Planet Jackson Hole 12.27.17 by Planet Jackson Hole

JACKSON HOLEâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S ALTERNATIVE VOICE | PLANETJH.COM | DECEMBER 27-JANUARY 2, 2017

THE

BALLAD OF

BUDD-FALEN PROVOCATEU R OR PROTECTOR?

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

2 | DECEMBER 27, 2017

January 2018

St. John’s Calendar of Events Most events are free unless otherwise noted.

Support Groups Weight Management Support Group Open to everyone interested in weight loss and those considering (or who have had) bariatric surgery Thursday, January 18, 4 pm Professional Office Building Suite 206

Steppin’ Out For cancer survivors and families Cooking class featuring soups Tuesday, January 9 5:30 pm Presbyterian Church

Call 307.739.6195 for information and to sign up

Teton Parkies (For those affected by Parkinson’s Disease)

Gather for mutual support, discussion of disease and therapies, and more. Tuesday, January 9 4:00 pm Emily’s Pond Walk or XC ski; dogs welcome. Out for dinner afterward. Tuesday, January 23 5:30pm Jackson Whole Grocer BYO dinner. Contact Elizabeth at 307.733.4966, 614.271.7012, or epgerhard@gmail.com

Teton Mammas For new babies and their families Wednesday, January 10 1 – 2:30 pm Moose Wapiti Classroom St. John’s Medical Center

For information, call 307.739.7434

Growing Through Grief A structured, eight-week group for those grieving the loss of a loved one. Tuesdays, beginning January 16 4:30-5:30 pm

Led by St. John’s Hospice social worker Oliver Goss, LCSW Drop-ins welcome, but please call ahead Wednesday, January 10 Noon – 1 pm Wednesday, January 24 Noon – 1 pm Professional Office Building Suite 114, 555 E. Broadway, Entrance C

Cancer Support Group for Patients Survivors, and Caregivers Led by cancer nurse Beth Shidner, RN, OCN, and social worker Lynnette Gartner, MSW, LCSW Thursday, January 18 4-5 pm Professional Office Building Suite 206

Make-up and hair instruction for female cancer survivors, led by a professional cosmetologist. Sponsored by the American Cancer Society. Saturday, January 20 10 am–noon Boardroom at St. John’s Medical Center

Childbirth Education Class Preparing expectant parents for labor, delivery, infant care, and beyond. Saturday, January 27 8:30 am – 5 pm

Memory Loss Support Group For those suffering from persistent memory problems; family members and caregivers welcome Featuring guest speaker Emily Selleck, author of “When We Become I. Again” Thursday, January 11 Noon – 1 pm

Look Good Feel Better

Pre-register by January 17, by calling 800.227.2345

For information, call 307.739.6175

Preregistration required. Contact Oliver at 307.739.7463

Grief Support Group

For information, call 307.739.7634

Health & Wellness

Type 2 Diabetes Prevention Group in Spanish In Spanish! ¡En Español! Zumba with Elvis. Family friendly. Mondays and Wednesdays 5:30 – 6:30 pm Moose-Wapiti Classroom St. John’s Medical Center

For information, call 307.739.7678

To sign up, call 307.739.6175

Spine Classes Information for people considering or scheduled for spine surgery Tuesday, January 9, 3-4:30 pm Monday, January 15, 1-2:30 pm Monday, January 22, 1-2:30 pm Monday, January 29, 1-2:30 pm Physical Therapy Room St. John’s Medical Center

Please register by calling 307.739.6199

Auxiliary Monthly Luncheon “A New Home for a New Age: An Update on the Living Center” by guest speaker Malenda Hoelscher, SJMC executive director of senior living. Thursday, January 4 Noon Moose Wapiti Classroom

For information, call 307.739.7517

Joint Classes Information for people considering or scheduled for joint replacement surgery Tuesday, January 2, 4-5:30 pm Thursday, January 11, 4-5:30 pm Tuesday, January 16, 4-5:30 pm Thursday, January 25, 8-9:30 am Tuesday, January 30, 4-5:30 pm Physical Therapy Room St. John’s Medical Center

Please register by calling 307.739.6199

For information, call 307.739.6195

Call 307.739.7463

tetonhospital.org/calendar

625 E. Broadway, Jackson, WY

JACKSON HOLE'S ALTERNATIVE VOICE

VOLUME 15 | ISSUE 50 | DEC 27-JAN 2, 2017

@THEPLANETJH |

@PLANETJH |

/PLANETJH

11 COVER STORY

JACKSON HOLE’S ALTERNATIVE VOICE | PLANETJH.COM | DECEMBER 27-JANUARY 2, 2017

THE BALLAD OF BUDDFALEN Provocateur or OF BUDD-FALEN protector?

THE

BALLAD

PROVOCATEUR OR PROTECTOR?

Cover illustration by Greg Houston www.greghoustonillustration.com

17 CULTURE KLASH

THE NEW WEST

18 MUSIC BOX

6 DEMO IN CRISIS

20 DON’T MISS

8 THE BUZZ

23 STREAMING

THE PLANET TEAM

ART DIRECTOR

COPY EDITOR

Vaughn Robison / art@planetjh.com

Cory Garcia

PUBLISHER

SALES DIRECTOR

Copperfield Publishing, John Saltas

CONTRIBUTORS

Jen Tillotson / jen@planetjh.com

EDITOR

ADVERTISING ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES

Rob Brezsny, Kelsey Dayton, Cory Garcia, Helen Goelet, Carol Mann, Scott Renshaw, Ted Scheffler, Cary Smith, Tom Tomorrow, Todd Wilkinson,

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Dave Alper, Chase Corona

Jim Woodmencey, Baynard Woods

MEMBER: National Newspaper Association, Alternative Weekly Network, Association of Alternative Newsmedia

567 W. BROADWAY | P.O. BOX 3249 | JACKSON, WYOMING 83001 | 307-732-0299 | WWW.PLANETJH.COM

SPONSORED BY GRAND TETON FLOOR & WINDOW COVERINGS

WHAT’S COOL

We were saved by the bell last week, with new snowfall in the days leading up to Christmas Day, ensuring a White Christmas in the Hole. With the New Year upon us, this is when some of the coldest days of the year occur here, in late December and early January. Not every year, but on average most years have experienced a spell of bitter cold temperatures. Read about the coldest in “What’s Cool”, and the exceptions in the “What’s Hot” section this week.

Average low temperatures this week will bottom-out just after the first of the year, with lower single digits for averages this next week or two, the coldest averages of the year. We woke up on Christmas Eve Day 2017 to a low temperature of 16-degrees below zero at the Jackson Climate Station. The record low temperatures during this week are much colder: 49-degrees below zero and 50-degrees below zero, on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day 1978-79.

Average high temperatures this week are around 25-degrees. I mentioned last week how warm it was here in late December 1933, with a record high of 55-degrees on the Winter Solstice, December 21st, that year. On December 30th, 1933, Jackson’s afternoon high temperature was 52-degrees, and it was raining that day. Our warmest New Year’s Day ever was in 1997, when the afternoon high temperature reached 47-degrees, and it was also pouring rain in Jackson.

Carpet - Tile - Hardwood - Laminate Blinds - Shades - Drapery Mon - Fri 10am - 6pm Open Tuesdays until 8pm 1705 High School Rd Suite 120 Jackson, WY 307-200-4195 www.tetonfloors.com | www.tetonblinds.com

NORMAL HIGH 25 NORMAL LOW 4 RECORD HIGH IN 1933 52 RECORD LOW IN 1979 -50

THIS MONTH AVERAGE PRECIPITATION: 1.52 inches RECORD PRECIPITATION: 6 inches (1964) AVERAGE SNOWFALL: 17 inches RECORD SNOWFALL: 47.5 inches

Jim has been forecasting the weather here for more than 20 years. You can find more Jackson Hole Weather information at www.mountainweather.com

DECEMBER 27, 2017 | 3

BY METEOROLOGIST JIM WOODMENCEY

THIS WEEK

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

JH ALMANAC

DEC 27-JAN 2, 2017

4 SNOWPACK

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

4 | DECEMBER 27, 2017

DUD e , WHere’s

SHOVELING REQUIREMENTS Additionally, we would like to remind people: Town residents are responsible for keeping sidewalks shoveled.

my car?

• The TOJ assists with snow removal in the downtown core and along Broadway. • Residents should not put their garbage cans out the night before, but rather after 7:00am on garbage days.

The Town of Jackson’s overnight parking ban is in effect. SO, if you want to avoid all kinds of hassles, listen up!

PARKING RESTRICTIONS

• Please keep trash cans, cars, and other obstacles out of the streets and off of the curbs. This saves your property and makes the streets more clear of drifts and snow.

November 1 through April 15, between 3:00am & 7:00am,

it is illegal to park overnight on Jackson streets, including public parking lots, regardless of weather (rain, snow or shine). Crews begin plowing at 3am. Parked cars on town streets make the job of keeping roads clear of snow more difficult. Consequently, cars left on town streets between 3am & 7am will be ticketed and may be towed by Jackson police. To retrieve your car, contact Ron’s Towing at 733-8697, 1190 S. Hwy 89. Overnight parking for 48 hours or less is allowed in the public parking structure at W. Simpson Ave. and S. Millward St. but not on other town parking lots.

SNOWPACK REPORT

• Residents are also encouraged to help keep fire hydrants clear of snow.

BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE FRIENDLY FOLKS AT THE TOWN OF JACKSON

SPONSORED BY HEADWALL RECYCLE SPORTS

BY LISA VAN SCIVER

ust when we thought the weather was high and dry, Santa delivered feet of light-density pixie dust for the holiday week. The valley shifted from brown to white and winter has come at last. The new snow fell on a variety of persistent weak layers and produced an active avalanche cycle as it formed into a very sensitive, soft slab. On December 23 and 24th, sixteen inches of snow fell at the Raymer weather station, located at 9,300 feet at the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort. This snow contained less than an inch of water. On the first day, 24 avalanches in the backcountry were reported to the Bridger Teton Avalanche Center and it’s likely many more avalanches occurred. There were avalanches on all aspects and at elevations ranging from 7,500 feet to 11,000 ft. These slides were mostly size one and two. The surfaces the snow was falling upon

was so weak that the snow either naturally released or easily triggered. Due to the light density snow, the avalanches were not very destructive as the debris lacked mass. The weak-faceted snow and thick crusts within our snowpack this season have the potential to be repeat offenders. These persistent snow grains and weak layers will take twice or more the time to heal as they took to form. Faceted snow grains are very challenging to predict and should be given a wide margin for potential error. Continue to think about the snowpack while listening and discussing with others every Wednesday night at Headwall Sports. On January 3, join Sarah Carpenter owner and avalanche instructor for American Avalanche Institute. The event begins at 6 p.m. with beer and tacos provided.

The New Doctor Yellowstone’s Dan Wenk prescribes courage if we want to save our wild ecosystem

NEAL HERBERT

Yellowstone Park Superintendent Dan Wenk. received an honorary doctorate from Montana State University in Bozeman. Wenk gave a rousing acceptance speech, demonstrating courage that is now exceedingly rare. “We are at a crossroads in our decision making as a community, a region and a nation in our attitude about protection of wild places,” he said. In 2016, I wrote a column in which I cited Wenk’s former colleague, David Hallac, who served as Yellowstone’s science chief. He warned that while the ecosystem’s health is remarkable, it is facing unprecedented converging threats that, unless confronted, will cause it to unravel. Wenk picked up the theme, noting that it comes down to human decisions and a will to do the right thing by giving back more than we take. “The least studied species in Yellowstone is the human. We don’t yet understand the affect of record visitation on either the visitor experience or the resources we protect,” Wenk said. “If we don’t understand these interrelationships, we may diminish, perhaps irreparably, the very things that attract people worldwide to this one-of-a-kind national park.” Wenk ended his advice to college graduates that applies equally to everyone in the ecosystem who care about its exceptional character.

Said Wenk:

Todd Wilkinson, who is editor of MountainJournal.org, writes his column every week.

DECEMBER 27, 2017 | 5

• “Tell people what they need to hear, not what they want to hear”; • “Contribute to things bigger than yourselves”; • “It’s easy to make decisions when you know what your values are”; • “When you find yourself on the side of the majority, it’s time to pause and reflect”;

• “If you are not at the table you are on the menu”; • “Setting an example is not the main means of influencing others, it’s the only means”; • “Misery is optional.” For Wenk, the latter point means this: Let adventure in nature inspire you to be a better, more compassionate, sensitive and humble person who delights in the possibility of saving a place unlike any other. Find levity in moments of intense gravity; ferret out reasons to have hope when all is thought lost; think beyond your own generation the same that previous conservationists did for you; and step up and be counted in advocating for wild places and wildlife that do not have their own voice. He quoted a woman rancher from Montana who told Wenk we must all sacrifice to save the character of the land. “It’s hard to condemn any one sector without acknowledging the warts and complexities of any other, but collectively we are degrading the magic that’s makes this region unique,” she told the newly-minted Dr. Wenk. “Can we slow down, scale back, and proceed with less of an air of entitlement?” Finally, he noted, “Protection and management of public lands has never been more important than it is today. It is as simple and as complex as providing a place to disconnect from our daily world and reconnect with the environment and nature, a place for emotional and, if we are lucky, spiritual renewal.” Finally, my note to readers: Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and here’s to an inspiring new year ahead. PJH

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

ellowstone National Park is what gives the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem its centrifugal force. While the 22.5-million-acre region is indeed the sum of all parts, absent the presence of America’s mother national park and, by dint of miracle, the long list of bio-geological wonders that still transcends its borders, this part of the country would be just like everywhere else. We have grizzly bears, wolves, geysers, migrating big game herds, mystical trout waters, unblemished views and plenty of terrain to explore. But conspicuously missing is leadership to deal with mounting problems being explored in depth at Mountain Journal (mountainjournal.org). There’s no true galvanizing presence among Greater Yellowstone’s conservation community; no vision coming from land management agencies arrayed together in the Greater Yellowstone Coordinating Committee. And there is little elected political leadership rising from the federal, state and local levels to formulate a cohesive strategy for dealing with issues such growth, climate change, rising recreation pressure, Chronic Wasting Disease and wildfire. Thus, it makes dynamic figures stand out all the more. Last weekend, the most obvious in that category,

Superintendent Dan Wenk speaking at Yellowstone’s Albright Visitor Center.

BY TODD WILKINSON @bigartnature

THE NEW WEST

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

6 | DECEMBER 27, 2017

BAYNARD WOODS

DEMOCRACY IN CRISIS Law & Order: Dumb-Dumb Jeff Sessions goes after the wrong gang BY BAYNARD WOODS @demoincrisis

efferson Beauregard Sessions came to Baltimore on the day that Democrat Doug Jones took the attorney general’s former Alabama Senate seat in a special election victory over accused pedophile and hardcore theocratic anti-constitutionalist Roy Moore. Much of the country felt relief that Alabama did not elect a man who had been banned from an Alabama shopping mall back in the ‘80s to the U.S. Senate. Still, more than 60% of white people in Alabama did vote for Moore, again proving that if you are racist enough in some parts of America almost nothing else matters. Trump tried to cast Moore’s defeat as a personal vindication; he had endorsed Luther Strange during the primary. But Sessions must have been more uncomfortable than normal—and not only because he was in a majority black city. When asked if he had voted, Sessions flashing his elfin grin and said he had but he would respect the “sanctity” of the secret ballot. Steve Bannon, who brought Sessions into the Trump orbit, had used all his Breitbart-ian propaganda for Moore and gotten stomped. So now he was recalibrating. A year ago, it was impossible to imagine that Alabama would end up with a Democratic senator in Sessions’ seat.

