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APRIL 16, 2020

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Climate change won’t stop for the coronavirus pandemic by Abrahm Lustgarten, ProPublica

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Home to poorest counties in the nation, the Oglala Lakota reservation locks down by Anegla K. Evans

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How the coronavirus is affecting the foster system in Boulder County by Angela K. Evans

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The coronavirus pandemic offers an opportunity to reflect on animal welfare by Caitlin Rockett

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In an industry defined by live performance, theater companies get existential about their role as artists in the age of social distancing by Caitlin Rockett

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What to do when there’s ‘nothing’ to do by Boulder Weekly Staff

After another year of growth, craft beer sales plummet amid the coronavirus by Matt Cortina

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Stew’s Views: Bitten by the cobra effect Danish Plan: How will the great American social distancing experiment end? Guest Column: Being honest about what COVID-19 will mean for climate action Letters: Signed, sealed, delivered... your views News: Police use of facial recognition technology gets spotlight News: Drilling expanded in Colorado, CU develops COVID-19 test, and more Boulderganic: In conversation with PETA founder Ingrid Newkirk Words: ‘quarantined thoughts’ by Greg Alston Food/Drink: Food news and what to try this week in Boulder County Food: 20 dishes we can’t wait to eat together again... soon Savage Love: Quickies Astrology: by Rob Brezsny Cannabis Corner: Drug cartel gives food packages to the poor

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SPeCiAL COVid 19 ANNOuNCeMeNt

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WhILe IFS eventS are CanCeLLed untIL Further notICe, We’d LIKe to dIreCt our FanS to onLIne reSourCeS theY Can turn to. Go to InternatIonaLFILmSerIeS.Com, or IFS on Facebook for active links & updates, as well as opportunities to stream some of our April titles on a pay-per view basis. for all manner of public domain ephemera: https://archive.org/ if you have a library account with the university, or boulder Public Library, go to: Kanopy.com. they hold a lot of titles from the Criterion Collection, as well as many mainstream titles. Signing up is easy, you just need your library card number. Also any Colorado resident can get an ecard at the denver Public Library: dPL: https://www.denverlibrary.org/library-card for classic film fans: Criterion Channel is the Gold Standard of fine films, with a collection of classic and cult titles both domestic and international, and it has a free 14-day trial. for horror film fans: Shudder.com is offering a free trial month of movies! enter the promo code SHutiN once you’re past the sign-in page, and it will change the 7 days trial period to 30 days. for design-nerds: Bydesign Fest is an annual film festival focusing on design, architecture, and the like, and is sponsored by the Northwest film forum. they are offering all of their titles for online streaming on a sliding scale basis, from $0-$25. to find how/where to screen a title you are looking: www.justwatch.com/ for peaceful livecam footage of marine life: www.montereybayaquarium.org/animals/live-cams for experimental films and video art: https://hyperallergic. Search: “tired of netflix stream experimental films and video art” for a “yule log” background type video, search: “music Box organ home edition” free on Youtube and recommended to art cinema patrons is a restored digital copy of Bunuel’s somewhat subversive version of tHe AdVeNtuReS Of RObiNSON CRuSOe (1954) in english, in PatheColor, and with Dan O’Herilhy who received an Oscar nomination for his portrayal of the slave trader who was marooned for 28 years. Search “adventues of robinson Crusoe 1954” Xfinity customers: More entertainment content is now available for you to watch for free: Xfinity is providing a range of additional free content to keep you entertained while you’re at home. You can find it by saying “free” into your Xfinity Voice Remote. edgar wright’s 100 favorite comedies: letterboxd.com/crew/list/edgar-wrights-100-favorite-comedies/ bonus: a few years ago the ifS screened an entertaining doc on Australian exploitation films and that entire feature can now be seen at this link: vimeo.com/395658733 we would also like to share a link to a short five minute video about COVid 19 that we found especially informative: youtube.com search “CovId 19 Science Insider”

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Music Box Films is offering a special promo code for movie fans! Sign up for Music box direct, using discount code: Boulder. enjoy an extra month of free movies! Disclaimer: the site will ask for your credit card (this is a free trial), but Music Box will send you an email reminder a week before your trial ends if you want to opt out. www.musicboxfilms.com/music-box-direct fANtAStiC fuNGi showed at ifS earlier this semester. watch it now online and support the ifS: vimeo.com/ondemand/ifsboulder We’ll meet again Don’t know where Don’t know when But I know we’ll meet again some sunny day

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April 16, 2020 Volume XXVII, Number 35 As Boulder County's only independently owned newspaper, Boulder Weekly is dedicated to illuminating truth, advancing justice and protecting the First Amendment through ethical, no-holds-barred journalism and thought-provoking opinion writing. Free every Thursday since 1993, the Weekly also offers the county's most comprehensive arts and entertainment coverage. Read the print version, or visit boulderweekly.com. Boulder Weekly does not accept unsolicited editorial submissions. If you're interested in writing for the paper, please send queries to: editorial@ boulderweekly.com. Any materials sent to Boulder Weekly become the property of the newspaper. 690 South Lashley Lane, Boulder, CO, 80305 p 303.494.5511 f 303.494.2585 editorial@boulderweekly.com www.boulderweekly.com Boulder Weekly is published every Thursday. No portion may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher. ÂŠ 2020 Boulder Weekly, Inc., all rights reserved.

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welcomes your correspondence via email (letters@ boulderweekly.com) or the comments section of our website at www.boulderweekly.com. Preference will be given to short letters (under 300 words) that deal with recent stories or local issues, and letters may be edited for style, length and libel. Letters should include your name, address and telephone number for verification. We do not publish anonymous letters or those signed with pseudonyms. Letters become the property of Boulder Weekly and will be published on our website.

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ABOUT THE COVER

ifty years ago, on April 22, 1970, 20 million Americans rallied around the country in the first ever Earth Day celebration. Inspired by the anti-war movement and drastic environmental catastrophes, organizers united protesters in rural and urban areas in a bipartisan effort to protect the planet. The first demonstration led to the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency and helped usher in monumental environmental regulations, everything from the Clean Water Act to the Clean Air Act and Endangered Species Act. But we still have a long way to go in order to secure a sustainable future. Climate change, powered by the prolific consumption of fossil fuels, threatens communities, countries and entire ecosystems across the world. At the same time, global I

leaders have done little to curb greenhouse gas emissions. And that was before the Trump administration began gutting environmental regulations and prioritizing fossil fuel development in the U.S. In the wake of the coronavirus, matters only look more dire as regulatory rollbacks continue and there are promises of bailouts for the oil and gas industry. In the five decades since the first Earth Day protest, the event has gathered 1 billion people in more than 190 countries across the world. This year, the masses will gather online for Earth Day Live beginning on April 22. Local, national and global events will raise a collective voice calling for drastic climate action, as we battle the coronavirus together. Visit earthday.org for more details.

APRIL 16, 2020

Bitten by the cobra effect BY STEWART SALLO

n March 23, during one of his daily reelection campaign rallies, aka Coronavirus Task Force press briefings, Donald Trump stated, “We can’t have the cure be worse than the problem.” At the time this statement was made, there were just 556 reported COVID-19 deaths in the U.S., and Trump’s politically motivated calculation was that the “cure” of social distancing would prove to be worse than the “problem” of a crashing stock market, high unemployment and an economic recession that could mortally wound his reelection prospects. Certainly unbeknownst to someone who can barely read from a teleprompter, there is a phenomenon, known as the “cobra effect,” which refers to the unintended and undesirable consequences of a decision or policy. The term was coined during the time of British rule in colonial India (1858-1947), when there was a concern about the enormous population of venomous cobras. The solution that was implemented was a bounty for every dead cobra, which unexpectedly led to an increase in the breeding of cobras and, consequently, a rise in the cobra population. It turns out that President “Chauncey Gardiner” had stumbled upon and parroted something he heard on Fox News that our politically correct obsession with containment or social distancing has utterly failed to calculate. For Trump and those whose political house of cards is built on maintaining a grasp on power that would make Charlton “Cold Dead Hands” Heston proud, the cobra effect is myopically defined as an economic recession resulting in a Democratic victory in the 2020 election. For the rest of us, the venom will take a more complicated form: business closures, bankruptcies, rampant inflation, suicides, depression and other psychological issues, loss of freedom and a host of other horrible consequences, many of which will be as permanent as the loss of life our containment protocol is intended to 6

prevent, and may, ironically, wind up this ordeal out over a longer-thanexacerbating. necessary period of time, with Flying under the radar of our repeated resurgences of cases each social distancing hysteria is a differtime we relax containment efforts, ent model to eradicate the coronaviand perhaps leading to even greater rus, called herd immunity, which is numbers of fatalities. favored by many renowned epidemiWhether the containment ologists. Essentially, herd immunity approach is the best option or not, we advocates posit that the only way to have probably gone too far down defeat a disease like COVID-19 is Social Distancing Avenue to turn for a sufficient portion of the popula- back. But we must understand that tion — most cite 60% — to have by doing so we have painted ourbeen exposed to the disease in order selves into a corner from which there for it to begin to are only undesirdisappear. Many able paths outexperts assert that ward. With in the absence of a enormous presthis crisis is among the vaccine, which will sure to reopen most challenging periods most likely not be businesses, it is available for 12 to in our lives, no matter how likely that we 18 months, we will soon see a long we have been a resimust achieve herd relaxing of conimmunity in order dent of this shining ball of tainment efforts, to gain the upper followed by an blue. We are being tested hand on this virus. uptick in cases, But here’s the leading to anothto our core in many ways, catch: Social diser round of ranging from spiritually to restrictions, tancing by design necessarily delays financially, and we all have resulting in more the achievement financial hardto decide for ourselves of herd immunity ship and other by limiting the undesirable conhow to respond. numbers of indisequences. Most viduals who have notably, it is been exposed to widely anticipatthe virus, thereby ed by the medimaintaining a greater portion of the cal community that we can expect a population who can continue to condramatic rebound of infections durtract and spread the disease. In short, ing the coming fall season. the result of our efforts to “flatten the Ultimately, this cycle will only end curve” via containment will be a when we have achieved the requisite lengthening of that curve, which, herd immunity. according to Harvard researchers What is likely to accompany such Marc Lipsitch and Yonatan Grad, a cycle is testing and surveillance on a may ultimately lead to increased scale we have never seen before. One numbers of infections and deaths in such plan, put forward by the prothe long term. If these Harvard progressive, nonprofit, nonpartisan fessors are correct, our current conCenter for American Progress, would tainment efforts may be giving new require every American to download meaning to the term cobra effect. an app onto their smartphone, which By adhering to strict social distancwould utilize geo-tracking technoloing we can achieve, at best, a temgy to identify individuals who have porary solution. But we do so by come into contact with anyone who delaying the permanent solution of is subsequently found to have the herd immunity, thereby dragging virus, leading to a period of mandato-

FOR MOST EVERYONE,

APRIL 16, 2020

ry quarantine. This dystopian loss of personal freedom makes the post9/11 Patriot Act look like child’s play. And given the lack of trust the majority of Americans have in our government, it is nearly impossible to imagine the success of such a plan. With respect to the mass testing option, it would be necessary for everyone in the country to be tested every 14 days, and for anyone testing positive to be quarantined. Even if the logistic hurdle of 23 million tests per day could be accomplished, how could the necessary compliance be guaranteed? Clearly, there are no painless ways out of this predicament, but what is becoming increasingly obvious is that our best hope is herd immunity. And if that is true, what follows is that the draconian measures we are currently involved in are only delaying the inevitable, and most likely we are in the midst of the most dramatic example of the cobra effect in our lifetimes. Given that herd immunity requires a minimum of 60% of the population to become exposed to and recover from the virus, it is likely that most of us are going to fall prey to it. The good news is that for the vast majority who are not in the high-risk category — the elderly and those with pre-existing conditions — the recovery rate is upwards of 98%, just as it is with influenza and other respiratory illnesses. Therefore, many epidemiologists propose that we redouble our efforts to protect the elderly and immunocompromised, while preparing the rest of us to contract and fend off this virus. Which brings me to the subject of masks. There are many factors in building and maintaining an immune system strong enough to handle a viral infection, but among them one cannot overemphasize the role played by our emotions. For most everyone, this crisis is among the most challenging periods in our lives, no matter how see STEW’S VIEWS Page 7

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

How will the great American social distancing experiment end? By Paul Danish

H STEW’S VIEWS from Page 6

long we have been a resident of this shining ball of blue. We are all being tested to our cores in many ways, ranging from financially to spiritually, and we all have to decide for ourselves how to respond. Indeed, how we show up in this situation defines us, and may well be a determining factor in if and how badly we get sick. This is, of course, a very personal matter, and each one of us needs to decide what feels right. Experience teaches us that approaching problems with courage and confidence leads to a better result than allowing fear and reluctance to rule the day. In the final analysis, while social distancing may prove to have been a necessary shortterm solution, I would submit that we reach the point of diminishing returns when we allow our emotions to turn negative to such a degree that we wind up feeling afraid, suspicious and paranoid. While I appreciate the need for masks among grocery store workers, health care practitioners, and in other settings where high-risk individuals might be infected, I do not see the need to wear a mask or facsimiles, such as bandanas and other homemade devices — the necessity or benefit of which is questionable — while recreating. People walking around, riding bikes, even driving cars wearing masks appear to be unhappy and afraid, and they cause the rest of us to feel the same way. This is emotionally antithetical to what we truly need right now: the BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

optimism that we can successfully meet this challenge. While I am still following the containment protocol — primarily because it is what we have decided to do (for now) as a culture — it is also my intention on an individual level to project a positive attitude of confidence. For this reason, and because I trust my ability as the successful result of 200,000 years of human evolution to survive being infected with this virus (although, trust me, I have no interest in contracting it), I have decided not to wear a mask outdoors. Instead, I greet others I pass (at a reasonable distance, of course) with a reassuring smile, as if to say, “Don’t worry, we’ll get through this.” To my way of thinking, this approach will be of greater value and contribute more to the collective effort than viewing every individual I encounter with suspicion as a potential subject of infection. Only time will confirm whether we are in the midst of the latest, greatest cobra effect moment in history. But one thing is clear even at the tip of this iceberg: We must all engage in due diligence in availing ourselves of the facts of what we are dealing with, and allow our highest, most positive selves to emerge as we make the necessary decisions during the weeks and months ahead. In that sense, this is not merely a phenomenally perplexing crisis, but the greatest opportunity of our lives to discover who we are and what we are capable of. I

ow will America’s great social distancing experiment end? Just guessing, but I suspect toward the end of April, millions of Americans will say, in so many words, “Screw it. We’re going back to work.” This isn’t going to be a stormthe-barricades style national jail break. People are just quietly going to go back to work and resume their lives, virus or no virus. But they will also take certain precautions. Like hydroxychloroquine. Chances are an increasing number are starting to distance themselves from social distancing already. Since the first of the month, traffic on the roads has been picking up little-by-little, day-by-day. By the time May Day rolls around, when the 30-day quasi-lockdown period supposedly ends, a lot of people aren’t going to be waiting around for an official all-clear from experts. They are going to say, “This stay-at-home drill isn’t doing anything for me. I’m going to chance it and resume my life. And by the way, where do I get some hydroxychloroquine?” People under the age of 50 are going to be especially apt to say this. But before long the over-50s who are still in the work force will say, “OK, I’m at greater risk than the youngsters, but if I don’t get back in the game someone who has gone back is going to get my job. So I better get back in the labor pool too. Besides, I’m going as stir-crazy as the Millennials and Gen Zs. And say, where can I get some hydroxychloroquine?” And then geezers like me (I’m 77) are going to say, “There are a ton of people out there who are running

around asymptomatic and squeezing the avocados and the Charmin, and that’s going to make trips to the supermarket an adventure that requires more equipment than a home-made face mask and a pair of nitrile gloves. But trips to the supermarket are mandatory, so hey, bro, would you happen to know where I could get some hydroxychloroquine?” This will upset Dr. Fauci, because it has not been shown — to his satisfaction — that hydroxychloroquine works. And millions of Americans will say, “Doc, we love you, but we don’t really give a shit that you haven’t completed a double blind study. That anecdotal evidence you find insufficient is good enough for us in a scrape, because you don’t have anything better. And the current situation is nothing if not a scrape. When you have something better, we’ll talk. But until then, hey, would you happen to know where we can get some hydroxychloroquine? “Yeah, we know that we can get it through a lot of docs if we happen to test positive, but that isn’t good enough. That’s because we’re done with this social distancing crap, we’re resuming our lives, and we need a drug we can use prophylactically. And that means hydroxychloroquine better be made available over the counter. If it isn’t, it’s going to be made available through America’s illegal drug industry, which is always looking for new products and manages to cut a lot of red tape when bringing them to market. And it rarely waits for the results of double blind trials.”

