DGO: Down and out during COVID-19

art entertainment food drink music nightlife July 16 - July 29, 2020

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Down and out during COVID-19 How Durango’s most vulnerable population is surviving the pandemic

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STAFF

What’s inside Volume 5 Number 15 Thursday, July 16, 2020

Editor

Boozy cocktails, courtesy of The Farm in Cortez

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

Mmm. The “True Western” martini at the Farm Bistro clearly embodies the rugged desolation of the American West. OK, so it doesn’t do THAT, but it was freaking delish.

Nick Gonzales ngonzales@durangoherald.com Sales Chandler Sommerfeldt csommerfeldt@bcimedia.com 375-4553 Contributors Erin Brandt Megan Bianco Amanda Push Laraina Hailey 375-4570

Main Street Brewery 5

The Farm 5 BIPOC brews 6

7 Weed

THC drinks

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8 Art

Art vending Haley Cowan

8 9

10 Travel

Get Outta Town

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2020 changes 11

Thirsty? Of course you are. But maybe you should rethink your current plan of grabbing a cold one from the fridge and check out these BIPOC-owned breweries instead. Delicious and socially conscious. A win!

art en drin tertai km nm usic ent July nigh food 16 tlife July 29, 2020

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D duri own an ng C d ou OVI t D-1 How vuln Durang 9 era o surv ble pop ’s most iving u the p lation is ande mic

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23 Puzzles/ horoscopes

Not everything in 2020 is a dumpster fire that refuses to be snuffed out. There are positive changes coming down the pipe this year for stoners, marijuana industry workers, hemp farmers, and those looking forward to more justice and equity in the business.

6 Support people of color by drinking beer? Why yes, thanks!

Reviews

22 Culture

11 Changes, they are a comin’ (to Colorado cannabis)

5 Badass brews at Cortez’s Main Street Brewery We don’t know why it took us so long to try out Cortez’s Main Street Brewery & Restaurant. Maybe it’s the name. But whatever the reason, we sure are sorry that we didn’t stop by sooner.

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ON THE COVER Durango’s homeless population on survival during the pandemic Angelica Leicht for DGO Mag

Thursday, July 16, 2020 | 3

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From the blog

News from our site on the interwebs you may have missed

Summer music may actually happen (live, even!)

Remember those times eons ago, when you could go out into public, and listen to real people playing music in front of you, as other people — strangers even — would do the same and you’d all feel a sense of togetherness as you all enjoyed the rhythm together?

Well, those times seem to be back.

Live music is a thing again, and a number of venues in the area are filling up their schedules to try and salvage the rest of the summer.

The iAM Music Institute is currently planning on holding its iAM Music Fest 2020 Concert Series. The last two-thirds of it anyway. Part I would have occurred on June 27 at 11th Street Station, featuring Elder Grown, PJ Moon & the Swappers, Space Between Shadows, and Profetic Calaveras. But it was planned to be held just a smidge too early.

No worries, though. At least for now, parts II and III are still on. Part II is a three-part event, split across two days.

There will be a kickoff party from 5:30 to 9:30 on Friday, July 17 at The Nugget Bar. It’ll feature Cassidy Bacon, Funk Express, Profetic Calavera, and Ghost Tapes for $10 per person.

Then, Saturday, July 18 will feature two sets by J-Calvin, Ghost Tapes, and Alex Blocker at Buckley Park. The first set, from 4 to 6 p.m., costs $15 to $20 per person (it’s all based on buying areas of the park that seat specific numbers of people). The second set, from 7 to 9:30 p.m. is $25 to $35.

4 | Thursday, July 16, 2020

Part III of their festival is coming on Aug. 22, in theory, featuring the Stillhouse Junkies, High Country Hustle, Let Them Roar, Foxfeather, and The Funk Express at 11th Street Station.

In addition to that show, 11th Street also has consistent music on the docket, with artists including Dave Mensch on July 16, Devin Scott on July 18, DJ Spark Madden on Aug. 7, and Stephen Sellers/ Bad Goat on Aug. 14.

aspects of it — i.e. “Gone with the Wind” —— Nick Gonzales (1939); and awkwardly accepting that the movie is dated and problematic while still kind of, sort of secretly still enjoying How to deal with tone-deaf it, like with “Sixteen Candles” (1984). and outdated art The funny thing is, a lot of progressive

spring.

With all the unexpected exposure and social commentary flying through a modern civil rights movement right in the middle of a global pandemic, a side dialogue has also come into play: what to do with old media with politically Prefer to get your live music near a incorrect content. A couple of weeks large body of water? The Navajo Lake Marina is hosting a bunch of events. Art- ago, TV networks and producers had ists include: Mark Smith on July 18, Aug. been rather trigger-happy with abandoning episodes of older, popular TV series 8, and Sept. 5; Jose Villarreal on July 25 such as “Scrubs” (2001-10), “The Office” and Aug. 14; Terri Lynn Davis on Aug. 2; and Rob Webster on Aug. 23.

(2005-13) “30 Rock” (2006-13), and “Community” (2009-15) from streaming Meanwhile, if you think music is best websites which feature elements of cullistened to with a glass of vino in hand, tural appropriation — primarily blackface Wines of the San Juan in Blanco, New — for shock value and edginess. Looking Mexico, has a bunch of events. Their back, it is pretty wild to see shows not Sunday Music in the Shade series features: Zia Chicks on July 19, Robin Davis barely a decade old feel bold enough to feature such controversial gags. At least Duo on July 26, Mark Smith on Aug. 2, with something like “Mad Men” (2007Pete Giulianai Duo on Aug. 9, Jose Vil15), the one, awkward moment where larreal on Aug. 16, Willow Blue Duo on Aug. 23, Devil’s Dram on Aug. 30, Charlie blackface was featured, it was meant to be intentionally uncomfortable for both Stacey on Sept. 6, Jack Ellis on Sept. 13, the viewers and characters as a reflecand Fetz X-Tet on Sept. 20. They’re also tion of the past. having the Wine & Shine Classic Car Show on Aug. 16 and the Harvest Wine When it comes to accepting famous Festival on Sept. 26 and 27. entertainment with outdated elements, there are usually three ways to go about Naturally, most of these venues are probably enforcing all of the things we’ve it: completely erasing it from public view gotten used to this year – social distanc- and acting like it doesn’t exist ala “Song of the South” (1946); acknowledging the ing, mask-wearing – and even if they’re story is flawed and has questionable monot, you should probably do it anyway. ments, while still appreciating the good Let’s not have a fall that matches last

and liberal activists — including some of the biggest BLM supporters — don’t agree that censoring and erasing the art is the way to go with its place in history.

Acting like these movies or TV episodes don’t exist is letting the artists off the hook from criticism and also not properly educating the fan or viewer on why it’s questionable. One way to handle these kinds of issues would be to put a special disclaimer or note at the beginning of the program saying some of the content or writing might be considered offensive these days and that it doesn’t reflect the creators or studios modern views. Which is what the showrunners of “Mad Men” have chosen to do with their episode “My Old Kentucky Home.” Similarly, Warner Bros. put a warning note on their classic Looney Tunes cartoons years ago.

While “Song of the South” didn’t originally make a huge impact on pop culture and society (other than giving us ‘Zip-a-Dee-Do-Dah’ and Splash Mountain at Disneyland), blocking “Gone with the Wind” from movie and book fans would be a glaring omission from both film history and literary history. I think reassessing would be a wiser step forward over neglect.

