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What’s inside

DGO Magazine

STAFF

Volume 5 Number 1 Thursday, January 2, 2020

Editor

Navajo Nation?

Naboo? The Force reaches beyond a galaxy far, far away

Angelica Leicht aleicht@bcimedia.com 375-4551 Staff writer Nick Gonzales

Whether it’s in the form of museum exhibitions, pop culture conventions, or the audio track of “A New Hope,” Native peoples of the Southwest are taking the Star Wars franchise and making it their own.

ngonzales@bcimedia.com Sales Chandler Sommerfeldt csommerfeldt@bcimedia.com 375-4553 Contributors Erin Brandt Megan Bianco Design/layout Tracie Louck

4

5 Eat

Nick Gonzales/DGO Mag

The Columbine Bar in Mancos 6-7 8 Music

9 Travel

Get Outta Town 9

George R.R. Martin bookstore 11

22 Building a better you for relationships in 2020

6 Entering The Columbine Bar is like entering a time capsule

V.P. of Advertising Jamie Opalenik

During this turn into a new year with its “make a better version of you” ads, it’s worth noting that there are more important things than your physical appearance when it comes to dating.

The bar, which according to the plaque outside opened in 1910 (contradicting a painted sign inside dating it to 1903), is one of the oldest bars in Colorado. But for such a historic place, it doesn’t put on any airs.

8 Your guide to concerts in the Four Corners this January

Tell us what you think!

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If you head down to Albuquerque, you’ll have the chance to catch Reverend Horton Heat and Black Flag.

Meanwhile, Santa Fe’s Meow Wolf has you covered for all things electronic.

And perrenial favorites Nappy Roots will be returning to Durango on Jan. 8.

DGO is a free biweekly publication distributed by Ballantine Communications Inc., and is available for one copy per person. Taking more than five copies of an edition from a distribution location is illegal and is punishable by law according to Colorado Revised Statute 18-9-314.

Upcoming Concerts 8

10 Film

Chief Executive Officer Douglas Bennett

Mancos’ Millwood Junction 5

6 Drink

Reader Services 375-4570

From the blog

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Ryan Singer’s “Inter-dimensional Gambling” combines the Four Corners and Tatooine.

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FROM THE BLOG

»» News from our site on the interwebs you may have missed Out of this world porn

using theirs. Gay men aren’t immune to these messages and even reward men who are loyal to straight-passing masculinity.”

Like many sites, the Canadian pornographic video sharing site Pornhub collects data on what its users do and search for online. It also goes one step further, though, and publishes these insights publicly, offering a unique view into trends in current events and culture.

In 2019, one of the site’s top search trends was out of this world, in a very literal sense.

People who have close encounters with UFOs and extraterrestrials often report feelings of awe or fear.

Apparently those aren’t the only feelings that space aliens illicit.

Driven largely by the interest in the Storm Area 51 Facebook event that took place in July, two of Pornhub’s top search terms last year were “alien” and “Area 51.”

The Area 51 raid, in which participants were going to “Naruto run” into the base to “see them aliens,” didn’t amount to more than a couple music festivals with 1,500 attendees between them. But there was enough interest in extraterrestrial encounters to generate hundreds of thousands of searches for Area 51 pornography when the meme went viral back in July. (There were nearly 59,000 searches for “Area 51” on July 16 alone.

Let’s see them aliens, indeed.

Women were 33% more likely to view alien-related videos compared to men, and individuals between the ages of 16 and 24 were 67% more interested in extraterrestrial coupling than any other age group. The most popular state to search for aliens in was Alaska (Colorado is tied with Washington for 12th), and alien videos were most popular on the National level in the Czech Republic (the U.S. comes in at 10th place).

This has us wondering where an X-rated encounter with an alien would fall on J. Allen Hynek’s scale made popular by “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.” In his 1972 book, “The UFO Experience: A Scientific Inquiry,” Hynek describes the First Kind of encounter as seeing a UFO within 500 feet – close enough to see details. The Second Kind involves the UFO having a physical effect on its surroundings, such as scorching vegetation, scaring animals or disrupting electronics. The Third Kind occurs when someone, Richard Dryfuss for instance, sees the passengers of the UFO. They’re not official, but Wikipedia actually lists four more types of close encounter: Fourth, abduction of a human by a UFO; Fifth, communication with aliens; Sixth, the death of a human or animal caused by a UFO; and Seventh, “the creation of a human/alien hybrid, either by sexual reproduction or by artificial scientific methods.”

We’re guessing that most XXX alien footage falls somewhere into that last category. We also know what we would title our screenplay about such an encounter, if we were to write one.

sexual partners ranging in age, ethnicity, and expressed sexual orientation. But what unites them all is a general callousness toward bottoms or even a delight in the knowledge that it is they who get to “use and abuse” bottoms. Is this a cultural artifact?

I find the notion of putting someone else in pain for my pleasure so repulsive that I have yet to top anyone. I’m starting to think that pleasurable sex is for tops alone, and bottoms are supposed to just shut up and take whatever they can get out of it. Help me square the messaging that bottoms are not as valuable as tops and the nonchalance that accompanies the orgasm gap, especially in gay sex.

Tell Me I’m Wrong “I feel for this guy, I really do,” said Ty Mitchell, a gay porn star and writer. “But where does he get off? No, really, where in his body? Because it doesn’t sound like he gets off on butt stuff, or even believes anal pleasure is real.”

Mitchell, whose handle on Instagram is “probottom,” definitely gets off on bottoming and other butt stuff, TMIW. “Getting penetrated feels great for me, way better than topping,” said Mitchell. “Much to my chagrin, most of the guys I wish would fuck me seem to feel this way, too. But the guys who do fuck me want to know they’re making me feel good. Even the ones who fuck me like I’m scum do it because I’ve asked them to, because sometimes that turns me on.”

Mitchell suspects bottoming has been a consistently terrible experience for you because either being penetrated isn’t something that feels good for you or you aren’t advocating for your own pleasure in the moment.

“TMIW may need to communicate more with his partners about what does and doesn’t feel good for him,” said Mitchell. “And if he finds no pleasure in bottoming, he should stop bottoming and get off some other way.”

As for what may be going on culturally, TMIW, Mitchell definitely had some thoughts.

“A lot of men are bad at attending to their partners’ pleasure because we live in a fucked-up patriarchy” —— Nick Gonzales said Mitchell. “From childhood on, men are systematically taught that sex is a matter of instinct instead of Use and abuse bottoms intention, and that our dicks are magical wands that I’m a 29-year-old gay man living in California. Why bring people satisfaction just by showing ’em off and are most tops such assholes? I have had plenty of sticking ’em in people who don’t have one or aren’t

But we both want you to know there are good, attentive, compassionate gay men out there who can fuck the shit out of a guy while at the same time checking in to make sure the guy they’re fucking is enjoying the experience, too. The minute a guy says or does something that proves he isn’t one of those guys, TMIW, show him the door. Showing someone the door is one of the most effective ways we can advocate for our own pleasure; the sooner you show someone who doesn’t care about your pleasure out, the sooner you can show someone who does in. And Mitchell thinks a quick tweak to your search criteria will help you find yourself a good guy: “Flip on that ‘vers top’ filter [on the hookup apps], and stick to guys who at least have some empathy toward the anal experience,” said Mitchell.

