The Durango Telegraph, Oct. 21, 2021

Not dead yet

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FREE Oct. 21, 2021 Vol. XX, No. 41 durangotelegraph.com

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T H E

O R I G I N A L

I N D I E

W E E K L Y

L I N E

O N

D U R A N G O

&

B E Y O N D

Ballot busting

A side of punk

The sands of time

Have no fear - the 2021 Cheat Sheet is here p8

Breakfast and body-slamming collide Saturday at ACT p10

65 years on, Herbert’s sci-fi masterpiece endures p11

Liv Sta e on ge!

Farmington Civic Center October 21-31, 2021 wWw.fmtn.org/shows • (505) 599-1148

2 n Oct. 21, 2021

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lineup

4

4 La Vida Local

Adventures in hat-making with mixed results

4 Thumbin’ It

Head games

by Zach Hively

5 Word on the Street 6-7 Soapbox

8

8 Top Story

Voting 101

Have no fear – P. Diddy and the 2021 Ballot Cheat Sheet are here

10 Durango Underground

by Telegraph staff

11 On Screen 12-13 Stuff to Do

10

13 Ask Rachel

Breakfast and body-slamming returns to Animas City Theatre

14 Free Will Astrology

Getting toasted

by Alex Vick

15 Classifieds 15 Haiku Movie Review

11

On the cover: Turkey vultures conspiring over carrion near Mancos. These birds are migratory and their range in Colorado is used during breeding season./ Photo by Alex Krebs

Re-Dune With latest movie reboot, sci-fi classic proves it can stand the test of time by john van becay

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EDITORIALISTA: Missy Votel missy@durangotelegraph.com ADVERTISING SALES: telegraph@durangotelegraph.com STAFF REPORTER: Jonathan Romeo jonathan@durangotelegraph.com

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he Durango Telegraph publishes every Thursday, come hell, high water, beckoning singletrack or monster powder days. We are wholly owned and operated independently by the Durango Telegraph LLC and

STAR-STUDDED CAST: Zach Hively, Alex Vick, joh van becay, Lainie Maxson, Rob Brezsny and Clint Reid

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We’re only human. If, by chance, we defame someone’s good name or that of their family, neighbor, best

friend or dog, we will accept full responsibility in a public flogging in the following week’s issue.

Although “free but not easy,” we can be plied with schwag, booze and flattery.

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Ear to the ground: “The older I get, the better I was.”

– Local Boomer discussing the benefits of selective memory as we age

Keeping it local

thepole

RegularOccurrences

In a town that feels like it’s constantly changing, we’ve got some good (bittersweet) news: Home Slice Pizza has been sold, but to a group of locals who want to carry on the Durango mainstay’s tradition.

It was announced this week that all three Home Slice locations will be sold to Peak Food & Beverage, the parent company that runs Steamworks Brewing Co., El Moro Spirits & Tavern and Bird’s.

Kris Oyler, CEO of Peak, said in an interview with The Telegraph that no major upheavals are coming to the beloved pizza shop.

“We’re not going to change anything,” Oyler said. “We’re remarkably aligned in our philosophies – very locally focused. It was just a real natural fit that came together easily.”

Founded by Cory and Lynn Kitch, Home Slice has been dishing up pizza in Durango for more than 20 years, becoming a staple in town with three locations.

But recently, Cory was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. “We had a dream when we started Home Slice and, unfortunately, we cannot carry on the dream any further,” Lynn said in a statement. “But we cannot imagine anyone better than Peak to carry on our vision.”

Peak itself has been around for 25 years, and is 40% employee owned. The company plans to offer the same or enhanced benefits to Home Slice employees, including health insurance, paid time off and ownership opportunities.

“We’re going to run it as is and perpetuate (the Kitches) dream,” Oyler said.

For the Kitches, it’s a bittersweet moment.

“We are all locals that wanted to make a living here with great respect for our community and our employees,” Lynn said. “It is inconceivable how good this fit is (selling to Peak), and we are all excited about it. We are selling to our friends.”

New columnist alert!