“Judge Moore has never While speaking in Baltimore, Sessions followed the Bannon script and stirred up fear of immigrants and minorities. been, really, an economics guy,” Bannon told Newsweek Strzok said that the Republican party asked about the FBI taking over the case following Moore’s defeat, and wished for a candidate like Sessions by a local reporter, he seemed largely ought to “pull their head out of their ass” where “immigration and trade would’ve unaware of the case and spoke in plati- and called Trump an idiot. Strzok was fired for this. But the far right is capitaliztudes about cooperation. been at the top of the agenda.” Sessions partially blamed immigrants ing on it. A Bannon-affiliated Super PAC is In Baltimore, Sessions followed the Bannon script and stirred up fear of immi- for Baltimore’s crime, but he also wanted buying ads in local cable markets calling grants and minorities. He was talking to blame those who protested the death of on Mueller to be fired. Right-wing pundits are calling for a purge in the FBI. about the Salvadoran gang MS-13 and Freddie Gray in 2015. This is dangerous shit for sure. But “Bad things start happening and you immigration, going back to his own most deeply-held convictions of the danger of can trace the surge in violence in this city it’s crazy to act like our law enforcement to the riots and some of the reactions that offices all around this country aren’t immigration. politicized. It’s just that they’re usualSomeone in the DOJ must have thought occurred afterwards,” Sessions said. Baltimore was a bad spot for Sessions ly right-leaning. At the same moment Baltimore would be the perfect venue for because it also reminds people that he Sessions was speaking, the first 6 of 193 this message. “Over the last two years, this city in had to recuse himself from the Russia people who will ultimately face trial particular has experienced violence like investigation for lying under oath. That as a result of four broken windows on we haven’t seen in nearly a quarter of a investigation is now handled by Rod Inauguration Day were sitting a courtcentury,” he said. “Baltimore has a higher Rosenstein, who used to be U.S. attorney room being prosecuted by his DOJ. And murder rate and a higher violent crime in Baltimore and is now Sessions’ number testimony showed that they had a clear rate than Chicago with less than a quarter two at the DOJ. Rosenstein was to testify political bias against anarchists and for about the investigation before the House Trump. of the population, if you can believe it.” But the same armchair #Resistance There is virtually no MS-13 presence the next day. “I’m appropriately exercising my over- that has ignored the trampling of the in Baltimore. Sessions did not mention that eight members of an elite police sight responsibilities. So I can assure you rights of citizens and journalists in this task force here have been indicted by that the special counsel is conducting case are getting ready for a mobilization the Feds for racketeering and a series of himself consistently with our under- if Mueller is fired. The danger is that they other crimes—robbing civilians, planting standing about the scope of his investiga- will be willing to embrace the kind of tough-on-crime mass incarceration poldrugs, stealing drugs and having them tion,” Rosenstein said. The far right is enraged because they icies of a Sessions DOJ if it helps save sold in Philadelphia by a local cop. A detective, Sean Suiter, was murdered on think Mueller and his team are politi- Mueller, who they see as the last hope. As Sessions slithered away, looking Nov. 15 and it later came out that he was cally biased and are demanding that scheduled to testify against those officers Rosenstein fire Mueller. Last month, simultaneously delighted and nervous, Republicans said that firing Mueller was like a school boy at a strip club, his red the very next day. Not exactly a good place for your law- the only way to prevent a coup. And mes- cheeks glowing beneath his white hair, it and-order speech. The “strong and moti- sages between two FBI agents, one of was clear, once again, that we are in hell. vated policing” he called for was what whom was on Mueller’s team, have given PJH allowed the Gun Trace Task Force to be fuel to that fire. Baynard Woods is a reporter for the The texts between Peter Strzok and out of control in the first place. And to make it worse, Baltimore’s police com- Lisa Page, it turns out, were released to a Real News Network. Email baynard@ missioner asked the FBI to take over the “select group” of reporters, who came to therealnews.com; @baynardwoods on case more than a week earlier and never the DOJ offices to see them on Dec. 12— Twitter. Check out the Democracy in Crisis podcast on Soundcloud and iTunes. got an answer. But when Sessions was before members of Congress got them.

REDNECK PERSPECTIVE SATIRE

The SPHERE Supper Club By Clyde Thornhill

ANY NUMBER OF

THINGS

A LOCAL LISTICLE

BY PL ANE T JACKSON HOLE S TAFF

TOP 6 THINGS TO REMEMBER FROM 2017

6. Former FBI Director James Comey is a stud. 5. Republican Senator John McCain stopped a repeal of Obamacare while fighting brain cancer. Unexpected badassery? Yes.

4. Every single story from the #MeToo movement. 3. Sketchy Roy Moore lost to a democrat in Alabama, even with Trump’s endorsement. 2.

Like our own political Nancy Drew, Robert Mueller is still on the case.

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| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

1. Things in our country may look bleak, but there are still good people out there.

usie stopped by my trailer last night all excited. “I attended The SPACE Supper Club last week!” she exclaimed. “The one featured in the News and Guide! Only a few people got invitations! We cooked supper together then ate and drank wine in a candlelit room!” “I ate Domino’s Pizza and drank Bud Lite in a singlewide trailer backlit by a T.V.” I said. “We did more than just cook and eat.” She said. “We talked about Ramakrishna’s quote: “When divine vision is attained, all appear equal; and there remains no distinction of good and bad, or of high and low.” Apparently Ramakrishna has not seen the Denver Bronco’s offence this season. “An annual membership costs $33. Susie explained. “For that onetime fee you can communicate to the world your values, showing you stand for replacing fear with peace, hate with acceptance, judgement with compassion and hierarchy with equality.” Not wanting to blow $33 dollars, but knowing these groups are comprised of women who are obviously in need of unrestrained pleasure, and understanding it is my gift to humanity to provide such pleasure, I asked. “If I replace fear with peace, hate with acceptance, but keep judgement and hierarchy can I pay $16.50 to join?” “No silly.” She said. “ T h e number three was chosen because of its symbolic roots in nu merology, including wisdom and understanding.”

“Don’t forget ménage à trois.” I said, remembering once when Alice my republican lover and Susie both had a bit too much to drink and… well let’s just say three is indeed an enchanted number. “You get a circle-shaped sticker.” Susie said ignoring me, embarrassed she had been intimate with a Republican. “Mine is yellow and reminds me of poet Rudy Francisco’s famous words that are on SPACE’s web page. “Perhaps we should love ourselves so fiercely, that when others see us they know exactly how it should be done.” “From a purely anatomical perspective, I’m not sure that is even possible.” I said. “However, you know me! I’m always up to try anything!” “I have two hours before I have to pick up Manchester at the airport.” Susie said enticingly while she unbuttoned her blouse. Susie’s husband, a consultant with Westbank Contemporary Western Esthetic Design Strategies, was flying in from a “Making Economic Priorities for your Company” conference at the Four Seasons resort in Hawaii. Susie and I gave the whole love ourselves so fiercely thing a try… but in the end, we went with the love each other methodology. Call us traditionalists. After Susie left I got thinking, $33 for a sticker? I started SPHERE, the Hog Island equivalent of SPACE. SPHERE is like SPACE but, in an attempt to attract sophisticated (read wealthy) Westbank members I wanted a more cosmic word, more philosophically robust while remaining indeterminate. For $33 you get a SPHERE sticker which means STAND for PEACE HERE (witty!) or if you’re from Hog Island-STAND for, BISCUTS, BACON, BEER, and BLACK SILKY LACE on HOT BABES! SPHERE is i nc lu s i v e and nonjudg mental of acronym usage. PJH

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

8 | DECEMBER 27, 2017

Broken families ICE leaves single mothers behind in Casper BY ANDREW GRAHAM, WYOFILE.COM

n the night of Thursday, Nov. 30, Patricia Miramontes sat in her apartment on the north side of Casper waiting for her phone to ring. The chaos of a single-parent household swirled around her. Mauricio, Miramontes’ 11-year-old son by her ex-husband, chopped potatoes and sautéed beef for dinner. His 8-year-old sister, Hirleenda, gamely attempted to change the diaper of their half-sister, the baby Merci. And in a backroom of the small apartment was another member of the blended family — seventeen-year-old Julio Balderas Jr. He’s the son of Miramontes’ current partner — Merci’s father — from a previous relationship. Julio Cesar Balderas, the 36-year-old Mexican man who ties this complicated structure together, waited in an immigration jail 280 miles away in Aurora, Colorado. His attempts to secure asylum in the United States had failed. Barring a last-minute legal miracle, Balderas awaited deportation to Mexico in the morning. At home in Casper, Miramontes waited to hear from Balderas’ attorney, Roger Morales. While she waited, she talked about Balderas and how she loves him. The two met at a party in Gillette, in 2012. They had baby Merci together. In multiple interviews she fought back tears at the thought that he could end up back in Mexico. “He’s a good man,” she said. To Miramontes, a “good man” meant in part a man who didn’t get in trouble with the law — not since they’d gotten together. But unlike Miramontes, and unlike the four children in the apartment, Balderas is not a U.S. citizen. Not only was his presence in the United States illegal, but he’d been deported before, in 2011. On that occasion he stayed in Juarez, Mexico only a few weeks before he snuck back over the border. Since that act, Balderas hasn’t had legal problems, Miramontes said. If he got traffic tickets he paid them quickly to avoid further entanglements with officialdom, she said. Inquiries by WyoFile turned up no criminal record since 2011 for Balderas in either Campbell County, where he

frequently worked, or Natrona County, where the family resided. Miramontes is astounded her boyfriend would be a target for ICE. He worked construction and had a side business pouring cement for garages and foundations. He kept his head down. Then came the arrest on Oct. 2, followed by two months of attorneys’ fees and four-hour car rides to Aurora — where baby Merci reached for her father but touched only the glass that separated them in the prison visiting room. At 7:30 pm, Miramontes’ phone sounded. It was a text message from Morales. He’d filed a motion to stop deportation, he wrote. “I am trying everything I can think of. Kitchen sink approach.” Miramontes was suddenly cheerful. “OK,” she said, smiling, “I like that.” Miramontes — and women like her — exemplify the cascading consequences of an apparent immigration crackdown. In one swoop, federal agents reduced a striving, self-sufficient couple to a single mother dependant upon help from the state. Together Balderas and Miramontes could pay for rent, daycare, groceries and bills. But since his detention she’s had to seek state childcare assistance so that she can work, she told WyoFile. And reporting indicates that Miramontes’ is not the only Casper family divided by ICE.

“Driving while brown” The following account of Balderas’ arrest is based on interviews with Julio Jr., Miramontes and Balderas. ICE did not respond to emailed requests for comment for this story, including specific questions about the arrest. On Oct. 2, Julio Jr., a U.S. citizen and licensed driver drove his father to the bank in Miramontes’ Ford pickup truck. A wheelbarrow was in the truck bed. The two were planning to pick up a debit card for Julio Jr.’s new bank account. Born in El Paso, Texas, Julio Jr. had been recently living in Juarez with his mother. He’d moved to Casper in July and enrolled in public school there. A white truck started following them when they pulled out of their neighborhood and onto a main street. It was not marked, Julio Jr. said, and didn’t alarm them at first. Julio Jr. and his father pulled into the parking lot at the Bank of the West, in downtown Casper. “I just arrived love,” Balderas wrote to Miramontes in a text message, in Spanish.

PATRICIA MIRAMONTES

THE BUZZ

The white truck pulled in behind them. Two men in plain clothes, with ICE badges and guns on their hips, got out, approached the car and pulled Balderas out, his son said. “They took him out without knocking on the door or anything,” Julio Jr. said. He asked the ICE officers to see the warrant his father’s arrest. They did not provide one. Balderas was put in the ICE vehicle, he said. Two other men were already inside. They were Fernando Rojas-Moreno, age 56, and Jose Barcenas-Mendoza, age 20, according to inmate rosters published in the Casper Star-Tribune. Their ages and stories match Balderas’ recollection of who he was in the car with. Balderas also recognized a photo of Rojas-Moreno provided to him by WyoFile. Unlike Balderas, the two men had not been picked up off the street. RojasMoreno pled guilty to delivery of cocaine charges in Casper in 2015. He was paroled from the Riverton Honor Farm into ICE custody for deportation the same day as Balderas’ arrest, a WDOC spokesman told WyoFile. Mendoza, meanwhile had been arrested in Gillette for a DUI. A judge had sentenced him to serve 30-days in the Campbell County Detention Center on Sept. 25, according to the Gillette NewsRecord. ICE officials picked him up from there, he told Balderas in the car. Balderas felt like the odd man out. He and his family aren’t sure why he was picked up, how they knew his address, what car to look for, or even if they were looking for Balderas at all. Balderas’ 2011 deportation came after an ex girlfriend called the police during a domestic dispute. According to a News-Record crime blotter at the time that matches Balderas’ age and recollection of the date (the News-Record does not publish names in its crime blotter) Balderas — 29 years old at the time — had pulled his 21-year-old ex girlfriend out of

Patricia Miramontes and Julio Balderas

a car during an argument. Balderas told WyoFile the blotter account sounded like the correct incident, but denied that he had pulled the ex-girlfriend out of the car. They had an argument, but there was no physical violence, he said. Miramontes knew about that chapter of Balderas’ past, she said, but since they met in 2012 he had been an excellent father figure for her own children, as well as to the couple’s child, Merci. Miramontes and Balderas had never had a physical dispute, she said. When she arrived at the bank parking lot after hearing from Julio Jr., Miramontes asked the ICE officers why they’d arrested Balderas, she told WyoFile. The officers said they’d recognized Balderas while in the ICE vehicle, she said, which she does not believe. The family has its own opinions. “They saw two Mexicans in a work truck and they wanted to pull them over,” Julio Jr. said. Their attorney, Roger Morales, called it “driving while brown.” Broken home Balderas spent two nights in jail in Casper, one night in jail in Wheatland and a few hours in Cheyenne’s jail before arriving in Aurora on Oct. 6. The jail there is run for ICE by a private prison company, GEO. It has a capacity for 1,532 detainees, and was first accredited in 1989, according to the company’s website. His family meanwhile, down a parent and an income, scrambled to stay afloat. Miramontes has been struggling to keep up both emotional and financial stability for her family, she said. The two-year-old Merci cries at times, particularly when she sees her mother cry. “She’ll wake up and kind of look for him … it’s super sad,” Miramontes said. A bank teller by day, Miramontes

Mauricio Miramontes, age 11, chops potatoes and sautées beef on Nov. 30. His mother, Patricia Miramontes, spent that night worrying that her partner, Julio Balderas, would be deported to Mexico by ICE the following day. Balderas served as both father figure and partial breadwinner for their blended family (left). A woman walks alone toward the entrance of the privately-run ICE jail in Aurora, Colorado. (right)

Nor did she allow Julio Jr. to take the stand to testify. After the hearing, Morales stood just inside the prison doors and told Miramontes he was not surprised by Carbone’s decision. “The only way she was going to listen is if three guys who beat [Balderas’] ass wrote a notarized letter saying ‘yea, we beat his ass, and yea, we’re probably going to beat his ass again,’” Morales said. He would try to find another avenue to stop the deportation, he told Miramontes. If he failed, Balderas would be deported on Friday, Dec. 1. It was Tuesday morning. “What if they take you?” Sitting in her kitchen the night of Thursday, Nov. 30, Miramontes did not feel optimistic. Instead, she thought about what she might do if Balderas was on his way to Mexico the next day. The most likely possibility is that the family will leave Wyoming, Miramontes said. She has a relative in El Paso which abuts Juarez, separated only by the Rio Grande. She and the kids could then visit Balderas frequently. She hates to think about moving her children out of Casper, but believes it’s the right long-term choice for the family’s happiness and her own, she said. With a child between Balderas and Miramontes, pursuing marriage could be a route to bring Balderas back legally, but it’s neither a short nor a cheap process, Miramontes said. Morales had recommended it — “you’re invested” in Balderas, he told Miramontes outside the GEO prison, and her investment was his best chance for a legal return. And if he goes, Morales said, “you’ve got to convince him to stay on the other

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One of those bills was from the attorney, Morales. Under his guidance, Balderas applied for asylum to stay in the U.S. From 2011-2015 the city of Juarez saw a decline in homicides, but they picked back up in 2016, according to the U.S. Department of State. The city of around 1.3 million people saw 526 murders in 2016, the department wrote. A significant number of the murders are gang and drug cartel related.

music at times drifts out from the taqueria’s outdoor dining area, and a small taco truck caters to hispanic, caucasian and African-American customers alike. In the prison waiting room when Miramontes and Julio Jr. arrived, local Spanish-language newspapers littered the coffee tables. Families waited to see their loved ones while immigration attorneys bustled through security to meet with their clients. A sparsely furnished Federal courtroom operates inside the private prison. Morales presented his client’s case to Judge Nina Carbone — previously an attorney with ICE’s Office of Chief Counsel. Attorney General Jeff Sessions appointed Carbone as an immigration judge May 5, according to a U.S. Department of Justice press release. Sessions appointed seven immigration judges that day. Six of them had previously worked for ICE, according to the press release. Balderas’ hearing took less than 30 minutes. Through an interpreter, Carbone asked him if he’d understood his asylum officer during the interview, and had him recount his concerns for his safety. Balderas, who’d grown a bushy black beard and stopped shaving his head in custody, repeated his concerns about cartel reprisal and extortion. The judge declined to overrule the asylum officer. Balderas was not part of a persecuted class of people, she said, and asylum could not be granted because of “generalized violence” in Juarez. The letter from Miramontes, along with one from Julio Jr. and his mother in Juarez, could not be submitted as evidence in what was simply a review of the asylum officer’s decision, the judge told Morales.