Follow Ty Mitchell on Twitter @TyMitchellXXX (where you can find his porn work) or @TyMitchellxo (where you can find his rage and writing). You can find Mitchell’s essays at probottom.substack.com.

—— Dan Savage Disturbing phone sex Gay male here. Every so often, I call an old-fashioned phone-sex party line to get off with strangers.

Usually the talk is pretty standard stuff about what we would be doing to each other if we were together.

Sometimes I like to pop into the older/younger room, and more than once I’ve found an older guy who likes connecting with younger guys (me). That’s fine, but as this guy phone-fucks me, he starts slipping into some disturbing comments. Specifically, he’ll go from talking about how much he likes fucking me — a consenting, over-18 male — to talking about how much he’s enjoying fucking underage girls in his own family. I have no control over who the system matches me with, and of course I can click out at will. I also have no way of knowing where this guy is calling from. But I’ve encountered him a few times.

Do I have some kind of obligation here?

Perturbed, Horny, Offering No Encouragement Anonymous strangers on phone-sex party lines — who even knew those were still a thing — are not mandatory reporters. Meaning, you aren’t legally obligated to go to the police if you suspect someone might be abusing a child. But even if you did file a report, what would you say? Someone, somewhere is saying some seriously fucked-up shit on an anonymous phone-sex line? You would get shrugged out of the police station.

My advice would be to tell the guy, if you ever get matched with him again, that his child-rape fantasies are a huge turnoff and you’ve thought about reporting him. Then hang up.

—— Dan Savage

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[eat]

Mancos’ Millwood Junction: Decent food in a rustic building » Eatery better known for seafood served a filling lunch The first thing you notice when you walk into Millwood Junction in Mancos is all the wood (presumably from a mill?). The building is so very, very ... wooden, inside and out. If you’re one of those weirdos that spends all day looking at reclaimed barnwood crafts on Etsy, chances are you’ll get a kick out of this restaurant.

The rest of us, though, are more likely to judge it based on its food.

The eatery is known for its steak and seafood, featuring an all you can eat seafood buffet every Friday night.

We just had to be different, though, so we dropped by for a light lunch on a random weekday afternoon. The town and the restaurant were mostly deserted and the latter had recently changed hands, so we didn’t know what to expect.

Ultimately, it was a filling lunch in a rustic building and that’s all we were really looking for.

All in all, it was a satisfying meal.

I got a house specialty called “The High Country” – slices of bacon , tomato, avocado, and cheese (I, basic, got cheddar) baked on an open-faced French baguette. After ordering it, I – a millennial – realized that I had asked for the closest thing I could get to avocado toast. Oh well. At least it had an equal amount of cheese, tomato, and bacon. (Get stuffed, Tim Gurner.)

And boy, was there an equal ratio of bacon, cheese, tomato, and avocado, but not bread. If the item was about 8 inches long by 4 inches wide, the bread it sat upon was half that. So it was mostly a slab of meat, cheese, and tasty fruit – not that I’m complaining.

It was good and appealed directly to the teenager in me who loves bacon and cares not that it will one day kill me.

I got potato salad as a side thinking it would be a relatively harmless addition, but it ended up being the star of the show. I’m not sure exactly how they

Nick Gonzales/DGO

» The “High Country” at Millwood Junction was good, but the potato salad it came with as a side was better. achieved it, but it was perfectly creamy.

It still had the mustardy tang you’d expect, but the potato achieved a level of smoothness in both flavor and texture that created a heavenly mouth feel. It was the best potato-based thing I had put in my mouth in recent history.

My dining companion ordered the buffalo chicken breast sandwich, which comes topped with bacon and Gorgonzola, and fries. A carnivore of few words, he said it was pretty much what he expected, especially since it achieved the buffalo flavor through the most standard of means: Frank’s RedHot. He appreciated that the bun was toasted, though, as he hates soggy buns. The fries were good, but nothing to write home about.

Ultimately, it was a filling lunch in a rustic building and that’s all we were really looking for.

—— Nick Gonzales

Journal File

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[drink]

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BCI Media file

»» The Columbine Bar – dating to either 1903 or 1910 – is one of the oldest in Colorado.

From left, Dian Law, Betsy Harrison, and Holly Cruser, take a break from cleaning it in 2013.

723 E. Second Ave www.enodurango.com

The Columbine Bar: Two-thirds dive bar, one-third museum »» Watering hole has been running since the very early 20th century

Find us at:

The bar, which according to the plaque outside opened in 1910 (contradicting a painted sign inside dating it to 1903), is one of the oldest bars in Colorado.

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The Columbine Bar in Mancos is a collection of artifacts from bygone eras. Like some sort of hidden cove, it looks like it has been collecting cultural relics for decades.

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Even in 1948, the Mancos Times described it as “an old bar run by old timers” and noted its notorious reputation. It was the site of barroom brawls, knife fights, gambling and, at one point, the murder of its owner by his estranged wife. Apparently cowboys used to ride through the bar on horseback. Children, according to the plaque, were warned to walk on the other side of Grand Avenue when passing the saloon.

Now, though, it seems pretty tame.

It doesn’t put on any airs for such a historic place – it’s a pretty standard dive bar. The decor largely consists of animal skulls, macrobrew ads, and

It was the site of barroom brawls, knife fights, gambling and, at one point, the murder of its owner by his estranged wife.

sports team paraphernalia. (It might be worth noting that the current owners really like the Green Bay Packers.)

Seventy-one years after the newspaper described it as such, the description of the clientele rings true:

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»» The wall behind The Columbine’s Stage serves as part of a “Museum Without Walls” dedicated to Mancos’ cowboy days. “old-timers.” Everyone seated at the bar on a weekday evening seemed as though they had been coming there since, well ... the pay-phone in the corner was a necessary and useful item. On weekend nights, we’ve seen a younger crowd come in to play pool or darts in the bar’s remarkably spacious interior. But it seems that the opening of Fenceline Cider and Mancos Brewing Company have created a bit of competition for the historic watering hole.

Speaking of MBC, the Columbine is one of the few places to get its beers on tap, including this writer’s personal favorite, the Pagan Porter, a smooth, dark, cold-fermented brew with a slight chocolaty taste. It’s worth going to the bar just for that.

Buy a tin, get a medium size popcorn bag FREE

The Bar definitely doesn’t let you forget you’re in Mancos, featuring large paintings of Mesa Verde and local livestock brands carved into the wood of the bar and the building’s support pillars.

The wall behind the stage displays relics of Mancos’ cowboy heritage from the late 19th and early 20th centuries as part of the Mancos Valley Pioneer Museum’s “Museum Without Walls.” Given the character of the bar, we can’t think of a better place for it.

