential season.”

She says she thinks voter dissatisfaction with the current Democratic and Republican nominees will help prompt new members to join later this year. Miguel Duque also thinks more young people are starting to become interested.

“Libertarianism is kind of fringe, but with the world so crazy, people are open to hearing something new,” Miguel Duque says.

He also notes that the total number of people with libertarian beliefs in Washington is far higher than the number of official party members. In 2016, for instance, 160,879 Washingtonians voted for Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson.

During its weekend convention, the party voted among its members to elect 13 delegates who will travel to Washington, D.C., in May for the party’s national convention and choose the party’s nominee for the 2024 presidential race.

Unlike the Republicans and Democrats, Libertarian candidates don’t appear on Washington’s presidential primary ballots. That’s partially because the Libertarian Party of Washington is classified as a “minor party.” To get “major party” status, the Libertarian Party would need to get more than 5% of the vote in a statewide race.

The party achieved major party status in 2000, when candidates in several statewide races crossed the 5% threshold. The party lost that status the next year, then later came tantalizingly close in 2016, when Johnson came in at 4.9%.

But the movement’s biggest hurdle isn’t necessarily party status, Miguel Duque says, it’s “more a cultural battle” to overcome the dominance of the two major parties and pro-government sentiments.

“It’s a duopoly,” he says. “Even in a place like Washington, where we do have marginal fringe groups, they’re still a small, small minority.”

Colin Morgan, the newly elected chair of the Washington Libertarian Party, doesn’t think a Libertarian president coming in and changing the entire federal government is likely in the near future. He thinks one of the party’s main

long-term goals should instead be to build self-reliance — a “parallel community, parallel economy,” that can push back against government overreach.

“We need to basically get out from under the system, because it’s not going to get better, it’s going to get worse,” Morgan says.

But that doesn’t mean politics doesn’t matter, Morgan says.

“You’ve got to do the regular political thing. You’ve got to build up the base, you’ve got to have a foundation, you’ve got to start working on local candidates, start winning a bunch of those elections and move up to [the] state level,” Morgan says.

Miguel Duque, who previously served as political director of the Washington branch of the party, says the party has increasingly turned its attention toward city councils and smaller, often overlooked seats where Libertarians can more feasibly win.

The Libertarian Party’s website lists 329 Libertarians who hold elected office across the country. Four currently hold office in Washington state: two are city council members in Covington and Moses Lake, while the other two are fire commissioners in Snohomish County and Lacey.

The list hasn’t yet been updated to include Wissel, who was elected as a commissioner for the Moran Cemetery District just south of the city of Spokane in November last year.

Washington state has a number of public cemetery districts that elect commissioners and collect taxes to pay for upkeep. Wissel says she’s still learning what the job fully entails but that she thinks the cemetery district needs to be more responsible with taxpayer money.

“We’re basically tasked with making sure the place is maintained, but I think there needs to be more along the lines of how to make some money off it,” Wissel says.

When asked what they wish people understood about libertarianism, the convention-goers all have similar answers. Being a Libertarian “doesn’t mean that we don’t care about other people,” Wissel says.

Anna Duque agrees.

“That couldn’t be further from the truth,” Anna Duque says. “For me, the Libertarian philosophy is based on compassion. We cannot stand to see people forced by others into anything — into living their lives in a way that other people want them to live.” n

nates@inlander.com

Anna Duque addresses the crowd at the Libertarian Party of Washington’s 2024 convention. ERICK DOXEY PHOTO

Bye, Bacteria

Spokane’s shigella outbreak is over. Plus, a Spokane County park is getting a major facelift; and AI spambots wade into local politics online.

Good news: As of April 10, Spokane County is no longer experiencing an outbreak of the potentially deadly diarrhea-inducing bacterial infection called shigella The Spokane Regional Health District detected the first case of shigella in October and declared an outbreak on Nov. 20. Lack of access to sanitary facilities is a major factor in spreading the illness, and it has primarily affected Spokane’s homeless community. Shigella can cause diarrhea, bloody stool, stomach pain and other issues that result in hospitalization. Spokane County typically sees three to 23 cases a year, but over the course of the outbreak, the health district identified 201 cases. Of those, 45% resulted in hospitalization. In a message announcing the end of the outbreak, the health district said Spokane may still see occasional cases going forward, and that another outbreak can be declared if cases increase again. “The community’s collective effort was vital in stopping this outbreak,” the health district’s message said. “This outbreak further demonstrates the necessity of access to public restrooms and sanitation to protect the public’s health.” (NATE SANFORD)

BREAKING BEAR

Bear Lake Regional Park, tucked just outside Chattaroy, is closed for 2024 — and that’s a good thing. With $1.4 million in federal grant money and $2 million in local matching funds, the Spokane County park will get an extensive renovation. Last week, Spokane County Parks, Recreation and Golf began construction on the shoreline improvement, which will include three new fishing piers, a gravel boat launch ramp for nonmotorized boats and updates to the park’s restrooms. The renovation will also include paving the dirt parking lot and potholed road to the park, the Spokesman-Review reported. The project is scheduled to be finished in 2025 and is supported by the Inland Northwest Land Conservancy, the Riverside School District and three organizations dedicated to disabled veterans — the Inland Northwest Disabled Veterans Sports Association, the Northwest Paralyzed Veterans of America and the Blinded Veterans Association. (COLTON RASANEN)

ON INLANDER.COM: SPOKANE SPAMBOT

Last month, social media users on X (formerly Twitter) began noticing that a spam account designed to sell subscriptions to an adult entertainment website was flooding the replies to tweets that mention “Spokane” with bizarre, humanlike takes on local politics that were generated by artificial intelligence. It turns out the account, with the first name “Dakota,” was part of an army of largely identical spambots injecting AI-generated hot takes into local politics across the country. Dozens of real people — including Idaho state Sen. Scott Herndon — have confused the accounts for real people and started arguing with them about politics. The operation’s ability to sow political discord raises interesting questions about the future of AI and politics. The “Spokane” Dakota account was suspended earlier this month — possibly the result of direct intervention from Spokane Mayor Lisa Brown, who wrote on X that she had reported it. “The mishmash of views and hashtags would have been amusing if it wasn’t such a disturbing representation of political discourse on social media,” Brown wrote. Read more on inlander.com. (NATE SANFORD) n

Spokane Regional Health District YOUNG KWAK PHOTO

Building Community, Focusing on Joy

Carl Maxey Center’s new executive director, Jillisa Winkler, is ready to bring some of the founder’s grand ideas to life

BY COLTON RASANEN

Two years ago when Jillisa Winkler was looking for work, she landed a job at the Carl Maxey Center in Spokane’s East Central neighborhood. At the time, she was hired by the center’s founder, Sandra “Sandy” Williams, to work as a program coordinator.

for so long. I feel like I owe it to them, and now it’s my turn to help and contribute to our community. East Central feels like home to me, so I think that helps.

What does it mean to operate the center in Spokane’s East Central Neighborhood?

The 33-year-old has deep roots in East Central, so working at the center was a dream job for her.

“I actually grew up going to the East Central Community Center, which has since been renamed the [Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.] Community Center,” she says. “It’s like home to me here.”

Winkler had no idea that she’d be leading the Carl Maxey Center before she’d even celebrated her two-year work anniversary. Williams and her partner died in a floatplane crash on Sept. 4, 2022, and board members temporarily took the lead until Winkler’s new role was announced last week.

But she’s taking the promotion in stride.

“I’ve been working here the whole time since Sandy has been gone, so it feels not that different,” she says. “But, you know, I also do feel the sense of responsibility that I didn’t have a few weeks ago.”

We sat down with Winkler to learn more about her goals for the center, what it means to work and live in a historically Black neighborhood, and how it feels to uphold Williams’ legacy. The interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

INLANDER: What’s going through your mind as you take the lead at the Carl Maxey Center?

WINKLER: The women before me who ran East Central, who just have been doing the work

Before the freeway was built in the ’50s, East Central was a redlined area of Spokane. So it was where a lot of the Black population ended up because that was the only place they could buy homes. It ended up being a very popular neighborhood for a lot of Black folks.

When the freeway was built, it just cut the neighborhood in half, which caused a lot of change. It’s been virtually uninvested in since then, so that’s part of what we’re trying to do here is just reinvest in this neighborhood from the inside out. We’re helping to guide some of the work that happens here, rather than having it happen to us.

It was very purposeful for Sandy to put [the center] here. She definitely knew she wanted to be on Fifth Avenue because this was a corridor that’s historic for Black businesses, like Larry’s Barbershop that has been across the street for forever.

Could you speak about Sandy Williams’ legacy in Spokane and what it means to carry that torch forward in her stead?

I think her legacy is one of just truth telling. She was a storyteller, and she would say what needs to be said, even if it wasn’t the comfortable thing all the time. As far as carrying the torch, I think that none of us can fill Sandy’s shoes. I try not to think of it in that way.

Carl Maxey Center’s new acting Executive Director Jillisa Winkler. YOUNG KWAK PHOTO

What does it mean to have someone like Betsy Wilkerson — who used to be the center’s board president — serve as the Spokane City Council president?

In her role at the city she lets us know when something’s happening. When we don’t understand something we can say, “Hey, Betsy, what is this about?” She was such a good friend of Sandy’s, so I think that while she also has a lot on her plate other than the center, she’s still an avid supporter.

What are some of the things you’re keeping in the forefront of your mind as you transition into your role as executive director?

I just want to keep my promise of all the things [Sandy and I] talked about and all the meetings we had on what she wanted that first year of the center to be. She was big on wanting to not just be a resource center, but also to have the focus on Black Spokane. So having cultural events, having our cultural library and an art gallery, and also just a gathering space is so important.

Do you have immediate plans for the center?

This year we’re definitely planning to build that infrastructure that we had originally talked about with Sandy. We need to do some more strategic planning and get a realistic picture of how to roll out all of these grand ideas.

We’ve recently kicked back up bingo and dominoes, and the elders really love it. It’s really nice to have them in the building and really get to hear their stories. Knowing these people who did the work for so long now get to relax and enjoy their time is one of my favorite things.

How long do you think the new strategic planning might take?

I think through probably the end of this year, but as it’s happening, we still have all of our regular programming going. We’re hoping that the library can launch soon — as an actual borrowing library. Then there’s the art gallery, space rentals and events happening here, all while we’re planning.

What are some of the bigger issues that are facing Spokane’s Black community and how does the Carl Maxey Center work to make a difference?

I think it’s multilayered but really comes from the history of that redlining in Spokane. I think that one of the things we try to do here is fill those gaps that have just been historically created. So, we do offer social services like eviction prevention, and we have a civil legal aid clinic.

Another side of it was really that cultural component of creating a gathering space and building community. I think that’s something that Spokane could use because there’s only 2% Black people and we’re scattered across the city, so we don’t always have that closeknit community feel.

It seems like there’s still a lot of work to do in the region. Just a few weeks ago witnesses said racial slurs were hurled at the University of Utah women’s basketball team in the streets of Coeur d’Alene. And, a month ago a newsletter from Wilson Elementary contained a racist comment asking students to dress up like slaves or hobos for a jazz concert.

We see these kinds of things all the time. Being able to hear those stories, and then figure out who you need to talk to, to take action for real, I think, is an unfortunate part of our job as advocates.

It’s a privilege to be the ones to advocate for folks who feel like they can’t get in the door or can’t get to the table and say what needs to be said. But it is also a responsibility that we take seriously. It’s not really about how I feel today, or if I don’t want to go back and forth with someone, because you can’t do that when you’re an advocate.

Someone was asking me the other day, “What would you do if you didn’t have to do that?” and I’m like, “We could actually focus on joy.” n

coltonr@inlander.com

Hunter’s Quest JUSTICE

He got caught with 75 pounds of marijuana in Idaho, but Coeur d’Alene’s Wylie Hunter says the justice system was so corrupted and poorly managed that his record should be cleared

BY SAMANTHA WOHLFEIL

Wylie Hunter, 68, continues a nearly two-decade court battle.

ERICK DOXEY PHOTO

Hunter’s Quest

Wylie Hunter refuses to give up. It all started almost two decades ago, when Hunter was pulled over while driving a rental car through Kootenai County and his life changed forever.

Sure, he’ll admit that on Sunday of Labor Day weekend 2007, he had 75 pounds of marijuana in hockey gear bags in the trunk of that white Chevy Impala.

All that weed didn’t get vacuum sealed in plastic bags, coated in wheel bearing grease, then vacuum sealed again by accident: He knew that he was illegally taking hydroponic B.C. Bud from Canada to Arizona. Officers estimated those bags had a street value nearing a quarter of a million dollars.

But the questionable pretext that led to his car getting searched all those years ago, the perjured testimony he claims was presented during his case, and the lasting health impacts of his incarceration have eaten at him over time.

Within days of being booked into Kootenai County Jail that September, he contracted a horrible antibiotic-resistant staph infection (MRSA) that stuck with him for well over a year, ruining the hearing in his left ear, damaging his teeth and leaving his left foot improperly healed from sores and brittle bones, with no options for surgery.

While he was in prison, his wife divorced him. He blames the fear of future contact from law enforcement.

And in the many legal filings he’s made since his conviction, he says he feels the courts have stonewalled him as he’s tried to introduce evidence that would’ve been essential during his case — things his attorneys should’ve brought up.

“They used this to destroy 15 years of my life,” Hunter says. “This is a marijuana case we’re talking about, no guns or anything.”

After a conditional guilty plea that allowed him to appeal, Hunter was sentenced for felony marijuana trafficking in 2009 and served 10 years, including the

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“HUNTER’S

two he spent in jail while his case played out. He got out in 2017 and finished parole in August 2022.

He no longer needs to engage with the criminal justice system.

The thing is, though, all those pieces that went wrong along the way planted a seed that has grown into an allconsuming quest for vindication.

While most people would’ve walked away by now, trying to avoid ever stepping foot in a courtroom again, Hunter has taken the opposite approach, trying as hard as he can to get someone — anyone — in the court system to throw out his conviction.

Lately, he’s focused his efforts on arguing that the judge who oversaw the majority of his case improperly assigned himself to hear it. In a civil case, Hunter claims that was a “plain usurpation of power,” which entitles him to a “void judgment.”

The state disagrees, and judges continue to deny his legal requests.

In fact, Hunter has done so much work representing himself in “pro se” civil filings over the last two years that in February, the prosecutor’s office for Kootenai County took the rare step of asking a judge to declare him a “vexatious litigant.”

The judge agreed that Hunter’s recent claims have been “unmeritorious” and passed the matter off to Kootenai County’s administrative judge, who could require Hunter to get court approval before he’s allowed to file anything else.

Yet even that hasn’t deterred Hunter.

He’s dead set that the process was not followed properly during his case or after his conviction, and he believes he is entitled to recourse.

“I’ve experienced judicial corruption from the judges and prosecutors throughout my entire case. It’s gotta be stopped,” Hunter says. “They’ve gotta be exposed.”

WHEELIN’ AND DEALIN’

At 68, with a long white beard and a vaguely Southern twang, Hunter’s generally a likable guy. Speak with him for a few minutes and like many of the people who happen to cross into his orbit, you’ll learn he’s got a knack for getting people to turn a sympathetic ear.

Over the years, he’s told multiple reporters about his case. He’s made friends with people at the gym by talking about his experience. He’s well known around the courthouse and clerk’s office, where he so often goes to file the

latest paperwork.

You might notice a near obsession with the phrases “usurpation of power” and “void judgment,” the two things he’s been arguing most vehemently since 2022. And the gentleness might crack into anger or frustration if you question his chances of winning that void judgment.

These days, Hunter lives in a humble yellow backyard garage in Coeur d’Alene that’s been converted into a one-bedroom. Inside, his room is just big enough for a twin-size bed; his handful of shirts hang tidily in a small inset cubby in the wall. He’s got a bathroom with a small shower and a kitchenette with a fridge and a microwave. The heat works, and he even got an air conditioner last summer.

“I got a safe place to sleep, and I’m by myself and not with other people,” Hunter says. “I have everything I need here.”

When he’s not working from the library, he works from the couch in his living room, bent over a makeshift coffee table made from a ventilated plastic shelf full of holes. Hunter says he doesn’t really know how to operate a computer, so he handwrites (and rewrites, and rewrites) his court filings before sending them to a woman he pays a small fee to type them up for court. Stacks of manila folders around the apartment contain hundreds of pages of court filings from the last 17 years.

that dealerships were only given a small allocation of the new bikes, so waiting lists quickly grew to one or two years long.

Seeing opportunity, Hunter began regularly traveling to Canada to purchase bikes. The motorcycles were made in the U.S., which meant he could get his tax back, and he would overnight new titles from Boise and swap out the speedometers (from kilometers to miles) to quickly ship them off to buyers in the U.S.

“With the [favorable] exchange rate I was probably buying at least 12 Harleys every week,” Hunter says.

But that gig started to dry up after larger dealerships opened in the region, and customers easily found new bikes closer to home.

In 2000, Hunter and his wife and kids moved to Scottsdale, Arizona. As usual throughout his life, going to the gym every day was important to him, and that’s where Hunter says he started to meet sports doctors who told him about the need for medical grade marijuana. Everyone from veterans to cancer patients could benefit, they told him.