This week we welcome a new A&E writer, Alex Vick, who has been involved in the Durango music scene for years. Among his many music side hustles, he currently plays in Immediate Family and Your Bones (which you can go see at Punk Rock Breakfast on Saturday).

When he’s not head thrashing or in the depths of a mosh pit, Vick is also the creative director for The Hive, a nonprofit that provides an inclusive safe space for youth, including music classes.

While maybe lesser known, Durango has a vibrant Vick rocking out underground alternative music scene, and Vick plans to highlight and provide a platform for these musicians in town, and we’re excited to read about it.

The Telegraph is also still looking for an A&E writer who wants to focus on the bluegrass/jam band/Americana side of life. If you’re interested, reach out to telegraph@durangotelegraph.com.

Oct. 21, 2021 n

3

opinion

LaVidaLocal Crowning achievement I have a business proposition for you: Whatever you’re paying me for this column, double it. In exchange, you’ll get to write it yourself.

This model works, because it’s the same one I used recently to make my own hat. Let me tell you, that was no easy feat – not with the shape of my head.

The thing is, I went most of my life presuming my bean was not shaped like a lima. Until a couple years ago, when a hatmaker doing party tricks took impressions of people’s head shapes using some 19th-century device like a claw-machine claw that grabs brains. She transferred my head shape to a notecard and said, and I quote, “Well, never saw THAT before.” Then she showed me the dent in one side that reminds me of a fast-action photograph of a football being punted. She admitted I might need to stuff facial tissues in my hats to fill the concavity.

But although my head is deformed, at least it’s also grotesquely oversized. The teacher of the hat class asked us all for our hat sizes so he could hand out these wooden hat blocks for shaping our hats.

My number sent him rummaging through steamer trunks and possibly through time and space to find a redwood wide enough to carve my blockhead from.

I’m getting out in front of my brim.

Let’s set the stage for why I took a hat class in the first place: my sister asked me to. Also, because I really do love hats.

They keep people guessing about whether I’m going bald or going gray. They look better on me than sunburns do. And that’s it. That’s why I love hats.

The hat class teacher – let’s call him Tom Hirt, because that is his name – coordinated with a fabric store in Albuquerque to ensure each of us could work with the hat color we most wanted in the whole world, so long as it was on his short list of earth-tone hat colors. I asked for sage green. I got powder blue.

Tom, who I’m pretty certain is an actual cowboy, started the class with a lesson on how short mammal hairs, such as rabbit fur, beaver fur and human leg hair, are felted and dyed into the flimsy nonhats before us, which was interesting and also a way to stall while the one hat steamer for

13 students was warming up. We were to steam our felt discs to soften them, stretch them over our wooden hat blocks (if possible, in certain isolated cases), then steam and iron our fledgling hats until they turned stiffer than pressed jeans.

In the powder-blue-dying process (which, we must note, results in a distinctly sky- and not earth-toned product), something happens on a subatomic level to the rabbit/beaver/man-fur mixture that renders it impervious to this stiffening. I spent Day One of the three-day class ironing the stuffing out of my hat. Other people were already selecting feathers while I was working around the blisters caused by pressing down with a Black & Decker clothes iron. The manual labor to make a hat brim rigid far exceeds any of the other days I have spent in manual labor, except for the day my own mother spent in labor with me.

The excessive size of my hat block spurred many comments about my poor mother’s birth canal. What else was I going to talk about while standing around the steamer? It’s like the water cooler at work, only hotter, so I had to talk about SOMETHING. I think my classmates felt badly that my birth was so strenuous, so they kept insisting that no, really, they were done with the steamer and they’d go sit down so I could use it.

On Day 2, when my well-pressed hat had the night to reconsider its stubbornness and my my-mama jokes were refreshed, I stitched in my leather sweatband. My sister, who works in the fabric store, chanted some Hermione Granger and had hers done. I, with no appreciable needle calluses on my fingers, thimble up all 10 of ’em and still successfully stitched my hand to my hat.