—— Megan Bianco

[eat & drink]

Subtle beers and tasty green chile flow at Cortez’s Main Street Brewery Restaurant’s beers with extra flavors far from overwhelming

Nick Gonzales/DGO

»» The Smothered Chili Cheese Fries and Green Chile Stew at Main Street Brewery & Restaurant in Cortez.

We don’t know why it took us so long to try out Cortez’s Main Street Brewery & Restaurant. Maybe it’s the name.

While it certainly won’t lead you wrong – the brewery is indeed on Main Street – it’s not quite as attention-grabbing as your WildEdges or Skas.

Whatever the case, we’re sorry we didn’t drop by sooner. And we’re not just saying that because we’re massive nerds and, in addition to the caterpillar from “Alice in Wonderland” and dragons and the like, the mural above the bar features the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D, the one from “Star Trek: The Next Generation”). The beer and the food are pretty good, too.

Nick Gonzales/DGO Nick Gonzales/DGO

»» Main Street Brewery’s Blue Corn John. corn sourced from Bow & Arrow Brand Farms just down the highway in Towaoc.

It tastes like a Mexican lager. But it also tastes like a blue corn tortilla. The ... well, “corniness” of it adds to the flavor without adding anything approaching a vegetable taste to the beer. In other words, if you’re the kind of person who appreciates a well-made corn tortilla for its own sake, you’ll probably enjoy this brew. It was extremely quaffable, and it didn’t take long for us to drain our glass.

The Honey Raspberry Wheat, while entirely different from the Blue Corn John, had similar qualities. Local honey is added to the beer during the brewing process, and it’s finished with raspberDuring our recent visit, we tried two ries. Which would make you think it’d be of their beers: the Blue Corn John and kind of sweet ... but it isn’t. As you drink the Honey Raspberry Wheat. the beer, you can easily taste the flavors The Blue Corn John has earned a spot of both the honey and the berries, but on our list of favorite brews from Monte- in their most stripped-down forms. It isn’t sweet at all and really isn’t fruity zuma County. A traditional dark Mexican lager, the beer is brewed with blue either. It’s like the yeast has eaten away

the sugars of the flavors, leaving only the incorporeal essence of both of them within a nice light wheat ale. If you enjoy raspberries but not fruity beers, such as Carver Brewing Co.’s Raspberry Wheat Ale, you should definitely try this one.

Of course, we couldn’t just sit there in the brewery, which seems very large (especially if areas of it were not closed off because of COVID-19 restrictions), with a menu in our hands without ordering some food. So we got a cup of the Green Chile Stew and the Smothered Chili Cheese Fries, which just so happens to also be topped with the aforementioned stew. Are we a bit obsessed with green chiles, especially when they come with chunks of pork? Yes. Certainly. Green chile is a magical fruit and we’ll never let you tell us otherwise.

In both a cup and over fries, the green chile was eminently cheesy. While consuming both dishes, we had that experience where you feel a strand of cheese

»» Main Street Brewery’s Honey Raspberry Wheat.

hanging below your lips so you continue to pull it into your mouth because you assume it’s not that long – only to look down to see that the strand is being continually generated by the food on the plate and doesn’t show any signs of breaking. In other words, it was great.

The stewed pork is worth mentioning because it was cooked to that point where it perfectly melts in your mouth.

And when they say that the stew comes with fresh-baked focaccia bread, they mean it, at least in our experience. It could not have been out of the oven for more than a few minutes before it made its way to our table. Finally, the Guacamole Poblano Ranch that came with the fries was the tangiest of dipping sauces, and we loved it.

Suffice to say that we had a great beer and chile experience at Main Street and will be adding it to our rotation of breweries to visit on a regular basis.

—— Nick Gonzales

Fresh, farm-to-table food is freely available at The Farm Cortez bistro makes delicious cocktails and fluffy relleno pie For years now, I’ve heard from Cortez residents that The Farm Bistro is a great place to eat, but I haven’t set out to confirm it until now.

According to its website, the farm-totable restaurant was started by Rusty and Laurie Hall in 2009 as an outlet for their organic Seven Meadows Farm, but the owners have since come to source their ingredients from a number of local

farms and ranches. The eatery also doubles as a year-round farm stand and art gallery.

Anyway, on my most recent visit to Cortez, I decided to see what all the hubbub was about.

in mind that everyone in the bistro was very socially-distanced, the times being what they are and all, I got a very long, very powerful whiff of the recently-cooked meat. It very nearly derailed my plans.

I got there a few minutes before my dining companion, and while I sat waiting, someone at another table received the steak they had ordered. Keeping

I’m not sure if it was the restaurant’s Baseball Sirloin or another steak, but it smelled like a perfectly seasoned and seared slab of meat. You know that face

that vampires make when they see or smell blood in the movies? I’m pretty sure that the carnivore side of me broke through as I slowly turned around in my seat and made exactly that face.

But I had been looking at the menu long before I arrived at The Farm and had already psyched myself up for the eatery’s Relleno Pie. And that’s exactly Continued on Page 7

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[eat & drink]

The CO and NM BIPOC breweries making beer you should be sippin’ on this summer Support minority brewers while you imbibe It’s far past due that we pay attention to and patronize Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) owned goods and businesses.

Outworld Brewing is out of this world - figuratively and maybe even literally.

This sci-fi fantasy-themed brewery is right up our UFO-lovin’ alley. It doesn’t take long while scrolling through their social media feeds to get really hungry and thirsty because their stuff looks out of this world.

Beer, in particular, is a DGO Mag staple and we feel it necessary to remind y’all of all the delicious brews we have here in the Southwest that just happen to be owned and made by BIPOC.

Chicken and waffles and a beer? Yes, please!

Here are a handful of BIPOC-owned breweries that you should add to your summer (and forever) drinking list because we could use all the beer we can get right now.

Bow and Arrow Brewing Location: Albuquerque, New Mexico Shyla Sheppard, a Three Affiliated Tribes member, co-founded Bow and Arrow Brewing with her life and business partner Missy Begay, a member of the Diné (Navajo) Nation in 2016 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Not only is this brewery super LGBTQ friendly, but, according to a 2018 Vice article, Bow and Arrow is the only Native-woman owned brewery in the U.S. For you Four Corners area folks, be on the lookout for their Rambler Taproom set to open in Farmington, NM. The two are not only making history with their beers, but they’re also using their platform to showcase and incorporate Native American culture into their work in a way that’s not corny or overdone.

From Page 5

what I ordered when my friend arrived.

She ordered the Dove Creek Black Bean Burger. As we waited, we nibbled on some grainy-in-a-good-way bread.

I also sipped on the True Western, a cocktail from the bistro’s martini menu.

Made with bourbon, golden curacao, cactus juice, and prickly pear juice, it had one of the most hyper-masculine names, and 67 years of James Bond suggests that martinis are already pretty masculine. What arrived looked very much like a magenta cosmo with a cherry in it that would be very at-home in Carrie Bradshaw’s hands. It was deli-

Novel Strand Brewing Company

Hogshead Brewery

Outworld operates on the fact that beer is the most “highly traded commodity throughout the universe” and they’re probably right. Let’s get to work on stocking up on Outworld brews so that when the Vogons come to demolish Earth for a space bypass we have some leverage.

Location: Denver, CO

Raíces Brewing Co.

Location: Denver, CO

Hogshead Brewery might be in one of the coolest locations we’ve heard of: a repurposed 1950’s gas station. The brewery, self-described as a “purveyor of cask-conditioned ales,” was started in 2012 by head brewer Stephen Kirby, Jeff Kipp, and Michael Manczur. Hogshead produces a variety of beers but their specialty is English ales, or bitters, as Kirby immigrated here from London.