While Hunter says he was never really personally into smoking weed, he thinks cannabis could have helped people like his brother, who had no appetite and dramatically lost weight while receiving cancer treatment before he died in ’96.

With plenty of connections in Canada that he’d made through his Harley business, Hunter was able to find serious hydroponic purveyors who were proud of their award-winning strains, and he soon figured he could make green from yet another import.

But the route he chose took him right through Idaho, one of the strictest states in the country for cannabis crackdowns.

ARREST AND AIR CIRCULATION

By the time he was arrested in September 2007, Hunter and his passenger, Chase Storlie, had been on the radar of law enforcement for a while.

Then-Idaho State Police Detective Terry Morgan had started an investigation several months prior, partially informed by Storlie’s former romantic partner. As detailed in court documents, Morgan learned through the woman how Hunter and Storlie would rent vehicles and stay at hotels during their trips to hike cannabis across the border.

“Why would I be speeding with a trunk-load of marijuana?”

Day to day, he gets by on less than $1,000 a month in Social Security and food assistance. But he doesn’t complain about his current living situation — “sure beats a prison cell” — even though it’s a far cry from what he had at the height of his life.

“I’m blessed to have what I do have,” he says.

Hunter grew up in Arkansas until about the third grade, when his family moved to Ephrata, Washington, just north of Quincy and Moses Lake. In his youth, he “was always wheeling and dealing cars,” buying up mostly older Corvettes and Chevelles, fixing the body work, then detailing and selling them from his small car lot.

In 1989, he moved his young family to Coeur d’Alene, where he owned a gym for a few years and continued to flip cars with his dealer’s license. But his bread and butter through the ’90s was importing Harley Davidson motorcycles. At that time, Hunter says

Morgan asked Avis Car Rental employees to call him when Hunter rented a vehicle, and that’s how he knew on Sept. 2, 2007, to keep an eye out for a brand new white Chevy Impala with Washington plates.

When Morgan saw the car drive by on U.S. Route 95, he radioed another trooper and said the vehicle had been speeding and made two illegal lane changes, according to court documents. The other trooper pulled Hunter over near Hayden Lake a few minutes later.

But Hunter says he wasn’t speeding. Not only were they stuck in holiday weekend traffic, but he was well aware of the risks of violating traffic laws.

“Why would I be speeding with a trunk-load of marijuana?” Hunter asks.

Ronald Sutton, the trooper who pulled him over, would later testify in a hearing that he did not smell weed while talking to Hunter through the driver’s side window of the vehicle, nor when he walked by the trunk. He testified that it was only when he spoke to Storlie through the passenger’s window that he smelled the faint odor of marijuana.

Morgan arrived at the scene a few minutes later, and within 30 minutes a drug dog was brought out. Officers testified that the dog alerted on the trunk, and they were able to search it. Morgan testified that the trunk was

Wylie Hunter gathers documents pertaining to his case at his home. ERICK DOXEY PHOTO

stuffed so full of weed it was hard to get the first hockey bag out.

The state brought in master technician Richard Shabazian, who was certified at the highest level for GM vehicles, to testify about the air circulation system in Chevy Impalas.

“[Air is] circulated from the front to all the way back to the rear bumper through the cabin, trunk, and then out the back corners of the body work,” Shabazian testified. “The valves were put in on this particular car for the ventilation in case somebody is in the trunk and the [sensor] system fails. There’s a release in the trunk. So a person could actually live in the trunk because there’s enough air moving back and forth.”

When Hunter’s then-attorney asked if the fans needed to be on for air to circulate from the trunk into the cabin while a vehicle is parked on the side of the road, Shabazian said, “No.”

“If anything, the odors would go from the trunk to the passenger with it not moving instead of the other way around,” the mechanic testified.

That seemed wrong to Hunter and his later state-appointed public defender, Stacia Hagerty. During a March 2018 hearing on Hunter’s petition for post-conviction relief, Hagerty argued that the testimony about the circulation system made no sense. She had previously shared a diagram of the car to back that up.

“If you had a gas can or stinky garbage in your trunk, you wouldn’t want it to circulate into your car,” Hagerty said during the hearing. “I would submit that no car ever had a trunk circulation system that vented into the interior; but that’s argument, your Honor, not fact.”

QUESTIONS ABOUT THE CASE

The testimony about the smell and the air flow were key elements in Hunter’s post-conviction efforts to question whether officers ever had probable cause to search his vehicle. He wanted the courts to suppress the evidence that came out of that traffic stop and led to his conviction.

Hagerty had worked on Hunter’s case since 2016, sharing evidence with the prosecuting attorney’s office along the way that questioned key elements of the state’s case.

After sharing some of their findings, Hagerty wrote Hunter a letter in October 2016 about a deal that Kootenai County Deputy Prosecutor Brian Bushling had offered, which would have released Hunter from prison about a year early and closed his case with no parole or probation.

But Hunter declined the offer because the conviction would remain on his record. He said he “wanted the truth to come forward in a new suppression hearing, with the new discovered evidence to be presented in court.”

Among the things they’d uncovered was evidence that a state’s witness had lied.

An Avis employee testified during the case that a coworker picked up the car from the site of the traffic stop, and the weed smell was so strong they had to drive with the windows down and take the car to Spokane to be detailed.

But Hagerty learned the vehicle was actually taken to the Idaho State Police lot for days before it was returned to the rental company. The mileage on the vehicle didn’t indicate a trip to Spokane. And it was troubling that state police had only interviewed the Avis employee in November, months after the stop.

Hagerty also requested a DVD of the video and audio of the traffic stop, but the state informed her the disc was destroyed on Feb. 26, 2013, because it had incorrectly been marked as part of a misdemeanor case.

The video might have backed up Hunter’s recollection, which was that Sutton never even went to the passenger side of the vehicle, the one place the trooper claimed he smelled the faint odor of weed.

When it came time for that March 2, 2018, post-conviction hearing (where Hagerty brought up the air flow and other issues in the case), Kootenai County District Judge Lansing Haynes started off by noting that Hagerty had not filed a memorandum outlining some of the new evidence on time, saying he only received it that morning, according to a court transcript.

Hunter tried to fire Hagerty on the spot.

In a sworn statement of facts filed in court, Hunter later declared that after the hearing, Hagerty told him, “Wylie, they ...continued on next page

JUSTICE

“HUNTER’S

threatened to take my State contract unless I filed the Memorandum late. I need the State contract to support my family.” She also pointed out that Detective Morgan was in the courtroom.

“The officer who did the investigation showed up at that hearing, which is highly unusual,” Hagerty tells the Inlander. “Not only was he retired, but he hadn’t been at any of our prior hearings. The judge acted very differently at that hearing than any of our previous hearings.”

But Hagerty denies ever saying that she was told to file anything late, and importantly, she says all the evidence was filed on time. She says the memo filed the night before the hearing wasn’t a required document, merely spelling out in writing what she planned to say in oral argument.

“Not only did nobody ever threaten my contract, I don’t believe I filed anything late,” Hagerty says. “I write better than I speak. … It was to augment the record.”

Hunter says he can’t understand why Hagerty is now denying the comments about her state contract, which he has included in multiple legal filings over the years.

“I’ve been presenting the facts,” Hunter says.

APPEAL, APPEAL

Hunter has tried to fight his conviction in just about every way he can.

In addition to multiple petitions for post-conviction relief made while he was still in custody, Hunter also filed two federal lawsuits.

None of the cases went in his favor.

In Hunter’s direct appeal, the Idaho Court of Appeals ruled that “the officers had reasonable and articulable suspicion to stop the vehicle based upon both the prior investigation, as well as the traffic violations.”

Detective Morgan was able to verify the details provided by Storlie’s ex via hotel and rental car receipts, plus Hunter had received four months in federal prison in 2005 for not reporting a large amount of cash he took across the border, the Court of Appeals pointed out.

“All I’m after is the truth.”

In a later filing, Hunter argued that the destruction of the DVD violated his due process rights. Hagerty tells the Inlander the courts should have presumed the video would show what Hunter said it would.

But in 2019, the Idaho Court of Appeals found that Hunter did not prove the DVD would have changed the outcome of his case.

In 2022, Hunter filed a request for relief under a specific portion of the Idaho Civil Rules of Procedure, taking issue with Hagerty’s defense, and claiming for the first time that the judge who oversaw most of his criminal case didn’t have authority to hear it. That judge was Haynes — the same judge he later had on the post-conviction case in 2018.

While going through the reams of paperwork in his criminal case, Hunter says he discovered that there was no form disqualifying another judge who had been assigned to his case when Haynes took over. The clerk’s summary of his record appeared to show that Haynes assigned himself, instead of getting that direction from the administrative judge.

In Hunter’s view — informed by a mix of jailhouse lawyer types he met behind bars, his own research, and a few sympathetic ears in the legal world — Haynes violated state policy on judge assignments and opened the door for his conviction to get thrown out.

“He assigned himself to my case,” Hunter says.

There was, however, a hearing in December 2007 to join Hunter’s case with Storlie’s, which was assigned to Haynes. The minutes, which offer an incomplete picture of everything that was said, seem to indicate that attorneys for both men objected. But Haynes signed an order that day joining the cases for trial before him.

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Kootenai County District Judge Lamont Berecz denied Hunter’s 2022 request, saying the cases were joined.

“The court record would show that you’re just clearly wrong,” Berecz said in July 2022.

Hunter appealed.

CURRENT CASE

In May 2023, Hunter filed a new case. This time he cited a civil rule pertaining specifically to void judgments and included Idaho case law that says a judgment is void if the “court’s action amounts to a plain usurpation of power constituting a violation of due process.”

Again, Kootenai County Civil Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Jamila Holmes argued in court filings that there was no violation of due process: Haynes joined the two cases in 2007, and Kootenai County had jurisdiction over the case.

“The [state] has been forced to answer and defend against the very definition of a frivolous claim here,” Holmes said in court in December 2023, while asking a judge to award more than $700 in fees to make up for some of the costs of responding to Hunter’s various filings. (Holmes did not respond to multiple requests for comment for this story.)

Hunter denies that his case was ever joined with Storlie’s, and says that he was never in court at the same time as his co-defendant.

According to multiple attorneys who spoke with the Inlander, even if Judge Haynes did somehow violate the assignment procedure, it’s unlikely that error would be enough to get a court to throw out Hunter’s conviction.

“Mr. Hunter would have to demonstrate, in my mind, that a judge had been improperly assigned for improper purposes and engaged in improper conduct during the management of the case, before any appellate court would even agree to look at such a remedy as voiding the conviction or the judgment,” says Kevin Curtis, who served as a public defender for 14 years and has been a criminal defense attorney in private practice in Spokane for nearly 30 years.

However, Curtis has read thousands of police reports from both Washington and Idaho during his decades in practice. In that time, he says he often saw examples of “pretextual” stops in Idaho, where law enforcement would pull someone over on the pretext of a traffic violation, while in reality they were seeking evidence of some other crime but didn’t have probable cause to search prior to the traffic stop.

“Idaho is known for pretext stops, so I understand Mr. Hunter’s concerns,” Curtis says. “He may well be right, there may have been misrepresentations. There may have been things those people said that were untrue and known to be untrue.”

John Rumel, a law professor at the University of Idaho, says that the civil rule Hunter’s latest case is filed under doesn’t typically apply to criminal cases.

“He is using this rule of civil procedure that only applies to civil cases, and his conviction obviously was in a criminal case, so that’s the first barrier,” Rumel says.

If Hunter were still under supervision and filing a habeas corpus petition, which is considered a civil filing, the rule could come into play, Rumel says.

“However, when a criminal defendant is no longer in custody and their period of probation or parole has expired, a petition for habeas corpus cannot be used to challenge possible legal errors that led to the defendant’s conviction and incarceration,” Rumel says.

Even when that specific civil rule is applied, merely showing that there were errors, such as a judge not allowing evidence to be admitted, likely wouldn’t be enough to get a void judgment, which is a fairly extraordinary remedy, Rumel says.

“It’s gotta be really egregious or really extraordinary circumstances in order to set aside a judgment,” Rumel says.

Unsurprisingly, Hunter strongly disagrees with those opinions and feels he’s provided plenty of evidence to show that his conviction should be thrown out.

Hunter says he was able to overcome the civil rule barrier that Rumel mentioned when District Judge Susie Jensen ruled on his 2023 case in July last year. She denied his petition because it was his

second request under that part of the civil rules, but didn’t mention any issue with the rule being used in a criminal case.

Hunter had already dismissed the first request under that civil rule (his 2022 appeal) by the time of Jensen’s order, and he thinks his 2023 request should be heard on the merits.

“Nobody has wanted to give me an oral argument to just put this to bed,” Hunter says.

He has appealed Jensen’s decision.

PERSISTENCE

Regardless of their difference in recalling what happened in 2018, Hagerty says she thinks that Hunter got a bad deal. She says she saw how the case consumed his life.

“I do feel for him,” Hagerty says. “He was treated horribly unfairly.”

She says not only did the prosecutor’s office and the state “block us in every possible way,” while she was seeking evidence, but she thought Hunter’s 10-year prison sentence was outsized.

“I felt like that was an extraordinarily hard sentence,” Hagerty says. “It’s marijuana. It’s not meth. Why was he treated so harshly all the way through?”

For now, Hunter continues to be fixated on his void judgment case, which he still hopes an attorney might take up on his behalf.

He says if he can get a court to throw out his conviction, agreeing that his due process rights were violated, his plan would be to sue for the time he lost.

“They would owe me for the 15 years he assigned me with no authority to do it,” Hunter says. “All I’m after is the truth.”

Still, he’s free to leave Kootenai County if he wants. What’s next if things don’t go his way?

“Well if I had a void judgment it can be ruled at any time,” Hunter says.

But what would you like to do with your time, other than be in a courtroom?

“OK, I would like to show, like we did in my federal case, my original case, the evidence I filed in the federal case shows what they did,” Hunter says. “About the perjured testimony for probable cause and using all the evidence I show. And even me making an affidavit of what the DVD would have showed…”

Seriously though, outside of the case, when everything’s done, what would you like to do, Wylie?

“OK, maybe I am a little bit messed up from all the lock-andblock of prison, knowing what happened to me,” Hunter says. “I would want to have my void judgment motion heard, along with the other, for the Supreme Court to see the perjured testimony and everything for probable cause. … And then I want them to either give me a new hearing, not using perjured testimony, and voiding my judgment...”

He continues listing off the legal arguments that consume his daily efforts, not yet able to think about a future when his past will no longer be so present. n

Wylie Hunter keeps dozens of folders of case documents at his home. ERICK DOXEY PHOTO

BUDDING Science

Since the start of legalization more than a decade ago, the feds promised to make cannabis research easier, yet those promises remain unfulfilled

BY WILL MAUPIN

Considering humans have been using cannabis for at least five millennia, we still don’t know all that much about it. From a scientific perspective, at least.

The lack of knowledge surrounding the plant and its effects is troubling, especially considering the widespread use of cannabis and the continued expansion of legalization. The spread of legalization, both around the country and the world, has led to hopes that science’s blind spot surrounding cannabis would steadily come into focus.

Humanity’s understanding of cannabis has been held back not because we don’t know how to study the plant, but because government regulations have made it almost impossible to do so.

Which is why hopes were high in December 2022 when President Joe Biden signed the Medical Marijuana and Cannabidiol Research Expansion Act. The possibility that cannabis research would become easier than ever led many to anticipate big changes, but have those come?

“Not one little teeny tiny bit, no,” says Carrie Cuttler, a professor of psychology and a prolific cannabis researcher at Washington State University.

Cannabis may be legal in the state of Washington, but it remains illegal under federal law in the United States, which means researchers working at institu-

tions receiving federal funding have to jump through the hoops and follow the regulations that the federal government requires.

Those hoops and regulations are difficult, timeconsuming and often expensive to navigate.

Because of its classification as a Schedule I controlled substance, the most illegal of illegal drugs, researchers must get approval from the Drug Enforcement Administration in order to possess and use cannabis in research. They often must also receive a separate, special Food and Drug Administration approval, known as an “Investigational New Drug” approval, to research a drug that, like cannabis, the FDA has not yet approved for human use.

“It’s Schedule I. It’s as easy for me to get heroin as it is to get cannabis, which is crazy,” Jon Davis, an assistant professor of neuroscience at WSU, told the Inlander in January. “It’s a big hurdle to get over, and most researchers don’t want to do that.”

Clear all of those hurdles and you’re good to go, right? Yes and no.

Yes, in the sense that researchers are then allowed to work with cannabis. No, because they’re not able to work with the cannabis that anyone in the real world ever interacts with.

Predating Biden’s reforms, the Trump administration’s DEA announced an expansion in the amount

of cannabis available to researchers. For decades, the only such cannabis was controlled by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and grown, of all places, at the University of Mississippi.

The announced expansion was to allow for more growers to produce cannabis that the federal government would approve for research. That has happened, though it hasn’t had much practical impact.

“It’s still really problematic though because some of those other producers are charging literally $20,000 for what would retail for under a hundred dollars,” says Cuttler.

There are more sources now, but NIDA’s cannabis is still the go-to for many researchers who are working on the taxpayer’s dime. Another problem is that NIDA’s cannabis is nothing like the cannabis on the market today.