Trump understands

that drugs taken prophylactically are the key to restarting both the economy and normal life. That’s why he’s pushing hydroxychloroquine so hard.

APRIL 16, 2020

see DANISH PLAN Page 8

SUPPORT LOCAL BUSINESS We’re all in this together.

Being honest about what COVID-19 will mean for climate action By Anders Lorenzen

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APRIL 16, 2020

n the wake of the global COVID-19 outbreak, which has caused the biggest disruption to life as we know it and to the economy since World War II, many have been celebrating the drop in emissions from reduced industrial activity, travel and so on. But we really must be careful about how we communicate these wins and indeed celebrate them. For years people skeptical about climate action have argued that ambitious emission cuts will bankrupt the world economy, will make our lives more miserable, and will take away our democratic right to do what we want. It is a view backed up by some climate activists who argue we need to get rid of capitalism in order to tackle the climate crisis. On the other hand, the people actually working on tackling the climate crisis, including NGOs, economists, politicians, policymakers, think tanks, journalists and columnists argue that we can tackle climate change while still maintaining strong economies. They claim that many new jobs will be created through green policies and the workforce needed for clean energy projects. New infrastructure projects are needed to protect our societies from the worst impacts of climate change, and the investments in R&D to create new and better technologies will hugely boost and diversify the economy. If we make too much of a case for the benefit of declining emissions in the wake of COVID-19, naysayers will argue that the stringent emission cuts many have been calling for can only be made by grinding the economy to a halt and by limiting people’s movements. While any drop in emissions is welcome, we will have to think about what will happen once the COVID-19 outbreak ends, and it will end. It is important also to note that while in the wake of the outbreak, the travel industry, the fossil fuel industry and many other high-emission industries are suffering, so are also the industries which fuel the green economy. We must remember that before COVID-19 struck, green technologies were rapidly expanding and becoming more competitive in line with the tightening of regulations. We need to make sure that we don’t experience a setI

back in the green economy and that we do not end up where we were 10 years ago. Some of the optimism about COVID-19 has been based around the idea that the outbreak will change everything forever and we will never go back to how it was before. But what if it doesn’t? What if fossil fuel and airline companies continue unabated once the outbreak has finished, benefitting from government help packages and the fewer regulations which might then come into force? What would happen if regulations for such industries are not reinforced once the outbreak is over, or that there is a long delay? How and why do we think our societies will change once COVID19 ends? These are all viable questions we should ask ourselves. Many would argue that we never learned the mistakes from the 2008 financial crash and never truly reformed the financial industries. On one hand, it is hard not to celebrate this huge saving of emissions. But we must also adopt the stance that we don’t need the global economy to collapse in order to reduce emissions. We do not want to use arguments that if we are to tackle climate change we must go back to living like cavemen. If we say that this outbreak is good for tackling climate change then we also say we can only tackle it by constraining the economy, bankrupting thousands of small companies and letting millions of workers become unemployed. A virus is not the tool needed to tackle the climate crisis. Instead, we must make it clear that the quicker the economy gets back on track, we can better make sure the green economy is not impacted and that we continue investing in green solutions. We must also keep donating to the crucially important NGOs and organizations which work tirelessly to tackle the climate crisis. This is the best chance we have of dealing in the long-term with the climate crisis. This story originally appeared at ‘A Greener Life, A Greener World’ and is republished here as part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration committed to strengthening coverage of the climate story. BOULDER WEEKLY

Nonchalant distancing

The new provisions and sanctions for global health safety should pose as a tactical individual standard, but for the multitudes the destructive power of COVID-19 is just another invasive improbability likened to a far-off approaching asteroid. What has been the most astonishing infectious transmission, aside from the virus itself, are the off-point attitudes and blatant disregard to the plight of millions around the world battling this crisis. Animals instinctively feel the approach of disaster and run from it, but it appears that many humans, by not distancing, disregard their innate sonar and casually walk or run right into “the eye of COVID.” What part of “if we don’t stay out of the public and away from others, the potential of millions of lives perishing worldwide” could be inevitable? There are thousands of people dying as a result of this killer virus and most of them alone without family members or loved ones by their sides. It is heartbreaking to see or hear about family members that did not get to talk to an infected loved one before their passing or even hold a funeral ritual for them. Regrettably, in the midst of this global pandemic there are individuals who seemingly display a careless attitude toward the potential for them to

contract the virus or unknowingly spread the virus to others! True character is only revealed in the midst of distortion or some kind of troubling event. If any one person on this planet can consciously convince themselves of reasoning to disregard imminent social dangers of COVID-19 while haphazardly going about their daily agendas; you have slapped God in the face telling the creator that the lives of others mean nothing to you! These trying times are tests for us all to channel deep into those intrinsic values that mold our character; there we will find its true foundation. Twenty years from now what will we all be able to say to the next generation about our part we played in this catastrophic event? The inspiration here is to individually be able to honestly say that we contributed to the rebuilding and longevity of mankind by purposefully keeping ourselves and others out of harm’s way. Those who have intentionally disregarded the “call-to-arms” as a global unification in distancing, unfortunately, the message to your children and grandchildren is that you’ve intentionally placed yourself, them, their families and the future of mankind’s survivability in harm’s way. Dr. Dennis Walter Smith Sr/via internet

DANISH PLAN from Page 7

This whole social distancing, stay home thing has a fundamental vulnerability that all but guarantees it will fail. The problem is that most Americans live in cities. And the whole point of cities, their raison d’être, is to collapse social distance. Trying to “social distance” in a city is like trying to give up gambling in Las Vegas. Everything conspires against it. A quarantine is practical when it is imposed on plague hot spots. Locking down the greater New York City area, or greater Chicago, Detroit, or New Orleans may make sense; locking down the U.S. doesn’t. A national lockdown isn’t going to stop the virus; it will only slow it — that much is readily admitted by the experts. And when the present lockBOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

down ends, there may be a second, third or fourth wave coming through. Short of Black Death death rates — 30-50% of the population — a second national shutdown is going to be a non-starter. Trump understands that drugs that can be taken prophylactically are the key to restarting both the economy and normal life. That’s why he’s pushing hydroxychloroquine so hard. He seems to think it’s perfectly safe — it isn’t — but it’s safe enough. And it’s what’s available. Like the Rolling Stones song they play at Trump rallies says: “You can’t always get what you want / but if you try sometimes you just might find / you get what you need.” I

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APRIL 16, 2020

Climate change won’t stop for the coronavirus pandemic

their total size having doubled in recent years. Meanwhile, precipitation across the Midwest — which suffered devastating floods last spring — has increased by more than 45% since the 1950s. “Climate change is loading the weather dice against us,” said Katherine Hayhoe, a professor of public policy and law at Texas Tech University and one of the world’s foremost climate scientists. “We always have the chance of rolling a double six.” When we do, disasters that might have otherwise proved manageable will compound and amplify COVID’s effects until the hurt — measured in lives, livelihoods and property damage — winds up worse than it might have been from any one disaster alone. Storms, floods and fires will greet a crippled nation, its people sequestered inside homes, its workforce locked down, unable to procure even basic emergency and building supplies. The authorities tasked with responding to it will already be consumed by other emergencies, their capacity to provide even the most fundamental aid limited, their budgets gutted. Scientists — as well as national security experts and U.S. defense officials — have long warned that climate crisis would act as “a threat amplifier,” exacerbating everything from terrorist attacks to immigration. And

The next several months could bring hurricanes, floods and fire, on top of the pandemic currently raging through the country. How do you shelter in place during an evacuation?

by Abrahm Lustgarten, ProPublica

wo and a half years ago Hurricane Maria ripped open homes across the southern Puerto Rican city of Ponce, destroying the rickety electrical grid and sending thousands of people into shelters or onto the streets. People were still rebuilding when, in January, a devastating earthquake jolted the island’s southern coast. Afraid of collapsing walls and showering concrete, people moved back outdoors, where they still spend cool, wet nights under blue tarps strung to poles and tied to cars packed with coolers and lawn chairs. Now thousands brace for a wave of illness as the COVID-19 pandemic spreads insidiously across the island, threatening people without homes, without water, some struggling even to maintain basic hygiene. It’s the latest blow in a diabolical cascade of crises, striking Puerto Ricans at their most vulnerable. When the sickness comes, doctors and nurses will be scarce; the hurricane 10

forced almost half of them to leave the island in search of jobs. “Everyone is in hell,” said Abel Vale, a retired environmental consultant who lives north of Ponce, “or left forgotten.” This is how cascading catastrophes can compound in effect, kicked off or made worse by climate change, which promises to amplify the harm and make even unrelated crises more painful. And it may well portend what comes next for the rest of the United States. The flooding, hurricanes and wildfires that now regularly arrive in the U.S. each spring and summer, after all, are not on hold because we also face a health crisis. Changes in the climate have made the chance of a natural disaster striking during this pandemic significantly more likely, and its likely impact more severe. Today, hurricanes are larger, and more intense than ever. Fires are spreading faster and further amid drought,

APRIL 16, 2020

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

yet there’s been little serious quantification or consideration of what these amplifications might look like. In 2017, the U.S. National Climate Assessment warned that scientists and officials often fail to capture what the report called “compound extremes” and anticipated that the impact of several disastrous events unfolding in rapid sequence would catch the nation by surprise. Now, as a pandemic rifles through the lives of Americans, killing thousands each week, we’re looking down the barrel of hurricane season, which begins in less than two months. Gulf of Mexico waters are running unusually warm, setting up conditions for strong storms, and the researchers at Colorado State University predict there is a 69% chance that a major hurricane will make landfall in the U.S. this summer or fall. The public health responses required to manage the pandemic run directly against what will need to be done to respond to such a hurricane. Large numbers of people may need to flee on short notice and be housed in shelters that are overcrowded, understaffed and undersupplied. In 2017 in Florida, Hurricane Irma forced some 191,000 people into crowded arenas and other shelters. If that happens again, how will people maintain physical distancing? Will states still send evacuees into shelters? Will National Guard troops permit them to cross state boundaries? It’s easy to see how flight from the threat of nature could lead to a resurgence of contagion, starting a whole new wave of infections spreading across the country. “To say that we are not prepared for these concurrent disasters is putting it mildly,” said Irwin Redlener, a clinical professor of health policy at Columbia University’s Earth Institute and a leading expert in public health ramifications of catastrophic events. “I’m extremely worried.” Those are the social costs. But the economic toll would also be compounded. Risk Management Solutions (RMS) is one of the BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

IT’S EASY TO SEE how flight from a threat of nature could lead to a resurgence of contagion, starting a whole new wave of infections spreading across the country. world’s largest risk modeling companies, focused on calculating the odds and costs of climate-related risk and other disasters for the insurance and finance industries and for governments around the world. For the first time, it has come up with a measure of what the compounded effect of cascading disasters might mean — at least economically. If a major hurricane makes landfall in Florida this summer, while COVID-19 social distancing measures remain in place and the pandemic rages on, RMS models forecast that the damages and recovery might cost as much as 20% more to clean up than usual. That could translate to tens of billions of dollars. The scale of impact would likely be similar for other types of disasters RMS has yet to analyze. The models don’t predict how many more lives may be lost, but the issues of cost and health risk are intertwined. Insurers depend on speed of response to mitigate the cost of repairing homes after a big storm. The winds blow a roof off and I

contractors race to replace it before rain can rot out the walls and seep into the foundation. But what happens when plywood and other materials are unavailable? What happens when contractors are in COVID isolation and can’t work? The rains come, the houses rot, the costs rise, the people who are displaced remain grouped with family or in shelters and other vulnerable settings, exposed to the risk of the virus for longer. They miss work, or can’t get new jobs, spiraling into deeper financial hardship. “It’s one plus one equals three,” saids Robert Muir-Wood, the chief research officer for science and technology at RMS. Planning and proactive funding could avert the worst overlaps. Redlener suggests that states in climate-disaster-prone regions immediately excuse their disaster officials from day-to-day pandemic response and have them revisit their preparedness plans for concurrent hurricanes and wildfires in the context of what’s now unfolding across the country. APRIL 16, 2020

Another RMS researcher suggested that states could revise their disaster plans to use thousands of vacant hotel rooms instead of large group shelters. But it’s not clear that states have either the forethought or the bandwidth to make such adjustments. Florida’s State Emergency Operations Center wrote in response to emailed questions that the state is guided by its 240-page Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan, which is “designed to be flexible, adaptable and scalable.” Officials pointed to clauses in that plan that direct the state to consider and protect public health during the response to a disaster, to “maintain situational awareness,” and to, for example, “support sheltering of people with medical” needs. It contemplates the importance of paying close attention to “surge” needs, by ensuring that adequate medical staff and supplies are available. It even acknowledges that in some cases evacuation increases health risks to patients, stating that evacuation will only take place when the risk of staying in place is greater than the risk involved in evacuating. But the document offers no specific plan for how to do those things, and does not appear to consider when the health-affected population includes all people, rather than a subset of patients. Much of what the plan suggests we already know from the past few weeks to be impractical in the face of the current pandemic. Was Florida suggesting, for example, that considering health risks, it would forego evacuations entirely in the face of a major hurricane this year, and if so, what would that mean for people’s physical safety? The state wouldn’t say. It declined to answer those and other specific questions. The first tests for the country could begin even sooner than hurricane season. After last spring proved to be the wettest on record in the Missouri River basin, more than a million acres of farmland were flooded and 14 million people were affectsee CLIMATE CHANGE Page 12

CLIMATE CHANGE from Page 11

ed in what amounted to some of the worst flooding in the history of the middle part of the country, stretching from South Dakota and Iowa down to Nebraska and Oklahoma. This spring could be nearly as bad. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s spring flood outlook, two-thirds of the continental United States faces elevated flood risk next month, with 25 states poised for “major or moderate” flooding. Along the Missouri, this winter set a new record for water saturation and soil moisture — a predictor of how much water the ground can absorb before it floods — signals that last year’s disaster could well repeat. The Plains states have until now been spared the worst of the COVID-19 outbreak, yet there are signs that the virus is spreading quickly into the heartland, and that peak infection, coupled with hospitalizations and death rates, could come weeks later than for the rest of the country, coinciding with the flooding and the forcing of people from their homes in late April and early May. Next, of course, is fire season, which promises to return to the American West this August after a dry winter. California has received just 64% of its normal rainfall, meaning bone-dry hillsides and dehydrated vegetation will likely be waiting for the intense offshore, fire-driving winds that arrive like clockwork each fall. A difficult fire season will demand thousands of firefighters, but current infection rates among firefighters and other first responders suggest that as many as 10% of some departments won’t be available to respond. In California, firefighting training, brush reduction efforts and the prescribed burns critical to reducing fire risk have all been delayed this spring. Exchanges of firefighting teams between states, and between countries, will be hampered, and many of the agencies tasked with coordinating fire response — the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Federal Emergency Management Agency among them — are also consumed with the COVID-19 response. The crews that travel to fight fires 12

often crowd into vehicles and sleep in makeshift camps — ideal conditions for the transmission of disease, unless officials decide to drastically cut down on efforts to put out the flames. Even in regions that don’t burn, air quality will decline, putting sensitive people at greater respiratory health risk. And if last year’s blackouts are repeated, the power may be shut off in some areas to avoid sparking wires, killing internet access in the process. How can the sixth

tions meet even their basic living expenses if they are unemployed in large numbers because of the pandemic and then lose everything they have left to a natural disaster? “It sets us up for a level of misery that no living American has experienced — even during the Great Depression,” Redlener said. “There is no real equivalent to what I am worried about in terms of multiple large scale disasters in a country that is ill prepared.” The last bulwark against this level

largest economy in the world recover from economic depression spurred by the pandemic when millions of people working from home lose power, grinding their work, as well as online schooling, to a standstill? Once again, ProPublica found little evidence that such scenarios were being planned for. A spokesperson for the California State Department of Public Health, which manages disaster response, replied to questions with an email stating simply that “we’re not speculating on the overlap of coronavirus and wildfires.” And a spokesperson for the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services did not respond to a detailed list of questions about how the state’s plans could address cascading crises. Trafficking in worst-case scenarios can seem like alarmist business, but people like Columbia’s Redlener say it would be irresponsible not to consider it. The price tag for economic relief is already more than $2.2 trillion. How much money is the federal government going to be able to expend to help large popula-

of failure — the nation’s first responder — is supposed to be FEMA, which offers top-level management for major crises and approves emergency response if it’s going to be paid for with federal aid. Yet FEMA is already stretched thin by its lead position on the unprecedented pandemic response, and it has been notoriously ineffective in the past when called on to fight on multiple fronts. In 2017, for example, FEMA struggled to manage Hurricane Harvey in Houston, followed a few weeks later by Hurricanes Irma and Maria, and then five of the most destructive wildfires in California’s history. Today, many places in Puerto Rico are still waiting for paperwork to be approved and aid promised by the agency more than 24 months ago to arrive. ProPublica sent FEMA a list of questions, including a request for its plan to deal with a multi-front disaster. We asked whether the agency or its leadership had ever been briefed on the potential ways a pandemic could multiply its other tasks, including climate-related disasters.

