Inlander 10/12/2023

BY ELIZA BILLINGHAM

PAGE 18

How bugs, robots, advertisers and detectives help reimagine Washington’s most tempting fruit

EDITOR’S NOTE

An apple can symbolize many things, as Eliza Billingham writes in this week’s cover story — LOVE & MALUS. Health and happiness. Love, lust and luxury.

But, even just the image of an apple can lead to conflict. Take, for example, the war waged between the Beatles and Steve Jobs, the man behind the iPhone (and many other technological wonders). In 1978, the rock group and their label, Apple Corps, sued Jobs and his nascent company, Apple Inc., for copyright infringement. The suit was settled for $80,000 in 1981, and both agreed to stay out of each others’ (music and computer) businesses.

But as the (now)-iconic computer company kept growing and adding music capabilities to its hardware, the iconic rock group kept suing.

In 2001, Jobs launched iTunes, and the Beatles, which once proclaimed “All You Need is Love,” sued yet again. As streaming music and iPods took over the world, the Fab Four were conspicuously absent. Finally, in 2007, the parties made a deal, Beatlemania entered the digital age, and both Apples remain hugely influential in the music industry, and pop culture in general.

I mention all of this because it was, literally, all about the apple. In name, and in spirit, the “beautiful fruit for beautiful people” pitted two of the most recognizable brands in history against each other for decades. Take that to your doctor.

— NICHOLAS DESHAIS, editor

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WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE FALL HARVEST ACTIVITY?

MAKENNA RONNING

Going up to the green bluff and going to the pumpkin patch.

What is your favorite part about going there?

I love the apple cider mimosas there and the corn maze.

NATASHA DECKER

My favorite fall harvest activity is to get a drink from Starbucks and then to go on a walk. I like getting a special fall drink, getting to enjoy the view and see all the leaves changing, and enjoying the nice, brisk weather.

ARABELLE MRUNER

Sitting inside with a book and a chai latte is probably my favorite fall activity.

Is there a reason that it is your favorite activity?

I think fall weather — overcast and windy — is so conducive with being cozy inside, cuddled up reading a book or with a hot drink.

PEYTON FOX

Walks through Manito Park when all of the leaves change.

Why is that your favorite activity? When I first moved up here, me and my best friend would go all the time, so I think I just have good memories associated with it.

ALYNA ROSE

Probably carving pumpkins. I love carving pumpkins.

What do you like about carving pumpkins? It’s just fun because I feel like you only do it around fall time, I feel like it is a very specific thing to look forward to. I don’t think there is anything else like it.

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HowOld Is Too Old?

Thomas Jefferson thought a lot about how older American leaders should pass responsibility down to the younger generations

BY LAWRENCE B.A. HATTER

Republican opponents of President Joe Biden have targeted his age as a weakness in his re-election bid. Biden will be 82 if he is sworn in as president in January 2025, and 86 at the end of his second term. Yet, the GOP’s own likely nominee, Donald Trump, is only three-and-a-half years younger than Biden. The Constitution does not disqualify someone from becoming president because of their advanced age in the same way that it stipulates a minimum age of 35. For some voters, the criticism of Biden and Trump is ageism, a form of discrimination that dismisses the value of the life experiences that senior citizens can bring to government. Nevertheless, there is no question that the likely 2024 presidential matchup will feature two of the oldest candidates in American history,

with a combined age of 159 in November 2024.

Whoever emerges victorious in 2024, they will be at least a decade older than the current leaders of other industrialized democracies. Among the G7 nations (excluding Biden), political leaders vary in age from UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak (43) to Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida (66). Leadership in the G7 is multigenerational, including millennials, Generation X and baby boomers, like Biden and Trump. Some voters critical of Biden and Trump are less concerned about their mental and physical acuity

If they face off for 2024, Joe Biden and Donald Trump would be a combined 159 years old. ADAM SCHULTZ/GAGE SKIDMORE PHOTOS

than the stranglehold that the postwar baby-boom generation has had on the White House since Bill Clinton’s election in 1992.

While the Founders did not include an age disqualification for holding executive office, Thomas Jefferson did write about generational change in American politics. Jefferson missed the debates surrounding the drafting and ratification of the new Constitution back home while he served as the U.S. ambassador to France. This didn’t stop him from regularly corresponding with key constitutional players, including his protégé James Madison.

Deploying the same rhetoric that he so famously used in the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson argued that it was “self evident” that “the earth belongs in usufruct to the living” in a letter to Madison in September 1789. Trained as a lawyer, Jefferson invoked the term “usufruct” from property law to explain his conviction that each living generation has the right to use the earth, but without owning it in perpetuity. In other words, he argued that each generation ought to be independent of one another. One generation had no right to bind future generations through their political or fiscal choices.

From this premise, Jefferson proposed a radical theory of generational independence. Working from demographic data, he determined that a political generation spanned 34 years from the age of adulthood at 21. From the combination of voter deaths and children reaching adulthood, Jefferson calculated that the majority of people eligible to vote in 1789 would become a minority within 19 years. That is, only half the electorate in 1808 would have been eligible to vote in 1789. Consequently, Jefferson proposed to Madison that every constitution and law “naturally expires” after 19 years. Each generation should frame its own constitution and pass its own laws, free from the constraints of the dead hand of the past.

Jefferson never tried to enact his radical theory. But what would his ideas mean in 2024? If we use Jefferson’s calculation with current demographic trends, an electoral generation today will last approximately 24 years, only five years longer than in 1789. By this measure, both Biden and Trump will be three political generations removed from first-time voters in 2024. Jefferson did not intend to deny suffrage to senior citizens when he reflected on the independence of political generations. Nor did he advocate for denying anyone elected office based upon their advanced age. Indeed, following his own logic, we, the living, need pay no heed to someone who last dwelt on this earth almost 200 years ago!

Nevertheless, his letter to Madison does provide a frame of reference for thinking about how age plays into politics. When we consider equitable representation among different demographic groups, it is far more common in our political culture to look to race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality or religion, rather than age. Age is a moving target, driven by the relentless passage of time. But that doesn’t mean that it is any less meaningful as a demographic category that should be reflected in the makeup of our representative democracy. n

Lawrence B.A. Hatter is an award-winning author and associate professor of early American history at Washington State University. These views are his own and do not reflect those of WSU.

Jefferson argued that each generation ought to be independent of one another. One generation had no right to bind future generations through their political or fiscal choices.

POLITICS

SET IN STONE

BY NATE SANFORD

Larry Stone is a unique force in Spokane politics. He’s a major donor to conservative causes that fund attack ads against progressive politicians. This summer, he paid for the signature-gathering efforts that put the initiative to ban homeless camping within 1,000 feet of schools, parks and child care facilities on this year’s Nov. 7 ballot.

All told, the businessman, developer, manufacturer and lifelong Spokanite has spent at least $223,400 on independent expenditures and direct contributions this election cycle.

And that’s not counting advertising and production costs for his two recent big-budget videos attacking the Spokane City Council over bus lanes and homelessness — expenditures that Stone says don’t need to be reported to the state Public Disclosure Commission because the videos aren’t directly advocating for a candidate.

Stone’s outsized role in local politics makes a lot of people on the left uncomfortable. Council President Lori Kinnear describes it as “disturbing.”

“I’ve watched this escalate over the years not really understanding, ‘What’s his endgame?’” Kinnear says. “What does he really want to have happen here?”

Critics argue that Stone is using his wealth to push misinformation and an agenda that’s hostile to homeless people. There’s also a maze of conflict-of-interest questions and allegations of poor conditions at the warehouse on East Trent Avenue that Stone owns and leases to the city for use as a 350-bed homeless shelter. (“It’s actually nicer than my fraternity house,” Stone says. “I can honestly say I’d rather live there.”)

Paul Dillon, a progressive activist running for City Council this year, thinks Stone’s political spending shows the need for tougher campaign finance laws.

“He’s behind the scenes with funding efforts that are

creating a very toxic atmosphere in Spokane and dividing neighborhoods and communities,” Dillon argues.

Stone’s supporters, however, see a man with a singular focus on improving his city and whose charitable activity goes far beyond politics.

“He’s definitely influential,” says conservative City Council member Jonathan Bingle. “I just think he’s a guy who’s trying to make his city a better place. So God bless him. I hope he continues to do that. And I hope others follow his lead, especially those who have the ability to put their money where their mouth is.”

Stone himself often avoids the spotlight. He rarely talks to reporters — especially during a string of negative news coverage this year about his ownership of the Trent shelter. (He did, however, find one Spokesman-Review headline about him “Stonewalling” City Council funny enough to frame.)

But Stone is a key player in this year’s election cycle. Who is he? And what’s his vision for the city?

“I’m not making friends with the far left people,” Stone says. “But I’m doing what I think is right.”

“I USED TO BE A DEMOCRAT”

Stone, 68, was born and raised on Spokane’s South Hill.

After graduating from Walla Walla’s Whitman College, Stone started working at a pipe manufacturing company owned by his father, which he took over and later expanded to include property management and other manufacturing companies.

In 1985, Stone came out as gay. It was a different world.

“We were hated,” Stone says. “‘AIDS’ and ‘gays’ were one and the same back then.”

In 1993, Stone founded Stonewall News, a gay and lesbian newspaper for the Inland Northwest.

“It was a pretty big deal for Spokane,” says Dean Lynch, a member of Spokane’s LGBTQ+ community at the time who currently sits on the Spokane County Human Rights Task Force. “That was a way for members of the LGBTQ+ community to meet other people, to hear about what was going on.”

Stone sold the paper several years later, but continued to be active in the gay rights movement and made significant financial contributions to the fight for marriage equality in Washington state.

“He was very involved,” says Lynch, who was also briefly a City Council member in 2001. “He wasn’t the leader, but he was one of a number of leaders.”

Throughout the 2000s and 2010s, Stone regularly gave money to Democrats, mostly at the state level. He says he barely paid attention to city politics.

“The city just ran, I never knew if they were Democrats or Republicans, I didn’t care,” Stone says. “But after what happened to me in March of 2019…”

It was a beautiful sunny afternoon.

Stone was running errands downtown. He needed cash and decided to drive to a Bank of America ATM near the Spokane Transit Authority Bus Plaza.

A group of five or so “rough-looking people” were hanging out nearby, he says. Stone felt nervous, and decided to stay in his car and circle the block. They were still there when he returned, so he left.

“It was the first time in 63 years I didn’t feel comfortable getting out of my car,” Stone says.

That’s the whole story. But Stone says the incident shook him profoundly and, more importantly, opened his eyes to Spokane’s growing homelessness crisis.

“That’s when I woke up to what was going on downtown,” Stone says. “That’s when I did the first video.”

...continued on page 10

He’s produced three videos about Spokane’s problems, and dropped $223,000 on this year’s local elections — but who is Larry Stone, and why is he spending so much money trying to influence Spokane politics?

“I was the canary in the mine,” Larry Stone says of homelessness. “It’s only gotten radically worse in four years.” YOUNG KWAK PHOTO

“SET IN STONE,” CONTINUED...

“Seattle is Dying” — a KOMO-TV special that generated controversy for its portrayal of Seattle’s drug and public camping problems — had come out that same month. Stone was inspired and started drafting a script in his head for a Spokane version.

Kinnear recalls Stone complaining about the ATM incident at a Downtown Spokane Partnership meeting that spring.

Her recollection of the story is slightly different — something about a homeless person asking for cash while a friend of Stone’s was at an ATM. But the core message was the same: Stone, for the first time in his life, felt scared in downtown Spokane. He saw a growing problem being swept under the rug and was determined to make sure everyone knew about it.

“What I learned from being a gay man is, the closet never works,” Stone says. “It’s why the AIDS crisis killed so many of us. … And when we have a problem downtown, and throughout our low-income neighborhoods… we’ve got to face up to it and talk about it.”

A CURE FOR SPOKANE

Stone released “Curing Spokane” in late August 2019, in the run-up to the election that would put Nadine Woodward in the mayor’s office.

The 17-minute video features mournful piano music and bleak montages of people in varying states of drug and behavioral health crises downtown. It called on city leaders to build a new, bigger jail, enforce misdemeanors, sell the STA Plaza and move the bus station underground.

The reaction was swift and polarizing. Some, like Woodward, expressed support and thanked Stone for shining a light on what was going on. Others saw it as fearmongering and criticized its conflation of homelessness and crime.

To this day, Stone is defiant.

“I was the canary in the mine,” Stone says. “It’s only gotten radically worse in four years.”

Last month, on the precipice of another mayoral election, Stone released “Curing a Broken Spokane,” the sequel to the 2019 film. The main message — that the City Council and a lack of accountability “made being homeless easy” and led to a rise in crime — is much the same.

Advocates have been critical. Ryan Oelrich, an interim City Council member who previously led Spokane’s Homeless Coalition, says Stone’s new video is “incredibly harmful.”

A pie chart in the video claims that 50% or more of “arrests of criminal homeless” involved someone who moved to Spokane. The data source isn’t made clear in the video, but Stone says it comes from a public records request his team filed for a list of people arrested one recent afternoon downtown.

The request came back with 12 names. Of those, police said six people were not from Spokane. One person was marked as “unclear.”

It’s not exactly a statistically valid sample, but Stone says he’s still skeptical when the “far left” insists that most unhoused people are, in fact, from Spokane.

“Those that are from Spokane we should take care of, but when most people feel that more than half are from out of Spokane, we have got to do something,” Stone says.

Stone’s assertion is wrong, says Matthew Anderson, the director of the urban and regional planning program at Eastern Washington University.

“There’s no evidence there,” says Anderson, who has also worked on the annual census of unsheltered people in Spokane, which found that 74% of respondents lived in Spokane County before becoming homeless. Other point-in-time counts consistently have similar findings, Anderson says.

The police record Stone obtained shows that one of the people officers categorized as not from Spokane had lived in the city since he was 5 years old. He moved to Seattle at age 16 and returned a few years later. Another immigrated to Spokane from Honduras five or six years ago. One person categorized as not from Spokane had been here for 26 years.

Regardless, Stone pushes back on critics who say his videos are divisive.

“I feel like I’m being informational to the public, and the public can make their own [decisions],” Stone says. “The films are provocative, they aren’t meant to be boring. They’re provocative, but I don’t think they’re divisive.”

Stone supports calls for a new jail, but he argues that it should be built out of town near the Geiger Corrections Facility — not in the central city where it’s currently planned.

“We just dump it on the poor, and that’s what really upsets me,” Stone says.

It’s a point Stone comes back to time and time again, across multiple interviews.

He ties his concern for the poor not just to the new jail, but also to the issue of bus lanes and the homeless services that are disproportionately placed in lower income neighborhoods. He stresses that it’s the driving force behind his recent political efforts. He says he’d be happy to have the new jail built in his Manito Park neighborhood but knows wealthy neighbors would never allow it.

‘HE CARES ABOUT THE COMMUNITY’

As a child, Stone recalls sleeping in the backyard to escape a dysfunctional home and a mother who struggled with alcoholism. He’d fall asleep to the sound of the wind blowing through the ponderosa pine trees overhead.

Those trees became a fixation. As an adult, Stone started a nonprofit that planted more than 100,000 ponderosas across Spokane, and he successfully lobbied the City Council to designate the ponderosa pine as Spokane’s official tree in 2013.

ing her run for mayor this year, Stone has spent heavily on the Spokane Good Government Alliance, a political action committee that runs attack ads and billboards claiming Brown will bring “MORE CRIME” and “LESS COPS.”

Brown calls it “polarizing and unproductive.”

“I believe he cares about the community,” Brown says. “But I’m really puzzled by why he thinks this is the right way to improve it.”

Stone calls himself a centrist and insists that it’s the left that’s grown extreme. But he still has a soft spot for Kinnear and smiles when asked about their collaboration on the pine tree project.

“I like her as a person,” Stone says. “But I’m disappointed with our City Council.”

Like many on the left who recall working with Stone before 2019, Kinnear is puzzled — even a little saddened — by Stone’s political turn.

“I would like to still have him as a friend, but I can’t have somebody as a friend who thinks I’m responsible for the homeless crisis in Spokane when it’s blatantly not true,” Kinnear says. “He just doesn’t pay attention to anything unless it’s STA or homelessness.”

He is singularly focused on those subjects. Though he says it’s been about 24 years since he rode the bus, the Spokane Transit Authority is a frequent target of his ire.

This summer, Stone released a video in opposition to plans to add bus-priority and protected bike lanes to North Division Street.

“Do you want to be forced to ride the bus?” the narrator asks, ominously.

Stone argues that the planned changes will increase congestion and harm local businesses.

“Does anybody really think that making a bus-only lane on Division is going to get more people to take the bus?” Stone says. “I’m very thankful that we have a good bus system, but I don’t see how it helps them to stop all 20 cars behind them.”

BATTLE OF THE DONORS

Stone isn’t the only wealthy Spokanite who uses their fortune to push a political vision for the city.

In some cases, Stone’s spending pits him directly against Sharon Smith and Don Barbieri, a wealthy Spokane couple that founded the Smith-Barbieri Progressive Fund, which advocates for a variety of liberal causes in Spokane.

For example: Stone has given $115,000 to Clean and Safe Spokane, the PAC that worked to place the homeless camping ban on this year’s ballot. On the other side, the Smith-Barbieri fund has donated $10,000 to the Spokane Community Against Racism PAC to fund a lawsuit that unsuccessfully tried to challenge the proposed ban in court.

Stone doesn’t like being compared to the couple.

“He worked with us really cooperatively, it was truly a group effort,” says Kinnear, who was then an assistant to former Council member Amber Waldref. (Waldref is now a county commissioner.) “It was a really good experience.”

Kinnear is one of many progressive politicians who, in a different era, benefited from Stone’s financial support. He even threw a fundraising party for her City Council campaign at his house in April 2019.

Stone also supported Lisa Brown when she was a Democratic state senator in the early 2010s. But dur-

“I live in Spokane 12 months of the year. I’ve lived here for 68 years… I’m downtown all the time,” Stone says, before shifting focus to the couple’s second home in Hawaii. “How do you know what’s going on in Spokane when you’re sitting in Maui?”

Lerria Schuh, the executive director of the progressive fund, confirms that Smith and Barbieri are, in fact, residents of Hawaii, and that the couple spends the winter months there. But she argues that someone can still care about improving a city even if they don’t live in it year-round. She says the couple are retired and have limited involvement in the fund’s day-to-day operations.

Schuh stresses that the couple also supports a variety of charitable causes outside of politics. The same is true

“I feel like I’m being informational to the public, and the public can make their own [decisions]. The films are provocative, they aren’t meant to be boring.”

of Stone. In many cases, the donors’ interests converge: Both have donated to the Odyssey Youth Movement, a nonprofit that advocates for LGBTQ+ youth in the Inland Northwest.

TURMOIL AT TRAC

Stone continues to face criticism for his ownership of the Trent shelter. Some council members have argued that Stone got a friendly deal and is profiting off taxpayers.

Stone denies this and says he only bought the building because the city was struggling to find a spot for a permanent homeless shelter. He’d spent the past three years telling anyone who would listen that homeless services should be located in industrial areas, and he was happy to help.

Council member Zack Zappone says he believes Stone’s desire to help the city solve a problem was genuine. But he still has concerns about Stone’s deal with the city being “done behind closed doors without trying to negotiate in good faith a better deal for taxpayers.”

The shelter was previously vacant and available for sublease at $21,000 a month. But Stone says the owner was wary of the city’s plans to use it as a shelter. So in March 2022, Stone stepped in and bought it for $3.5 million. After a period of negotiation, he began leasing it to the city for $26,100 a month.

Stone says the lease price is fair, and points to the fact that he held it off the market for months and that his contract with the city required he make improvements to make the building habitable, which cost $580,000. He says the warehouse represents just 1.6% of the total square footage he owns.

“It’s nice to do things for government, but I don’t pretend to be a charity,” Stone says. “I give money to charitable organizations, but I can’t run my business like a charity. I’ll be bankrupt.”

Basically, Stone was willing to give the city of Spokane a hand up, but not a handout.

“I don’t see it as an unfair deal,” says Bingle. “What I do see is a person, again, who cares about the situation trying to be of service to the community.”

Other council members are talking about abandoning the city’s lease with Stone next year, citing the high lease and operator costs and broader concern about the congregate shelter model. Plans to install much-needed indoor bathrooms have stalled, as council members fret about putting taxpayer money into a building the city doesn’t own.