—— Nick Gonzales

DECEMBER HOURS Open Everyday 5:30-9pm 500 Main Avenue durango-popcorn-depot.com

Nick Gonzales/DGO

»» A plaque outside the bar explains how notorious it once was. Suffice to say things have calmed down considerably there over the last century.

Kiosk Located Directly Across from the Train Station

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[music]

January brings Reverend Horton Heat, Nappy Roots, Nelly and Black Flag to Four Corners »» It’s a new decade – treat yourself to a show Is one of your New Year’s resolutions to get out and see more shows in 2020? If so, you could do worse than catch some of the concerts coming to the region in January.

If you want to head down to Albuquerque, you’ll have the chance to catch Reverend Horton Heat and Black Flag on back-to-back nights at the same bar.

Meanwhile, Santa Fe’s Meow Wolf has you covered for all things electronic, and perrenial favorites Nappy Roots will be returning to Durango on Jan. 8.

Whatever you’re into, you can probably find it somewhere nearby. And isn’t seeking it out the best way to start a new decade?

Durango January 8 Nappy Roots, Animas City Theatre, 9 p.m., $22-$25 January 14 The New Deal, Animas City Theatre, 8 p.m., $17$20 January 15 Morgan Heritage, Animas City Theatre, 8 p.m., $25$30 January 18 Black Violin, Community Concert Hall, 7:30 p.m., $33+ January 21 Choir of Man, Community Concert Hall, 7:30 p.m., $21.60+ January 24 Marvel Years, Animas City Theatre, 9 p.m., $12-$15 January 28 Kitchen Dwellers, Animas City Theatre, 8 p.m., $15-$18

»» Nappy Roots

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January 3

January 2

Wake Self Album Release featuring DJ Ohm and DJ Native Guest, Sister Bar, 8 p.m., $7

Robag Wruhme (In The House), Meow Wolf, 8 p.m., $20-$22

January 14

January 4

Reverend Horton Heat, Sister Bar, 8 p.m., $10

Yacht, Meow Wolf, 8 p.m., $15-$18

January 15

January 18

Black Flag, Sister Bar, 7 p.m., $20-25

SNBRN, Meow Wolf, 9 p.m., $20-$25

January 18

January 24

Machine Head, Historic El Rey Theater, 8 p.m., $25

Electrovibe Events 17Th Anniversary Winter Masquerade with Dj Heather, Meow Wolf, 8 p.m., $20-$22

Nelly, Isleta Resort & Casino, 8 p.m., $35+ January 23 ARMNHMR, Historic El Rey Theater, 9 p.m., $16.99 January 24 Purple Reign: The Prince Tribute Show, Isleta Resort & Casino, 8 p.m., $25

»» The Reverend Horton Heat January 28

January 27 Theo Katzman, Meow Wolf, 8 p.m., $17.50-$22.50 January 31

YBN Cordae, Sunshine Theater, 7 p.m., $20+

Wax Motif, Meow Wolf, 9 p.m., $19-$23

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[travel]

R E C R E AT I O N A L D I S P E N S A R Y

GET OUTTA TOWN:

Check out Grover, a nifty piece of space exploration history

Loyalty Program & Daily Specials!

»» Training replica of Lunar Roving Vehicle

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If you’ve been through Flagstaff, Arizona, at first glance it doesn’t look much like the surface of the moon – especially with the sea of pine trees stretching in every direction. But for a period of time in the ’60s and ’70s, NASA considered it to be the next best thing.

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This working government laboratory is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays and has a Grover sitting right in the lobby, along with some other Apollo program paraphernalia, including the hand prints of Apollo astronauts preserved in cement.

—— Nick Gonzales

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As the first (and so far, the last) Nick Gonzales/DGO crew to land on »» One of the two Geologic Rovers built for training Apollo another celestial astronauts currently sits in the lobby of a USGS astrogeology lab in object, the Apollo Flagstaff, Arizona. astronauts had to train in environon Earth. ments that would simulate their best In a legendary achievement in the guesses about the surface of the moon. history of knock-offs, United States Scattered with hills and craters of both Geological Survey mechanics in the volcanic and impact varieties, the Flagstaff, channeling some Tony Stark area around Flagstaff fit the bill. The variety of rocks present also allowed energy, built two replicas that could the group of mostly test pilots to learn run on this planet from a box of scraps. a thing or two about geology before They cost about $1,900 each. hurtling into the void.

Dubbed the “Geologic Rovers” or Once on the moon, Niel Armstrong, “Grovers,” these vehicles had a sepBuzz Aldrin, and the crews of Apollo 12 arate motor for each wheel for each and 14 had a limited area of the moon motor and topped out at a speed of 7 they could explore – basically however mph. They weren’t exactly useful for far they could hoof it from the lunar cruising down the highway, but they lander in the limited time available. allowed Apollo astronauts to train on The space program solved this for the rovers throughout the Southwest until final three missions, though, by sending the Apollo program ended in 1972. a vehicle to the moon with the astronauts: the Lunar Roving Vehicle. “Moon If you want to see one, head to the buggies” if you’re nasty.

Shoemaker Building at the USGS AsThe Boeing corporation built four of the buggies for about $9.5 million a pop – more than the cost of two Lamborghini Venenos today, without even adjusting for inflation. The LRVs would prove invaluable for transporting the astronauts, their equipment, and samples on the moon. But because they were built for use in the moon’s lower gravity, they were useless for training

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[film]

Throwing a small bone to J.J. Abrams’‘Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker’ You know, what? I’m going to throw a bone to J.J. Abrams’ “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker,” but it’s a very small, hand-sized bone. While this film is very flawed and hokey, it is also the first time this decade that I’ve thought the new additions to the Star Wars brand actually felt like they matched the tone of the original classics. The comic relief actually lands and the characters don’t take themselves too seriously, yet their goals are still of vast importance to them. Plus, the cast clearly enjoyed working off each other.

Still, the less you know or care about Star Wars, the more likely you are to enjoy the final installment of the trilogy.

This is one of the most inconsistent franchises out there, and Abrams appears to have chosen to film this new movie almost as a one-off, so you don’t need to remember the events in “The Force Awakens” and “The Last Jedi.”

While “The Rise of Skywalker” hits all the cues for a decent blockbuster, the plot is very dull. Though subverting expectations has become a joke in the fandom since “The Last Jedi,” this new feature just phones it in with tone deaf fan service and rushed character arcs.

C

Rey (Daisy Ridley) is still training to be a Jedi while discovering her family background and trying to figure out Kylo Ren’s (Adam Driver) end goal. Kylo is, of course, still villainous, and motivated by his own fascination with Rey. Finn (John Boyega), Poe (Oscar Isaac), and Rose (Kelly Marie Tran) are still leading the war against the Resistance and have some new and old friends to help, including Zorii Bliss (Keri Russell), Jannah (Naomi Ackie), and Lando Calrissian (Billy Dee Williams). On the other end, the Resistance is still being led

by Kylo, Hux (Domhnall Gleeson) and new

bad guy General Pryde (Richard E. Grant).