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Processed

Balderas and his son say the violence has touched them personally. Julio Jr. told WyoFile he fled Juarez after getting in a fight with cartel members. Members of Los Zetas cartel “jumped” his cousin, and Julio Jr. attempted to intervene, according to a letter detailing the story that Miramontes wrote for the attorney. After that, Julio Jr. told WyoFile, “[Los Zetas] started looking for me. They wanted to kill me.” Los Zetas is one of the largest cartels operating in Mexico today, according to ICE. If his father returns, he’ll get in similar trouble, Julio Jr. said. There is also the threat of extortion for someone recently deported, he said. Gangs assume the deportee has money from working in the U.S., or has loved ones north of the border who can afford to pay for their safety. Balderas initial request for asylum was denied. His claim of fear of violence, though credible, doesn’t qualify under current law, authorities told him. Asylum in the U.S. is granted on evidence of persecution because of “race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion,” according to DHS. Fear of gang and cartel violence, which could be directed at any Mexican citizen, is a tough sell with immigration officials, Morales told WyoFile. But he was still betting the specifics of Balderas’ case could win out. On Nov. 28, Miramontes and Julio Jr. drove to Aurora for a final attempt to convince a judge to overrule the asylum officer’s ruling. The prison is housed, incongruously, in a neighborhood rife with hispanic influences. Immediately behind the facility is a strip mall with businesses that range from Taqueria El Valle to Taxes Latinos to a Centro de Nutrición. Bachata

has added tamale-seller to her resume since the arrest. A dozen tamales sold for twelve dollars, helping pay the lawyer and feed her four charges. The 11-year-old Mauricio helped too, he said, pushing tamales to his friends’ parents at school. Miramontes is also considering selling a car she is just a year short of paying for. Meanwhile, she’s getting assistance from the state to pay for childcare, so that she doesn’t lose her bank teller job. “I hate being on government assistance,” Miramontes said. “I didn’t need it with another breadwinner.” Julio Jr. is trying to help by stepping into his father’s shoes. He was initially devastated by his father’s arrest, Miramontes said. He’d moved to Casper to spend more time with his dad. But after just a few months the move to a northern state where he knew no one has backfired. He had hoped to start school in the spring, he told WyoFile, get his high school diploma and perhaps move into a two-year college. Instead, he took over his father’s old construction job to help Miramontes keep the family afloat. For now education is on hold. “There are a lot of bills to pay,” he said.

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side of that line.” Balderas has already been caught and deported twice — he could serve federal prison time in the U.S if he’s caught again. “All his kids are here,” Miramontes responded. That Thursday night, she told WyoFile that despite the risk, if Balderas did want to cross she would consider sending him the money for a “coyote” to guide him. Miramontes remembered lying in bed with Balderas shortly after Trump’s election. “I said ‘baby, what if they take you,’” she recalled. “I just had a feeling. This was the year.”

Not an isolated incident Miramontes is not the only American mother in Casper with multiple children and a co-provider taken away recently by ICE. Agents have come up from Denver and left with other husbands and boyfriends as well. Dalia Pedro, an immigration activist in Casper, says as deportations have increased, a pattern is developing and leaving a trail of broken homes. Out of five people detained in Casper in the last two weeks, at least two were men leaving families behind, Pedro said. The story continues to echo as an immigration crackdown appears to be expanding in Wyoming. Not far from where Miramontes lives in Casper, on Nov. 29, Desiree Steadman watched her undocumented husband start his truck, come inside and kiss his kids goodbye. The couple have seven children, all U.S. citizens. After 16 years together, Steadman told WyoFile, they had just begun the process of using their marriage to gain legal residency for her husband, Efrain Silva-Romero. He had no felonies or misdemeanors, she said. When Silva left for work that day, a neighbor watched a black van trail his GMC Sierra down an alleyway, Steadman said. The neighbor alerted Steadman, and she started calling Silva’s phone. He never answered. Later, they would find the GMC Sierra at the end of the road, but Silva was gone. Steadman spoke with her husband a few times from the ICE detention center in Aurora, where he moved quickly through deportation proceedings. Nine days after his arrest, he was in an ICE processing center in New Mexico, waiting for the agency to have enough deportees together to fill a plane to Mexico. “They’re in a database somehow,” Pedro said of the undocumented men without criminal records. “Now they’re being found and picked up and the women are left with their children.” On Nov. 30, the husband of another

Casper-area woman was taken by ICE agents on the way to his construction job. He was stopped by unmarked blue trucks two blocks from his house, he told his wife later. His wife is enrolled in the Deferred Action Childhood Arrival Act — which for now protects the children of undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. at a young age. She asked WyoFile not to publish her name. The couple have two preschool-aged daughters. The eldest has been depressed since her father’s arrest, her mother said. “She doesn’t want to play, she just wants to lie down and she barely eats,” her mother said. Deportations doubled in Wyoming and Colorado from 2016 to 2017, according to a recent report from Wyoming Public Media. The two states are lumped together in ICE’s data collection. Part of that increase in those states likely comes from ICE casting a broader net. ICE officials recently confirmed to Teton County Sheriff Jim Whalen that they were expanding their arrest policies to include detaining anyone who is undocumented, including those without criminal records. “They basically just said that there are no protected classes any longer,” Whalen said. “I don’t know where this is headed.”

Gone Thursday night passed without any further word about Balderas’ situation. On Friday morning, Dec. 1, Miramontes called the jail in Aurora. The phone rang, someone picked up, and then hung up, she said. It happened twice. On the third call someone answered, and told her Balderas had been deported. Reached in Juarez by Facebook Messenger last week, Balderas told WyoFile he’d flown in an ICE plane that stopped in El Paso. Instead of being dropped off across the river at his destination, he was then flown to Nogales, Mexico. He was released there, nearly an eight-hour drive from Juarez. He had to borrow money for a bus ride. After hearing Balderas had been deported on Friday, Miramontes didn’t hear from him until the morning of Sunday, Dec. 3. Finally she received word he had made it to Juarez safely. The news she told WyoFile via text, was small consolation. “I’m so sad,” she wrote. PJH WyoFile is an independent nonprofit news organization focused on Wyoming people, places and policy. PJH

NEWS Compelling Explanations

By THE EDITORS AT ANDREWS MCMEEL

OF THE

WEIRD

A Tesla showroom in South Salt Lake, Utah, was the nexus of four different arrests on Nov. 24, according to the Salt Lake Tribune, in which at least two of the suspects claimed to be part of the Tesla “family.” (The car company is named after inventor Nikola Tesla, not a family owner.) In the first arrest, a Tesla pulled up behind a Utah Highway Patrol car at a stoplight, and the officer noticed that Driver No. 1 was acting “suspicious.” When the officer pulled him over, the 24-year-old driver said a man he hardly knew gave him the car and keys to three other Teslas. When the officer and driver returned to the showroom, it had been burglarized, but Driver No. 1 explained that the burglary had occurred before he got to the dealership, so he felt he was allowed to take the vehicle and keys. Area officers were alerted, and 31-year-old Driver No. 2 led troopers on a short chase, until his Tesla’s battery died. Later, Driver No. 3, 19, was pulled over in West Valley, and finally Driver No. 4, a 27-year-old woman, was stopped at a liquor store and told police a man named Tesla had given her the car. “We are still trying to sort this out,” said South Salt Lake Police spokesman Gary Keller. “We actually have two people claiming their name is Tesla and a family member died and left them these cars. It’s one of those cases where you just have to scratch your head and say, ‘Really?’”

News That Sounds Like a Joke

Arielle Bonnici, 26, of Huntington, New York, responsibly arrived at the Northport Police Department and Village Justice Court on Dec. 4 to answer a summons issued in May for possession of marijuana. But before she could even park her car, Bonnici, who was on her phone, attracted the attention of officers by cutting off an unmarked police vehicle and wheeling into the spot reserved for the chief of police. The Long-Islander News reported that when officers approached the car and Bonnici rolled down her window, a cloud of marijuana smoke poured out, and she was promptly arrested for possession again, along with getting a ticket for using her cellphone while driving. She was able to kill two buds, er, birds, with one stone and appear before the court for both charges.

Patrol spokeswoman Brooke Bova told The Olympian that the couple were engaging in intercourse when the driver missed a curve and left the highway. The woman was hospitalized with broken bones, but her 3-month-old child was unhurt in the backseat. The driver, who has three prior DUI convictions, was charged with felony driving under the influence, vehicular assault and endangering a child.

Awesome!

Male residents of Ringaskiddy in Ireland have at least one compelling reason to set down roots there: According to local lore, the nearby Pfizer plant, where Viagra is produced, emits “love fumes” that give men free erections. “One whiff and you’re stiff,” bartender Debbie O’Grady told The Times of London. Pfizer, however, disputes the tales, with a spokesperson saying: “Our manufacturing processes have always been highly sophisticated as well as highly regulated.” Still, locals speak of a baby boom after the plant opened in 1998, and men apparently regularly gather near the facility to inhale the fumes.

Animal Antics

Dovey the Shar Pei, of Edmond, Oklahoma, might be just a bit jealous of the new baby at his owners’ home. But in a classic passive-aggressive move, he settled on stealing pacifiers. Scott Rogers and his wife noticed that binkies were disappearing, but it wasn’t until Dovey started vomiting and losing weight in early December that they tracked down the lost items. KFOR-TV reports that Dr. Chris Rispoli of Gentle Care Animal Hospital took an X-ray of Dovey’s stomach and saw what he thought were seven to nine pacifiers. But when Rispoli opened up Dovey to remove them, he found 21 binkies. Turns out, Dovey was taking the pacifiers off the kitchen counter. “We’ve had corn cobs and socks and panties and things like that, but never 21 binkies,” noted Rispoli.

The Voices in Our Heads

n Meanwhile, in Newberry, South Carolina, 31-year-old Franklin Dell Hayes of Midlands appeared on Dec. 6 at his trial for his third charge of possession of methamphetamines. As the first day of the trial came to a close, The State reports, Hayes was ordered into custody, but when Newberry County sheriff’s deputies searched him before locking him up, they found ... 4 grams of meth in his pants pocket. Without knowledge of the new meth discovery, the jury sentenced Hayes to nine years in prison.

In Parkland, Washington, state troopers and Pierce County Sheriffs officers responded to a call on Nov. 25 about a man who had stopped his SUV in the middle of an intersection and was waving around an AK-47 and screaming about “lizard people.” The 54-year-old Eatonville man obeyed when officers ordered him to lie on the ground, but resisted being handcuffed until officers tased him. He told them he had “snorted methamphetamine to lose weight” and that President Donald Trump had called his home to warn him that the lizard people were coming and his family members were already being held hostage by the “alpha dragon,” according to The News Tribune. “The lizard people are real,” he told police, explaining that he wanted to attract attention so that his “story could be documented for history.”

Questionable Judgment

Yikes!

Popeye’s preferred diet of spinach to pump up his biceps had to be healthier than what a Russian man has been injecting. Kirill Tereshin, 21, from Pyatigorsk in southwestern Russia, concocts a dangerous muscle-enhancing solution of olive oil, lidocaine and benzyl alcohol and injects it into his arm muscles, resulting in “bazooka” arms that doctors say may become paralyzed or even have to be amputated. Tereshin has so far used 6 liters of the fluid, and his biceps measure 23 inches, but he plans to continue injecting until they reach 27 inches. “I would like to get more than 1 million subscribers on Instagram and to stop working,” Tereshin told the Daily Mail. He’s considering an offer to become a porn star. “I love to be recognizable.”

What Could Go Wrong?

It was all fun and games until a drunk, naked man and his (also naked) companion crashed into a tree near La Grande, Washington, on Nov. 22. Washington State

Claudell Curry, 82, and his wife, Odell Marie, 83, heard a loud crashing noise as they watched TV in their San Bernardino, California, home on the evening of Dec. 10. Imagine their surprise when it was NOT Santa Claus, but instead a block of ice the size of a car engine, which had torn through their roof and landed on their bed. Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor said about a similar incident in November that the ice might have dropped off a passenger airliner, having formed after a leak in the galley. Neither of the Currys was hurt, but “We shiver every time we think we could have been in bed,” Claudell told The San Bernardino Sun. Send tips to weirdnewstips@amuniversal.com

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Conservationists and environmentalists fear that Budd-Falen — a Wyoming attorney who has spoken with Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke about the position — would bring a long career of anti-regulatory antagonism to the agency headquarters. They see her as the next in a long line of Trump appointees, such as Scott Pruitt at the Environmental Protection Agency, Rick Perry at the Department of Energy, and Mick Mulvaney at the Consumer Protection Bureau, selected to undermine their charges. Many go so far as to accuse her of inciting violence against federal employees and of supporting armed insurrection — charges she rejects. The ranching community, rural western politicians and multiple-use advocates meanwhile view Budd-Falen as a fearless legal champion who’s spent a career fighting for the common man, struggling under the heel of a distant and oppressive federal government. A third view holds that Budd-Falen, who specializes in western land-use conflicts, zealously represents her clients but is tarred with too broad a brush. Popular perceptions of her professional work are, some believe, too readily interpreted as her personal views.

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The prospect of Karen Budd-Falen’s appointment to lead the Bureau of Land Management elicits strong reactions across the political spectrum.