Council members say Stone tried to ask for $8 million — more than double what he purchased the building for — when they tried to exercise an option-to-buy clause in the contract this winter. Citing the confidentiality of real estate transactions, Stone declined to comment on whether or not the $8 million figure is accurate, but says he was still willing to negotiate in good faith.

“They’re tearing me down for not selling it, but what if they’d bought it?” Stone says. “They didn’t have the money, and now they’re talking about abandoning the building after a year. Tell me how crazy that is?”

Stone also pushes back against allegations of bad conditions at the shelter, which are mainly the responsibility of the city and its contractors, as he says. He notes that the Trent shelter offers free food, internet and other services.

Last week, I texted Stone photos that showed the shelter’s outdoor porta-potties in a poor state, with trash and feces in places they shouldn’t be, a toilet lid snapped in half and other visible damage.

“I do not find any of this repulsive,” Stone says, looking at the photos. “I find it unfortunate.” (He suggests, however, that people at the shelter “deal with it” because they stay there for “free.”)

Stone has spent the past year at the center of some of Spokane’s most contentious political debates. He says he’s tired and doesn’t plan on releasing any more “Curing Spokane” videos. He’s done what he can to educate people and call on leaders to take a stand.

“I’m 68,” Stone laughs. “So the good news to the far left is that I’m getting worn out.” n nates@inlander.com

Native American Heritage Month

Join Northern Quest in honoring this special month with meaningful celebrations throughout November. Discover tribal history and culture represented all around the resort, including indigenous-inspired services at La Rive Spa, Native-owned businesses showcased at Windfall, and Pacific Northwest flavors highlighted at our restaurants. Please also join us for these events:

A Beacon of Change BUILDING HOPE:

New Home Construction: A Key to Price & Rent Stability

In every community, there’s a place we all call home—a sanctuary and a source of security. However, for far too many, finding an affordable place to live has become a daunting challenge, contributing to family instability. We believe that building hope through new home construction is the beacon of change our community needs.

The Crisis We Face

Housing affordability is a growing issue, affecting individuals and families across the nation. The Mayor has declared it an emergency. It’s time we take action to address this crisis head-on.

• Rental prices continue to rise, outpacing wage growth, making it increasingly difficult for people to secure stable housing.

• Families, veterans, and vulnerable individuals face unimaginable hardships due to the lack of affordable housing options.

The Solution: New Home Construction Stability for All

New home construction directly impacts both price and rent stability. By increasing the supply of housing, we can:

• LOWER RENTAL COSTS: A greater supply of rental units helps reduce the competition for housing, putting downward pressure on rent prices.

• AFFORDABLE HOMEOWNERSHIP: More available homes mean increased opportunities for individuals and families to become homeowners, building equity and long-term stability.

• ECONOMIC GROWTH: Housing Construction projects create jobs and stimulate local economies, fostering stronger communities.

• PREVENTING HOMELESSNESS: By keeping housing costs manageable, we can prevent many from falling into homelessness in the first place.

Your Role in Building a Brighter Future

Join Us in Making a Difference

• SUPPORT LOCAL INITIATIVES: Encourage local governments to invest in affordable housing and streamline construction processes and oppose measures that suppress housing construction

• ADVOCATE FOR CHANGE: Raise your voice for policies who promote housing affordability, access, and equity.

• MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD: Speak out against those that would suppress housing construction by imposing building moratoriums.

Together, We Can Build Hope

It’s time to take a stand for our communities, our neighbors, and our future. New home construction is not just about buildings; it’s about building hope, stability, and opportunity.

Let’s build a brighter future together.

For more information and to get involved visit us at: www.buildingforthefuture.org

After being stuck in lockdown during a tumultuous and unpredictable pandemic, it’s no wonder that many of us were wondering how to reemerge into the world during the years of 2021 and 2022. With wars in the Middle East and Eastern Europe, the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, and the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the dissipating haze of the pandemic left us seeking solutions to problems we were seemingly isolated from but that were never fully resolved. We continued navigating widespread issues like homelessness and climate change while actively working to rebuild and strengthen our communities.

IN THE NEWS

The housing crisis and homelessness aren’t issues unique to Spokane, but the existence of Camp Hope and monthslong disputes around a solution to closing it highlighted their severity in Spokane, as outlined in Nate Sanford’s story “INSIDE THE FENCE.” The article outlines the attempt to secure the East Central encampment with a chain link fence and the disconnects between the four local and government entities tasked with patrolling it. “Just who the new security perimeter is there to protect — campers or neighborhood businesses — depends on who you ask.” Camp Hope closed this June, but the issues that spurred the creation of the encampment still remain.

CULTURE BEAT

Closed for renovations in March 2020, the SPOKANE CENTRAL LIBRARY reopened in July 2022 with numerous design changes and art installations. As Madison Pearson wrote in her story “Renewed,” the changes made to the library were reflective of community needs — such as additional meeting spaces and upgraded technology — and highlighted Spokane’s history and landmarks. Take the “Shimmer” art piece, which Pearson reported was “inspired by the Spokane River, the iridescent fragments of dichroic glass scatter light throughout the room below.”

ON THE COVER

In April 2022, Samantha Wohlfeil told the story of 16 young Montanans — ranging from 2 to 18 years old at the time — who sued the state in the Held et al v. State of Montana lawsuit in her story “MAYBE THE KIDS WILL SAVE US?”Although it was filed in 2020, the suit went to trial in 2021. “The Montana Constitution guarantees their right to a clean environment,” Wohlfeil wrote, “but the state’s actions, they allege, have perpetuated climate change and negatively impacted their lives, particularly through supporting fossil fuel extraction and burning.” On Aug. 14, 2023, the young plaintiffs won the case, which is also the first youth-led climate case to go to trial.

LOCAL FOLKS

Imagine

OZZIE

Forthe departing sheriff, it’s always high noon somewhere BY

Since 2006, OZZIE KNEZOVICH was Spokane County’s sheriff. Those four terms in office meant he was mentioned frequently in the Inlander, especially during these two years. From decrying certain Republican extremists to targeting local African-American leaders and activists as sources of discontent, he left behind a long and complicated legacy. The reasons behind his decision not to seek re-election, the pivotal moments of his life and career, as well as the controversies surrounding him, were outlined in Daniel Walters and Nate Sanford’s December 2022 cover story “Ozzie vs. the World,” which was recognized earlier this year with a feature writing award by the Association of Alternative Newsmedia.

Biking with Billig

State Sen. Andy Billig and Spokane City Council member Zack Zappone tour bicycle infrastructure with a big crowd

BY ELIZA BILLINGHAM

“Holy smokes, this is a great turnout,” says Spokane City Council member Zack Zappone as he pedals to the group of bicycles gathering at the University District Gateway Bridge. When he arranged this “bike town hall” with Washington Senate Majority Leader Andy Billig, he expected about 10 people to show up.

Instead, nearly 100 come out.

It’s a sunny, 70-degree early October Friday, and riders stream in from every direction. They’re in office clothes, in fluorescent vests, on road bikes, mountain bikes, Lime bikes, electric bikes and tricycles. The youngest attendees aren’t in high school yet. The oldest are well into retirement. A Washington State Parks commissioner joins the fray, as do members of Spokane Bicycle Club, parents carrying child seats, and a guy on an electric unicycle.

“This just goes to show there’s a lot of interest in bike infrastructure,” says Billig as he turns to address the crowd.

Billig and Zappone are hosting the two-wheeled town hall to review what’s happened with Spokane’s bike infrastructure in the past few years and to field ideas for future projects. Billig motions to the U-District bridge that the state helped fund (which is met with cheers), then tells

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a story from his first bike town hall with former City Council President Breean Beggs in 2019, when an attendee told him about a law in Idaho that allowed bicycles to glide through stop signs if no cars are present. Couldn’t Washington allow that, too? Billig introduced the idea to the Legislature, which became state law in 2020.

“So if you have any ideas for bills, we’ll pass them,” he tells the crowd.

Andy Billig addresses a lot more people on bikes than expected. ERICK DOXEY PHOTO

Colin Quinn-Hurst, a planner with the city of Spokane, leads the mega group on its first leg of the ride through downtown Spokane. We merge into the bike lane going west on Riverside Avenue, the city’s first (and only) protected bike lane. Groups of cyclists get stopped at each traffic light until riders are stretched along the entire drag.

“Wow, that’s quite a group you guys got,” says a passer-by on Howard Street.

Quinn-Hurst has to rethink the route with this many people. The entire gang stops at the fountain in Riverfront Park, where participants have their first chance to ask questions (though voices are drowned out by the construction vehicles driving past). Quinn-Hurst guides the group to a quieter spot of the Centennial Trail.

“Can we do anything about sweeping the trails?” one frustrated biker asks (which is met with more cheers).

“I don’t need fancy, I just need done,” another participant says, who wants some smooth pavement in the neighborhoods north of downtown.

“How did the bike get on top of the pylon?” asks a third attendee, referring to a blue bike that mysteriously appeared atop a concrete pillar in the middle of the river next to the Sandifur Memorial Bridge in People’s Park. This merits the biggest reaction, and the most stumped faces. Zappone looks to Quinn-Hurst, who looks back at him, then into the crowd.

“Does anyone know?” he asks. Crickets.

Billig draws the group back. His goal, he says, is to make cycling “accessible, safe, and fun” for everyone.

Another bicyclist on her own afternoon ride overhears Billig’s sentiment. She raises her hand and pumps her fist as she passes the group, cheering “Woo-hoo, I agree!” n

elizab@inlander.com

For more information, visit my.spokanecity.org/projects/ bicycle-and-pedestrian-resources

Homes and Cops

Candidates for Spokane Valley City Council say growth, housing and law enforcement are the biggest issues in this year’s race

BY COLTON RASANEN

When Rachel Briscoe started her campaign for a seat on the Spokane Valley City Council, she thought most voters would be talking about the ongoing regional homelessness crisis or public safety.

Instead, she’s heard all about rising housing costs.

Jessica Yaeger, her opponent, says rapid growth in the Valley has strained infrastructure and led to congested commutes, the sky-high price of, well, everything, and an increasing homeless population.

The opponents aren’t alone. There are six candidates running for three citywide elected seats on the Spokane Valley City Council. The four who returned our calls or emails all said something similar: There are a lot of issues to deal with, but the rapid growth of the Valley and housing are at or near the top of the list.

From 2010-22, Spokane Valley recorded a population increase of nearly 20%, according to Census data. During that time Spokane’s population increased by only 10%.

“All of these apartment buildings cause congestion in the city,” Briscoe says. “I’m finding out that some people are spending more money renting a home than they would if they had a mortgage.”

With a background in construction, she thinks the city can impact the cost of housing by making it cheaper and simpler for builders.

Yaeger agrees — building multifamily properties in areas zoned for single-family residences is a major issue to voters in Spokane Valley.

In May, Washington legislators passed House Bill 1110 — the so-called Middle Housing Bill — which allows developers to build duplexes, townhouses, courtyard apartments and other low-density multifamily housing units on land that was previously zoned for single-family housing. But it’s still too early to see any effects from this particular policy.

“We keep growing, and we need to be making sure our infrastructure is sound for where we’re going,” Yaeger says.

Al Merkel, who has run for a spot on the Spokane Valley City Council twice before unsuccessfully, agrees that city infrastructure like housing needs to be addressed, but he thinks that now is not the time for an increase in property taxes whatsoever, even if those funds could be used to address these problems.

Merkel’s opponent, incumbent Arne Woodard, did not respond to multiple requests for comment. He was first appointed to the council in 2011 and is its longestserving member ever. From 1994 to 2018, he owned a real estate business, and last year he was the sole council member to vote in favor of a 1% property tax increase, according to the Spokesman-Review

Incumbent Tim Hattenburg thinks the city is already addressing citizen concerns about infrastructure. Since being elected to the council in 2019, he says the city has doubled the size of its park land, kept roads in good shape, and hired a full-time housing and homeless director along with a dedicated police officer to address concerns stemming from the homelessness crisis.

Hattenburg faces off against Rob Chase, who was once the county’s treasurer from 2011 to 2018 as well as a state representative for just one term from 2021 to 2022. Chase did not return our requests for comment.

Hattenburg is endorsed by Sheriff Nowels and is the only City Council candidate with an endorsement from the Spokane County Democrats. Meanwhile, Chase is tapping his connections in the state Legislature: Sen. Mike Padden and former Rep. Bob McCaslin, both Republicans, have endorsed his campaign.

For years, Spokane Valley residents have been conflicted about whether the city should continue to contract its law enforcement through the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office or create an entirely new police department.

Spokane Valley is the largest city in the state without

its own police department, and according to most of the candidates, that’s not going to change anytime soon. Briscoe, Merkel and Hattenburg all support a continuing contract with the sheriff’s office.

The current five-year contract was renewed in November 2022, and the city is expected to pay the county $27 million for law enforcement in 2023.

“We have a great working relationship with the sheriff’s office, so I don’t see the need to explore our own police department,” Briscoe says. “The cost that it would bring to the city to fix something that isn’t broken. It’s just wrong.”

Hattenburg agrees.

“I’ve gone to thousands of doors and have yet to have someone say they want to spend more money for a new police force,” he says.

Merkel says that a contract with the county is a powerful tool for the city to have to leverage control if needed at any time.

Yaeger is undecided on the issue. While her campaign website says the solution to escalating crime rates in Spokane Valley is establishing a new police department, in an interview she says she’d only support the idea if it made sense financially. n

coltonr@inlander.com

Dog Fight

The city and county continue to scrap over animal control. Plus, hateful vandals take aim at symbols of LGBTQ+ pride; and Woodward warns of uncertain times ahead.

The euthanasia of shelter pets keeps reverberating in local government as Spokane County has opened arbitration over the city’s contract for animal control services with Spokane County Regional Animal Protective Service (SCRAPS). On Sept. 25, the Spokane City Council passed an emergency ordinance restricting the euthanization of animals at the shelter due to lack of space, after more than a dozen dogs were put down in one day the week prior. The next day, Sept. 26, Spokane County sent a letter to the city noting that SCRAPS would not abide by the ordinance (which would only affect animals impounded in city limits) without going through a dispute resolution process. Last week, county CEO Scott Simmons asked the city to repeal the ordinance and said SCRAPS already does not euthanize animals only due to space constraints. “We really need that [ordinance] to be repealed, and then we can move forward on resolving these disputes,” Simmons told council members last Thursday. (SAMANTHA WOHLFEIL)

TARGETED VANDALISM

Hate reared its ugly head in Spokane last week when vandals took aim at local showcases of support for the LGBTQ+ community — three nights in a row. On Friday, paint was smeared across the pride flag intersection mural on Spokane Falls Boulevard near Riverfront Park as well as the rainbow crosswalk outside the Odyssey Youth Movement facility in the South Perry neighborhood. Atomic Threads Boutique, which boasts a wide array of gender-inclusive clothing, also had one of its windows smashed at its North Monroe Street location. Then, on Saturday, Odyssey found hate speech spray-painted across its windows, door and sign. The next night vandals returned to further mar the already-paint-covered South Perry crosswalk with tire marks. “These actions are designated to make LGBTQ+ youth and young adults feel unwelcome and othered in their own community,” OYM Executive Director Ian Sullivan says. The Spokane Police Department is investigating the incidents. (COLTON RASANEN)

CONDITIONS AND AFFAIRS

This week’s Spokane City Council meeting opened with Mayor Nadine Woodward presenting a legally required update on what’s been going on in Spokane. “I am fulfilling my duty as mayor to deliver the statement of conditions and affairs at the second October meeting of the City Council,” Woodward said as she started her speech. Woodward touched on a number of topics, including her vision for a “back to basics” approach as the city heads into a challenging budget season. “We are in a time of economic uncertainty,” Woodward said, adding that an Association of Washington Cities survey found that one-third of cities in Washington (including Spokane) expect their expenses to outpace revenues this year. Economic downturn, inflation, increasing costs and “ongoing structural challenges” are major factors across the state and in Spokane, Woodward said, stressing that she wants to have an “unyielding emphasis on resetting ourselves around core principle services” this year. Public safety is the top priority, Woodward said, and accounts for more than half the general fund portion of this year’s proposed budget. (NATE SANFORD)

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Isee them on the ground first. Beside the Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes just south of the Harrison Marina, piles of wild apples decaying in the dirt, too heavy for the already bowing branches. I scan the tree for a snack. Starting from the outside, I spin each apple to check for worms. Most are spoiled. I keep searching until I’m shoulder deep in the tree. Finally, I find a few untouched fruits, firm and blushed with a purplish pink, and draw them out, carefully unthreading myself from the branches.

I pause to behold my prize and think of Henry David Thoreau, who celebrated the wild apple and the effort it takes to eat them.

“Such always is the pursuit of knowledge,” he wrote in The Atlantic. “The celestial fruits, the golden apples of the Hesperides, are ever guarded by a hundred-headed dragon which never sleeps, so that it is a Herculean labor to pluck them.”

Thoreau’s apples are crabapples, the only malus species native to North America. Wash-

ington’s first Malus pumila, a much-favored sweet apple tree, was planted in 1826. Legend has it that a young English soldier brought apple seeds gifted from a long-lost love to his new post at Fort Vancouver. This tree, at 194 years old, died just three years ago. It witnessed a symbol of young love blossom into a multibillion-dollar industry.

Amanda L. Van Lanen, a historian at Lewiston’s Lewis-Clark State College, traces how Washington supplanted New York as the nation’s leading apple producer in her recent book, The Washington Apple. The young Western state was coming of age at the same time agriculture was shifting from subsistence to commercial, railroads were connecting markets in big cities, and scientists were improving pesticides and mechanical sprayers. The home of the Big

Perfecting Eden’s fruit takes geneticists, AI, and some earwigs

BY ELIZA BILLINGHAM

Apple lost its lead due to climate advantages and timely technological advances in the Northwest — but also to relentless marketing.

In 1937, the state Legislature formed the Washington Apple Commission (initially titled the Washington State Apple Advertising Commission). Its sole purpose was to create campaigns and merchandise that promoted Washington apples as the best apples both domestically and internationally.

The advertising commission set a new standard for marketing fresh produce. Magazine ads touted “The Health Fruit.” The American Dental Association dubbed the apple “Nature’s Toothbrush.” And grocers built huge apple displays to compete for prizes like watches, boats or, in one case, a 1965 Ford Thunderbird.

In a 1970s TV advertisement, a disembodied voice sings to classical guitar during golden hour in an orchard: “Washington apple, the beautiful fruit — for beautiful people to share.”

...continued on page 20

The beautiful fruit — “for beautiful people to share” — at Walters’ Fruit Ranch on Green Bluff. YOUNG KWAK PHOTO

The camera pans to a man and woman walking together through the garden. She’s picked an apple from a nearby tree. She takes a bite. If the song is correct, she’ll offer the next bite to her partner. The only thing missing is a snake.

Apples became shorthand for health and happiness. The fruit epitomizes love, lust and luxury everywhere from Sunday school classrooms, fairy tales and Greek mythology to Shel Silverstein, Steve Jobs and the Beatles. Apples, we’re told, are so beautiful that they could easily tempt Snow White to trust an old hag or Eve to disobey God. (Though the fruit in Eden is never actually specified in the Hebrew text, and could have easily been a pomegranate or a fig.)

We live into this nostalgia, taking Instagram selfies in autumnal u-pick orchards or fussing over the prettiest fruit from the grocery aisle. My family used to sing a song about Johnny Appleseed to bless our meal.

But as our nostalgia grows, so does the industry tasked with producing this emblematic fruit. Turns out, it’s scientists, bugs and robots who create the fruit we’ve come to expect. Outside of Eden, data analysts plan the exact permutations that separate a puny crabapple from a profitable Honeycrisp. Growers are caught in an intensifying arms race to keep worms out of our afternoon snack. Artificial intelligence trains robots to harvest walls of fruit.

Washington’s love affair with apples has turned into a full-on, industrial-scale obsession.

TIME TRAVELERS

Amit Dhingra is a fruit guy.

The soft-spoken professor grew up in India during the 1970s and ’80s when food was scarce and deaths from hunger were common. He is now the head of horticultural studies at Texas A&M University and a geneticist whose bio includes intimidating words like “transcriptomics,” “chloroplast genomics,” and “plastid transformation.” But at his core, he’s a poet who talks about how apples “can bring people together despite their differences.”