If you want to know how cannabis use impacts users, you would want to study the kind of cannabis that users are consuming. Which, these days, is pretty high-potency.

“The highest, highest, highest potency flower that [NIDA] has is what we’re using,” says Cuttler. “It’s 11.86% THC.”

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This creates a conundrum for researchers. They can use NIDA cannabis, but their findings might not mesh with what happens in the real world. Or they can work around the regulations to more accurately match cannabis consumption patterns, but then their findings lack the control of an ideal scientific study.

“We just recently did a study where we were looking at changes in cortisol to stress hormones when people use cannabis,” Cuttler says. “There’s been some previous studies done in the lab where they looked at cortisol, they administered cannabis to people in a lab environment, they measured cortisol again, and they found cortisol went up, stress hormone increased.”

Cuttler’s study looked at people who used cannabis — their own cannabis, not the NIDA-provided 11.86% stuff — in their own homes. She found that cortisol levels went down, contrary to the results of the laboratory studies.

“Why? Because the home is a much more relaxing environment,” says Cuttler.

Ideally, researchers could study both in the lab and in the field to get a complete picture, to get a controlled and a real world set of results.

As current regulations stand, that’s almost impossible to do. The cannabis available for controlled research is not representative of real world cannabis, and researching real world cannabis puts federal funding at risk.

“What I believe is that federal laws against cannabis are really only keeping it out of the hands of researchers. We have a product that is out there legal in 24 states for recreational purposes,” says Cuttler. “[National cannabis sales] are now outselling Starbucks, and we can’t do research or it’s very difficult for us to do research. It’s so difficult that a lot of people don’t even try to go through the process. It’s not worth the time and energy for them. They can do other things. It’s easier to study methamphetamine, quite frankly.”

Until those laws change, the researchers who do put in the time and energy to study cannabis will continue to be hamstrung by regulations.

Those regulations are a pain for the researchers, but the real impact comes in how they limit our understanding of how a plant can be legally consumed by anyone 21-and-over in nearly half of the United States.

“We don’t know very much about cannabis, and we don’t know nearly as much as we should for how long it’s been around,” says Cuttler. “And we have a hard time saying that cannabis is causing various outcomes.”

Which is how you wind up with a lab study saying cannabis use increases stress hormones when the general consensus among users is that cannabis is a stress reliever — a result which was found when researchers like Cuttler took the time to jump through the federal government’s hoops and study how people actually use cannabis. n

Carrie Cuttler PHOTO COURTESY WSU

The Cannabis Issue

NEW HIGHS

From flower to soda, here are some of the popular items to try out this 4/20

BY SUMMER SANDSTROM

What better way to celebrate the start of spring and 4/20 than with a shopping spree?

With a ton of deals and sales, it’s the perfect time to run to a dispensary to stock up on goods and try out some new items. But with such a wide variety to choose from, it can be tricky to know where to get started.

Whether you’re wanting to try a new strain or different products like disposables or drinks, there are plenty of new and popular items to choose from, so here are some popular picks to heighten your 4/20 excursions. Check local retailers for availability.

MFUSED TWISTED DISPOSABLES

Cannabis disposables are becoming increasingly popular for various reasons — they have a more subtle aroma and are convenient and easy to use. One popular brand is Mfused with their TWISTED disposables, which come in a variety of flavors like Blue Razz, Horchata Heaven and more. Each device is specially designed for each type of oil inside and has a cold start feature that helps prevent clogs, as well as temperature control features that let you create your ideal experience every time. Mfused’s TWISTED disposables are sleek with a USB-C charging port, and have a high potency from melted THCa diamonds.

K.SAVAGE SWISS WATCH

From Tacoma, K.Savage Cannabis Supply Co.’s indica dominant Swiss Watch is derived from two other strains — Gary Payton and Runtz. According to Leafly, Swiss Watch has a bold, stunning look and is a fragrant flower with a sweetness and an aroma reminiscent of burnt rubber. Checking all of the boxes for a quality bud, Swiss Watch has a loud and relaxing effect, perfect for any day of the week, and according to K.Savage’s Instagram, it “reads ‘4:20’ twenty four hours a day, seven days a week with absolute precision.”

PACIFIC & PINE LIVE ROSIN CARTRIDGE

Located in the Columbia Basin, Pacific & Pine produces allnatural products using sustainable growing practices such as drip irrigation to reduce water waste and biodegradable weed suppression mulch. They don’t use synthetic salts or harmful chemicals to help preserve nature around their farms and produce a quality product. The live rosin cartridges are pesticide free, and strains like an aromatic and sweet Huckleberry Milkshake is full of nostalgic Pacific Northwest flavors. These cartridges are great for those who don’t want to buy single-use disposables but still want to have a discrete, easy way to consume cannabis while promoting sustainability from growing to consuming.

MARY JONES SODA

Sometimes an edible doesn’t cut it, especially on a warm and sunny day where a crisp, cold beverage is calling your name. Mary Jones makes cannabis infused sodas with classic flavors like root beer and green apple, and each bottle contains 10 mg of THC. These sodas are fast-acting, and can serve as a good alternative for folks who have a difficult time getting high from edibles or those just looking to sip on a relaxing, sweet drink. Mary Jones’ sodas have the same familiar flavors as its parent company Jones Soda, which started in 1995 in Vancouver, British Columbia, and is known for using pure cane sugar and packaging that incorporates fun and unique photos. n

KITCHEN POT

Whip up some delicious THC-infused food — and we’re not just talking brownies

BY ELIZA BILLINGHAM

Few things pair as well as weed and food. But instead of reaching for a snack after the high hits, why not get your THC and your meal in at the same time?

When Lexie McKinney, a Spokane local, dog lover, recreational cook and cannabis enthusiast, started experimenting with weed in the kitchen, she realized the possibilities extended far beyond desserts. She started creating snacks, drinks and whole meals that paired weed with other ingredients, like a chef experimenting with rosemary or oregano. Her laid-back, try-anything attitude has helped produce some pretty delicious results.

A few years, a few duds, but plenty of successful recipes later, McKinney opened her kitchen and shared some of her most potent advice with us.

INLANDER: WHY DID YOU FIRST WANT TO COOK SOMETHING WITH WEED?

MCKINNEY: Because it was fun. I really like cooking, so to be able to take something like smoking weed, which I also like, and combine it with another hobby — it just seemed natural.

WHAT WAS THE FIRST THING YOU MADE? Oh, it had to be brownies. We did something very basic, and they tasted horrible. We made them so wrong. I’m pretty sure we chucked a bunch of dry herbs into some

dough. I know now that’s not how you do it, but back then it seemed totally logical.

NOW THAT YOU’VE LEARNED, WHAT ARE THE WAYS THAT YOU INCLUDE CANNABIS IN YOUR FOOD?

There’s two different things you can infuse THC into. It’s gonna be fat — so typically in oil or butter. I use coconut oil. Or, you can infuse it into a tincture, which is alcohol over a certain proof. I can use a coconut oil for anything — savory, sweet, throw it into a recipe in place of butter, throw it into a pan to saute things in. It just depends. Alcohol tinctures can go into drinks and stuff.

HOW DO YOU INFUSE COCONUT OIL WITH THC?

There’s a couple of different ways to do it. I have a little magic butter thing now, but I used to double boil it. The first step that everyone forgets is decarb your weed — stick it into the oven, bring it up to a certain temperature, which will turn some of the molecules that aren’t active THC into THC. You’re raising the potency and solubility of your weed. Then, you’ll put that into your oil, and you will bring it to a certain temperature without boiling it. The easiest way to do that for anyone at home is to double boil it — throw down a pot of water, put a bowl

on top, put your oil and weed in the bowl, and as things boil up, it’ll infuse it for you for a few hours. Or in a crock pot, throw everything in and leave it in for a few hours on low, and you’re all set.

IS THERE A WAY TO CONTROL THE POTENCY OF THE WEED IN THE FOOD THAT YOU’RE MAKING?

Yes, you can. There are ways you can figure out how to dose it. I think the basic formula is you take the solubility of the base you’re making it — so with coconut oil, I think it’s like 80%. Multiply the potency of your weed by the amount of weed you have, so you get how much will be able to go into the oil itself. Then you multiply that by the solubility of your base. All this to say, it’s way easier to look online and use a calculator.

AND ARE YOU ABLE TO CONTROL THE EFFECT IT HAS ON FLAVOR?

Not as much, but I think everyone assumes it’s gonna be really gross and skunky. To some extent it will, depending on what parts of the plant you use. But I think the flavor of the weed itself is something that you kinda have to work with. I feel like you can make things where it is a complement to the other flavors you’re trying to develop.

WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE THINGS TO MAKE?

If I have a simple syrup with it, I’ll throw it in my coffee, and I think that actually really complements it. My wife makes some really good pumpkin spice muffins that I really think are complemented by that flavor as well. A lot of rich flavors — and chocolate flavors, too, since everyone loves to do dessert — really mask that, and the earthiness of the weed itself works with it.

Jazz up a Korean beef bowl with THC oil. YOUNG KWAK PHOTOS

IS IT A DIFFERENT HIGH THAN FROM SMOKING WEED?

Yeah. So when you infuse things because you’re throwing the whole product in, you’re gonna get some more cannabinoids that you wouldn’t get while you’re smoking it. So you get the full body effect. Your liver is also breaking things down into a more processable chemical in your system. So you’re able to feel more of it, and it lasts longer.

HOW LONG DOES IT USUALLY LAST?

I think that really depends on your edible. There’s some that I’ve eaten in my life that were like, five minutes maybe. And there’s some where I’m like, I should have eaten this two days ago. It just all depends.

DO YOU HAVE ANY ADVICE TO SOMEONE WHO’S JUST STARTING TO COOK WITH THC?

My big one is, don’t throw the weed straight in! Infuse it into a base. But other than that, get creative. I think people should feel empowered to explore it and throw it in stuff — if it goes wrong, it goes wrong. But if it goes right, it goes so right. I’ve made a lot of savory things that I think are outside of the wheelhouse of things people would think to cook with weed, and I think there’s so much to explore out there. There’s no real way to go wrong because you’ll probably get high at the end.

WHEN YOU SAY SAVORY DISHES, DO YOU MEAN, LIKE, PASTAS?

I have absolutely made pastas before with it. I did Nashville Hot Chicken sliders one time. I’ve done seafood boils with it. There’s just so much you could do that people don’t think about. n

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.

all

Marijuana

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.

GAMING WITH GANJA

Sink into these virtual worlds as your mind sinks into a blazed bliss

BY COLTON RASANEN

MMINECRAFT

There isn’t much to say about the power of Minecraft that probably hasn’t been said before. It’s the best-selling game of all time, and seemingly everyone has some understanding of the game. I mean, the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture hosted an entire exhibition dedicated to the game a few months ago. While this game can be played a handful of ways, gamers recommend a relaxing night of creative play. Perhaps build an entire village out of diamond and gold blocks and then blow it all up with loads of TNT, or fly around the map and discover its unknown wonders. You can also play in survival mode, but beware of falling into lava. (Not that I’ve ever done that.)

Pair with: Something not too intoxicating like Northern Lights.

NEWPOKÉMONSNAP

STARDEW VALLEY

After a long, tiring workweek, it can be enjoyable to thrust yourself into an even more laborious job — like simulated farming. You don’t have to be an actual agrarian to succeed in Stardew Valley, you just need positive vibes and a quirky disposition. Plus, if farming isn’t your thing, there are a ton of different ways to pass the time. You could traverse the mines in search of artifacts and other treasures, or you could spend the entire day fishing… that is, if you’re able to complete the fishing minigame while under the influence. Start gameplay as sober as possible so you have some sense of what you should be doing, which is why an edible is the perfect pairing.

Pair with: A hybrid edible of your choice.

SPLATOON 3

any cannabis enthusiasts have their go-to TV shows, movies and music already picked out. It’s usually something quirky or clever that lends itself to a viewer’s elevated state of mind. But experienced potheads know there’s nothing quite like diving into a video game after smoking a hearty bowl.

Rather than being solely a spectator, these games let you participate in your own entertainment. Between soothing games like Stardew Valley and Minecraft and erratically chaotic games like Splatoon and Mario Kart, there really is a game for every cannabis connoisseur out there.

There is nothing quite like the relaxing nostalgia that comes with the New Pokémon Snap. On the surface, you’re just a humble photographer helping a professor research the inhabitants of some local islands. But as you move from eerie jungles and underwater caverns to icy mountainscapes and ancient ruins, you’ll find yourself immersed in a world of unparalleled beauty — or at least that’s what people say it looks like while stoned. The game also progresses at a steady pace and rewards players for replaying each level, so you don’t have to worry about being left behind in a blazed stupor.

Pair with: Relaxing indicas like Grandaddy Purple or Cereal Milk.

This is like what would happen if a first-person shooting game was actually fun. Instead of bullets, you’re stuck squirting colorful ink at the ground and your opponents. The explosion of color alone makes it a lovely game to play with an open mind. Also, Splatoon 3 is just objectively a funny game — there is literally a mode where you are stealing eggs from a bunch of fish and returning them to a bear who plans on making them into his dinner. Even if you’re not much of a competitive gamer, you can still deck out your character in the cutest clothes to show off to all your squiddy friends.

Pair with: Something heady like Blue Dream or Durban Poison. n

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HIGH CLASS

We’re in a new gilded era, so add some swank to your cannabis game

BY COLTON RASANEN

Mless than what they consider high class.

There will be no more disgusting hammers filled with burnt distil late, no more bongs crusted with an algae-like film from months of heavy use, and no more using household objects as a pipe in a pinch. No, it’s now time to don cute outfits while toking up, using glassware that could be pulled directly from your grandmother’s curio cabinet.

Not sure where to get started? We’ve got the perfect ideas for you.

One of the things that seems pretty synonymous with smokers is the faint smell that they always seem to waft. Smart enthusiasts set aside a particular outfit to wear only when blazing, that way the smell is relegated to the singular article of clothing.

WARNING: This product has intoxicating effects and may be habit forming. Cannabis can impair concentration, coordination, and judgment. Do not operate a vehicle or machinery under the influence of this drug. There may be health risks associated with consumption of this product. For use only by adults 21 and older. Keep out of the reach of children.

The Cannabis Issue

But since we’re classing up the practice of smoking, we can update our wardrobes to match. So, throw out that raggedy hoodie without its strings and the matching pair of sweatpants with a burn mark or two.

There’s a few different approaches to effortless stoner fashion, but we think the top priority should be getting a statement SMOKERS JACKET. While any type of fabric will do, it might be best to get something that doesn’t retain much of an odor, like merino wool or a flashy satin.

To add to the classy vibe we’re going for, we recommend picking up a jacket from one of the many vintage clothing stores the Spokane area has to offer, like Teleport Vintage + Co., Chosen Vintage, Boulevard Mercantile or

Collective Threads.

If you want to be obnoxiously classy, get a knockoff of Hugh Hefner’s signature maroon robe-like jacket and call it a day.

Now that you’ve updated your wardrobe, it’s time to update the tools of your trade. We know it may be hard to part with the bong or ashtray that you’ve come to love, but you’ll be a whole lot cooler in the end.

If you find yourself drawn to a more antique-y vibe, we recommend taking a look at Pearl’s Puff Parlor, a Latina-owned small business operating out of Memphis, Tennessee. The shop puts an innovative spin on generally basic items, like a BONG WITH A BUTTERFLY SHAPED BOWL, and much of its glassware comes in pastel color themes.

Each and every item looks like it could be shown in a gallery — and definitely should be shown in whatever area you smoke in.

While you’re filling your cart, it may be a good time to find a pretty floral lighter to match your new setup.

If you’re looking for less chic, but still classy, additions to your collection, we recommend taking a look at celebrity-stoner Seth Rogen’s online store, Houseplant. Or more specifically, we recommend searching for your new CLASSY ASHTRAY

With a handful of options ranging from $25 to $295, there’s a good chance you’ll find something to fit the vibe you’re crafting. Like a stacked ceramic ashtray that could technically pass as a flower vase or one that’s technically a side table… or it may be a side table that’s technically an ashtray, we’re not totally sure.

There’s even a record holder ashtray for the snobbish music listeners who vehemently use a record player for their tune times. And if you wanna get crazy, you could stop at Spokane’s Go! Records, Entropy, or any other Inland Northwest record stores to pick up an OLD-TIMEY TURNTABLE and an old Glass Animals record from when they produced more of a funky, trippy sound.

Once you’re got all the smoke sesh staples, it’s time to start getting some accessories to really hit the nail on its classy head. Luckily for stoners, cigarette smokers have already turned smoking into a posh pastime.

There are tons of different accessories in a smoker’s toolkit, but the one that adds the most elegant feeling to your consumption is a JOINT HOLDER. And the best place to find those is on Etsy. A bunch of different sellers have their own take on the trend, with some adding gemstones or beads to the accessory’s body.

But sometimes, simple is the best choice. For this, we recommend finding a thin gold or rose gold holder with a singular flower that clasps around the joint.

While it may take some time to collect enough items to be considered a classy smoker, it’s important to remember that the process is part of the fun. n

Houseplant’s sleek standing ashtray.

Idaho, which hosted the artist in 1979, and the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture, which owns Kienholz’s Spokane-based tableau, “The Jesus Corner.”