JR .,

R ATEUR O C O V O R P OR? PROTECT

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ANGUS M. THUERMER JR/WYOFILE

BUDD-FALEN LAW OFFICES

Budd-Falen (inset) grew up in Sublette County where scenes like this ranch auction in the 1980s were typical of the rural life. Yet her father was an expert in laws governing use of water in the Green and Colorado river drainages, among other natural resource issues.

hich perspective is accurate? Budd-Falen did not respond to repeated requests for an interview. To learn more, WyoFile has examined her record, interviewed clients, legal opponents and compatriots. What emerges is a picture of a dedicated multiple-use advocate wrought from pioneer stock, steeped in a western ranching ethic and committed to giving a strong voice to neighbors of the federal government and others who make their livelihoods on property owned by all Americans. If nominated and confirmed, she would oversee 17.5 million acres of BLM land in Wyoming and more than 40 million acres of minerals estates here. “Karen is certainly somebody who’s been an advocate for those people who are most vulnerable,” said Freddie Botur, who hired Budd-Falen in a 2002 conflict with the BLM over his family’s Cottonwood Ranch grazing permit in Sublette County. “She is a real advocate for a lot of ranchers who don’t have the resources,” he said. Without her expertise, those ranchers “might just succumb to [federal] harassment that might be unwarranted and unneeded.” Among conservationists, Budd-Falen is an agitator, instigator, and prosecuting provocateur. “When you side with armed militia groups and support anti-public land zealots, you are not qualified [to lead the BLM] nor should you be confirmed to take on such an important responsibility,” said Chris Saeger, executive director of Western Values Project. He called her “wildly irresponsible” to argue “that individual government employees could be personally liable for decisions they make when they follow the law.” Is anybody listening to what Budd-Falen actually says, or do they interpret her words the way they want to hear them? Is she “the Bundy family lawyer” — as liberals paint her — just because those armed

insurrectionists were some of dozens of ranchers she represented briefly in the 1990s, long before they took up arms? Does she speak in “dog whistle,” parsing her language but designing it to stimulate hostility? A 1987 classmate of hers from the University of Wyoming College of Law sought to separate perception from reality in comments to WyoFile. “Karen [Budd-Falen] is an attorney, a hired gun for her clients,” George Monsson wrote from Fort Morgan, Colorado. “If a client, no matter how crazy or distasteful, pays the retainer and the hourly rate the attorney represents the client’s position to the best of his or her ability. Judging an attorney’s qualifications for an administrative post based on the attorney’s past clients is like saying a criminal defense attorney or a prosecutor is unqualified to be a judge because they would favor the position of their former clients.”

Five generations from Big Piney Budd-Falen grew up as part of a fifth-generation ranch family in Big Piney, population 516. Her roots are as deep as that of a sagebrush and her family has a history in state government and other positions of provincial power. She knows about water law and natural resource regulation and has had a long history with the BLM. That includes ranch water rights, family grazing leases, lawsuits against federal agencies and environmental groups, representation of federal law-breakers and three years work in the Reagan Administration’s Department of the Interior. Her grandparents, Dan H. Budd and Ada Sharp Budd, had four sons. The eldest was Dan Sellon Budd, Karen’s father, born in Kemmerer in 1927. Sublette County property records show that Budd and Sons Land Company and Dan H. Budd and Sons own at least

7,390 acres of ranch land just west of Big Piney today. Some might describe the operation as one that has some 7,000 acres of private land, plus permits to graze seasonally on public U.S. Forest Service and BLM property. But the Property Rights Foundation of America describes the Budd family operation as one that “includes both BLM and Forest Service managed lands.” In the first instance, the ranch exists separate from federal property. In the second description, the public lands are seen as part of the family holdings, a view increasingly exercised in sagebrush country as stockmen and -women claim grazing permits as a property right. Although Karen Budd-Falen’s father heralded from an obscure corner of an arid state, 17-year-old ranch hand Dan Sellon Budd wouldn’t be landlocked. He joined the Navy at that age in 1944 and served in the South Pacific. In 1950, after brother Malcolm’s death in Korea, he re-enlisted and served there. In 1956, he married Barbara Chapman and they raised three daughters in Big Piney, Karen Budd-Falen, Janet Beiermann and Martha Braaten. Budd-Falen’s father had more to share than war stories. He was steeped in work with local natural resource conservation services and keenly interested in irrigation, water storage, and water rights. Sublette voters elected him to the Wyoming House where he served from 1981 to 1992. He was an expert on the Colorado River Compact and the control of salty irrigation runoff, an obscure but critical aspect of Western water law. He wanted to dam the Green River at one of its most scenic and popular recreation spots near the Warren Bridge. A cousin of Budd-Falen, Bob Budd, has also held significant statewide positions. He led the Wyoming

MARK GOCKE/WYOMING GAME AND FISH DEPT.

also calls for using the Civil Rights Act to protect residents, identifying and prosecuting violators “including but not limited to any employee of the federal, state or county government.” Budd-Falen has encouraged counties and other local governments to adopt land-use plans as a way of asserting their influence on adjacent federal property. She suggests residents can outweigh outsiders, if they prepare the right tools. The Feds, she writes, must use the best data and information available. “The best available information about the local effects of a federal decision on the local custom, culture, economy and environment should come from the local government itself,” she wrote. The conservative American Legislative Exchange Council also touts the exercise of local power, offering a sample ordinance for governments. “Any local government — from a city or county to a school or water district, and any NGO — may invoke Coordination,” ALEC says on its website, “thus forcing the federal government to meet with them on an equal basis to reach consistency in their plans.” Budd-Falen’s home, Sublette County, adopted a resolution in 2009 to support its land-use plan, a resolution that declares its policy “will permit and allow Sublette County to enter into land use planning with federal and state agencies on a co-equal basis.” Some westerners want to hear Budd-Falen’s message Today, many rural westerners still want to use Budd-Falen’s expertise and hear her message. She is in demand as an expert in local-authority matters around the West, is acclaimed in some rural communities and has seen her views adopted, championed and even expanded upon. County commissioners in Crook County, Oregon adopted a contentious land-use plan in October after

DECEMBER 27, 2017 | 13

Catron is the largest county in the third least populous state — 2,585 residents in 1992. Many of those inhabitants were ranchers and others who were surrounded by and made their livings on federal property, and they were fearful of increasing regulation and control. They focused on the subparagraph in FLPMA that says any federal land actions or plans, “shall be consistent with State and local plans to the maximum extent … consistent with Federal law.” Although the critical subparagraph is conditioned with an opening sentence that says coordination can only occur “to the extent consistent with the laws governing the administration of the public lands,” some sagebrush rebels interpret the text to mean local governments are on par with federal agencies, and that residents can impose their land-use values on property owned by all Americans. Catron county commissioners sought “to describe and protect our custom, culture and economy,” according to the plan. The resulting land-use plan has become both famous and infamous. Among its 360 pages The Catron County Comprehensive Land Plan states: “Federal and state agents threaten the life, liberty, and happiness of the people of Catron County. They present a clear and present danger to the land and livelihood of every man, woman, and child. A state of emergency prevails that calls for devotion and sacrifice. It asks that the citizens of Catron County unite themselves and, through their elected government, assert their fundamental rights to human dignity and self-government.” The plan also would appear to upend federal-state hierarchy, saying at one point “the County requires that each Public Land Management agency must…” before listing demands on the federal government. It

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Stockgrowers Association for a decade, and managed the Red Canyon Ranch for the Nature Conservancy, a job that upset Budd-Falen’s father, High Country News reported at the time. He now heads the Wyoming Wildlife Natural Resource Trust and Gov. Matt Mead’s Sage Grouse Implementation Team. So Budd-Falen had the opportunity to see beyond her childhood landscape among big Wyoming sagebrush on the banks of Middle Piney Creek at the foot of the Wyoming Range, a couple of dozen miles from the headwaters of the Green-Colorado River complex. One can imagine that every acre-foot of water diverted to Budd and Sons property and every cubic-foot-second of flow measured in a ditch, etched a lesson. She attended the University of Wyoming and University of Wyoming College of Law, graduating with a law degree in 1987. She is married and has two children. Early client in New Mexico puts feds on notice It didn’t take long for Budd-Falen to find clients with similar backgrounds. In 1992, Budd-Falen was one of two consultants who helped write a comprehensive land plan for Catron County, New Mexico. The resulting document set a number of precedents. The exercise focused on a subparagraph deep in the Federal Land Policy Management Act in which Congress required agencies to have meaningful public involvement with local, state and tribal governments — especially those with established land-use plans. The Catron County Comprehensive Land Plan that emerged demonized federal authority, challenged the federal-state hierarchy and characterized local/federal disputes as liberty and human-rights issues. Catron’s plan became a template and Budd-Falen has promoted such plans as essential to rural western counties, enabling them to negotiate on an equal footing with their federal landlords.

Feddie Botur’s family operates the Cottonwood Ranch in Sublette County and he hired Budd-Falen to represent him in a conflict over grazing permits there. The Wyoming attorney and potential BLM leader understands the plight of those who make their living off the land, Botur said, and how their livelihoods can be curtailed by the federal government.

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MARK GOCKE/WYOMING GAME AND FISH DEPT.

Budd-Falen advised them. But some residents worried public lands would be abused or taken over by multiple-use advocates at the expense of environmental values. So a spokesman for the Ochoco National Forest, which makes up much of the county, sought to put the land-use plan in perspective, according to The Oregonian. Ochoco National Forest spokesman Patrick Lair said his agency would examine how the county used its new policy, but that residents would not be the only ones to provide input on how public lands would be managed. “As a federal agency, we have obligations to take input from all citizens and stakeholders, not just those who live closest,” the newspaper quoted him saying. In Montana, Ravalli County recently asked BuddFalen to address commissioners about a potential land-use plan. The request stirred so much controversy they rescinded the invitation. Subsequently, a state representative invited her to a public forum in Hamilton, Montana, at which more than 100 protesters “and as many supporters,” showed up, the Missoulian reported. There, Budd-Falen addressed her potential new job as if she had already been nominated for it. “If I am confirmed, I am going to advocate for local government involvement like I’ve been talking about here,” Budd-Falen said. She would not tell local governments to violate federal law, she said. At the same forum, she questioned whether national monuments in Utah were created legally, referring to language in the Antiquities Act that calls for designating the minimum area necessary to protect a resource. The act was first used in her home state to create Devil’s Tower National Monument, aka Bear’s Den. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt used the Antiquities Act in Wyoming in 1943 to successfully preserve the scenery of Grand Teton National Park by creating the adjacent Grand Teton National Monument. Undermining populist sagebrush rebel ideology, courts have upheld the concept, including at Grand Canyon National Park, that scenery is a resource that could be protected by the act. But in 1950, when Congress incorporated Grand Teton National Monument into the existing national park, Roosevelt’s executive action still irritated Wyoming and cost the conservation community. A clause in the park expansion legislation prohibited future presidents from using the Antiquities Act in Wyoming again. In a recent interview with the Associated Press, Budd-Falen said she has no opinion on the transfer of federal lands to states or private parties, a belief she’s been accused of holding. “People just assumed that [I am pro-transfer],” she said. She was plain to the Associated Press about her understanding of local government’s opinions in federal land decisions. “It’s not veto power,” the press agency reported her saying. “The local government can’t mandate that you cut a tree here or you graze cows there. You can’t do that.” In another insight to her views, Budd-Falen complained to a congressional panel in 2015 of federal agency “mission creep,” and executive action made

A former client of Karen Budd-Falen, Freddie Botur, rides in without adequate public participation. front of the Wind River Range near where the potential BLM She made her testimony — “Regulatory burdens placed on the livestock industry” leader grew up. Botur said this photograph, taken by Game and Fish employee Mark Gocke, was used poster-like by the BLM that spanned 54 pages including supportto promote proper grazing management, but that he later got ing documents — to the Committee on crossways with the agency and hired Budd-Falen to resolve Oversight and Government Reform at a permit violations. The BLM and Botur’s family and ranch are on field hearing in Evanston (see document good terms today, the agency says. below.) Perhaps most public criticism is linked BLM employees, even authoring policy and filing lawto her ties to Cliven Bundy’s family, now on trial for an suits to jail public lands employees,” he wrote in a armed standoff that prevented the BLM from round- piece titled “Three reasons Karen Budd-Falen is unfit ing up cattle grazing illegally on public land near to lead the Bureau of Land Management.” Bunkerville, Nevada. In the 1990s she represented the Western Values Project director Saeger called her family and others just after the desert tortoise was pro- “too extreme to be trusted with our national heritected as an endangered species. In a cascading series tage.” The Montana environmental columnist Todd of trade-offs, developers in Las Vegas were permitted Wilkinson in 2010 charged her with misrepresenting to occupy more tortoise habitat in exchange for grazing monetary awards when she challenged the practice reductions and conservation elsewhere. Budd-Falen of paying attorneys’ fees to successful environmental aided the aggrieved ranchers, but the relief was tem- litigants. Budd-Falen has criticized the practice and porary. After her work, the now-infamous ranching been hailed by ranchers for her position. family stopped paying grazing fees but kept their stock “The only problem — and it’s a huge one,” Wilkinson grazing on public land. wrote, “is that her version of the truth doesn’t hold up.” Ammon Bundy, Cliven’s son, and supporters also An attorney who has faced her in court agreed. “I think were key agitators in the armed occupation of the she’s overstated any abuse of that system,” said Tim Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon, a stand- Preso, managing attorney for the Northern Rockies off that lasted 41 days in 2016. It ended with the shoot- Office of Earthjustice in Bozeman, Montana. ing death of Robert “LaVoy” Finicum, a spokesman for Her criticism of environmental litigants obtaining the occupiers, by the FBI. The agency said he appeared funds through the Equal Access to Justice Act hasn’t to be reaching into his jacket, statements supported by stopped Budd-Falen from seeking court judgments for video. At the occupiers’ trial, a jury acquitted leaders of her own fees. In an ongoing fight over protections for conspiracy charges, an outcome that maps the chasm the Mexican wolf in New Mexico and Arizona, Budddividing western opinions and beliefs. Falen asks the court to award her clients “their reaBoosting insurgent threats in the West? Do Karen Budd-Falen’s cases and advocacy boost insurgent threats against the federal government in the West? Detractors believe she uses aggressive litigation tactics, often designed to intimidate and to raise the stakes. “Budd-Falen sympathizes with the Bundy family and other anti-public lands extremists; she also wrote their playbook,” wrote Greg Zimmerman in a blog for Westwise, a forum for the watchdog group Center for the West. “Budd-Falen made her career undermining

sonable fees, costs, and expenses (including attorney’s fees) incurred as a result of this litigation.” Perhaps the best recent example of Budd-Falen’s offensive-minded litigation approach is found in the 2014 Wyoming trespass case, Frank Ranches et al vs. Ratner et al. Budd-Falen filed a civil suit on behalf of the ranchers that alleged Jonathan Ratner, an employee of Western Watersheds Project, trespassed while collecting water quality data on federal land. Western Watersheds has stated it seeks to end stock grazing on public land, and it sought to enforce clean water rules

VAUGHN ROBISON

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt used the Antiquities Act to create Grand Teton National Monument, preserving the foreground view of the famous mountains until it could be incorporated into the existing national park in 1950. Budd-Falen supporters says she isn’t inclined to support restrictions on uses of BLM property and she has questioned the legality of monuments created on BLM land in Utah.

BLM problems? Who you gonna call?