Like many undergrads, Chantel Columna, Tamir Danon, and Ayana Coker were brought together by their love of beer. Unlike many college students, their love of beer led them to open a brewery: Novel Strand Brewing Company. Novel Strand produces a wide variety of beers packed with flavor.

Danon, who brews these cold ones, tends to lean toward the wild and sour ales side of the beer spectrum, according to Westword.

Some of their brews include Popular Demand, an unfiltered German Keller Pils inspired lager; Eau De Cologne, an unfiltered German Kölsch inspired ale; and Moon Joose, a citrusy sour.

Fun fact? Hogshead is a British measurement for beer, about 64 gallons to be exact. We request a hogshead of beer for everyone for the remainder of COVID!

Outworld Brewing Location: Longmont, CO

When Jose Beteta, Tamil Maldonado Vega, and Martín Vargas opened Raíces Brewing Co. in 2019, they did so not only to brew some killer beer but to also address the lack of diversity in the industry.

For Latinos patronizing the business, Raíces is meant to serve as a way to feel at home. For non-Latinos, the brewery is a space where they can learn about Latin culture, music, and food.

And, of course, there is the delicious beer. Raíces is also the host for Suave Fest, a festival that celebrates Latin-owned breweries across Colorado and the country.

—— Amanda Push My friend informed me that the black bean burger, made also with carrots and zucchini and served on focaccia, tasted very fresh. She mentioned that rather than a mash of the ingredients, you could still identify individual black beans — which she enjoyed. You could “feel the roots” she said. The focaccia bread also felt fresh and there was a range of dressings to choose from.

cious, don’t get me wrong — I’d definitely drink it again (and again and again).

But the name brought to mind an image of a Sam Elliot-type cowboy drinking it, which I found amusing. The last sip, in particular, was delightfully spicy, but I’m not 100% sure it was the drink and not residual chile on my tongue from my meal.

The Relleno Pie, roasted poblano chiles baked into a cheddar custard topped with feta and tortilla strips, was nice and fluffy. The cheddar and feta came together around the chiles to create a pleasantly cheesy-but-not-too-cheesy experience. It lived up to its reputation.

Location: Denver, CO

Nick Gonzales/DGO

»» The Dove Creek Black Bean Burger at The Farm Bistro in Cortez.

Now that I’ve finally tried it for myself, I definitely want to return to The Farm next time I’m back in Cortez. Plus, like a nosferatu who hasn’t fed in weeks, I have to get that steak.

—— Nick Gonzales

Thursday, July 16, 2020 | 7

[art]

Two new Mancos vending machines dispense visual artwork, not snacks Why buy a Snickers when you can get a painting instead?

Vending machines are a pretty cool concept: You look inside, find what you want, feed some money in, press some buttons, and voila – you’ve got what you wanted. And they’re good for more than just candy, chips and soda.

ist named Clark Whittington created the first “art-o-mat” out of a retired cigarette vending machine for an art show in 1997 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The idea sort of caught on, and now there are at least 100 machines around the world, including six in Las Vegas.

In Japan, you can get everything from bananas to beer to live crabs (and all sorts of other stuff if the internet is to be believed *shudders*) in a machine.

In Singapore, you can buy paperback books from them. In fact, the first known vending machine dates back to ancient Egypt, where a mathematician created one to dispense holy water in return for a bronze coin.

Now, you can find two machines in Mancos that sell art. And not in the sense of “Oh, this Butterfinger is a work of art.” The machines, set up at Fahrenheit Coffee and Fenceline Cider, will vend actual visual art.

Selling art out of a vending machine, surprisingly, isn’t the newest idea. An art-

Nick Gonzales/DGO

»» The art vending machine at Fenceline Cider in Mancos, like its counterpart at Fahrenheit Coffee, is starting to fill up with purchasable artwork. (The author is considering making prints of this photo and selling them in the machine under the title “Self Portrait in Vending Machine.”)

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That is where Mancos artist Alex Bond got the idea, he told KSUT. When a Durango art gallery declined to show his work, he felt defeated and started looking for other ways to display his art and that of other artists to the public.

He then saw the machines in Vegas and knew they could work in Mancos. Unlike most art-o-mats, though, the two retired machines he retrieved from Flagstaff, Arizona, are snack machines, not cigarette machines. Nevertheless, the idea should work.

It’s certainly an interesting idea during the coronavirus epidemic, when it’s harder to count on a traditional art galContinued on Page 9

[art]

Exploring the mind-bending (and often miniature) world of Haley Cowan’s art Painted Panty Art is the end product of this artist’s self-care routine

Courtesy of Haley Cowan/Painted Panty Art

»» Haley Cowan is a Durango-based amateur artist whose work often combines bright colors, high contrast, and a punk aesthetic.

Since you-know-what descended upon the world, we’ve been spending a bit more time on social media as we continue to socially distance ourselves from the rest of the community. But that doesn’t mean we’re not engaging with local culture.

One of the nifty things about social media (yes, it isn’t just for distracting and/or misinforming you) is that you sometimes stumble upon people creating cool stuff in your community. That’s how we found out about Haley Cowan’s paintings — randomly discovering them on Instagram.

Operating under the name Painted Panty Art, Cowan primarily paints but also draws. “PaintedPanty” is her gamer tag, and she thought it would be “kind of fun and different” for her art’s Instagram page (which is @paintedpantyart, From Page 8

lery being open, such as the Artisans of Mancos gallery, to which Bond belongs.

Bond told The Journal that the machines operate similarly to the Artisans of Mancos cooperative model: Artists can pay $3 or $5 for a small or large spiral, respectively, to be filled up with

Courtesy of Haley Cowan/Painted Panty Art

»» Much of Cowan’s art is done on miniature canvases — a way of challenging herself as an artist and making sure projects are easy to finish.

naturally). What made us stop and check out the art, though, was her apparent love for bright contrasting colors and frequent dips into the world of geekery.

Cowan has lived in the area her whole life and is currently an engineering student at Fort Lewis College. Her interest in art is at least a little bit genetic.

“I’ve always liked drawing,” she said.

“My dad actually went to the Fort, and he got his degree in art and education.

So I think I inherited some of that. I’ve always liked doodling and sketching, but I just started getting into painting a year or two ago. I wanted to try to push myself and challenge myself.”

Her art isn’t necessarily made for public consumption — at least, that’s not what its primary purpose is.

“I have a lot of anxiety and it helps calm me. I can focus solely on my art, their artwork. The artists can then set their own prices, starting at 10 cents.

The machines don’t take credit cards yet, but they will if the Mancos Creative District can raise enough funds.

When we stopped by the machines in early July, they were both about a fifth full. We would have tried them out, but we showed up with only $5 in cash and

Courtesy of Haley Cowan/Painted Panty Art Courtesy of Haley Cowan/Painted Panty Art

»» Some of Cowan’s art is inspired by pop culture, such as the comic book “Tank Girl.”

whether I’m sketching or painting, and it’s just a calming feeling for me. I can be peaceful in that moment,” Cowan said.

A significant number of her paintings are simple, focusing on eyes or feminine figures, and also small – something that feeds into both her growth as an artist and her use of art as therapy.

“I like tiny details and most of the mini canvases I do — there’s not a lot to them, but I like trying to paint something smaller instead of having a bigger canvas where I have more room. I feel as if I challenge myself as an artist to try to keep it in a smaller space,” she said. “I can do them in just like 15 to 20 minutes, maybe half an hour if there’s a little bit more to them. They’re very quick and they’re very easy to do. So instead of spending days on a bigger painting, I can just spend a little bit of time and get that everything available was more expensive than that.