Dhingra also operates a genomics research lab at Washington State University. A few years ago, he heard about David Benscoter, an ex-CIA agent who was hunting down lost apple varieties in the Palouse. In 2015, Benscoter rediscovered a “Nero” variety on Steptoe Butte about 50 miles south of Spokane, an apple previously thought to be extinct. Since then, he and other volunteers have found 29 “lost” apple varieties across Eastern Washington, Oregon and North Idaho.

When Dhingra heard about a group of volunteers cataloging heritage apples, he was thrilled in the way only a geneticist could be. He imagined families going into their backyards to study apple genetics, find old species and, maybe, create new ones.

“I thought, ‘This would be so cool,’” he says. “A publicly sourced, multigenerational apple breeding program.”

Dhingra started working with Benscoter's Lost Apple Project, a nonprofit dedicated to identifying, preserving and reintroducing heritage apple trees. They fielded calls from people curious about old fruit trees in their backyards. Dhingra’s genetic research allowed him to travel back in time, rediscovering not only the apple’s identity, but the weather conditions and migratory patterns hidden within the apple’s genome.

Dhingra thought he would spend lots of time outside. But by searching for lost apples, Dhingra found himself at kitchen tables and in living rooms instead. He heard stories of a childhood swing, a wedding or a grandmother’s recipe. The people calling the Lost Apple Project were less interested in mapping genomes and more interested in sharing their family lore. The project became a collection of oral histories, more often preserving human history than apples.

The apples Dhingra and Benscoter found were usually ugly — though sentimental owners might disagree. Ugly apples are pretty useless to current apple breeding programs, says Kate Evans, a plant breeder at WSU. Evans is a co-creator of the Cosmic Crisp, an apple released to consumers in 2019 that was bred to improve on the popular Honeycrisp apple. In its first four years, Cosmic Crisp has become the seventh-best selling apple in the U.S., trailing industry standards like Gala and Fuji, but eclipsing traditional favorites like Ambrosia and McIntosh.

Evans is a transplant herself from England and perhaps as responsible

The apple epitomizes love, lust and luxury everywhere from Sunday school classrooms, fairy tales and Greek mythology to Shel Silverstein, Steve Jobs and the Beatles.

In 2019, WSU scientists created the Cosmic Crisp apple, seen at My Fresh Basket. YOUNG KWAK PHOTO

for the success of Washington’s apple industry as Fort Vancouver’s 194-year-old tree.

She says that a breeder’s job is to produce more and more varieties of apples that are beautiful and delicious. It’s true that an ancient apple might have one desirable trait, like drought resistance, but it probably has far more undesirable ones, like size, color, texture or taste.

“It’s bringing in all these negative traits that, in fact, we have to select out,” Evans says. Selecting traits out can take decades. Quicker than the centuries it might take in the wild, but still a long time to wait.

“There’s really got to be a reason to do it,” she says. “I will do it. But it also depends, honestly, at what point in your career you are. Anything that I do now, I’m not going to taste the fruit.”

Evans isn’t much past middle age, with short-cropped hair and a youthful, light step. But she already knows that her current work will serve the next generation of Washington growers. Their apples need to be marketable, and supermarkets are ruthless judges.

Apples are graded on color, shape, sugar level, crispness and condition. Washington Extra Fancy is the highest grade, because Washington holds its apples to a higher standard than the rest of the U.S. A major Washington distinguisher is a stricter definition of a “good shade of red.”

Psychologists, advertisers and plant breeders know that red is a powerful color. The fruit in Eve’s mouth is almost always red. Snow White’s poison apple is blood red. (Red is associated with both love and malice, and the Latin malus can mean either evil or apple. A translation error is probably what drove Christendom to read apples into Eden.)

Red is so powerful, it’s a big reason the Red Delicious still exists. Red Delicious is an awful apple — waxy skin and mealy, flavorless flesh that browns immediately. But on the outside, they are bewitching.

Evans suspects that Red Delicious were bred for their color alone. From an eating perspective, “just because you’re selecting something red doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s better.”

But consumers eat — and shop — with their eyes first. Red Delicious is stereotypical Barbie, exactly what you think of when you think “apple.”

In order for an apple to make it to the produce section, especially in Washington, it needs to have lots of red. Plant breeders like Evans know this. As they breed new varieties or improve on old ones, they now know to hone in on flavor, but they also look for the most colorful fruit. So keep an eye on your favorite apple varieties. Thanks to strategic breeding, Galas, Fujis, Pink Ladies, Honeycrisps and Cosmic Crisps are likely to turn redder and redder.

LATE NIGHT SNACKS AND SAFE SEX

In the cover of night, an earwig lurks along an apple tree branch. It feels its way to a cottony, pea-sized ball of fluff stuck to the base of a leaf. The earwig tickles it with its antennae, then sinks its mandibles into the white fuzz and devours it in 20 minutes. OK, not super speedy, but earwig mouths are pretty small. This episode, caught on a special night-vision camera, is one of the best things to happen to WSU entomologists Robert Orpet and Katlyn Catron. It proves that earwigs eat wooly apple aphids, the tiny insects that spew white “wool” from their abdomens and make young apple trees susceptible to a deadly fungus. These aphids are hard to kill, especially once they move underground to feast on a tree’s roots. Apple

growers need to kill as many aphids as possible while they’re above ground. But spraying lots of chemicals is unattractive for multiple reasons — it’s expensive and offputting to consumers, but it’s also an acceleration toward insecticide-immune super aphids.

A successful insecticide will kill most of the insects it targets. But inevitably, a few will survive. These survivors are more resistant to that insecticide, and as they reproduce, they pass that resistance to their progeny. If the same insecticide is used on them, their resistance only grows stronger.

In a few generations (and insect generations can be as quick as a few months), most of these pests — the survivors’ offspring — are suddenly resistant to a chemical that was perfectly potent before. It’s a trend nicknamed the “pesticide treadmill.”

So when WSU got a video of an earwig’s gory late night snack, they had visual proof of a potential off-ramp from that treacherous treadmill. To test their idea, they asked Wenatchee orchardists to host a colony of earwigs for an all-you-can-eat buffet.

This is no small ask, considering earwigs’ reputation. Most people start squirming as soon as they imagine an earwig burrowing into their ear canal (an awful myth first penned by the ancient scholar Pliny the Elder, who also thought that caterpillars grew from dewdrops on radish leaves).

A more relevant concern is for the fruit itself. Earwigs are pests in peach and apricot orchards, where they chomp on the fleshy fruit. Would earwigs eat aphids or apples?

Orpet discovered that earwigs can’t bite into an apple’s relatively tough peel. They could be trusted to roam freely about the orchard, preying on aphids without being tempted by the luxurious fruit itself.

Armed with Orpet’s discovery, Catron set to work coordinating the Earwig Transit Project. She gathered 10,000 earwigs from peach orchards and divided them into plastic buckets of 500 each, throwing in some dog kibble and spinach for food.

On a Wednesday morning in July, Catron pitched a tent at the arid WSU Tree Fruit Research & Extension campus, stocking it with water, snacks and merch, like notepads branded with an “Earwig Transit Project’” logo and cute cartoon earwigs. She spread out folders containing relevant research notes, but also some fun facts to make the bucket of 500 earwigs less horrifying.

She assured hesitant growers that earwigs aren’t scary, but actually one of the only insects to show maternal care. She explained that the long “pincers” on an earwig are actually their butts, and those intimidating genitals have more endearing spin in other languages — the Spanish name for earwigs, tijeretas, means “little scissors.” Growers were educated and entertained. All the buckets were taken home. So in a few years, when you eat an apple grown on a healthy, aphid-less tree, you might thank those cute little scissorbutts for cutting fuzzy mutants out of your life.

Aphids are one of many pests that want to gorge

themselves on an apple orchard, and though they’re problematic, they’re not the worst. The archnemesis of apple growers, which has been plaguing orchardists for centuries, not only wreaks havoc on crops, but has somehow endeared itself to school-age children the way few other bugs have.

If you’ve ever been in an elementary school, you’ve seen clip art images of a green worm poking its head out of an apple, smiling and wearing glasses or a graduation cap, sometimes even holding a book.

But worms don’t eat apples. Codling moth larvae do. Codling moths are the sworn enemy of Washington apple growers. An adult moth lays its egg on the outside of the fruit, and when it hatches, the baby munches its way toward the seeds of the apple, which are the most nutritious for a growing grub. The larvae grow unseen inside the fruit until an unsuspecting eater comes along and gets a mouthful of grub guts with their first bite.

Apples and codling moths are native to the Middle East. The moths followed apples to North America, but the parasitoids that prey on the moths never made it. In Washington, the most common way to kill codling moths is trying to spray an insecticide at the exact right time: the few days when the majority of eggs have been laid, but the fewest larvae have hatched. This is a very hard window to pinpoint. But WSU entomologist Rob Curtiss is researching a new way to minimize both insecticide use and worm-infested apples. If his tactics catch on, your larvae-less apples could be the result of discrete manipulation of a moth’s sex life.

Curtiss is one of the only people in his department without a nose piercing or beetle tattoo. He has a short beard, no-rim glasses, and research experience in upstate New York, Michigan, British Columbia and Hawaii. For a two-year grant project at WSU, Curtiss decided not to kill codling moths. Instead, he breeds them. The closets in his laboratory are full of humidifiers and mesh habitats, with larvae growing in seedling trays, their white bodies bulging from kidney bean mush.

Curtiss thinks that more moths could be the key to less larvae, ironically. That’s because his moths are sterile — they can’t lay eggs. Curtiss is researching various mating disruption techniques to manage codling moth populations. One idea is to release a colony of sterilized moths into an orchard and let them do what the birds and bees do. The more often an unsuspecting moth mates with a sterile moth, the fewer eggs are made. Sterilized moths could be a clever, chemical-less way to counteract reproduction, while still letting moths, but not eggs, get laid.

But it’s hard to convince growers that more moths flying around the orchard could be good for their crop. Growers usually set traps for moths and estimate the total number of moths in their orchard from the amount they catch. More moths equal more pesticides. But with Curtiss’ proposed method, orchardists need to be able identify which moths are dangerous and which are sterile.

...continued on next page

INSET: What a real “worm” in an apple looks like. ROB CURTISS PHOTO

Curtiss sprays his sterilized moths with a fluorescent dye powder. He converted a laboratory closet that’s not a codling moth nursery into a darkroom. Under the soft purple light, he can count how many trapped codling moths are his. Since the dye is only visible under ultraviolet light, it’s not like apple orchards will suddenly flutter with glowing moths, though “I think my growers would really like that more,” Curtiss chuckles.

It will take at least two years to nurture a self-sustaining colony of codling moths that can be loaned out to orchards, Curtiss says. While he works to keep his baby grubs happy, he also tries to spread the word to elementary schools that there aren’t any actual worms in apples, codling moth larvae aren’t green, and they definitely can’t read.

JUMPING INTO HYPERSPACE

Unlike Thoreau, most people don’t like the “Herculean labor”of picking wild apples. As Washington homesteaders planted new lives for themselves in the Northwest, they organized their fruit trees into orchards. They planned rows and pruned branches so the fruit was plumper and easier to pick. On Greenbluff just northeast of Spokane, u-pick orchards do the same. Apples are easy for toddlers to see and simple for adults to pluck.

But commercial orchards take it a step further. They tuck and trim trees into “fruit walls,” two-dimensional, vertical planes that make it even easier to see and pick fruit. Fruit walls also make it easier for agriculture to transition to its next chapter: robots.

Ag tech companies are always working to automate hard tasks. For years, small self-propelled vehicles with names like “Bandit Cyclone” have rolled through rows of fruit walls. Harvesters stand on various platforms at different heights, stripping the wall bare without climbing ladders and using as few strokes as possible. But ag tech’s next challenge is to build a completely automated harvester that eliminates the need to carry human harvesters at all.

Automation is not new. The Palouse is used to seeing huge combines harvest wheat and barley. But automating fruit crop harvest is much harder. Picking apples professionally requires an eye for ripeness, a surgical flick of the wrist, and a quick but controlled delivery.

A human apple harvester is a highly desired, highly skilled employee. Many harvesters travel from Mexico on temporary H-2A visas. According to the Washington Apple Commission, peak harvest season in Washington requires about 40,000 workers to harvest 10 to 12 billion apples every year. There aren’t enough people in rural areas to pick, even if everyone was willing to do the hard labor. Growers are willing to set up temporary towns for valuable employees traveling from far away.

But aligning the harvest with the harvesters isn’t easy.

“About every other year, we’ll have a one- to fourweek period where we have a labor shortage,” says West Mathison of Stemilt Growers, a fifth-generation familyowned fruit company in Wenatchee. “We’d like harvest to be very linear. But that’s just not the way the fruit matures in Mother Nature.”

Rain, heat, immigration policy and labor regulations, plus unforeseen issues like pandemics, interrupt workers.

But the work remains. Diversifying harvesting options with robots could help stabilize the harvest season, especially if robots can offer helping hands when humans can’t.

Critics worry that human jobs are continuing to be sacrificed at the altar of artificial intelligence. Stemilt is a leader in fair farmworker treatment — it was the first tree fruit grower, packer and shipper to reach full certification from the Equitable Food Initiative, an organization committed to safety, health and transparency in food systems. As president of Stemilt, Mathison wonders if robots could bear the brunt of hard labor while paving the way to higher quality jobs for human counterparts.

“The real successful technologies are the ones that have that really smooth interfaces, to where the person who is doing [a job] manually the week before can transition into really overseeing that piece of technology,” Mathison says.

But a robot takeover is unlikely. “Just because of the nature of the work, some percentage of the fruit will always be harvested by hand,” he says.

Apple harvesting robots are still in heavy training, and ag tech companies are competing to design the most successful model. Some robots have drones that fly into the canopy and pull out fruit with long suction cup noses. A robotic harvester from advanced.farm, an ag tech start up in Northern California, has six arms that move independently. Each arm scans the foliage with camera “eyes,” trained on hours of photo slideshows. When it sees a ripe apple, it latches onto it with a soft suction cup and twists.

“What we’re doing does have an element of sci-fi and an element of futuristic technology,” says Peter Ferguson, director of business development at advanced.farm.

“That’s exciting. We’re using artificial intelligence and very revolutionary technologies to do what we’re doing.”

Sometimes the robot breaks off a small part of the branch along with the apple. Sometimes it doesn’t grab anything at all. The cameras may only recognize half of

the ripe apples. Eight years ago, when Mathison took his kids along with him to see an early-stage robot harvester, his then-7-year-old daughter was less than impressed.

“She looks at me, and she goes, ‘You drove us all the way out here just to show us that?’” he says. “We shouldn’t overestimate what we’re gonna accomplish in the next one to two years. But we shouldn’t underestimate what we can evolve to over the next five to 10. The first time they jumped to hyperspace in Star Wars, I’m sure it didn’t go that well either.”

I wonder if any robot in the near or far future could pluck the three apples I managed to wrangle out of the tree on the Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes.

I took one more moment to gaze at my hard-won fruit, somehow unbothered by moth or modernization. Finally, my first bite. The apple flesh was pure white, but browned immediately. It was crisp but a little chalky, and tasted like a pear, sweet and floral with almost no tang. The skin didn’t have much red on it. This apple would never make it to a grocery store shelf or even to a plant breeder’s lab. But it was my first wild apple, and I fell in love. If anyone ever abandoned me for some distant shore, I might ask him to remember me with a fruit like this.

So I have to side with Thoreau on this one — it was definitely worth the work. n

elizab@inlander.com

& MALUS,” CONTINUED...

This apple would never make it to a grocery store shelf or even to a plant breeder’s lab. But it was my first wild apple, and I fell in love.

The future of apple picking is now, thanks to advanced.farm's robots. COURTESY PHOTO

Catholic Charities serves over 55,000 people each year. It’s time to set the record straight.

• Why are more people in Spokane experiencing homelessness?

• Is anyone actually getting help?

• The House of Charity was going to move out of downtown… what happened with that?

• What are the real solutions for healthier Eastern Washington communities? Scan the code or visit www.cceasternwa.org/answers to read our comprehensive answers on housing and homelessness.

LOCAL RESORTS

Idaho’s premier ski resort has even more for mountain hounds this year. SCHWEITZER PHOTO

GEARING UP FOR SNOW

SCHWEITZER

If you’re an Ikon Pass holder, you now have access to Idaho’s premier ski resort, as Schweitzer is the newest member of the Alterra Mountain Company family. Your wait from base to peak will be shorter, too, thanks to the new Creekside Express Chairlift. The high-speed lift moves visitors from parking to the mountain fast — but since its chairs detach from the cable in the loading and unloading terminals, beginners can take their time.

If you weren’t one of the lucky people on the mountain when the new Cambium Spa opened for a few months last year, you’ll be able to “Rev Up, Reboot and Tune In” all winter this year. The hightech wellness center welcomes anyone looking to take care of their body, complete with a halo infrared sauna and other techniques to improve circulation and breathing. The spa is fully completed and here to help you feel your best, whether you’re snowboarding down the mountain or strolling through the village shops.

Also opening now is the new Schralpenhaus housing project in nearby Ponderay, with 84 units for resort employees. Sean Mirus, marketing and special events director at Schweitzer, says that providing options for employees is key to ensuring a top-notch experience for everyone on the mountain. (ELIZA BILLINGHAM)

...continued on next page

At the five local Inland Northwest ski resorts, all the planning is about to be put into action

LOCAL RESORTS

SILVER MOUNTAIN

The new Jackass Snack Shack, which opened last year, got a brand-new add-on: a wooden 40-foot deck that will be open the entire season, including outside the Jackass Snack Shack’s business hours on Thursdays through Sundays. It provides visitors with a perfect spot to sit back and relax before hitting the trails again.

Over the fall, employees worked tirelessly to maintain the trails, including a new one that opened this year, to provide visitors a smooth start to the season. Additionally, the Mountain House was revamped with new flooring and carpeting.

“Whether you’re like a brand-new skier or

you’ve been skiing for 60 years, there’s something for everyone at Silver Mountain,” says Marketing Coordinator Gus Colburn. “Everyone that comes and visits the resort feels like they belong, it feels like it’s a good home mountain for them. You won’t leave Silver Mountain without getting at least a few fist bumps and high fives throughout the day.”

Don’t miss the annual Jackass Day in January, which celebrates the history of Kellogg and Silver Mountain Resort’s creation as the Jackass Ski Bowl. Each year, attendees get deeply discounted lift tickets at the event. (SUMMER SANDSTROM)

MT. SPOKANE

As the closest ski area to the city, Mt. Spokane has long been a popular destination for beginners. Those running the show up on the mountain understand that, and this winter they’ve once again expanded the ski school offerings. There are more lessons than ever before for skiers and snowboarders of all ages. For beginners looking to take on the terrain park, the mountain’s Progression Park has been moved to a more accessible location.

One change that skiers and boarders of all skill levels will notice comes from the work of the expanded snow service team. After investing in four new snowcats over the past three years, including two this offseason, the mountain will be as wellgroomed as ever. That grooming extends beyond just the corduroy. There have also been additions to the team of professionals who design and maintain the terrain park, which is the largest in the region and once again a point of pride for Mt. Spokane.

While the mountain has been undergoing steady change in recent years, popular offerings like night skiing Wednesday through Saturday, the Club Shred children’s program on Friday evenings and, of course, the mouthwatering kitchen menu are back for regulars to enjoy once again. (WILL MAUPIN)

...continued on page 28

“GEARING UP FOR SNOW,” CONTINUED...

Mt. Spokane’s snow service team leveled up this year with two new snowcat groomers. MT. SPOKANE PHOTO

LOOKOUT PASS

Idaho’s oldest ski area underwent transformative change last winter with the opening of the Eagle Peak expansion. That addition nearly doubled Lookout Pass’ skiable acreage and added 500 feet in elevation. After last year’s massive expansion, this offseason saw a number of more subtle changes to help visitors feel more comfortable in what is now a much larger mountain.

Improvements to the gearbox on the Eagle Peak quad lift have shaved two-and-a-half minutes off the ride time. Those few minutes saved each trip up the

mountain can add up to extra runs down. Another timesaving feature to look forward to is a new outdoor ticketing kiosk. Visitors who make a lift ticket reservation can skip the main line and print their pass at the kiosk, conveniently located near the lift. Visually, the most notable change is the addition of an annex next to the lodge. The sprung structure-style building is fully heated and loaded with seating for those looking to grab some food from the kitchen, dig into their own brown bags or simply get off their feet for a few minutes. (WILL MAUPIN)

49° NORTH

Get ready for yet another extended ski season as Washington state’s second-largest ski resort, 49° North, works to maintain the historic success of its 2022-23 season. Director of Skier and Rider Services Rick Brown and his team have been working throughout the summer to ensure that the Chewelah ski resort can operate without solely relying on unpredictable weather patterns. More snowmaking machines around the resort will lead to a more reliable snowpack throughout the season, especially as operations continue into the spring.