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DECEMBER 27, 2017 | 15

“Just because she’s been an attorney zealously advocating for her clients, does that reflect on what her policies might be?” he asked. Her professionalism doesn’t make Budd-Falen a benign or neutral figure, he said. “On the substance of most issues, I think we disagree,” Preso said. “We’re probably 180-degree opposites. We wouldn’t have Thanksgiving together — there would be a lot of subjects to avoid. It’s my hope and goal to overcome her position,” in court. “In general,” Preso said, “I would not like to see her politics become the policy of any government agency that manages wildlife and public lands.” Budd-Falen would be “advancing the interests of private commercial interests to use the public lands and often has opposed efforts to provide protection for wildlife and water quality.” From our perspective,” he said. “that’s a pretty short-sighted view.” For Wyoming ranchers, having Budd-Falen at the head of the BLM would be a boon, said Jim Magagna, executive vice president of the Wyoming Stockgrowers Association. “We would be very supportive of her appointment,” he said. “I’ve worked with Karen in her legal capacity and as a member of this, that and the-other. She’s very astute as a lawyer. “She understands the profession and practices it in a very respectable, firm, committed manner,” he said. Outside the office, “she dedicated a lot of her time to youth-type activities, things that are somewhat related to our western ranching culture.” Budd-Falen is “very multiple-use oriented, not favorable … to set aside parcels of land with protected designations,” he said. Like others, Magagna separates Budd-Falen’s clients’ cases from her personal views; “How you behave as a lawyer or in an appointed position are very different.” Magagna understands rough-and tumble politics, too. “If she is nominated, it’s going to be a contentious nomination, there’s no question about that.” PJH

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

Many of those who have worked close to or with Budd-Falen agree she’s competent, professional, above board and good at what she does. “It was a logical choice to work with Karen,” said Botur, the Sublette rancher who said he ran into problems with the BLM first in 2002. According to his version of the conflict, he was literally a poster child for the agency when he began a new grazing program that allowed “more flexible management.” But then he publicly criticized a manager and the agency “came after my paperwork.” “All of a sudden, I had 10 BLM trucks up the road watching every move I made, counting cattle with planes,” he said. “They came after me with trespass fines. That’s when I knew I had to call Karen.” Ultimately, Botur admitted his permits were inadequate. “I wasn’t adhering to the terms of my permit,” but acting on “verbal” assurances, he said. “My permit did not describe those terms.” “I ended up paying over $40,000 in fines and probably close to that in lawyers’ fees,” he said. “Karen is very professional, very straightforward. She’s obviously got a history with the BLM and understands the nature of the agency on a ground level.” A BLM spokeswoman said today the agency has mended fences with the Cottonwood Ranch and that it does not support or condone harassment of permittees or others. “The BLM strives to be a good neighbor and supports traditional uses on public lands such as grazing,” a statement issued by Kristen Lenhardt said. “More often than not, the BLM and the ranching community have the same goal, which is to ensure rangelands are healthy for livestock use not only now, but for years to come. Our agency and permittees’ ability to work together is vital to meeting this goal and we are pleased with the productive relationship we have built with Mr. Botur in recent years.” A courtroom opponent of Budd-Falen also said she’s been professional in the ongoing Mexican wolf case being heard in Tucson, Arizona. “She’s certainly a zealous advocate for her clients, an aggressive champion

for the folks down there who are unhappy with protection being applied to the Mexican wolf population,” said Preso of Earthjustice. The nonprofit says it is the largest environmental legal foundation in the country. In the courtroom, the two found common ground on how the case should be managed. “She and I actually agreed on most everything,” Preso said. “She is not at all a person difficult to work with.

by presenting evidence of pollution to state regulators. Ratner contended he traveled on well-used public roads, but in a settlement admitted to trespassing where no publicly filed easement existed. Budd-Falen escalated the matter by requesting potentially crippling punitive damages. District Judge Norman Young said he could not assess punitive damages against Western Watersheds, which the group saw as a victory. Western Watersheds also asked Young to throw out the bulk of the allegations against it on the grounds that the ranchers’ filing amounted to an abuse of power. The environmental group contended much of Budd-Falen’s court action constituted what’s known as a SLAPP lawsuit, a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation. That claim was beyond his purview, the judge said, a matter that would have been decided by a jury had a trial ensued. Budd-Falen raised a personal conflict-of-interest issue at a meeting of the Wyoming Water Development Commission in the fall of 2014. She is a member of that commission, but also represented a group of ranchers in a lawsuit against an irrigation district that was in front of the commission seeking financial support. “First I would like to note for the commission I am going to recuse myself from voting on this project,” she said, declaring her conflict, as required by Wyoming law. She then went on to question whether the state should be granting money to a district embroiled in a lawsuit. The essence of that case might invigorate transparency advocates, however. Budd-Falen used a good-government law — the Wyoming Public Records Act — to argue that her clients were entitled to meeting minutes from their Midvale Irrigation District. The parties settled the issue without a trial. Budd-Falen has also participated in a racketeering case filed against public officials. The case involved Thermopolis-area rancher Harvey Frank Robbins who fought the BLM and, through Budd-Falen, accused federal employees of harassment. An appeals court sided with Robbins’ and Budd-Falen’s arguments, but the Supreme Court of the United States disagreed, according to reporting by the Los Angeles Times.

The ruling that the Supreme Court overturned “had government officials fearing that if the high court permitted the case to proceed, it would spawn a bevy of litigation against federal employees merely trying to do their jobs,” the newspaper wrote in 2007.

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

16 | DECEMBER 27, 2017

JACKSON HOLE

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` Get your Apres Ski on with beer from Melvin and Snake River Brewing, cocktails, pizza from Pinky G’s and music by The Beat Byrd!

Saturday, January 6 | 4 - 9 p.m. | Center for the Arts

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Artwork at JH Middle School grows from an unlikely place

Rooks said. Many kids talked about new beginnings and what it means to start over. “I’ve seen darker parts of the world and even though they are there, I can see other things as well,” one kid wrote. “... I’m quiet, but what I realized is our eyes tell a lot about ourselves. Everybody is strong,” another said. Another student wrote they had heard the eyes were the window to the soul and the project and quote is a reminder to look for the “good in other people and maybe most in myself.” For many kids, reading Touching Spirit Bear is the first time they read a book that might make them uncomfortable, Rooks said. “There’s a lot of new learning,” Rooks said. “A lot of times kids are like ‘whoa, this is an intense book.’ It’s a book that can be life-changing, but it’s about hard topics.” Leela Rogers, 11, and Angel Rooks Orton, 12, both said they liked the book and the art project, although they said drawing the eyes was harder than they expected.

The art project showed the students how their classmates viewed themselves, Leela said. It also reminded them as they drew their eyes that no one can tell you how you should see yourself, Angel said. The project and the book serve as a reminder that everyone is different and that’s OK, both girls said. The book was sometimes hard to read, but the girls both said they liked and learned from it. “(I learned) there are no second chances, but you can earn trust back,” Leela said of the book. “Sometimes if there is a bully, he might be bullied himself,” Angel said. Rooks has read the book at least 14 times and said she still gets something new out of it each time she teaches it. The finished pieces hang in the sixth grade hall in the school along with responses the students decided to share publicly about what, or who has helped them out of the dark, and what they see the light shining on in their own lives. PJH

DECEMBER 27, 2017 | 17

eading Touching Spirit Bear has become a rite of passage for sixth graders at Jackson Hole Middle School. The story follows Cole, a troubled teen with abusive parents and anger issues of his own. It’s an intense book, and for many sixth graders the first they read about difficult subjects like abuse and alcoholism, said Michelle Rooks, a sixth grade language arts teacher. It’s a book they devote time to processing and understanding, from the darker subjects, to also the themes of forgiveness and managing emotions, Rooks said. The book offers important lessons in how feelings manifest and ways to deal with anger.

Kevin Loaeza Luna works to transpose his sketch onto a wooden block (top left), and Edwin Montiel and Fernando Tenopala Lopez display their finished pieces (bottom left).

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

BY KELSEY DAYTON @kelsey_dayton

The author, Ben Mikaelsen, writes “… a large set of eyes reflected the light, staring patiently out of the darkness.” “This is a climax point in the book,” Rooks said. “It’s when Cole releases his anger and recognizes the power of forgiveness, both of himself and others.” It also is a quote that inspired an art project for the sixth graders to help them process the book and what that means. The students worked with pARTners, a nonprofit that works on art projects in the schools. The week before Christmas, the kids learned scale and shading to draw human eyes they rendered on wood blocks. They then used whatever colors they wanted to create the fantastical or the realistic when it came to their eye art. The students also answered questions about the overarching themes of the book and the quote. They thought about Cole’s anger as darkness and his forgiveness as light, Rooks said. Then they talked about what the eyes in the story and the ones they made represent. Some of the students wrote about how they had never studied their own eyes before and in them found beauty. One student noted that he saw his grandfather in his own eyes and missed him,

Touching Bear Spirit

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| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

18 | DECEMBER 27, 2017

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The Crystal Method plays December 31 at Pink Garter Theatre

A Spark of Musical Hope Judas Priest, Elephant Revival and other dope shows happening in 2018 BY CORY GARCIA @cfaust

e all need something to look forward to, a star on our calendar to march toward. Sometimes it’s a holiday or a birthday, an important sporting event or game, a new movie or book or, most relevant to this particular column, a concert. Having something to look forward to makes the bad days a little easier to swallow, and if 2017 is any indication you’ll likely need that spark of hope in 2018. This is Wyoming, and I’m not going to sugarcoat things for you: there isn’t a ton on the calendars yet. But give it time. Eventually the Foo Fighters made it up here, so really, anything is possible. If none of these shows light the fire in you, there are always road trips to be taken. You live in Wyoming, a land not meant for humans but tamed all the same. The music will come. I’m sure of it… well, mostly sure of it.

December 27 - Robert Randolph and the Family Band - Jackson

Listen, it was either writing about two specific shows happening before the end of the year or writing about everything you could see in the future. We’ll get to 2018 in a couple of dozen words, but I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that you could see the God of the Pedal Steel Guitar over at The Center Theater tonight. Seriously, don’t miss it: Randolph is a killer showman with tunes that’ll get you dancing and pedal steel guitar skills that’ll blow your mind.

December 31 - The Crystal Method Jackson

Listen, you could stay at home watching the ball drop — spoiler alert, it’s still not going to be that interesting — or you could head on over to the Pink Garter to watch one of the few electronica you remember from when MTV still played videos. You know you still jam that song from the Spawn soundtrack from time to time. And if you want to call up your old college buddy that had “party favors,” well, you do you.

February 9 - Elephant Revival - Jackson

Yeah, I know we just talked about these folks a few weeks back, but they must really love Equality State because they’ll be back before you know it. If you missed them last time, you really have

PLANET PICKS WEDNESDAY Robert Randolph & the Family Band (Center Theater)

JUDAS PRIEST MUSIC LTD

THURSDAY Most Wanted Band (Million Dollar) FRIDAY Sneaky Pete & the Secret Weapons (Pink Garter)

no excuse because we’re giving you more than enough time to get tickets and make plans. You’re welcome.

Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen are off to an early lead. I support anything that lists “old-timey” as a genre.

April 10 - Judas Priest - Casper

July 20 - Cheyenne Frontier Days Cheyenne

The current frontrunner for the best concert this state is going to see in 2018. Seriously, who isn’t excited to spend the night with Judas Priest? If you’re going to look at me with a straight face and say you’ve never in your life rocked out to “Breaking the Law” I’m going to call you a liar or just assume that you’re broken. Don’t be broken. Get your best black leather outfit ready, because this is going to be one hell of a night.

July 20 - Big Horn Mountain Festival Buffalo Putting this down on paper so I remember to do an article in a few months ranking the acts of the Big Horn Mountain Festival by how cool their name sounds;

September 22 - Femmes of Rock Cheyenne I know what you’re thinking, and I agree: I’m not in love with the name either. But a quick Google search and Youtube dive later has me thinking that in spite of that this will be a pretty good time. Listen, I love a good gimmick band, and jamming out classic rock songs on the violin is something I’m totally down for. At the very least you’ll get good versions of “Eleanor Rigby” and “Comfortably Numb,” with the promise of more classic rock along with it. You know you like a good violin-based Metallica cover. PJH

TUESDAY One Ton Pig (Silver Dollar)

DECEMBER 27, 2017 | 19

Oh don’t act like you’ve never been flipping channels, landed on PBS and got sucked into a Celtic Woman wormhole. It happens to the best of us. And yeah, I know, you’re sitting there with your arms crossed like, “but I’d rather see Celtic Thunder.” Listen, my man, I don’t book the shows, I just make jokes about them. I’d like to see Celtic Thunder too, but it is what it is. At least you have a show you can go to with your folks.

MONDAY Hootenanny (Dornan’s)

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

May 25 - Celtic Woman - Cheyenne

Listen, I know I can’t convince you not to go see Florida-Georgia Line, but with half a year before they arrive in our neck of the woods I’m going to try my best. That’s a little thing called being a good friend. FGL is but one of the big acts heading to the rodeo (you’re gonna want to refer to this as “The Grandaddy of Them All” to lend yourself a scrap of credibility with those rodeo folks); the lineup also includes Cole Swindell, Eric Church and Eli Cottonbush. That’s not true. I made up one of those names. I’ll let you figure out who.

SUNDAY The Crystal Method (Pink Garter)

Judas Priest plays in Casper on April 10.

SATURDAY Boondocks (Silver Dollar)

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

20 | DECEMBER 27, 2017

DON’T MISS

Sense of Wonder Artist Todd Kosharek sees the world through a child’s eyes BY KELSEY DAYTON @kelsey_dayton

hen artist Todd Kosharek first had children, he didn’t think his new role as dad would influence his work. But as Weston, his first son, grew, Kosharek found himself looking at the world differently. He began to see the world through Weston’s eyes. When Weston was about 2 years old, he became obsessed with feathers. He found them everywhere, earning himself the nickname “Feather King” in the family. A few months later, butterflies were what captivated Weston’s attention – and then his father’s. “You start seeing the things they see every day,” Kosharek said. “It opens up a whole new world.” Those things — feathers and butterflies and that childlike sense of wonder — have made their way into Kosharek’s most recent body of work, which also features his signature origami cranes. The Jackson artist’s new show, “Wonderment,” hangs at Altamira Gallery until Jan. 6. The gallery is hosting a free artist reception from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday. It also will host a special ticketed event Jan. 5 with Jackson Hole Chamber Music. Kosharek started painting origami cranes about 10 years ago. He followed instructions he found one night at home and folded a crane. He knew immediately he wanted to paint it. It was the first of hundreds of cranes Kosharek would go

The works in Todd Kosharek’s “Wonderment” feature a childlike sense of curiousity, along with his signature origami cranes, and hangs at Altamira Fine Art through Jan. 6.

on to create and then paint. In recent years, Kosharek’s work evolved to incorporating historical text onto the paper folded into the crane. Kosharek chooses meaningful letters, speeches and documents to create the cranes in his paintings. “If you think about what paper is and that you can put an idea on it and it change an entire way people live — it’s just amazing,” Kosharek said. He replicates the original handwriting of the author on the paper in his painting, studying minute details like how John Muir’s script differs from that of Louis Armstrong as he tries to master “the god-awful” penmanship of Beethoven. Kosharek works to make the documents look as much like the originals as possible, but then places the cranes he creates in abstract settings to give the paintings a dreamlike feeling, he said. Kosharek has explored different themes in his paintings while using different types of writings. His last show, “Utopia,” explored different political systems. “This show is largely focused on more things of whimsy,” he said of “Wonderment.” While the paintings feature classic origami cranes, they also show a major change in his work. Feathers fall and butterflies fly across the canvas. They are some of the first paintings he’s created since he was a young teenager that depict motion. “I’ve always painted stillness,” he said. Kosharek grew up in Wisconsin with a grandfather clock in his family home that chimed every 15 minutes. To Kosharek, it felt he could hear his life passing by. It pushed him toward stillness in his art, even as a teenager. Kosharek has loved art for as long as

he can remember. When he was 13 his parents built him a studio behind the family home. He later was banned from the studio one day a week; his parents worried he’d become too antisocial and spend all his time painting. “I felt you could look at a painting and see the world,” he said. For years, including when Kosharek first moved to Jackson 15 years ago, he worked primarily as a landscape and portrait painter. But the cranes captivated his attention and appealed to his love of research. “It was just a rabbit hole,” he said. Kosharek’s latest show isn’t the last of his crane work. Each series is like a piece of a giant puzzle that helps him better understand humanity, he said. He already has ideas for future themes he’d like to explore. The themes will continue to intrigue and challenge him as an artist and he hopes his finished work does the same for the viewer. “I want (my paintings) to be both beautiful for anyone who comes to just look at them, and then for the people like me, who want to chew on a painting and know the backstory, I want them to be able to find that too,” he said. Kosharek’s new show at Altamira features 11 large paintings and three studies. Kosharek will talk about his work and its relationship to music at the Jan. 5 event. Jackson Hole Chamber Music will perform Bach and Philip Glass at the event, which opens at 6 p.m. with a cocktail hour. The performance and talk begins at 7 p.m. Tickets are $40. PJH

“Wonderment,” an exhibition of the work of Todd Kosharek, free artist reception 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday, $40 ticketed event with the artist and Jackson Hole Chamber Music 6 p.m. Jan. 5, Altamira Fine Art, 172 Center Street, show hangs through Jan. 6.