The agency declined to answer specific questions but stated, in its email response, “Even as FEMA is focused on responding to COVID19, we are also preparing and maintaining the Agency’s readiness for other disasters to include spring flooding, severe weather, and the upcoming hurricane season.” In the email, a spokesperson said the agency was “evaluating” how its staffing needs might change, and preparing for a “surge capacity” in Homeland Security personnel that it relied on after Superstorm Sandy. Those who know the agency best are skeptical, though, that it can handle what may be asked of it over the course of the next 12 months. “Emergency response is a disaster, and we don’t learn from every experience,” said Judith Enck, who was the EPA’s regional administrator handling its response to Sandy in 2012, and whose region also included Puerto Rico. By design, FEMA is a reactive agency, unable to anticipate and fend off a crisis. Add to that, Enck said, that FEMA lacks the funding and the expertise. It parachutes into regions with little local knowledge and relies on its ability to quickly hire platoons of temporary employees — staff who during a pandemic are unlikely to be available. “I don’t think that model makes any sense any more.” Puerto Ricans, of course, already know this. They’ve lost faith in their territorial government and in the current federal administration. They have come to accept living with frail health and civic infrastructure, and to rely on a culture of resilience, and nonprofit aid, over the uncoordinated and corrupt gestures of government. And while Puerto Rican politics may be unique within the country, they have a message other Americans must absorb: There is no cavalry. “The lesson is, help isn’t coming,” said Frances Colon, a former deputy science and technology advisor to the U.S. secretary of state, who now runs an environmental policy consultancy in Miami and works in part with Puerto Rican development. “We learned we cannot put our faith in the federal government.”

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

APRIL 16, 2019

Police use of facial recognition technology gets spotlight by Matt Cortina

or all intents and purposes, facial recognition technology for law enforcement agencies is in its beta stage. Now that doesn’t mean police departments haven’t begun to (problematically) implement it in some form — with mixed results, along with legitimate concerns about racial bias and privacy. But as law enforcement agencies across the country say it can be a vital resource, tech companies are pushing to develop a better version of it. In turn, local governments and communities are figuring out how and when to put safeguards in place to ensure its usage is ethical. Facial recognition software scans through thousands of photographs for indicators that might lead law enforcement to a suspect or other person of interest. In the past that was done manually, says Jim Burch, president of the National Police Foundation. Facial recognition software takes the manpower and time out of this search by scanning photographs in an instant, drawing from a database of driver’s license and passport photos, mug shots and other photos already in the government database. “When we’ve talked to chiefs about this, they really want the efficiency that it brings and the ability to sort through hours of video or hundreds of photographs in order to quickly identify a person to prevent the loss of life or damage to property,” Burch says, before adding: “Law enforcement has operated for hundred of years without it. Can we operate without it? Absolutely.” The ethics of using the technology quickly become sticky: Photos on social media are legally considered open source, and so some programs scan those. Should officers be allowed to capture images from body cameras to enter into the database, and should they be able to use body cameras during on-site encounters with community members? If law enforcement discloses that it’s capturing images at a public event, does it make it OK for them to add your photo into the database or is that Big Brother come to life? BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

“What people are terrified of, understandably so, is law enforcement taking a camera and scanning it across a crowd of people and allowing technology to say who is in this crowd. Are there people who might have open warrants, might be suspects?” Burch says. “I don’t think I’ve met a single chief who has said we will use the technology to tell us who this person is. Instead they’re using technology to come up with a small subset of possibilities.” The issues with the technology have largely been realized through trial and error. Burch says it was a “bad idea” when London officers disclosed they were cataloging images at a public event. In Orlando, law enforcement pulled back on the technology because of the number of false identifications it logged. One large manufacturer of body cameras assembled an ethics board and determined facial recognition technology shouldn’t be used for in-person encounters. Tech developers need to figure out their issues as well. In a study of 200 facial recognition algorithms, federal researchers found that people of color were far more likely to be misidentified by the technology, likely caused by a lack of diversity from developers themselves. In response, cities like Oakland and San Francisco have banned the technology. On the racial bias of these technologies, Burch says, “It is a major problem, and it has to be dealt with. It is a significant flaw and can very well be a fatal flaw until it’s addressed.” Boulder Police Department uses a form of facial recognition software that scans government photos (driver’s licenses and such), but it and Longmont Police Department also ask residents with Ring home security cameras to voluntarily sign up for police to access their footage in the event of a crime. For a longer discussion with law enforcement experts on both sides of the debate, tune into the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial and Museum’s webinar on April 23. Reserve your spot at lawenforcementmuseum.org/ events. I

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APRIL 16, 2020

PHOTOS COURTESY TIPI RAISERS

Coronavirus arrives on Pine Ridge Home to the poorest counties in the nation, the Oglala Lakota reservation locks down

By Angela K. Evans

hen the floods came to Pine Ridge Reservation a year ago, Doreen Two Bulls and her family were stranded for two weeks. Roads were washed out as a heavy snowfall turned into surging runoff, filling empty creek beds. Two Bulls lives with 13 family members in two-bedroom house a couple miles off the main highway in the small community of Payabya, about 10 miles north of the town of Pine Ridge. The family is used to stocking up on essentials, she says, making sure they have enough firewood, food and medicine, but last year they started running low on supplies as they waited for help to come. Now there’s a confirmed case of COVID-19 on the reservation. Although tribal leadership is doing all it can to prevent the spread of the disease — locking down all 3,500 square miles and banishing the person who has it — Two Bulls says she’s worried about her community, which already has such sparse resources. “They say they’re stimulus funds coming in for COVID-19, but FEMA gave us money for the floods last year and we haven’t seen any of it,” she says. “We’re one of the last communities that’s ever helped.” The Pine Ridge Reservation, home to the Oglala Sioux Tribe and just 350 miles from Denver, encompasses some of the poorest counties in the nation. Two Bulls worries about the unemployed families, as half of the reservation’s population lives below the poverty line. Previous to the coronavirus, the unemployment rate on Pine Ridge was approximately 17%, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, although some estimates say it’s much higher, as much as 75-80%. She’s also worried about the elderly people in her community, those who may not have internet or even radio to 14

find out how to get supplies. And what about the kids who are now at home instead of in school? According to the Census Bureau, about 60% of Pine Ridge has a computer at home, less than half have access to internet. Plus, the community has also long battled with alcoholism, teen suicide and other health problems. It has the shortest life expectancy in the U.S. Needless to say, the coronavirus only amplifies the systemic inequalities in basic services, housing and health care that have long plagued Pine Ridge and American Indian communities across the country. “You’ve got a lot of people living in extremely tight quarters. The ability to sanitize is difficult, there are people living without running water. The health care system isn’t great, you’ve got an elderly population, typically speaking, less healthy,” says Dave Ventimiglia, executive director of Tipi Raisers, a Lakewood-based nonprofit that supports Pine Ridge through donations, supply deliveries and service trips. “There’s clearly a great deal of justifiable fear around now that it’s here how quickly is it going to spread?” Overall, South Dakota reports 988 positive cases of COVID-19 as of April 14, with six deaths in the state. Meanwhile the governor has refused to issue statewide stay-at-home orders, despite having one of the largest clusters of the disease at a pork processing plant in Sioux Falls where more than 300 employees have tested positive. Plus, the disease is already sweeping its way through other American Indian reservations and communities. According to a database compiled by Indian Country Today, there are a total of 1,148 confirmed cases and 44 deaths in American Indian communities across the country as of April APRIL 16, 2020

14. The Navajo Nation is being hit particularly hard, with confirmed cases per capita just behind New York and New Jersey. Although the federal stimulus bill promises $10 billion to tribes across the country, it’s unclear when the help will come. Even then, a little more than $1 billion of the funds will go to the federal Indian Health Service, which has historically failed to provide even the minimum standard of care, according to the Wall Street Journal. The pandemic only compounds all of this, as shortages of doctors and supplies could have grave consequences. “We’re lacking time here because it is going to hit our people,” Two Bulls says. “We should have been on top of it from the beginning.” The first case of COVID-19 was confirmed on Pine Ridge on April 7 — a female teacher at Red Cloud Indian School, a private Jesuit institution. According to Buzzfeed News, the woman and her husband had been traveling to California for a medical procedure but only made it as far as Denver before finding out the surgery was canceled. They returned to the reservation on March 27 and immediately quarantined themselves in their home at the school. In a statement, the president of the school says the couple remained in their house and had no contact with anyone. Groceries and other supplies were left at their door. A week later, on April 3, the employee started experiencing respiratory distress and went to the hospital. Eventually, she was tested and taken to a hospital in Rapid City. On Wednesday, April 8, the Oglala Sioux Tribal Council voted to banish the couple from the reservation. President Julian Bear Runner voted in favor, breaking a 9-9 deadlock. In a radio interview, Bear Runner said the decision was a difficult one, but explained the decision was made “to protect BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

our health and our general welfare.” The move has proven controversial on social media as some folks approve, while many others, including Two Bulls, say it’s not in the spirit of the tribe to be so unwelcoming. “The tribe is doing their best to stay on top of it and balance the needs of freedom and independence and they’re a proud people,” Ventimiglia says. “But also recognizing [the seriousness of the risk].” Spring is usually a busy time for Tipi Raisers, but most everything has been canceled through at least April. At the end of March, Ventimiglia says, Tipi Raisers dropped off a load of supplies, food, firewood and 53 beds to the reservation line where they were met by tribal members, everyone wearing masks and gloves. “It’s just really odd. There were tribal members that we’ve known for years and we couldn’t shake hands or hug. We could only wave and talk from far away,” he says. “It is what it is right now. Supplies need to keep going, people need to get fed.” That was before the entire reservation was locked own, before the first case was confirmed. Still, Tipi Raisers is providing basic supplies — food, firewood, hygiene and sanitation — to 32 families spread throughout eight different communities on the reservation for at least the next four weeks. “That’s obviously a drop in the bucket,” Ventimiglia says. “You could come up with a list in each of those communities of 50 to 100 needy families.” The organization has hired tribal members in Rapid City to purchase the goods off of the reservation, then transport it to the border. From there, another tribal member picks up the supplies and takes them to a warehouse to be sprayed down and quarantined for 24 hours. Then, a driver delivers the supplies to each home, leaving them on the porch, knocking and then driving away. One of the families Tipi Raisers is helping is multigenerational with 17 people in one house. “If coronavirus hits that home it’s in real trouble,” Ventimiglia says. “Some of us have that ability if someone gets sick, have them be in a room that no one else goes into. On the reservation that’s much more difficult.” Mary Weasel Bear, who volunteers with Tipi Raisers, lives with her mom, six sisters and their families in a cluster of houses and trailers about a mile and a half off the main highway. The main house is the only one with running water. But, she says, they’re more fortunate than a lot of folks — a lot of people live without any running water at all. Weasel Bear says she hasn’t really left home in a few weeks, as only one family member ventures out BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

to get groceries. Several of her family members have diabetes, which puts them at higher risk of contracting a serious case of COVID-19. And if one person gets it, they could bring it back to the entire family. “The good thing about it is that it’s bringing us closer. Before this, everybody was coming and going and now we actually get to sit down and have a meal and visit, because we have time,” Weasel Bear says. “The bad thing about it is that if one of us was to go to town, or go somewhere for their job, that anxiety, that concern about picking it up is always there.” In response to the pandemic, tribal leadership has imposed strict measures. They instituted a curfew on April 1, then a border-monitoring ordinance on April 3, followed by a complete lockdown on April 7, preventing people from leaving the reservation for non-essential reasons. That includes grocery shopping off the reservation, which is significantly cheaper, according to Two Bulls and Weasel Bear. The lockdown was briefly lifted on April 10 and 11, however, to allow folks to buy groceries off the reservation with their federal benefits, which caused huge crowds to rush big box stores in Rapid City, North Dakota, and Chadron, Nebraska. “We’re just taking a risk every time we go out,” Weasel Bear says. When Two Bulls got to the Walmart in Chadron on Friday, she says, there were about 70 people in line stretching back “all the way to the TVs.” It was chaos, she says, people risking their lives to get affordable supplies. “At almost 80 years old, my mom is sitting in that line in her wheelchair with a mask,” she says, with obvious concern in her voice. “I can’t I

APRIL 16, 2020

LAKEWOOD-BASED organization Tipi Raisers works with tribal members in Rapid City to deliver supplies to families on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.

tell my mom not to go because she needed those essentials.” Following the temporary lift, the reservation is now back in full lockdown until April 26. Anyone traveling during this time needs to have a tribal badge, the ordinance says. While vendors will be able to enter the reservation to resupply the few stores, all non-residents will be turned away. Two Bulls says it’s normal to see folks hanging out in the street or selling their goods on the side of the road, some people even make their money that way or rely on food and kindness from passersby to survive. But now reservation police are driving around telling people to get inside. “I know our tribal council members try to do as much as they can,” Two Bull says, “but they get overwhelmed with the need that we have.” She finds hope in the spirituality of her tribe, though, in the stories of grandmas and grandpas, and the resiliency of her people to live off the land and survive for centuries. Within the last week, Two Bulls says she’s run into four different medicine men, all of whom shook her hand and gave her a hug. One told her he’d been up in a cave in the Black Hills praying for the people. Another went up a mountain to do the same. And one of them told her: “We’ve got our Lakota ways. We’re going to be OK. Don’t join that panic. We’ve been through worse,” she says. “As Indians we always say we’ve been through worse.” I

COURTESY OF ECOFLIGHT

Fossil fuel extraction expanded on on 1.7 million acres of Colorado land

n April 9, the Trump administration announced in a final ruling that it will expand oil and gas drilling on 1.7 million acres of public and private land in southwestern Colorado. There were more than 42,000 public comments filed in opposition of the plan. The Western Environmental Law Center (WELC) asserts the plan did not consider alternatives to leasing land for fossil fuel extraction, nor did it consider how it would affect organic agriculture, the climate and endangered species in its plan. The plan, “gives the initial green light to widespread, long-term oil and gas development in the ecologically sensitive North Fork Valley,” said WELC’s Melissa Hornbein in a press release. “This plan, unconscionable as the connections between fossil fuel emissions and global climate change become clearer every day, has the potential to exponentially increase

greenhouse gas pollution in the region over the next decade, when we need to be drastically reducing emissions.” Oil and gas production estimates show the plan would increase pollution in the region by more than 2,300% over the next 10 years. The plan would allow fracking on more than half of the 675,000 acres of public land in the area, as well as mining on almost a million acres and coal extraction on another 371,000 acres, WELC found. “It makes no climate, ecological or economic sense to drill in the North Fork Valley,” said Natasha Léger, executive director of Citizens

COGCC levies $18 million fine for Firestone explosion

Larimer County oil and gas regs defy SB 181, group says

he Larimer County Board of Commissioners passed its first rules for oil and gas development in the county on April 6. But Larimer Alliance for Health, Safety and the Environment, an advocacy group, says the vote was biased and defies SB 181, which gave local control over oil and gas activities to communities in Colorado. The Alliance called for a moratorium on drilling until the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC) issues its state-level regulations, which the Larimer Commisioners did not oblige, the group says. “Larimer County’s process for adopt16

for a Healthy Community. “This is exactly the type of federal action that is responsible for accelerating climate and environmental degradation, which cannot be allowed to stand if we have any hope of protecting present and future generations, rare and irreplaceable ecosystems like the North Fork, and meeting Colorado’s goals for a clean and renewable energy future.” About a quarter of greenhouse gas pollution in the U.S. comes from fossil fuel production on public land.