That’s a lot of “stills.” Each character is still doing what they did before, and while there are certainly new plot lines to this current addition, they STILL don’t feel right somehow, the same way they haven’t felt right in any of the more recent additions.

The worst part is that it’s been four decades since the original trilogy was released, and we’ve now reached the point where the sequels have critically sunk as low as the laughable prequels. It’s sad that with all the potential, all the quality world-building that took place from 1977 to 1983, that no one — whether it’s George Lucas, Kathleen Kennedy, or J.J. Abrams — knows how to play off of.

And because no one knows what to do with them, the narratives for the new additions are, overall, both redundant and claustrophobic. On the upside, we do finally get to see the new main trio collaborating and working as a team in “Rise,” but the whole series has been so underwhelming that it’s hard to appreciate their chemistry, even after all this time.

Maybe it’s time to finally admit that there has only really ever been two legitimately good Star Wars movies – those being “A New Hope” (1977) and “The Empire Strikes Back” (1980), naturally. These two films essentially birthed life into the modern big budget studio picture structure we now know, only for its own franchise to be dealt a bad hand from poor decision-making.

To me, this revamped cultural phenomenon doesn’t end on a high note, or a low note, but on a fully resounding meh.

—— Megan Bianco

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[travel]

George R.R. Martin has a bookstore in Santa Fe We now know where to get a signed copy of “The Winds of Winter,” if it ever comes out Lacking the fanfare of, say, King Robert Baratheon arriving at Winterfell, George R.R. Martin quietly opened a bookstore in Santa Fe last month.

The bookstore, Beastly Books, is located next door to the Jean Cocteau Cinema, which Martin also owns, near the Santa Fe Railyard. The name is a reference both to French filmmaker Jean Cocteau’s 1946 work, “La Belle et la Bête,” and to the “Beauty and the Beast” TV show from the late ’80s, for which can currently see it, so he can watch that Martin was a writer and producer.

“Star Trek: Picard” show coming out in That’s right – the author of “A Game January.) of Thrones” worked on a Beauty and the Anyway, Martin’s bookstore, accordBeast series that stared Linda Hamilton ing to his blog, has an array of books and Ron Perlman as the respective titusigned by him and other popular science lar rolls. With Hellboy and Sarah freakfiction and fantasy authors, such as S.M. ing Connor, it must have been amazing, Stirling, Lee Child, and Diana Gabaldon. right? (This writer has no idea, but will report back to you after he resubscribes Many of these authors have appeared at to the CBS All Access app, where you the theater next door to speak, reports

the Santa Fe New Mexican, so it seems likely they’ll do the same at the new space. The store’s also got all manner of Game of Thrones items, from calendars to cookbooks to card and board games.

And coffee.

We’re excited to visit the bookstore next time we’re in the neighborhood.

Our only concern is that if Martin spends any time at his bookstore or his theater or Meow Wolf, which he is also invested in, he isn’t spending that time writing “The Winds of Winter,” the sixth book in the A Song of Ice and Fire series.

“A Dance of Dragons,” the fifth book was published in 2011. The last few seasons of the HBO series did us dirty, George, and some of us want to know what actually happens to our favorite characters.

FILM

PARASITE

JAN

NAPPY ROOTS

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The New Deal

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Morgan Heritage

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Marvel Years

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Winter may be coming, but not fast enough.

—— Nick Gonzales

24

Jan

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MAY THE HOZHO BE WITH YOU

»» Star Wars intersects with Native cultures and inspires indigenous art

By Nick Gonzales

DGO Staff Writer A young adult emerges from a dwelling onto an arid landscape. Irritated at his adopted parents, he kicks the dirt of his homeland. He walks a short distance and gazes at the sunset as he contemplates belonging, uncertainty, purpose, and dreams.

Depending on the number of suns disappearing beneath the horizon, this could be a scene on Tatooine, of moisture farmer Luke Skywalker wondering where he belongs in the universe. Or it could be a young sheepherder on the Navajo Nation, pondering the exact same thing.

Since it debuted in 1977, “Star Wars” has resonated with audiences around the globe. It’s themes, messages, and settings, though, have made it especially popular with indigenous communities, especially those of the Southwest. Over the past four decades, the franchise has inspired Native artists to create works that integrate their own cultures into the narrative, and has been used as a tool to keep indigenous cultures alive.

A New Hope At the 2013 Navajo Nation Fair, which occurs around the Fourth of July, families gathered at the rodeo arena at the fairgrounds in Window Rock, Arizona, to watch the original Star Wars film, “A New Hope.” The film was already 36 years old, but for many members of the audience, this was the first time they could hear the movie – or any movie – in their first language. For others, it was the first time they’d seen their culture integrated into something they’d been a fan of their entire lives.

“We were discussing how we could bring awareness to Navajo language and get the Navajo population in general more engaged with our language,” said Manuelito Wheeler, director of the Navajo Nation Museum and one of the key people who conceived the project and got the ball rolling.

Courtesy of Ryan Young

»» Dezbah Rose is a cosplayer who incorporates elements of her own cultures into her costumes. Her Diné Rey combines a variety of elements from her father’s heritage with the Star Wars character’s design.

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“Having films in Navajo, I’ve found, creates environments where if you don’t know Navajo, it’s OK, where if you know a lot of Navajo, it’s OK.” Star Wars was selected because of its cultural cachet and broad intergenerational appeal, he said, in addition to the spiritual and metaphysical themes

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Nick Gonzales/DGO

»» Rod Velarde’s “Stormtrooper Figure”

Courtesy of Ryan Singer

»» Ryan Singer’s “Sand People Sandpainting” draws a comparison between the indigenous peoples of the Southwest and Tatooine. of the film.

It took several years to get through the right channels and pitch the idea to someone at Lucasfilm, but once the connection was made, the company was tremendously supportive, Wheeler said.

Funding was secured, the script was carefully translated, and voice actors were cast in May of 2013. The project was completed in a short amount of time.

The date that the Navajo dub premiered, near Independence Day, was fitting, Wheeler said.

“I think it was appropriate that we were making a comeback with our language during a time that signified the downfall of our language,” he said.

The screening of the film was intended to be a one-time deal, but people responded in an overwhelmingly positive way, he said. Soon the dub was being released in DVD form, sold at Walmart, and shown around the country.

“It’s so interesting to watch these movies with the public because it’s just constant laughter – not laughing at the movie – it’s just the joy of seeing your language in this area you never even

thought possible,” Wheeler said. “At the end of the movie, there’s always an emphatic cheer from the crowd. They’re so proud that this happened.”

Since Star Wars was dubbed into Navajo, the same team has worked on several more translations. “Finding Nemo” came out in 2016 and “A Fistful of Dollars” will premiere this spring.

Wheeler’s team is presently casting singers to record a Navajo version of the cloyingly catchy viral hit song “Baby Shark.”

