Indy Digest: Feb. 27, 2023
Last Monday in this space, I mentioned that the hubby and I had been exposed to COVID-19, and were afraid the next figurative shoe would drop.
Well … last Monday night, I had a particularly intense tickle in my throat, and my sinuses started going crazy. I have a mild sore throat more often than not, thanks to allergies (that seem to be getting worse as I age), but my sinus/congestion situation was definitely heading in the wrong direction.
Tuesday morning, I woke up sounding like Bea Arthur, but more gravelly. I took a COVID test, bracing for the worst. Much to my surprise, it was negative.
In the six-plus days since … well, nothing’s changed. The congestion has waxed and waned slightly, but it hasn’t progressed like it would if I had a cold, or RSV, or the flu, or COVID. (Nonetheless, I’ve taken two more COVID tests in the interim—both negative—which, given the exposure, is a relief.)
As a result, I am 98 percent certain that I am just dealing with some gnarly allergies.
This self-diagnosis has been seemingly affirmed by two other things. One: Several of my friends are going through the same thing. Two: Yesterday, I spent the bulk of the afternoon outside. It was opening day for the Palm Springs Gay Softball League (go Heat!), and when I arrived at Demuth Park for my team’s doubleheader, I felt OK—I was congested, but not annoyingly so. By the middle of our second game, however, breathing … well, saying it was difficult would be an overstatement, but I was certainly AWARE of my breathing, and my head felt like a brick.
This is The Weather Channel’s local allergy forecast as of this writing:
This doesn’t all make sense (the graph at the top doesn’t seem to jibe with the breakdown at the bottom)—but if the current allergy situation is actually “moderate,” I may be in serious trouble if we ever hit “very high.”
—Jimmy Boegle
From the Independent
Musical Masterpiece: CVRep’s ‘Once’ Is One of the Best Shows Our Reviewer Has Seen in Almost a Decade
By Bonnie Gilgallon
February 25th, 2023
Every now and then. we see something onstage that is truly transformative—something that opens up our soul and takes us somewhere we’ve never been before. That is the case with CVRep’s production of Once.
Caesar Cervisia: Before Spring Arrives, Take Advantage of the Cooler Weather—and Enjoy Some Winter Seasonals
By Brett Newton
February 27th, 2023
After many years, the winter warmer became influential enough to spread to the United States, where the first “craft brewers” would do their versions of the style.
Rapid Comedown: After a Fine Start, ‘Cocaine Bear’ Loses the Humor and Becomes a Slog
By Bob Grimm
February 27th, 2023
Cocaine Bear has one of the best premises for a film we are likely to see this year. Unfortunately, it’s a premise that gets burned up in the movie’s first half.
The Lucky 13: Sean McCune, Hip-Hop Artist AEIOU, and Drummer for Analog Lab
By Matt King
February 27th, 2023
Get to better know Sean McCune—hip hop artist, drummer, backing musician.
Desert Arc Hosts 13th Annual Charity Golf Classic on April 3 (Nonprofit Submission)
By Madeline Zuckerman
February 25th, 2023
Desert Arc’s 13th Annual Golf Classic Fundraiser on Monday, April 3, will begin at 11 a.m. with a barbecue lunch at Eagle Falls Golf Course at Fantasy Springs Resort Casino.
Tools For Tomorrow Presents Lifetime Philanthropy Award to David W. Bryant (Nonprofit Submission)
By Suzanne Fromkin
February 25th, 2023
Tools for Tomorrow gave its Lifetime Philanthropy Award to longtime supporter David W. Bryant at a special event on Feb. 9.
On the Scene: Artists Council Opens ACE and Presents Awards (Nonprofit Submission)
By Barbara Kerr
February 25th, 2023
The Artists Center at the Galen hosted a celebration of artists and art on Friday, Feb. 17, at the opening reception for the 2023 Annual Artists Council Exhibition and Sale (ACE).
More News
• Coachella Valley Unified School District students walked out of class this morning. KESQ News Channel 3 reports they walked out “to protest school safety and teacher salaries.” Here’s News Channel 3’s report. (I recommend watching the video, which includes footage from the walkout.)