T ing the new oil and gas regulations was merely a rubber stamp for an industry desperate to dig itself out of debt,” said Joseph Salazar, Executive Director for Colorado Rising, which provided support for Larimer Alliance, in a statement. “There are serious concerns that these regulations do not meet the floor of protection required by the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Act, as amended by SB 19-181.” The group said the new regulations allow expansion of existing well sites without regulation; no provisions for effective air monitoring are included; setbacks from schools and homes are inadequate and there are no protections APRIL 16, 2020

hree years after Mark Martinez and Joey Irwin died in a gas explosion in Firestone in April 2017, the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC) approved a $18.25 million fine against Kerr-McGee, a subsidiary of Occidental Petroleum, during a special virtual hearing. It is the largest penalty ever levied by the COGCC and includes a specific $5.4 million fine for an “aggravating factor of death.” An investigation into the explosion found Kerr-McGee in violation of state law, as it was a result of an abandoned flowline that was seeping odorless gas close to the home since it was still connected to an operating well. The penalty will be used to set up The Mark Martinez and Joey Irwin Memorial Public Projects Fund to pay for several air-quality monitoring and leak-detection projects. $8.5 million will be set aside for yet-to-be determined projects that protect public health, safety, welfare and the environment. I

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

CU researchers develop over -the-counter COVID-19 test

esearchers at the University of Colorado Boulder have developed technology that could help identify those infected with COVID-19 before any symptoms arise. Nicholas Meyerson and Sara Sawyer, CU Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology scientists, have been researching ways to identify the body’s early immune response to infection for 10 years. When the coronavirus hit, they switched gears, developing SickStick to pinpoint “smoke signals” that could identify early stages of COVID-19. “With most infectious diseases, by the time you develop symptoms you have already been contagious for days and out and about spreading it to people,” said Meyerson, in a press release. “Our device acts at the earliest stage of infection. It knows you’re sick before you do.” COURTESY CU BOULDER “Antibodies don’t arise in your body until after the copy number of a pathogen has gotten very large,” Sawyer said. “They are the last chapter in the immunology textbook. We specialize in the first chapter — the smoke signals that infected cells send off to indicate a pathogen is present.” The researchers are hoping to bring SickStick to market within six months — pending Food and Drug Administration approval — aided by $55,000 in prize money from winning the New Venture Challenge and a $126,000 grant from Venture Partners. “I would be remiss not to call out the amazing biotech support network that CU Boulder and this community has offered us,” Sawyer said. “We are just university scientists who discovered we had our hands on something that can really matter. It’s remarkable how far we’ve come so fast.”

Federal court defers judgment on Boulder’s assault weapons ban

hen the Boulder City Council approved an assault weapons ban in May 2018, the law was immediately challenged in both state and federal court by pro-Second Amendment groups and individuals. On Friday, April 10, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit deferred its judgement in the case, arguing that the Colorado Supreme Court needed to rule on whether or not state law supersedes the local ordinance. “If the state court were to conclude that the Colorado statutes preempt the Boulder ordinance, there would be no need for us to resolve the federal constitutional questions,” the federal court reasoned. Boulder maintains the ban is within its purview as a Home Rule city. The law bans the selling and possessing of assault weapons, defined as semi-automatic rifles with a pistol grip, folding stock or the ability to accept a detachable magazine. It also includes semi-automatic pistols and shotguns. BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

Boulder County jail releases 90 amid coronavirus concerns; Weld County faces lawsuit for not

mid concerns that COVID-19 could spread quickly through the Boulder County Jail population, the County released 90 non-violent offenders on March 24. The District Attorney’s Office reviewed each individual case and released only those “who did not demonstrate a significant risk to community safety.” “These are difficult times that require difficult choices,” the County announced in a statement. “It is a careful balancing of public safety, community health and the treatment and rights of those in the County Jail — and time is of the essence when it comes to the spread of this virus. An outbreak of the coronavirus in jail would spread fast and impact not only those behind bars, but jail staff, medical staff, their families and the wider community.” Meanwhile, the ACLU and civil rights attorneys filed a lawsuit on April 8 against the Weld County Sheriff for not releasing people from its jail, despite the presence of COVID-19 among the jail population. “We have written to Sheriff Reams; we have written to the Chief Judge in Weld County; and we have petitioned the Colorado Supreme Court,” said ACLU Legal Director Mark Silverstein in a statement. “But the recipients of these pleas did not respond with the actions that were urgently required to prevent the calamity now unfolding in the Weld County Jail — an outbreak with multiple confirmed cases of COVID-19. We are now asking the federal court to order the desperately needed protective measures to save lives.” The lawsuit claims the Sheriff ’s Office did not take adequate measure to protect people from the spread of COVID-19. The jail in Weld County is the sixth most populous jail in the state. Governor Jared Polis provided guidance to law enforcement to lower jail populations on March 24.

APRIL 16, 2020

How the coronavirus is affecting the foster system in Boulder County by Angela K. Evans

ithin a week of the coronavirus shutdowns, the team at Boulder County’s Three60 Foster Care began facilitating virtual visitations between parents and kids in their care. They were able to train staff on protected video conferencing software, make sure parents had what they needed to participate, and told foster parents what to expect from the new format. “A lot of our parents don’t have cellphones, WiFi, laptops, so it took a week to figure out who needs them and who doesn’t need them so the County would provide anyway we could,” says Bonnie Lloyd, foster care and adoption supervisor for Boulder County. The County has about 200 to 240 kids currently in its care, Lloyd says, and while calls of suspected child abuse, one of the main drivers of kids entering the foster care system, have gone down 50% since the pandemic started, requests for placements have remained consistent. Still, Boulder County only has three vacancies in the system, with only 62 registered foster homes, with about the same number of homes taking care of family members or kids they already had a relationship with (known as kinship homes). Overall, Colorado has a shortage of foster parents for the approximately 14 kids that enter the system each day. In 2017, Colorado Department of Human Services (CDHS) said there’s a need for about 1,200 homes statewide, with about 5,000 children in the foster care system around the state. Each of the 64 counties administers its own foster care program with supervision, and funding, from the CDHS, meaning that the response to the coronavirus has varied. Boulder County has done particularly well in setting their families up with computers or phones to contin18

ue the virtual family visits, something not all Colorado counties have done so quickly, says Kimberly Sworn, the director of clinical services for treatment foster care at SAFY, a national nonprofit with offices in Longmont that works especially with youth who display significant trauma and behav-

creating a lot of additional stressors.” The stay-at-home orders only add more to foster parents’ already full plates, Lloyd adds, as many are trying to work from home, homeschool, and maintain a schedule of virtual therapeutic appointments for their foster kids each week. They also now par-

ioral symptoms. These kids, Sworn says, benefit from structure, consistency and routine, all of which have been disrupted by the coronavirus closures and stayat-home orders. “Our population have higher needs — youth who have a diagnosis of PTSD or major depression or generalized anxiety or attachment disorders,” Sworn says. “And those symptoms we’re seeing increase and a need for additional support.” The organization has also seen an increase in psychiatric holds and assessments at hospitals, she says. “In general, as you add somebody new to the home, it’s always stressful,” Sworn says. Now, “There are a lot of adjustments with staying at home all the time and all the unknowns and fears around the pandemic is

ticipate in the virtual visitations. “It has brought up interesting experiences,” Lloyd says. “Typically, parents don’t see their children with foster parents.” Under normal circumstances, they would only interact during one icebreaker meeting where the parents communicate how they would like their child parented while they are separated. For example, they could tell the foster parents about dietary restrictions or desires, religious observations, even give permission (or not) about cutting their child’s hair, Lloyd says. Then when it came time for visitations, foster families would drop off the child with a case worker who would then transfer them to their parents. With virtual visits from the foster home, however, everyone is on

APRIL 16, 2020

the screen at the same time, interacting much more than they are used to. “A parent may see the child climbing all over the foster mom, or even calling the foster mom, ‘mom,’ because the other kids in the house are calling her mom,” Lloyd says. “So emotionally that’s very difficult for parents to see. We can’t control that.” Virtual calls also don’t provide the same level of interaction for parents and their children, which is especially challenging for toddlers and infants, Lloyd says. Older kids can sit and talk to their parents, filling them in about their lives. But toddlers only manage to last a few minutes, so social workers have started asking foster parents to take 10-minute videos of children several times a week to send to their parents, in addition to the weekly calls. With infants, it’s even more difficult, Lloyd says. The purpose of the in-person visits is to continue to form healthy attachments, and so the parent often feeds their kids, changes their diapers, spends time looking into their eyes. “What you’re going to see there is a drop in attachment,” she says. “That’s a piece that the virtual [calls] just can’t meet that need.” For Boulder County, home visits are also being done virtually, a case worker checking in on the child and foster family through a video conference call rather than in person. Although families still walk case managers through their entire house and observe how the foster parents and children are interacting, there are limitations to these virtual visits, Lloyd says. “You don’t get that in-person connection,” she says. “You see things differently when you’re there.” SAFY is still conducting weekly home visits if there aren’t any health risks either for staff or people in the BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

home, Sworn says, but they do look a bit different these days. Instead of spending an hour and a half or so inside, the case workers talk to foster families and children outside from at least six feet away. The meetings are much briefer as well but Sworn says they’re supplementing these with additional virtual meetings throughout the week. “There is a piece with telehealth, that it’s harder to read facial expressions or body language and provide that in-person and direct response,” Sworn says, and some kids have shorter than normal attention spans using technology. “However, we have had some teenagers who have been more engaged in the telehealth platform versus in person. We’ve seen the gamut in responses to that.” Regardless of the limitations of virtual visits, both Lloyd and Sworn say that nothing would stop a case manager from responding to concerns in person if the need arises. Likewise, Boulder County case managers are still responding in person to emergency calls when there is suspected child abuse, regardless of the health risks associated with the coronavirus. “That’s not happening virtually, that’s hands-on with or without the police, and they’re really putting themselves on the line,” Lloyd says. So far, Lloyd says there hasn’t been an increase of kids needing foster care in Boulder County in recent weeks. Likewise, each week, SAFY gets between 25 and 60 referrals for placement and that hasn’t changed much, Sworn says. However, there is concern that child abuse and neglect is being overlooked in the current environment, as kids are no longer interacting with those that usually report issues, people like teachers, doctors, day-care workers or after-school programs. “There are a lot fewer eyes on children,” Lloyd says. “We’re really asking neighbors to pay attention ... please call if you have a concern of child abuse.” The pandemic has also caused delays in foster care placement in some cases, both Lloyd and Sworn say, BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

with some youth have stayed in psychiatric hospitals or group homes for a few days longer than they normally would have. But many foster families are still open to taking in new foster kids, Lloyd says, although placing adolescents continues to be a challenge. One family already had six children, but just took two more, for example. Another couple offered a finished basement to any adolescent youth who needs a place to quarantine. If that wasn’t adequate, the husband even offered to get a hotel room and quarantine with a sick child if needed, Lloyd says. At SAFY, Sworn says, there has been varied response from foster families. “We’re continuing to do support and placements at SAFY as much as possible,” she says. “But we do have some families that are considered in the high-risk category according to the CDC recommendations, that have opted not to moved forward until the pandemic has calmed down a bit.” However, both Boulder County and SAFY are still conducting training for new foster parents, starting new rounds of classes recently, although it’s all been moved online. (Boulder County is 24 hours over eight weeks, whereas SAFY requires 32 hours of training due to the needs and level of care of the youth it serves.) Court proceedings have also moved online, and family reunifications are still possible under pandemic conditions, Lloyd says. The only proceedings that have been delayed until at least June are terminations (a loss of parental rights) and adoptions. Lloyd says there are about 15 adoption cases that have been postponed. “We are doing our best to keep our foster kids and their parents connected, to meet the needs of the foster children and to keep everybody safe as possible until we’re through this,” Lloyd says. “I hope this is not long-term, but I don’t think anybody knows yet.” To report concerns about a child’s safety and well-being call Boulder County’s Child Welfare screening line at 303-441-1309. I

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Nature bats last

IN 2009, the H1N1 flu originated in swine farms in the United States.

The coronavirus pandemic offers an opportunity to reflect on animal welfare — domestically and abroad

BELOW: Asian black bears are held in captivity across the continent so their bile can be used medicinally.

by Caitlin Rockett

he coronavirus pandemic has made humans think a lot about animals. Take, for instance, the deluge of foster home applications that hit animal shelters across the nation, particularly in hard-hit places like Seattle and New York City, once stay-at-home orders took effect in early March. Animal lovers in Boulder County similarly flooded shelter inboxes with applications in the last half of the month. Then there was the tiger who tested positive for coronavirus at the Bronx Zoo, which made the world collectively wonder just how out of control this could get. But all this thinking started with bats, the animal scientists think acted as the bridge between coronavirus and humans. Pangolins may have played an intermediary role in transmission as well, and once we all learned what a pangolin was, we quickly learned it’s the most trafficked animal in the world and inching closer to extinction because of it. “If any good could come out of [the coronavirus pandemic] it could be that we recognize the importance of other animals,” says Marc Bekoff, a professor emeritus of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Colorado Boulder. “One of my favorite slogans is ‘nature bats last,’ and that’s basically what has happened and is happening and will happen.” While the exact location of the interspecies jump is still something of an unsolved mystery, a “wet” market — where wild animals are sold, some legally, some not — in the Hubei province of China became an early suspect. Bekoff has seen these markets first-hand while conducting research on bear bile farming. According to Animals Asia (an organization Bekoff has worked with), more than 20,000 bears — mainly Asian black bears (sometimes called moon bears) but also sun bears and brown bears — are held in captivity on farms in Asia to have bile extracted from their gall bladders on a regular basis. The bears are kept in deplorable conditions, 20

unable to turn around or stand on all fours, often for the entirety of their lives. Their bile is said to treat practically everything, from hemorrhoids to sore throats to sprains to epilepsy. The only thing research can prove is that bear bile has anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial and hepatoprotective (liver protecting) effects because it contains ursodeoxycholic acid — which can be manufactured synthetically. But Bekoff — and other conservationists — warn against pointing fingers. “When people criticize China, they’ve got to be pretty careful because the factory farm situation here in many instances isn’t much better than the situation with the wet markets in China,” Bekoff says. In 2009, the H1N1 flu originated in swine farms in the United States, where animals are more often than not held in extreme confinement. “Here in the U.S., most people seem to believe that it’s perfectly acceptable to slaughter and eat cows, but it’s considered taboo for people to eat horses, which are considered to be more noble and companionable,” wrote conservationist Jonathan Kolby for NBC News. “And yet, the U.S. has been exporting tens of thousands of live horses annually to slaughterhouses in Canada and Mexico for human and animal consumption overseas. Even though we’ve been supplying horses for people to eat elsewhere, we continue to publicly shame this culinary practice in the U.S. Adjusting our standards of morally acceptable behaviors based on economic profit is elitist hypocrisy.” Kolby points out that the U.S., like China, is also a large importer of global wildlife with no disease screening or biosecurity measures. This has led to the spread of a deadly pathogen, amphibian chytrid fungus (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis), which is causing catastrophic losses in biodiversity. Paul McCartney once said, “If slaughterhouses had glass walls, we would all be vegetarians.” APRIL 16, 2020