The Force Awakens At the same time Wheeler was working on getting “A New Hope” dubbed, indigenous artists across the Southwest were integrating Star Wars into their own work. Some, such as painter Ryan Singer, work in two dimensions while others, such as pop artist Rod Velarde, work in three.

The scope of Native artists integrating Star Wars into their work may not have been readily apparent until 2016, when the first Indigenous Comic Con was held in Albuquerque. The convention was organized to celebrate comic books, games, film, and television with

an indigenous perspective and highlight the work being done by indigenous people. The entire gamut of pop culture was on display, but Star Wars was a major presence.

The convention set the mind of at least one attendee to work. Tony Thibodeau, the anthropology collections manager for the Museum of Northern Arizona in Flagstaff, Arizona, began curating an exhibit featuring the Star Wars-inspired work of about 25 different Southwestern indigenous artists.

The exhibition, titled “The Force is with our People” opened in October 2019 and will run through May of this year.

“What we’re trying to explore in this exhibit is the cultural connections between the Star Wars narrative and Native stories and oral traditions on the Colorado Plateau, and to really kind of explore the influence that Star Wars has had on these native artists in particular, but also by extension native communities on the Colorado Plateau,” Thibodeau said.

The artists on display in the museum and at the conventions differ in their histories with the franchise and their

is currently on display at the Museum of Northern Arizona in Flagstaff. Velarde is known for imbuing popular images with Apache designs.

approaches to integrating it into their work. They also highlight different areas in which the franchise speaks to them and their cultures.

Ryan Singer, a Navajo, grew up near Tuba City, Arizona, and was a kid when the first Star Wars film came out. He grew making fan art of the franchise and as an adult creates paintings that mash up pop culture and life on the reservation. For instance, his “Tuba City Spaceport” combines elements of the real-life town with those of Mos Eisley.

“Anything I can take from my childhood, memories I had as a kid – you kind of mix them in Star Wars, with characters and stuff like that, and the possibilities are pretty much endless,” he said.

Recently, his work has also begun to portray Native American issues through the lens of Star Wars. “(De)Colonized Ewok” directly confronts cultural assimilation, albeit on the forest moon of Endor.

Singer suggests that the root inspiration for much of his work is the same reason it appeals to his culture: the setting. Tatooine, the planet where much of the first movie takes place, physically

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Nick Gonzales/DGO

»» Ryan Singer’s “Tuba City Spaceport” is currently on display at the Museum of Northern Arizona in Flagstaff.

Courtesy of Ryan Singer

»» Ryan Singer’s “Baby Yoda” speaks for itself. The cute character from “The Mandalorian” has taken the world of Star Wars fandom by storm.

resembles the Four Corners.

“Even when you see the land speeder, the speeder is kind of beat up – it’s got scratches, it’s got dirt all over it.

Everything on Tatooine just seems like it’s beat up and dusty,” he said. “It reminded me of how things were on the reservation.”

Jason Garcia also grew up a fan of the original trilogy, and commemorates his childhood fascination with it in some of his art. A member of the Santa Clara Pueblo in New Mexico, Garcia creates traditional clay works from materials gathered near the Pueblo and the Four Corners. They blend traditional Pueblo designs with images Western pop culture, often depicting the influence of comics, films, and video games on his community – and vice versa. (Princess Leia’s iconic hairstyle, after all, borrows from the Hopi maiden hairstyle and that of rebel women in the Mexican Revolution.)

For him, a large intersection between Pueblo culture and the world of Star Wars is the Force.

“It’s this force that emanates from life from rocks, planets, water ... that’s in all living beings essentially,” he said. “We all share this connection.”

Jicarilla Apache artist Rod Velarde creates what he calls “Native Pop Art” by taking images from pop culture and incorporating native art into them.

These include Stormtroopers, Darth Vader’s helmet, and the droid BB-8 covered in Apache designs.

For him, it’s the space itself in Star Wars, not the planets, that connect with his culture.

“Our people – doesn’t matter which tribe – they all look to the heavens and lights and use the constellations for directions when it was time to plan, or, you know, using the moon and the sun cycles. Everything was directed to the heavens where all the stars were at. The

Courtesy of Lisa Lou Photography

»» Liz McKenzie’s “Navajo Rey” cosplay incorporates an indigenized version of the staff Rey uses in “The Force Awakens.”

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Lee Francis founded Albuquerque’s Red Planet, the only Native comic book shop in the world; Native Realities, a press that serves as an outlet for indigenous storytelling in graphic novel and book form; and the Indigenous Comic Con, which has evolved into Indigipop X, a convention that happens in both Albuquerque and Denver, as has gone international – Indigenous Comic Con Australia was held at the end of November.

same images were used for ceremonies ... the Apache crown dancers, they put stars on their crowns or their body,” he said.

One of the most striking items in the Museum of Northern Arizona’s collection is cosplayer Dezbah Rose’s Diné Rey costume. Rose has been dressing up in costumes her entire life, and an early memory is her family helping her create a Queen Amidala costume when “The Phantom Menace” came out. Today, she creates a range of costumes that combine indigenous and pop culture.

He said it’s already easy for many indigenous peoples to connect with the themes of the Star Wars movies.

Rose created her first indigenous cosplay for the first Indigenous Comic Con. A variation on Rey’s outfit from “The Force Awakens,” the costume incorporates her father’s Navajo heritage (Rose is also Yuchi and Chippewa). She added turquoise silver pieces to the costume in the same way Navajo women often do with their shirts, and added her father’s concha belt, a trade bag (a woven bag traded within the Southwest and South America), and her Navajo moccasins.

“I think there’s an immediate identification of Native peoples with the rebellion. I mean, honestly, like, as a Pueblo person myself, I’m like, it’s the Pueblo Rebellion, baby. We fought the Empire and we won,” he said.

“One of my ancestors back there was Han Solo and one of my ancestors back there was Luke Skywalker.

Popé was like Luke Skywalker, right?”

But at the same time, indigenous cultures within Star Wars, often signified by alien races such as the Tusken Raiders of Tatooine or the Ewoks of the Forest Moon of Endor, have been portrayed through the lens of Western colonialism. The Tuskens were portrayed as stereotypical “red devils” to be fought, while the Ewoks were “noble savages,” essentially good because they haven’t been corrupted by civilization, but easily duped by a droid impersonating a golden god.

“I always feel like that’s where I start off indigenizing cosplays,” she said. “First off I’m going to wear my moccasins with this because I feel like that’s always very representative of my different tribes. ... All of our moccasins are different and they all represent the land that those people come from.”

Beyond the costume itself, Rey’s character spoke to Rose on a personal level.

“The lack of her having identity or having that identity crisis, I kind of felt as a Native person,”she said “Growing up in an urban setting kind of removed from my people and having to like relearn a lot of like my cultural knowledge because of that. Rey is going on a similar journey of discovering who she is, and I think that’s why I love her so much – and then she’s just like a really strong badass.”

Lightning struck twice at that first Indigenous Comic Con, with cosplayer Liz McKenzie also designing a Navajo Rey costume. While her costume drew inspiration from the same source as Rose’s, it had a few variations.