Better conditions equal better skiing, for a longer season and more ski days — and that’s what it’s all about, right?

Brown’s crew also spent the summer working on a timber project that increased clearance between the treeline and ski lift in the West Basin, creating new glades to explore. Advanced skiers looking for the thrill of a challenge will be happy to shred their way through these additions.

Folks can also expect to see the start of a new 7,000-square-foot building alongside the Calispel Creek Lodge toward the base of the Northern Spirit Express. While Brown says this won’t be completed in time for this year’s season, the building will eventually be home to the resort’s Skier and Rider Services and more guest seating. (COLTON RASANEN) n

“GEARING UP FOR SNOW,” CONTINUED...

Eagle Peak doubled Lookout Pass’ skiable area. MATT SAWYER/SKI LOOKOUT PASS PHOTO

BIG SKY GETAWAYS

Everything’s bigger in Montana, including these three go-to resorts just across the Continental Divide

BY TED S. McGREGOR JR.

WHITEFISH MOUNTAIN RESORT

Whitefish, Montana • skiwhitefish.com

2,353 vertical feet • 113 runs

In December 1947, somebody up on Big Mountain overlooking Whitefish Lake strung a rope on an old Model T wheel and started pulling skiers up the side of the hill. So this year marks the 75th anniversary of what is now Whitefish Mountain Resort. They’ve come a long way. On Dec. 30, 2022, they opened their new six-pack, highspeed quad — the Snow Ghost Express. There’s so much to love about Whitefish Mountain Resort, but one of the coolest things is that it’s ludicrously close to downtown Whitefish and all its amenities — just 7 miles away.

And for locals used to making the trek to Glacier National Park, we know it’s not far — just a 4 1/2 hour drive. But if you really want to go old school, ride the train! The Northern Pacific Railroad arrived in Whitefish in 1904; the rails are the reason the town exists. For as low as like $30 one way (if you plan ahead), you can still ride that same track from Spokane to Whitefish. It departs at 1 am and arrives at 7, winding through Sandpoint, Bonners Ferry and Libby along the way. But don’t oversleep, as the Empire Builder will take you all the way to Chicago if you’re not careful.

SNOWBOWL SKI

Missoula, Montana • montanasnowbowl.com

2,600 vertical feet • 48 runs

Anyone who regularly skis at either Silver Mountain or Lookout Pass can attest that the drive out on I-90 is part of the attraction. No switchbacks or don’t-look-down corners. Snowbowl in Montana has that same charm, although it is a 12-mile trip up from Missoula — just take Exit 101 off I-90. And at only just over three hours from Spokane, it qualifies as a getaway without too much time in the car. The resort is on the smaller side, but still charming with a good amount of snow (300 inches) each year.

In this age of heated lift seats, Snowbowl is a momand-pop throwback, with vintage Riblet two-seaters the norm. Still, it packs a ton of verts into a tight footprint — in fact, when it opened in 1962, it had the biggest vertical drop in the Pacific Northwest. It’s not considered a great place for beginners. But the Last Run Inn’s wood-fired pizzas and bloody marys are attractions all their own. For Inland Northwesterners, this getaway’s also about Missoula, one of the coolest Western towns around — filled with fun breweries (Conflux, Tamarack), bars (Plonk, the Rhino) and great places to eat (Five on Black for Peruvian, Catalyst for breakfast, the Pie Hole for pizza).

Big Sky means big snow. GLACIERWORLD.COM PHOTO

BIG SKY RESORT

Big Sky, Montana • bigskyresort.com

4,350 vertical feet • 300 runs

All of America seems to be obsessed with all things Bozeman via the uber-popular TV show Yellowstone, but skiers have been coming for years — to jump off to some epic Northern Rockies skiing. Bridger Bowl is the local mom-and-pop nonprofit just outside town, but down along the way to the actual Yellowstone National Park is Big Sky Resort — and not too far from Spokane (about seven hours’ drive, with Missoula being the midpoint). As our own Bob Legasa put it back in 2021, “The Big Couloir on Lone Peak is legendary — a triple black diamond run through a 1,400-vertical-foot couloir located almost directly under the Lone Peak Tram. When

you’re going to ride the Big Couloir, you’re required to sign in with ski patrol, wear an avalanche transceiver and ski with a buddy.”

And after 27 years of planning, 2023-24 is the season when they’ll open the new Lone Peak Tram, where you will disembark near a stunning viewing platform — with a glass floor!

Even though it’s known for its challenging terrain, about half the mountain is rated for beginner or intermediate, and just below Lone Peak you’ll find Mountain Village with plenty of options for after the lifts stop running. Montana Jack and Westward Social are both solid choices (among many), but you could also jump in a snowcat and head up for a chef-prepared, three-course meal in… wait for it… a yurt! Yep, the Montana Dinner Yurt is at 7,500 feet and ready to serve you. n

All types of skiers are welcome in Montana — but especially pros. JEFF ENGERBRETSON PHOTO

Teton Gravity Research: Legend Has It

FILM LEGENDARY

Teton Gravity Research has been rolling out amazing ski films for almost 30 years now. This year’s, Legend Has It, explores the stories associated with ski lore like storm cycles, heroic feats and traversing rough terrain. For 28 years, Teton Gravity Research has been traveling the globe with the athletes to beautiful locations often based on this fabled history to uncover the experience. At the event, attendees have the opportunity to enter to win grand prizes such as a Nissan Pathfinder Rock Creek edition, a trip to Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, YETI products and so much more.

— MADISON PEARSON

Teton Gravity Research: Legend Has It • Thu, Oct. 19 from 7:30-10 pm

• $9-$17• Bing Crosby Theater

• 901 W. Sprague Ave. • bingcrosbytheater.com • 509-227-7638

GEAR GET READY!

The air is chilly and that can only mean one thing: It’s almost time to hit the slopes! The annual Mt. Spokane Ski Patrol Ski Swap features over 22,000 items ready to be purchased and used on the mountain this winter. Beginner athletes will find all of the best gear for an awesome first ski season, while experienced athletes get the opportunity to upgrade their gear in preparation for their best season yet. Local ski patrollers, shop employees and knowledgeable volunteers are ready to help you determine which gear to buy according to your skill level. Don’t miss out on all of the fun.

— MADISON PEARSON

Mt. Spokane Ski Patrol Ski Swap • Sat, Oct. 28 from 9 am-5 pm and Sun, Oct. 29 from 9 am-noon • $5 • Spokane County Fair & Expo Center • 404 N. Havana St. • skipatrolskiswap.com

FILM THE GOAT

Nothing gets avid snow athletes hyped for the season like a Warren Miller film. Before it’s time to hit the mountain, watch this film narrated by Jonny Moseley all about the birth of ski towns like Sun Valley and Aspen. In the 74th annual film, you’ll meet icons and innovators like the original Hotdoggers and be introduced to the most outlandish ski locations in the world. Featuring athletes like Amie Engerbretson and Cam Fitzpatrick, you’ll leave rearing to ski and pumped up for the snowy days ahead.

— MADISON PEARSON

Warren Miller’s All Time

• Wed, Nov. 8 at 7:30 pm

•

$22-$24

• Bing Crosby Theater

• 509-227-7638

• 901 W. Sprague Ave.

• bingcrosbytheater.com

VOLUNTEER PAVE THE WAY

If you want to make this the best ski season yet, consider volunteering at one of Spokane Nordic’s Ski Trail Days. On specific days in October, volunteers can spend the day on Mount Spokane helping clear the Nordic area for grooming. This includes clearing branches, brush and any other obstructions you might encounter along the way. The day begins at 8:30 am in the Selkirk Parking Lot. Bring your own lunch, plenty of water, dress in layers and get to work! These volunteer days are critical to the trail and grooming quality in Mt. Spokane’s Nordic Area, so give yourself a pat on the back!

VISUAL ARTS

Making An Impression

As the Rocky Mountain Printmaking Alliance Symposium comes to town, Spokane makes its mark on the artform

BY MADISON PEARSON

As a city, Spokane has a long list of nicknames: The Lilac City, Hooptown… and a few not-so-nice monikers. But Reinaldo Gil Zambrano has long dreamed that Spokane would be called “Print Town U.S.A.”

As a local printmaker and educator, Gil Zambrano has been working hard the past several years to make that dream into reality. He co-owns and operates Spokane Print and Publishing Center (SPPC), a place where local printmakers can teach, work and learn, and he runs the annual Spokane Print Fest each spring for artists to gather and showcase the world of printmaking. His dream of Spokane becoming Print Town U.S.A. is well within reach this week as the Rocky Mountain Printmaking Alliance’s (RMPA)

Artist Sarah Windisch (left) teaches Kayleigh Dittemore about relief printing at Spokane Print and Publishing Center. ERICK DOXEY PHOTOS

biennial symposium rolls into Spokane for a three-day conference celebrating all things print.

“We believe that we are working toward creating a hub of the celebration of printmaking here in Spokane,” Gil Zambrano says. “And the fact that [RMPA] asked if we would host this conference and bring people in from all of these different regions, well it’s kind of like a recognition of that effort.”

Founded in 2009, the Rocky Mountain Printmaking Alliance is composed of printmakers from Idaho, Colorado, Washington, Montana, Utah and beyond. The nonprofit holds a biennial (once every other year) symposium that aims to showcase the printmaking community within a regional host city.

The conference begins on Thursday, Oct. 12, and runs through the late hours of Saturday, Oct, 14. Though many of the panels and workshops are for those already registered, the program boasts ample community events that the public can engage in as well.

The conference starts with a keynote address by Miranda Metcalf, co-founder of Hello, Print Friend, a podcast featuring interviews with printmakers from around the world, and ends with a speech titled “Spokane is Awesome!” by Spokane Arts’ former executive director Melissa Huggins.

Melanie Antuna Hewitt, a local book artist and Spokane Print and Publishing Center member, says that the print community in Spokane is beginning to flourish.

“We aren’t just somewhere that printmaking happens,” she says. “Now, Spokane is a place where excellent examples of printmaking happen, and it’s a huge thing to be recognized for. They could’ve asked Seattle or someplace in Southern California to host it, but RMPA chose Spokane because of the caliber of work we’re putting out there.”

Hewitt’s goal is to have a place in Spokane where printmakers can be artists-in-residence and create while being surrounded by all the region has to offer.

“Receiving recognition from places like RMPA allows us to show what we have going on here in Spokane,” she says. “Then maybe more people will become interested in Spokane. Maybe people will even apply to Gonzaga or Eastern and receive their printmaking education from those local institutions.”

The conference takes place at various establishments around the city, giving attendees the chance to see the natural beauty that Spokane has to offer as well as the art institutions that drive the city’s arts scene.

The first day’s festivities are happening at the Northwest Museum of Art & Culture, while the

second day’s festivities jump around from the Central Library to Gonzaga University and the third day showcases Spokane Print and Publishing Center, The Hive and Riverfront Park — a perfect sampling of what Spokane has to offer.

While Hewitt won’t be attending the symposium, she’s happy to hand another SPPC member the responsibility of representing the center during the conference.

Sarah Windisch is a Coeur d’Alene-based artist who stumbled into the world of printmaking by accident.

Wednesday, October 25th | 8:30am - 12:30pm

CenterPlace Regional Event Center

2426 N Discovery Place, Spokane Valley

*Cost: FREE - Breakfast included with registration

To register please visit our event website: www.eventleaf.com/e/2023Caregiver

For questions regarding the CG Conference please contact the Caregiver Support Program 509-458-7450 Option 2

*Breakfast included for attendees that register prior to October 17, 2023

“I took an Art 100 class while I was in college to become a music teacher,” Windisch says. “We learned about printmaking and it became my fun, relaxing hobby. Well, fast forward to COVID when everybody finally got a chance to explore those hobbies, I started spending more time doing it and exploring. And, well, I guess I’m an artist now!”

Windisch’s workshop involves using sustainable and household items to create prints, like Tetra Pak packaging and lint rollers. The artist wants workshop participants to tap into their inner child and create freely.

“My favorite thing about printmaking is that it’s so accessible,” she says. “Kids can do it, adults can do it, anyone can do it. So I want these people who probably have a degree in this sort of stuff to take a step back, think about the essence of printmaking and what they would do with limited resources and limited time.”

This is Windisch’s first time presenting at an art conference, let alone to an entire symposium full of seasoned printmakers. Is she nervous? Yeah! But she says there’s so much to be learned by fostering connections with people outside one’s own sphere.

“Printmaking isn’t gatekeep-y,” she says. “It’s always been for the masses. So I think the more that we can talk to other people about it, the more the printmaking world will change and evolve. I think that’s so exciting.” n

Rocky Mountain Printmaking Alliance Symposium • Oct. 12-14; times vary

• $30-$75

• Locations vary • rockymountainprintmakingalliance.org

Printmaking can be done with many materials — lead type, yes, but also lint rollers.

THE BUZZ BIN

SCARY STREAMING OBSCURITIES

BY BILL FROST

The Hollywood writers’ strike is over, but we’re facing a dearth of new horror shows for Halloween season. American Horror Story: Delicate and The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon are off to great starts (Kim Kardashian and Norman Reedus — who knew they could act?). But you’re going to need more scary stuff in your stream this month. Here are a few options to dig up.

IMMORAL COMPASS (2021; THE ROKU CHANNEL)

The episodes are only seven minutes long, but comedian Bill Burr covers plenty of darkly comic ground in Immoral Compass, an anthology series that’s essentially a fun-sized Black Mirror. Burr serves as the bleary narrator to a set of awkward tales that aren’t so much frightening as they are frighteningly relatable — you’ll never admit it, but you’d probably make the same selfish choices as these miserable characters. Immoral Compass is sick, twisted, and over far too soon.

FROM (2022–PRESENT; MGM+)

The supernaturally inescapable town bit has been done before (Under the Dome, Wayward Pines, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, et al), but From adds the delightful element of nocturnal monsters that will literally eat your face. Harold Perrineau (Lost) and the unwilling residents of The Township may be stuck in a nightmare interstate detour surrounded by a forest of malevolent creatures, but From tempers the terror with unexpected clues that might actually pay off (unlike Lost).

BLACK SUMMER (2019–21; NETFLIX)

Black Summer premiered during the twilight years of The Walking Dead when its bloated assembly of whiny characters nearly outnumbered the undead. With a leaner cast (led by Jaime King), manic camerawork, and 28 Days Later-fast zombies, Black Summer navigates the early days of the Z-apocalypse with gritty immediacy and gore-splattering zeal. It also helps that the series only ran for two seasons, wrapping the Stephen King-praised story into 16 tight episodes.

MILLENNIUM (1996–99; YOUTUBE)

Millennium’s first episode kicked off with the scene of a blood-soaked stripper writhing in front of a wall of flames — quite the attention-grabber for ’90s broadcast TV. The X-Files-adjacent series from Chris Carter centers on ex-FBI profiler Frank Black (Lance Henricksen) as he tracks serial killers inspired by the coming Y2K “end time.” After the grisly first season, Millennium lightened up its Se7en-esque tone, but not by much. This should be way easier to stream.

FREAKYLINKS (2000–01; YOUTUBE)

Speaking of shows that are near-impossible to find, FreakyLinks is another long-lost series with a cult following but few traces of its existence (though I do still have a promotional FreakyLinks CD wallet — thanks, Fox). A group of friends run the urban legends website FreakyLinks.com, documenting paranormal and cryptid activity with requisite shaky-cam abandon. (The series was produced by the Blair Witch Project studio, BTW).

DEAD SET (2008; YOUTUBE)

Wishing horrible deaths for Big Brother contestants is perfectly normal, and Charlie Brooker (Black Mirror) did just that by siccing flesh-eating zombies on the cast of that very show in British satire Dead Set. The reality show housemates are oblivious to the undead outbreak happening outside their studio set, not unlike the real American Big Brother during the COVID pandemic (which produced no zombies, as far as anyone knows). Can we get a Real Housewives version, Charlie?

HARPER’S ISLAND (2009; YOUTUBE)

The only way to make a destination wedding scarier is to throw a killer into the mix. One-season-and-done thriller Harper’s Island follows murder-spree survivor Abby (Elaine Cassidy) as she returns to the place where her family was slaughtered seven years earlier to attend her best friend’s wedding — you could have just sent a panini press, Abs. Over 13 episodes, the killer racks up a body count of 27(!), and the twisty mystery is more satisfying if you don’t think too hard about it. n

PALOUSE MURAL

Along the backside of Pullman’s Thomas Hammer Coffee and Lily Bee’s building on Main Street, you can spot a new mural installed by Seattle-based artist Tori Shao. The RIVERSIDE MURAL is a collaboration between the Downtown Pullman Association Design Committee and the Pullman Arts Foundation to enliven the building’s exterior, which is visible from the Downtown Riverwalk trail. Shao, who has installed a variety of murals and is also a landscape architect, was selected from 16 applicants for her submitted mural concepts that feature the river’s edge, Palouse landscape and native wildlife. Next time you’re walking along the trail, make sure to look out for the vibrant new art. (SUMMER SANDSTROM)

RUST BUCKETS

I don’t really know how to fix my car. I changed my windshield wipers and headlights myself, and learned how to install a new radio and how to replace a busted-in window with a lot of help from YouTube and friends who know what they’re doing. But I’d find it daunting to do much more, let alone restore some rusty car that’s 70 to 90 years old. But watching others do just that makes for incredibly satisfying TV. I never knew I could get so nervous watching someone else install a transmission and engine until I got sucked into some compelling restoration shows on Netflix. RUST VALLEY RESTORERS follows somewhat-hoarders-turned-car-flippers of northern British Columbia as they salvage beautiful pieces of history while fighting the urge to buy more cars with the proceeds. The burning question — can they make it work — got me searching for more, and this year’s TEX MEX MOTORS hit the spot, which follows a team searching for diamonds-in-the-rough down Mexico brought back for restoration in Texas. (SAMANTHA WOHLFEIL)

THIS WEEK’S PLAYLIST

Noteworthy new music arriving in stores and online on Oct. 13.

JENN CHAMPION, THE LAST NIGHT OF SADNESS. The queer queen of super sad synth pop is back with tales of addiction struggles that are sure to get you crying on the dance floor.

BOYGENIUS, THE REST. After already releasing one of 2023’s best albums (The Record), the melancholy fem rock supergroup delivers four new songs on this surprise EP in order to sonically squeeze more tears out of us.

TWIN TEMPLE, GOD IS DEAD. Need some fresh tunes for your Halloween party? Might I suggest the dark retro flair of Twin Temple’s satanic doo-woop. (SETH SOMMERFELD)

If you’ve seen all of the usual horror TV series, try these outliers for the Halloween season

Black Summer ran for 16 tight episodes with gore-splattering zeal.

Teaching Love

Internationally recognized, queer Indigenous artist Jeffrey Gibson shows work uniting all identities for ongoing Pullman

BY GABRIELLE FELICIANO

Fifty-one drums made of elk hide and 50 garments hang from a wall and ceiling inside Washington State University’s Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art. Screen-printed on just a few of the technicolor drums and garments are the following phrases: “She Speaks Up to Take Them Down,” “He Imagines a Future” and “They Protect the Land.”

The drums and garments are part of “To Name An Other,” a collective work by Cherokee-Choctaw artist Jeffrey Gibson and the centerpiece of an ongoing exhibition of his art showing until March 9, 2024, at the Pullman museum. The exhibition is titled “They Teach Love,” another phrase printed on a drum and garment in “To Name An Other.”

This year, Gibson is representing the U.S. at the 2024 Venice Biennale, the oldest biannual international exhibition. Ryan Hardesty, the Schnitzer museum executive director and “They Teach Love” curator, says Gibson’s art is about creating community and a welcoming spirit uniting people of all identities.

“I really believe that separation, whether it’s gender or nationhood or religion, doesn’t serve us in any way. These are all problems that are impacting us equally across the globe, and we all need to come together, and we also need to give everybody the opportunity to contribute,” Gibson says. “To me that’s not dark because I do believe it’s completely in our power to do that.”