Newfound Hope

WSU exhibit highlights Edward and Nancy Kienholz, internationally revered artists with longstanding ties to North Idaho

BY CARRIE SCOZZARO

Trigger warning: Art can cause reactions. It can make you think about yourself and the world around you, especially when the artwork is visually or conceptually provocative — or both — as it is with former North Idaho-based artist Edward Kienholz.

In 1966, local officials threatened to shut down Kienholz’s solo show at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art for his gritty, three-dimensional depictions of taboo topics like sexuality and abortion.

“Kienholz was always just staring directly into the face of American sexual and moral and racial hypocrisy and throwing it into people’s faces in the art context — in the museum — and then calling attention to the fact that, you know, we go to museums to look,” says Johanna Gosse.

Gosse is the guest curator for “Beyond Hope: Kienholz and the Inland Northwest,” on display at Washington State University’s Jordan Schnitzer Museum through June 29.

“At the same time that he’s calling out our cultural hypocrisy, he’s also pointing out our voyeurism,” she adds. With her extensive background studying postwar art

and visual culture, especially West Coast assemblage art, Gosse had heard of Kienholz, of course, but thought of him in the context of his Los Angeles background.

Then around six years ago, she had a serendipitous encounter with Kienholz’s installation at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City titled “The Non-War Memorial,” which the artist proposed should be staged in northern Idaho.

“I think I looked at that and I said, ‘Oh my goodness, Clark Fork, Idaho,’” recalls Gosse, who knew she would be moving to Moscow, Idaho, in the fall of that same year to join the University of Idaho as an assistant professor of art history and visual culture.

Once she began developing curriculum for her university students, Gosse delved into Kienholz’s ties to the Inland Northwest, including Bonner County, where he and his wife and fellow artist, Nancy Reddin Kienholz, moved in 1972. (As such, all collaborative works by the couple from 1972 onward are simply referred to as by “Kienholz,” although some works in the WSU showcase are solely by Edward.)

Other local connections include the University of

No trigger warnings have been posted for the WSU show, which unlike some of Kienholz’s earlier exhibitions, focus less on the artist’s social and political content than it does sense of place, specifically Eastern Washington and North Idaho.

“Beyond Hope” includes three plaques from 1964 to 1966 detailing Edward Kienholz’s plans for a conceptually rooted tableaux, or life-size narrative diorama. He designed one, “After the Ball Is Over,” to take place in Fairfield, Washington, where he was born.

Kienholz envisioned another piece, “The World,” taking place on a specific five-acre plot in Hope, Idaho, where he lived and worked with Nancy until his death in 1994 (Nancy died in 2019).

“I plan to sign the world as the most awesome ‘found object’ I have ever come across,” Kienholz wrote in a proposal for “The World,” which was never realized. “I chose this place because of the natural beauty that is there and because the world really does need hope.”

It was important to include these “Concept Tableaux,” says Gosse, noting that they are “considered some of the first really inaugural works of conceptual art in the United States.”

The works also point to Kienholz’s valuation of the rural areas of his youth as “full of potential rather than these inert, marginal places,” she adds.

Indeed, Kienholz’s 1970 plans for “The Non-War Memorial,” a small visual representation of which is included in the WSU show, cited a 75-acre plot near Clark Fork, Idaho, as the ideal location for the

Edward Kienholz and Nancy Reddin Kienholz’s “Mine Camp,” 1991. COURTESY L.A. LOUVER GALLERY

“NEWFOUND HOPE,” CONTINUED...

time-lapse installation. He proposed filling 50,000 U.S. military uniforms with a thick, gooey clay and leaving them to decompose — like the more than 48,000 soldiers killed in Vietnam at the time of his proposed artwork.

“Beyond Hope” is actually several exhibitions spread over several spaces. In addition to the mixed-media assemblages and other artwork in the main gallery, the show highlights the couple’s studio practice, which was split between Hope and West Berlin, and the dynamic, arts-based community the couple created in and around their compound, as they called it.

There is footage of the Kienholzes hunting, for example, plus ephemera representing their friendships with regional artists, including the late Robert “Bob” Helm and his wife, Tamara Helm, both WSU art professors.

A life-size photograph of a 1991 installation Kienholz called “Mine Camp,” plus some bronze objects from the tableau, points to another aspect of how sense of place played into the couple’s many modes of artmaking.

On one level, it seems like a familiar and innocuous representation of a hunting camp — an old truck, a deer carcass hanging from a tree, a grizzled hunter, camping gear — except that the pieces are cast in bronze. In addition, “Mine Camp” was part of the Kienholzes’ attempt

to have their entire compound designated as an art installation, echoes of earlier conceptual works like “The World,” in which everything was or could be understood in terms of it being art.

The Hope compound was also a hotspot for art events. The Kienholzes’ Faith and Charity in Hope Gallery was a big draw, showing such big-name artists as Francis Bacon and Alberto Giacometti, with gallery events typically followed with a big dinner or other social gathering.

Gosse says one of the reasons the Kienholzes started the gallery was because Ed’s son attended a career day at school and many boys said that they wanted to be truck drivers when they grew up.

The idea was to bring “a more global, creative world to Hope,” she says.

But, she continues, “the ways that [Kienholz] used this place that is known for being intensely remote and private to have a kind of public facing life is such a curious contradiction that speaks to the ways that they always just kind of ran against the grain.” n

Beyond Hope: Kienholz and the Inland Northwest •

Through June 29; open Tue-Sat from 10 am-4 pm •

Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art • 1535 N.E. Wilson Rd., Pullman • museum.wsu.edu • 509-335-1910

CONCURRENT PERSPECTIVES

Alongside the “Beyond Hope” exhibit, Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art Executive Director Ryan Hardesty curated “Subversive Intent: Selections from the Collection” to “reinforce and maybe expand or lighten upon some of the Kienholzes’ perspectives towards social commentary and social change,” he says.

“I think about the exhibition program in terms of thematic menus that roll out each year,” Hardesty explains. “And so I’m always careful not to present exhibitions that are islands,” or unrelated to other exhibitions that are running concurrently at the museum.

“Subversive Intent” also runs through June 29, and establishes a historical context for socio-political works with 1700s-era prints by William Hogarth and illustrations from the 1800s by Honoré Daumier and Francisco Goya. Contemporary artists in the exhibition include Leon Golub, Jenny Holzer, and Roger Shimomura, as well as Juventino Aranda, whose 2023 exhibition at the museum, “Esperé Mucho Tiempo Pa Ver,” explored notions of identity. (CARRIE SCOZZARO)

Ed Kienholz near Hope, Idaho.

“The Non-War Memorial” was a response to the Vietnam War. PHOTOS COURTESY L.A. LOUVER GALLERY

Soul Sisters

Gals Need Pals is transforming the way women make friends as adults

BY MADISON PEARSON

Making friends used to be easy. As children, it was as simple as sharing a toy or a snack on the playground. In high school, being in the same math class or on the same sports team was all it took to form lifelong bonds.

As soon as you step foot into the real world, though, things become a little more complicated. Friends don’t come as easily as they used to when you’re working a 9-to-5.

When Kinley Schmidt moved to Spokane from Utah in the summer of 2020 — or as Schmidt calls it, “in the heart of the plague” — she didn’t know a single soul in the city and had no clue how to go about making friends. She turned to a Catholic women’s group but wanted to make friends outside of the church as well, so she decided to take matters into her own hands.

month later at the New 63 Social House in downtown Spokane. It was a big success. More than 50 young women showed up to eat, drink and socialize with one another, desperately seeking connection with peers in the area.

GALS NEED PALS

Instagram: @galsneedpals galsneedpals.com

UPCOMING EVENTS

Raise the Barre Thu, April 25 from 6-8 pm, $35 Soul Barre Studio

30 Going On 13 Adult Prom (all genders welcome) Sat, May 11 at 7 pm, $35 Davenport Grand

She began planning an event for women over the age of 21 to come together, chat and make friends. She called it Gals Need Pals — an apt name for the problem she was facing at the time.

“I launched the Instagram in September 2022,” Schmidt says. “I just wanted to see if people would be interested in this, and it was an extreme response. People kept saying that it was such a need and that everyone needed something like this.”

The first Gals Need Pals event happened just one

In early 2023, Gals Need Pals events were happening monthly, and its Instagram followers grew every day. Schmidt needed help managing the project while also working full time as a third grade teacher. Local social media influencer Lauren Trivison stepped up to the plate after attending a few Gals Need Pals events herself and becoming invested in its mission.

The two have been a dynamic, pink-power-suit-wearing, friendship-forming duo ever since.

Trivison takes care of the business side of things, running the Gals Need Pals social media accounts while also reaching out to local businesses about partnership opportunities. Schmidt, meanwhile, is the mastermind behind Gals Need Pals’ perfectly pink branding and event decor.

Walking into a Gals Need Pals event is like crossing the threshold into utopia. Everything smells like flowers, people greet you with smiling faces, and everyone accepts you for who you are.

“The only requirement for attending one of our events is that you have to be a gal over 21,” Trivison says. “Other than that, we don’t care who you are or what your story is. Just show up and have a good time.”

“We’re also all about inclusivity,” Schmidt says. “Gals Need Pals is all about butterflies and love and unicorns and sparkles. I don’t want anyone to feel like we’re not including a diverse population because they see our faces on Instagram a lot. The LGBTQ community is always welcome.”

For a recent event called Glitz and Glam at The Studio hair salon in downtown Spokane, about 15 gals came to get pampered and do a photoshoot afterward at Electric Photoland next door.

Gals Need Pals event prices vary, depending on the scale and costs for things like decor, promotion and adorable branded merchandise. The duo relies on community partnerships and collaborations to keep their events affordable and exciting. Memberships ($49/ quarter, $149/year) are also available with perks like discounted tickets.

“Our community has been so generous,” Schmidt says. “We’re always trying to support local, small businesses. We never meant for Gals Need Pals to have such a platform, but now we have partnerships and sponsorships that benefit us and the businesses mutually.”

At the recent glamorous event, makeup artists from the Studio carefully placed glitter and false eyelashes on attendees. Shouts of “You look stunning!” could be heard over hair dryers and other friendly chatter. Attendees stood around in a circle, exchanging phone numbers and Instagram handles with smiling faces.

Melanie Lawrence, a Gonzaga University graduate originally from Nevada, has been to a few Gals Need Pals events in recent months.

“Breaking into communities in Spokane can be really tough,” Lawrence says. “So [Gals Need Pals] just brings like-minded people together in a way that’s safe and fun. You’re not worried about the things that you’d normally be worried about in social situations. Each event appeals to different people and different personalities. If you’re nervous about coming to an event by yourself, you shouldn’t be, because it’s such a great environment with amazing people who are open and ready to meet friends.”

Between conversations with guests at The Studio, Schmidt and Trivison announce that two longtime Gals Need Pals regulars-turned-friends each got engaged to their respective partners in the past few weeks. The founders present flower bouquets and cards to each. Hugs are exchanged, and everyone gathers around to take a look at their engagement rings.

Because Gals Need Pals has been so successful in Spokane, Schmidt and Trivison decided to take the fun to the Seattle area.

“Now that we have a good grasp on how this works and what makes us unique, we can copy and paste it on a much larger scale,” Trivison says. “So far, girls have been so excited. We’re getting messages constantly from people who want to attend and from businesses who want to participate.”

Along with the expansion to Seattle, Schmidt also recently announced that she’s stepping away from teaching to take on Gals Need Pals full time. That means more events, more fun and more opportunities to make friends for women all around the Inland Northwest are on the way.

“There is nothing like your girlhood friendships,” Schmidt says. “I have an amazing future husband who I adore, but there’s nothing that will compare to my girlfriends. You need your girls — it’s a different kind of love.” n

Kinley Schmidt (left) and Lauren Trivison. JENNIFER DEBARROS PHOTO

TUBI TIME

Tubi is free, but that doesn’t mean it sucks. Here are six series worth a stream.

BY BILL FROST

Since Tubi is a free streaming TV service (with ads, because everything has ads anymore), you’d probably assume that it sucks. But there are plenty of gems to be found if you’re willing to put in the work. None of you are (I know my slacker audience) so I’ve rounded up some shows worth streaming.

FASTLANE (2002-03)

Slick cars, gorgeous women and an Episode 1 appearance by Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst — Fastlane is more early 2000s than a flaming pile of Maxim magazines in a Hot Topic. The flashy cop drama about LAPD detectives Van (Peter Facinelli) and Deaq (Bill Bellamy) working undercover and off the books for evidence warehouse operator Billie (Tiffani Thiessen) is deliriously excessive: Each episode cost nearly $3 million. Showrunner McG put every penny on the screen, and the series’ mix of action, humor, and proto-hipster sleaze has made Fastlane a posthumous cult hit.

PANDEMIC (2007)

Thirteen years before the real thing arrived, Hallmark Channel miniseries Pandemic unleashed a mysterious virus into the world (well, mostly Los Angeles, as per Hallmark’s budget). The four-part series revolves around a CDC doctor (Tiffani Thiessen, again) racing to find the cure for a deadly flu ravaging California, while the governor (Eric Roberts) and the mayor of LA (Faye Dunaway) fight over a drug lord’s epidemic-related blackmail scheme — there’s a lot going on here. Pandemic is best viewed as retro nostalgia and quarantine theater that makes 2020’s COVID-19 response look flawless.

ARCHIE’S WEIRD MYSTERIES (1999-00)

The live-action Riverdale likely took a few cues from Archie’s Weird Mysteries, a 40-episode animated series wherein the gang investigates supernatural phenomena — it’s the X-Files and Scooby-Doo mashup no one asked for. Also like Riverdale, Archie becomes more addictively entertaining the longer you stick with it. Vampires,

werewolves, zombies, aliens, ghosts and sea monsters all pop up, as do more offbeat threats like a monstercreating energy drink and extraterrestrial potatoes.

CASUAL (2015-18)

On the other side of the critical spectrum, early Hulu original Casual won raves upon arrival — it even premiered at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival, so posh. Producer/director Jason Reitman’s (Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire) low-key comedy about the dating misadventures of newly divorced single mom Valerie (Michaela Watkins) and her younger brother Alex (Tommy Dewey) is still as fresh and funny as it was almost a decade ago. Casual also features future breakout stars like Britt Lower (Severance), Maya Erskine (PEN15), and Alisha Boe (The Buccaneers).

THE WEIRD AL SHOW (1997)

It was supposed to be the next Pee-Wee’s Playhouse, but The Weird Al Show was doomed from the start as a CBS Saturday morning babysitter. Still, Al tried like hell for 13 wild episodes loaded with anarchic animation, bizarro skits and a sprawling guest list (including Patton Oswalt, Fabio, Alex Trebek, “Macho Man” Randy Savage, John Tesh and even producer Dick Clark himself). The show didn’t feature Al’s signature parody songs, because CBS wouldn’t pay the royalties(!).

V (2009-11)

Alien spaceships appear over Earth, and their leader (Morena Baccarin) assures humankind that their intentions are benevolent. (Spoiler: They aren’t.) V is a glossier remake of the 1984 miniseries that leans harder into media manipulation and population delusion. Remove the aliens, and it’s a documentary about 2024 ’Merica. The funniest Easter eggs of V are future Resident Alien star Alan Tudyk as a covert space invader who’s remained undetected on Earth for decades and the subtle nods to then-President Barack Obama. (Remember the tan suit that destroyed the nation? How did we survive?) n

THE BUZZ BIN

THE LONG ROAD FROM ZAG TO EAG

The start of Gonzaga’s rise to being a renowned basketball powerhouse came in 1999 when a Bulldogs squad head coached by Dan Monson made an improbable run to the Elite Eight. That NCAA Tournament run put Gonzaga on the map, and Monson capitalized on the success to land a major conference job at Minnesota. Now, 25 years later, Monson is returning to the Pacific Northwest. After making national news by leading his Long Beach State team to the NCAA Tournament after the school had essentially fired him earlier this March, the one-time GU architect is taking over as the new head coach for the Eastern Washington men. It’s a home-run hire for the Eagles, who land a proven winner with local ties. (Now please start scheduling season-opening showdowns at Spokane Arena, EWU and GU…) (SETH SOMMERFELD)

ALL THE WORLD’S A STAGE

There aren’t many places where Beetlejuice, Stephen Sondheim and Michael Jackson all hang out, but the 2024-25 STCU Best of Broadway season at First Interstate Center for the Arts is one of them. The freshly announced five-show main season that starts in September includes the musicals Company, Funny Girl, Beetlejuice, Mamma Mia! and MJ (the new show about the King of Pop). Additional special engagements coming to town include Come From Away, Shrek - The Musical, Hadestown, Hamilton and The Book of Mormon. Season tickets are on sale now at broadwayspokane.com (where you can find additional info), and most single-show tickets go on sale July 10. To quote Beetlejuice, “It’s showtime!” (SETH SOMMERFELD)

THIS WEEK’S PLAYLIST

Noteworthy new music arriving in stores and online on April 19.

TAYLOR SWIFT, THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT

The only tortured poet with a private jet.

PEARL JAM, DARK MATTER

Age hasn’t muted Pearl Jam’s sound, as the heavy riffing on this album’s chart-topping, titular lead single showcases.