For instance, her father and his partner helped her make a staff like the one Rey uses in Episode VII, adding a few feathers as their own flourish.

McKenzie recalls living in the camps on the Standing Rock Reservation while protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline in 2016. She and her fellow protesters were excited to see “Rogue One,” but the situation they were in and the polar vortex made that impossible while she was there.

When she returned home in January 2017 and finally saw the movie, it was profoundly moving.

“It was so incredibly powerful, and I was just weeping the whole way through because it just seems like it was the story of the Water Protectors down to a T. We’re fighting for what we believe in and our people and the stand we’re taking. It just resonated with us so much that after that, it’s just hard to not see it whenever you see something Star Wars,” she said. “Down to Baby Yoda, we’re like, ‘That’s ours.’”

Like Garcia and his pueblo beliefs, McKenzie feels that Star Wars has a spiritual connection to the Navajo through the Force.

“With Diné culture, the concept of Hozho – balance – is exactly like the Force. ... The force concept under a

Nick Gonzales/DGO

»» Rod Velarde’s “BB-8” is currently on display at the Museum of Northern Arizona in Flagstaff.

different name has really just always been the root of the Diné people, and so I feel like it’s something that we all really relate to,” she said.

Duane Koyawena, a Hopi artist, echoed a similar sentiment.

“There’s a lot of significance about the good life and the bad life in Hopi culture,” he said. “The Dark Side and the Force.”

Natives have been represented in all sorts of mediums, and the fact that we get to take part in those mediums now, in this next generation, is what’s so exciting.

Combining traditional Hopi art with images from Star Wars helps preserve the Hopi culture, he said, by helping the youth identify images from their traditional beliefs.

Koyawena is one of the only artists who the Museum of Northern Arizona commissioned work from for its exhibition – but his creation is a show-stealer. The museum had a functional, life-size R2-D2 built, complete with movement and sounds, and asked Koyawena to design the exterior. The resulting “Hopi R2” can be controlled with a Playstation 4 controller and heard throughout the museum on a quiet day.

The Force Unleashed It has taken some time, but as Star Wars has evolved, so has the way it portrays indigenous peoples within its own universe.

“I always love to reimagine Star Wars from the indigenous perspective. The Tusken folks, you know, those are our peoples, right? That’s like Apache homeland right there. That’s Comanche homeland – you don’t go across there, they’re going to mess you up. And if you’re having your little pod races over there, they’re going to shoot at you too, so good luck,” he said.

But he was excited to see this directly acknowledged recently in “The Mandalorian.” In one episode, the titular character and a sidekick have to cross part of Tatooine but are stopped by Tusken Raiders. Instead of fighting them, the Mandalorian insists his companion pay the Tuskens for passage across what they believe is their land.

“I was like, ‘That’s because they’re the indigenous people of Tatooine, straight up,’ right?” Francis exclaimed.

Hopefully moments like that represent a change in the way the creators of Star Wars portray indigenous cultures, not just because it represents a more conscious approach to storytelling, but because it makes it that much easier for real indigenous peoples to connect with the story.

“Natives have been represented in all sorts of mediums, and the fact that we get to take part in those mediums now, in this next generation, is what’s so exciting,” Francis said. “It’s always been a portrayal of us, not with us. And now we get to be a part of that because we have chosen to take that stand and say, ‘No, no, we are indiginerds. We get to be here too, and we get to enjoy all these same things.’”

“The Force is with Our People” runs through May 25 at the Museum of Northern Arizona in Flagstaff. For more information, visit https://musnaz.org/. Indigipop X 2020 will be held March 25 to 29 in downtown Albuquerque. For more information, visit https://www.indigipopx.com/.

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[weed]

Jade & Jane’s Mini Mocha Cupcakes Everyone loves cupcakes, especially when they’re chock full of THC Who doesn’t like cupcakes? That’s the question I asked myself when I found out we were reviewing Jade & Jane’s new Mini Mocha Cupcakes, which are basically bite-sized cupcakes that are the size of my fingernail but somehow chock full o’ THC – 10 milligrams, to be exact. It’s actually quite impressive if you like edibles.

You may be aware, though, that I’m not a huge fan of edibles based on my prior weed related rants, so I was a little wary about popping one of these cupcakes. I was excited about eating cupcakes for a story, mind you, but I also knew they’d probably make me higher than a kite and I’d be useless for 12 hours or so. The hazards of being a weed writer, I guess.

Anyway, I wasn’t worried enough to turn down the assignment. I tried out one of these bite-sized cakes on a random Friday evening and was surprised at how delicious the tiny cupcake was. It tasted like a mini cupcake, and the frosting was covered in sprinkles that seem huge in comparison to the cupcake itself. I noticed very little weedy aftertaste, and had to stop myself from popping another one with a reminder that 20 milligrams of edibles is entirely too much for my brain to handle.

I thought I’d have to wait at least an hour or so to kick in, but these cupcakes are small and mighty, and I started to feel the effects of the THC after about 20 minutes. The first sign surfaced in my face, which began to feel like it was inflated by helium. Shortly after, everything started to get fuzzy, and I vaguely remember laughing hysterically at the random thoughts that were popping in my head. I’m not sure what I thought was so funny, but whatever it was, it was golden.

After about 45 minutes, the edible had taken over full steam and my arms were the equivalent of pool noodles. My legs wouldn’t cooperate, even though my brain was making demands for more cake (this time sans THC), and I couldn’t even get my fingers to cooperate long enough to send a text to one of my housemates in search of food and water.

I was stuck, and I could not freaking unstick myself from where I was stuck,

Details

Where to find Jade & Jane’s Mini Mocha Cupcakes: Prohibition Herb, 1185 Camino del Rio, www.prohibitionherb.com which was basically one corner of my not-so-comfy couch. Fortunately, I had managed to pull up a Facebook page full of stoner memes before my appendages went on strike, and while my hands wouldn’t type, they WOULD scroll, so I had plenty to keep my brain occupied.

My stomach, on the other hand, was not occupied by the memes or any delicious cake, other than the tiny one I’d ingested earlier to get me high as a damn Macy’s Parade float. It was a tragedy, really.

At some point my meme scrolling must have lulled me into a deep slumber, but I’m not sure when it happened. I remember laughing at some epically stupid Beetlejuice stoner meme, and then I remember nothing until I woke up in a pool of my own drool. That’s my brain on edibles, folks. I am the frying egg from the 1990s drug scare commercials. Even these tiny cupcakes will do it.

Listen. I like cupcakes, and to be fair to Jade & Jane, I like these tiny weedfilled cupcakes, too. Did they knock me on my ass? Yes. All edibles do. Did I hate it? No. I just wish I’d gotten more cake without THC in it before I was immobile and glued to the couch. If I’d done that, my night would have been perfect.

If you’re planning to eat some of these tiny mind-erasers, arm yourself with some cake and some memes and you should be good to go. Enjoy the noodle-armed nap, friends.