On Day 3, I went back to the ol’ steamer again. The hat needs softened up to take whatever shape you want to give it, and then you pray to Tom Hirt that the shape holds. But by the end of the day, when everyone else including my sister had left the building, I hoisted my hat atop my head and stuffed Kleenex in the dent. I’ve never been so proud of a piece of clothing I made, nor had I ever paid more for the privilege.

But the price didn’t matter; the accomplishment was reward enough. I wish everyone could experience that kind of satisfaction at least once. So hey, why don’t you cut me a check and write the ending to this piece yourself.

Sign of the Downfall:

Thumbin’It The expected appointment of Charles Sams to lead the National Park Service, making him the first Native American director in the agency’s 105-year history, prompting the obvious question, “What took so long?”

The state health department reporting a sharp increase in sexually transmitted infections in La Plata County. Now, we’re no sticklers here when it comes to the hanky-panky department, but be safe and wrap it up!

Facebook announcing plans to change its name. Oh, we have some very pleasing suggestions. Very pleasing. 2Facebook?

Hell on Earth? The place where you do “MyOwnResearch?”

Three reports of anti-LGBTQ vandalism at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Durango. File this one in the “losing faith in humanity” drawer.

Despite a wrench from Mother Nature, a successful US Collegiate Mountain Bike Championships at Purgatory, with Fort Lewis College claiming second place.

4 n Oct. 21, 2021

– Zach Hively

Reports that the $1 million lottery to encourage COVID vaccinations did not, in fact, encourage vaccinations in the state.

Hmmm… who would have thought?

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Hocus-Pocus … Pink Slip Ian Brackenbury Channell, who’s made $12K annually for two decades as Christchurch, New Zealand’s, official wizard, was fired recently, probably for being a misogynist. During an interview, Ian said of women that he hasn’t “struck one yet” because “they bruise too easily.” Christchurch hasn’t confirmed the correlation, but Ian was dismissed shortly thereafter. In response, Ian said, “everyone likes me and no one likes them,” and that “they’d have to kill me” before he stopped, which is exactly the type of thing an evil sorcerer who dresses in black and pretends to be a good wizard would say. Well-played, Christchurch.

WordontheStreet

Q

With the massive supply-chain disruption, The Telegraph asked: “What are you having trouble finding?”

Michael

“Ammo. Gotta fill the freezer.”

Bob

“I just tried to get a breakfast burrito at two places and they were closed because of staffing.”

Miranda

“Bike parts!”

Frank

Margaret

“Trader Joe’s is out of some of the items I love.”

“Raw material for prints. I’m a photographer and it used to take seven days, now it’s 21 days.”

Open enrollment is around the corner.

Apply for health insurance starting Nov Nov 1.

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Oct. 21, 2021 n 5

SoapBox

D-Tooned/by Rob Pudim

Three candidates right for board

Teacher unions lord over schools

The Mission Statement of Durango School District 9R is to provide equitable educational opportunities in a safe and healthy environment so that each student can develop the skills and attributes needed for lifelong learning, and has the ability to compete and contribute to the global community.

Erika Brown and Andrea Parmenter have worked tirelessly both as board members and, before that, classroom volunteers, PTO officers and members of their children’s elementary and middle school accountability committees. Both deepened their understanding of and engagement with the workings of the district by completing the Leadership 9-R program.

Rick Petersen is new to school board administration but has over 20 years of management experience and has been actively involved in his children’s schools, as well as in outside activities supporting Durango’s youth, including Scouting, soccer and Lego League coaching.

As far as I can determine, their opponents have not previously been involved in any such activities to support the school district, its teachers, or its students.

Our public school system is the foundation on which the future success of our community is built, and I urge you to support the continued improvement of 9-R by voting for these outstanding candidates for the school board. They intend to work hard to increase teacher pay, promote better state funding and improve our schools’ performance standings.

All of the three candidates have children currently in our Durango schools and each of them cares deeply about the success of our kids.

Please vote for them.

– Kirby MacLaurin, Durango

There is an ultra progressive movement around the country to take over local school boards. The movement is fueled by anger over mask mandates as well as a belief in a crackpot conspiracy theory that public schools are somehow teaching white children to hate themselves. In some districts these progressive candidates are open about their beliefs. In districts where such extremes are not supported by the general public, these candidates are not so forthcoming.