After a lifetime of dealing with vending machine issues like snacks getting stuck in their spiral or trapped against the glass, or machines simply eating our money, we’re a bit wary of feeding, like, $35 into one of them. But we’ll give the machines the benefit of the doubt.

»» Cowan said she often gives her miniature paintings to friends, who group them together into collages.

scene in satisfaction.”

One of the works that first caught our attention, and told us that she might be a fellow nerd, was her painting of British punk comic book character Tank Girl.

From there, we noticed that in addition to some cool originals, she’s also borrowed inspiration from computer games, Dungeons & Dragons, and Hayao Miyazaki films.

“My parents had older superhero comics, so I grew up reading those. I didn’t play a lot of video games until I got older. And then as far as D&D goes, my boyfriend got into it just about a year ago, and they wanted me to play.

So I started playing with them and really enjoyed it,” she said. “Things I enjoy, I like to paint.”

—— Nick Gonzales The machines are, at the very least, a cool, artistic addition to a small town already steeped in art. And Bond says he wants to bring the idea to other towns around the area, including Cortez and Dolores. If he does, it will be a neat, if impersonal, way to bridge the gap between artist and collector.

—— Nick Gonzales

Thursday, July 16, 2020 | 9

[travel]

Get Outta Town: Try to make sense of the Mystery Stone of Los Lunas

Inscribed rock might be important evidence of ancient explorers ... or a hoax On a hillside west of Los Lunas, New Mexico, about 35 miles south of Albuquerque, sits a large boulder bearing a message etched into the stone. This, in and of itself, isn’t unusual; after all, petroglyphs are found throughout the region.

good evidence that he would salt archaeological sites with artifacts so he could later dig them up in support of his theories. So he might have faked it himself.

On the other hand, though, he wasn’t known for creating artifacts wholesale,

But this stone is different: Its etchings are an inscription ... and they’re in ancient Hebrew ... or Greek ... or something.

and the Decalogue Stone doesn’t provide evidence for any of the theories to which he was attached.

The Los Lunas Decalogue Stone, which sits on the equally mysterious-sounding Hidden Mountain, supposedly bears an inscription of the Judeo-Christian Ten Commandments. At least that’s what people who believe the writing is Paleo-Hebrew say, as Harvard scholar Robert Pfeiffer did in 1949.

The 80-ton stone was first seen by Frank Hibben, an archaeologist from the University of New Mexico, in 1933. But he wrote that he was shown the boulder by someone who discovered the inscrip-

According to an oral tradition at UNM, the bedrock near the stone is inscribed with “Eva and Hobe 3-13-30.” Purportedly, Eva and Hobe were anthropology majors and students of Hibben who created the inscription as a hoax. This would make it a case of hoaxers hoaxing Courtesy of Brainardo/Wikimedia Commons

»» The Los Lunas Decalogue Stone (as it appeared in 1997 before it was vandalized) supposedly relates an abbreviated version of the Ten Commandments. But that theory is heavily disputed.

tion in the 1880s.

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the hoaxers.

According to the same story, Eva and Hobe’s deception was uncovered and

they were told never to do it again.

The idea that it was there in the 1880s, when few people knew of the It might be telling that five Mormon existence of Paleo-Hebrew script, archaeologists from Brigham Young leads some to believe that the stone is University, a group that would be very evidence of Pre-Colombian contact between the Americas and the Middle East. interested in ancient Hebrew artifacts Then again, Dixie Perkins, an epigrabeing found in America, visited the pher who was also from UNM, suggested stone in 1953 and called it a fake. (They that the inscription is in Cypriotic Greek noticed that there was no patina coverand is a report from an explorer named Zakyneros, who was struggling to suring the inscription as there is for every vive in the wilderness. petroglyph in the area left behind by Outside of the world of academia, actual indigenous peoples.) it gets even weirder. People cite the 4.f-foot-tall stone as proof of the exisIs the Mystery Stone of Los Lunas tence of the lost civilization of Atlantis evidence of a long-lost civilization or is it and just about everything except space a hoax created by two college students aliens.

Of course, there’s a pretty decent chance it’s not real. The etchings on the rock are remarkably easy to make out for something that is supposed to be ancient. And they don’t grammatically match the languages in which they’re allegedly written.

Also ... it’s all alone – there are no other rocks like it, and no signs that the site was important to ancient Hebrews, Greeks, or Atlanteans.

Scholars have always been dubious about Hibben’s work – there’s pretty

trying to prank their professor in the 1930s? You can hike up Hidden Mountain and judge for yourself if you get a $35 recreational access permit from the New Mexico State Land Office. (Just don’t vandalize the stone like someone did in 2006, scratching off the first line of the inscription.) The site is off New Mexico State Road 6.

—— Nick Gonzales

Changes, they are a comin’ (to the Colorado weed industry in 2020) Not everything that happens during this calendar year is going to be a dumpster fire ... just most things Not everything in 2020 is a dumpster fire that refuses to be snuffed out. There are some pretty positive weed-related headlines coming down the pipe this year for stoners, marijuana industry workers, hemp farmers, and those looking forward to more justice and equity in the business.

particular, faces massive disparities in who profits from the legalization from weed (typically white folks) compared to BIPOC who have historically faced much higher levels of discrimination when it comes to marijuana possession and usage. Enter House Bill 1424. This piece of legislation, introduced by Representative James Coleman, outlines applicant guidelines for Colorado’s marijuana business accelerator licenses and social equity programs regarding the cannabis industry that will be created down the road.

Hopefully, these changes made halfway through 2020 are a signal that the rest of the year won’t be a total disaster like the first half. Many of these new laws are long overdue and can be owed to the Black Lives Matter Movement and to cannabis’s entrance into the mainstream.

Marijuana pardons

Let’s dig into this new legislation and what it means for Colorado.

Unless you were a white politician using it as an election platform or financially benefiting from the incarceration of human beings, we can all agree that the War on Drugs was incredibly harmful to this country. Continuing to punish people for drug crimes in Colorado, particularly incidents that involved marijuana,

Social equity With the massive Black Lives Matter movement happening this year, there’s been a lot of conversations around equity and what that looks like for our country. The marijuana industry, in

Continued on Page 19

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Thursday, July 16, 2020 | 11

How do you stay at home when you’re homeless?

in-place restrictions, though, they would have to stay at the facility for 24 hours a day from March 27 through the end of April, when the order expired. Normally, 30 to 40 people take shelter at the Bridge, Knutson said, and of the 30 who chose to shelter-in-place there, only 10 remained when the order was lifted.

“What we were not anticipating was that sheltering in place would be so difficult for so many homeless guests who struggle with alcohol or other substances or mental illness,” she said. “It was disheartening to realize that even with all the risks of going out there onto the street, that was necessary for them to take care of what they thought they needed.”

Nine of the 10 people who made it through sheltering-in-place have moved into transitional housing at the Bridge — and can now come and go as they please. None of them have tested positive for the virus.

COVID-19 has transformed the way local groups interact with and provide services to those living unhoused.

By Nick Gonzales DGO STAFF WRITER

For most people, the stay-at-home orders issued by state governors in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak were an inconvenient but simple means of slowing the spread of the virus. But what are you supposed to do if you don’t have a home in which to stay?