“People typically don’t see the millions upon millions of chickens who are tortured and killed for meat and eggs in the U.S.,” Bekoff says. “But these wet markets are often outdoors, or partially outdoors — it’s almost like their slaughterhouses have glass walls for the world to see through.” Americans tend to struggle with moral inconsistency where animal rights are concerned. This has been a foundational component of Harold Herzog’s research for decades. The Western Carolina University professor wrote a book on the subject called Some We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat: Why It’s So Hard to Think Straight about Animals. During a phone conversation, he points to a 2002 research study in which 41% of vegetarians admitted that they sometimes consumed fish. “And these are smart people,” Herzog says. “When Bill Clinton became a vegan, he was doing an interview and he was talking about how great veganism was and how he was feeling better than ever, and then he slipped in, ‘Well, I try to eat salmon once a week.’” The problem, oddly enough, is that many of these people did not think fish were made of meat. And that’s the crux of Herzog’s research, delving into the ways that humans rationalize the absurdly contradictory relationships we have with animals. This moral inconsistency bleeds into the way we label wet markets as evil while still consuming bacon that comes from an intensive swine farm where animals are forced to live in conditions that no one would accept for their household pet. “I am concerned to see environmentalism and conservationism building on racist narratives,” Kolby wrote of the xenophobia that developed in the early days of the coronavirus spread. “It’s a culturally sensitive problem that extends further than this current coronavirus crisis, and it needs to stop.” BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

In conversation with PETA founder Ingrid Newkirk

COURTESY OF PETA

by Matt Cortina

nimals are intelligent, aware and empathetic — far more than we as humans understand. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) founder and president wanted to know (even) more about the intricacies of animal communication, emotion and understanding, so she took a deep dive, recording her findings in a new book: Animalkind: Remarkable discoveries about animals and revolutionary new ways to show them compassion. Newkirk was supposed to speak at Boulder Book Store on April 14 about Animalkind, but of course inperson readings aren’t possible amid stay-at-home orders. Still, with Earth Day around the corner, we caught up with Newkirk to discuss the book, how we can be better cohabitants of the planet and her thoughts on a local controversy. Boulder Weekly: Your book delves into the latest research about how animals emote and communicate — how far has that research gone and what more do we need to learn? Ingrid Newkirk: I thought I knew everything there was to know about animals. I collect so diligently all the research that comes out. In researching Animalkind, I learned an awful lot about some of the animals we have in our homes [as well as] wild animals. I think it’s just the beginning. Elephants — it wasn’t that many years ago that we didn’t realize they communicated subsonically. They can send a message in one place to be heard one or two miles away. I realBOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

ized if they can, they love to swim for the pure pleasure of it. They’ll put their trunks above the water like a snorkel and swim in the water for 30 miles. And that that trunk is so sensitive... they can actually pick up a paper clip with it. I was diving deeper. I’ve got a file that’s called “amazing animals,” and I put a lot of things in there and studies I’d read. Certain moths, for instance, and how they can communicate on one side of their body, sending a message so [a predator] on the other side can’t see it. For this book I wanted to go back and dig. BW: So if we know that animals communicate and feel on a deeper level than we can perceive, what should we do to improve the lives of animals? IN: Well, to start, basically anyone who has a dog in their home and takes a dog for a walk: that’s not, ‘Get out there, do your business,’ that’s the dog’s big moment. That’s the dog’s excursion. The dogs are sniffing, they have so many more senses in their noses than you can imagine and they can pick up all the scents of who they went by and what they went by, what gender that animal was. This is their news, this is their internet, so don’t pull them along. Have patience, put the phone down. Their life is important too. Dogs need to bark. They shouldn’t be told all the time, ‘Sit down, be quiet, stay.’ This is not the relationship we should have with animals. Also we all eat, we all dress ourselves, shampoo our hair, buy things. When we look at all those ways we I

spend money, we have the power of the purse and that’s so important. Even something like you buy a pair of leather shoes and don’t think twice about it. I’ve been on the cattle trail in India. Those animals are exhausted. They don’t want to be killed, but the leather supports the meat industry more than the meat. If you don’t want to support slaughter, you might want to look at the fabulous collection of vegan shoes. BW: There’s been a recent movement toward sustainability and plantbased eating. Is it sustainable? IN: Yeah, for sure, it has to be. I really have to credit the environmental movement with a lot of that happening. You’ve got Greta Thunberg, a vegan, saying everybody should go vegan. You put all the cars and planes and automobiles and emissions together and you still don’t equal the amount of methane coming from animal-based agriculture. You see also water shortages, drought, you see all these things, and I think a lot of people are becoming vegan and they’re seeing the connector between ravaging the Amazon to grow crops to feed chickens and cows and whatnot. BW: Can we half-ass it? Are implementing things like Meatless Mondays and eating less meat enough? IN: Well, I have two thoughts on that. One is we’re grown-ups and APRIL 16, 2020

once somebody shows you, you shouldn’t say, “Don’t show me that” because you know you’ll have to change. Be brave, have a look. If you’re paying for it, you should know what you’re paying for. If you’re a decent person, in all likelihood we should change it. Like the Nike slogan, just do it. Get a cookbook. Find an alternative to dissect. Don’t pay for something that’s tested on animals. Do everything you can. That said, if you take away one cruel thing you do, that’s great. Any suffering that you no longer engage in or no longer support, good for it. BW: We have to ask you about something local because PETA was involved in it — why should the University of Colorado retire its live buffalo mascot? IN: It’s foolish, it’s a very old fashioned idea to take an animal away [from its natural habitat]. A buffalo is a herd animal, they’re not solitary anyway. The University will say they’re so well taken care of; he’s not yours to use as a prop. Pay somebody some money and have them wear a costume. A buffalo doesn’t belong on a sports field with the noise and being carted around. A lot of sports teams have abandoned that. It’s getting to be there are very few that use a live animal. I think the next generation is going to look back and say, “What were you thinking?” This interview was edited for space and clarity. I

COURTESY LOCAL THEATER COMPANY

Suspension of disbelief

In an industry defined by live performance, theater companies get existential about their role as artists in the age of social distancing

by Caitlin Rockett

n late March, all 20 or so of the staff and associate artists on Local Theater Company’s team huddled together virtually on Zoom for the first time. The fundamental questions were of the same brand that people all over the country — and world — were asking themselves, their family members, their friends: How are you? What do you need right now? But for the Local Theater team, there was a larger, unspoken, more existential question hovering like a specter during that first Zoom meeting, a question that Local and other community theater companies are still trying to answer. “The big conversation that’s happening I think in many theaters is when you take away our desire to assemble, or even just the art of assembly, the art of gathering people, what is our role as theater artists?” says Pesha Rudnik, Local’s founding artistic director. “And every theater is answering that differently.” A recent article from Playbill listed a number of regional theaters (Chicago, London, Fort Myers, Florida) offering digital streams of performances, but the approach is varied. Some organizations are providing limited access to streams while others have no cap; some are free while others ask for a modest suggested donation, and still others charge fees that resemble live theater ticket prices. Throughout Boulder County, it would seem the first step for theater companies was simply staying connected with patrons. APRIL 16, 2020

Jesters Dinner Theatre in Longmont has opened the time capsule, sending daily newsletters with reviews, photos, playbills and other memories from performances past and encouraging patrons to consider the future by purchasing a gift card or making a tax-exempt donation. Others, like CenterStage in Louisville, are offering online classes and fundraising events (see page 27 for more on CenterStage’s virtual cabaret). For Local Theater Company, that first Zoom huddle gave birth to a daily writing prompt for patrons called CO-Lab Daily. Every morning at 6 a.m., from March 30 to April 30, Local sends a creative prompt: write a six-word story; create a COVID-19 haiku; share something that people can’t know from simply looking at you; finish the dialog from this scene. People share text, videos, photos; there are no parameters on how much or in what form a person shares, nor is there a requirement to commit each day; “use it as you will,” Rudnick says. “People are participating from all over the world,” Rudnick says. “There are people I

LOCAL THEATER Company’s annual new play festival, Local Lab, was canceled the day it was set to launch.

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

ONE EPISODE of Boulder Ensemble Theatre Company’s Ghost Light Series was an online table reading of Luke Sorge’s ‘Purgastory.’

in London participating … from New York to Georgia to Chicago; it’s just wide-ranging. And that’s fun for us to look at how we’ve always felt, which is that all theater is local.” The driving force behind CO-Lab is two-fold: human connection and creative expression. There’s no need to be a professional creative to engage in this endeavor. “It’s a truly democratic platform for anyone who wants to express themselves,” says Nick Chase, Local’s associate artistic director. “So what you’re seeing is just the word or the image or the sound that someone has created and we don’t necessarily know the person behind it, which makes it such a unique, interesting sort of patchwork.” See it for yourself: You can scroll through the current responses now on Local’s website. The goal is to take some of the responses and “roll out a sort of presentational view” on social media, Rudnick says, though she’s not entirely sure how that will look just yet. There’s one response in particular — prompted by asking patrons to rant or rave about something that makes them passionate — that Rudnick can’t get out of her head. “You know who you are (or actually you don’t),” the response begins. “Reply = the single arrow at the top of the email. Reply to All = the double arrow at the top of the email. Look at your email right now. Go ahead. We’ll wait. See the difference? That difference is everything!” “I keep thinking about that as a short monologue or a soliloquy,” she says with a laugh. CO-Lab Daily seems to be the beginning of Local Theater Company reimagining itself and its relationship to the community. Despite the revenue loss and the inability to showcase work that the company had spent months preparing, Rudnick sees opportunity in the chaos. “I understand [companies] who are stepping back and saying, ‘I don’t know what the role [of my theater company] is right now. Our job is to be in the business of assembly,’ and other people are saying, ‘Hey, let’s jump in and fill the time,’” she says. “There’s no right answer, but I know that for Local, not to sound scripted, but our mission is to produce new American plays. And to let that focus shift to our audience and recognize that they have stories to tell and to develop, it feels right to provide a platform for that on a daily basis ... Why not let that be accessible to others?” Accessibility is one of the pleasant surprises our new online world offers. Sally Powell-Ashby has been participating in the CO-Lab Daily prompts and enjoys BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

the chance to express herself. But an unexpected benefit to online gathering for Powell-Ashby has been the ability to hear it all. “I am losing my hearing and so yes, I have been a theater-goer for so many years and yet I miss so much now when I go to the theater,” she says. “I can often hear other people laughing, the rest of the audience laughing, and I’m blank because I can’t hear the punch line. So in a way this new format is really helpful for me. I’m hearing everything and being able to read everything.” Powell-Ashby’s experience highlights other issues in accessibility: For individuals who are neurologically atypical, online theater experiences offer an ability to take breaks, adjust the volume or ask questions. Online experiences take away the need to leave the house, for those who are homebound, and bring theater to those who couldn’t afford it before. And yet there’s still the loss of community that theater has historically created through physical gathering. As helpful as the internet is when we can’t gather in-person, we are social creatures, drawn to experiences we can share in close proximity to one another. “It’s certainly an introspective moment for American theater, as it is for many industries,” says Stephen Weitz, producing artistic director of Boulder Ensemble Theater Company (BETC). “The purpose of theater even in the best of times is a more fully realized human experience. I think most theater artists feel like we want to continue to do that even when we’re disconnected from our audience.” BETC has continued to engage its patrons with its Ghost Light series. For those not fluent in theater, a ghost light is a single bulb left burning whenever a theater is dark. The Ghost Light Series has presented a clip from the play OSLO, which BETC was set to perform before the coronavirus-related closures, using a model set and Weitz’s son’s toy dinosaurs. Then there have been interviews with playwrights, a table reading of Luke Sorge’s Purgastory, and a video of the BETC staff talking about their most embarrassing moments on stage. “Mostly I feel it’s more of a social effort,” Weitz says. “As far as what does that tell us about what is theater going forward, I think that is a murkier question. This is my personal tea leaf reading: I don’t see a new theater that is rooted in video and any of the things we’re currently experiencing in our new Zoom culture. It’s so conI

APRIL 16, 2020

trary to the essence of what theater is and what makes theater theater. We cant beat film and TV. I’ve been saying this over and over as the technical pressures of theater grew and grew.” For Weitz and the BETC crew, the main focus now is on building a contingency plan: how to keep employees receiving paychecks, how to reorganize future performances, how to reimagine what a theater setting might look like in a world where people are bound to be nervous about large gatherings for quite some time. “I don’t think we’ve made a decision in terms of who we’re willing to be — it’s the question we aren’t ready to answer yet,” Weitz says. Our strategy is contingency planning. Let’s say hypothetically we can start our season on time as planned, here’s what that would look like. What if that can’t happen until November with our second show? What gets shuffled? We’re trying to think of each production as a bubble that can be removed or moved or replaced. That’s kind of the way we’re thinking. We’ve had to go back to the drawing board and say we probably don’t want to open with a show with 10 people and a big tech requirement because we’re going to be strapped for cash.” Like Rudnick, Weitz believes that each individual theater company — each individual artist — will have to answer for themselves how they are willing to change moving forward. “First, people have to demonstrate there’s a model for theater to be a video house of some kind, or a distance art organization of some kind that economically works,” Weitz says. “If people can demonstrate that and replicate it, then you can be a pioneer in that subset.” But Weitz worries that what we’ll have to witness first, before the rebirth of theater into any new forms, is a “culling of the field,” the death of theater companies that can’t bounce back from this financial crisis. It’s a problem the arts have faced again and again — we simply expect artists to share their craft for free. “The arts exist in this country primarily on the sweat equity of the artist,” he says. “So when you encounter a situation where the artists have been taken away, then you lose art. “People keep asking, ‘When will we be able to get back to normal?’” Weitz says. “As a citizen and artist, I don’t really want to get back to normal. The goal should be to get back to better. I think it’ll be fascinating to watch how different countries respond to this and what they invest in as a society.” I

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The Boulder Theater and Fox Theatre will be closed and shows postponed through Wednesday, May 13th, 2020. Please check our websites regarding new date announcements for postponed shows and any additional updates. All tickets will be honored for new dates.

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RACHAEL & VILRAY PATRICK DETHLEFS THUR. AUG 6 105.5 THE COLORADO SOUND PRESENTS

ANDERS OSBORNE + JACKIE GREENE FRI. AUG 7 97.3 KBCO PRESENTS

LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM THUR. AUG 13 BUDDHIST ARTS AND FILM FESTIVAL PRESENTS

KRISHNA DAS

FRI. AUG 21 - SUN. AUG 23

PINEWOOD CONFERENCE SAT. AUG 29

FAMOUS MEN, THE DEER CREEK SHARP SHOOTERS

LISTEN TO YOUR MOTHER

SAT. AUG 15

DAZZLE, KUVO 89.3 & BOULDER WEEKLY PRESENT

SAT. SEP 9

ROOSTER, PARTY GURU PRODUCTIONS, TERRAPIN CARE STATION PRESENT

TIGRAN HAMASYAN FEAT. ARTHUR HNATEK & EVAN MARIEN

FREQUENT, HONEYBEE, THOUGHT PROCESS

COMEDY WORKS PRESENTS

YHETI

FRI. SEP 4

AUGUSTUS

THE BEEVES, BOOT GUN, BEN HANNA SAT. SEP 12

NOBIDE + BIROCRATIC

SUN. SEP 13

DAVID SPADE SAT. SEP 26 97.3 KBCO, BOULDER WEEKLY & GRATEFUL WEB PRESENT

LAWRENCE

JOE HERTLER & THE RAINBOW SEEKERS, SUNSHINE MEDLEY WED. SEP 30

ARLO GUTHRIE

PERFORMS ALICE’S RESTAURANT FOLK UKE

TELEMETRY, SUNFEATHR

WED. OCT 7

SAT. OCT 24

VOODOO DEAD

PARTY GURU PRODUCTIONS PRESENTS: EXIT / REALITY TOUR

MINNESOTA

EASTGHOST, THELEM, THOOK THUR. OCT 29 97.3 KBCO PRESENTS

THE DIRTY KNOBS WITH MIKE CAMPBELL FRI. NOV 20

97.3 KBCO & GRATEFUL WEB PRESENT

FEAT. STEVE KIMOCK, JEFF CHIMENTI, GEORGE PORTER JR., JOHN MORGAN KIMOCK, AND SPECIAL GUEST TBA SAT. OCT 24 97.3 KBCO PRESENTS

LOS LOBOS

THE DRUNKEN HEARTS SUN. NOV 1

OLAFUR ARNALDS WED. MAR 31, 2021 THE CELTIC CONNECTION, 88.5 KGNU & BOULDER WEEKLY PRESENT

THE HIGH KINGS

WESTWORD PRESENTS

SATSANG

JOEY HARKUM, BOMBARGO 26

APRIL 16, 2020

2028 14TH STREET NOW FT. MCDEVITT TACO SUPPLY SUPER HEADY TACOS! 303-786-7030 | OPEN DURING EVENTS

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

What to do when there’s ‘nothing’ to do...