• If you’re looking for an update on one of the dumbest local news stories in recent memory, here’s one, from the Palm Springs Post: “Members of a local group formed to oppose the location of the 26-foot-tall Forever Marilyn statue in Downtown Palm Springs are celebrating a legal victory today. Still, nobody on either side of the issue expects the artwork to be relocated any time soon. On Thursday, a state appeals court ruled that a lawsuit filed against the city by the Committee to Relocate Marilyn (CReMa) can move forward, reversing a 2021 trial court decision that appeared to severely limit the group’s chances of seeing the statue relocated. … While some opponents of the statue have labeled it sexist and in poor taste, the crux of the lawsuit hinges on the use of a word. In 2020 the City Council voted to allow the statue to be placed in the middle of the road – Museum Way – for three years. At the time, the city labeled the statue’s placement ‘temporary.’ Aside from arguing in the lawsuit that the city overstepped its authority by claiming the three-year closure was temporary, CReMa members also objected to locating the controversial statue in front of the Palm Springs Art Museum. Other community members said blocking a road intended for vehicles for years meant taxpayer dollars were wasted on its construction. On Thursday, the appeals court judge agreed on the language argument.”
• Our partners at Calmatters look at the mess that’s been made of California’s cannabis industry—specifically, in Humboldt, Mendocino and Trinity counties: “For decades before California legalized recreational cannabis in 2016, this rural region of about 245,000 people was the base of weed cultivation for the entire country. The effects of the (cannabis) price crash, which has been particularly acute in the past two years, can be felt throughout the three counties, both within the industry and far outside of it. Cultivators who can barely make ends meet are laying off employees, slashing expenses or shutting down their farms. That means money isn’t flowing into local businesses, nonprofits are getting fewer generous cash donations in brown paper bags, and local governments are collecting less in sales and property taxes.”
• Reason No. 230,549,294 that Fox News is generally despicable, compliments of the Los Angeles Times: “New court documents show that Rupert Murdoch and his top lieutenants at Fox News were aware that former President Trump’s claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election were false, but agreed to give them continued coverage in an effort to keep its unhappy viewers from fleeing. The stunning revelations based on deposition testimony were in a brief filed Monday in Delaware State Court by Dominion Voting Systems, the latest salvo in the company’s $1.6-billion defamation suit against the conservative news network. In his deposition, Murdoch acknowledged that he had the power to keep Trump lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell from appearing on Fox News, where they spread misinformation about election fraud and falsely accused Dominion of using its machines to manipulate votes. But he chose not to exercise that power, even though behind the scenes he and others were aware that Trump’s legal team was spreading lies and even questioned their sanity, according to the deposition.”
• Oklahoma Sen. Jim Inhofe resigned from office earlier this year—and in an interview with Tulsa World, he gave a surprising reason why: “The man whose political career spanned nearly six decades has indeed retired, at least from elected office. At 88, Inhofe says he intends to remain involved in politics but admits to still suffering the long-term effects of COVID-19. It is the reason, he said, he left the Senate. ‘Five or six others have (long COVID), but I’m the only one who admits it,’ Inhofe said during a recent interview.”
• Regular readers know that when we mention a scientific study in this space, it usually comes with a reminder that any one study’s results need to be taken with a figurative grain of salt. So … with that caveat, we present this CNN story, about a disturbing study about a popular sweetener: “A sugar replacement called erythritol—used to add bulk or sweeten stevia, monkfruit and keto reduced-sugar products—has been linked to blood clotting, stroke, heart attack and death, according to a new study. ‘The degree of risk was not modest,’ said lead study author Dr. Stanley Hazen, director of the Center for Cardiovascular Diagnostics and Prevention at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute. People with existing risk factors for heart disease, such as diabetes, were twice as likely to experience a heart attack or stroke if they had the highest levels of erythritol in their blood, according to the study, published Monday in the journal Nature Medicine.”
• And finally … Amazon is being sued for selling products that include donkey meat. Yes, really. Business Insider says: “The Center for Contemporary Equine Studies is suing Amazon for selling products containing donkey meat, despite efforts from advocacy groups to halt the practice. The lawsuit claims the e-commerce giant is illegally selling products that contain ‘ejiao’—a gelatin made from the skin of donkeys and used in various products like health supplements—in violation of California animal welfare law. Some advocacy groups and consumers claim companies are deceptively using the substance, contributing to the slaughter and skinning of millions of donkeys a year. One Amazon customer told Wired she was shocked to discover anti-hemorrhage dietary supplements on the site that claimed to be ‘100 percent pure, natural herbs’ but contained ‘gelatina nigra,’ another name for ejiao.”
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