Here in Durango, there is a slate of progressive candidates, Erika Brown, Rick Petersen and Andrea Parmenter that are backed by the Durango Education Association and the Durango Education Support Professionals Associations. These organizations are simply teacher unions.

These are the same unions that will have to negotiate with board members on labor issues.

I graduated in 1959 from the top-rated school system in the nation, in California. The cost per pupil in 1960 was $394, which is $3,641 in today’s money. However, the California district now spends $13,317 per pupil and is ranked 48th in the nation. The only difference between then and now is the power of the teacher unions over local school boards.

– Dennis Pierce, Durango

Message of love This month, the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Durango was the target of three anti-LGBTQ acts of vandalism. Our rainbow flag was stolen, we replaced it, and then it was stolen again. A few days later, our large outdoor banner was cut down from its high place beneath our stained glass windows.

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To the person(s) responsible for these acts, we say: Thank you. Thank you for reminding us that we have work to do in this community, that we need to be big and loud in our message of love, inclusivity and welcome. Thank you for bringing renewed attention to the words on our banner: “We are love’s hands in the world. We are called to create justice.” Thank you for keeping us from becoming complacent. In response to your act, we will be giving away small rainbow flags on Sat., Oct. 30, from 10 a.m. - 12 noon at UUFD, 419 San Juan Drive, in Durango. The public is welcome.

– Bonnie Miller, UUFD LGBTQIA+ Team Leader

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6 n Oct. 21, 2021

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Chief needs to go

and education of our kids and the safety of school employees should soon be on a better path. Until then, masking is the best defense available for our unvaccinated children. Don’t be distracted by those motivated by political agendas or misinformation. The School Board’s responsibility is to follow science and data-driven recommendations from competent authorities.

A misguided notion of “freedom” cannot justify endangering the lives of our children, their teachers and others. I fully support the School Board’s decision to require masks and hope it will also require COVID vaccinations for children once fully approved. Some have suggested that parents should be the ones to decide whether their kids should wear masks or be vaccinated, but we don’t do that for any other serious communicable disease. Why should COVID be different? The health and safety of our kids and school employees is a responsibility of our Durango 9-R Board of Education. I’m voting for Erika Brown, Rick Petersen and Andrea Parmenter because I know they will study the data, listen to the experts, and do what’s right to protect our childrens’ safety and their educations.

– Adele Riffe, Hesperus

I attended the Indigenous Peoples’ Day of Rage event Oct. 10, which included a march around town and a stopover at the Toh-Atin statue of “The Chief.” This offensive, racist and triggering statue has caused enough harm. It needs to go. The Indigenous organizers have already put a lot of time into this effort already, and I’m grateful that I was able to learn more.

How many Indigenous people from our community need to ask for its removal before something more is done? It stands as a mockery to Native people and culture while upholding colonialism and oppression against Indigenous people. Yet, there it remains, downtown, for all to see. Durango can do better than this.

I’m confused as to why the owners of the gallery cannot listen and work toward a peaceful resolution, especially in the face of an offer from an anonymous donor to cover the cost of the removal of the statue. In addition, the proposal includes working with Native artists to develop something that actually represents Native people.

That would be empowering, rather than the opposite.

White folks can do more to stand up in alliance with the Native organizers calling for the removal of this toxic statue. Please talk to your friends, write letters, attend City Council meetings and take a photo at the statue.

Don’t forget to use #notyourmascotdurango and post it on social media along with your thoughts on the issue.

– Riley Neugebauer, Durango

Ode to Shania From the Thursday night plays To the propensity for rookie game delays My respect abounds For the fantasy play of Chris Braun When the ESPN probability is sky high It’s a good sign your dreams will die Midweek projections instill hope But those projections are for dopes When I wake on Sunday to watch teams play abroad I realize that Matt Ryan is a fraud My betting dreams start to rise But fantasy football is where I will die – Patrick Dawson, Durango

Masks protect kids, learning The data is in: There’s strong evidence students in Colorado attending schools with mask mandates have far lower rates of COVID-19 infections than those in schools without them (therefore fewer quarantines and forced switches to remote learning).

