EL SEGUNDO HERALD March 25, 2021 Page 3
Letters
Entertainment
In Dancing With the Devil, Demi Lovato
Reinvents Herself as a Confident, Queer Woman
Morgan Rojas for cinemacy.com
If the opening night showcase film at this
year’s SXSW film festival set out to prove
anything, it’s that sharing our struggles with
strangers can be a cathartic and positivelyaffirming
experience. When you’re former
Disney star/recovering addict/and newly
“out” artist Demi Lovato, it can also be quite
vulnerable and scary.
Drawing comparisons to the recent New
York Times-produced documentary Framing
Britney, which revealed a troubling, unacknowledged
history of one of the world’s
most famous pop stars (Britney Spears),
Demi Lovato’s own story–Dancing with the
Devil, now streaming on YouTube–sounds
hauntingly similar.
Demi’s catapult to stardom first launched
as a child in Barney & Friends, then Disney
Channel, and quickly led to deep-rooted insecurities,
teenage rebellion, and addictions
of many kinds. Demi candidly talks about
her eating disorders, losing her virginity as a
teenager in a sexual assault, and her tumultuous
relationship with drugs and alcohol; it’s the
last topic that is covered most in-depth, and
serves as the genesis behind making this film.
Dancing with the Devil shows that this
wasn’t Demi’s first attempt at shooting a
documentary to show her struggles. In fact,
the initial shoot shut down in 2018 after Demi
suffered a near-fatal overdose in which, as
she reveals now in the doc, she was mere
minutes away from dying. Removing herself
from the public eye for a few years to recharge
and reset (as well as rest her voice),
Demi attributes 2020’s forced quarantine
with her family and ex-fiancé to keeping her
alive. For many, 2020 was a brutal year; but
as her family and close friends share in the
film, it was the best thing that could have
happened to Demi.
Directed by Michael D. Ratner, Dancing
with the Devil joins the ranks of other docs
made by former young pop culture icons
who want to tell (and own) their stories,
including Justin Bieber: Seasons and This
is Paris. While Dancing with the Devil is
itself, an engaging work, it feels as though
its purpose is a thinly veiled beg for forgiveness
from her peers and fans. I don’t feel like
it’s my place to judge someone’s past and
their explanation as to why they did certain
things, but the audience’s only requirement
here is to sit and listen. Demi’s hope is that
we allow her the chance for a fresh start,
and this is her explanation as to why she
deserves one.
So, the big question: is the struggle over
for Demi Lovato? The film doesn’t leave
us with a confident answer either way, but
one thing it hammers home is that the Demi
who is going to reemerge in 2021 is not the
same woman we’ve seen before. This new
woman has the power to come out on top,
and we should all be rooting for her muchdeserved
comeback. •
Dancing With the Devil, courtesy of YouTube Originals.
Morgan Rojas
Seasons Start for Eagles
By Gregg McMullin
Finally, after over four hundred days since
the El Segundo high school football team
played their last game, they played their
first game. The baseball team’s wait to play
was a mere 375 days since their last game.
Both teams embraced their season openers
with anticipation, a little nervousness, and
plenty of zeal for their favorite sport. The
results weren’t favorable in either team’s
opener, but both head coaches weren’t too
concerned for the loss.
Coach Green Finds
Positives in Football Loss
First-year head coach Shawn Green’s debut,
went as positive as it could have when
you sum up all that his team had to face.
First, they were on the road playing at South
Torrance High, which is notorious for its
brisk evenings and strong cold winds. The
Eagles were facing a team that had won a
CIF Championship and had a number of
starting returnees from that team. Finally,
Coach Green’s team had a limited number
of days to prepare for what amounts to a
five-game season.
The Eagles were prepared and played
well, but mistakes overtook them at times,
and they fell 21-8.
The South Torrance Spartans had some
key returnees from their CIF title run, including
Kade Jones. Jones was converted
from receiver to quarterback this season. He
scrambled for 97 yards and three touchdowns
while completing 5-7 passes for 37 yards.