Curated from the art collection of museum benefactor Jordan Schnitzer and his family foundation, “They Teach Love” includes 35 works from a roughly 15-year period of Gibson’s career, the earliest work being from

show

2008 and the most recent from this year.

These range from “SKOOKUM,” a painting incorporating items from Gibson’s personal collection of vintage items, to “ALL I EVER WANTED ALL I EVER NEEDED,” a canvas punching bag covered in beads, sinew, studs and paint.

Through multimedia art, Gibson combines his Cherokee-Choctaw heritage with modernism and popular, contemporary culture, according to a press release.

“When I go into the studio, it’s really just play,” Gibson said in a recorded guided discussion museumgoers can listen to. “It’s a building that’s filled with materials, it’s filled with fashion magazines, art books, anthropologic collection books, videos, movies, everything, and so all of it just kind of fuses through me and then I just play with it.”

Although “They Teach Love” is a somewhat retrospective exhibition, Gibson’s work is not displayed in chronological order, Hardesty says. Instead, the museum took a more thematic approach to the exhibition’s layout.

“They Teach Love” begins in the foremost gallery with Gibson’s first prints; continues with photographs, paintings and sculptures; and ends in the backmost galleries with “To Name An Other” and other works involving fashion, installation art, performance art and film.

“We really wanted to choose works that could speak to [Gibson’s] career in terms of the different themes and material types he’s moved through, and recognizing that he started as a painter … that he had early experiences with printmaking,” Hardesty says. “But that he moved into more performance and working with community and

in communities, that then connects to the textile work with the quilts, the banners and then the wearable garments.”

Gibson started making wearable art like the garments in “To Name An Other” after a point of frustration, Hardesty says. In his experience visiting and working at museums, Gibson saw many Indigenous cultural materials taken from their communities, from their function as ritualistic or celebratory objects, and put in cases.

As one of these institutions, the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art can always do better, Hardesty says. Artists like Gibson push museums to progress in telling stories and working with Indigenous and other communities.

“When I make things, I really don’t think of them as cultural preservation,” Gibson says in the recording. “That’s why I never let anyone describe my work as ceremonial or sacred or any of those things. They’re really meant to exist as stand-alone artworks and in the context of artwork.”

Both of Gibson’s parents grew up in the 1950s and ’60s in conservative Southern communities, he says. They had extreme experiences with racism and raised Gibson to acknowledge racism and homophobia, as well as that people might not give Gibson opportunities because of his queer Indigenous identity.

However, Gibson says his father always told him to “keep pushing” and “keep showing up” for what was important to him, making Gibson feel responsible for his own determination.

“If your vision is large enough for you to fight for, then it’s easier to continue fighting. And if it feels like something that you’re like, ‘This is too much, I need to walk away,’ maybe your vision’s not big enough,” Gibson said in the recording. “For me, I think thinking about larger conversations around Indigenous representation, Indigenous inclusion, those histories and how to think about them in a contemporary context, that became the bigger vision for me that is worth working really hard for.” n

They Teach Love • Through March 9, 2024, 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

Jeffrey Gibson’s “Stand Your Ground”

Birdie’s Pie Shop opens a new location on North Monroe, bringing fresh, homemade pie to Spokane

Birdella Cox Lybbert was always baking. Pies and cookies filled her kitchen, awaiting the grandchildren who walked to her white farmhouse after school every day. Her garden was about as big as the house itself, with corn and tomatoes and raspberries for the children to pick and play in.

“I remember just sitting on her porch swing, just kind of swinging back and forth,” says Sharee Moss, Birdella’s granddaughter. “Just chatting with her, or just sometimes swinging in silence. I don’t feel like we ever do that anymore.”

Moss is now the owner of Birdie’s Pie Shop, a madefrom-scratch, pie-only bakery named for Birdella and committed to sharing her warmth with every customer who stops in. Moss opened the first Birdie’s in Post Falls in 2019, then expanded to a second location in Hayden in 2021. This September, Moss opened her third location on Monroe Street just north of downtown Spokane.

BY ELIZA BILLINGHAM

“The thing that has been surprising is just the amount of support and love and pie that we’ve needed to produce in order to keep up with those who have wanted pie here in Spokane,” Moss says.

Moss, with blue eyes and blonde braided pigtails, works behind the counter with her “Birdie gals,” an affectionate nickname for her employees. Together, they roll out crust after crust in an open-concept kitchen that fills most of the space. As soon as you step in the door, you feel like you’re part of the action, shaping the crust, filling the tins, being invited into the controlled chaos of a big family holiday. There aren’t any porch swings in the shop, but there are kitchen tables and living room chairs that add just as much cozy.

Birdie’s makes sweet and savory full-sized pies ($30$34), personal pies ($5.95 each or four for $21.50), and pie bites (eight for $18). Flavors rotate daily, but the classics are always available — apple, triple berry, pecan, chocolate

and key lime pies for a sweet tooth, and chicken pot pie for a full meal. So far, rotational flavors include a chocolatebanana-peanut butter pie that Moss calls Hunk o’ Love, pumpkin cream, caramel apple cider, chili cornbread and a taco pie on Tuesdays. Birdie’s also offers a whole slate of gluten-free pies so that everyone can enjoy.

Full-sized pies are 11 inches instead of the typical 9, because Moss wanted to be sure they were big enough to feed a whole family — Moss grew up with 10 siblings and now has six children of her own, so she’s no stranger to big meals. The full pies are take-and-bake, so you can fill your home with the aromas of freshly baked pie without the hassle of rolling dough.

Though most of the pie shop is a love letter to family heritage, Moss starts her own tradition by ditching pie slices and making personal pies instead. Just 5 inches wide, it’s a perfect miniature pie that you’re supposed to finish all by yourself.

FACING PAGE: Sharee Moss carries on her grandmother’s sweet legacy at Birdie’s Pie Shop, now in Spokane. YOUNG KWAK PHOTOS

MORE PIE SHOPS!

BEAN & PIE

504 E. Sherman Ave., Coeur d’Alene (Evans Brothers Coffee)

1102 W. Summit Pkwy., Spokane (New Love Coffee) 208-930-4065, beanandpie.com

BLISSFUL WHISK

1612 N. Barker Rd., Spokane Valley 509-242-3189, blissfulwhisk.com

CHAPS DINER AND BAKERY

4237 S. Cheney-Spokane Rd. 509-624-4182, chapsgirl.com

EUROPA RESTAURANT & BAKERY

125 S. Wall St., 509-455-4051 europaspokane.com

GOOSE HOUSE BAKERY Moscow (pop-up) goosehousebakery.com

LIL’ PUNKIN PIE CO.

7790 N. Atlas Rd., Coeur d’Alene 208762-3289; prairiehomefarm.com

MADE WITH LOVE BAKERY

2023 W. Dean Ave. 509-919-0041, mwlbakery.com

miFLAVOUR MODERN FRENCH

BAKERY

3403 E. Sprague Ave. 509-315-4516, miflavour.com

MILLER’S COUNTRY STORE

1326 Baldy Mountain Rd. Sandpoint, 208-263-9446 millerscountrystoresandpoint.com

MOTHER BEAR’S BAKERY

Colbert (pop-up)

509-818-0127 motherbearsbakery.square.site

OLIVE’S PASTRIES AND PIES

26433 W. Hwy. 53, Post Falls 208-800-5684, olivespastries.com

PASTRY AND MORE

411 W. Haycraft, Coeur d’Alene 208-667-3808, pastryandmore.com

PATTI’S PIES

Spokane (pop-up)

509-220-7640, pattispies.com

PIE HUT

502 Church St., Sandpoint

208-265-2208, Facebook: Pie Hut

“It’s so much more intimate,” Moss says. “It’s not messy. It’s just like this perfect little thing.”

You can mix and match flavors and buy four personal pies in a discounted “quad,” so that everyone gets a flavor they like (or you get to try lots of different kinds). Moss and her six new bakers make at least 1,000 personal pies every day to keep up with demand in Spokane alone, not to mention the full-sized pies and tiny pie bites.

Moss has been baking ever since her elementary school days with Grandma Birdie.

“She taught me all the ins and outs of baking [by] just being able to work side by side with her,” Moss says. “She was the classic grandmother. ‘Oh, well, it’s just a pinch of this and a dash of that.’ There was no true recipe.”

Moss studied to be a pediatric nurse, eventually taking care of people in the emergency room at Sacred Heart instead of in the kitchen. Even after opening three pie shops, she still works in the ER about three times a month to keep her skills up.

But no matter what, at 4:30 every Friday afternoon, she drops everything for a date with her husband, Brad. It’s not only essential for their marriage and “cheaper than therapy,” she laughs, but date nights were how Birdie’s started in the first place.

“I love pie, but there was never a great pie spot,” Moss says. “We renovated a building and wanted Post Falls to have this pie shop and were courting some different pie places. But it didn’t work out. And I said, ‘Well, we’re gonna make it happen.’”

Moss’s whole family loves Birdie’s, and her kids all want to run pie shops, she says. At home, her four daughters and two sons bake alongside her the same way she baked alongside her grandmother. Photos of family baking sessions decorate the walls of Birdie’s newest location. In one photo, Moss’s daughter Finley, who always makes the whipped cream, holds out a giant whisk with perfectly stiff peaks. Tiny hands that belong to Moss’s toddler are cupped in hers, decorating the edges of a crust. Her family has decided there’s a charm and power to pie that no other dessert has.

“We call it pie magic,” Moss says. “It connects people to people. It connects people to ancestors and people to community. That little morsel, that bite just kind of transports you to that perfect little memory.”

Birdella Cox Lybbert died in 2005. But her love for people and baking remains.

“She never got to see the beauty of this,” Moss says. “But I’m sure she’s smiling from up above.” n Birdie’s

Birdie’s offers its “pie magic” in both shareable and personal portions.

The Movies (Taylor’s Version)

If you weren’t able to score tickets to the biggest tour of the summer,

now see it takeover the big screen via Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour

Isomehow managed to do the impossible this past summer.

I secured tickets to Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour. That’s right, I came out of the great Ticketmaster war of 2023 victorious and feeling on top of the world. Most weren’t as lucky as I was because of an overwhelming demand and snags inherent with Ticketmaster being the absolute worst.

But not all hope is lost, scorned Swifties. The Eras Tour is about to have an even more colossal audience, as the concert film version of the live spectacle — Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour — takes over cineplexes worldwide this weekend (at AMC RiverPark Square alone there are ONE HUNDRED AND FIVE screenings this Friday-Sunday.) Taylor’s dominated the music industry, the touring industry, and now she’s coming for the movie business.

Global presales for the movie have reached a record $100 million, and that’s without a major Hollywood studio behind the film as Swift cut a distribution deal with AMC Theaters. And don’t worry, tickets to the movie won’t quite be as hard to obtain as the concert tickets. (Thankfully, Ticketmaster isn’t in charge this time.)

Prior to this summer, the last time I saw Taylor perform live was in 2009 at the Spokane Arena. I have the most vivid memories of Taylor appearing on stage in a sparkly, purple dress, and how I sang along to every word and left the show knowing I would be chasing that feeling of joy for my entire life.

That was a date on her The Fearless Tour, her first-ever headlining tour. And while being there was special in its own right, it didn’t prepare me for the event that was The Eras Tour.

For weeks before the tour stop at Seattle’s Lumen Field, I spent my free time gluing jewels to a pink blazer in preparation for the most important concert of my life and listening to Swift’s entire discography as if I were studying for a final exam.

Once I was at the show, I waited hours in line for merchandise, traded friendship bracelets with other fans and cried a (probably) unhealthy amount of times throughout the lengthy 45-song setlist while hugging my two friends who came with me. Lumen Field holds nearly 70,000

BY MADISON PEARSON

people, so having seen her at the Spokane Arena 14 years ago comparatively felt akin to having seen her in a club.

Even though I witnessed the magic of The Eras Tour with my own eyes, I’m more than ready to experience it all over again (this time without the uncomfortable shoes and hot weather!).

My Seattle seats were nosebleeds, but I didn’t care where I was sitting as long as I was in that stadium. Once I’m in that comfy, red AMC theater seat, I’ll be able to see my favorite performances (“The Archer” and “Don’t Blame Me” in particular) about 500 feet closer than what my iPhone captured in Seattle.

The trailer for the movie begins with a sweeping drone shot into Los Angeles’ SoFi Stadium — a behemoth of a venue that Swift had no problem selling out six nights in a row in August. Her sparkly outfits are the stars of the show along with the incredible set pieces built specifically for the tour.

Despite playing a pretty decent sampling of her 10 studio albums throughout the tour, Swift played two surprise songs at each show in addition to the established setlist. I saw “Tied Together with a Smile” from her self-titled, debut album as well as “Message in a Bottle,” a song Swift took out of “The Vault” and put on her recently rerecorded album, Red (Taylor’s Version)

Swifties who see the movie are in for another round of surprise songs as there are 12 possible surprise songs from her SoFi dates (all of which were filmed for the movie) that could make the cut: “I Can See You,” “Maroon,” “Our Song,” “You Are In Love,” “Death by a Thousand Cuts,” “You’re on Your Own, Kid,” “Dress,” “Exile,” “I Know Places,” “King of My Heart,” “New Romantics” and “New Year’s Day.”

It’s anyone’s guess as to which they’ll include. I’m hoping for “New Romantics” and “New Year’s Day” for a little one-two punch of unbridled joy and then a perfect ending song to remind attendees of the sweet memories they made at the concert.

For those who weren’t able to make it to a show, the movie aims to give you that experience. Though it’s not exactly the same, any fan of Taylor knows that she did this for those who couldn’t go.

“There’s glitter on the floor after the party,” Swift sings in “New Year’s Day.” “Girls carrying their shoes down in the lobby.”

A perfect description of the aftermath of an Eras Tour concert.

“Hold on to the memories,” she sings. “They will hold on to you.” n

you can

Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour opens in theaters on Oct. 13.

Run of the Mill

Sci-fi horror movie The Mill blandly recycles familiar concepts

BY JOSH BELL

Unlike some of the original horror movies that 20th Digital Studio has produced for Hulu, The Mill isn’t adapted from an episode of the company’s Bite Size Halloween anthology series, but that doesn’t stop it from feeling like an overextended short film. There’s a simple, well-worn sci-fi/horror concept at the center of The Mill, which invites comparisons to shows like The Twilight Zone or Black Mirror (and that’s not necessarily a bad thing). The problem is that The Mill doesn’t offer any particularly interesting variations on that familiar set-up, and its storytelling becomes monotonous over the course of 105 minutes.

Anyone who’s seen films like Cube or The Maze Runner — or remembers the Twilight Zone episode “Five Characters in Search of an Exit” — will recognize what’s going on when corporate middle manager Joe (Lil Rel Howery) wakes up disoriented in some sort of prison cell. He doesn’t know where he is or how he got there, but he soon discovers that he’s a prisoner in a sadistic experiment run by Mallard, his Amazon-like behemoth employer. Stuck in the cell, Joe is subject to seemingly arbitrary rules of behavior that no one

informs him about, and his only source of information is an unseen fellow prisoner in the next cell over, who talks to him through a busted grate.

The disembodied voice of an Alexa-like digital assistant informs Joe that his job is now to push a giant millstone around in a circle every day, fulfilling a quota of completed revolutions. Among the inmates, the person with the fewest number of completed revolutions is “terminated”... and that doesn’t just mean they lose their job. Everyone there is a Mallard employee who’s been selected for this demented training activity, a lesson in literally putting their nose to the grindstone and fully devoting themselves to the company that essentially owns them.

that the story is building to a climactic twist. Unfortunately, that twist will be just as familiar to genre fans as the initial scenario, and it makes much of the preceding movie feel like an elaborate windup that’s just wasting the audience’s time.

THE MILL

Directed by Sean King O’Grady Starring Lil Rel Howery Streaming on Hulu

Although the script by Jeffery David Thomas isn’t especially inventive, Howery is a compelling screen presence, and he effectively commands attention without any other actors to directly interact with. Howery is best known for comedy, and he brings a sardonic edge to Joe without undermining the gravity of his situation. The design of Joe’s cell is fairly minimalist, but the digital projections of the Mallard operating system are often playful, touting an amusing variety of Mallard products that “sponsor” each day’s punishments and terminations. The Mill’s social commentary is hardly sophisticated, but it could have been a more effective satire by leaning into the dark, deranged elements, closer to something like the 2019 Spanish sci-fi allegory The Platform.

Howery is the only person onscreen for the majority of the movie, and there are only so many different ways that director Sean King O’Grady can depict him turning the millstone before it gets tiresome and repetitive, both for the character and the audience. Joe’s efforts to escape or rebel don’t amount to much, and it’s not hard to guess

O’Grady’s previous feature, We Need to Do Something, was also a horror movie set almost entirely within a single confined space, but he still hasn’t quite mastered that challenge. Working from such mediocre material, The Mill needs bold stylistic choices to set itself apart, but it mostly just looks like every other piece of streaming content. It may not actually be part of an anthology series, but it’s too forgettable to stand on its own. n

The Mill isn’t as grueling as its premise, but it’s no breeze either.

DON’T TOUCH ME, YOU’RE SICK!

The Seattle underground grunge heroes of Mudhoney take aim at the stupidity of our modern times on Plastic Eternity

BY SETH SOMMERFELD

“Touch me, I’m sick!”

When screeched by frontman Mark Arm, the titular line from Mudhoney’s signature 1988 single can almost be seen as a rallying cry for the entire Seattle grunge scene that the band helped foster — one that would soon go worldwide. It’s a nasty, defiant little f--- you to both the status quo squares and the cocky swaggering sensuality of mainstream rock at the time.

While Mudhoney didn’t reach the grunge superstardom of some of their Seattleite peers, the group has never lost its underground cred and outlasted almost every band from that era. The group’s 1988 album Superfuzz Bigmuff still holds up as a genre classic, but there’s a real nobility to sort of being the grunge vets who still

Who let the dogs out? Mudhoney.

keep at it with a workmanlike resolve. To further drive home the workman bonafides, not only has Mudhoney exclusively released LPs via Sub Pop for its entire career, but Arm also works as the manager for Sub Pop’s warehouse. Mudhoney is the real deal.

All that said, “Touch Me I’m Sick” resonated a little differently when 2020 rolled around. While the COVID pandemic shook the entire music industry to the core, the seriousness of the situation rang especially true for Mudhoney. That’s because bassist Guy Maddison had to deal with his other job — registered nurse at Seattle’s Harborview Medical Center, a Level I trauma center.

Essentially, Maddison was at ground zero for the pandemic in the United States. It was more than a little bit of a harrowing experience, some of which he detailed via a podcast with journalist Matthew Hall called Emergency Room: The COVID Diaries. Cautiousness might not be a very punk rock trait, but if most bands were playing it safe regarding social distancing at the time, Mudhoney was understandably extra cautious

“Guy was working in the hospital. He never got COVID when he was at Harborview, and he was in the thick of it. But they had protocols for wearing their gear and stuff like that,” says Arm. “But, you know, like, I was a little nervous and like getting together with him for sure. He’s in the shit!”

As a result, the band mostly communicated at the time via Zoom meetings that had nothing to do with music. By the time the guys got back together again to record Mudhoney’s new album, Plastic Eternity, it was clear that things were shifting in a major way. Maddison and his family decided to move back to his native Australia. Guitarist Steve Turner decamped to Portland. Arm and drummer Dan Peters might still be Emerald City dwellers, but Mudhoney can no longer accurately be categorized as a full-fledged Seattle band.

It’s certainly been an adjustment for Arm. Not only can he not just hop in the practice space with his longtime pals on a regular basis, but he has to do the unthinkable… actually listen to Mudhoney.

“I don’t normally listen to records after we’re done with them. But since we’re not able to practice till Guy gets into the country from Australia, I’ve been listening to it and kind of like vocalizing along with it on my commute, which is probably really embarrassing,” acknowledges Arm. “But it’s so I’m not just like starting from scratch yelling on the tour.”

But that distance doesn’t mean Mudhoney doesn’t still rock.

Recorded from odds and ends over nine days at Crackle and Pop! studio in Seattle, Plastic Eternity still buzzes with the aggression and levity devotees have come to expect from Mudhoney.

The tone of feeling out of place in a mad world gets driven home from the jump on the abrasive “Souvenir of My Trip.” Always one to employ cutting, angry humor, Arm finds his pocket with the dark snark of “Severed Dream in the Sleeper Cell,” sings from the perspective of the climate dealing with climate change on “Cry Me an Atmospheric River,” and embodies the character of an indignant and obstinate macho Ivermectin dosing dude on “Here Comes the Flood.”