Jim Mimiaga/BCI Media file

»» Formerly homeless, new residents of low-income apartments at the The Bridge Emergency Shelter moved in early May.

who was brought into Na’Nizhoozhi Center Inc., a detox facility, in early April. It’s impossible to confirm anything because patient records are confidential, but according to The Albuquerque Journal, the man was the facility’s first positive case of COVID-19. He came into contact with 170 people, 110 of which the newspaper’s sources say tested positive in turn. Medical officials say that outbreak contributed significantly to the county’s high number of cases and also the spread of the virus throughout the neighboring Navajo Nation, one of the areas hardest hit by the virus in the country.

According to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, 567,715 people were experiencing homelessness in the United States in January 2019. For those still lacking permanent housing by March 2020, the coronavirus presented not just another thing to worry about, it threatened — and continues to jeopardize — their ability to receive services and temporary housing that many of them depend on.

Gallup — Worst case scenario If any one town can be dubbed the epicenter of the coronavirus in the Southwest, it’s Gallup, New Mexico. Despite only having 3.5% of New Mexico’s population, McKinley County had a quarter of the state’s cases and 35% of its coronavirus-related deaths as of July 9. That fact has wreaked havoc on the town and its surrounding

12 | Thursday, July 16, 2020

Terrance Siemon/BCI Media file

»» Even before nonprofits, churches, and other organizations began adding facilities to the Purple Cliffs during the COVID-19 epidemic, unhoused people began to form a community at the site along La Posta Road, seen here in November 2019.

communities. On May 1, New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham locked down the city — barricading the highway off-ramps and closing Gallup’s streets to incoming traffic.

When it comes to the spread of the virus, an individual — and the communities he represents — has become the scapegoat for McKinley County: a homeless man, presumed to be Navajo,

Some pointed toward Gallup’s massive unhoused population, which fluctuates between 600 and 1,500 people on any given day, with many coming and going across the border of the Navajo Nation. To minimize viral transmission within the population, the town arranged for four local hotels to shelter the homeless, also providing them with food and healthcare — to the chagrin of some, who thought resources would be better spent elsewhere.

The spread of the virus inflamed racial tensions around the region — a full month before the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers would do the same

for the rest of the country. In Page, Arizona, a man was arrested for encouraging people to use “lethal force” against the Navajo people because they were “100% infected.” In Grants, New Mexico, Mayor Martin Hicks asserted that Navajos were to blame for spreading COVID-19 through the region, telling the New York Times, “We didn’t take it to them, they brought it to us.”

Cortez — Hard decisions To some extent, how well an area and its unhoused work through the epidemic seems to stem from the resources it already had in place before the virus hit.

Before the coronavirus outbreak, the Bridge Emergency Shelter in Cortez had three programs: a homeless shelter, transitional housing, and day labor center. It has since permanently closed the day labor center. Instead, the Bridge is choosing to focus on setting up paid internships that can help the unemployed find jobs, especially as day labor becomes less utilized during the epidemic, director Laurie Knutson said. And the staff of the center were not the only ones that had to make some tough decisions.

During normal operations, residents at the shelter must leave early in the morning and return at night. In order to comply with shelter-

Temperature checks and social distancing are being instrumented throughout the shelter’s operations in advance of its reopening in October (the shelter is closed from May through September). The staff that handles intake at the shelter, where guests must blow into a breathalyzer, may get face shields to help deal with the higher risk of transmission.

Knutson worries, however, about the lack of volunteers the center faces. Most of its usual volunteers are of retirement age, and the moment the epidemic hit, they disappeared — not because they didn’t want to help, but out of concern for their own safety, she said. She is also concerned about families in Montezuma County who are getting behind on their rent as they remain unemployed. The county has no family homeless rooms, so it’s unclear where they’ll be able to go if they get evicted.

Durango — Team effort “We’re fairing pretty good here actually,” said Tim Sargent, the camp leader at the Purple Cliffs.

At the city-designated homeless camp south of downtown Durango, campers share a significant amount of space. But Sargent isn’t wrong – San Juan Basin Public Health provided testing at the campsite and at Manna’s soup kitchen on June 3, 4, and 29. Based on the first round of test results, nobody in Durango’s unhoused community has tested positive for the virus.

COVID-19 has had an effect on every Durango organization that supports the homeless community. But one way or another, they’ve all been able to continue providing services.

Manna, for instance, was forced to close its dining room where 50 to 100 people typically

Thursday, July 16, 2020 | 13

Jerry McBride/BCI Media file

»» Tim Sargent, center, camp leader at the Purple Cliffs, and others gather at the new Community Kitchen on May 13 to discuss how their community can deal with the threat of the coronavirus. eat every day, on March 18. It won’t be able to reopen it in the foreseeable future, said Program Services manager Marissa Hunt. But the soup kitchen was able to pivot into providing graband-go meals at a meal station with a hand-washing area at the back of the facility. At the same time, their partnership with Southwest Rides shifted from shuttling people between the Purple Cliffs and Manna to delivering food from one to the other.

In June, Manna provided just over 9,000 meals, down a couple thousand from the 11,000 it provided in April, at the peak of the quarantine.

Manna is also continuing to provide other services via phone, computer, and socially-distant outdoor meetings.

These include helping people sign up for SNAP assistance, get new IDs or driver’s licenses, and providing bus passes and tokens and vouchers for the United Methodist Thrift Store.

14 | Thursday, July 16, 2020

When it closed the dining room, Manna also shut down its showers and laundry services, Hunt said, “but luckily, people were able to kind of step up in certain situations and fill those gaps that became apparent during COVID for not only us, but for resources throughout the community.”

With cooperation and donations from other organizations and individuals, the Neighbors in Need Alliance was able to help construct a variety of community resources at the Purple Cliffs site over the last few months. These include a community shelter, a kitchen, a shower, tanks for 560 gallons of potable water, a hand-wash station, a food donation box, a bulletin board, a solar cell phone-charging station, and a basketball hoop. Portable toilet and dumpster services were already being taken care of through the county.

Jim Micikas, NINA’s point person at the Purple Cliffs, handles that organization’s requests from the campsite’s residents.

Jerry McBride/BCI Media file

»» Tim Sargent says that outside of the new facilities built at the Purple Cliffs and the services provided to it, life has not changed much for its residents during the pandemic.

most of the residents put them on when they have to go into town.

Outside of the additional services and facilities at the camp, he said, “It really hasn’t changed our lives at all. I mean ... people try to avoid a homeless camp in general. If you’re carrying a backpack, pandemic or not, people are going to stay away from you.”

If anything, the programs designed to combat the effects of the epidemic have helped a little more than usual.

“For me personally. It’s been a bit of a boon,” Sargent said. “The stimulus check really helped me out, and I think that helped out quite a few other people, too.”

Moving forward With enough facilities set up at the Purple Cliffs to address the needs of its residents in the immediate future, NINA is now focusing its efforts on getting a permanent camp built near Greenmount Cemetery and Manna. The proposed property would provide residents with access to water, electricity, and sewer utilities, but still needs city and community approval.

Jerry McBride/BCI Media file

»» Amie Deiter pan fries hamburgers in the newly constructed Community Kitchen at the Purple Cliffs city-designated homeless camp. The wooden frame of the kitchen was built without using nails or screws and is easily disassembled.

entire unhoused community — some choose to live in wooded areas, near the river, or in other places around town — the residents of the Purple Cliffs seem to be managing the epidemic relatively well.

“Everybody out there has stepped up their hygiene game and they’ve also done an incredible job coming together as a homeless community, with a lot more communication than all the other camps in the past,” said Richard Dilworth, the Business Improvement District’s homeless outreach coordinator. “In some ways, this virus has brought a lot of people together and has also brought the unhoused together on new levels.”