Masks are a key part of keeping our schools open for in-person learning. With vaccinations due to be approved for 5- to 12-year-olds by the end of October, the health

Students weigh in

This November’s School Board election will decide who will set the tone and policies for our district for years to come, and in times as turbulent as these our school district needs steady and student-focused leadership. That is why, as the ex-officio student School Board members of the Durango 9-R Board of Education, we are urging you to vote for Erika Brown, Andrea Parmenter and Rick Petersen.

As student board members, we have worked closely with both Brown and Parmenter. Throughout our time on the board, both of them have continuously shown their commitment to improve our district. They both went above and beyond to help with our onboarding and are always voices of reason, even when science and common decency are under attack. We are similarly impressed with their work to improve communications with parents and other community stakeholders. Both of them have worked to make every student feel safe in schools.

While we have not directly worked with Petersen, we have spoken with him and he is in touch with the issues that impact students in our community and is receptive to student concerns.

Democracy is a team sport ,and we as students of Durango 9-R are asking you to do your part and vote for Brown, Parmenter and Petersen because our district and our students’ futures cannot afford to lose.

– Hays Stritikus, Amiah Hanson, Seneca Wilson, Student School Board members and Durango High School students

Our mail box runneth over Durango has always boasted a highly involved citizenry, and you certainly showed it this election cycle. Unfortunately, due to an incredible amount of letters, and only so much space every week in the Telegraph, we can no longer accept election-related letters. Thanks for making your voices heard and don’t forget to vote Nov. 2!

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Oct. 21, 2021 n 7

Election2021

Ballot cheat sheet Off-year election, while maybe not as flashy, still as important

by Telegraph staff

A

mendments, propositions, TABOR, homestead exemptions – please don’t turn the page! This year’s election may not be as sexy as 2020, or as annoying for that matter, but voting is important and does affect your life and pocketbook. Or I guess we should start saying, Venmo account.

Remember when Puff Daddy threatened to kill you if you didn’t vote? Well, we’re not exactly making as bold of a threat, but whether you know it or not, these seemingly dull and not important ballot questions do have an impact on our state and how our taxpayer money is spent. Why else would shady organizations dump millions of dollars into this election? Getting informed and voting doesn’t take all that long either, and hopefully our election cheat sheet helps out.

Other than three ballot items (two propositions and one amendment), the only other election this fall is for the Durango School District 9-R School Board. As is Telegraph tradition (and for everyone’s sake), we do not endorse candidates. We did, however, have a pretty long story in last week’s issue that took a look at who’s running. If you missed it, you can still find the story online at durango telegraph.com or if you prefer print, you can go track down whoever is stealing all our papers from the Durango Post Office box and ask for an old copy.

All right, here we go. We can get through this.

1. Proposition 120, the Reduce Property Tax Rates and Retain $25 Million in TABOR Surplus Revenue Initiative The 411: Colorado’s housing prices are skyrocketing and increasingly, it’s harder for normal people to live in this beautiful state. If this comes as news to you, we want what you’re having.

Proposition 120 is being sold by its supporters as at least one way to give some financial relief to the housing crisis. But as our ole pal Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe always used to say: the devil is in the details.

Proposition 120 would lower property taxes paid by owners of multifamily housing units – including duplexes, triplexes and apartment buildings – from 7.15% to 6.5% and the non-residential property tax assessment rate (for lodging properties such as hotels) from 29% to 26.4%.

Proposition 120 would not, however, apply to singlefamily homes, which have an assessed property tax value of 7.15%.

If approved, the tax cut for these select property owners

8 n Oct. 21, 2021

would come at a cost of an estimated $50 million to the state and local governments, money that would go to fund schools, fire districts and libraries.

Proposition 120 also tacks on another stipulation, authorizing the state to keep and spend $25 million in revenue above the TABOR spending cap for five years to fund existing reimbursements to local governments for the homestead property tax exemption – a Colorado law that gives reduced property taxes to seniors and disabled veterans.