CLOUD NOTHINGS, FINAL SUMMER

Frontman Dylan Baldi seeks contentment in a chaotic world on his band’s latest blast of guitar-forward alt-rock. (SETH SOMMERFELD)

Fastlane is a cult hit of the early 2000s.

OPENINGS

SPRING SIPS

New-ish local bars, tap houses and lounges to help you get your spring fling on

BY LUCY KLEBECK AND ELIZA BILLINGHAM

Spring means cornhole on patios, floral-forward menus and romantic date nights. Warmer weather might also mean you’ve got a little more pep in your step to check out a new spot you’ve never tried. Whether you’re hunting for the hottest new cocktail, searching for your new favorite IPA or looking for a swanky spot to unwind and uncork, some good sipping is just a few miles away. Discover three watering holes that have popped up in the Inland Northwest of late.

THE TINY TIKI

307 W. Second Ave., Spokane

Open Thu 5-11 pm; Fri-Sat 6 pm-midnight

Along with the rest of the world in 2020, the aptly named Tiny Tiki bar in downtown Spokane closed down due to COVID. By the time things started reopening, thenowner Claire Fieberg had moved on to other projects and put the bar up for sale.

Enter Caleb Ingersoll, former co-owner of both the

Bartlett and Lucky You Lounge, who decided to revive the bar. Ingersoll first found himself part of Spokane’s bar scene in 2013 after wanting to open a music venue.

“It turns out you can’t have a music venue without a bar and then, next thing you know, you own a bar,” Ingersoll says.

Ingersoll still maintains a strong connection to music, touring with bands across the country as a sound tech. He takes inspiration from bars all over the U.S. with the philosophy that whatever kind of bar he owns in Spokane, he wants it to be part of the bigger national scene.

In March 2023, Ingersoll purchased the Tiny Tiki from his friend Fieberg.

“She had some other offers on it, but some people wanted to change it into a different kind of bar,” Ingersoll says. “That really bummed me out because she did such a good job with the design of it and the vibe and everything.”

That atmosphere is “surfy and tropical,” featuring surf music, faux tropical plants, tiki masks, colored glass floats

and rattan furnishings in the cozy, max 30 capacity space — hence its name. When Ingersoll finally reopened the Tiny Tiki this February, he was careful not to change much.

“I didn’t want to do much to the whole business model because it already was so great. I just wanted to keep it going,” he says.

The only notable differences are more limited hours and an expanded tiki drink menu, which features classics like Mai Tais ($14), Painkillers ($14) and Ingersoll’s favorite, the Jungle Bird ($15), a mix of dark rum, campari, pineapple, lime and simple syrup, which he refers to as a “tiki negroni.”

“Most bars don’t have the ability to make a lot of tiki drinks, just because they have very specific ingredients in them,” Ingersoll says. “We have such an extensive tiki menu that you won’t be able to find anywhere else in town.”

The House Piña ($14) is one of the most popular ...continued on next page

The Tiny Tiki has been reborn! ERICK DOXEY PHOTO

“SPRING SIPS,” CONTINUED...

drinks, as well as Tiny Tiki’s twist on the drink, a Peanut Colada ($14), made with rum, peanut butter whiskey, coconut and pineapple. A few zero-proof cocktails are also offered such as the Pineapple Kick ($10) with pineapple, lime, vanilla and cinnamon simple syrup, ginger beer, and mint.

Many of the cocktails come in traditional tiki glasses, garnished with fruits and paper umbrellas. During Thursday happy hour from 5 to 7 pm, tiki classics are only $10 and signature drinks are $2 off.

Before closing in early 2020, the Tiny Tiki had a loyal fan base. Many of those customers are happily returning.

“We’ve had a lot of really good feedback from those people saying, ‘We’re so happy this is back open,’” Ingersoll says.

Looking forward, he plans to build out a patio and start themed nights, as well as DJ nights. The bar is also available to rent for private events.

“I just want to do slow, subtle things as we go along,” Ingersoll says, a reflection of the laid-back, tropical escapist future of the Tiny Tiki. (LUCY KLEBECK)

LOLA WINE LOUNGE

722 E. Lakeside Ave., Coeur d’Alene

Open Wed-Sat from 3-10 pm

Sam Lange chats tableside with guests all evening, charming and easy and playful. He can spin stories with the best of them. But when it comes to wine, Lange is succinct, because he knows exactly what to say. The Va Piano “OX” is gritty and bold. The Baer cabernet franc should be followed by something richer, like a syrah. It took years to find the right Argentinian malbec. The former sommelier at Beverly’s is as insightful about wine as he is about people, and is now one half of Lola Wine Lounge in Coeur d’Alene.

Anna Lombard, a business owner seven times over, is the other half of Lola, responsible

for plenty of details including the sleek interior design — rich black walls, sparkling glass bottles and avant garde art. Her business savvy is matched by her warmth and hospitality, greeting guests at the door and ushering them into the hidden gem.

For months after it opened last August, Lola didn’t even have a sign above its door. Word spread that a new wine bar had opened where an insurance office used to be, and you had to know where that was to even find it. People found Lola well enough, and the lounge has been full just about every night. Sometimes, Lombard and Lange have to turn people away so the cozy space doesn’t get overcrowded.

But if you get the chance, sneak away to Coeur d’Alene for a fabulous evening of good wine and good company. Lola, which takes its name from its owners, (Lo)mbard and (La)nge, makes for a charmed evening that begets stories all of its own. (ELIZA BILLINGHAM)

THIRST TAP HOUSE

324 W. Lancaster Rd., Hayden

Open Sun 11:30 am-7 pm, Tue-Sat 11:30 am-8 pm (until 9 pm Fri-Sat)

Technically, this is Thirst’s second spring awakening, since it first opened its doors in February 2023. But we haven’t been able to get the Tangy Balls ($7), Hot Chick Sliders ($10-$20) or Mountain Man ($6.75) out of our heads yet. Hey, get your mind out of the gutter — this is a family establishment! Kids are welcome, and can even get their own “Charkidderie” board ($8) to keep them occupied during the big game or adult conversation.

At Thirst, sun’s out, bums out — and by bums, we mean sitting on your bum outside on a patio chair. So head over to Hayden for some well-deserved, wholesome fun and relaxation. This Thirst Tap is for everyone! (ELIZA BILLINGHAM) n

This is Your Final Destination

Local restaurants on the move; local food lands at Spokane International Airport

BY ELIZA BILLINGHAM

Attention, Spokane: This is your pilot speaking. A whole new food scene is about to arrive at Spokane International Airport. On April 1, the Spokane Airport Board awarded SSP America a 10-year contract to develop the airport’s food and beverage services. In normal words, that means some pretty cool local restaurants are getting new locations inside the airport.

According to a proposed layout, the rotunda just past security will feature Method Juice Cafe, Shelby’s Burgers, The Yards Bruncheon, Wanderlust Delicato and Thomas Hammer Coffee Roasters. Jack and Dan’s is smack dab in the middle of Concourse A, and Wiley’s Downtown Bistro is set to feed Concourse B. The new Concourse C expansion is envisioned to open with Iron Goat Brewing Co., Meltz Extreme Grilled Cheese, and Zona Tacos and Tortas.

The goal is to welcome visitors into the Inland Northwest with our best fork forward.

“When travelers visit Spokane International Airport, they’re not just passing through our gates on to their next destination,” says Ezra Eckhardt, Spokane Airport Board chair, in the opening announcement. “They’re stepping through the front door of the Spokane-Coeur d’Alene community, and reimagining the airport’s concessions program enables us to simultaneously enhance the passenger experience and create new opportunities to engage and spotlight local Inland Northwest businesses.”

Settle in for a glass or two and some charcuterie at Lola Wine Lounge. ELIZA BILLINGHAM PHOTO

But in case you’re worried about your preflight routine, don’t fret: There will still be a Starbucks in the airport, you’ll just have to go to Concourse C to find it. The bad news for the rest of us is that, yes, all these spots are past the security check. So if you want to get a killer grilled cheese or a tasty taco, go to the restaurants’ city locations.

OTHER NEW ARRIVALS

WHISTLE PUNK EAST

9013 E. Frederick Ave., Millwood

Last month, Whistle Punk Brewing opened a second location in Millwood inside the former home of Millwood Brewing. The Spokane Valley location welcomes all ages, plus dogs on the patio. Hours are the same as its downtown location.

SAVORY

120 S. First Ave., Sandpoint

Find pizza and pasta, plus some exotic takes on comfort classics, made to order in a swanky setting with modern, quick counter service.

IZUMI SUSHI & ASIAN BISTRO

4334 S. Regal St., Spokane

Izumi technically didn’t go anywhere, but it completed an extensive renovation and is now ready to get back to serving the South Hill. Stop in for your favorite sushi roll in a new, beautiful dining room, all without the hassle of finding a new address.

DOS GORDOS

12501 N. Division St., Spokane

Again, not a new location, but a reopening of Wandermere’s latest taco spot after it closed at the end of 2023. Although classic takes on traditional Mexican dishes will make you feel like you’ve taken a trip south of the border.

One final check before you take off: Lunch is back at Zona Blanca! Stop in this spring and summer for a midday margarita or a noontime nosh. The patio officially opens May 7, and happy hour still kicks it from 4 to 6 pm. No need to relocate yourself — take a flavorcation any day of the week, right in downtown Spokane. n

Where the Wild Things Are

Sasquatch Sunset is a film that fully commits to its bigfoot bit, finding gags and eventual grace

BY CHASE HUTCHINSON

When sizing up a film like Sasquatch Sunset, the latest work from co-directors David and Nathan Zellner — with the former taking on writing duties while the latter co-stars — it is important to not go for easy descriptors. Sure, this look at the life of four sasquatches roaming through the woods of the Pacific Northwest and California is bursting with bodily fluids, a range of grunting and plenty of silliness. However, as we accompany the group on their journey through the seasons, it’s as though the Zellners are using these elements as a sly smokescreen for something more sentimental.

SASQUATCH SUNSET

How much of this is earned and whether it undercuts itself are the bigger questions at the center of the film’s shaggy heart. While there is a smorgasbord of dicking around that the film unashamedly takes part in, it’s often just successful enough at reaching for something oddly profound amid all the poop jokes. More than just a provo-

Directed by David Zellner, Nathan Zellner Starring Jesse Eisenberg, Riley Keough, Christophe Zajac-Denek, Nathan Zellner

cation meant to gross you out, the movie gets increasingly poetically minded as it wanders on. For every ridiculous scene like one where the scruffy characters defecate on a road, there is one that hits home. Not everything rhymes as well as one would hope, and there are still a whole host of moments that are intended to elicit revulsion rather than reflection. Still, the film certainly commits to the bit. The same can be said of the actors. Forget the biopics that try to convince you a big star has transformed by donning a bad wig or some sort of prosthetic, this extreme metamorphosis is now the bar by which all other movies must measure themselves. Zellner, Jesse Eisenberg, Riley Keough, and Christophe Zajac-Denek each give their all to roles in which viewers truly won’t recognize them. Though none of the characters have names or dialogue beyond grunts, we still get a sense of the dynamics of the group. Zellner plays the abrasive alpha male who is prone to reckless behavior. Eisenberg is the

ALSO OPENING

ABIGAIL

A child kidnapping for ransom goes horribly wrong when the daughter of the powerful underworld figure the criminal crew nabs turns out to be a bloodthirsty ballerina vampire. Rated R

DEEP SKY: THE 2D IMAX EXPERIENCE

Once a museum-only documentary, this 40-minute visual treat showcases celestial images captured by NASA’s Webb Space Telescope on a massive scale. Not rated. At AMC River Park Square

THE MINISTRY OF UNGENTLEMANLY WARFARE

Based on actual events, this new Guy Ritchie WWII action spy comedy revolves around an attempt to thwart Nazi submarines by the ragtag crew that comprised Britain’s first special forces unit. Rated R

SPY X FAMILY CODE: WHITE

This anime (based on the comedy action manga of the same name) follows a spy-assassin couple and their telepathic daughter. While on a wintry vacation, their daughter accidentally gets mixed up in a plot that could lead to a world war. Rated PG-13

more reserved and thoughtful male who struggles with counting, but keeps trying out of curiosity. Keough plays the lone female who must deal with the men while raising the youngest of the group (Zajac-Denek), just as another sasquatch may soon be on the way.

While many have said the film has no plot, this isn’t entirely true. The group is not just trying to survive a year — it is clear they are searching for other surviving sasquatches. They will bang out an echoing message in unison in the hopes that their fellow creatures will hear them and possibly respond in kind. At the same time, we see signs of people encroaching on the forest. Though no human ever appears — a welcome demonstration of restraint to preserve the spell of nature — it still creates a growing sense that the tranquility of the woods is a deeply fragile one. The soundtrack and the moments where the camera lingers over the landscape capture a sense of awe at the stillness. Even when inevitably interrupted by moments of absurdity, the reserved sequences are the ones that give Sasquatch Sunset something greater than mere silliness. We see this too will not last forever. Life, even as a sasquatch, must always contend with loss.

While it would likely be overstating things to call the film some sort of rich parable about the environment and the critical importance of preserving it, such a read does feel supported by what emerges as a fittingly simple yet completely effective end. It closes on one last joke that juxtaposes what may be all that is left of the sasquatches with the outside world that is now steadily encroaching in on their home. In addition to this being the best gag of the bunch, it’s also its most somber and self-reflective one. After spending an entire film with an embodiment of the mythological beings, it confronts us with our imagination of them. When the beliefs we hold create mighty big shoes for them to fill, what are a group of humble sasquatches to do? For the Zellners, the answer is piss, shit, f—, and maybe, just maybe, find a way to endure a bit longer. n

True-ish Detective

Under the Bridge’s true crime drama finds deeper meaning in a real-life tragedy

BY JOSH BELL

In the current era of nonstop true crime content, the 1997 murder of teenager Reena Virk in the small British Columbia town of Saanich has acquired a new cachet. Whatever the corporate motivation for the new Hulu series about her death may be, though, Under the Bridge is a sensitive and thoughtful drama about a horrible crime with more on its mind than just feeding the never-ending true crime pipeline.

The show takes that sensitivity from Rebecca Godfrey’s book of the same name, and series creator Quinn Shephard involved Godfrey directly in the show’s development, inserting her as a presence in the story to a greater extent than she was in real life. Godfrey herself died in 2022, but Under the Bridge is a testament to her efforts to humanize the easily dismissed teenagers involved in Reena’s death. Shephard and her collaborators take significant liberties with Reena’s story — one that was a national scandal in Canada — but in the process they create a fuller picture of life in the suburban enclave of Vancouver Island.

Although writer Rebecca (Riley Keough) and police officer Cam Bentland (Lily Gladstone) are the central characters, Under the Bridge doesn’t minimize Reena (Vritika Gupta) or her attackers. The show takes its time understanding everyone connected to the central tragedy. In one midseason interlude episode, that even extends all the way back to Reena’s grandparents, Indian immigrants to Canada in the 1940s. A detour like that could feel superfluous, but Under the Bridge emphasizes the importance of family and heritage for all of its characters — and how their pasts shape where they end up, both positively and negatively.

For Reena, that involves rejecting the traditions of her family, who are double minorities as Indian-Canadians and Jehovah’s Witnesses. She prefers to hang out with high school queen bee Josephine Bell (Chloe Guidry), a troublemaker who lives in a foster home and idolizes mobsters like John Gotti. Josephine is Reena’s “friend”

inasmuch as she can use her to make herself look more powerful and important, while the volatile Kelly Ellard (Izzy G.) is Josephine’s actual bestie.

That typical teen-girl conflict between genuine and performative friendship comes to a violent climax when Josephine decides to enact retribution for Reena spreading malicious rumors. A group of teens lure Reena to a gathering under a local bridge, where they savagely beat her. After she recovers and tries to walk away from the attack, two of the assailants remain behind to make sure she stays down.

The details of Reena’s murder trickle out over the course of eight episodes, but never in a way that feels frustrating or exploitative. Rebecca, returning to her hometown after years away, latches onto the case as a way to bring empathy to marginalized teens, and she’s especially protective of accused murderer Warren Glowatski (Javon Walton). Rebecca and Cam have a shared past, and they warily reconnect, often at odds both personally and professionally, but both determined to do the right thing for young people they see as reflections of themselves.

Josephine, who refuses to believe that she’s not equivalent to the mafia figures she’s seen in movies.

Cam is a fictional character, and adding in the personal story between her and Rebecca threatens to derail focus from the real victims and perpetrators. But Keough and Gladstone bring genuine fragile humanity to their performances, providing more than just an entry point for the audience. The teen actors are just as good, especially Guidry as the posturing, gangster rap-obsessed

There are times that Under the Bridge feels meandering, and some of the key figures in the case don’t get entirely fleshed out until later episodes. But considering how easy it would have been to just translate Godfrey’s book into a sensationalistic thriller, the show deserves credit for finding deeper truths about identity, influence and forgiveness — even if it has to bend some of the facts to get there. n

UNDER THE BRIDGE

Created by Quinn Shephard Starring Riley Keough, Lily Gladstone, Vritika Gupta Streaming on Hulu

Hulu’s new series is based on Rebecca Godfrey’s 2019 Victoria, B.C.-set true crime thriller.