But the band also stretches beyond its typical comfort zone at spots on Plastic Eternity. “One or Two” centers on an acoustic guitar part in open C tuning and sounds akin to a pre-Dark Side of the Moon Pink Floyd track. The political snarl of “Flush the Fascists” is built around an oddball two-note synth loop groove. And perhaps most unexpectedly, the album actually closes with a funny song that’s *gasp* sincere… and about dogs.

The tune “Little Dogs” finds Arm genuinely musing about his love for tiny pups, which offer a respite from all the other horribleness in the world which is more often Mudhoney’s lyrical focus. (The tune honestly feels closer to a song one would expect from fellow humorous Seattle punks Wimps, which is a high compliment.) It’s honestly heartwarming to hear the grunge forefather sing so sweetly about taking little dogs to the beach, protecting them from owls, and how easy it is to distract them. It’s not something that necessarily fits the rest of Plastic Eternity’s motif, but that’s because it was an unexpected little treat even for Arm himself.

“[‘Little Dogs’] was another thing Dan wrote and kind of arranged it to be instrumental. And I had all the songs on my phone and was playing them on my commute, and I just started kind of free forming over the top of that on my way home. And it just struck me as so ridiculous and funny to sing a song about your little dog that is waiting for you when you get home,” says Arm. “And I was like, ‘How is the rest of the band going to respond to this?’ [Laughs] Luckily, everyone seemed to think it was funny as well.”

“We’ve always kind of felt like we can do whatever we want,” adds Arm. “We tend to do a certain thing, but the only thing that’s holding you back from doing something else is yourself.”

Even after 35 years in the band, it’s clear Arm hasn’t lost his sardonic punk rock spirit. Because whether separated by continents or making sweaty noise in sold out rock clubs, Mudhoney will always be sick

“We don’t have an image to protect,” Arm says with a laugh. “It doesn’t matter to us.” n

Mudhoney, Hooveriii

• Fri, Oct. 13 at 8 pm

• 21+ • The District Bar • 916 W. First Ave. • sp.knittingfactory.com

• Sold out

JAZZ WYNTON MARSALIS PROG METAL TOOL

Thursday, 10/12

CHAN’S RED DRAGON ON THIRD, Thursday Night Jam

CHECKERBOARD TAPROOM, Weathered Shepherds

THE DISTRICT BAR, Rittz, Madchild, Noble

J HEARTWOOD CENTER, Boot Juice

J HISTORIC DAVENPORT HOTEL, Dr. Don Goodwin

J KNITTING FACTORY, Shakey Graves, Flipturn

J MCCRACKEN’S PUB AND BBQ, Steve Starkey

J STEAM PLANT, Just Plain Darin

ZOLA, The Night Mayors

Friday, 10/13

AK ASIAN RESTAURANT, Deb the Wolf

J THE BIG DIPPER, Odyssey, Frisson PNW, Flannel Math Animal, Pretending We’re Just Like Them, Xenoplasm

BOLO’S BAR & GRILL, Rock Candy

CHAN’S RED DRAGON ON THIRD, Sweet Rebel D Band, Daryl Burns

CHINOOK LOUNGE, Justyn Priest

CURLEY’S, 32 Flavors

J THE DISTRICT BAR, Mudhoney, Hooveriii

DRUNKY’S JUNKYARD BBQ, Trenell Madison

J THE GRAIN SHED, Open Mic

J HISTORIC DAVENPORT HOTEL, Brent Edstrom Trio

J IDAHO CENTRAL CREDIT UNION

ARENA, Brett Young, Jake Scott, Griffen Palmer

INLAND KAVA BAR, Son of Brad

IRON HORSE (CDA), Heather King Band

J KNITTING FACTORY, Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway, Christina Vane

MOOSE LOUNGE, Agents of Rock

J NEATO BURRITO, Hayes Noble, Wench, Inside Slurs, Sickpayholiday

NIGHTHAWK LOUNGE, Loose Gazoonz

PEND D’OREILLE WINERY, Nobody Famous

THE RIDLER PIANO BAR, Just Plain Darin

RIVERSIDE PLACE, Borgore

THE ROCK BAR & LOUNGE, Wiebe Jammin’

ZOLA, Brittany’s House

Saturday, 10/14

J BECK’S HARVEST HOUSE, OutWest, Billy Dutch

BERSERK, Pit, Dirt Fisherman, Burns Like Hellfire

BOLO’S BAR & GRILL, Rock Candy

J CAFE COCO, B

CHAN’S RED DRAGON ON THIRD, P.U.S.H., Daryl Burns

CHINOOK LOUNGE, Justyn Priest

CURLEY’S, 32 Flavors

THE DISTRICT BAR, The War and Treaty

FOXHOLE BAR & GRILL, Son of Brad

J HISTORIC DAVENPORT HOTEL, Brent Edstrom Trio

IRON HORSE (CDA), Heather King Band

MOOSE LOUNGE, Agents of Rock

NIGHTHAWK LOUNGE, Loose Gazoonz

PEND D’OREILLE WINERY, Jake Robin

J J REVIVAL TEA COMPANY, AZARIAH

J SHANNON FAYE WINERY, Just Plain Darin

J THE PODIUM, Alice in Chains

THIRST TAPHOUSE, Wiebe Jammin’

ZOLA, Blake Braley

Sunday, 10/15

J BECK’S HARVEST HOUSE, Tamarack Ridge Band, Billy Dutch

J THE BIG DIPPER, Paleface Swiss, Enterprise Earth, Crown Magnetar, VCTMS, Warcrime

It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing, and the swingin’-est orchestra in the country is coming to Spokane. The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra is ditching the Big Apple for a tour of the West, including a stop at the Fox Theater. Come jive to standards by legends like Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Thelonious Monk and Dizzy Gillespie, plus newer repertoire from Wycliffe Gordon and Ted Nash, or JLCO’s own Carlos Henriquez. Leading the band is trumpeter and composer Wynton Marsalis, whose portfolio includes nine Grammy awards and a Sesame Street album. Let the best of Manhattan come to you, and get down with some world-class jazz for an especially groovy night.

— ELIZA BILLINGHAM

The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis • Sat, Oct. 14 at 7:30 pm

• $45-$75 • All ages • The Fox Theater • 1001 W. Sprague Ave. • foxtheaterspokane.org

It’s great when you find a band that always feels like it’s pushing the boundaries of rock forward. It’s an even rarer level of excellence when a band’s decades old albums still feel cutting edge. That’s certainly the case with Tool. The artful, progressive metal mainstay explores the darker corners of heavy rock with a stunning technical acumen that simply doesn’t age. Frontman Maynard James Keenan and Co. released their standout debut album Undertow 30 years ago, but when tunes from it reverberate throughout Spokane Arena, they’ll still sound as fresh as ever.

— SETH SOMMERFELD

BING CROSBY THEATER, Classic Albums Live: Pink Floyd’s The Wall

CURLEY’S, Into the Drift Duo DAHMEN BARN, Afternoon with the Cowbooys

THE DISTRICT BAR, Boot Juice

J HISTORIC DAVENPORT HOTEL, Michael Milham

HOGFISH, Open Mic

J NORTHERN QUEST CASINO, Ann Wilson of Heart & Tripsitter

J QQ SUSHI & KITCHEN, Just Plain Darin

J J SPOKANE ARENA, Tool

J THE PODIUM, Black Veil Brides, Ville Valo, Dark Divine

Monday, 10/16

THE DISTRICT BAR, Vincent Neil Emerson, Logan Ledger

Tool • Sun, Oct. 15 at 7:30 pm

• $65-$592 • All ages • Spokane Arena • 720 W. Mallon Ave. • spokanearena.com

Tuesday, 10/17

LITZ’S PUB & EATERY, Shuffle Dawgs

OSPREY RESTAURANT & BAR, Joel Haugen

ZOLA, Lucas Brown and Friends

Wednesday, 10/18

THE DISTRICT BAR, Jeffrey Foucault

THE DRAFT ZONE, The Draft Zone Open Mic

J KNITTING FACTORY, The Hu, Voice of Braceprot, Blind Channel

OSPREY RESTAURANT & BAR, Ron Greene

PEND D’OREILLE WINERY, Jason Garret Evans

RED ROOM LOUNGE, The Roomates

J TIMBERS ROADHOUSE, Cary Beare Presents

J EICHARDT’S PUB, Monday Night Blues Jam with John Firshi

RED ROOM LOUNGE, Open Mic Night

J ZEEKS PIZZA (GU DISTRICT), Gil Rivas

ZOLA, Brittany’s House

J = THE INLANDER RECOMMENDS THIS SHOW

J = ALL AGES SHOW

MUSIC | VENUES

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

ARBOR CREST WINE CELLARS • 4705 N. Fruit Hill Rd., Spokane Valley • 509-927-9463

BABY BAR • 827 W. First Ave. • 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. • 509-467-9638

BING CROSBY THEATER • 901 W. Sprague Ave. • 509-227-7638

BLACK DIAMOND • 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

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 • 208-773-5816

EICHARDT’S PUB • 212 Cedar St., Sandpoint • 208-263-4005

FIRST INTERSTATE CENTER FOR THE ARTS • 334 W. Spokane Falls Blvd. • 509-279-7000

FOX THEATER • 1001 W. Sprague Ave. • 509-624-1200

IRON HORSE • 407 E. Sherman, Coeur d’Alene • 208-667-7314

IRON HORSE BAR & GRILL • 11105 E. Sprague Ave., Spokane Valley • 509-926-8411

JOHN’S ALLEY • 114 E. Sixth St., Moscow • 208-883-7662

KNITTING FACTORY • 911 W. Sprague Ave. • 509-244-3279

LEFTBANK WINE BAR • 108 N. Washington St. • 509-315-8623

LUCKY YOU LOUNGE • 1801 W. Sunset Blvd. • 509-474-0511

MARYHILL WINERY • 1303 W. Summit Pkwy. • 509-443-3832

THE MASON JAR • 101 F St., Cheney • 509-359-8052

MAX AT MIRABEAU • 1100 N. Sullivan Rd., Spokane Valley • 509-922-6252

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

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

MOOTSY’S • 406 W. Sprague Ave. • 509-838-1570

NASHVILLE NORTH • 6361 W. Seltice Way, Post Falls • 208-457-9128

NORTHERN QUEST RESORT & CASINO • 100 N. Hayford Rd., Airway Heights • 877-871-6772

NYNE BAR & BISTRO • 232 W. Sprague Ave. • 509-474-1621

PEND D’OREILLE WINERY • 301 Cedar St., Sandpoint • 208-265-8545

THE PODIUM • 511 W. Dean Ave. • 509-279-7000

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 • 718 W. Riverside Ave. • 509-822-7938

SEASONS OF COEUR D’ALENE • 1004 S. Perry St. • 208-664-8008

SPOKANE ARENA • 720 W. Mallon Ave. • 509-279-7000

SOUTH PERRY LANTERN • 12303 E. Trent Ave., Spokane Valley • 509-473-9098

STEAM PLANT • 159 S. Lincoln St. • 509-777-3900

STORMIN’ NORMAN’S SHIPFACED SALOON • 12303

E. Trent Ave., Spokane Valley • 509-862-4852

TRANCHE • 705 Berney Dr., Wall Walla • 509-526-3500

ZOLA • 22 W. Main Ave. • 509-624-2416

Saturday 10/14 vs. Brandon Wheat Kings

Sponsored By:

Game Time: 6 PM

FREE TALK ON CHRISTIAN SCIENCE FOLLOWED BY OPEN Q&A

COMMUNITY PLANTING THE FUTURE

Do you have a green thumb, or are you passionate about taking care of the environment? Join the Lands Council and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for the 13th annual Reforest Spokane Day. Grab your shovel and gloves as the community comes together to plant hundreds of trees along Thompson Creek in Newman Lake. This event is dedicated to preserving the beauty and health of the Inland Northwest’s ecosystems. This location was chosen because over the past 30 years, deteriorating water quality in Newman Lake, as evidenced by high algae growth, has sparked community concern. By participating, you will be contributing to the improvement of water quality in the creek, providing essential wildlife habitats and creating a cleaner watershed. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to make a difference, one tree at a time.

— AMELIA TRONCONE

Reforest Spokane Day • Sat, Oct. 14 from 9 am-noon • Free • Thompson Creek • 16108 NW Newman Lake Dr., Newman Lake • landscouncil.org

MUSIC SOUTH INDIAN SOUNDS

Join the South Asia Cultural Association of Spokane for a night of South Indian classical music in the style of Sangeeta Kacheri. The event features Sai Raghavan playing the mridangam, Vijay Muralidharan on violin, Saraswati Ranganathan on veena, Ghatam Ravi playing the ghatam and Carnatic vocalist Sunil Gargyan. The day before the performance (Oct. 13), the Shadle Park Library is hosting an hourlong workshop beginning at 7 pm with the performers, providing attendees with the chance to learn about the instruments and musical style of Sangeeta Kacheri before attending the following evening’s concert. On Saturday, a vegetarian Indian dinner will be available for purchase beginning at 5:15 pm. Attendees are encouraged to RSVP for the concert by emailing sacaspokane@ gmail.com or calling 509-467-5558.

— SUMMER SANDSTROM

Sangeeta Kacheri • Sat, Oct. 14 from 6:30-9:30 pm • All ages • Free • Unity Spiritual Center • 2900 S. Bernard St. • 509-467-5558

THEATER GODS OF SONG

Remember your favorite 12-year-old dyslexic who gets attacked by hellhounds, finds out he’s the son of Poseidon and goes on a quest to appease Zeus? Did you know he can sing, too? Venture out to Liberty Lake to see The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical produced by Theater Arts Center at the Lake. The Percy Jackson young adult novels by Rick Riordan tell the adventures of a young boy who doesn’t seem to fit in anywhere, but comes to find out his destiny as the son of a Greek god is bigger than he ever imagined. On stage, tender coming-of-age moments and epic battles are accompanied by thrilling melodies that take the audience by storm. TAC at the Lake is a nonprofit, education-focused theater committed to letting everyone participate in local theater, while training more experienced thespians to train the next generation.

— ELIZA BILLINGHAM

The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical • Oct. 13-29, SatSun at 2 pm; Thu-Sat at 7 pm • $13-$25 • TAC at the Lake • 22910 E. Appleway Ave., Liberty Lake • tacatthelake.com

GET LISTED!

COMEDY THE SANDMAN

Do you miss Happy Gilmore? The Thanksgiving song? The chubby, unshaven man in a sweatshirt that somehow gets cast opposite Jennifer Aniston? Well, Adam Sandler misses you, too! That’s why he’s bringing The I Missed You Tour to Spokane Arena, for mature audiences only. The Sandman and an unannounced special guest are likely to bring some raunchy, juvenile humor to the stage, plus some guitars, too. Sing along with the wedding singer himself, and maybe he’ll even grace us with another version of the Hanukkah song. Either way, expect knee-slappers and surprising insights from an evening with this year’s Mark Twain Prize winner. Maybe the Hustle star will even drop in on some of Hooptown’s outdoor basketball courts.

— ELIZA BILLINGHAM

Adam Sandler: The I Missed You Tour • Mon, Oct. 16 at 7:30 pm • $40-$170 • Spokane Arena • 720 W. Mallon Ave. • spokanearena.com • 509-279-7000

COMMUNITY CREEPY CON

Halloween is sooner than you think! Get into the spooky spirit with this first annual convention run by the same team that heads up Lilac City Comicon. The weekendlong event features panels, performances, vendors, demonstrations, film screenings and a costume contest. Phew. That’s a lot of activities. Highlights from the program schedule include a panel by local paranormal investigator Charles Johnson about the most haunted places in Spokane, an autograph session with Cooper Andrews (Jerry from The Walking Dead, pictured) and a special broadcast by Spokast! Called Spookast. There’s plenty to do with packed schedules both days of the con. Come dressed to the nines in your creepiest couture and have a blast celebrating the local paranormal community.

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. Through a collaborative effort with

— MADISON PEARSON

Halloween X-Spo • Sat, Oct. 14 from 10 am-6 pm and Sun, Oct. 15 from 10 am-4 pm • $5-$25 • Spokane Convention Center • 236 W. Spokane Falls Blvd. • halloweenxspo.com

Join

I SAW YOU

YOU’RE A POET, I KNEW IT!! I stumbled on your voice, recorded, embodied yet disembodied recorded, digitally, talking about passion. Remember I thought You were the love of my life. If I could go back so you never knew I would, but I loved you so much there was no lying no faking that I did not. I could not conceal, I had to reveal. Just being around you healed me of so much hurt. Thank you, for your kindness. For your compassion, for your nurturing me. Once, the top thing on my bucket list before I died: getting one real kiss from you. A hug. Please know the world is always better with you in it. It would be a horribly boring universe without you. I loved teasing you. You drive me crazy in all the best ways. I wished I’d kissed and hugged you when I think I had a chance. I know that’s not possible now. I hope I go to my grave with a smile on my lips and you one of my favorite memories. I never want to forget your wry voice, your eyes, your smile. The way you smell. You ridiculously sexy person. There I said it.

TELLING TALES Hey, Will. We had a lovely conversation with your girlfriend of 5+ years, ya know, the one who ditched you in late November. Your math doesn’t add up, but it makes sense why you won’t meet with us for coffee, dinner, etc. You can’t risk being exposed. Hotstuff already knows, so no need to stress about the convoluted calendar. Likely not too available. Dude! Are you 20-something? Aren’t you in your 50s? Games are for children. Glad we were able to cut to the “chase.” Find someone into the same kinda weird navigating. Honestly. They are out there.

CHEERS

RIGHTEOUS DUDE Mega cheers to righteous man who I bumped cars with at Papa Murphys on Oct. 4. Your righteous attitude about it was so welcome, and our engagement so copacetic. I feel lucky to bump in to a like-minded dude and appreciate your solidarity so much. People like you I respect the most!

LOCAL CSA GEM Thank you to Agape Farms for hosting such a flavorful and varietyfilled CSA this season! I appreciate your hard work to incorporate fruit in the box and applaud your commitment to regular communication and high quality produce. Can’t wait to partner with you next year!

ROSA PARKS ....should never give up her seat on the bus to anyone, anymore than she should feed, clothe, or shelter anyone who isn’t her responsibility... unless she chooses to do so. Simply learn. Simply teach. The lessons are profound.

RE: TAKE TWO Thank you from the bottom of our wondering hearts for opening the door to solving the many family mysteries we’ve encountered for decades. SPOTLIGHT solved the mystery with zero questions left unanswered regarding the secrets kept. Shrouded in creepy institutional zealousness and obligation, we have laid down any doubt as to what the “hush-hushing” was all about. It is clear as a bright day. No more shadows. No more shame. SNAP... thank you. We will forever be grateful for the telling of this story (film). We will forever help any and all who have their own pain-filled questions, and quest-ings. A promise we will keep. Again, thank you.

JEERS

I SLOW FOR TAILGATERS You — in a big black GMC 4x4. Me — in a little silver hybrid. I’m going the speed limit northbound on Washington, and I notice you’re tailgating me. Are you in a hurry? Just having a little fun bullying a tiny hybrid? You think I’m going to speed up when you do that? Nope. You apparently don’t know that someone tailgating you greatly increases chances of getting rear-ended, and the best solution is to slow down. The closer you follow, the slower I go. Get any closer I’ll hit the emergency flashers and feign a stall, and come to a full stop. So if you’re running late, tailgating me will make you even later. Don’t be a jerk. Go ahead and pass. Please!

RACE OF DISGRACE Jeers to the organizers of a recent road race. Browne’s Addition residents were not properly notified. City signs were simply set out to inform us that our cars would be towed if we didn’t move them within an undisclosed time frame. We then were woken up before 9 am on Sunday to blasting EDM music. The one style of music that is virtually impossible

instead of calling us stupid? Not everybody is familiar with all the roads around here and what they mean. Be a little more easy in your judgments.

JEERS TO OUR NON-REPRESENTING REPRESENTATIVE OMG IT’S PAINFUL to watch the Republican Party function, or shall I say malfunction. Add to that we have

to ignore when you are trying to sleep. We then realized that we were blocked in for the next several hours — unable to leave our apartment in that time unless we wanted to walk to a bus stop. We appreciate events that go on in our community; we don’t appreciate disrespectful organizers that don’t take neighborhood needs into consideration when they occupy our space.