The Spartans took advantage of two firstquarter
Eagle mistakes in the first quarter
to take a 14-0 lead. El Segundo opened the
game with a long drive that ended with an
interception. The Spartans reversed the field
and scored n a 22-yard run by Jones. On
the Eagle’s next possession, a muffed snap
gave the Spartans the ball at the El Segundo
1-yard line. Two plays later, Jones scored
again. The Spartans took a 21-0 lead midway
through the second quarter on another
long run by Jones.
El Segundo’s offense kicked in and drove
to the South Torrance 2-yard line. Junior
quarterback Conor Hochberg then ran it
in for the score. He connected with James
Pearson for the two-point conversion to make
it 21-8. The second half saw the two teams
fighting the elements but came up empty on
the scoreboard.
It was a typical first game with plenty of
mistakes and plenty of positives to build on.
The offensive line played solid, the defense
played with a passion, but the execution on
some plays showed a lapse. Coach Green
was subdued and positive afterward, knowing
this is just the start of his coaching career.
“They played with energy, and they fought
hard, and that’s my number one take away
from this game, Green said.
The Eagles travel to North Torrance Friday
at 7 p.m. to face a good Saxon team. The
Eagles home opener is next Friday at 7 p.m.
Stolnack Helps Ignite
Win with Homerun
The El Segundo baseball team started play
in the 53rd Stevenson/El Segundo Tournament
and split their first two games. In the
season opener, the Eagles fell 4-1 to the Palos
Verdes Sea Kings and then turned around to
defeat Long Beach Wilson 8-7 in ten innings.
In the opener, Brendan McAndrews singled
and later scored on Julian Rodriquez’s double
in the first inning to give the Eagles a 1-0
lead. It would be the only runs El Segundo
would score, but it wasn’t for the lack of
opportunities. The Eagles wound up leaving
ten runners on base, including five in scoring
position. The Sea Kings sent six different
pitchers to the mound to stop the Eagles,
who had six hits.
The Sea Kings tied the game in the third
inning when Jayden Camel singled and
scored on Gavin Peters’ RBI single to make
it 1-1. In the fifth, Peters reached on an error
and later scored on Christos Tsangaris’ RBI
single. P.V. scored two more in the sixth on
Will Mashy’s two-run single to make it 4-1.
El Segundo faced the LB Wilson Bruins in
the second game that stretched into the ten
innings that spanned over three hours. In the
end, it was poor fielding on the Bruins part
See Sports, page 8
Kenny Chung threw three shutout innings and struck out seven
batters
Douglass
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Poor Customer Service
at ESPD Counter
I was recently In the El Segundo Police
department’s front lobby to pay for two dog
licenses. I saw that there was nobody at the
front counter but observed a sergeant who
appeared to be in casual conversation with
someone. Another person was at a different
desk and both did all they could to not
make eye contact with me. After what
seemed like an eternity, but was essentially
five or so minutes, I knocked on the window
to get someone’s attention. After thirty
seconds I knocked on the window to get the
sergeant’s attention.
The traffic sergeant sauntered towards the
counter with his disgusted ‘I’m better than
you attitude’ and said, “Can’t you see there’s
nobody here, they’ll be right back.” Then he
snapped, “What do you want, I don’t work
the front counter.” I replied that I was there
to pay for dog licenses. This $150K a year
sergeant, who couldn’t be bothered because
he was so busy confabulating with a nonsworn
person said, “If you can’t wait take
a hike!” and walked back to his important
conversation.
The mission statement of the El Segundo
Police Department is to, “Provide a safe and
secure community while treating all people
with dignity and respect.” This brash sergeant
could learn a lesson from PSO #1042 for
her attention to duty and apologetic attitude.
Neither one of these officers knew that I was
retired from law enforcement or an original
Executive Board member of the South Bay
Police/Fire Memorial Foundation. I wonder
if the sergeant knew would his attitude have
been different.
– Gregg McMullin •