Fresh Cut Sounds

A look at some of the best records released so far in 2024

BY SETH SOMMERFELD

BLOOD, HAIR, AND EYEBALLS ALKALINE TRIO

Alkaline Trio feels reenergized on Blood, Hair, and Eyeballs. The group’s best album since 2005’s Crimson features an array of extremely hooky melodic punk choruses and emotionally frayed lyricism. Despite what the album title might suggest, this is the least deliberately macabre album from Alkaline Trio in ages (though the very catchy title track nails that vibe), which is welcome since that aspect had been overdone on other recent records. Instead the trio returns to more of its dark and scrappy hopeless romanticism for lost souls origins with standout tracks like “Bad Time” and “Hot for Preacher.” The past couple years have seen an array of pop punk vets release their best albums in decades (Sum 41, Green Day, Blink-182, ect.), and the huge riffs and soaring “whoa” choruses of Blood, Hair, and Eyeballs make sure Alkaline Trio ranks among the best of them.

DANIEL REAL ESTATE

Part of growing up with any sort of grace is finding contentment in not always being the center of attention. That sense permeates Daniel, the sixth album by indie pop group Real Estate. While playlist-algorithm-chasing “chill vibes” songs have become a scourge of the music industry, there’s still space for carefully crafted, casually carefree tunes that don’t agonizingly sweat over trying to forcefully grab a listener’s attention. Real Estate frontman Martin Courtney’s soft tones guide this collection of lean and polished ’90s-hued relaxed jangle pop. Whether unpacking his songwriter brain (“Water Underground”) or difficult to pin down anxiety (“Market Street”), he guides listeners with a gentle hand that allows for a laid-back air which invites repeat visits simply through its unobtrusive warmth.

GOLDEN AGE OF SELF SNITCHING REVIVAL SEASON

In an era when overlong hip-hop albums seem to be routine, Atlanta duo Revival Season’s Golden Age of Self Snitching is a blisteringly kinetic breath of fresh air. There’s no snoozers on this tight 14-song LP, which combines the snarling afro punk freneticism of rapper Brandon “BEZ” Evans and the rock-leaning production of producer Jonah Swilley. Evans revels in spitting spite at social failures, calling out rap posers, and generally being an unrestrained delight with a consistent explosive punch that mixes Southern hip-hop and the always-on energy of a group like Run the Jewels. He’s given a popping canvas to play on with Swilley’s production mixing funk, rock and reggae sounds, finding a sonic headspace akin to early Dust Brothers (without being nearly as sample-dense). Tracks like the you-reap-what-you-sow jam “Boomerang” and the bouncing block party swagger of “Pump” crackle with a vigor that’s gonna sound killer blasting out of speakers from cars with their windows rolled down this summer.

HOLE IN MY HEAD

LAURA JANE GRACE

An exercise in throwback folk punk simplicity, Hole in My Head succeeds because it is aware of its scope and never tries to overshoot it. While punks may be clamoring for another Against Me! album, this is the closest Laura Jane Grace has come to matching the full band edge on a solo record since 2008’s Heart Burns. She blisters her way through 11 tracks in under 30 minutes while managing to never hit an insincere note, whether she’s singing about love and quoting Cheap Trick (“Mercenary”), reminiscing about early punk days (“Punk Rock in Basements”), venting the overwhelming angst crammed in her brain (“Hole in My Head”) or finding comfort in a ratty Adidas hoodie when gender dysphoria hits hard (“Dysphoria Hoodie”). Hole in My Head gets to the point, rocks out and never comes close to overstaying its welcome.

PRELUDE TO ECSTASY THE LAST DINNER PARTY

Opening your first album with an orchestral overture is certainly one way to set expectations from the jump. The Last Dinner Party is a band that goes for it. The extremely buzzy fem group revels in grand baroque pop on Prelude to Ecstasy, each note dripping with an extreme high school theater kid-level of gesticulating drama. There’s an air of Queen’s rock regality to the arty package, which extends to singer Abigail Morris’ gender-upending queer lyrical cleverness. There’s a decadent deliciousness to the jaunty rock sleaze of “Sinner” and the epic screaming biblical desire of “My Lady of Mercy.” The band’s glam bombast can feel a bit too refined and buttoned-up at moments, but when things peak like on the jubilant crescendo of “Nothing Matters” all the indulgences seem worth it.

UTOPIA NOW! ROSIE TUCKER

Late-stage-capitalism fatalism isn’t supposed to sound this f—ing fun. Utopia Now! doesn’t trade in softpeddled subtlety, instead nonbinary indie rocker Rosie Tucker attacks the bleak state of the world with blunt force brainiac lyrical dexterity. Opening lines like “I hope no one had to piss in a bottle at work to get me the thing I ordered on the internet” (“All My Exes Live in Vortexes”) and “They’re gonna turn the moon into a sweatshop / Like none of these f—ers ever even heard of Gil Scott / Heron more like albatross” (“Gil Scott Albatross”) set the tone for the album early, as does the cutting metaphor of a musician being another commercial good with planned obsolescence (“Lightbulb”). But the album isn’t all devilishly clever lecturing. The crafty musicianship on display gives a host of tunes a wonderfully bouncy pep, and tracks like “Big Fish/No Fun” and “Suffer! Like You Mean It” tap into a loving human heart with fragile tenderpunk vulnerability. Tucker’s earnestly sweet vocals make you believe them when they holler, “I want nothing but unending bliss for my enemies!” (“Unending Bliss”), and when they carry a softly hopeful but heavy weight on the existential closer “Eternal Life.”

PEOPLE WHO AREN’T THERE ANYMORE FUTURE ISLANDS

Future Islands’ special sauce has always been the contrast between its danceable ’80s-influenced synthpop and singer Samuel T. Herring’s intensive emotive vocal delivery and stage persona. The cacophony of his feelings is at the forefront of People Who Aren’t There Anymore, an album detailing his internal turmoil over his cross-continental longdistance relationship falling apart during pandemic times. But rather than a pure breakup album, this collection of songs touches on the highs of love before wallowing in the crushing lows. Letting Herring explore the light on tracks like the soaring “The Tower” then makes the heartbreak hit harder. And when it hits… ooof. Closing things out with “The Garden Wheel” — which uses the metaphor of deeply cared for but overworked land that can no longer bear fruit — is the hard-to-swallow cherry of sadness on top. But Future Island’s synthpop backing prevents things from ever feeling too dour to take, allowing the album to be a safe space where Herring can sing and dance his tears away.

TIGERS BLOOD WAXAHATCHEE

While she’s been elite since 2013’s Cerulean Salt, it’s great that the larger music world is finally realizing that Waxahatchee (aka Katie Crutchfield) is a generational American songwriting talent. Perhaps the most stunning thing about the indie folk rock grace she displays throughout Tigers Blood is the pure casual ease of the songs’ effervescent warmth. Crutchfield possesses that certain je ne sais quoi that makes everything she crafts feel timeless and universal — these songs would land whether played at a hip rock club or a divey honkytonk… circa 1974 or 2024. The Alabama native boasts a true Southern poet’s sense of humid melancholy and sticky sweetness. Just lay back and bask in the sunny sonic rays of Tigers Blood and let it melt away your problems for a bit.

WHAT AN ENORMOUS ROOM TORRES

While nobody wants to listen to an album that’s a disjointed mess, being all over the place can be a good thing. Case in point: Torres’ What an Enormous Room. The sixth album from singer-songwriter Mackenzie Scott delightfully never settles into a single sound while still feeling interconnected. A large part has to do with the production by Scott and Sarah Jaffe, which gives each track an enlarged sense of scale without ever feeling imposing upon the listener. Scott’s typically advanced songcraft feels so fully composed no matter what sonic water she’s dipping her toes into on a given track. Whether slowburn guitar brooding (“Artificial Limits”), singing delicately over synthy stomp beats (“I Got the Fear”), ruminating in Tom Tom Club-like interludes (“Jerk into Joy”), stripping things back for sparse piano meditations (“Songbird Forever”) or riffing with Garbage-esque alt-rock swagger (“Collect”), What an Enormous Room lives up to the enormity of its name.

WHERE’S MY UTOPIA? YARD ACT

Yard Act takes big conceptual swings on its sophomore album, My Utopia?. Frontman James Smith’s talk-sung self-examinations feel both cutting and apathetic while the rest of the band locks into more upbeat grooves on this chaotic post-punk collage of dry Brit wit. The album sort of feels like The Streets filtered through Pulp. Sure, things can get a bit pretentious at times, but for the most part the big ideas land. It takes a lot to have Macbeth samples and reflections of one’s own bullying past (“Down by the Stream”) mesh seamlessly with tongue-in-cheek mythmaking about one’s own band, but Yard Act’s playful cynicism shines on dance-away-your-crushing-nihilism jams like “We Make Hits” and the discoinfused “Dream Job.” n ALSO DON’T

MISS…

ALL QUIET ON THE EASTERN ESPLANADE - THE LIBERTINES

DEEPER WELL - KACEY MUSGRAVES

HARM’S WAY - DUCKS LTD.

HEAVEN :X: HELL - SUM 41

I GOT HEAVEN - MANNEQUIN PUSSY

KEEP IT GOIN XAV - XAVIERSOBASED

LIVE LAUGH LOVE - CHASTITY BELT

PACKAGE PT. 2 - GUSTAF

POLAROID LOVERS - SARAH JAROSZ

SAVIORS - GREEN DAY

SPOKANE, WA

11AM & 5 PM 2PM

PCI Concerts Welcomes Multi-Platinum Selling Artist

With hits like: “Year of the Cat” and “Time Passages”

Thursday, April 25th at 7pm

The Bing Crosby Theater

ALTERNATIVE ROCK BOX ELDER

J = THE INLANDER RECOMMENDS THIS SHOW

J = ALL AGES SHOW

Thursday, 4/18

ARBOR CREST WINE CELLARS, Riley Anderson

J THE BIG DIPPER, Enterprise Earth, Inferi, Crown Magnetar, Tracheotomy

BOLO’S BAR & GRILL, Desert Hwy Band

BOLO’S BAR & GRILL, Bolo’s Blues & Brews

CHAN’S RED DRAGON ON THIRD, Thursday Night Jam

CHECKERBOARD TAPROOM, Weathered Shepherds

COEUR D’ALENE CASINO, 38 Special J MCCRACKEN’S PUB AND BBQ, Sentimental Journey

NIGHTHAWK LOUNGE (CDA CASINO), Eternal Jones

J QQ SUSHI & KITCHEN, Just Plain Darin

RED ROOM LOUNGE, Hip-Hop Night

J RELIC SMOKEHOUSE & PUB, Pamela Benton

ZOLA, The Rub

Friday, 4/19

AK ASIAN RESTAURANT, Gil Rivas

AMERICAN LEGION POST 143, Carson Rhodes

ARBOR CREST WINE CELLARS, Sean Kavanaugh

J J THE BIG DIPPER, Box Elder, Jet//Lag, Uh Oh & The Oh Wells, Mama Llama

CHAN’S RED DRAGON ON THIRD, Steve Livingston and Tripleshot

CHINOOK STEAK, SEAFOOD & PASTA, Nick Wiebe

THE DISTRICT BAR, Mos Generator

DRY FLY DISTILLING, Son of Brad

J THE GRAIN SHED, Haywire

DUBSTEP G-SPACE

HAPPY TRAILS TO BREWS, All Directions Band

IOLITE LOUNGE, Philosophers Daughter

J J BONES MUSICLAND, Time Baby

THE KENWORTHY, The Widow Cameron, Blaine Andrew Ross

J KNITTING FACTORY, Niko Moon, Redferrin

NIGHTHAWK LOUNGE (CDA CASINO), The Real McCoy

PEND D’OREILLE WINERY, AP Collective

RED ROOM LOUNGE, Live DJs

J REPUBLIC BREWING CO., Leon Majcen, Dani Bacon

THE RIDLER PIANO BAR, Just Plain Darin

SPOKANE TRIBE CASINO, Kameron Marlowe, Tucker Wetmore

ZOLA, Royale

Saturday, 4/20

ARBOR CREST WINE CELLARS, Josie Jurkovac

J THE BIG DIPPER, Northwest Breeze, Antique Sex Machine

J BLACK DIAMOND, The Ronaldos

J BLACK LABEL BREWING CO., Children of Atom and Heritor

J CAFE COCO, B

J THE CHAMELEON, G-Space, Otek Miiko, Jojo, Trizzle

CHAN’S RED DRAGON ON THIRD, Bobby Patterson Band

CHINOOK STEAK, SEAFOOD & PASTA, Nick Wiebe

THE DISTRICT BAR, Hed PE, Souls Worn Thin, Better Daze

I’m not saying it’s incredibly hard to be anything but a country artist if you’re making music in Wyoming… but, yes, that is exactly what I’m saying. Thankfully, Box Elder proves that there’s at least some other types of sounds emanating from the least populous state. Hailing from the resort town of Jackson, Box Elder crafts catchy and melodic emotional alt-rock that certainly feels more at home in a club with mosh pits than it does at a square dancing bar. The five-piece treks across the Rockies with a couple new singles — “Clarity” and “Arrows” — to rock out at the Big Dipper.

— SETH SOMMERFELD

Box Elder, Jet///Lag, Uh Oh & The Oh Wells, Mama Llama • Fri, April 19 at 7:30 pm • $15 • All ages • The Big Dipper • 171 S. Washington St. • thebigdipperspokane.com

While loads of DJs excel in one lane, the good ones are multifaceted. Take G-Space, who can both get a crowd hyped and send them into a fully chilled-out state. His piano background allows him to tap into some beautiful and calming states while injecting his blend of bass, trip and glitch sounds with intertextual sonic references. But he also knows how to raise the hype level with more energetic tracks and sometimes even literally contorting his body by doing standing spinning flips to pump up an audience. GSpace’s peaceful demeanor makes his dubstep sets feel even more communal and warm than the typical fellowship at EDM shows.

— SETH SOMMERFELD

G-Space, Otek Miiko, Jojo • Sat, April 20 at 9 pm • $25-$30 • 21+ • The Chameleon • 1801 W. Sunset Blvd. • chameleonspokane.com

HISTORIC DAVENPORT HOTEL, Thomas Pletscher Trio

IRON GOAT BREWING CO., Son of Brad

NIGHTHAWK LOUNGE (CDA CASINO), The Real McCoy

J NORTH HILL ON GARLAND, Just Plain Darin PEND D’OREILLE WINERY, Ponderay Paradox

J PONDEROSA BAR AND GRILL, Gil Rivas RED ROOM LOUNGE, Live DJs

J SILVER MOUNTAIN RESORT, Herbal Dickenbacher

J SIRINYA’S THAI RESTAURANT, Steve Starkey ZOLA, Sugar Bear ZOLA, Brittany’s House

Sunday, 4/21

J THE BIG DIPPER, Blacktracks, Jang the Goon HOGFISH, Open Mic

J KNITTING FACTORY, The California Honeydrops

J SOUTH HILL GRILL, Just Plain Darin

Monday, 4/22

EICHARDT’S PUB, Monday Night Blues Jam with John Firshi RED ROOM LOUNGE, Open Mic Night

Tuesday, 4/23

J DRUNKY’S JUNKYARD BBQ, Gil Rivas

J IDAHO CENTRAL CREDIT UNION ARENA (MOSCOW), Finals Fest: Fleet Foxes, Desolation Horse

PEND D’OREILLE WINERY, Carson Rhodes

ZOLA, Jerry Lee and the Groove, Elijah Dallas

Wednesday, 4/24

J THE BIG DIPPER, Careful Gaze, Greybloom

THE DRAFT ZONE, The Draft Zone Open Mic

J IRON HORSE (VALLEY), Just Plain Darin with Robin Graham

PEND D’OREILLE WINERY, Bob Beadling

RED ROOM LOUNGE, Red Room Lounge Jam

J TIMBERS ROADHOUSE, Cary Beare Presents

J ZEEKS PIZZA, Ben Vogel

Coming Up ...

J BING CROSBY THEATER, Al Stewart & The Empty Pockets, April 25, 7-10 pm.

J THE BIG DIPPER, Forest Ray, Pit, Bonemass, April 25, 7:30 pm.

THE DISTRICT BAR, The Takes, Snacks at Midnight, April 25, 9 pm.

J THE CHAMELEON, Sydney Dale, Kenneth Booher, April 26, 6 pm.

J HAMILTON STUDIO, Rock & Pop Art Show with Itchy Kitty, April 26, 7-10 pm.

J SPOKANE ARENA, Cody Johnson, Justin Moore, Drake Milligan, April 26, 7:30 pm.

J THE FOX THEATER, Michael W. Smith, April 26, 7:30 pm.

THE CHAMELEON, Certainly So, Lucas Brookbank Brown, April 26, 8 pm.

J MCCARTHEY ATHLETIC CENTER, Stone Temple Pilots, April 26, 8-11 pm.

SPOKANE TRIBE CASINO, Steel Panther, Stitched Up Heart, April 26, 8 pm.

J JOHN A. FINCH ARBORETUM, Heat Speak, April 27, 11 am-2 pm.

J CREATE ARTS CENTER, Terry Robb, April 27, 6-8 pm.

J CENTRAL LIBRARY, Colourflies, General Machine Co, The Sifters, April 27, 7-10 pm.

J THE BIG DIPPER, Xoth, Atoll, Atrae Bilis, April 27, 7:30 pm.