STOP THE INSANITY Regarding how to eradicate the homeless. I agree. Amen Amen. Stop providing them with everything that would make them move on.

RE: TO EARLY, TOO TACKY In response to your complaint about the decorations going up early, first off, it is none of your business. Second, you complained about Halloween decorations going out mid-September. I put mine up Aug. 1. I happen to enjoy Halloween more than any other holiday, and I intend to enjoy all of the decorations to the fullest. It’s too bad that you have nothing more to do in your life than complain about something so trivial. Again, it is none of your business what people do with their decorations or when they put them up, or if they keep them up all year long. Find something else to complain about since you are obviously a very unhappy person.

RE: DEAR STUPID Seriously? I understand how you feel about this subject. Yes it is wrong that people drive on the lane for joggers and bicyclists. However, how do you think this makes outsiders view Spokane when you’ve got to start your conversation off by calling us stupid and then a-hole? Makes people feel real warm and fuzzy that you are representing the folks of Spokane in such a manner. Could you not have phrased it in a different way,

a “representative” that’s scared to death to speak up! I can’t believe that American tax funds are being used to pay for this fiasco. Donald Trump with 91 counts in 4 different indictments and the Republican party still is supporting him! (Yes we must consider him innocent until he’s convicted in a court of law.) But to add to this dysfunction, now we’ve outsted Kevin McCarthy and the most likely route forward is more disfunction, especially with Jim Jordan as speaker of the house. Why don’t you run for Speaker? Bring something to the table to stop this bull, even if they don’t vote for you, you will have stepped forward and attempted to bring some sanity back to the party. Please if you can’t help to bring some sense to the party, step down! Retire! Just Go Away! As it stands, congratulations, you are the non-representing representative of the Fifth District in Washington State!

JEERS TO HUMANITY This July was the hottest month ever recorded on earth. The summer was the hottest summer on record. This September smashed the record for the warmest September by a long shot. 2023 looks to be the hottest year on record. These are ominous records. The causes are apparent: emissions from airplanes and our cars’ and trucks’ tailpipes; emissions from the fossil fuels burned to air condition and heat our homes and offices; and agricultural practices, including those related to our insatiable appetite for meat. Most of all, it’s our choice of elected officials that’s making our town less livable and may make our planet uninhabitable. That is Republicans, who obfuscate, dither and block efforts to address the ongoing global-warming crisis. We can do better.

WHERE DO I SWIM? Spokane, where are

your swim pools, your aquatics facilities, the places we can go to swim without signing up for a membership, a day pass, a lifesentence to a gym? We visited this place where our Grandparents and Parents were raised. We want to love this place. A city the size of Spokane should have a pool in every quadrant, if not every high school, open year around to the citizens/taxpayers to swim. Not only outdoor splash pads, fountains, water parks. Pools. Astounding how many youth and adults have not learned to swim in this county. It figures, given the lack of year around pools. What a shame. Swimmers in youth tend to understand fun, healthy ways to navigate life. You don’t really wonder why your city has slipped into its decline, do you?

HILLYARD/MINNEHAHA AREA CONSTRUCTION

Jeers to whoever makes decisions about roadwork in Spokane. In the middle of August, the access road to Upriver Drive just north of Spokane Community College closed for work on the “corridor.” No information was ever given about how long it would be closed. Often, there is little work being done there. Nevertheless, cars drive slowly or are completely stopped going clear back to Mission/Trent and beyond. Often, a car will stall out or there will be an accident and traffic is slowed to one lane. Not too efficient for emergency vehicles! Now, there is a sign indicating Frederick will be closed soon. Wellesley has been closed for years. Prior to that, multiple roads north of Upriver Drive but south of Wellesley were closed. Who exactly makes these decisions? What about detour signs? Ever hear of those? Most cities have them and they do an OK job of moving traffic. Spokane doesn’t seem to be a very smart city when it comes to these kinds of issues. 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.

“

A city the size of Spokane should have a pool in every quadrant... ”

EVENTS | CALENDAR BENEFIT

ARTISAN CRAFT & FOOD FAIR This vendor market features handmade crafts, art, gifts, food and more. Proceeds benefit the Mt. Spokane High School Bands. Oct. 14, 9 am-5 pm and Oct. 15, 11 am-4 pm. $2. Mt. Spokane High School, 6015 E. Mt Spokane Park Dr. mtspokaneband.com

ILLUMINATE: A DANCE GALA A night of dinner, drinks, fundraising, professional dance performances and the premiere of a new dance film created by company artists. Oct. 14, 6-9 pm. $85$100. Vytal Movement Dance Space, 7 S. Howard St. vytalmovement.org/gala

WALK FOR THE WILD 5K The event supports Turnbull’s wildlife refuge and environmental education center. Oct. 14, 8 am-4 pm. By donation. Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge, 26010 S. Smith Rd., Cheney. fotnwr.org

DOGTOBER Celebrate your furry friends and their unconditional love with a dog show and competition. Oct. 15, 12-6 pm. Free. Coeur d’Alene Cider Co., 1327 E. Sherman Ave. cdaciderhouse.com

STOP THE SILENCE FALL FASHION

SHOW This fashion show features six local boutiques, various vendors, live and silent auctions and more. Oct. 19, 5-10 pm. $60-$150. El Katif Shrine Center, 7217 W. Westbow Blvd. changinglivesandhealinghearts.com

BEDTIME STORIES SPOKANE Northwest writers Jess Walter, Charles Johnson, Sharma Shields and Simeon Mills unveil original short stories created just for the event, which supports Humanities Washington. Oct. 20, 6 pm. $150. Chateau Rive, 621 W. Mallon Ave. humanities.org (509-795-2030)

COMEDY

MATT MCCUSKER McCusker is a comedian, writer and co-host of Matt and Shane’s Secret Podcast. Oct. 12, 7:30 pm, Oct. 13, 7:30 & 10:15 pm and Oct. 14, 7 & 9:45 pm. $25-$33. Spokane Comedy Club, 315 W. Sprague. spokanecomedyclub.com (509-318-9998)

IMPROVISED MURDER MYSTERY Inspire the cast with ideas for characters, watch the mystery unfold and help solve the case. Oct. 13, 9-10:30 pm and Oct. 27, 7-8:30 pm. $10. Harding Family Center, 411 N. 15th St. levitytheatre.com

NO CLUE A fully-improvised murder mystery show. Fridays at 7:30 pm through Nov. 3. $9. Blue Door Theatre, 815 W. Garland. bluedoortheatre.org

DAVID LUCAS Lucas is known for his appearances on Kill Tony and Roast Me Oct. 15, 7 pm. $22-$30. Spokane Comedy Club, 315 W. Sprague. spokanecomedyclub.com

ADAM SANDLER Sandler is a comedian and actor best known for his roles in movies such as Happy Gilmore, Billy Madison, Mr. Deeds and his time on SNL. Oct. 16, 7:30-9:30 pm. $40-$170. Spokane Arena, 720 W. Mallon Ave. spokanearena.com (509-279-7000)

JOSH BLUE Blue was voted the Last Comic Standing on the fourth season on the show. Oct. 19, 7:30 pm, Oct. 20, 7:30 & 10:15 pm and Oct. 21, 7 & 9:45 pm. $25-$35. Spokane Comedy Club, 315 W. Sprague. spokanecomedyclub.com

TAYLOR TOMLINSON Tomlinson has been featured on Conan, The Tonight Show and has two Netflix stand up comedy specials. Oct. 19, 7-10 pm.

$29.75-$79.75. First Interstate Center for the Arts, 334 W. Spokane Falls Blvd. firstinterstatecenter.org

COMMUNITY

SPOKANE CITY COUNCIL DISTRICT 1

CANDIDATE FORUM Lindsey Shaw and Michael Cathcart answer questions from moderator Leonard Kransdorf and audience members. Oct. 12, 6-7 pm. Free. Hillyard Library, 4110 N. Cook St. spokanelibrary.org

MINECRAFT: THE EXHIBITION The world of Minecraft is explored in this wide-ranging exhibition, designed for players and non-players of all ages.

Tue-Sun from 10 am-5 pm through Dec. 31. $15-$20. Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture, 2316 W. First Ave. northwestmuseum.org (509-456-3931)

WARD 6 You have 60 minutes in this horror-themed experience to complete challenges, solve problems and escape unnoticed. Thu-Sun through Nov. 11, times vary. $27.50. Unit 55 Horror Games, 9922 E. Montgomery Rd. cartelhaunts.com (509-869-3830)

FRIDAY THE 13TH ZOMBIE DRAG

SHOW Local drag artists perform their best zombie routines. Oct. 13, 5 pm. Free. Garland Drinkery, 828 W. Garland Ave. garlanddrinkery.com

HAUNTED HALL OF HORROR A haunted house attraction featuring spooky hallways to walk down. Oct. 13, 5-9 pm. $2. Runge Furniture, 303 E. Spokane Ave. crimesceneentertainment.com

9TH ANNUAL SPOKANE WOMEN’S HEALTH & BEAUTY EXPO A fashion, beauty, lifestyle and health expo featuring various vendors and services. Oct. 14, 10 am-4 pm. Free. CenterPlace Regional Event Center, 2426 N. Discovery Pl. womenshealthandbeautyexpo.com

SOLAR ECLIPSE VIEWING PARTY An eclipse viewing party, with eclipsethemed hands-on activities and demos. Oct. 14, 8-11 am. Free. Riverfront Park, 507 N. Howard St. riverfrontspokane. com (509-625-6600)

SOLAR ECLIPSE VIEWING PARTY View the annular solar eclipse, learn about annular solar eclipses, create your own pinhole viewer and explore solar science activities. Oct. 14, 9-11 am. Free. Spokane Valley Library, 22 N. Herald Rd. scld.org (509-893-8400)

AUTUMN ON THE AVE Celebrate the beginning of fall with local Sprague Union District retail shops and eateries featuring live music, circus performers, carnival activities, a petting zoo and autumn-themed activities throughout the district. Oct. 14, 10 am-6 pm. Free. Sprague Union District, 2400-1600 E. Sprague Ave. spragueuniondistrict.com

AVENUE WEST 20 YEAR ANNIVERSARY Browse works from the featured and guest arist and celebrate the gallery’s 20th year in operation. Oct. 14, 12-5 pm. Free. Avenue West Gallery, 907 W. Boone Ave. avenuewestgallery.com

COLUMBIA FIRE & IRON FALL HAMMER-IN A weekend of blacksmithing instruction for beginners as well as seasoned smiths. See website for full schedule of events. Oct. 14, 10 am-1 pm and Oct. 15, 2-5 pm. $25-$45. Morgan Jade Ironworks, 2403 E. Euclid Ave. columbiafireandiron.org (509-413-9727)

COMMUNITY SCANNING DAY: PRESERVING SPOKANE’S BLACK HISTORY Bring your photographs, letters, small objects and printed materials to

have them scanned for a public digital archive about Black Spokane. Oct. 14, 10 am-4 pm. Free. Carl Maxey Center, 3116 E. Fifth Ave. spokanelibrary.org

GHOULS NIGHT OUT Celebrate the volunteers that dedicate their time to Emerge. The event features drinks, music and a costume contest. Oct. 14, 7-10 pm. Free. Emerge, 119 N. Second St. emergecda.com (208-930-1876)

THE GREAT PUMPKIN RACE & FAMILY CARNIVAL Make and decorate your own pumpkin racer and race against other participants. Oct. 14, 11 am-2 pm. Free. Riverfront Park, 507 N. Howard St. mowspokane.org (509-456-6597)

HALLOWEEN COSTUME SWAP Combat waste by sharing and trading gently used costumes with other community members. Oct. 14, 11 am-1 pm. Free. Cheney Library, 610 First St. scld.org

HALLOWEEN X-SPO This Halloweenthemed con features a costume contest, exhibitors, local artists, special FX makeup demonstrations and more. Oct. 14-15, Sat from 10 am-6 pm and Sun from 10 am-4 pm. $5-$25. Spokane Convention Center, 334 W. Spokane Falls Blvd. halloweenxspo.com

HOTEL HOMICIDE The new owner of the Bateman Hotel is hosting a soiree in honor of the anniversary of the hotel’s reopening a year ago. Solve this murder mystery with the other guests attending the party. Oct. 14, 6-9 pm. $29-$39. Crime Scene Entertainment, 2775 N. Howard. crimesceneentertainment.com

REFOREST SPOKANE DAY Plant trees at Thompson Creek in order to reforest the Newman Lake area. Registration required. Oct. 14, 9 am-1 pm. Free. Newman Lake. landscouncil.org

SECOND SATURDAY PLANT SWAP

Bring cuttings or potted plants to trade with other plant collectors. Second Saturdays at noon through Dec. 9. Free. The Plant Project, 7413 E. Trent Ave. facebook.com/theplantprojectwa

SPOKANE NORDIC SKI TRAIL DAYS

Help prepare Mt. Spokane State Park’s Nordic Area for grooming by clearing branches, brush and other obstructions. Oct. 14 and 29, 8:30 am. Free. Mt. Spokane State Park, 26107 N. Mt. Spokane Park Dr. spokanenordic.org

CENTRAL VALLEY SCHOOL BOARD

CANDIDATE FORUM Candidates running for election to the Central Valley School District’s School Board answer community questions. Oct. 16, 6-7:30 pm. Free. University High School, 12320 E. 32nd Ave. my.lwv.org/washington/ spokane-area

WHAT IS CHENEY COHOUSING?

Learn about cohousing and seeking a like-minded community with Cheney Cohousing. Oct. 17, 5:30-7 pm. Free. Central Library, 906 W. Main Ave. cheneycohousing.com (509-444-5336)

MEDICAL LAKE SCHOOL BOARD

CANDIDATE FORUM Candidates running for election to Medical Lake School District’s School Board answer community questions. Oct. 18, 6-7:30 pm. Free. Medical Lake High School, 200 E. Barker St. my.lwv.org (509-565-3200)

GROSSOLOGY: THE SCIENCE OF THE REALLY GROSS Discover the gross science of snot, boogers and farts with some hands-on activities. Ages 10–13. Oct. 18, 3:30-4:30 pm. Free. Deer Park Library, 208 Forest St. scld.org

SLIGHTLY SPOOKY CELEBRATION

Participate in spooky crafts and activi-

ties. Costumes welcome as long as they are not scary. Oct. 19, 4:30-5:30 pm. Free. Fairfield Library, 305 E. Main St. scld.org (509-893-8320)

FILM

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER For Buffy Summers, nothing is the same after she meets Merrick Jamison-Smythe. He tells Bufft that he’s been sent to train her to fight vampires. Oct. 12, 7:30 pm. Garland Theater, 924 W. Garland Ave. garlandtheater.com (509-327-1050)

PALOUSE CULT FILM REVIVAL: VHS

MANIA 3 A double feature of Friday the 13th and Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter screened on original VHS tapes. Oct. 13, 7 pm. $10. The Kenworthy, 508 S. Main St. palousecultfilms.org

THE WITCHES OF HOLLYWOOD A vivid history on the female representation of the “Hollywood Witch.” Oct. 15, 12:301:45 pm. Free. South Hill Library, 3324 S. Perry St. spokanelibrary.org (444-5331)

SHAUN OF THE DEAD The uneventful, aimless lives of a London electronics salesman and his layabout roommate are disrupted by the zombie apocalypse. Oct. 18, 7-9 pm. $8. The Kenworthy, 508 S. Main St. kenworthy.org

TETON GRAVITY RESEARCH: LEGEND HAS IT This film explores the stories associated with ski lore like storm cycles, heroic feats and rough terrain. Oct. 19, 7:30-10 pm. $9-$17. Bing Crosby Theater, 901 W. Sprague Ave. bingcrosbytheater.com (509-227-7638)

THIRD THURSDAY MATINEE: TAP After his release from prison, Max returns to his late father’s dance studio. His old dance crew has a Broadway show planned but Max is being pulled in the opposite direction. Oct. 19, 1-3 pm. $7. Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture, 2316 W. First. northwestmuseum.org

FOOD & DRINK

CDAIDE CHEF CHALLENGE A live chef challenge where local chefs compete to win the championship belt and title of 2023 Chef Challenge winner. Oct. 12, 5:30-9 pm. $125. Hagadone Event Center, 900 S. Floating Green Dr. auctria. events/CDAIDEChefChallenge

SUSHI CLASS: CUT & ROLL In this hands-on class, Isaac teaches students how to make nigiri, hosomaki and uramaki rolls. Oct. 13, 12-2:30 pm. $90. The Kitchen Engine, 621 W. Mallon Ave. thekitchenengine.com (509-328-3335)

TAP THE KEG BREWFEST Enjoy tastings of beer, ciders and seltzers from breweries across the region. Admission includes seven 5 oz tastings with additional tastings available for purchase onsite. Oct. 13, 3:30-7:30 pm. $25-$50. University of Idaho, 709 S Deakin St. tapthekeg2023.eventbrite.com

APPLES: AN AMERICAN PHOENIX Writer Steven Neill details the apple’s journey from Europe to the Eastern Seaboard and across the country to the Pacific Northwest and California. Oct. 14, 2-4 pm. Free. Shadle Library, 2111 W. Wellesley Ave. spokanelibrary.org

ALL YOU CAN EAT BREAKFAST All you can eat pancakes, sausage, eggs and Green Bluff applesauce. Children under 5 free with paying adult. Oct. 15, 8-11 am. $4-$8. Green Bluff Grange, 9809 Green Bluff Rd. greenbluffgrowers.com

SEASONAL STRAINS

Fall Flavors

Cannabis products to help bring an autumnal vibe to your next session getting stoned

BY WILL MAUPIN

Autumn is in the air. Leaves are changing, temperatures are dropping, and the night is coming each day earlier than before. It’s fall.

If you’re looking to lean into the season, you can make a trip up to Green Bluff or decorate a skeleton for your front yard, but when it comes to the flavor of fall, you shouldn’t stop at pumpkin spice. The cannabis world, wide as it is now, has something to offer for all seasons, including autumn. You can celebrate the changing of the seasons with your cannabis, not just your latte or your porch decor.

APPLE PIE

Washington is home to some serious apple orchards, and as the state known for that snackable seasonal fruit, and

also as a frontrunner in the cannabis field, it is naturally home to some of the best Apple Pie in the country. Apple Pie the strain, that is.

Cannabis website Leafly calls Apple Pie, “a sativa weed strain made from a genetic cross between Acapulco Gold and Nepalese” that delivers effects which are “energetic, giggly, and sleepy. Medical marijuana patients often

choose Apple Pie when dealing with symptoms associated with stress, anxiety, and fatigue.”

You can find infused Apple Pie prerolls for $9 at Mary Jane’s, 2829 N. Market St., Spokane.

AUTUMN CAKE

If you want your seasonal cannabis intake to be as honest and literal as possible, look no further than Seattle-area grower Top Shelf Washington’s Autumn Cake prerolls.

This high-THC prerolled blunt features an indicaforward flower in a ready-to-smoke format. Clocking in at roughly 24% THC, these 2-gram prerolls will certainly get the job done for even the most experienced of consumers — beginners may want to share the fun with a few friends to avoid an overwhelming high.

You can find it for $20 at Cannabis & Glass locations in North Spokane, Spokane Valley and Liberty Lake.

PUMPKIN SPICE

Starbucks’ latte is old news. Pumpkin spice is everywhere these days, and the world of weed is not immune.

Washington grower MFUSED has produced a limited-edition vape version of the season’s trendiest drink, the pumpkin spice latte. Their “twisted” version of the coffee shop classic takes all the flavors of the fall drink and puts them into a disposable vape format. Consumers can enjoy the coffee shop flavors of fall without any of the caffeine, but with 1,000 milligrams of THC instead.

You can find it for $40 at the Green Nugget in both Spokane and Pullman. n

Cozy weather for cannabis

Inlander readers that have BOUGHT OR USED CANNABIS in the past year and live in Eastern WA.