VIRTUAL EVENTS BY BOULDER WEEKLY STAFF

If your organization is planning a virtual event of any kind, please email Caitlin at crockett@boulderweekly.com. ART n BOULDER ARTS ONLINE: PUBLIC ART. BOULDERARTS. ORG/PUBLIC-ART/BAO Boulder’s Office of Arts and Culture has put together a collection of videos that allow you to virtually visit recent public art projects and learn about the artists who recently produced projects in our community.

n CALL FOR ENTRIES: FIREHOUSE ART CENTER ONLINE EXHIBITION, FIREHOUSEART.ORG Firehouse Art Center in Longmont is hosting an online exhibition and sale. Artists of any medium are encouraged to submit, free of charge, by noon on April 30. Firehouse will be reducing its standard commission from 35% to 20% of the sale. The exhibit will debut on Friday, May 8. See the website for detailed submission guidelines.

MUSIC n KMG ACADEMY PRESENTS — KEEP MUSIC GOING VIDEO SERIES. SUBSCRIBE AT KMGLIFE.COM, OR STREAM ON KMG’S YOUTUBE CHANNEL. KMG Academy has vowed to keep music going in every aspect in order to keep creators inspired during a time of hardship. Head to KMG’s website to subscribe to the ‘Keep Music Going Video Series’ and you will be sent a free training video created by KMG Academy every Monday discussing new topics, techniques and content in your favorite softwares such as Pro Tools, Ableton Live, Maschine and more.

n LITTLE TREE ACOUSTIC HOUSE CONCERTS PRESENTS: GRACE PETTIS ONLINE CONCERT. 8 P.M. SATURDAY, APRIL 18, LITTLETREEACOUSTIC.APPSPOT.COM These days, house concerts have taken on a whole new meaning. Little Tree House Concerts presents Austin-based singer/ songwriter Grace Pettis from the comfort of your own home, with a lowered suggested donation of $10 per person. Pettis ties together folk, Americana and soul with a powerful voice, expressive guitar work, and lyrics that have won her some of the nation’s most prestigious songwriting competitions. Please donate early to allow time for the organizer to contact you with details on how to watch.

THEATER n CENTERSTAGE AND TAPESTRY THEATRE COMPANY PRESENT: SOCIAL DISTANCE-SING CABARET. 5 P.M. SUNDAY, APRIL 19, CENTERSTAGETHEATRECOMPANY.ORG/ VIRTUAL-CABARET.HTML BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

Help support CenterStage and Tapestry Theatre Company during the COVID-19 crisis by making a donation of any amount. In return, you’ll get a link to the nonprofit’s first virtual event, Social DistanceSING Cabaret. Your donation will help the Louisville-based theater company continue performing arts training.

NICOLA GELL PHOTOGRAPHY

n FREE RANGE DAIRY: MAGIC SHOWCASE. 5 P.M. THURSDAY APRIL 16, 2020. ZOOM WEBINAR, THEDAIRY.ORG/EVENTS Ben Young has thrilled audiences worldwide with his fresh spin on the typical magic show. Forget the rabbits and sequins, and join Ben in an upbeat show that focuses on a fun group experience! Find out why Ben was hand-picked to appear on the hit CW TV show Penn & Teller: Fool Us, has performed for the troops at 30+ military bases, and is a frequent guest performer in major casinos on the Las Vegas Strip. Offstage, Ben is just your average, nerdy, magic, part-time superhero. He holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and is a proud member of the International Brotherhood of Magicians, and dabbles with the ukulele. As always, the Boulder Magic Show at the Dairy is hosted and curated by The Dairy’s own Braden Carlisle.

n FREE RANGE DAIRY: ARTIST CHAT — WITH T2 DANCE COMPANY. 4 P.M. SUNDAY APRIL 19 VIA ZOOM WEBINAR. FREE, THEDAIRY.ORG/EVENTS The Color Wheel Project is an arts production that emphasizes how visual arts, music and dance can intersect while also enabling community connections. Originally planned for April 2020, the show will now premiere at the Dairy Sept. 18-19. This webinar will feature the four T2 company dancers who have choreographed for this show. Hear them talk about their work, creative process, inspiration and have the chance to ask them questions.

see EVENTS Page 28

APRIL 16, 2020

VIRTUAL EVENTS

EVENTS from Page 27

country for more than 30 years, making his network television debut on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. Zoe Rogers gets inspiration and sleep deprivation from her three awesome kids who make sure life is never dull or quiet. She is the creator and producer of Boulder Comedy Festival.

COMEDY n FREE RANGE DAIRY: THE POWER OF HUMOR — WITH KEYNOTE SPEAKER NANCY NORTON. 8 P.M. FRIDAY, APRIL 17 VIA ZOOM WEBINAR. TICKETS ARE $10, THEDAIRY.ORG/EVENTS From the comfort of your own home, enjoy standup comedy with two Boulder comedy legends, Nancy Norton and John Novosad, with Boulder-by-way-of-Los Angeles comedian Zoe Rogers. Together they will bring you insights on how humor can help you destress, boost your immunity and help manage your anxiety and fears as they melt your worries into laughter. Nancy Norton became the first woman ever to win the Boston Comedy Fest in September 2018 and was most recently crowned the 2019 champion of the Seattle International Comedy Competition. John Novosad, aka Hippieman, has performed in clubs, theaters and bars across the

CLASSES n CENTERSTAGE THEATRE COMPANY ONLINE CLASSES. CENTERSTAGETHEATRECOMPANY.ORG/CLASSES.HTML The ghost light is on in the Black Box and the building is closed on Front Street but CenterStage Theatre Company’s staff has been busy toiling to transplant theater community needs and sprout new ideas for great classes to wash away these pandemic blues. All class or coaching fees will support CenterStage Theatre Company, which is a nonprofit. All Classes will be held in Zoom App. Link will be sent upon

HEAVY ROTATION

the two sing it together on this tribute album to Steve Goodman.

by ANGELA K. EVANS

3) BRITTANY HOWARD —“SHORT AND SWEET”

HEAVY ROTATION THIS WEEK is inspired by John Prine, a mix of mellow, comforting music that expresses a range of emotion often felt all at once. We wanted to honor the life of a beloved songwriter, not only through his own songs but those inspired by Prine, whether the songwriters knew it or not. Prine was a masterful storyteller who could dive deep into the human experience and come out the other side not only with a memorable tune but a smile on his face. He passed away on April 7, but we know he’s still singing and smiling wherever he is. (If you don’t believe us, just listen to “When I Get to Heaven” off his last release, 2018’s ‘Tree of Forgiveness’.)

1) JOHN PRINE — “THAT’S THE WAY THAT THE WORLD GOES ROUND”

THE SONGWRITER ALWAYS touched on the symbiotic relationship of life and death, finding humor in the ironies of it all while reminding us that our fears are always worse than reality itself.

2) BONNIE RAITT AND JOHN PRINE — “ANGEL FROM MONTGOMERY (LIVE)”

RAITT MAY HAVE made this song famous, but its writing belongs all to Prine and nothing beats hearing 28

Block 1750 has options for adults and kids with its online streaming classes. Contemporary, femme hip-hop and funk for adults, and breaking classes for kids. Donations start at $5.

EDUCATIONAL SUPPLEMENTS n ARTIFACTS ALIVE!. MUSEUM OF BOULDER, MUSEUMOFBOULDER.ORG/ ARTIFACTS-ALIVE-PROGRAM-MATERIALS Museum of Boulder’s Artifacts Alive program is made up of skits for students to perform that will bring artifacts from Boulder’s history to life. It’s great for creative families looking for group activities to do indoors together. Download the scripts and materials for at Museum of Boulder’s website. If you have any trouble downloading the materials, email Chelsea at chelsea@museumofboulder.org.

THIS TOE-TAPPING TUNE is Prine’s witty songwriting at its finest. Paired with Iris Dement, it’s a mixture of truth, sarcasm and hope all wrapped into one.

8) NATHANIAL RATELIFF — “AND IT’S STILL ALRIGHT”

OFF HIS DEBUT SOLO album, Rateliff takes a step away from his band the Nightsweats in favor of more subdued melodies. On the title track the baritone sings about disappointment, letting go of control and finding a way forward.

4) MARCUS MUMFORD — “YOU’LL NEVER WALK ALONE”

THE MUMFORD AND SONS frontman released this stripped-down recording of the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic in response to the coronavirus pandemic, both as a song of solidarity and as a fundraiser; all proceeds go to two U.K.based organizations aiding vulnerable populations.

9) WATKINS FAMILY HOUR — “NEIGHBORHOOD NAME”

GRAMMY AWARD-WINNING siblings Sara and Sean Watkins just released their first album (‘brother sister’) together in five years and we couldn’t be happier. This song in particular harkens back to the naïveté of childhood, while reminiscing about all that has changed in the world

5) BEN HOWARD — “SMALL THINGS”

6) AGSEIR —“EVENTIDE”

n LIVESTREAM CLASSES BY BLOCK 1750. ONGOING, BLOCK1750.COM/LIVESTREAMCLASSES

7) JOHN PRINE — “IN SPITE OF OURSELVES”

HOWARD’S SOOTHING vocal range captures us in this simple musing about time, pain, longing and waiting off her solo album ‘Jamie.’

HOWARD’S LYRICS SPEAK of existential crisis while his guitar looping carries its weight, culminating in a whirling, otherworldly cacophony.

registration. Choose from voice class, learn an audition song, guitar songwriting or private acting and audition coaching. Children in fifth through eighth grades can register to take part in The Box, a play by Lindsey Price.

10) J.S. ONDARA — “SAYING GOODBYE”

BITTERNESS, LONELINESS and heaviness invites confession in this weepy ballad from the Kenyan singer-songwriter that makes us feel all the feels.

WE FOLLOW ICELANDIC singer-songwriter Asgeir’s ethereal sounds into the world of “a memory, warm and dear,” mesmerized by the images flashing before our mind’s eye in the “tiny void” created by loss.

APRIL 16, 2020

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

films

FILMS TO WATCH FOR EARTH DAY

ince 1993, Boulder’s Global Greengrants Fund has been supporting grassroots movements and communities on the frontlines of environmental and climate justice battles all over the world. Every year, the staff curates a syllabus of their favorite books, movies and podcasts related to environmental and human rights issues. This year, they’ve focused on environmental and social justice themed films.

TO LEARN SOMETHING NEW n TAKING ROOT: THE VISION OF WANGARI MAATHAI: Wangari Maathai was a Kenyan environmental activist who dedicated her life to promoting human rights, gender equality and protecting the planet — all through the revolutionary act of planting trees. Her founding of the Green Belt Movement earned Wangari the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize as well as the Nobel Prize. Follow the journey of this exceptional activist. (Bonus: for a list of the best African environmental films, check out gloriakendiborona.wordpress.com.) n BIRDERS: The river that flows along the U.S.-Mexico border is a major convening point for migratory birds — as well as the people who love them. ‘Birders’ guides us on a journey through a famous avian migration route, featuring expert insight from conservationists from both sides of the border. The freedom of these birds poses a stark contrast from the current political reality, reminding us that migration is natural, human and beautiful. n HONEYLAND: Watch this film to transport yourself to the rugged, isolated mountains of North Macedonia, where wild beekeeper Hatidze Muratova is using ancestral knowledge to save the bees and restore natural balance in nature. n CBQM: Now more than ever, grassroots activists are turning to virtual media, such as radio, to keep up their fight. ‘CBQM’ is a heartfelt love letter to Indigenous community radio, spotlighting a radio station that is a pillar of local identity and pride in Teetl’it Gwich’in, a small community north of the Arctic Circle in the Canadian Northwest Territories. (Bonus: check out this massive free catalogue of Indigenous films cbc.ca/arts/there-s-a-massive-freecatalogue-of-indigenous-films-online-and-we-have-6-picks-to-getyou-started-1.4623884 .) n THE BIGGEST LITTLE FARM: Follow one couple’s journey as they leave the bustling, concrete metropolis of Los Angeles to pursue their lifelong dream of building and maintaining a sustainable farm.

WELL-KNOWN FILMS YOU CAN’T MISS n ERIN BROCKAVICH: The true story of a single mother who pleads with her attorney to hire her at his law firm, where she then almost single-handedly brings down California energy giant PG&E for contaminating a city’s water supply.

HONEYLAND

n EVEN THE RAIN: “También la lluvia” is a look at the tumultuous Cochabamba water wars, a true fight for access to the right to clean water in Bolivia. The film won awards internationally, including an Ariel Award and three Goya awards. n CHASING ICE: This film follows a National Geographic photographer, once a climate skeptic himself, on a journey to document a multi-year record of the world’s rapidly disappearing glaciers.

BIGGEST LITTLE FARM

FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY n STUDIO GHIBLI: These Japanese animated films tackle themes of environmental conservation and climate change and are sure to delight kids and adults alike. Our staff love ‘Nausicaä Valley of the Wind’ and ‘Princess Mononoke.’ n WALL-E: Follow the journey of the world’s last remaining robot as he spends most of his days tidying up our planet. Exploring the potential of human extinction is a pretty heavy topic, but ‘Wall-E’ does so in a cartoon, G-rated way that is appropriate for all ages.

CHASHING ICE

n FERN GULLY: An oldie but a goodie. Crysta, a fairy who lives in the FernGully rainforest of Australia, accidentally shrinks a boy who works for a logging company that invades her home. He then sees the damage the company has done, and teams up with the fairy to help stop the loggers.

BONUS: FILMS WE’VE FUNDED n NOT WITHOUT US: Featuring the co-chair of our Board of Directors, Nnimmo Bassey, ‘Not Without Us’ follows seven grassroots activists to Paris for COP21. While they are not allowed in the formal conversations, they use their voices from outside the COP to demand urgent action on the climate crisis. We are proud to have supported the production of this documentary with a grant in 2016. n STANDING ON SACRED GROUND: Around the world, Indigenous people are standing up for their sacred lands in defense of cultural survival, human rights and the environment. We have a soft spot in our heart for the Sacred Land Film Project as they have long recommended grants the Earth Island Institute, and many of these films feature our grantees.