Sargent agrees.

Jerry McBride/BCI Media file

»» An innovative kitchen sink was built for the new Community Kitchen at the Purple Cliffs city-designated homeless camp by one of the residents. Potable water is now provided at the camp.

“The requests are very reasonable,” he said. “I haven’t found a request that is over the top by any means from the people at Purple Cliffs. Nina has paid for everything that I’ve requested from them or have them build.”

Through the help of several grants, Community Compassion Outreach was able to relocate 21 unhoused residents from La

Plata and Montezuma counties, who also fell into high-risk categories for the virus, into temporary housing in motel rooms.

The grants also allowed the non-profit to help people facing eviction pay rent. Those programs came to an end, though, when the funding ran out, CCO executive director Donna Mae Baukat said.

While they don’t represent Durango’s

“It’s made us a little bit tighter because with everything shut down for so long, people stayed up here a lot more, and they got to know each other a lot better and I think that was very beneficial for all of us.”

Socially distancing from the rest of the town has not been a problem.

“Up here at the Purple Cliffs community itself, we don’t run into a lot of people – we’re up here kind of segregated ourselves, kind of offset. We haven’t really had a lot of contact. Occasionally, we go out and shop and whatnot, but for the most part, we’re okay,” he said. While they don’t wear masks much around the camp,

“We’re going to have our plan ready here to move at a moment’s notice. We’re going to have volunteers hopefully lined up, donations, and a budget and hopefully more cash,” Micikas said. He hopes to have the project started by the early fall.

At the current site, Sargent watches numbers of cases grow in the county, state, and country as tourists arrive in Durango from coronavirus case-heavy places like Texas. His biggest concern is that a resident may become infected.

“Once one of us gets it, we’re pretty much of the agreement that we’ll all end up, or least most of us would end up, with it,” he said. He also worries that the city or the county might not act quick enough to stop its spread, especially if more people lose their housing. “I’m very concerned that we’re gonna have more people out here because of the current economic situation.”

Ultimately, Sargent hopes the epidemic opens people’s eyes to the reality of homelessness and makes them stop viewing it as a disease.

“Just treat people as people ... as individuals,” he said. “This time has exposed a lot of people for the first time with the potential of being homeless, and that’s opened them up to understanding and facing those kinds of potential conditions for themselves. ... I’ve come across a lot of great people while being unhoused. ... I would like people to know that there are a lot of good people out in the world. It’s not all doom and gloom.”

Thursday, July 16, 2020 | 15

[weed]

The Sangiovese strain got us so high we ordered live tadpoles online for no reason And now we’re stuck raising them, so that’s fun Want to know the most absurd thing ever? Right now I am raising tadpoles ... in my house ... that I ordered off the freaking internet. Well, it’s just one tadpole, to be clear, but the order was apparently supposed to contain two.

One did not make it through the trip (I have a theory on why and it involves a murderous tadpole prevailing and now living in a terrarium in my kitchen).

If I had to take a guess, I would assume this happened after smoking some Sangiovese from Prohibition Herb. The timing lines up, and I have recently been sending my sober self presents from my stoned alter ego, so that would line up as well. What also lines up is that this strain knocked me so hard into a wall that I most certainly would have thought ordering tadpoles was a good idea.

Why am I raising tadpoles, you ask?

Well, your guess is as good as mine. I only know I ordered tadpoles because they arrived at my house in a small box marked “live animals — open immediately” and I only know I ordered two because I checked the receipt when the box arrived to find out what in the hell was going on.

Here’s what happened. So, I picked up some Sangiovese from Prohibition last week, and when I popped open the lid, I knew I was going to end up blazed-face to no end. This strain is an indica with fat freaking buds and it just LOOKS potent as hell. The tag on the container confirmed what I suspected: 29% THC. So, given that the strain was likely going to kick my ass into outer space, I opted to smoke it closer to bedtime. Out of a bong, no less.

I also learned from said receipt two other things: 1.) You can get stoned and overnight some damn tadpoles from another state to Durango, Colorado, and 2.) That is what I did. However, I’m not sure why I did it.

Was that a good idea? I’m not sure.

It may have led down a different path if I’d smoked it earlier in the day or used

Details

Where to find the Sangiovese strain: Prohibition Herb, 1185 Camino del Rio, prohibitionherb.com a pipe (i.e. maybe I wouldn’t be raising leopard tadpoles for no reason), but that isn’t what I did so I don’t know. What I do know is that a couple of bong hits with this fancily-named strain and I was down for the mf’in’ count.

I’m not exaggerating, either. I literally took — at most — four bong hits of Sangiovese and then — shortly after — I couldn’t feel my face very well at all.

The effects of this strain were almost immediate. (So was the choking, by the way — but I’m going to attribute that to some seriously large bong hits and not the strain itself).

And, once my face was strangely numb, I started to really feel what Sangiovese had to offer. This strain was wicked. My arms started to feel like they were wobbling — not shaking, but kind of like the skin was rolling in waves or something — and I became overly amused with the fact that my thumbs look tiny while typing on my phone. And by overly amused I mean I was literally laughing out loud like someone who’d inhaled way too much nitrous at the dentist.

My thumbs aren’t even small, for the record, but I clearly thought they were based on my notes, which say stuff like “I have the shortest thumbs. They’re like cartoon baby thumbs.”

16 | Thursday, July 16, 2020

Another interesting note I dug up was this one: “Oh no. My brain feels like it’s flopping forward off my scalp.” I vaguely remember feeling this, but shortly thereafter I remember nothing. Like at all.

The only clue I have as to what happened after the faux brain-flopping is the tadpole sitting on my counter and mocking my stupidity. I hate that thing.

So, yeah. That was Sangiovese. It killed any common sense I still had left in my body and then went right for the jugular. And now I’m stuck cleaning out a freaking tadpole terrarium on a regular basis, which is pretty freaking gross, if I’m being frank. Not loving it.

But I do love Sangiovese, so I guess I’ll just have to deal with the fact that it made me order a dumb live tadpole to raise that will eventually turn into a murderous frog. I’m not willing to give this strain up, even if I end up with a kitchen full of tadpoles. It is what it is, I guess.

—— DGO Pufnstuf

[weed]

The Cosmic Railway strain is the perfect strain for introverts who avoid socializing

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Have you ever smoked a strain that calmed you enough to make your brain stop running on a hamster wheel? Yeah, I’m sure you have. Lots of strains will do that. But have you ever smoked a strain that not only calmed your brain but also kicked your productivity into high gear AT THE SAME TIME? If the answer to my query is yes, then I’d like to bet all my money on the fact that you’ve smoked some Cosmic Railway before. This strain, a cross between Stardawg and Ghost Train Haze, somehow takes the best of both worlds (the sativa and indica worlds, obviously) and smashes them together to make one very puzzling — yet very badass — strain.

I got my hands on some Cosmic Railway over at The Green House in Durango. This strain is from their Pagosa Springs grow, and it clocks in at about 27% THC. I’d never smoked this strain before, so I didn’t quite know what to expect prior to opening the container.

What I found inside were small, dense nugs that stank to high hell. My entire living room reeked of weed as soon as I opened it.

I decided to load a bowl midday because, well, why not. It looked harmless enough. I lit it up, took a few hits, and was pleasantly surprised at how good this strain tasted. It had more of a green, earthy flavor than the heavy skunky smell of the nugs led me to believe, which was, again, not what I was expecting. I’ll take it, though. Better green and fresh than a mouth full o’ skunk, right?