THIS WEEK: Dec 27 - Jan 3 , 2017

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 27

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 28

n Dance & Fitness Classes 8:00am, Dancers’ Workshop, $10.00 - $16.00, 307-733-6398 n Toddler Gym 10:00am, Teton Recreation Center, n Open Hockey - Weekday Morning 10:15am, Snow King Sports & Event Center, $10.00, (307) 201-1633 n All Ages Story Time 11:00am, Valley of the Tetons Library, n Public Skating - Weekday 12:00pm, Snow King Sports & Event Center, $5.00 - $8.00, (307) 201-1633 n Film Friday Victor 3:30pm, Valley of the Tetons Library, n FREE Friday Tasting 4:00pm, Jackson Whole Grocer & Cafe, Free, 307-733-0450 n Friday Tastings 4:00pm, The Liquor Store, Free, 307-733-4466 n Winter Wonderland Ice Skating on Town Square 4:00pm, n The Maw Band 4:30pm, Mangy Moose, n Open Gym - Adult Soccer 6:30pm, Teton Recreation Center, n FREE Public Stargazing 7:30pm, Center for the Arts, n Boondocks 7:30pm, Silver Dollar Showroom, Free, 307-732-3939 n Sneaky Pete and the Secret Weapons Liftoff Album Release Party 9:00pm, Pink Garter Theatre, $12.00, n MOST WANTED BAND Million Dollar Cowboy Bar,

n Winter Wonderland Ice Skating on the Town Square 12:00pm, n App Time - Study Room 4 2:00pm, Teton County Library, n Open Gym - Adult Soccer 6:30pm, Teton Recreation Center, n Boondocks 7:30pm, Silver Dollar Showroom, Free, 307-732-3939 n MOST WANTED BAND Million Dollar Cowboy Bar,

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 31

n Winter Wonderland Ice Skating on the Town Square 12:00pm, n Open Gym - Adult Volleyball 4:00pm, Teton Recreation Center, n Stagecoach Band 6:00pm, Stagecoach, Free, 307-733-4407 n New Year’s Eve Party with Chanman Roots Band 7:00pm, Silver Dollar Showroom, Free, 307-732-3939 n NYE with The Crystal Method + Ayron Jones and The Way 8:00pm, Pink Garter Theatre, $35.00 - $55.00, n Lyrics Born 9:30pm, Knotty Pine, n MOST WANTED BAND Million Dollar Cowboy Bar

MONDAY, JANUARY 1

n Dance & Fitness Classes 8:00am, Dancers’ Workshop, $10.00 - $16.00, 307-733-6398 n Toddler Gym 10:00am, Teton Recreation Center, n Open Hockey 10:15am, Snow King Sports & Event Center, $10.00, (307) 201-1633 n Public Skating - Weekday 12:00pm, Snow King Sports & Event Center, $5.00 - $8.00, (307) 201-1633 n Hootenanny 6:00pm, Dornan’s, Free, n Open Gym - Adult Basketball 6:30pm, Teton Recreation

DECEMBER 27, 2017 | 21

SEE CALENDAR PAGE 23

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 29

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 30

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

n Dance & Fitness Classes 8:00am, Dancers’ Workshop, $10.00 - $16.00, 307-733-6398 n Books & Babies Story Time 10:00am, Valley of the Tetons Library, n Storytime - Youth Auditorium 10:30am, Teton County Library, n Story Time, Victor 10:30am, Valley of the Tetons Library, n Public Skating - Weekday 12:00pm, Snow King Sports & Event Center, $5.00 - $8.00, (307) 201-1633 n Open Gym - Adult Basketball 12:00pm, Teton Recreation Center, n App Time - Study Room 4 2:00pm, Teton County Library, n Winter Wonderland Ice Skating on Town Square 4:00pm, n Aaron Davis & the Mystery Machine 4:00pm, Ascent Lounge at Four Seasons, Free,

n REFIT® 5:15pm, First Baptist Church, Free, 307-690-6539 n Open Gym - Adult Soccer 6:30pm, Teton Recreation Center, n Pat Chadwick Trio 7:30pm, Silver Dollar Showroom, Free, 307-732-3939 n Salsa Night 9:00pm, The Rose, Free, 307733-1500 n MOST WANTED BAND Million Dollar Cowboy Bar,

Compiled by Cory Garcia

n Dance & Fitness Classes 8:00am, Dancers’ Workshop, $10.00 - $16.00, 307-733-6398 n Toddler Gym 10:00am, Teton Recreation Center, n Story Time 10:00am, Valley of the Tetons Library, n Open Hockey - Weekday Morning 10:15am, Snow King Sports & Event Center, $10.00, (307) 201-1633 n Public Skating - Weekday 12:00pm, Snow King Sports & Event Center, $5.00 - $8.00, (307) 201-1633 n Intuition: Your 7th Sense 6:00pm, Medicine Wheel Wellness, n Open Gym - Adult Basketball 6:30pm, Teton Recreation Center, n Robert Randolph & the Family Band 7:00pm, Center Theater, n MOST WANTED BAND Million Dollar Cowboy Bar,

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

22 | DECEMBER 27, 2017

CINEMA

No Numbers Required The best films of 2017, unranked and unforgettable. BY SCOTT RENSHAW @scottrenshaw

’T

is the season when critics make movie lists. And ’tis also the time to fight against the urge to rank everything. For most of my 20-plus years writing about movies, I’ve wrapped up the year jotting down numbers one through ten (occasionally a couple more), and living with the “but what if number 5 was actually slightly better than number 4” frustration. This year, however, it just feels right to draw attention to my favorite 2017 movies alphabetically, without worrying about how they rank.

Columbus In this drama about the unique friendship between a young woman (Haley Lu Richardson) and the son of an architecture scholar (John Cho) in the improbable architectural mecca of Columbus, Indiana, video essayist Kogonada lovingly captures the distinctive buildings themselves, but is even better at understanding those places as they affect people. Richardson’s lovely central performance evokes something both mournful and optimistic about not being trapped by the structures of your life.

Dina It’s easy to cringe at the idea as inherently exploitative: following two people on the autism spectrum in the run-up

to and aftermath of their wedding. But it couldn’t be farther from a joke at the expense of two people in love, as it sensitively captures the unique dynamics of a romance between people who might have to do different kinds of work to stay connected. Maybe it’s simply a reminder to anyone that being in a relationship should mean putting in some effort.

A Fantastic Woman The title alone isn’t binary, since this is both the story of an amazing woman, and the story of someone whose status as a woman is perceived by others as illusory. Daniela Vega plays Marina, a Chilean trans woman whose older partner passes away, leaving her to deal with the deceased’s ex-wife and children. What could play out as a mere litany of indignities Marina must endure instead focuses, through Vega’s stunning work, on the ferocity with which she clings to the knowledge of who she is.

The Florida Project Co-writer/director Sean Baker continues his compassionate exploration of marginalized Americans, exploring the working poor on the periphery of the theme parks of Orlando, Florida. Willem Dafoe’s paternal motel manager is as good as advertised, while young Brooklynn Prince serves up quietly devastating work providing the child’s-eye-view of kids whose kingdom might never be magic.

A Ghost Story Those who fixated on the central figure being a guy in a sheet missed the other ways in which David Lowery’s mesmerizing drama was haunting—not just in portraying spirits unable to move on, but wrestling with the passage of time and mortality itself.

Get Out It took me a second viewing to really

u nder s t a nd Unranked, but alphabetical from left to right, top to bottom, the best films of 2017 . how remarkable Jordan captures a man trying to shed the prejPeele’s debut writing/directing feature is. Leave aside udice against his social station by provthe wrangling about whether it’s a coming that every kind of prejudice is wrong, edy, or a horror movie, or a social sat- delivered with Gray’s now-typical mix of ire, blah blah blah. This is just flat-out thematic and visual depth. a movie, crafted with such precision in addressing racism, limousine liberalism A Quiet Passion It’s understandable if Terence Davies and the dehumanization of black bodies that it can do so while evoking a laugh, or feels an affinity for Emily Dickinson, since they’re both masterful artists destined a scream, or a gasp. never to be appreciated in their lifetime. Cynthia Nixon’s rich performance leads a Good Time “I am better than you,” pouts Robert tremendous cast in exploring the frustraPattinson’s inept would-be bank robber, tions of living in a man’s world, told with in what amounts to a manifesto of medi- wit and a master filmmaker’s ability to ocre-but-privileged white manhood. Josh convey the passage of time, or the isolaand Benny Safdie’s heist thriller moves tion of a society’s expectations. will the jittery intensity of a genre movie, but its air is thick with the way Pattinson’s anti-heroic main character takes advantage of the non-white characters around him, even putting on a mask of blackness to commit a crime.

Lady Bird Yes, it’s a genuinely funny coming-ofage story, with Saoirse Ronan killing it as a precocious high-school senior convinced she’s better than her home town of Sacramento. But writer/director Greta Gerwig also nails the prickly dynamics of a mother-daughter relationship, and how easy it is for the life in front of you to seem frustrating and small until you can see it from the outside.

The Lost City of Z Director James Gray turns the story of real-life British explorer Percy Fawcett— and his repeatedly thwarted attempts to discover an advanced civilization in the Amazon jungle — into a meditation not just on colonialism, but on an entire culture’s inability to see past the assumptions built into labels. Hunnam’s performance

Phantom Thread

The headline-grabbing selling point of Daniel Day-Lewis’ self-proclaimed final movie performance doesn’t do justice to what a sly piece of work this is. On the surface, it’s just another Portrait of the Artist as an Asshole, with newcomer Vicky Krieps matching Day-Lewis as the new woman in the life of an intense 1950s British clothing designer. But stick through to the end, and the dynamics between the two principal characters reveal something so psychologically tangled that the mere act of cutting toast can feel like an explosion.

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

I’ve seen the arguments that writer/ director Martin McDonagh is dealing with sensitive racial dynamics here insensitively; respectfully, I disagree. The story of a grieving mother’s high-profile attempt to get justice for her daughter’s murder plays as a fable about the toxicity of chain-reaction hate. It takes nerve in these times to suggest that anger is rarely righteous. PJH

KICKING & STREAMING

The Darkness of Black Mirror BY CORY GARCIA @cfaust

NETFLIX

Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Kelly and Mackenzie Davis as Yorkie in the episiode“San Junipero,” which won the series two Emmy awards, including Outstanding Made for Television Movie.

note, can only be watched online. Black Mirror is a dark show, at times an incredibly unpleasant show, featuring one-anddone episodes that mostly center on how humans and technology are a bad mix. Creator Charlie Brooker regularly manages to pull the rug out from under viewers with story climaxes that are absolutely soul crushing. I love it. A new season of the series is being uploaded to Netflix on December 29, and there’s no time like the present to jump into the many dark futures Black Mirror has to offer. If you’re ready to leap in, here are five episodes worth considering as you start the journey.

1x1: The National Anthem For those of you looking to ease into the darkness of Black Mirror, the first episode of the series is naturally the best place to start. Of the different episodes of the series so far, “The National Anthem” is the episode that feels most grounded to our world, but be warned: Black Mirror goes from 0 to 100 real quick. This is, after all, an episode where a world leader has to decide whether or not he’s going to fuck a pig on live television. You read that last sentence correctly, and no, not every episode involves animal intercourse.

1x2: Fifteen Million Merits

“White Bear” is not the most crushing episode of Black Mirror, but it’s pretty high up there. If you want to go straight to the bottom, go ahead and skip to “Shut Up and Dance,” but “White Bear” is a much better introduction to the bleakness, at times, of Black Mirror. Much more a horror short than the other episodes, “White Bear” starts off as the story of a woman being hunted while the people around her refuse to help and only gets darker from there. You’ll likely be considering the ending for a long while after.

3x1: Nose Dive What if literally every interaction you had with someone could be graded by that other person? What if we judged each other like we do restaurants on Yelp? It’s not exactly a new concept, and actual humans in the real world have already tried launching similar apps, but Black Mirror’s take on the concept is particularly nasty. One of the more relatable episode of the series, it’s also a good starting point if you’re looking for a familiar face, as Bryce Dallas Howard anchors the episode.

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 3

n Dance & Fitness Classes 8:00am, Dancers’ Workshop, $10.00 - $16.00, 307-733-6398 n Toddler Gym 10:00am, Teton Recreation Center, n Story Time 10:00am, Valley of the Tetons Library, n Baby Time - Youth Auditorium 10:05am, Teton County Library, n Open Hockey - Weekday Morning 10:15am, Snow King Sports & Event Center, $10.00, (307) 201-1633 n Public Skating - Weekday 12:00pm, Snow King Sports & Event Center, $5.00 - $8.00, (307) 201-1633

FOR COMPLETE EVENT DETAILS VISIT PJHCALENDAR.COM

3x4: San Junipero “San Junipero,” for reasons I won’t discuss because of spoilers, occupies the weirdest niche in the Black Mirror canon. On one hand, maybe you have to see all the other stories the series has told to truly appreciate what Brooker manages to pull off here. On the other, it’s an incredible piece of storytelling, and winner two Emmy awards. Just know that once you watch it, you’ll want to talk about it, and you’ll never listen to Belinda Carlisle the same way again. PJH

Come check out your favorite NFL/College team on our 10 HD tvs! •••••••••••

HAPPY HOUR

1/2 Off Drinks Daily 5-7pm

••••••••••• Monday-Saturday 11am, Sunday 10:30am 832 W. Broadway (inside Plaza Liquors)•733-7901

DECEMBER 27, 2017 | 23

And just like that, in the second episode of the series, Black Mirror takes a hard right turn into a world that’s very different from our own while featuring things that we understand immediately. In a world where exercise gets you money and most live in small cubes at the mercy of pop up ads, “Fifteen Million Merits” features one of the more unique yet relatable dystopias you’ll come across. And that’s before it gets to tackling TV talent shows.

2x2: White Bear

n Dance & Fitness Classes 8:00am, Dancers’ Workshop, $10.00 - $16.00, 307-733-6398 n Public Skating - Weekday 12:00pm, Snow King Sports & Event Center, $5.00 - $8.00, (307) 201-1633 n Open Gym - Adult Basketball 12:00pm, Teton Recreation Center, n Tech Time 1:00pm, Valley of the Tetons Library, n App Time - Study Room 4 2:00pm, Teton County Library, n Winter Wonderland Ice Skating on Town Square 4:00pm, n Aaron Davis & Ben Winship 4 pm, Ascent Lounge at Four Seasons, Free, n REFIT® 5:15pm, First Baptist Church, Free, 307-690-6539 n Open Gym - Adult Volleyball 6:30pm, Teton Recreation Center, n Bluegrass Tuesdays with One Ton Pig 7:30pm, Silver Dollar Showroom, Free, 307-7323939 n MOST WANTED BAND Million Dollar Cowboy Bar,

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

o this is the problem: I want to talk about the physical act of picking up a copy of this publication, flipping the pages until you come across this column and reading these words printed on paper. But I really can’t do that, because while I know many of you will in fact be reading it that way, there will also be those of you reading it off a device of some sort, these words contributing to the soft glow that is lighting up your face. Sure, maybe I could ask them to put in an editor’s note for one version or the other, but if you’ve ever met my editor you know she’s too busy to deal with my weird shenanigans. But that’s just how life goes in 2017. We still hold up novels to be the gold standard of high storytelling, but most are too busy watching the TV shows they compare to novels on their phones, which they then use to complain/celebrate said shows, to actually pick up a book. I’m about as anti-luddite as you can get, but part of embracing technology is accepting and admitting how we’ve become slaves to it. This is perhaps why in a sea of well loved serialized TV shows like Game of Thrones, Twin Peaks and This Is Us, my favorite show is Netflix’s sci-fi/horror anthology Black Mirror, a show, I must

TUESDAY, JANUARY 2

It’s time to jump into the many dark futures of this soul-crushing show

n MOST WANTED BAND Million Dollar Cowboy Bar,

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

24 | DECEMBER 27, 2017

EAT IT! Free Coffee with Pastry Purchase Every Day from 3 to 5pm 1110 MAPLE WAY, SUITE B JACKSON, WY

XXXXX

307.264.2956 picnicjh.com

Mangy Moose Restaurant, with locally sourced, seasonally FRESH FOOD at reasonable prices, is a always a FUN PLACE to go with family or friends for a unique dining experience. The personable staff will make you feel RIGHT AT HOME and the funky western decor will keep you entertained throughout your entire visit. Reservations at (307) 733-4913 3295 Village Drive • Teton Village, WY

www.mangymoose.com

It’s Hot Drink Time in the Valley Where to find delicious steamy beverages to warm up your soul BY HELEN GOELET

LOCAL & DOMESTIC STEAKS SUSTAINABLE SEAFOOD OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK @ 5:30 TILL 10 JHCOWBOYSTEAKHOUSE.COM 307-733-4790

e’re in the midst of the frigid grips of the winter season now that the ground here in Jackson is finally covered in snow, which means an increased need for hot things all the time. After a few hours of skiing or a nice long walk in the snow, there’s little more I appreciate than a delicious hot drink, namely a whipped cream-topped cup of hot cocoa. Nothing warms me up quite as well.