TAKING ROOT

CBQM

Visit greengrants.org for more information about the Global Greengrants Fund. see EVENTS Page 30

BIRDERS

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

APRIL 16, 2020

EVENTS from Page 29

PODCASTS

BY CAITLIN ROCKETT THE LEFT RIGHT GAME n If you’re a little burned out on reality right now, QCode specializes in narrative podcasts that offer an escape — but don’t expect this LA-based audio production company to take you on a light-hearted mental vacation. Its scripted narratives take cues from ‘The Twilight Zone’ — ‘Black Mirror’ episodes with a ‘War of the Worlds’ treatment. ‘The Left Right Game’ stars (and was co-produced by) Tessa Thompson (‘Sorry To Bother You,’ ‘Dear White People,’ ‘Westworld’), who plays a dogged young journalist seeking to expand her career by following a group of paranormal enthusiasts as they play the Left Right Game. It seems like this will be a profile about a group of people who have become too enthralled with an urban legend, but as the group continues to make turns in their convoy — 40 turns, 200, 400 — the true story reveals itself. This podcast is still unfolding, so you have time to catch up and enjoy the ride in real time, qcodemedia.com

UNFILTERED n Listen to Colorado brewmasters and beer geeks go full hog on this delightful, conversational podcast. Hosted by Dr. Samuel Jay, a professor of communication studies at Metropolitan State University, and Jay Schrader, co-founder of Craft Beverage Consultants, the podcast maintains the feel of a happy hour decompression between friends while dissecting the business and art of craft brewing. Guests like Matty Peetz (of Denver-based Propagate Lab) talk about the science of yeast, while Michael Memsic of Sanitas Brewing talks about coming up in the burgeon-

ing Boulder beer scene. Grab a beer and enjoy a different kind of happy hour, anchor.fm/unfilteredcraft

THE SUPERLATIVES FILM PODCAST PRESENTS THE CINEMA SURVIVAL SERIES. n Boulder-based hosts Shay Wescott and Jack Hanley, of the Superlatives Film Podcast, present the Cinema Survival Series, a weekly podcast serving up the best of new, underseen and classic cinema available for streaming during your shelterin-place situation. Wescott, the senior operations manager at the Dairy, is a lifelong lover of independent film who assists in programming the Friday Night Weird series at The Dairy’s Boedecker Theater. Jack Hanley is an academic, critic, podcaster and filmmaker, with expertise in the fields of film history and criticism, folklore, culture and media studies, English and American Romanticism and Eastern European history. These two combine their talents and passion for film to suss out hidden gems like ‘The Man with the Camera,’ an experimental 1929 Soviet silent documentary film, directed by Dziga Vertov, or ‘The Art of Self Defense,’ a ‘Fight Club’-esque dissection of modern masculinity, thesuperlativesfilmpodcast.podbean.com/ ●

BOOKABLE n Want to have a book club but, like, a really good one where a great author picks the books and then interviews the author? That’s ‘Bookable,’ and it’s way better than the garbage book club your friend put together and insisted on launching with ‘The Secret.’ Host Amanda Stern (author of the hilarious and poignant memoir ‘Little Panic: Dispatches From an Anxious Life’) engages established authors and emerging talent in

free-wheeling conversations about one of their works — usually new, sometimes classic and occasionally obscure but always worth knowing about. Each episode contains a unique immersive sound experience, which, combined with Stern’s relatable demeanor and general brilliance regarding prose, makes this podcast pretty special for those of us who would just rather be reading, bookable.simplecast.com ●

THE JUNGLE PRINCE n Sometimes a story is passed around for so long, between so many people, that it becomes impossible to know what, if anything, about the story is real. This is the case with the tale of a family that was said to be the last of a Shiite Muslim royal line living in New Delhi. Rumor had it that the family of Oudh, after the British annexed their kingdom, were left homeless and wandering. Then, in 1983, a woman appeared on the platform of the New Delhi railway station with her two adult children, declaring they were the descendants of the family of Oudh. She demanded their lives be restored to their former royal grandeur, and said they would not leave the train station until they got what was rightfully theirs. And wait they did — for nearly a decade. Journalist Ellen Barry was certainly not the first newshound on the story, but she was the first to uncover the truth,nytimes.com/2019/11/27/podcasts/ the-daily/jungle-prince-royal-family-oudh.html

COLORADO BOOK AWARDS — PRESENTED BY COLORADO HUMANITIES & CENTER FOR THE BOOK. 7 P.M. FRIDAY, APRIL 17, VIA ZOOM AND FACEBOOK LIVE, COLORADOHUMANITIES.ORG/PROGRAMS/COLORADO-BOOK-AWARDS COLORADO HUMANITIES & CENTER for the Book will host the Colorado Book Award finalist reading for general fiction, literary fiction and poetry on Friday, April 17 at 7 p.m. The first 100 to join the Zoom meeting (zoom.us/j/391993231 or call 669.900.6833, and enter meeting ID 391 993 231) may converse live with Colorado authors Aimie Runyan (‘Girls on the Line’), Linda Lafferty and co-author Andy Stone (‘Light in the Shadows’), Bruce Holsinger (‘The Gifted School’), Brandi Homan (‘Burn Fortune’), Wendy J. Fox (‘If the Ice Had Held’) and Erika T. Wurth (‘You Who Enter Here’). Poetry readings will come from Abigail Chabitony (‘How to Dress a Fish’), David J. Rothman (‘My Brother’s Keeper’) and Dan Beachy-Quick (‘Variations on Dawn and Dusk’). Facebook Live @cohumanities attendees can send in questions and comments. Order books online at BookBar (bookbardenver.com). The next finalist reading features mystery and thriller categories on Friday, April 24 at 7 p.m.

books 30

APRIL 16, 2020

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

Adam Sloat Broker/Owner

Your Boulder Real Estate Expert and Music Guy

quarantined thoughts by Greg Alston

i had my thoughts in quarantine but somehow they got out and now they’re loose on the town and moving about and if you feel anxious you best keep away six feet or so because i don’t know what they’re gonna say they might appear peaceful or red eyed and wild they might be reproachful or playful like a child they might be flamboyant they might be demure they might be sickened with the truth while looking for a cure they might walk in with a swagger and promise you the moon or may be sitting quiet in the back of the room they might be kind, catatonic and wise they might be naked to the world or wearing a disguise they might be strangled by worry or stricken by grief humble like a beggar or shameless like a thief they might strike like a tiger or jump like a bunny they might be too serious or just kinda funny they might be persuasive saying, why don’t you try it they might be contagious and spread like a riot they might get to gambling

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

beguiled by luck they might be feeling reckless and just not give a fuck they might be boisterous they might be serene they might be thinking i like the way your mouth moves but i don’t know what you mean they might be clairvoyant but blinded by pride or maybe just shy but confident inside they might not conform they might not agree they might not always be what you want them to be they might be ambivalent they might be morose they might be talking crazy like they’ve seen the holy ghost they might be speaking Spanish like como anda Cartagena soy muy guero pero me encanta la morena tengo mucho hambre pues, trae me una cena no importa la cuesta porque se vale la pena they might be at a party chatting with de ja vu and thinking you look familiar or who the fuck are you they might be searching for meaning in the writing on the wall within the magnitude of a moment that feels so small they might be apprehensive or whimsically unsure

when the carousel’s moving backwards and all your memories start to blur they might be imbued with words of eloquence or slurring drunkenly and not making any sense they might have one hand on the wheel of a jacked-up Ford they might be down on their knees supplicating the Lord they might have the walk of a martyr dressed up as a fool trespassing quietly to use your swimming pool they might be given to fancy or swept by happenstance and the whims of the winds that let the leaves dance or they might just be consciousness as it rains collecting in your gutters and washing down your drains and what about you thoughts do they ever stray? and where might they go and what might they say and what if, by chance our thoughts should happen to meet just wandering along out there on the street?

Greg Alston is a gardener, cook, father and some other things, too.

APRIL 16, 2020

Q&A BUYER ADVICE FROM A LOCAL HOME INSPECTOR, MY GO-TO GUY CHUCK Question: Hey Chuck, what advice would you give buyers before going through their first home inspection?

Answer: Yes, we are going to talk about anything major or safety issues in the home. But we are also going to talk about many, many smaller items. This is common - and having a great agent like Adam is immensely helpful when determining what is most significant when considering your home ownership goals.” – Chuck Bohall, A-Pro Home Inspections

720-466-8212 adam@adamsloat.com www.westwaterrealty.com I

MATT CORTINA

SUSHI PLATTER,

$65. Japango, 1136 Pearl St., Boulder, 303-938-0330, boulderjapango.com

TRY THIS WEEK:

Sushi Platter @ Japango

WE WISH WE COULD enjoy Japango’s fresh, innova-

tive sushi rolls in its modern downtown spot, but we’re happy to take away its eight-roll sushi platter and enjoy it at home for only $65. Rolls include Kitsune’s Kiss — fresh salmon, tempura asparagus, avocado, serrano chiles and lemon, topped with baked hamachi — and the Washington D.C. Spider — soft shell crab tempura with mixed vegetables, Japanese mayo, smelt roe and nitsume, a seafood glaze. Tuna, veggie and more crab rolls fill out the platter, and it’ll feed at least two, but much more manageably three or four. Order with a bottle of artisan sake for the full experience. Chopsticks, soy sauce, pickled ginger and wasabi included.

1 n Caffè Sole gives meals to 750 at Sister Carmen Boulder’s Caffè Sole has raised $5,330 from its community of patrons to provide meals to 750 people at the Sister Carmen Community Center food bank in Lafayette. It’s a mutually beneficial partnership — Caffè Sole makes enough to keep its doors open, while those in need get a balanced meal cooked by the restaurant’s staff. It’s not too late to donate, either: go to caffesole.com to make an online contribution — $100 feeds 14 people.

2 n Churros con Elvis Sancho’s is getting creative and spreading positivity during the time of the coronavirus. On April 8, owner Shawn Camden donned full Elvis regalia and serenaded folks outside the Applewood Living Center in Longmont, while guests enjoyed Sancho’s churros inside. Sancho’s has also been providing meals to frontline health care workers at Boulder County hospitals. But if you dress up like Elvis and pass out sweet treats, that’s always going to get top-line billing.

APRIL 16, 2020

3 n Virtual Happy Hour with Colorado Wine Every Wednesday at 4:30 p.m., join local winemakers and the Colorado Wine Industry Development Board for a virtual happy hour on Facebook Live @Colorado Wine. The industry is adapting to the coronavirus pandemic with free delivery at some wineries, curbside pickup at others, a gift pack from The Storm Cellar and unique online events like the happy hour. Supporting Colorado’s burgeoning wine industry is critical — it adds $300 million to the state economy and supports 1,665 jobs, while growing 10% annually over the last 20 years. I

BOULDER WEEKLY

After another year of growth, craft beer sales plummet amid the coronavirus by Matt Cortina

ost breweries in the U.S. have seen their on-site sales drop by more than 70%, and draught sales have dropped by an average of 91% since the beginning of the coronavirus-related shutdowns, according to data from Boulder’s Brewers Association, the trade group for the country’s 8,000plus craft breweries. That all translates to a loss of about 25-30% of craft brewery sales, says Bart Watson, economist for the BA. And it’s unclear how breweries are going to be able to get revenue back to normal. “We’re seeing lost revenue and cost structures are pretty similar for breweries,” Watson says. “I do think were going to see an elevated closing rate, perhaps as long as 12 to 14 months.” Just less than 300 breweries closed in 2019 (compared to 942 brewery openings). So how many will close this year because of the coronavirus? In a poll conducted by BA of some of its member breweries, more than half said they will have to close if stay-at-home orders in their localities extend into June. With talk of caveatfilled plans to reopen the economy, it’s unclear what the demand for in-restaurant draught sales will be (which comprises about a quarter of craft beer sales) and how quickly the market will return for canned beer (which makes up almost twothirds of industry sales.

BA data indicates at least 190 breweries will close nationwide as a result of the coronavirus, but that there was an increase in closures expected in 2020 anyway. “There have been breweries that have announced closures because of this,” Watson says. “They have already closed or are in the process of closing. They may have set a date. It’s important though to separate those from breweries that would’ve closed anyway. We would’ve expected maybe 400-500 closings anyway. Some of those [coronavirus-related] closings were overlapping with breweries that were in danger of closing anyway.” The stay-at-home orders have resulted in about 10,000 brewery workers being laid off or furloughed. Watson says he tends to think the pinch on the industry might skew toward more acquisitions, but cautions that some bigger breweries might want to hold tight to their checkbooks, and that the seller market might be bigger than the pool of interested buyers. Despite total beer sales going down slightly last year, craft beer reported 4% growth in 2019, according to a study released this week by BA. Market volume share and jobs also grew, but Watson cautions this data, of course, doesn’t account for the coronavirus disruption. “2019 stats may feel somewhat out of touch in a world where things have shifted rapidly,” he says.

High end quality meats Catering also available

2426 Arapahoe Ave. Boulder 303-443-0596 www.kalitagrill.com BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

APRIL 16, 2020

20 dishes we can’t wait to eat together again... soon by Boulder Weekly Staff

1. Pork Shank Pibil

Teocalli Cocina, 103 N. Public Road, Unit C, Lafayette, teocallicocina.com (Takeout/delivery available) Pork shank served on the bone (the meat falls off with hardly any effort) alongside pickled and smoked onions, x-nipeck (a Mayan salsa with mango and habanero), savory rice, bright black beans and lightly fried yellow corn tortillas.

HOW WE LONG FOR CHAUTAUQUA Dining Hall in springtime. And Teocalli Cocina’s lively bar in downtown Lafayette. And the community of, well, Community, and Rosetta Hall, and all the other fine establishments that have had to curtail or amend operations during stay-at-home orders. As we oblige such orders, we can’t help but dream about a time in the not-too-distant future when we can eat out in public. Here’s a list of some of the dishes we’re dreaming of most, but if you can’t wait, check out boulderweekly.com/cuisine/restaurant-listings for the spots still offering these exceptional dishes for curbside pickup and delivery.

2. Fried Hot Honey Chicken Sandwich

Community, 206 S. Boulder Road, Lafayette, eatatcommunity. com (Takeout/delivery available) Gluten-free fried chicken thighs with gooey white cheese, and a fresh herb slaw made with red cabbage and house-made pickles.

3. Dan Dan Noodles

Hot Pot Noodle House, 4800 Baseline Road, Boulder, noodlehouseboulder.com (Takeout/delivery available) Tender ground pork, slivered cucumber, peanuts, steamed and peppery mustard greens and spicy red chile paste in harmony over noodles with a perfect chew.

4. Benne Toast

Jacaranda at Rosetta Hall, 1109 Walnut St., Boulder, rosettahall.com/ chefs/jacaranda This eye-popping benne toast is comprised of a thick, crusty slice of sweet potato bread topped with creamy sweet potato puree, dollops of silky mascarpone, pumpkin seeds, a dusting of crunchy and earthy dukkah and bright lime zest.

5. Lardo Tigella

La Tigella at Rosetta Hall, 1109 Walnut St., Boulder, rosettahall.com/ chefs/la-tigella (Takeout on select days/times) Split, crispy bread filled with lardo (cured pig fatback) paste, rosemary, garlic and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. It’s delightfully fatty, without becoming unctuous, and the clever additions of rosemary, garlic and piquant cheese balance each bite.

6. Pecan Sticky Bun

Lucky’s Bakehouse and Creamery, 3990 Broadway, Boulder, luckysmarket.com/stores/luckysbakehouse-creamery (Popups at times, available in 34

Lucky’s stores other times) Jennifer Bush’s excellent lineup of pastries at Lucky’s Bakehouse includes a pecan sticky bun, which consists of a chewy cinnamon bun “topped” — sticky buns are typically baked bottom-up and flipped — with crushed pecans and a brown sugar glaze.

7. Tropic Like It’s Hot

Jungle, 2018 10th St., Boulder, jungletiki.com (Pickup cocktails Wednesday and Friday) A smoky and citrusy mixture of Oaxacan rum, mezcal, cactus fruit, ancho chili and a dried slice of sour APRIL 16, 2020

orange that’s lit on fire, extinguished by the drinker and dropped into the cocktail. $12.

8. Baked Meatball Sandwich

Lefty’s Gourmet Pizza, 364 Second Ave., Niwot, leftysgourmetpizza.com (Takeout/delivery available) Tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese ooze between giant, tender meatballs, all packed in a long hoagie roll that’s toasted to perfection — it’s crispy, with a chewy interior and a healthy amount of flavorful char. see FOOD Page 36

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9. Colorado Cubano

Roadhouse Boulder Depot, 2366 Junction Place, Boulder, roadhouseboulderdepot.com (Takeout/ delivery available) The traditional ham, pickles, mustard and Swiss, with tender pulled pork and a few slices of hot capicola for a fiery, spicy, meaty kick.

10. Mango Shrimp Tacos

Jefe’s Tacos & Tequila, 246 Main St., Longmont, jefeslongmont.com (Takeout available) Decadent tacos with crispy tempura shrimp lightly fried in rice flour and tossed in a sweet honey glaze along with fresh diced mango and basil.

11. Crazy Tuna Poke

Sushi Aji, 489 U.S. 287, Unit 100, Lafayette, sushiajilafayette.com (Takeout available) Fresh tuna tossed in a spicy sauce with tempurafried asparagus, sweet potato, onion, avocado, cucumber and seaweed salad.

12. Mid-East Sampler

Arabesque, 1634 Walnut St., arabesqueboulder. com (Takeout available) Oh, how we long for Arabesque’s airy patio and its plate of hand-rolled grape leaves, hummus adorned with olive oil, pickles and whole chickpeas, tabbouleh and tangy baba ghanoush garnished with crispy bell pepper.