Those in favor say: The measure – though a property tax reduction only for multifamily housing and lodging owners – could help reduce rents and encourage investors to build more homes to address the state’s housing shortage. Also, lodging owners may “hire and retain more employees and potentially reduce lodging rates, attracting additional visitors,” supporters claim.

The measure is being supported by Colorado Rising State Action, a conservative advocacy organization, and Unite for Colorado, a conservative dark money group.

Those against it say: Proposition 120 would slash budgets for schools, emergency services and other essential government functions, all to give a tax break to wealthy property owners who own multiple properties or lodging businesses.

They argue single-family homeowners won’t see any financial benefits, and it’s not likely rent will go down.

The measure is opposed by Colorado Education Association, a statewide federation of teachers and education workers.

How we’re voting: No. While on face value, lowering property taxes to hopefully ease housing and rental costs sounds great (hey, we’re not rich), this measure doesn’t do it. Do we really expect landlords to lower rent if this measure passes? Common sense says it’s not likely. And, we feel the messaging of support for this measure has been terribly misleading to make voters think the tax break will help single-family homeowners, when it does not.

Also, to make matters worse, if this measure is passed,

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important services like schools and fire districts, already underfunded, will be the ones to feel the effects. Why put more stress on these entities to help landowners on the wealthier side of life?

2. Proposition 119, the Creation of Out-OfSchool Education Program and Marijuana Sales Tax Increase Initiative The 411: Fans of marijuana, listen up! Proposition 119 would increase the marijuana retail sales tax from 15% to 20% over three years in order to create the “Learning Enrichment and Academic Progress” (LEAP) program. Now that we have your attention, let’s dive a little deeper.

Proposition 119 would create an entirely new, ninemember, governor-appointed board called the “Colorado Learning Authority,” to use the money generated for LEAP to award private companies, like tutoring agencies, to offer students a range of out-of-school services.

Children ages 5-17 would be eligible for programs like tutoring, instruction in English and foreign languages, emotional and physical therapy, mental health services, special support for students with special needs, as well as music, dance and art programs.

The increased taxes on marijuana sales would raise more than $87 million for LEAP, according to estimates. Proposition 119 would also divert about $20 million from the State Land Trust, which supports funding for public schools.

Those in favor say: Proposition 119 gives kids from lower income families a chance to access tutoring and enrichment programs, as well as help students catch up academically to their more privileged peers. These needs are even more pressing, supporters say, with the education challenges brought on in the past year and a half with the pandemic. Also, with the new program and funding, more students can benefit from after-school learning activities.

The measure is supported by Learning Opportunities for Colorado’s Kids, as well as a number of Colorado elected officials from both sides of the aisle, including Gov. Jared Polis, as well as former governors Bill Owens (R) and Bill Ritter (D).

Those against it say: Proposition 119 is a “public voucher scheme” that undermines public schools and diverts money to private companies that have no accountability or oversight, and could discriminate against students based on their religion, race, sexual orientation or other factors. Opponents argue any additional funds should help existing schools, and not be spent on an entirely new government agency that sends money to private companies.

The marijuana industry, too, is against the measure, arguing you can’t just tax weed sales every time you want more funds. In the last six years, Colorado has collected more than $1.6 billion just at the state level from marijuana sales.

The measure is opposed by the Colorado Association of School Boards, Taxpayers for Education and Colorado NORML, a cannabis consumer organization.

How we’re voting: All right, here’s a likely unpopular take, but we’re going with a “No” vote. And hear us out.

Yes, saying no to funding out-of-school programs, which

are so important for children, makes us sound like tended consequences (a lot of custodial money monsters. We get it. And of course we want more is given for emergency situations and needs to money for tutoring and mental health services and be allocated quickly). Also, opponents say the all the things LEAP promises – we just don’t feel measure shifts decision-making from program like this is the right way to go about it. experts and independent commissions to a Why create a whole other bureaucratic agency messy political process. And, custodial funds (the Colorado Learning Authority Board) to evaluare already reviewed by the Joint Budget Comate, process and award funds to private companies? mittee.