THE DISTRICT BAR, FUEGO!, April 27, 8 pm.

THE CHAMELEON, DANG!: A Soulful Electronic Dance Night, April 27, 9 pm.

J J THE PODIUM, Dethklok, DragonForce, Nekrogoblikon, April 28, 7 pm.

J NORTHERN QUEST CASINO, Michael Ray, April 28, 7:30 pm.

J NORTHERN QUEST CASINO, Hinder, April 30, 7:30 pm.

THE DISTRICT BAR, Thunderstorm Artis, April 30, 9 pm.

MUSIC | VENUES

219 LOUNGE • 219 N. First Ave., Sandpoint • 208-263-5673

ARBOR CREST WINE CELLARS • 4705 N. Fruit Hill Rd., Spokane Valley

BABY BAR

827 W. First Ave.

509-927-9463

509-847-1234

BARRISTER WINERY

1213 W. Railroad Ave.

509-465-3591

BEE’S KNEES WHISKY BAR

1324 W. Lancaster Rd.., Hayden

208-758-0558

BERSERK • 125 S. Stevens St. • 509-315-5101

THE BIG DIPPER • 171 S. Washington St.

509-863-8098

BIGFOOT PUB

9115 N. Division St.

BING CROSBY THEATER

509-227-7638

BLACK DIAMOND

509-467-9638

901 W. Sprague Ave.

9614 E. Sprague Ave.

509891-8357

BOLO’S BAR & GRILL

116 S. Best Rd., Spokane Valley

509-891-8995

BOOMERS CLASSIC ROCK BAR

18219 E. Appleway Ave., Spokane Valley

509-368-9847

BUCER’S COFFEEHOUSE PUB

201 S. Main St., Moscow

208-596-0887

THE BULL HEAD

10211 S. Electric St., Four Lakes

509-838-9717

CHAN’S RED DRAGON

1406 W. Third Ave.

509-838-6688

THE CHAMELEON

CHECKERBOARD

1801 W. Sunset Blvd.

1716 E. Sprague Ave.

509-443-4767

COEUR D’ALENE CASINO

37914 S. Nukwalqw St., Worley

800-523-2464

COEUR D’ALENE CELLARS

3890 N. Schreiber Way, Coeur d’Alene

208-664-2336

CRUISERS BAR & GRILL

6105 W Seltice Way, Post Falls

208-446-7154

CURLEY’S HAUSER JUNCTION

26433 W. Hwy. 53, Post Falls

THE DISTRICT BAR

EICHARDT’S PUB

208-773-5816

916 W. 1st Ave.

509-244-3279

212 Cedar St., Sandpoint

208-263-4005

FIRST INTERSTATE CENTER FOR THE ARTS

334 W. Spokane Falls Blvd.

FOX THEATER

1001 W. Sprague Ave.

509-624-1200

IRON HORSE

509-279-7000

407 E. Sherman, Coeur d’Alene

208-667-7314

IRON HORSE BAR & GRILL

11105 E. Sprague Ave., Spokane Valley

JOHN’S ALLEY

509-926-8411

114 E. Sixth St., Moscow

208-883-7662

KNITTING FACTORY

509-244-3279

MARYHILL WINERY

509-443-3832

911 W. Sprague Ave.

1303 W. Summit Pkwy.

MILLIE’S • 28441 Hwy 57, Priest Lake • 208-443-0510

MOOSE LOUNGE • 401 E. Sherman Ave., Coeur d’Alene • 208-664-7901

NASHVILLE NORTH

208-457-9128

6361 W. Seltice Way, Post Falls

NORTHERN QUEST RESORT & CASINO • 100 N. Hayford Rd., Airway Heights

NYNE BAR & BISTRO

509-474-1621

877-871-6772

232 W. Sprague Ave.

PEND D’OREILLE WINERY

301 Cedar St., Sandpoint • 208-265-8545

POST FALLS BREWING CO.

112 N. Spokane St., Post Falls • 208-773-7301

RAZZLE’S BAR & GRILL • 10325 N. Government Way, Hayden • 208-635-5874

RED ROOM LOUNGE • 521 W. Sprague Ave. • 509-838-7613

THE RIDLER PIANO BAR

SEASONS OF COEUR D’ALENE

SPOKANE ARENA

1004 S. Perry St.

720 W. Mallon Ave.

COMMUNITY THERE’S NO PLANET B

Though our planet should be celebrated daily, Earth Day is one day each year for demonstrating the importance we place on environmental protection. It’s not hard to admire our planet’s beauty when we live in such a gorgeous environment, but plenty of local organizations are here to remind us this Earth Day. Clean up the river with the Spokane Riverkeeper on Saturday, April 20 at High Bridge and People’s Park, or head up to Newport on that same day for an Earth Day Art Walk featuring exhibitions and demonstrations, craft booths and more. For those looking to change some of their own habits for the better, Second Harvest is hosting a Zero Waste Kitchen event all about reducing personal food waste on Monday, April 22. And if you’re hoping to get the whole family involved in the celebration, head to the Central Library in downtown Spokane on April 20 for an afternoon of sustainable fun. (You might even get a free sapling out of it!)

— MADISON PEARSON

Earth Day Events

• Dates, times and locations vary; more at Inlander.com/events

MUSIC HAVE YOU HEARD?

One of the goals of Gonzaga’s music department is to enhance the Inland Northwest, whether that be through performances, education or innovation. The university’s upcoming Emerging Artist Series offers the public a chance to learn about the rising talent its music program has to offer. Student composers, songwriters and sound artists share their work, giving us a glimpse at what they have been working on. The Creative Music Lab Ensemble, Gonzaga’s modern chamber ensemble, also performs, showcasing its combination of traditional and modern ways of creating music. For those looking to learn more about music or discover a new artist, this might just be the place.

— LUCY KLEBECK

Emerging Artist Series

• Fri, April 19 from 7:30-9 pm

• Free

• Myrtle Woldson Performing Arts Center • 211 E. Desmet Ave. • gonzaga.edu/mwpac • 509-313-2787

SPORTS & OUTDOORS SPOKE-ANE

For local bike enthusiasts, this weekend is akin to a trip to Disneyland. The annual Spokane Bike Swap returns with over 50 exhibitors selling new bicycles and accessories so you can prepare for the nice weather ahead. Cyclists are invited to sell their bikes or buy a new one (or a few new ones — we won’t tell!) There are opportunities to learn about bikes and bike culture as well. Register your new bike with Spokane C.O.P.S., learn how to load a bike on a STA bus rack and much more. The Spokane Bike Swap is also a great chance to donate bikes you’ve outgrown or don’t ride anymore, which can benefit those who can’t afford to purchase one. Bike on over to the fairgrounds and see what you can find!

— MADISON PEARSON

Spokane Bike Swap & Expo • Sat, April 20 from 9 am-4 pm • $7; free for kids 12 and under • Spokane County Fair & Expo Center • 404 N. Havana St. • spokanebikeswap.com

GET LISTED!

Submit events online at Inlander.com/getlisted or email relevant details to getlisted@inlander.com. We need the details one week prior to our publication date.

VISUAL ARTS DARING, DEVOTED, DENAE

Losing a friend or a family member is one of the most difficult things we go through as human beings. When Denae Veselits lost her battle with cancer this past January, her loved ones sprang into action to organize a show featuring over 50 paintings showcasing her incredible artistry and appreciation for various cultures as a celebration of her life. After a tumultuous childhood, Veselits turned to art to express herself and explore the lives of others, living and working in the Inland Northwest throughout her career. Much of the artwork in the show reflects the time Veselits spent with women experiencing poverty, as well as her love of nature. Proceeds from the sale of Veselits’ art will benefit the Union Gospel Mission and other charitable organizations.

— MADISON PEARSON

Denae: Retrospective of an Artist • April 18-21; Thu-Sat from 5-10 pm, Sun from 3-9 pm • Free • Ruins • 225 W. Riverside Ave. • 509-995-3651

DRINKS BREW CREW

What’s better than drinking with friends? More drinking with friends! This year’s West End Brew Fest features five breweries on downtown Spokane’s west side for a whole day of good beer and great company. For $25, ticket holders get a beanie, a commemorative glass, and $4 pours of the best beers Humble Abode, Brick West, Whistle Punk, Iron Goat, and Grain Shed brewers have to offer. If you need a palate refresh between your IPA, Kolsch or lager, check out the food trucks parked at various locations, including spicy, southof-the-border sweets from La Pica Chica. Then, jam out to live music at Brick West from local artists Justyn Priest, The General Machinery, and Silver Smile. No matter what, it’ll be a delicious spring afternoon of sunshine (hopefully) and buzzin’ vibes, all while supporting some of Spokane’s favorite local breweries.

— ELIZA BILLINGHAM

West End Beer Fest

• Sat, April 20 from noon-11 pm

• $25

• Locations vary • westendbeerfest.com

I SAW YOU

HATS OFF TO PAUL DILLION I’m a critic about 90% of the time, but I just want to say thanks to Paul Dillon and any of the other council members that are supporting this new law that will give tenants six months notice on rent increases! This is the kind of meaningful, thoughtful representation that the working people in this city, many of whom either experience housing insecurity themselves or are close to people who do, need to help them feel safer. I really can’t say thank you enough. I was shocked when I saw the article. I have always known Paul Dillon and our City Council were the real deal, but this is really great.

KISSES FROM FONZIE I saw you while you were eating burgers with a bro on the patio at The Elk (4/10 @ 6:30pm). I was with my gal pal at the El Que. We walked past twice, the second time stopping to get kisses from your handsome fur baby, Fonzie, who stole my heart INSTANTLY! I shared some info about my dingo red heeler. I was too obsessed with your dog to pay much attention to you (LOL), but I looked into your eyes just before I left and immediately wished I had turned around to talk more, but didn’t have the guts. Let’s take our dogs for a river hike together!!!???

YOU SAW ME

NOTHING ELSE IS EASY You think loving you was my white room? Every night I speed

through city lights, in hopes that maybe I'll burn down. I hate being a ghost, a common clover at most, found under your feet if only you'd look down. I confess that some days weren't the best, but don't be so silly, every girl is a princess. To forget my losses and because nothing else is easy, I'll burn myself to ashes, and I hope you believe me, that you were the only Black Room Girl to be given the chance to see me.

CHEERS

TO MY ADORABLE PARTNER I want to thank you for staying by me while helping me grow and overcome depression. I was really very hard to deal with, and yet you were very patient with me. Stuck with me regardless of tantrums, bouts of self-pity and lashing out. Thank you so much!!! I LOVE YOU!!!! Yours for eternity

THANKS FOR THE STAPLES! Cheers to the Inlander for using staples in your publication. I still remember when you announced that things were so bad that you weren’t going to be able to use them. It was a sad time. The Inlander using staples again gives me renewed hope that maybe things are better, and I’m thankful for this small thing that holds the paper together.

LABOR AND DELIVERY ANGELS To Sabrina and Ellie, two of the nurses at Deaconess in labor and delivery, your kindness and compassion while caring for me during a devastating miscarriage made me feel so much comfort during a traumatic time. You held my hand and cried with me, hugged me and really cared for me. I didn’t even know you but felt like I couldn’t have done it without you. I’ve thought about both of you every day in the week since. You make a difference with what you do. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Please know that I’m doing OK and have hope for my future family.

THANK YOU FOR THE POTHOLE FIX Thank you whoever did the street fixing on 29th and Thor. It was an absolute hazard so we are grateful. Dear city of Spokane, please consider throwing some asphalt on it? The potholes get so severe it is causing irreparable damage to our vehicles. Not to mention a small child could drown in one of those beasts when it rains. Anyway, thank you... and asphalt please?

JEERS

RE: AWFUL OFFAL I agree, stepping over human waste is never fun. Where do you expect houseless folks to use the bathroom? Every business has taken away the right to a bathroom, even our parks leave the bathrooms locked. If you take away the right of human decency, then

we will have no human decency left. The argument of drug use and other general misuse isn’t lost on me. As someone who works in the food industry, I understand how dangerous (and far above my pay grade) it is to clean up after someone who has used in the bathroom. I just think it’s time we all stop talking and complaining about the problem and start coming up with solutions, real solutions; not something sweeping the problem under the rug. I hope you understand this response isn’t so much directed at you but much more directed at the city. Hope you have a better week!

OOPS! WEATHER FORECAST FAILS… AGAIN

For the record, the hapless weather guesser has promised a 70-degree day on Saturday, April 13. Remember this, because they won’t, when the weather forecast is once again wrong and we’re still shivering on Saturday and wondering when the so called forecasters will own up to their mistakes and admit that they’re just hoping for warmer weather. Just say you were wrong, guys. Some of us remember.

EVEN HIPPIES SHOULD HAVE STANDARDS If you were sick with a head cold and decided to attend last Thursday’s Hippie Sabotage concert at the Knit anyways, I hope you stub your toe on your coffee table or fail to pull off the yoga pose you’ve been trying to nail for the last five months. You got me and my three besties sick, and I’m sure you got countless other people sick too. I’m all for peace, love and communal living, but please keep your sick self at home and your germs to yourself. Even hippies should have decent standards.

RE: NORTH IDAHO CRITICISM I read with great amusement... your Jeers. Not one person said Spokane was free of racism. The incidents criticized occurred in Idaho. No one was being exclusionary, but instead were voicing our disgust at this most recent incident. If such occurs in Spokane, I have not doubt you’ll read Jeers on that also. P.S. An artificial state line hardly divides the beauty of our Inland NW.

RE: JEERS TO THE INLANDER “...reactionary socialist entr[ies]”...”snowflake position”... Socialism is defined as an egalitarian economic and politcal movement advocating societal ownership of property and natural resources. What has that to do with printing responses to racism? One must be a socialist to be anti-racist? Yes, writers were “reacting” to the racist event. Your use of “snowflake” to demean others’ reaction, the “garbage can” comment on the question of why no 911 calls or video recordings, and resorting to name calling, just like the pickup boys, indicates you support racism. That is incredibly sad. Kudos to the Inlander, for as much as it pains to hear such vitriol, for supporting his First Amendment right of free speech.

WASTED WORDS FROM UNEDUCATED MINDS Here’s the deal...anyone that has served in the military and that paid attention during basic training would know that, as civilians, we don’t have a clue about what’s really happening in world affairs. Even active duty military fighting in a war only know what they need to know. So to form such a hard-nosed, biased opinion is simply idiotic. What concerns me is that if we continue to do things such as prosecute our former presidents and keep electing puppets that are willing to do whatever will win votes, we are seriously at risk and vulnerable to attack. How many of the approx 200,000 immigrants that we just let into our country are spies or even worse; how many are actually active military for another country? And why? Because we are so busy figuring with ourselves that we have lost sight of our unity. I don’t know about anyone else, but when it goes down,

I’ll be the first man willing to die to save my neighbor, regardless of their political party or if they voted for Trump. Just saying.

SORRY SITUATION Jeers to our new mayor and her supporters. Mayor Brown is now proposing a $200 million levy on property owners so she can throw the money at “public safety.” It’s what they always do. How many more of these levies are the people supposed to endure before they get priced out of their homes? It’s obvious the “party of compassion” doesn’t give a damn.

NORTH IDAHO COLLEGE WTF With all the scuttlebutt about NIC and staff, community uproar, student athletes who can’t cut the mustard (toughen up, buttercup, life is unfair!) makes me wonder who is really behind the curtain. Will it cause this institute to fold and someone to buy up this PRIME location for more profitable reasons as it tanks out? Look to the future folks, do you hear the hammers, maybe we can teach students the school of hard knocks, as the condos are being built.

JEERS TO THE HATERS

Jeers to groups like the Veterans on Patrol and the Underground Rainbow. They convince people they are helping children and animals when they really are serving their own agendas — spreading hate and seeking attention at the expense of legitimate organizations that are truly trying to help.