And that, Nothing warms up the soul -- and your liver -- quite like these hot winter drinks. Yes, adult beverages are included. dear friends, is why I decided sugar. The ginger in the tumeric latte to do a little rundown of both the piping hot grown- also adds a flavorful effect and is great to up drinks and kid-friendly options that boost your immunity. Not only is it great for your health, can be found in town and the village. it’s also delicious. While the turmeric is slightly earthy and sharp, it also has a Healthy Being Cafe and Juicery Along with an extensive list of well- sweetness boosted by the warm flavors ness juices and smoothies and their of cinnamon, cardamom and ginger. If gluten-free and vegan-friendly menu, you’d like a little extra sweetness, just Healthy Being Cafe and Juicery also ask them to put some honey in it. offers a number of fantastic hot drinks. Corbet’s Cabin & Casper Restaurant My favorite is their turmeric latte. For the hot chocolate junkies out Made with turmeric, black pepper, cardamom, cinnamon, ginger and milk there — of which I am part — there are of your choice — they offer coconut, plenty of places to grab a good cup of almond, soy and regular ol’ milk — this hot cocoa. Be it at the top of the tram in hot beverage warms you to the core and Corbet’s Cabin or at Casper Restaurant, the mountain has access to a hot cocoa has some added health benefits. Known for its many beneficial pick-me-up ready when you need it. health qualities, turmeric is an excellent anti-inflammatory and immunity Persephone Bakery booster. Black pepper has been proven In town, though, there are also plenty to activate its qualities, and the cin- of great spots to find some awesome namon, while adding a delicious and hot chocolate. One of my favorites is warming flavor, is used to balance blood Persephone Bakery. Their hot cocoa is

ELY U Q I N U PEAN EURO

F O H ‘ E H

R DINNEAGE I H LUNCTETON VILL I T S IN FA BREAKE ALPENHOF AT TH

AT THE

Open nightly 5:30pm

733-3912 307.733.3242

160 N. Millward • Reservations recommended Reserve online at bluelionrestaurant.com

Large Specialty Pizza ADD: Wings (8 pc)

Medium Pizza (1 topping) Stuffed Cheesy Bread

$ 13 99

for an extra $5.99/each

(307) 733-0330 520 S. Hwy. 89 • Jackson, WY

so rich and chocolatey, and it tastes as though you are genuinely drinking hot melted chocolate. You can even add a homemade marshmallow if you really want to go for it.

CocoLove

Rendevous Bistro

The rye whisky is warm and sharp and the compound butter rounds it out, giving it richness and smoothness that’s perfect for a winter drink. It’s topped with a marshmallow toasted with a torch right before your eyes, and the smoky sweetness gives this cocktail an extra pop. Who doesn’t love watching your bartender wield a flame-throwing torch?

When you’re dining at Rendezvous Bistro, try their Cafe Bistro featuring brandy, Kahlua, Bailey’s and coffee. The brandy will warm you straight to your toes and the added flavors of Kahlua, Bailey’s and coffee make this the rich dessert beverage you needed to round out your meal.

If you’re having an apres drink (or two), the Mangy Moose has several great hot beer alternatives, including their delicious hot buttered rum.

The Local

Spur

Whether you’re out having a late night drink or are just there to dine, you should know The Local has added a new hot beverage to their list. It’s called the Winter’s Bane and it is not to be overlooked. Made with Averna, rye whisky and compound butter, this drink is delicious.

And it may not be featured on their menus, most restaurants will accommodate a hot toddy if asked. The Spur serves up a delicious one with a fresh cinnamon stick and just the right amount of honey. It’s sure to spread plenty of cheer into your frozen soul. PJH

Mangy Moose

SERVE YOUR MESSAGE HERE.

THE LOCALS

FAVORITE PIZZA 2012-2016 •••••••••

SPECIAL Slice, salad & soda

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••

TV Sports Packages and 7 Screens

Under the Pink Garter Theatre (307) 734-PINK • www.pinkygs.com

FAMILY FRIENDLY ENVIRONMENT PIZZAS, PASTAS & MORE HOUSEMADE BREAD & DESSERTS FRESH, LOCALLY SOURCED OFFERINGS TAKE OUT AVAILABLE Dining room and bar open nightly at 5:00pm (307) 733-2460 • 2560 Moose Wilson Road • Wilson, WY

A Jackson Hole favorite since 1965

DECEMBER 27, 2017 | 25

$5 Shot & Tall Boy

LUNCH

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

SALES@PLANETJH.COM OR CALL 307.732.0299

Another great spot to grab a cup of cocoa is a little joint that is fittingly called CocoLove. Try their Mexican hot chocolate, a drink made with rich chocolate, roasted chillies and spices. The spices give the beverage that extra je ne sais quoi that brings out flavors of chocolate one doesn’t normall get to experience. If you’re in need of a caffeine boost, try their Con Panna, an espresso topped with whipped cream. Chances are good you had no idea espresso needed whipped cream, but you will know that after you try the Con Panna. While you sip on your drink, you should also indulge in one of the beautiful artisanal chocolates or pastries made in house by Master Chocolatier Oscar Ortega. We know, we know — you’re watching your

waistline, but there’s no point in trying to resist those sugary masterpieces. Now for the good stuff. When it comes to adult hot beverages, most restaurants and bars have done us all a solid and added them to their menus.

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

26 | DECEMBER 27, 2017

WATERIN’ HOLE

Featuring dining destinations from buffets and rooms with a view to mom and pop joints, chic cuisine and some of our dining critic’s faves!

Local is a modern American steakhouse and bar located on Jackson’s historic town square. Serving locally raised beef and, regional game, fresh seafood and seasonally inspired food, Local offers the perfect setting for lunch, drinks or dinner.

ASIAN & CHINESE TETON THAI

COURTESY OF WILDIFE BREWERY

Lunch 11:30am Monday-Saturday Dinner 5:30pm Nightly

HAPPY HOUR Daily 4-6:00pm

307.201.1717 | LOCALJH.COM ON THE TOWN SQUARE

Wildlife’s beer is now found far and wide, but the pub’s pizza and atmosphere are both well worth a trip over the pass.

Wildife Brewery Award-winning westside beer now roaming freely on both sides of the mountains BY JESSICA FLAMMANG

he Tetons are on tap at this Victor pub and pizzeria. The popular Teton Valley haunt began as a home brewing experiment in Rick Harmon’s home garage in 2003. By 2006, he offered take out pizzas and growlers. Two years later, the small operation added a dining room and circular bar. It’s now packed full of familiar faces on Wednesdays – the Mug Club Night – a huge draw for “the giant local crowd,” says Wildlife bartender Caroline Personette. It’s what truly makes Caroline enjoy her job as a bartender and front of house manager. Popular among locals for her sassy bartending style and friendly smile, she says her favorite beer is the Bear Claw Black Ale because “it’s a less hoppy beer with coffee flavor.” The beers rotate regularly, and the Zoe Sour recently won a gold medal for the Gluten Reduced category in the 2017 Great International Beer Competition. Personette describes the brew as “a super easy drinking sour with guava and hibiscus flowers.”

Suite different from the Mighty Bison Brown, Gem State Pale Ale and Hopstafarian IPA that the brewery is commonly known for, the Zoe is “a fruity sour, but not as tart as most sours can be,” said Personette.” The brewery has earned a host of other awards over the years from the North American Brewers Association and The Old West Brew Fest. The brewery and kitchen share a space with the kitchen at Wildlife. “It pushes my limits and my abilities, and allows a lot of creativity,” Wildlife kitchen Chef Dave Smith said. Best known for its pizzas, Wildlife’s ‘Husband and Wife’ pie is a blend of carnivore and herbivore ingredients on each half. The carnivore side sports pepperoni, Canadian bacon, Italian sausage and extra cheese, while the herbivore side of the pie boasts mushrooms, red onions, red bell peppers and fresh tomatoes. But as popular as the pies are, Smith is seeking to expand beyond pizza and plans to release a new winter menu. He and head brewer Leif Rotsaert are also considering hosting a brewer’s dinner with food and beer pairings. “Having a place where we can make a living and still have fun is why we all live here. That is where it started with Rick, and how Wildlife still comes alive,” said René Ceja, who heads up marketing, sales and distribution of Wildlife’s infamous brews. In 2015, Wildlife purchased a canning line and released the Hopstafarian Extra Pale IPA. Wildlife beers can now be found on both sides of the pass, and are distributed in Idaho Falls and Pocatello. PJH

Serving the world’s most exciting cuisine. Teton Thai offers a splendid array of flavors: sweet, hot, sour, salt and bitter. All balanced and blended perfectly, satisfying the most discriminating palate. Open daily. 7432 Granite Loop Road in Teton Village, (307) 733-0022 and in Driggs, (208) 787-8424, tetonthai.com.

THAI ME UP

Home of Melvin Brewing Co. Freshly remodeled offering modern Thai cuisine in a relaxed setting. New tap system with 20 craft beers. New $8 wine list and extensive bottled beer menu. Open daily for dinner at 5pm. Downtown at 75 East Pearl Street. View our tap list at thaijh.com/brews. 307-733-0005.

CONTINENTAL ALPENHOF

Serving authentic Swiss cuisine, the Alpenhof features European style breakfast entrées and alpine lunch fare. Dine in the Bistro for a casual meal or join us in the Alpenrose dining room for a relaxed dinner experience. Breakfast 7:30am-10am. Coffee & pastry 10am-11:30am. Lunch 11:30am-3pm. Aprés 3pm-5:30pm. Dinner 6pm-9pm. For reservations at the Bistro or Alpenrose, call 307-733-3242.

THE BLUE LION

A Jackson Hole favorite for 39 years. Join us in the charming atmosphere of a historic home. Serving fresh fish, elk, poultry, steaks, and vegetarian entrées. Ask a local about our rack of lamb. Live acoustic guitar music most nights. Open nightly at 5:30 p.m. Reservations recommended, walk-ins welcome.. 160 N. Millward, (307) 733-3912, bluelionrestaurant.com

PICNIC

Our mission is simple: offer good food, made fresh, all day, every day. We know everyone’s busy, so we cater to on-the-go lifestyles with quick, tasty options for breakfast and lunch, including pastries and treats from our sister restaurant Persephone. Also offering coffee and espresso drinks plus wine and cocktails. Open Mon-Fri 7am-5pm, Wknds 7am-3pm 1110 Maple Way in West Jackson 307-2642956www.picnicjh.com

ELEANOR’S

Enjoy all the perks of fine dining, minus the dress code at Eleanor’s, serving rich, saucy dishes in a warm and friendly setting. Its bar alone is an attraction, thanks to reasonably priced drinks and a loyal crowd. Come get a belly-full of our two-time gold medal wings. Open at 11 a.m. daily. 832 W. Broadway, (307) 733-7901.

LOCAL

Local, a modern American steakhouse and bar, is located on Jackson’s historic town square. Our menu features both classic and specialty cuts of locally-ranched meats and wild game alongside fresh seafood, shellfish, house-ground burgers, and seasonally-inspired food. We offer an extensive wine list and an abundance of locallysourced products. Offering a casual and vibrant bar atmosphere with 12 beers on tap as well as a relaxed dining room, Local is the perfect spot to grab a burger for lunch or to have drinks and dinner with friends. Lunch Mon-Sat 11:30am. Dinner Nightly 5:30pm. 55 North Cache, (307) 201-1717, localjh.com.

LOTUS ORGANIC RESTAURANT

Serving organic, freshly-made world cuisine while catering to all eating styles. Endless organic and natural meat, vegetarian, vegan and glutenfree choices. Offering super smoothies, fresh extracted juices, espresso and tea. Full bar and house-infused botanical spirits. Serving breakfast, lunch & dinner starting at 8am daily. 140 N. Cache, (307) 734-0882, theorganiclotus.com.

MANGY MOOSE

MILLION DOLLAR COWBOY STEAKHOUSE

Jackson’s first Speakeasy Steakhouse. The Million Dollar Cowboy Steakhouse is a hidden gem located below the world famous Million Dollar Cowboy Bar. Our menu offers guests the best in American steakhouse cuisine. Top quality chops and steaks sourced from local farms, imported Japanese Wagyu beef, and house-cured meats and sausages. Accentuated with a variety of thoughtful side dishes, innovative appetizers, creative vegetarian items, and decadent desserts, a meal at this landmark location is sure to be a memorable one. Reservations are highly recommended.

ITALIAN CALICO

A Jackson Hole favorite since 1965, the Calico continues to be one of the most popular restaurants in the Valley. The Calico offers the right combination of really good food, (much of which is grown in our own gardens in the summer), friendly staff; a reasonably priced menu and a large selection of wine. Our bar scene is eclectic with a welcoming vibe. Open nightly at 5 p.m. 2560 Moose Wilson Rd., (307) 733-2460.

MEXICAN EL ABUELITO

MOE’S BBQ

VIRGINIAN SALOON

Come down to the historic Virginian Saloon and check out our grill menu! Everything from 1/2 pound burgers to wings at a great price! The grill is open in the Saloon from 4pm - 10pm daily. (307) 739-9891. 750 West Broadway.

America’s most award-winning microbrewery is serving lunch and dinner. Take in the atmosphere while enjoying wood-fired pizzas, pastas, burgers, sandwiches, soups, salads and desserts. $9 lunch menu. Happy hour 4 to 6 p.m., including tasty hot wings. The freshest beer in the valley, right

PIZZA DOMINO’S PIZZA

Hot and delicious delivered to your door. Handtossed, deep dish, crunchy thin, Brooklyn style and artisan pizzas; bread bowl pastas, and oven baked sandwiches; chicken wings, cheesy breads and desserts. Delivery. 520 S. Hwy. 89 in Kmart Plaza, (307) 733-0330.

PINKY G’S

The locals favorite! Voted Best Pizza in Jackson Hole 2012-2016. Seek out this hidden gem under the Pink Garter Theatre for NY pizza by the slice, salads, strombolis, calzones and many appetizers to choose from. Try the $7 ‘Triple S’ lunch special. Happy hours 10 p.m. - 12 a.m. Sun.- Thu. Text PINK to 71441 for discounts. Delivery and take-out. Open daily 11a.m. to 2 a.m. 50 W. Broadway, (307) 734-PINK.

DECEMBER 27, 2017 | 27

SNAKE RIVER BREWERY & RESTAURANT

Serving authentic Mexican cuisine and appetizers in a unique Mexican atmosphere. Home of the original Jumbo Margarita. Featuring a full bar with a large selection of authentic Mexican beers. Lunch served weekdays 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Nightly dinner specials. Open seven days, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. 385 W. Broadway, (307) 733-1207.

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

Opened in Jackson Hole by Tom Fay and David Fogg, Moe’s Original Bar B Que features a Southern Soul Food Revival through its award-winning Alabama-style pulled pork, ribs, wings, turkey and chicken smoked over hardwood served with two unique sauces in addition to Catfish and a Shrimp Moe-Boy sandwich. A daily rotation of traditional Southern sides and tasty desserts are served fresh daily. Moe’s BBQ stays open late and features a menu for any budget. While the setting is familyfriendly, a full premium bar offers a lively scene with HDTVs for sports fans, music, shuffle board and other games upstairs. Large party takeout orders and full service catering with delivery is also available.