Seems like a lot of wasted time and money, when The measure does not have any official opinstead, we could just invest those funds to existposition groups listed. ing school districts, which already suffer from unHow we’re voting: No. Much of the derfunding. As a state, we need to do better, money in question here is provided by the fedespecially for low-income children. But this measeral government for emergencies like wildfire ure seems to go at it in a roundabout way. disasters or public health crises. This money Also, whether you’re pro or anti marijuana, should be received and doled out as quickly as whether you inhale or don’t inhale, is it really fair possible to benefit citizens most in need. Apto go after one industry every time the state needs proving this amendment would throw those more funding? funds into the political fracas of our state Leg3. Amendment 78, the Custodial Fund islature, and then who knows when people Appropriations Initiative who need this financial assistance would actuThe 411: This initiative would transfer the ally get it? power to appropriate “custodial funds” (state revAlso, it seems like this bill was an initiative enue not generated through taxes, like federal born out of Colorado Rising State Action’s issue grants) from the state treasurer to the state Legislawith how Gov. Polis used COVID relief money, ture.

All the supplies needed to vote successfully, but hold off on the harder not any real flaw in the process.

To do it, Amendment 78 would create the “Cus- stuff until you’ve filled out your ballot./ Photo by Jonathan Romeo Vote and drink todial Fund Transparency Account,” a centralized We did it, we’re done. Go for a bike ride, or account within the Department of the Treasury, to receive ticipation and transparency in how funds are spent. forget you ever heard the term “custodial funds” with a all the funds. This would require new employees to be hired Michael Fields, executive director of Colorado Rising drink at El Rancho. Just make sure to vote by Nov. 2. to handle the process, with some estimates showing at least State Action, sponsored the initiative, and said, “I think You can either: $1 million in predicted costs.

(Amendment 78) is relevant this year because of all the • Mail your ballot back no later than Oct. 25.

Then, our elected officials in the state Legislature would COVID money the governor spent, the money he’s getting • Deliver it to a Voter Service and Polling Center have the power to determine where to spend the money in from companies to hire staff and the settlements coming • Or, the most convenient option, drop it off at any a supposedly more public process. into the AG’s office. The Legislature should be deciding number of ballot drop-off locations around the county.

Those in favor say: The governor, the attorney gen- how to spend that.”

Where drop-off locations and polling centers are located eral and unelected administrators in state agencies curThe measure is supported by Colorado Rising State Ac- can be found in the “Voter Instructions” portion of your rently spend large amounts of custodial money, often tion and Unite for Colorado. packet. The instructions also have information if you want without public input or accessible public records. Sending Those against it say: Amendment 78 adds unneces- to vote in person. And, everything you need to know about this process to the state Legislature would create public par- sary and expensive bureaucracy, and risks significant unin- the election can be found at https://bit.ly/3pezQg5. ■

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2020 Business of the Y Year ear Durango Chamber of Commerce 2020 Community/Rural Lender of the Y Year ear Colorado Small Business Administration

telegraph

—Marsha Porter-Norton La Plata County Commissioner

fswb.bank/ (970) 375-1100 | info@fswb.com 600 East 2nd Avenue, Avenue, Durango

Oct. 21, 2021 n

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DurangoUnderground

Bfast w/a side of mosh Onslaught of punk and breakfast burritos coming to ACT

by Alex Vick

A

fter a postponement in August, the punk wave is set to be served up hot and on plates this upcoming Saturday at Punk Rock Breakfast.

So, you may be asking, what exactly is Punk Rock Breakfast? Well, I worked to uncover the origin story of such an uncanny event. And in the words of one its founders, Paul “Bubba” Iudice: “It’s a horrible idea, and that’s the beauty of it.”

Bubba has been a cornerstone in the alternative music scene throughout the years, fanning the flames of rock in our sleepy little town. He now plays with local heavy-hitters Farmington Hill, which has had great success throughout the region. But Bubba didn’t always play such genre-gapping approachable tunes – he is rooted in punk.

Justthefacts What: Punk Rock Breakfast When: Sat., Oct 23, 11 a.m. - 4 p.m.