SELF-CENSORSHIP I’ve noticed an online trend of censorship. Many words are being redacted or misspelled by the author. Not just profanity; ordinary words, too — like “suicide” or “shooter” and “death.” What in the hell is going on? Fear of offending, triggering, being banned or losing monetization? And whoever owns the platforms can shape the narrative. How are we supposed to solve issues if we’re not even allowed to spell them out? n

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

EVENTS | CALENDAR

BENEFIT

RADIO SHOWS A two-night live comedy radio show performance benefiting Out of the Box Entertainment and Create Arts Center. April 19-20, 7-9 pm. $12-$15. Create Arts Center, 900 Fourth St. outoftheboxentertainment.org (509-671-1442)

WILD THINGS WILDLIFE GALA A gala benefitting Cat Tales Wildlife Center with a silent and live auction, a themed photobooth, trivia and a surprise announcement. April 20, 6:30-8:30 pm. $100$150. Garland Theater, 924 W. Garland Ave. cattales.org (509-327-1050)

3,000 DOGS PLACED CELEBRATION A potluck party and open house featuring various animals to interact with. April 21, 12-4 pm. $5. Spring Hill Grange, 8717 N. Brooks Rd. facebook.com/dachshundrescuenw (509-796-2140)

SEND A FRIEND A GOAT FUNDRAISER

Send someone a visit from a baby goat. The recipient of the goat can then donate any amount of money to send the goat away, or pass it along to someone else for $75. April 22-26, 8 am-4 pm. $75. wishingstar.org (509-744-3411)

HEART STRINGS A concert benefitting MultiCare Behavioral Health Network featuring Stone Temple Pilots. April 26, 8-11 pm. $50-$150. McCarthey Athletic Center, 801 N Cincinnati. multicareheartstrings.org (509-313-6000)

TASTE OF HOPE A live auction/dinner benefitting the Isaac Foundation. April 26. $125. Shriners Event Center, 7217 W. Westbow Blvd. theisaacfoundation.org

A WOMAN’S WORTH GALA Honor the achievements and contributions of

women from all walks of life. The night includes music, food and a silent auction. April 26, 6-8:30 pm. $60-$500. Gonzaga University Hemmingson Center, 702 E. Desmet. awomansworth.co

COMEDY

SAFARI The Blue Door Theatre’s version of Whose Line featuring short comedy skits from audience suggestions. Every Saturday at 7:30 pm. $9. Blue Door Theatre, 319 S. Cedar. bluedoortheatre.com

SHAUN JOHNSON Johnson is known for his relatable style of comedy. April 20, 7-8 pm. $32-$45. Bing Crosby Theater, 901 W. Sprague. bingcrosbytheater.com

DUOPROV Grab a partner and learn improv games and exercises for two. April 23, 7-9 pm. $50. Blue Door Theatre, 319 S. Cedar. bluedoortheatre.org

NEW TALENT TUESDAYS Watch comedians of all skill levels work out jokes together. Tuesdays at 7 pm (doors at 6 pm). Free. Spokane Comedy Club, 315 W. Sprague. spokanecomedyclub.com

COMMUNITY

EXPO AT EASTERN: WORLD’S FAIR COLLECTIONS FROM THE ARCHIVES

An exhibit showcasing how the World’s Fair in Spokane spurred the use of an Eastern dorm to house visitors, and changed the face of downtown Spokane. Mon-Thu from 7:30 am-10 pm, Sun from 1-9 pm through April 26. Free. Eastern Washington University, 526 Fifth. ewu.edu/library

MENTAL HEALTH FIRST AID This class teaches students how to identify, un-

derstand and respond to signs of mental illnesses and substance use disorders. Registration required. April 18, 8 am-4 pm. $75. Providence Community Wellness, 1313 N. Atlantic Ste. 4900. providence.org/communitywellness

STEAM PLANT OPEN HOUSE

An open house at the historic Steam Plant including bite-sized snacks and info sessions. April 18, 10 am-2 pm. Free. Steam Plant Restaurant & Brew Pub, 159 S. Lincoln St. fb.me/e/5cKugs0zA (509-777-3900)

WITH PRIDE: LGBTQ+ RIGHTS & ADVOCACY IN LEGAL EDUCATION SUMMIT

Learn more about LGBTQ+ rights, issues, and advocacy efforts to help better serve and represent LGBTQ+ clients in the legal world. April 19, 9 am-4:30 pm. $60. Gonzaga University School of Law, 721 N. Cincinnati St. gonzaga.edu

33 ARTISTS MARKET

A small, curated market featuring local artists Roaming Roots, Gayle Havercroft, Cecil Studios and many more. April 20, 11 am-5 pm. Free. The Wonder Building, 835 N. Post St. 33artistsmarket.com

ACTIVE LIVING EXPO

A health and wellness event for ages 55+ and their families featuring lifestyle vendors and panels about healthy living. April 20, 10 am-2:30 pm. $8. Mirabeau Park Hotel, 1100 N. Sullivan. spokesman.com/activelivingexpo

CUSTER’S ANNUAL SPRING ANTIQUE & COLLECTORS SALE Antique dealers from across the Northwest sell rare and retro items. April 20, 10 am-6 pm. $8$10. Spokane County Fair & Expo Center, 404 N. Havana St. custershows.com

EARTH DAY FAMILY CELEBRATION

An afternoon of sustainable, green fun.

There are 300 trees available for those who visit all booths and learn something new. April 20, 1-3 pm. Free. Central Library, 906 W. Main. spokanelibrary.org

SPRING ON THE AVE A festival featuring live music, performances, public art pieces and flash sales from 25+ local businesses. April 20, 10 am-6 pm. Free. Sprague Union District, 2400-1600 E. Sprague Ave. spragueuniondistrict.com

SPRING VENDOR MARKET

Over 40 local artists and makers are selling handmade goods, food and gifts. April 20, 11 am-7 pm. Free. Page 42 Bookstore, 2174 N. Hamilton St. page42bookstore.com

TRANS SPOKANE CLOTHING SWAP A community event for trans and gender diverse people to exchange clothes. April 20, 11 am-4 pm. Free. Central Library, 906 W. Main. .spokanelibrary.org

FAMILY EARTH DAY CELEBRATION This class covers tips and strategies for reducing food waste, plus ideas for preserving food. April 22, 5:30-7 pm. $15. Second Harvest, 1234 E. Front Ave. secondharvestkitchen.org (509-252-6255)

COME BE HEARD OPEN MIC NIGHT An all-ages open mic night for people looking for a place to perform and experience the joys of musical and poetic community. April 24, 5-7 pm. Free. Central Library, 906 W. Main Ave. spokanelibrary.org

SFCC JOB FAIR An in-person event with opportunities to network with top companies in the Spokane and surrounding areas. Bring a resume. April 25, 11 am-1 pm. Free. Spokane Falls Community College, 3410 W. Whistalks Way. sfcc. spokane.edu

FILM

COPYCAT CINEMA A local film competition screening sponsored by Tomlin Law, Hodgins Drug and Hobby and Sirius Entertainment. April 18, 6-9 pm. Free. The Kenworthy, 508 S. Main. kenworthy.org

DUNE: PART TWO Paul Atreides unites with Chani and the Fremen while seeking revenge against the conspirators who destroyed his family. April 19, 2-5 pm, April 20, 3-6 pm and April 21, 4-7 & 7-10 pm. $8. The Kenworthy, 508 S. Main St. kenworthy.org (208-882-4127)

MET LIVE IN HD: LA RONDINE Puccini’s love story returns to cinemas, with soprano Angel Blue starring as the French courtesan Magda opposite tenor Jonathan Tetelman as Ruggero. April 20, 9:55 am-1 pm. $15-$20. The Kenworthy, 508 S. Main St. kenworthy.org (208-882-4127)

PINEAPPLE EXPRESS A process server and his marijuana dealer are on the run from hitmen and a corrupt police officer. April 20, 7-9 pm. $8. The Kenworthy, 508 S. Main. kenworthy.org

STEWART UDALL AND THE POLITICS OF BEAUTY This film documents Stewart Udall’s legacy of environmental justice while serving as Secretary of the Interior. April 20, 2-4 pm. $10. The MAC, 2316 W. First Ave. northwestmuseum.org

CHARLIE PEPITON: WITHOUT THEM I AM LOST A film about an Arctic community on a fragile coastline followed by conversation with director Charlie Pepiton. April 23, 6 pm. Free. Gonzaga University Hemmingson Center, 702 E. Desmet. gonzaga.edu/climate-institute Proceeds

April

DRAWING RALLY

Benefit for the Spokane Art School

Part performance art, part laboratory, part art bazaar, the SDR is an incredible opportunity to watch some of your favorite Spokane artists create original drawings from a blank page in three 1 hour rounds.

Silent auction and art sale with pieces starting at $75.

Enjoy wine and food from Island Style Grill Food & BBQ

SAT 4/20 5-9PM

503 East 2nd Ave., Suite B, Spokane

EVENTS | CALENDAR

WILD AND SCENIC FILM FESTIVAL

An evening of films benefitting Spokane Riverkeeper that celebrate Earth’s beauty and the people working to protect it. This year’s theme is rivers and water. April 25, 5:30-9 pm. $5-$15. Garland Theater, 924 W. Garland Ave. spokaneriverkeeper.org

UNCOVERED: THE SECRETS WE HIDE

A compilation of short films featuring the stories of local people. April 26, 5-9 pm. $22-$27. Bing Crosby Theater, 901 W. Sprague Ave. StoriesUncovered.com

FOOD & DRINK

EXPO ’74: DINNER WITH SPICEOLOGY A six-course dinner that takes guests from the culinary world of the 1970s all the way to 2024. Each course is paired with a signature cocktail or wine. April 18, 6 pm. $160. Davenport Grand Hotel, 333 W. Spokane Falls Blvd. davenporthotelcollection.com

TOTALLY RAD 80’S GONE BAD A murder mystery dinner based around an ’80s high school prom. April 19-20, 6-9:30 pm. $85. Commellini Estate, 14715 N. Dartford Dr. commelliniestate.com

WEST END BEER FEST Enjoy specialty craft beers from Humble Abode, Brick West, Iron Goat, Whistle Punk and the Grain Shed. April 20, 12-11 pm. $25. Brick West Brewing Co., 1318 W. First Ave. bit.ly/WEBF2024

ZERO WASTE KITCHEN: EARTH DAY

EDITION Explore practical strategies to minimize food waste, from mindful shopping to creative meal planning. April 22, 11 am-noon. Free. Second Harvest, 1234 E. Front Ave. secondharvestkitchen.org (509-252-6255)

MUSIC

WSU CHOIRS: FEEL THE PASSING

TIME The WSU choirs perform Jogn Corgliano’s Fern Hill and works by Susan LaBarr, Christopher Tin, Moren Vinther and more. April 18, 7:30-9 pm. Free. Bryan Hall Theatre (WSU), 605 Veterans Way. music.wsu.edu

GONZAGA UNIVERSITY EMERGING

ARTISTS SERIES Composers, musicians, songwriters and sound artists from Gonzaga’s student body present new works alongside performances by the Creative Music Lab Ensemble. April 19, 7:30-9 pm. Free. Myrtle Woldson Performing Arts Center, 211 E. Desmet Ave. gonzaga.edu/mwpac

SPOKANE SYMPHONY MASTERWORKS 8: POWER TO THE PEOPLE

This program explores political leadership and debate, starting with music by Ethel Smyth, a prominent women’s rights campaigner. April 20, 7:30 pm. $19-$68. The Fox Theater, 1001 W. Sprague Ave. foxtheaterspokane.org

NAVIGATING THE FJORDS OF PIANO MASTERY A masterclass focused on Grieg’s Piano Concerto taught by Archie Chen. Limited spots available. April 26, 4:30-6:30 pm. $20-$40. Holy Names Music Center, 3910 W. Custer Dr. hnmc.org (509-326-9516)

sponders Appreciation Night (April 18), Yoke’s Family Feast Night (April 20) and Neurodiversity Awareness Day Game (April 21). April 18 & 19, 6:35 pm, April 20, 5:09 pm and April 21, 1:05 pm. Avista Stadium, 602 N. Havana St. milb. com/spokane (535-2922)

HEROES SILKIES WALK An in-person or virtual walk in awareness of ending veteran suicide. Also features a community resource fair. April 20, 10 am-2 pm. $15-$22. Riverfront Park, 507 N. Howard St. heroeshomestead.org

SPOKANE BIKE SWAP & EXPO A bike swap and vendor hall featuring exhibitors, demonstrations and bikes for sale. April 20, 9 am-4 pm. $7. Spokane County Fair & Expo Center, 404 N. Havana St. spokanebikeswap.com (509-477-1766)

WATERWISE WORKSHOP: NATIVE PLANTS, KEYSTONE SPECIES & MORE Kathy Hutton, manager of Plants of the Wild, discusses the variety of native plants and pollinators in our area. April 24, 6 pm. Free. Liberty Park Library, 402 S. Pittsburgh St. spokanelibrary.org

MASTER GARDENER GARDEN FAIR & PLANT SALE A sale featuring vegetable starts, herbs, native plants, pollinator plants, berries, dahlias, houseplants and more. April 26, 1-6 pm and April 27, 8 am-3 pm. Free. WSU Spokane County Extension, 222 N. Havana. spokane. mastergardenerfoundation.org

THEATER & DANCE

BEAUTIFUL: THE CAROLE KING MUSICAL This musical tells the story of a spunky, young songwriter from Brooklyn with a unique voice. Thu-Sat at 7:30 pm, Sat-Sun at 1:30 pm through April 21. $30-$35. Regional Theatre of the Palouse, 122 N. Grand. rtoptheatre.org

READERS THEATER In-concert, dramatic readings of plays with no props or scenery. Schedule include columbinus (April 20 at 2 pm), An Evening of Molly Allen & Steven James Wylie Works (April 20 at 7:30 pm) and Waiting for Godot (April 21 at 2 pm). $10. Spokane Civic Theatre, 1020 N. Howard St. spokanecivictheatre.com

HIGH VOLTAGE: THE FAREWELL TO THE NIGHTINGALE STAGE A showcase of burlesque acts and aerial performances serving as a goodbye to Atomic Threads’ space in the Boulevard Building. April 26, 7-11 pm. $35-$45. Atomic Threads Boutique, 1905 N. Monroe St. fb.me/e/1FtCfWflU (509-280-9120)

VISUAL ARTS

BEYOND HOPE: KIENHOLZ AND THE INLAND NORTHWEST This exhibit showcases the journey of artist Edward Kienholz and his wife, Nancy, in the town of Hope, Idaho. Tue-Sat from 10 am-4 pm through June 29. Free. Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art WSU, 1535 NE Wilson Rd. museum.wsu.edu

DENAE: RETROSPECTIVE OF AN ARTIST Works by late local artist Denae Veselits. April 18-21; Thu-Sat from 5-10 pm, Sun from 3-9 pm. Free. Ruins, 225 W. Riverside Ave. (509-995-3651)

SPORTS & OUTDOORS

SPOKANE INDIANS VS. EVERETT AQUASOX Promos include First Re-

Pitters. Mon-Thu 9 am–7 pm, Fri-Sat 10 am–5 pm and Sun 12-4 pm through April 30. Free. South Hill Library, 3324 S. Perry. spokanelibrary.org

WITCHING HOUR: SENIOR ART EXHIBIT Art by Gonzaga’s current BFA and BA senior candidates. April 19-May 10; Fri from 4-7 pm, Sat from 10 am-3 pm. Free. Gonzaga University Urban Arts Center, 125 S. Stevens St. gonzaga.edu

NEWPORT EARTH DAY ART WALK

Fourteen venues host art exhibitions and demonstrations. Also includes kids art activities, craft booths, a raffle and more. April 20, 11 am-3 pm. Free. Newport. createarts.org

PRINT FEST: BASIC BOOK REPAIR

CLASS Book conservator Sophia Bogle demonstrates the quick fixes for common book problems and gives participants a chance to practice. April 20 & 21, 9 am-2 pm. $85. Spokane Print & Publishing Center, 1921 N. Ash St. spokaneprintfest.org

SPOKANE DRAWING RALLY A drawing event and fundraiser featuring more than 36 artists. Three 1-hour rounds each feature 12 or more artists drawing simultaneously. As each round is completed the drawings are put up for auction. April 20, 5-9 pm. Spokane Art School, 503 E. Second Ave., Ste. B. spokaneartschool.net (509-325-1500)

WORDS

FORAY FOR THE ARTS #4 A night of creative performances across disciplines and forms. Featured performers include: August to August, Kristen Bonser, Stephen Pitters, Tim Greenup and Laura Read. April 19, 7-10 pm. Free. Pacific Ave Pizza, 2001 W. Pacific Ave. instagram.com/foray4thearts

EXPO ‘74: THEN & NOW EWU faculty discusses the legacy of Expo ’74. Presenters include Bill Youngs, Margo Hill and Erin Dascher. April 23, 12-1 pm. Free. Eastern Washington University, 526 Fifth St. ewu.edu/library/stories/ expo74event

FUNNY STORY LAUNCH PARTY Celebrate the release of Emily Henry’s newest romance book with a scavenger hunt, trivia game and treats. April 23, 8 am. Free. The Well-Read Moose, 2048 N. Main. wellreadmoose.com

LORA SENF: HOW TO WRITE SPOOKY NOVELS FOR CHILDREN Writing Education Specialist Sharma Shields discusses the process of writing spooky children’s novels with local writer Lora Senf, author of The Blight Harbor Series April 24, 6 pm. Free. South Hill Library, 3324 S. Perry St. spokanelibrary.org (509-444-5300) n

POETRY AFTER DARK EWU MFA students lead discussions about craft elements, style and form in poetry. Every second and fourth Wednesday of each month from 7-8 pm. Free. Spark Central, 1214 W. Summit Pkwy. spark-central.org (509-279-0299)

FRIENDS OF THE LIBRARY BOOK

ENCORE: BEYOND THE PAGE, BEYOND THE CANVAS Literary-based mixed media works by Tracy Poindexter-Canton, including visual interpretations of works by poets Nikki Giovanni, Sapphire, Ntozake Shange and Stephen

SALE Shop a variety of used books for as low as $1 each. April 26-27; Fri from 10 am-4:30 pm and Sat from 10 am-1 pm. (Member presale April 25 from 3:30-6:30 pm.) Free. Shadle Library, 2111 W. Wellesley. spokanelibrary.org

POETRY NIGHT Readings featuring Roger Dunsmore and other local poets. April 25, 6-7:30 pm. Free. The Art Spirit Gallery, 415 Sherman Ave. theartspiritgallery.com (208-765-6006) n SPOKANE