13. Tajikistan Plov

Boulder Dushanbe Teahouse, 1770 13th St., Boulder, boulderteahouse.com (Tea/chai available online) Perfectly grilled lamb laid atop a traditional rice dish with onion, chickpeas, dried apricots and currants, served with housemade, thick naan.

14. Chicken Kabsa

Ali Baba Grill, 3033 28th St., Boulder, alibabagrill. com (Takeout available) Hefty cuts of chicken (or lamb) are spiced with black pepper, cloves, cardamom, saffron, cinnamon, black lime, bay leaves and nutmeg, and served over a heaping bed of flavorful rice loaded with thick cuts of carrot, potato and bell pepper.

15. Memphis Fried Chicken Sandwich

Bluff Street Bar & Billiards, 2690 28th St., Suite E, Boulder, bluffstreetbar.com Placed between a chewy, slightly sweet bun, a massive, tender chicken breast, fried to crispy perfection, is matched with tangy house pickles, an irresistible slaw and a punchy “mojo” barbecue sauce.

16. Brownie Boulder Field

Bittersweet Cafe and Confections, 836 Main St., Louisville, bittersweetcafes.com (Takeout/delivery available) Two dense, luscious, fudgy brownies stacked atop each other, sprinkled with chopped pecans and drizzled with ridiculously good caramel.

17. Beet-Cured Trout Benedict

19. Pork Ribs

18. Cart-Driver

20. Cardamom Bun

Chautauqua Dining Hall, 900 Baseline Road, Boulder, chautauqua.com/dining-hall Rich, beautiful small filets of trout are piled onto crispy potato cakes and topped with spinach, poached eggs and hollandaise sauce, in a perfect setting. Basta, 3601 Arapahoe Ave., Boulder, bastaboulder.com (Takeout of limited menu available) There’s no better pizza of this style in the state. A light, chewy, perfectly crisped and lightly charred crust with sausage, mozzarella, crispy kale, chile and fennel pollen atop ignite your taste buds and satisfy your stomach. APRIL 16, 2020

Wayne’s Smoke Shack, 406 Center Drive, Superior, waynessmokeshack.com (Takeout available at times) Thick, flavorful bark covers fall-off-the-bone meat that’s juicier and more flavorful than you can imagine. Babettes, 2030 Ionosphere St., Longmont, babettesbakery.com (Takeout available) This work-of-art, chewy, moist, just-sweet-enough cinnamon and cardamom roll is one you’ll polish off in no time.

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BY DAN SAVAGE

and desires. If you want to open things up (if allowed) and she wants to keep things closed (no allowance), OOO, it’s ultimately your willpower — your commitment to honoring the commitment you’ve made — that’s likely to give.

Dear Dan: I am a super queer presenting female who recently accepted that I have desires for men. My partner of two years is bisexual and understands the desires, but has personally dealt with those desires via masturba- ROMAN ROBINSON tion while my desires include acting. Her perspective is that the grass is greener where you water it and that my desire to act is immature, selfish and has an unrealistic end game. What gives when you don’t feel fulfilled sexually in a monogamous relationship? —Open Or Over? Dear OOO: Something definitely gives when a person doesn’t feel fulfilled in a monogamous relationship — sometimes it’s an ultimatum that’s given, sometimes it’s a one-time-only hall pass that’s given, sometimes it’s an agreement to open the relationship that’s given. But the relationship sometimes gives, e.g. the relationship collapses under the weight of competing and mutually exclusive needs

BY ROB BREZSNY ARIES

MARCH 21-APRIL 19: Aries artist Vincent van Gogh got started on his life’s work relatively late. At ages 25 and 26 he made failed attempts to train as a pastor and serve as a missionary. He didn’t launch his art career in earnest until he was 27. During the next 10 years, he created 860 paintings — an average of 1.7 every week — as well as over 1,200 additional works of art. For comparison, the prolific painter Salvador Dali made 1,500 paintings in 61 years. During the coming 12 months, Aries, you could achieve a van Gogh-like level of productiveness in your own chosen field — especially if you lay the foundations now, during our stay-at-home phase.

TAURUS

APRIL 20-MAY 20: Most authors do their writing while

sitting on chairs in front of desks. But long before there were standing desks, poet Rainer Maria Rilke and children’s author Lewis Carroll wrote their books while standing up. Novelist Henry James had eight desks, but typically paced between them as he dictated his thoughts to a secretary. And then there have been weirdoes like poet Robert Lowell and novelist Truman Capote. They attended to their craft as they lay in their bed. I suggest you draw inspiration from those two in the coming weeks. It’ll be a favorable time to accomplish masterpieces of work and play while in the prone position.

GEMINI

MAY 21-JUNE 20: While sleeping, most of us have over

a thousand dreams every year. Many are hard to remember and not worth remembering. But a beloved few can be life-changers. They have the potential to trigger epiphanies that transform our destinies for the better. In my astrological opinion, you are now in a

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

Dear Dan: I have a close friend who’s cheating on her girlfriend. It has been going on for over a year. At first I actually supported the exploration because my friend has a really unsupportive girlfriend who has done really crappy things to her over the course of their relationship. I kept pushing for her to make a decision and use this affair as a way for her to free herself, but she is just coasting along with her girlfriend and her lover. She’s under a lot of stress and she’s turned into a major liar and it’s creeping me out. I’m considering either telling her girlfriend myself (though I promised my friend I wouldn’t) or maybe I just need to end this friendship. My friend’s double life upsets me. It’s just been going on too long. —Is My Friend An Asshole phase when such dreams are more likely than usual. That’s why I invite you to keep a pen and notebook by your bed so as to capture them. For inspiration, read this testimony from Jasper Johns, whom some call America’s “foremost living artist”: “One night I dreamed that I painted a large American flag, and the next morning I got up and I went out and bought the materials to begin it.” (Painting flags ultimately became one of Johns’ specialties.)

CANCER

JUNE 21-JULY 22: Ford Madox Ford (1873–1939) was a

renowned author who wrote The Good Soldier, a novel that has been called “one of the 100 greatest novels of all time.” Yet another very famous author, Henry James (1843–1916), was so eager to escape hanging out with Ford that he once concealed himself behind a tree so as to not be seen. You have astrological permission to engage in comparable strategies during the coming weeks. It won’t be a time when you should force yourself to endure boring, meaningless and unproductive tasks.

LEO

JULY 23-AUG. 22: I hope that during the coronavirus crisis

you have been entertaining wild truths and pondering the liberations you will initiate when the emergency has passed. I trust you have been pushing your imagination beyond its borders and wandering into the nooks and crannies of your psyche that you were previously hesitant to explore. Am I correct in my assumptions, Leo? Have you been wandering outside your comfort zone and discovering clues about how, when things return to normal, you can add spice and flair to your rhythm?

VIRGO

AUG. 23-SEPT. 22: I like this quote by the author Jake

Remington: “Fate whispers to the warrior, ‘You cannot withstand the storm.’ The warrior whispers back, ‘I am the storm.’” Although this passage is more melodramatic than necessary for your needs in the coming weeks, I think it might be good medicine that will help you prevail over the turbulence of the coronavirus crisis. Getting yourself into a storm-like mood could provide you with

Dear IMFAA: If your friend — the one leading the double life — is asking you to run interference for her, if she’s asking you to lie to her girlfriend, or if she’s asked you to compromise your integrity in some way, she’s an asshole and you’re a sap; tell your friend you’re done covering for her and that you won’t be able to see her again until the deceit or the pandemic is over, whichever comes first. If the issue your friend expects you to ooze sympathy while she goes on and on about the mess she’s made of her life, IMFAA, simply refuse to discuss the mess that is her love life with her. Remind her that she already knows what you think needs to do — she needs to break the fuck up with her shitty girlfriend — and then change the subject. Dear Dan: I’m a cis het woman who loves men and loves dicks. I love dicks so much that I fantasize about having one. Nothing brings me to orgasm more quickly or reliably than closing my eyes and imagining my own dick, or imagining myself as my partner, and what they’re feeling through their dick. I love being a woman, and I’m afraid to bring this up with any partner(s) of mine. Is this super weird? Am I secretly trans somehow? Am I overthinking this? —Perfect Minus Penis Dear PMP: It’s not that weird, some

people are trans and you could be one of them (but fantasizing about having a dick ≠ being a male), and you’re overthinking what you should be enjoying. Buy a strapon, tell your partners about your fantasies, and enjoy having the dick you can have. Dear Dan: I’m a 35-year-old straight guy. I recently started seeing an amazing 34-year-old girl. We love being around each other, but during sex, neither of us can come. It’s infuriating, to say the least. She has no trouble when she masturbates and I know I have no trouble when I masturbate, so why can’t we come together? —Can’t Understand Matter Dear CUM: If you can come when you masturbate and she can come when she masturbates, CUM, masturbate together and you’ll be coming together. Mutual masturbation isn’t a sad consolation prize — mutual masturbation is sex and it can be great sex. And the more often you come together through mutual masturbation, CUM, the likelier it gets that you’ll be able to come together while enjoying other things. Listen to the Savage Lovecast this week with Erin Gibson, www.savagelovecast.com. Send emails to mail@savagelove.net, follow Dan on Twitter @ FakeDanSavage, and visit ITMFA.org.

the personal power necessary to be unflappable and authoritative. You should also remember that a storm is not inherently bad. It may be akin to a catharsis or orgasm that relieves the tension and clears the air.

for you to engage in reverential rituals like those—but without leaving your home, of course. Use this socialdistancing time to draw reinvigoration from holy places within you or in your memory.

LIBRA

CAPRICORN

says, “You have to know when to be arrogant. You have to know when to be humble. You have to know when to be hard and you have to know when to be soft.” You Librans tend to be skilled in this artful approach to life: activating and applying the appropriate attitude as is necessary for each new situation. And I’m happy to report that your capacity for having just the right touch at the right time will be a crucial asset in the coming weeks. Trust your intuition to guide you through every subtle shift of emphasis.

your life story, you have been doing the unspectacular but yeoman work of recharging your spiritual batteries. Although you may have outwardly appeared to be quiet and still, you have in fact been generating and storing up concentrated reserves of inner power. Because of the coronavirus crisis, it’s not yet time to tap into those impressive reserves and start channeling them into a series of dynamic practical actions. But it is time to formulate the practical actions you will take when the emergency has passed.

SEPT. 23-OCT. 22: Libran rapper and activist Talib Kweli

DEC. 22-JAN. 19: As I understand the current chapter of

SCORPIO

AQUARIUS

(1883–1956) enjoyed a colorful fate. One of the few female Cubist painters, she was a prominent figure in the Parisian avant-garde. She was also the muse and romantic partner of renowned poet Guillaume Apollinaire. But there came a turning point when she abandoned her relationship with Apollinaire. “I was 25 and he was sleeping with all the women,” she said, “and at 25 you don’t stand for that, even from a poet.” Is there a comparable situation in your life, Scorpio? A role you relish but that also takes a toll? Now is a favorable time to re-evaluate it. I’m not telling you what you should decide, only that you should think hard about it.

a variation on the famous Christian supplication known as the Lord’s Prayer. The original version begins, “Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.” But Prévert’s variation says, “Our father who art in heaven: Stay there.” Being an atheist, he had no need for the help and support of a paternal deity. I understand his feeling. I tend to favor the Goddess myself. But for you Aquarians right now, even if you’re allergic to talk of a divine presence, I’ll recommend that you seek out generous and inspiring masculine influences. According to my reading of the astrological omens, you will benefit from influences that resemble good fathering.

OCT. 23-NOV. 21: Scorpio artist Marie Laurencin

JAN. 20-FEB. 18: Aquarian poet Jacques Prévert offered

SAGITTARIUS

PISCES

Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1596–1680) was a prodigious, inventive creator. One scholar wrote, “What Shakespeare is to drama, Bernini may be to sculpture.” He designed and built public squares, fountains and buildings, many in Rome, which embodied his great skills as both sculptor and architect. Unlike many brilliant artists alive today, Bernini was deeply religious. Every night for 40 years, he walked from his home to pay a devotional visit to the Church of the Gesù. According to my reading of the astrological factors, now would be an excellent time

what you want? Wait. Let me back up and reformulate that. How skillful are you in knowing what you want and expressing the truth about what you want to the people who might ultimately be able to give it to you or help you get it? This is the most important question for you to meditate on in the coming weeks. If you find that you’re fuzzy about what you want or hazy about asking for what you want, correct the problems.

NOV. 22-DEC. 21: Sagittarian sculptor and architect

APRIL 16, 2020

FEB. 19-MARCH 20: How skillful are you in expressing

Drug cartel gives food packages to the poor by Paul Danish

he coronavirus pandemic has prompted Mexico’s Gulf Cartel to get in touch with its inner Robin Hood. According to the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, an investigative reporting platform, Gulf Cartel members are delivering food packages to the poor. At least 200 poor families allegedly received the aid. Pictures of boxes with labels saying “Cartel del Golfo in support of Ciudad Victoria...” have appeared on social media. The boxes contain canned goods, breakfast cereal and oil. El Blog del Narco, which originally reported on the Gulf Cartel’s food distribution efforts, said it was told the labels were put on the boxes in order to show the food didn’t come from the government. The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project says the Gulf Cartel started as a smuggling group that shipped alcohol to the United States in the 1930s and is considered the oldest criminal organization in Mexico. While cartel members were giving aid and comfort to the poor, they were also remaining true to their bootlegger roots. On the same day photos appeared showing the food distribution, cartel gunmen killed seven people in a beer warehouse. • • • • Bloomberg News reports that a poll conducted by Cowen & Co., a cannabis-focused consultancy, found that marijuana sales spiked 64% the week of

March 16 as coronavirus lockdowns were kicking in. Gains fell off in subsequent weeks, possibly due to the declining percentage of stoners employed fulltime, Cowen & Co. said. • • • • Well what did they expect? Remember last year’s epidemic of vaper’s lung — lung damage associated with vaping and e-cigarette use that was caused by the use of Vitamin E acetate as a thickening agent in illegally produced vaping products? Now a study published in at JAMA Network Open (connected to the American Medical Association) that states where recreational marijuana was legal had a lot lower prevalence of vaper’s lung than in states where recreational sales were prohibited. (The official bureaucratic name of vaper’s lung, which sickened more than 2,600 and killed at least 60, is “e-cigarette or vaping product useassociated lung injury,” or EVALI. Who in the name of Mother Tongue thinks these things up?) The study found that in states with recreational marijuana shops, the rate of vaper’s lung cases was 1.7 cases per million people, compared with 8.1 cases per million people in pot prohibition states. States where medical marijuana was legal but recreational marijuana wasn’t had a vaper’s lung case rate of 8.8 cases per million population. The researchers surmised that it’s “possible that in recreational states, people tend to purchase mari-

APRIL 16, 2020

juana products at legal dispensaries, which may be less likely to sell the contaminated products that are thought to cause EVALI.” Ya’ think? • • • • For geezer-Americans my age, mention of the city of Skopje, which today is the capital of the country of North Macedonia, brings to mind the disastrous 1963 earthquake that killed over a thousand people and leveled more than 80% of the town. But you can’t keep a good city down, and Skopje has been bouncing back since about 4000 B.C. Today Skopje has a population of over half a million — and is the epicenter of North Macedonia’s drive to become a “cannabis superpower.” According to a story that appeared in the New York Times in late March, a company named Pharmacon has built a four-acre-plus indoor grow (178,000 square feet) capable of producing 17 tons of pot a year, including a strain called Herijuana that has received some rhapsodic online reviews — like, “I feel blown to the dome omg,” from a fan writing on Leafly. “It also gave me the ability to rap,” the reviewer added. Ah, but nothing is simple in the Balkans. The parliament of North Macedonia has to approve a marijuana export law before the country can achieve ganja superpower status, and the bill is mired in scandal. It seems that licenses for grows like the four-acre one were given to too many of the prime minister’s cronies and family members, so everything is on hold until the matter is fully aired. The regulations under which Pharmacon’s grow was built specified that it be ringed by high walls, barbed wire and security cameras. “I told my partners not long ago,” one investor said, “if cannabis doesn’t work out, it would be pretty easy to turn this place into a jail.”

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