—— DGO Pufnstuf

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[weed]

[weed]

A bowl of Jungle Cake helped us ponder life’s deepest questions

Durango’s Oh Hi THC seltzer wins gold at Cannabis Cup as company starts CBD seltzer line

Especially the one about Christoper Walken’s role as King Louie “Why does it reek of skunk in here?”

That’s a question I was asked VERY impolitely by family over the holidays, and I knew immediately what they were referring to when it was asked. It reeked like a skunk in my kitchen because of Jungle Cake, an indica-leaning strain of weed that I was photographing for this review.

I hadn’t really planned on telling my entire family that I was photographing Jungle Cake for a story, mostly because I didn’t want to share, but I also hadn’t expected the four small nugs of bud in the container to smell like a skunk had sprayed my entire kitchen from the floor to the ceiling, either. I knew once the lid was popped, though, that I had no choice but to let other people imbibe, because it was clear what I was doing from the noxious fumes that were emitted from those four nugs. No hiding it. None.

So, I did what any good pot reviewer would do when faced with explaining the stench: I yelled “I’m PHOTOGRAPHING SOMETHING FOR WORK!” and then quickly shoveled the tiny green nugs back into their plastic home, hellbent on diverting the attention away from my prized possession.

It did not work, friends. I was caught, and in the spirit of Christmas (or some shit), I decided to load a bowl and let the adults in my household partake. Was it a good idea? Yes and no. It was a good idea in that this strain was awesome and everyone got really mellow and stoned, but it was a bad idea in that I quickly ran through my gram of Jungle Cake thanks to those thieves. And, because this strain was so good, I’m going to be forced to shell out $20 on a replacement gram, which I will hide from any and everybody because it’s MINE THIS TIME THANKS. Anyway, I’m getting ahead of myself.

Let’s talk about Jungle Cake a bit. This strain is not one I normally see on the shelf at the dispensaries I frequent, so I was obviously intrigued as to what it was like well before the photo debacle.

I’d heard that this strain smelled tangy and sweet, but that was a lie because it smelled like a mix of skunk spray and

Where to find Jungle Cake: The Green House, 730 S. Camino del Rio, thegreenhousecolorado.com/ earthy mud. I’d also heard that this strain would make me the happiest person on earth, and luckily, that other part was true.

We lit up a bowl and passed it around, and I’d only gotten my share of a couple hits before it was evident. We went from a bunch of sad sack family members who’d had enough of the holidays to people who could not, despite their best efforts, wipe the shit-eating grins off our faces. I felt like my smile had been hard-wired into my soul, and every time I’d try to drop the corners of my mouth from the weird clown smile I was sporting, they’d pop right back up into that same grin. Looking around, it was clear that everyone in the room was being affected in a similar manner. We all had the same dopey, embarrassing grin plastered across our mugs.

Shortly after the grin appeared, I started to feel super smart and like I could decode anything. It started after I flipped on the new(er) version of the “Jungle Book” as background noise, and found myself searching for the underlying meaning of King Louie’s henchmen. I Continued on Page 23

Less than a year into its life, Durango’s own Oh Hi THC seltzer has proven to be a hit, at the very least with judges of all things cannabis. The local company’s pomegranate sparkling THC seltzer won first place in the Edibles category – the largest category – of the 2019 High Times Cannabis Cup last month in Denver.

As with the rest of its THC flavors, the weed-enhanced water contains 10 mg per serving of water-soluble THC – and 20 calories and 5 grams of sugar per can. If you’re some sort of deep cannabi-nerd, you might also appreciate that the seltzer’s sweet and tart flavor is

achieved through the use of the terpenes: Limonene, p-Cymene, a-Pinene, b-Pinene, Valencene, and b-Caryophyllene.

The second and third places winners in that same category were Rebel Edibles’ Apple Pie Caramels and Monte Fiore Farms’ 3J’s Hice Cream Carmel Apple Pie. It seems as though the judges had a very specific craving and the pomegranate beverage won anyway.

Not content to rest on their THCbased laurels, Oh Hi is launching a completely different line of drinks this Continued on Page 23

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Dispensary listings Main Street, 970-564-5181, cortezmedicineman.com

Mancos The Beacon, 230 N. Oak, 970533-9848 The Bud Farm, 385 N. Willow Street, 970-533-9931, thebudfarm. net LivWell Mancos, 449 Railroad Ave. #1, 970-533-9848, livwell.com/ mancos

Pagosa Springs Good Earth Meds. 600 Cloman Blvd. #1, 970-731-3202, goodearthmeds.com The Green House, 270 E. Pagosa Street, 970-264-4420, greenhousepagosa.com Pagosa Therapeutics, 235 Bastille Drive, 970-731-4420, pagosatherapeutics.com San Juan Strains, 365 E. Pagosa Street, Unit B, 970-264-5323, sanjuanstrains.com Smoke Rings, 266 E Pagosa Street, 970-264-0942

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[love and sex]

The end

It is the time of year where celebrations and indulgences are coming to an end. We are turning into the beginning of a new year faced with at least two months of dieting and exercising ads (read the following in a highly sarcastic voice: so we can become a better version of ourselves). I lament the loss of easy joy, indulging in food and parties, spending time with friends and family, and relaxing. I’m terrible with change and endings. I get snarky, cranky, and idealize events and happenings, giving them more importance or a shinier wrapping then they deserve. I see similar patterns in my work, where folks hold on to a lover because it is easier than facing the end of something. They idealize a person or situation rather than end something that isn’t working for anyone. I most often hear the “What’s next?” question and the tone is laced with trepidation.

Re-entering the dating scene after a long hiatus, for whatever reason, can be overwhelming. Let me help!

I’m not going to gloss over or idealize it – dating is work. This doesn’t mean you can’t have fun while doing it! During this turn into a new year with its “make a better version of you” ads, I want to remind you all that there are more important things than physical appearance when dating.

Free-Photos/Pixabay

Honesty

activities to your bucket list for 2020. Go! Do it now!

Before swiping left or right, giving out your number, or saying yes to a coffee, be sure you are honest with yourself. Where are you at in life? What do you want for and from your lovers? What do you need? Are you able to articulate these wants and needs to your potential lovers? Are you able to articulate them to yourself?

Work work work

Values It doesn’t matter if you fuck dozens of people or just one. How do you move through the world? Do you know what is most important to you? What are your core values? Kindness? Respect? Honesty? Humor? Stability? Reliability? Trustworthy? Thoughtful? Equality?

Balance? Creativity? (You can find dozens of resources online, with hundreds of values that you take time to distill down to your core values.)

The first step is identifying the values you want to embody. The second step is to do everything you can, every day, to live those values. The purpose is not to create a list of values you expect others to follow. It is to be the best version of yourself by embracing your values. When you are living your best self through reflection and action, you will invite others who have similar values into your life.

Date yourself Go on solo dates. Often!

What is it like to spend time with you? Solo dates are a great opportunity to try new things and do the things you love to do. Your solo date is all about pleasing yourself!