It wasn’t just the look and the taste of Cosmic Railway that surprised me, though. This strain was full of surprises. A few minutes after the bowl was cashed, I started to feel the effects of this strain, but it was a very clear high, one that wiped my brain of all the clutter and jumbled words that just sit up there waiting to be used in some dumb story. I kind of felt ... I don’t know ... refreshed? Clean? It’s tough to explain.

All I know is that I could think without having 2,000 distractions per minute pulling me in different directions.

And that clearheadedness wasn’t the only effect, either. Not only was my brain as clean as a dry erase board, I

Details

Where to find the Cosmic Railway strain: The Green House, 730 S. Camino del Rio, thegreenhousecolorado.com also found myself being able to multitask, something that I normally suck at.

Now, to be clear, my version of multitasking was chatting with some friends on FaceTime while folding a bunch of towels and half-watching an old episode of Rick and Morty, but still! I was able to do it without completely losing my train of thought while talking, which is highly unusual for me.

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I also found myself to be a bit more chatty than normal. As a die-hard introvert, that is NOT my usual M.O., so my desire to talk was definitely a byproduct of the high from Cosmic Railway. This stuff made me want to everything and anything, politics included. It was like the best version of me, and I got some towels folded in the process. Not bad, Cosmic Railway!

I was pleasantly surprised by this strain. It made me chipper, focused, and chatty ... three things that rarely go hand in hand for me. Cosmic Railway is going to be a permanent fixture on my shelf, and I plan to pull it out any time I’m having trouble getting things done (or reverting to silencing my phone to avoid people).

If you haven’t tried this one out, do it — especially if you’re one of my people (who hates human interaction). It would be the perfect bar strain for introverts ... if we were allowed to go to bars right now. I plan to use it for that, too, once we’re not all at risk of catching a deadly virus from each other. Maybe it’ll keep me from being the quiet weirdo at the table who’s overwhelmed with the noise and other humans. But until then, I’ll just use it for everything BUT bars instead.

—— DGO Pufnstuf Thursday, July 16, 2020 | 17

[weed]

ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH DURANGO’S “CANNA CASTLE”

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We ate a weed sucker for the first time and surprise! We enjoyed it I’m not going to lie: I feel a little weird as an adult relaying my experience eating a lollipop to other adults. To top it off, a THC-infused lollipop, though I’m not sure if that makes it better or worse.

In any case, we’re starting off on the wrong foot here. Hi, I’m Blaze and I just ate a weed sucker for the first time in my life. And I rather enjoyed it.

To be honest with you, I’ve become a bit tired of the gummy edible routine.

Yes, they are delicious and amazing. Will I ever stop eating them? No. Am I looking to try something new in between?

Yes. Thus, after going back and forth on it for weeks, I finally gave in and got myself a Canyon Lick It lollipop in the flavor of strawberry lemonade. Canyon also has flavors in sour boysenberry, caramel apple, lavender lemonade, and sour grape.

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18 | Thursday, July 16, 2020

One of the fun things about edibles is that you get to enjoy the sweets of your childhood (and hopefully your adulthood) with the added exhilaration of being stoned afterward. This deliciously sweet treat reminded me of when my mom would drive us to the bank and occasionally the teller would give us some free lollipops. I’m not sure WHY I only associate lollipops with banks now.

But, there you have it.

What actually ended up happening in the middle of watching “Marcella” was me losing my mind when I heard a loud “thunk” from somewhere in my home. As a child who grew up watching “Matlock” with their mother, I have firmly held to the belief that one day someone is going to try to murder me.

It’s also why I have a bat hidden next to my bed, though I have no doubt it won’t do me any good in the event of an actual break-in.

Each of Canyon’s Lick It lollipops comes packed with 10 mg of THC. And, voila! You can’t even taste it! Just sweet nourishing sugar and weed.

But I digress. Where was I? Oh yes, stoned as hell and peeling off my couch so I could defend myself from the “thunk.”

For some reason, I felt it was appropriate to sit outside on my patio sucking on this thing. That is until I made really awkward eye contact with a neighbor just trying to enjoy a beer and I realized it might look a little odd to an outsider that I was enjoying that lollipop so much.

Not to worry though, friends. There was not a stranger hiding in my home waiting for the perfect moment to strike. My OxiClean White Revive had simply fallen off its precarious place on the shelf and spilled all over. No murderer, but a massive mess to clean up and I wasn’t sure I had enough brainpower to operate a vacuum just then. Good thing my edible had left me in a good mood!

So back inside I went to finish this thing off in private. Don’t be gross.

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relaxation that one can only find while lazily lounging on their couch stoned in the middle of a Saturday. I was one with the couch in a way that some people might compare to feeling one with nature. But not I. I was going to merge my stoned self with my couch until I inevitably took an afternoon nap. Things were going great.

I then planned to spend the rest of my afternoon watching “Marcella” on Netflix and try my best to ignore the fireworks blasting outside my apartment. Not very exciting, I know, but in my defense, they’d been going off loooooong before that. Stoned or sober, I’d had my fill of explosions for the rest of the year.

Besides, this edible had lifted my ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH mood and lulled me into a deep sense of

So, what I’m trying to say is that Canyon Lick It lollipops will probably not help you should you find yourself in a precarious situation. In fact, it might not even be very helpful when you’re faced with a mess. But, if you’re looking for a sugary edible that will make you feel like a million bucks no matter what is going on in your life, you might want to find yourself some of these suckers.

—— Sir Blaze Ridcully

[weed]

This is a brewery — it speaks for the trees: CO brewery and grower saving the planet by growing weed sustainability and climate science for our industry while making better bud,” Zach Engel, operations director for The Clinic, said in a statement to Westword.

What’s the best way to save the planet? By growing weed and making beer, of course! OK, OK. That’s selfishly oversimplifying it a bit, but, according to Westword, one Denver brewery and a grower are working together to do just that.

It turns out, however, that cannabis takes a minute to grow (it can take anywhere from eight weeks to seven months) so The Clinic hasn’t been able to study up on the results until recently.

Growers found that the marijuana plants grown with the recycled CO2 were just as healthy as plants that were grown without. Greener weed - amirite?

Confused? Let’s get into it. Denver Beer Co. and The Clinic, a company with dispensaries in the Denver area and a grow, are partnering together to recycle carbon dioxide emissions produced by the brewery and using it to help grow weed at The Clinic. Further pollution is prevented and the grow is able to sustainably maintain their cannabis crop.

In commemoration, The Clinic released a new strain called Hoppy Trees that was, you guessed it, grown with the recycled carbon emissions. So, in a way, it’s like you’re drinking a beer AND smoking a joint at the same time.

The program was first announced by the Colorado departments of Public Health and Environment and Energy back in January and since it was launched, the companies have saved the equivalent of 93 trees through their work. Captain Planet would be proud.

Earthly Labs, a public benefit corporation, is using technology to capture CO2 emissions produced from Denver Beer’s beer production process. Once Earthly Labs purifies the carbon dioxide, they

hand it off to The Clinic to be used for their greenery growing.

“We are excited to expand our partnership with Denver Beer Co., advancing

“We believe climate change is real,” Charlie Berger, Denver Beer co-founder, told Westword. “With the support of The Clinic, we want to do our part to innovate and inspire, providing a platform for others to follow.”

—— Amanda Push

From Page 11

doesn’t make sense. What does make sense is passing this amendment to House Bill 1424. This piece of legislation gives Governor Jared Polis the ability to grant pardons to those who were criminally charged with possession of two ounces of marijuana or less before it was legalized in 2012. However, to get their records cleared, people will have to individually reach out to the court system.