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

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

EVENTS | CALENDAR

NORTH IDAHO WINE SOCIETY: WINE OF ITALY AND GREECE Explore wines from Italy and Greece with Brandon Krebs, the National Sales Manager representing these two wineries. Light appetizers are available. Oct. 20, 7-9:30 pm. $30-$35. Lake City Center, 1916 N. Lakewood Dr. northidahowinesociety.org

MUSIC

LOVE, MY VERY OWN Chorale Coeur

d’Alene perform Gloria in D Major by Vivaldi and additional works by Eric Whitacre, Elaine Hagenberg, Susan Labaar and more. Oct. 13, 7 pm and Oct. 14, 2 pm. $10-$25. Trinity Lutheran Church, 812 N. Fifth St. choralecda.com (208-664-5743)

SOUTH INDIAN CLASSICAL MUSIC

The South Asia Cultural Association of Spokane presents an all-ages event demonstrating the instruments used in performing the musical style of Sangeeta Kacheri. Oct. 13, 7-8 pm. Free. Shadle Library, 2111 W. Wellesley Ave. spokanelibrary.org (509-444-5390)

THE JAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER ORCHESTRA WITH WYNTON MARSALIS

The orchestra performs a vast repertoire, from rare historic compositions to Jazz at Lincoln Center-commissioned works. Oct. 14, 7:30 pm. $45-$95. The Fox Theater, 1001 W. Sprague Ave. foxtheaterspokane.org (509-624-1200)

SANGEETA KACHERI A South Indian classical music concert with a vegetarian meal available for purchase. Registration is required due to limited seating. Oct. 14, 6:30 pm. Free. Unity Spiritual Center Spokane, 2900 S. Bernard St. facebook. com/southasianculturalassociation

SING WHILE YOU CAN: MUSIC RELEASE

SHOW & PHOTO SHOW Bill and Kathy Kostelec present a musical and visual experience with a night of live music. Oct. 17, 7-9 pm. Free. Hamilton Studio, 1427 W. Dean Ave. KostelecStudios.com

MUSIC FROM THE PALOUSE This concert features regional talent collaborating in a variety of chamber music ensembles. Oct. 19, 7:30 pm. University of Idaho Administration Building, 851 Campus Dr. uidaho.edu (888-884-3246)

BRIDGES HOME Tami and Dave Gunther share music and song that features Americana, Celtic roots and original compositions. Oct. 20, 6-8 pm. $5-$15. Create Arts Center, 900 Fourth St. createarts.org

SPORTS & OUTDOORS

GREATER SPOKANE PARKS CHALLENGE Complete challenges, using the Outerspacial app, related to parks in the Spokane area to win prizes and be entered into raffles. Through Oct. 31. Free. Spokane. spokanecounty.org

CHAIR YOGA Instructor Heather Woller leads yoga classes, suitable for beginners who have never done yoga, people with limited mobility, and those who work while primarily seated at a desk. Sat from 10:30-11:30 am through Oct. 28. Free. Medical Lake Library, 3212 Herb. scld.org

PRACTICAL METHOD CHEN STYLE TAI

CHI Blake Caldwell teaches the practical method of Chen Style Taijiquan. Wear comfortable clothing and bring a notebook and pen. Oct. 17, 6-7 pm. South Hill Library, 3324 S. Perry. spokanelibrary.org

PRACTICAL CENTERING YOGA Experience the benefits of yoga and pilates movements through these weekly ex-

ercise sessions led by instructor Larkin Barnett. Every Wed from 1:30-2:30 pm. $18-$20. Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture, 2316 W. First Ave. northwestmuseum.org (509-456-3931)

THEATER & DANCE

DRACULA A reimagining of Bram Stoker’s classic novel where the tropes of villains who wear evil on their sleeve and damsels in distress are replaced by monsters and women who stab at the heart of the patriarchy itself. Oct. 7-29; Wed-Sat at 7:30 pm, Sun at 2 pm. $15-$28. Spokane Civic Theatre, 1020 N. Howard. spokanecivictheatre.com (509-325-2507)

MINIMUM WAGE A single father and aspiring actor is tasked with saving a local burger joint. Pressure to save the business and his employees’ jobs leaves Evan and his fellow co-workers with impossible choices. Oct. 6-22; Thu-Sat at 7 pm, Sun at 2 pm. $20-$25. Stage Left Theater, 108 W. Third. stagelefttheater.org

THE ADDAMS FAMILY The Addams family is in turmoil when their daughter Wednesday finds herself falling in love. Wed-Sat at 7:30 pm, Sun at 2 pm through Oct. 15. $15-$38. Spokane Civic Theatre, 1020 N. Howard St. spokanecivictheatre.com (509-325-2507)

THE WHO’S TOMMY Based on the iconic 1969 rock concept album, this is the story of a pinball-playing, deaf and blind boy who triumphs over his adversities. Fri-Sat at 7:30pm, Sat-Sun at 2 pm through Oct. 15. Kroc Center, 1765 W. Golf Course Rd. aspirecda.com (208-667-1865)

THE LIGHTNING THIEF: THE PERCY JACKSON MUSICAL The half-blood son of a Greek god has newly-discovered powers he can’t control and a mythology textbook’s worth of monsters on his trail. Thu-Sat at 7 pm, Sat-Sun at 2 pm through Oct. 29. $13-$25. TAC at the Lake, 22910 E. Appleway Ave. tacatthelake.com

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING A Shakespearean comedy featuring two bachelorettes who engage in a war of wits until their friends trick them into believing they’re in love with one another. Fri-Sat at 7:30 pm, Sun at 2 pm through Oct. 22. $15-$20. Whitworth Cowles Auditorium, 300 W. Hawthorne Ave. whitworth.edu/ theatre (509-777-4374)

TWO WITCHES, NO WAITING A comedy play focused on eccentric sisters Arlene & Elzbeth. Dinner varies each night, see website for menu. Oct. 13-14 at 7:30 pm. $12-$35. Circle Moon Theater, 3642 N. State Route 211, Newport. northwoodsperformingarts.com (208-448-1294)

THE WIZARD OF OZ Young Dorothy Gale is swept away by a tornado from her Kansas farm to the magical land of Oz. Oct. 13-29; Fri-Sat at 7 pm, Sat-Sun at 2 pm. $12-$16. Spokane Children’s Theatre, 2727 N. Madelia. spokanechildrenstheatre.org (509-328-4886)

ACCORDING TO COYOTE This live performance is an anthology of traditional stories featuring the legendary hero of American Indian mythology. Oct. 14, 7:30 pm. $15-$25. Panida Theater, 300 N. First Ave. panida.org (208-263-9191)

TOTALLY RAD ’80S PROM GONE BAD

The students of Mayhem High find themselves battling it out over grades, popularity, affection and class rankings. Solve this murder mystery with other participants. Oct. 18, 7-10 pm. $39. Old School Liquor Bar, 4711 W. Farrell Rd. crimesceneentertainment.com (208-369-3695)

12 MINUTES MAX SPOKANE FALL

EDITION This event seeks to foster experimentation and the development of a choreographic work from its initial stages to the first public encounter. Oct. 19, 7-9 pm and Oct. 20, 7-9 pm. $20. Vytal Movement Dance Space, 7 S. Howard St, Ste. 200. quieroflamenco.com

VISUAL ARTS

ARCHIE BRAY RESIDENT SHOW A showcase of established and emerging cntemporary ceramic artists from the Archie Bray Foundation in Montana. By appointment through Oct. 27. Free. Kolva-Sullivan Gallery, 115 S. Adams St. kolva-sullivangallery.com/ (509-458-5517)

CAYLA SKILLIN-BRAUCHLE: A DAY FOR DREAMING, A DAY FOR DOING This exhibition features works on paper, sculpture and performance. Mon-Fri from 9 am-6 pm through Nov. 3. Free. EWU Gallery of Art, 140 Art Building. ewu.edu

CHRIS KELSEY, GINA FREUEN & MARK MOORE: NEW FIRINGS Newly fired ceramic pieces by local artists Chris Kelsey, Gina Freuen and Mark Moore. Wed-Fri from 11 am-5 pm through Oct. 27. Free. Trackside Studio, 115 S. Adams St. tracksidestudi.net (509-863-9904)

DEB SHELDON: WHERE DO IDEAS COME FROM? SPARK + PROVISION = ART A collection of sculptures created out of found/provided items. The pieces represent an exploration of the origins of ideas and their manifestation in Sheldon’s art. Thu-Sat from 4-7 pm through Oct. 28. Free. Terrain Gallery, 628 N. Monroe St. terrainspokane.com

HELEN PARSONS: BITTER/SWEET Local fiber artist Helen Parsons showcases recent works. Daily from 11 am-6 pm through Oct. 30. Free. Entropy, 101 N. Stevens St. explodingstars.com

JAMES ALLEN: EXCAVATING BOOK: A book arts exhibition featuring books that have been carved out to tell new stories. Mon-Fri from 10 am-4:30 pm and Sat from 10 am-2 pm through Oct. 26. Free. Bryan Oliver Gallery, Whitworth, 300 W. Hawthorne Ave. whitworth.edu

KEIKO VON HOLT & CHERYL HALVERSON Van Holt and Halverson showcase their watercolor paintings. Thu-Sat fron 11 am-4 pm through Oct. 31. Free. Avenue West Gallery, 907 W. Boone Ave. avenuewestgallery.com (509-838-4999)

RIVER RIDGE ASSOCIATION OF FINE ARTS SMALL WORKS SHOW This show features the small works over 15 RRAFA artists. Mediums include oils, acrylic, watercolor, mixed medium, stained glass and more. Daily from 11 am-7 pm through Oct. 29. Free. Liberty Building, 203 N. Washington. potteryplaceplus.com

TRACY PETRE WALKER: LIFE AND TIME Walker presents a body of artwork that explores universal themes seen within our society. Mon-Fri from 8:30 am-3:30 pm through Oct. 19. Free. SFCC Fine Arts Gallery, 3410 W. Whistalks Way, Bldg. 6. spokanefalls.edu/gallery (509-533-3746)

MEL MCCUDDIN: LIFE IS A STAGE A display of late artist Mel McCuddin’s final works. Thu-Sun from 11 am-6 pm. through Oct. 29. Free. Art Spirit Gallery, 415 Sherman. theartspiritgallery.com

RICK DAVIS: RECLAMATION Metal sculpture pieces by Rick Davis. Mon-Thu from 10 am-4 pm, Fri from 10 am-2:30 pm. through Nov. 3. Free. Boswell Corner Gallery at NIC, 1000 W. Garden Ave., Building 22. nic.edu/cornergallery

ROBBIN MILLER Miller is Pottery Place

Plus’s guest artist for October. She creates abstract paintings depicting myriad landscapes and objects. Daily from 11 am-7 pm through Oct. 31. Free. Pottery Place Plus, 203 N. Washington St. potteryplaceplus.com

ROCKY MOUNTAIN PRINTMAKING ALLIANCE SYMPOSIUM The sixth biennial symposium showcases local printmaking artists and features demonstrations and lectures from regional artists. Oct. 12-14; locations and times vary. $30-$75. rockymountainprintmakingalliance.org

SCOTT & FRANCIS SWITZER Meet the Pend d’Oreille Winery artists of the month, and enjoy a glass of wine. Oct. 12, 5-7 pm. Free. Pend d’Oreille Winery, 301 Cedar St. powine.com (877-452-9011)

TIM LORD: BY BOOK OR BY HOOK Lord showcases a collection of sculptures made out of recycled books. Wed-Fri from 11 am-5 pm through Oct. 31. Free. New Moon Art Gallery, 1326 E. Sprague Ave. manicmoonandmore.com

WE ARE THE WATER, WE ARE THE LAND This show highlights Inland Northwest and regional Indigiqueer storytellers using visual art, beadwork, photography and more to represent the present and the future. Mon-Fri from 9 am-5 pm through Oct. 31. Free. Chase Gallery, 808 W. Spokane Falls Blvd. spokanearts.org

JOSEPH TOMLINSON: WHERE DO I DRAW THE LINE? This show is a work in progress that highlights current work and a representation of what the artist does while traveling. Mon-Fri from 10 am-5 pm through Oct. 27. Free. Spokane Art School, 503 E. Second Ave., Ste. B. spokaneartschool.net (509-325-1500)

REGIONAL WATERCOLOR INVITATION -

AL A group exhibition curated featuring watercolor and water media works by Megan Perkins, Kate Lund, Megan Martens-Haworth, Amailia Fisch and others. Fri from 4-7 pm, Sat from 10am-3 pm through Dec. 9. Free. Gonzaga University Urban Arts Center, 125 S. Stevens. gonzaga.edu/gonzaga-university-urbanarts-center

MARY FARRELL: TENDING Farrel showcases work inspired by form and process. Fri-Sat from 12-8 pm through Oct. 28. Free. Saranac Art Projects, 25 W. Main Ave. sapgallery.com

ARTIST LECTURE: TRACY WALKER The artist discusses her artistic process and artwork from “Life and Time” on display at the SFCC Gallery. Oct. 19, 10:30-11:30 am. Free. SFCC Fine Arts Gallery, 3410 W. Whistalks Way, Bldg. 6. sfcc.spokane.edu

FARM GIRL QUILT SHOW The three-day show features over 600 quilts, master quilter demonstrations and over 50 vendors. Oct. 20-22; Fri-Sat from 10 am-6 pm, Sun from 10 am-4 pm. $15. Spokane County Fair & Expo Center, 404 N. Havana St. (509-477-1766)

SECOND SATURDAYS AT CHRYSALIS

Meet and greet artists, see creators make their work live and see new artwork. See website for updates. Oct. 14, 12-5 pm. Free. Chrysalis Gallery, 911 S. Monroe St. facebook.com/theartchrysalis

FIGURE/LIFE DRAWING WITH TIM

BOVEY Participants draw from a nude model. Ages 18+. Oct. 15, 12-3 pm. $56. Spokane Art School, 503 E. Second Ave., Ste. B. spokaneartschool.net

1912 CENTER MAKES! A free guided workshop that highlights different forms of art. For the month of October, it’s clay. Oct. 16, 6-8 pm. Free. 1912 Center, 412 E. Third St. 1912center.org (208-669-2249)

WORDS

MATTHEW SULLIVAN: A NICER KIND OF MURDER Sullivan explores murder, mystery and empathy in contemporary literature. Oct. 12, 6:30 pm. Free. Online at humanities.org (509-893-8340)

AUNTIE’S BOOK CLUB: DISCOVERY & SALON Discuss the prompt: “Have you ever found a book that was so “wrong” for you that you couldn’t even get past the first page? or the first chapter?” at the October meeting (via Zoom). Oct. 12, 2 pm. Free. auntiesbooks.com

NICOLA GRIFFITH: MENEWOOD In the much anticipated sequel to Hild, Nicola Griffith’s Menewood transports readers back to 7th century Britain. The author is joined in conversation by Alexis Smith. Oct. 14, 7 pm. Free. Auntie’s, 402 W. Main Ave. auntiesbooks.com (509-838-0206)

THE SPOKANE CLOCK TOWER MYSTERIES Join historical fiction author Patricia Meredith for a special afternoon event celebrating her Spokane Clock Tower Mysteries series, highlighting the first three books. Oct. 14, 12-4 pm. Free. Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture, 2316 W. First Ave. northwestmuseum.org

TEDX SPOKANE: FLOURISH This year’s talks look at our current state and explore making a conscious decision to grow. Featured speakers include Hap Klopp, Robin Pickering, Sandy Zimmerman and more. Oct. 14, 6-9 pm. $35. Bing Crosby Theater, 901 W. Sprague Ave. bingcrosbytheater.com (509-227-7638)

NORTHWEST PASSAGES: TAMARA

LEITNER Leitner discusses her book, Don’t Say A Thing, in which she details her 20-year compulsion to follow the Claude Dean Hull investigation. Oct. 17, 7 pm. Myrtle Woldson Performing Arts Center, 211 E. Desmet Ave. spokesman. com/northwest-passages

SCOTT LEEDS: SCHRADER’S CHORD

Leeds discusses his debut novel about cursed vinyl records that open a gateway to the land of the dead. Oct. 17, 7 pm. Free. Auntie’s Bookstore, 402 W. Main Ave. auntiesbooks.com (509-838-0206)

BROKEN MIC Spokane Poetry Slam’s longest-running, weekly open mic reading series. Wednesdays at 6:30 pm; signups at 6 pm. Free. Neato Burrito, 827 W. First Ave. bit.ly/2ZAbugD

ORIGIN STORIES WRITING WORKSHOP Jennifer Passaro dicsusses how our collective sense of place, our ideas of kinship and family and our individual identities populate our writing. Oct. 18, 6:30-8 pm. $30. Emerge, 119 N. Second St. emergecda.com (208-930-1876)

WSU VISITING WRITERS SERIES: BOJAN LOUIS Louis is the author of the short-story collection, Sinking Bell, the poetry collection Currents and the nonfiction chapbook Troubleshooting Silence in Arizona. Oct. 18, 5 pm. Free. Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art WSU, 1535 NE Wilson Rd. english.wsu.edu/visitingwriters (509-335-1910)

ILLUMINATIONS: WITCHES See rare treasures from the Central Library’s Archives. This month’s theme is “Witches,” featuring a 1665 edition of The Discovery of Witchcraft, Goya’s Caprichos, and more. Oct. 19, 3-4 pm. Free. Central Library, 906 W. Main. spokanelibrary.org

LILAC CITY LIVE: HALLOWEEN SPECIAL Host Ryan Tucker and guests plan to mystify at this Halloween edition of the quarterly “late-night” talk show. Oct. 19, 8-10 pm. Free. Central Library, 906 W. Main Ave. spokanelibrary.org n

1. “____ Fools Fall in Love” (Frankie Lymon hit) 6. Like some apples 9. Charges (up) 13. No-____ (gnats) 15. Fish eggs 16. Girl’s name that sounds like two letters of the alphabet 17. Terrible primatologist? 19. Ham or lamb 20. ____ de Janeiro

“Stranger

E-MAIL:BulletinBoard@Inlander.com

PHONE:(509)444-7355

INPERSON: 1227WestSummitParkway Spokane,WA 99201

LOCAL, INDEPENDENT AND FREE SINCE 1993! 43. Irritate 44. Classic TV kid whose name sounds like two letters of the alphabet 45. Pick up the tab 48. “Glad that’s settled!” 49. Human beings 51. Photoshop maker 53. Archetype

2. “Isn’t ____ bit like you and me?” (Beatles lyric)

3. Japanese currency 4. Expected 5. Trendy dye jobs 6. Savage X Fenty product 7. “You’ve got mail” co. 8. Shoulder muscle, for short 9. Club version of a song, often 10. Calendar markings 11. Pfizer release of 1998 12. Adjusts to, as a thermostat 14. Peter, Paul or Mary 18. Period

of

27. Make

obsolete

as a cat 32. Answer incorrectly

39. Earring shape

40. Washer or dryer: Abbr.

41. Grammywinning Mexican singer Downs

42. Creepy gaze

45. Eastern place of worship

46. Digs deeply

47. “Holy moly!”

49. Island that’s part of the Zanzibar Archipelago

50. One good at reading emotions

52. Brand known for its pore strips

54. Mark, as a ballot

56. Spun records

60. “Yay, Messi!”

61. “Let me think ...”

ACROSS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 “GOOD PEOPLE” Bazaar Day in Cheney Saturday, Nov 4 • 9am to 1pm United Methodist Church - 4th & G St St Rose of Lima - 460 N. 5th St Congregational Church - 423 N 6th St ANSWERSTHISWEEK’S ONISAWYOUS A Better Way to Retire! Local representative, free information REVERSE MORTGAGE Mutual of Omaha Mortgage, Inc., NMLS ID 1025894. FL Mortgage Lender Servicer License MLD1827. ID Mortgage Broker/Lender License MBL-2081025894. WA Consumer Loan Company License CL-1025894. These materials are not from, or approved by HUD or FHA. Licensing information: www.nmlsconsumeraccess.org #1101691001 Larry Waters NMLS# 400451 P 208.762.6887 Serving ID & WA .COM D EP TS From the backyard to the beach. Or up in the mountains and over the creek. Choose from a variety of designs or create your own! 509.720.3594 MOBILE SMALL ENGINE REPAIR Call Scott 509-321-4444 We Come To You CDAHomeCleaning.com Proudly serving Coeur d’Alene, Hayden, and Post Falls. Coeur d’Alene’s Premier Home Cleaning Company! — Mention the Inlander for 20% o your first clean! — A weekly email for food lovers Subscribe at Inlander.com/newsletter scan to play a new online game initial-instinct.com HUGE ESTATE SALE Clothing Mens / Womens Holiday Decorations Furniture Lawn & Garden Housewares Tools Vintage Misc. Collectibles 1018 W. HAWTHORNE RD Sat, Oct. 14 8:30 am - 2 pm North Spokane Cross streets Waikiki / Hawthorne rd

62. Beats by ____

63. Upset

64. Insurance giant bailed out in 2008

65. U-turn from SSW

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