This activity is not just for single folks, and is a perfect way for anyone in a committed relationship to reconnect with their needs and desires. Humans are social creatures for the most part, and it can feel daunting to venture into the world without a buddy. If this sounds like you, then I challenge you to add solo dates, solo vacations, and solo

As I mentioned earlier, relationships and dating are work. As much as it would be nice that a single glance across a crowded room lights all the fires, and bam!

Instant relationship. Not likely, and bam! Doesn’t help lovers navigate consent, express desires, or grow a relationship. Whether you are dating for sex, dating for love, or dating for companionship, these all require you to put in work. Unfortunately, work has become a four-letter word and folks want easy. They want quick decisions, like swiping left or right, and instant connections. I think the work of building relationships is the fun part!

Getting to know a new person is like solving a mystery. Who are they? What do they like? Do we share common interests? Are they going to introduce me to something new? These questions are universal across the types of dating – sex, love, companionship – and in order to answer them you have to communicate.

Shocker, I know.

way their elders lived. Change and evolution is always coming and arguably can be done with respect and grace, but I don’t mind when it gets a little messy and loud because sometimes evolution needs a revolution.

You contribute to the revolution by asking yourself what you want and finding ways to meet those needs and desires. You practice using consent all the damn time, and you become your best self through respect, and sing it with me now – coooommuuuunicaaaation!

A beginning The end of something brings in a forced reflection. The end of the year. The end of a job. The end of a relationship.

Try answering some of the questions I’ve posed here and give yourself time to reflect before diving into the dating pool. I’m not opposed to hook-ups, one-night stands, relationships for the purpose of filling sexual needs – as long as you are honest with yourself and your lovers.

It is evident in this column that the end of this year is bringing a lot of personal reflection into my life, and rather than cover up that need to question and poke at My favorite topic: Coooommuuuunithis past year, or even the past decade, I am embracing caaaation the end. It is the joy of beginning that I am most excited The hardest work in any relationship is communicaabout. Not new and fresh beginnings. Beginnings with tion, and if you’ve been reading any of my past columns, my new perspectives, new knowledge, and new wisdom you know that I talk about talking all they time. You’ll from living. never know if the person you are interested in wants to I hope you join me in celebrating revolution and the have sex on the kitchen counter if you don’t ask them. ending of things that no longer serve your best interYou’ll never know if they are looking to share finances ests, or embracing the things that do! and grow old with someone if you don’t ask them. You’ll never know if they want to share a life and have an Erin Brandt (she/her/hers) has been a sexologist for 15 open relationship if you don’t ask them. We have been years. When she’s not spreading sexual knowledge, Erin can conditioned into living in very small boxes determined by social constructs that we may not even understand. be found learning from her child, hiking with her partner, What I love about the younger generations is their dis- cuddling with her pitbull, knitting with her cat, dancing dain for social constructs. This is consistent throughout with friends, and searching for the nearest hammock and time, and each new generation forces change from the ocean breeze. Want more? Visit www.positivesexed.com

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Horoscope ARIES (March 21 to April 19)

Be patient with others this week, especially parents, bosses and VIPs. Don’t get your belly in a rash. Listen to what others have to say and be reasonable.

TAURUS (April 20 to May 20) Be smart and avoid controversial discussions about race, politics, or religion, because some people are looking for a fight this week. You don’t need this, and you know it.

GEMINI (May 21 to June 20) Squabbles about shared property, inheritances or shared responsibilities might arise this week. Furthermore, fiery Mars has just moved opposite your sign.

Patience is your best ally!

CANCER (June 21 to July 22)

arguments. Be conciliatory and patient with partners and close friends.

LEO (July 23 to Aug. 22) You might find yourself at odds with someone this week about traveling or publishing issues. Fortunately, Venus opposite your sign promotes your ability to deal with others.

VIRGO (Aug. 23 to Sept. 22) You might have increased responsibility with children at this time, or perhaps you have increased responsibilities related to sports or the arts. Avoid money arguments if possible.

LIBRA (Sept. 23 to Oct. 22) Because the Moon this week is in the sign that is opposite your sign, you have to be more cooperative and easygoing when dealing with others. By nature, you are diplomatic, so this is a cinch!

From Page 18

was also very irritated at Christopher Walken’s rendition of Louie, but I’ll save that for another rant. (It was a terrible choice, Disney.)

I know we ended up in a super deep conversation about the casting choices and the deeper meaning of the film, but I’ll be honest with you, friends. I kinda zoned out and don’t really remember what was said.

I was too busy shoveling a leftover baked potato in my mouth to really care. I’d already solved all the world’s problems in my own brain at that point and decided – uncontested – that Christopher Walken was a crap choice for King Louie. I didn’t need any more discussion about it.

By the way: we went through all of the bud for this review in that one night, which is both annoying and impressive, but also really speaks to what Jungle Cake was like. It worked for every diverse personality in the group, and trust me when I say there are a ton of personalities in that group. It should not have worked, but it did.

Jungle Cake is a great strain, and it didn’t even force me into a deep ass slumber like most indicas do. I was awake, insightful, and really annoyed at Christopher Walken. What more could a person ask for?

—— DGO Pufnstuf

push back. Take it easy to keep the peace with everyone. Guard against worries that will probably never happen.

PISCES (Feb. 19 to March 20)

Money squabbles might arise this week.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22 to Dec. 21) Or perhaps you have difficulty purchasing something. In part this could be Romance might be sticky this week. because you are obsessed about getting Likewise, relations with kids could be your way. Take a breath and give the sitchallenging. Don’t take the bait! Easy uation some space and room to breathe. does it.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22 to Jan. 19) BORN THIS WEEK Do what you can to keep domestic peace You are persistent and tenacious! Your strong determination is the key to your and harmony, because when things are considerable accomplishments. This is flowing smoothly at home, this is the your time of harvest! Now you will begin support – emotionally speaking – that to reap the benefits of your efforts of everyone needs. Plus, it’s in your own the past decade. You deserve this time best interests, right? of success. Expect to enjoy an increased AQUARIUS (Jan. 20 to Feb. 18) influence and leadership in your relaWhen talking to others this week, you tionships. Yes! are in an aggressive, feisty mood! However, if you are too forward, people will (c) 2019 King Features Syndicate, Inc.

Bizarro

You are high-viz this week, which means people notice you, especially bosses, parents, and VIPs. Therefore, avoid public SCORPIO (Oct. 23 to Nov. 21)

Avoid squabbles at work, because why create the hassle? You have to work with these people on a daily basis, which means you should make things easy for yourself.

From Page 18

Friday, and you can get a couple of them for free.

While they were winning at the Cannabis Cup, Oh Hi was also canning a line of CBD-enfused seltzers. They come in the same four flavors as the THC seltzers: Pomegranate, Ginger Basil Limeade, Grapefruit, and Lemon Lime. Instead of THC, though, they have 15 mg of CBD. The difference in cannabinoid means the new seltzers won’t get you high, but ought to come with the mellowing effect and assorted benefits associated with CBD. —— Nick Gonzales

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