1155 S HIGHWAY 89 JACKSON, WY 83OO1 | OPEN DAILY: 7AM - 1OPM | 3O7-733-O45O | JACKSONWHOLEGROCER.COM

Mangy Moose Restaurant, with locally sourced, seasonally fresh food at reasonable prices, is a always a fun place to go with family or friends for a unique dining experience. The personable staff will make you feel right at home and the funky western decor will keep you entertained throughout your entire visit. Teton Village, (307) 733-4913, mangymoose.com.

from the source! Free WiFi. Open 11:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. 265 S. Millward. (307) 739-2337, snakeriverbrewing.com.

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

28 | DECEMBER 27, 2017

SUDOKU

Complete the grid so that each row, column, diagonal and 3x3 square contain all of the numbers 1 to 9. No math is involved. The grid has numbers, but nothing has to add up to anything else. Solve the puzzle with reasoning and logic. Solving time is typically 10 to 30 minutes, depending on your skill and experience.

L.A.TIMES ALIEN NATION By ROBERT E. LEE MORRIS

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 31, 2017

ACROSS

1 Turn in the box 6 Pour out forcefully 10 Sailing 14 Dip providing potassium, for short 18 Drink with an umbrella 20 Scat legend, familiarly 21 Diamond slip-up 22 Austen classic 23 *Menace to society 25 *Old-school letters 27 A or Angel 28 “Immediately, if not sooner!” 30 Jeweler’s assortment 31 Doc’s orders 34 Ryan in a 1998 film, e.g.: Abbr. 36 Macho guys 38 Party animals? 42 BWI posting 43 Word on a wanted poster 45 Canine protection 47 Prefix with polis 48 Kind of milk or sauce 49 *Tropical cocktail 51 Pledged, in a way 53 Common FM radio fare 55 Hands over 56 Sign off on 57 Bring out 58 “Can I have a __ of your drink?” 59 “That was close!” 60 Coll. term 61 Trial version 62 Look forward to 64 Coolly dispassionate 66 MLB stat 68 *Neckwear for which Mr. T was once famous (but no longer wears) 70 Issue opener? 71 They’re sold as is 73 Choral composition 74 Former Laker star Lamar 77 Manhattan suffix 78 Partner 79 Pine __

80 82

Spot on a horse Not insist on payment of, as a debt 84 Weasel-like animal also called a honey badger 87 Pirate’s ship 88 Hydrocodone, e.g. 89 *Hobby shop purchase 91 “__ Got a Secret”: old game show 92 Hemsworth of “The Hunger Games” 93 Justice replaced by Gorsuch 95 Major artery 96 Zilch 97 Broad valleys 99 Divvy up 100 Part of Q and A: Abbr. 101 “By Jove!” 102 “Gone With the Wind” family name 104 Nothing to write home about 107 Loads 109 *Deluge 113 Remote region ... and what literally ends each answer to a starred clue 118 Wheel connector 119 “In that case ... ” 120 Leg up 121 Body shop application 122 Close by 123 Legal document 124 What Jack Sprat’s wife couldn’t eat 125 Factions

10 11 12

Six-pack set Italian Riviera resort Friend of Jerry, George and Cosmo 13 Comparable 14 Idaho nickname 15 Actress Thurman 16 Brest friend 17 Silent __: White House nickname 19 Factory with frozen assets 24 “Dr.” with MVP awards 26 Some smartphones 29 Rigatoni alternative 31 Fit together 32 French star 33 *Soap, often 35 Playground game 37 Fancy wheels 39 *Flu symptoms 40 Storybook sister 41 Doomed biblical city 43 Mine, in Metz 44 Church gatherings 46 Three-star mil. officer 50 Hardly gung-ho 52 “Crocodile Hunter” Steve __ 54 Brahms creation 56 “Ooh! I know this! Gimme __” 58 Promised 59 Tradesperson 62 Type type 63 Channel for film buffs 64 Tree with long beanlike pods 65 Houses with layers 67 Fess up DOWN 69 Monopoly piece 1 Power-increasing gadget 71 Word from the 2 19th Greek letter Greek for “not a 3 Lobster eater’s accessory place” 4 Aid in planning a trip 72 Succumbs to 5 Follow pressure 6 One percent of a D.C. group—or 75 Singer Newthe group itself 7 Earnest request ton-John 8 O’Neill’s “Desire Under the __” 76 Just 9 Winning by a mile 77 Music to a bluffer’s

ears “Keep going!” Square measurement Words a pinball wizard hates to see 84 Hot streak 85 “So long, José” 86 Kitchen cloth 87 “The Tonight Show” character with a turban 89 Vague unease 90 Mauna __ 94 Wine choice 98 Short 101 Navel type 103 Extremely dry 105 Debate team, for example 106 Gymnast Korbut 108 Yours and mine 109 Solo in “Star Wars” 110 PC file suffix 111 SEC powerhouse 112 Drop off 114 Man cave setting 115 HBO competitor 116 Collecting Soc. Sec. 117 What birthday candles represent: Abbr. 80 81 83

COSMIC CAFE WITH CAROL MANN

BE EVOLUTIONARY “Whenever possible be kind. It is always possible.” ~ Dalai Lama

Evolutionary people enjoy many benefits

Staying in the driver’s seat

Two ways to start right now Researchers have estimated that 80 percent of our thoughts each day are negative. A simple, life-changing strategy is to be mindful of what you say and think. Reroute your thoughts to the glass is half-full approach. Make the decision to focus on limiting the negative and expanding the positive. This is not an invitation to have your head in the sand or to pretend everything is great. It might be more like being on a “thought diet;” skip the toxic negative ones. Practicing random acts of kindness is another simple way to get to 51 percent or more. Open the door for people, help someone carry a heavy grocery bag, give a person the change she needs in the supermarket checkout line, smile, pick up trash on the trail, make dinner for your partner, walk a dog at the Animal Adoption Center, drive a friend home if they are drinking. There are so many opportunities that present themselves every day. Again, science has proven that acts of kindness (when not expecting anything in return) bring equal benefits of well-being to the giver and to the recipient.

For all MEETING AGENDAS AND MINUTES WEEKLY CALENDAR JOB OPENINGS SOLICITATIONS FOR BIDS PUBLIC NOTICES AND OTHER VALUABLE INFORMATION

Practice works Embodying a loving state of being is evolutionary. This is a free, peaceful, 24/7 opportunity to upgrade your life and the world. Commit to practicing every day and soon it will become a go-to way of being. The timing is now. PJH

Carol Mann is a longtime Jackson resident, radio personality, former Grand Targhee Resort owner, author, and clairvoyant. Got a Cosmic Question? Email carol@yourcosmiccafe.com

Visit our website

TetonWyo.org The public meeting agendas and minutes for the Board of County Commissioners and Planning Commission can also be found in the Public Notices section of the JH News and Guide.

DECEMBER 27, 2017 | 29

We are in control of choosing to come from love or fear. Therefore, every person is capable of contributing to evolving the state of the world. Even in dire circumstances we have in our power the choice to take the emotional high road or not. I’ve had the honor of knowing many people who survived the concentration camps of the Holocaust in WWII. They are and were living

The good news, according to many knowledgeable sources, is that we only have to come from a loving state of being 51 percent of the time to make a shift for ourselves and collectively for our planet. This does not mean being hateful the rest of the time; it means that being an evolutionary does not require a state of perfection. The 51 percent number signals to the Universe we are more interested in a loving state of being, than other options. And the Universe will take note and respond.

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

Science has proven that loving feelings (kindness, compassion, acceptance, caring, forgiveness, collaboration) provide us with the biochemistry of physical, mental and emotional well-being. This translates to physical health, emotional calmness and mental clarity, all of which make it possible to thrive. These benefits create such an upgrade for us, and there is more. Feelings which are derivatives of love also allow for us to receive guidance from the evolved wisdom, unconditional love and higher intelligence of our souls/the Cosmos/Source. A loving state of being is what will allow us to partner with each other and with the Universe in new, infinite creative and positive ways. It is how we can directly evolve the state of the world right now and leave behind endless repeating patterns born of fear, separation and trauma drama. That old way of living is only about surviving; it never gets better, and it has run its course.

Perfection is not required

oming from a loving state of being can evolve our world as powerfully as the discovery of fire once did. The energy we put out as individuals and together as a human race directly affects what kinds of events and circumstances enter our experience. Simply stated, this is how it works: Our thoughts, beliefs and actions are part of a continuous feedback loop to the Universe. The Universe delivers into our experience what the energy frequencies of our consciousness indicate we are interested in.

testaments to the loving essence of the human spirit and the always present choice to come from love. Having endured the dehumanizing atrocities of concentration camps, and bearing witness to the murder of 6 million innocent people, they miraculously did not carry hatred. Those survivors whom I knew went on to live happy, loving and contributory lives.

WELLNESS COMMUNITY

Your one-stop resource for access to Jackson Hole’s premier health and wellness providers.

Professional and Individualized Treatments • Sports/Ortho Rehab • Neck and Back Rehab • Rehabilitative Pilates • Incontinence Training • Pelvic Pain Rehab • Lymphedema Treatments Norene Christensen PT, DSc, OCS, CLT Rebekah Donley PT, DPT, CPI Mark Schultheis PT, CSCS Kim Armington PTA, CPI No physician referral required. (307) 733-5577•1090 S Hwy 89

30 | DECEMBER 27, 2017

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

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HALF OFF BLAST OFF!

FREE WILL ASTROLOGY

BY ROB BREZSNY

bliss-generating parts of our bodies: Krause end bulbs, also known as bulboid corpuscles. (Couldn’t they have called them “glimmering rapture hubs” or “magic buttons”?) In any case, these sweet spots enable us to experience surpassing pleasure. According to my understanding of the astrological omens for 2018, Cancerian, your personal complement of bulboid corpuscles will be even more sensitive than usual. Here’s further good news: Your soul will also have a heightened capacity to receive and register delight.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) Is there anything about your attitude or your approach that is a bit immature or unripe? Have you in some way remained an amateur or apprentice when you should or could have become fully professional by now? Are you still a dabbler in a field where you could be a connoisseur or master? If your answer to any of these questions is yes, the coming months will be an excellent time to grow up, climb higher, and try harder. I invite you to regard 2018 as the Year of Kicking Your Own Ass.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Mise en place is a French term whose literal translation is “putting in place.” When used by professional chefs in a restaurant kitchen, it refers to the task of gathering and organizing all the ingredients and tools before beginning to cook. I think this is an excellent metaphor for you to emphasize throughout 2018. In every area of your life, thorough preparation will be the key to your success and fulfillment. Make sure you have everything you need before launching any new enterprise or creative effort.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): In 2018, one of your themes will be “secret freedom.” What does that mean? The muse who whispered this clue in my ear did not elaborate further. But based on the astrological aspects, here are several possible interpretations. 1. You may have to dig deep and be strategic to access resources that have the power to emancipate you. 2. You may be able to discover a rewarding escape and provocative deliverance that have been hidden from you up until now. 3. You shouldn’t brag about the liberations you intend to accomplish until you have accomplished them. 4. The exact nature of the freedom that will be valuable to you might be useless or irrelevant or incomprehensible to other people.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) Experimental composer Harry Partch played one-of-akind musical instruments that he made from objects like car hubcaps, gourds, aluminum ketchup bottles, and nose cones from airplanes. Collage artist Jason Mecier fashions portraits of celebrities using materials like noodles, pills, licorice candy, bacon, and lipstick tubes. Given the astrological configurations for 2018, you could flourish by adopting a similar strategy in your own chosen field. Your most interesting successes could come from using things as they’re not “supposed” to be used. You could further your goals by mixing and matching resources in unique ways.

ARIES (March 21-April 19): “I need more smart allies, compassionate supporters, ethical role models, and loyal friends, and I need them right now!” writes Joanna K., an Aries reader from Albuquerque, New Mexico. On the other hand, there’s Jacques T., an Aries reader from Montreal. “To my amazement, I actually have much of the support and assistance I need,” he declares. “What I seem to need more of are constructive critics, fair-minded competitors with integrity, colleagues and loved ones who don’t assume that every little thing I do is perfect, and adversaries who galvanize me to get better.” I’m happy to announce, dear Aries, that in 2018 you will benefit more than usual from the influences that both Joanna and Jacques seek.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Poet Diane Ackerman tells us that human tongues, lips, and genitals possess neural receptors that are ultra-responsive. Anatomists have given unsexy names to these

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): I predict that the coming months won’t bring you the kinds of opportunities you were imagining and expecting, but will bring you opportunities you haven’t imagined and didn’t expect. Will you be alert and receptive to these sly divergences from your master plan? If so, by September of 2018 you will have become as smart a gambler as maybe you have ever been. You will be more flexible and adaptable, too, which means you’ll be better able to get what you want without breaking stuff and wreaking whirlwinds. Congratulations in advance, my daring darling. May your experiments be both visionary and practical. May your fiery intentions be both steady and fluidic.

Go to RealAstrology.com for Rob Brezsny’s expanded weekly audio horoscopes and daily text-message horoscopes. Audio horoscopes also available by phone at 877-873-4888 or 900-950-7700.

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GEMINI (May 21-June 20): In 2018, half-buried residues from the past will be resurfacing as influences in your life. Old dreams that you abandoned prematurely are ripe to be re-evaluated in light of what has happened since you last took them seriously. Are these good or bad developments? It will probably depend on your ability to be charitable and expansive as you deal with them. One thing is certain: To move forward into the future, you will have to update your relationships with these residues and dreams.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): In 2018, your tribe will be extra skilled at opening things that have been shut or sealed for a long time: heavy doors, treasure boxes, rich possibilities, buried secrets, shy eyes, mum mouths, guarded hearts, and insular minds. You’ll have a knack for initiating new markets and clearing blocked passageways and staging grand openings. You’ll be more inclined to speak candidly and freely than any other generation of Scorpios in a long time. Getting stuck things unstuck will come naturally. Making yourself available for bighearted fun and games will be your specialty. Given these wonders, maybe you should adopt a new nickname, like Apertura (the Italian word for “opening”), Ouverture (the French word for “opening”), Šiši (Yoruban), Otevírací (Czech), Öffnung (German), or Kufungua (Swahili).

NE W

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): In the Scots language spoken in Lowland Scotland, a watergaw is a fragmented rainbow that appears between clouds. A skafer is a faint rainbow that arises behind a mist, presaging the imminent dissipation of the mist. A silk napkin is a splintered rainbow that heralds the arrival of brisk wind and rain. In accordance with the astrological omens, I propose we use these mysterious phenomena as symbols of power for you in 2018. The good fortune that comes your way will sometimes be partially veiled and seemingly incomplete. Don’t compare it to some “perfect” ideal. It’ll be more interesting and inspiring than any perfect ideal.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): I wish I could make it nice and easy for you. I wish I could proclaim that the forces of darkness are lined up against the forces of light. I’d like to be able to advise you that the opening months of 2018 will bring you a showdown between wrong and right, between ugliness and beauty. But it just ain’t that simple. It’s more like the forces of plaid will be arrayed against the forces of paisley. The showdown will feature two equally flawed and equally appealing sources of intrigue. And so you may inquire, Libra, what is the most honorable role you can play in these matters? Should you lend your support to one side or the other? I advise you to create a third side.

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CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Hungarian psychiatrist Thomas Szasz dismissed the idea that a person should be on a quest to “find himself” or “find herself.” “The self is not something that one finds,” he said. Rather, “it is something one creates.” I think that’s great advice for you in 2018, Capricorn. There’ll be little value in wandering around in search of fantastic clues about who you were born to be. Instead you should simply be gung-ho as you shape and craft yourself into the person you want to be.

32 | DECEMBER 27, 2017