Access to banks The lack of access marijuana companies have had to financial entities has proved a big challenge to the industry.

The criminalization of marijuana on a federal level has made it difficult for cannabis companies to get approved for loans by financial institutions. Representative Matt Gray and Hugh McKean introduced House Bill 1217 to help change that. This bill (which was signed into law and takes effect in September) will offer more leniency for banks and credit unions when loaning money to marijuana businesses.

Non-resident workers Colorado lawmakers modernized outof-date legislation this year with House Bill 1080. When marijuana was first legalized in 2012, state law required that in order to get a Marijuana Enforcement Division license, individuals had to be Colorado residents. This law, also introduced by Gray, will allow cannabis employees living outside the state to apply for a badge to work in Colorado.

The feds and the hemp After hemp was federally legalized two years ago, Colorado passed Senate Bill 197 to align state law regarding hemp with federal legislation. States are able to submit their legal and regulatory framework to the USDA. Colorado lawmakers offered up their proposed management plan for approval. The plan includes adjustments to the federal regulations including less rigid around testing for THC and less involvement from the DEA. —— Amanda Push Thursday, July 16, 2020 | 19

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DGOMAG.COM Editor: Angelica Leicht – aleicht@bcimedia.com Staff WritEr: Nick Gonzales – ngonzales@bcimedia.com SalES: Chandler Sommerfeldt – csommerfeldt@bcimedia.com

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Graduate programs in ninja studies are things that actually exist Good luck finding us once we get our master’s degree, suckers Among the many things we like to idly daydream about is what we’d study if we ever went back to school. And as of June, that question is even harder to answer than it was before.

of Tokyo, an area that is apparently quite mountainous.

In addition to martial arts and survival skills, Mitsuhashi learned how to traverse mountainous areas undetected.

That sounds like a skill that could prove super useful in Southwest Colorado.

Sure ... we can’t describe exactly how we’d use it, except maybe for avoiding tourists on popular trails ... but there have to be all sorts of local uses for ninjitsu.

According to CNN, Japan’s Mie University has been home to the International Ninja Research Center since 2017.

Last month, a man named Genichi Mitsuhashi became the first person to earn a master’s degree in ninja studies from the university. It sounds like he plans to pursue a doctoral degree in ninja studies next. This would, of course, make him a doctor-ninja.

According to the center’s website, ninjas, or “shinobi,” were used during Japan’s feudal period to gather intelligence for lords. The power of said lords in the Iga province was relatively weak, so local warriors developed ninjitsu as a way to defend themselves.

“He literally (devotes) his life to ninja,” Ninja studies professor Yuji Yamada told CNN. The program focuses on the study of the history, fighting techniques, and traditions of ninjas, who were master spies and assassins starting in the 14th century. They were also independent farmers in the Iga Province, southwest

Ninjas continued to be employed after the feudal period ended in the 19th century, sometimes for secret missions and spycraft, but also as guards of castles Continued on Page 23

S A V E

T H E

D A T E

SATURDAY OCT 3 2020 •

•

This event is open to all over 21 and FREE of charge. event 11am - 4pm after party 4pm - 6pm

Things are pretty unpredictable right now. COVID-19 has changed the way we live from week to week, and DGO is fully in support of the measures being taken to protect the health and welfare of the area we live, work, and play in. Unfortunately, these measures have once again affected when we can safely hold Cannabis Crawl. We understand that this is a bummer, but please know that the decision to move this year’s crawl to the fall was made in the best interests of all involved. We can’t wait to see you guys at the Cannabis Crawl in October!

P R I Z E S P O N SO R

T I T L E S P O N SO R

A F T E R PA RT Y S P O N SO R

DGO does not endorse consuming of products and crawlers must abide by the law of 1-ounce purchase for the day.

22 | Thursday, July 16, 2020

D G O M A G . C O M /C R A W L

Horoscope ARIES (March 21 to April 19)

space and time to do this.

This is an upbeat time for you because your mind is sharp and bright, and you will enjoy learning new things as well as meeting new people. Clever you!

LEO (July 23 to Aug. 22)

TAURUS (April 20 to May 20) Trust your moneymaking ideas, because you’re in a clever frame of mind right now.

Basically, this is because you have a lot of mental energy. Yes, your brain is working!

VIRGO (Aug. 23 to Sept. 22)

GEMINI (May 21 to June 20) Right now the Moon is in your sign dancing with fiery Mars. This gives you a lot of energy and emotional force! This might even improve your health! (Yay me!)

You will enjoy some quiet time somewhere so you can contemplate your navel. You have a lot to think about, and you want the

From Page 22

and towns. Today, Mitsuhashi, the only ninja we know about, grows rice and vegetables and runs an inn in Iga when he’s not teaching ninjitsu at his dojo.

Throughout their history, ninjas wrote about all of their techniques in manuals that the center is dedicated to gathering and making available for academic research.

The data contained in those manuals includes information on medicine, food, astronomy, meteorology, making stuff like gun powder, infiltration, disguise, how to speak eloquently, and, apparently ... magic.

According to the university, Ninjas probably weren’t the shadowy figures that leap to mind, at least not on a day to day basis. Instead, they would have had to blend in with everyday civilians.

In fiction of the early 19th century, ninjas were depicted as villains, a stereotype that has stuck around, but that also isn’t necessarily true.

In other words, if they were around today, they could be anybody you pass on the street — especially these days, when you can wear Mortal Kombat-style masks around town without being conspicuous.

You might be involved with parents, bosses or someone in a position of authority right now, which is one reason that you will be high-viz. People notice you, but fear not, because you look good!

LIBRA (Sept. 23 to Oct. 22) Travel for pleasure will delight you right now. Do whatever you can so you feel you’re learning something new or getting a chance to expand your world.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23 to Nov. 21) This is a good time to discuss shared re-

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22 to Dec. 21) Because the Moon is opposite your sign right now, you will have to go more than halfway when dealing with others. This is easy to do. It requires consideration and patience.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22 to Jan. 19) This is a productive time for you because your mind is working overtime. You will clearly see what you want to do, and you will do it!

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20 to Feb. 18) This is a fun-loving, playful time! It’s also a flirtatious day! Romantic partners will definitely have some fun.

PISCES (Feb. 19 to March 20) A lively conversation with a female family member might take place right now. If working at home, you will be full of ideas and energy to make improvements.

BORN DURING THESE TWO WEEKS You have an inquisitive mind. You love family, but you need your own space. Soon you will sense that you’re wrapping up things you began nine years ago. You’re letting go of whatever is no longer relevant and moving on to something new and different.

This is not a time of loss. Au contraire. You are lightening your load to make room for new beginnings! (c) 2020 King Features Syndicate, Inc.

Bizarro

CANCER (June 21 to July 22)

Enjoy interactions with others right now, especially female acquaintances. It’s a good time to share your hopes and dreams for the future with someone to get their feedback.

sponsibilities or to look into matters related to your partner’s wealth or shared property.

Do not ignore banking details either.

Come to think of it, ninjitsu might be the perfect thing to study during a pandemic. We have to imagine that if anybody was going to naturally socially distance themselves from everyone else, it would be these ultra-stealthy assassins.

Now, if you’ll excuse us, we have a graduate program we must apply to. (*Author throws smoke bomb at the ground and disappears in a burst of ninja magic.*) —— Nick Gonzales

Thursday, July 16, 2020 | 23

G A L LU P W E LCO M E S YO U Be assured we’re following safety guidelines to keep everyone in our unique Route 66 community safe and healthy.

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