Where: Animas City Theatre, 128 E. College Tickets: $11/advance at animascitytheatre .com, AnimasTrading Co. or $15/door. Proceeds benefit The Hive and Compañeros.

It all started as a Christmas party for Ska Brewing at Storyville, a bar that shut down in August 2004, located at what’s now Taco Libre. Bubba’s memory seems hazy, from what I assume is many-a-Punk Rock Breakfasts, but I asked, “What year did this all kick off?” His immediate response, “F*** dude, I don’t remember. 2000, 2001?”

Paving the way for this now long-standing Durango tradition, Bubba recalls such local and regional bands playing such as Gina Go Faster and The Randibles. For the first few Punk Rock Breakfasts, Bubba himself played with the (now defunct band) The 13’s. And regardless of its sketchy beginnings, Punk Rock Breakfast is still rocking after 20 years of runny eggs, bad attitudes, good times and rock ’n’ roll.

“It was so cool to see your friends hung over and haggard from the night before, hanging over a plate of beans and cold eggs in their sleeping attire,” Bubba said.

On Saturday, there’s a stacked bill of amazing shredders set to take the stage.

Starting off at 11 a.m. is Acid Wrench, a local newbie on the scene, pumping out classic punk covers and slipping in some originals. Power duo Foul Tom, out of Aztec, slams out sound and catchy riffs that are sure to embed themselves in your ear.

Your Bones, a trio guided by lightning solos and thunderous drums, spans many sub-genres of rock. Illegal Aliens, a crew hailing from Santa Fe, has been making waves through the Southwest, and we are honored to have them. Closing the afternoon out is Immediate Family, which

10 n Oct. 21, 2021

Ah, the good olde days. Mishcker does some acrobatics while Lynch looks on at one of the the original PRB’s at Storyville, circa 2002./ File photo likes to snuggle friends and family into a nice comfy groove, and then slam in with driving drums and overdriven hot licks. All these righteous groups will turn your cozy Saturday morning into a time you’ll never forget, full of mosh pits, breakfast burritos, gut-busting solos and a paradoxical tradition that will continue through time as long as there is support and stoke surrounding this writer’s favorite genre, rock ’n’ roll.

Over the years, Punk Rock Breakfast has evolved by pulling in bands from outside Durango and pivoting to giving back to the community, with hopes that the town will show more support for rock ’n’ roll. In this upcoming installment of the punk-in-themorning event, all proceeds will go to two local nonprofits. The first is Compañeros, a grassroots nonprofit immigrant-rights organization that strives to serve and empower residents in the rural Southwest through community organizing, education and bilingual assistance. The second is The Hive, whose mission is to provide an inclu-

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sive, safe space for youth and the community by providing creative outlets through art, music and skateboarding.

This event will be hosted by Animas City Theatre and food will be provided by Raider Ridge Cafe. Other contributing sponsors are the Barber and the Bookcase, offering auction items; Ska Brewing, who has donated a keg of beer; and Graphic Assassin, who created the art and flyers for the event. Many other community members have put heart and soul into creating a stellar day of rockin’ tunes, perhaps too many to name here (but we thank you).

You can buy tickets in advance at Animas Trading Co. or animascitytheatre.com for 11 clams, or you can buy tickets at the door for $15. Food will be sold separately, at a cost of $7/burrito. In addition to all these offerings, there will be a silent auction to raise money for the nonprofits. So come get a steamy hot plate of punk at the Animas City Theater and support local punk rock.

Got news? Email anvick38@gmail.com

OnScreen

The sands of time Frank Herbert’s masterpiece “Dune” endures the test of time

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by john van becay

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ealpolitik manipulation of world economies? Post-colonial power mongers squeezing Third World groups for valuable resources, with a little apartheid thrown in? Ruthless over exploitation of a planet? A mega drought desiccating everything? Sound like the latest headlines? It’s all in “Dune,” published in 1965.

A young man on a remote desert planet is suddenly thrust into a death match against a brutal empire for the soul of the galactic future. Ring a bell? It’s the plot summary of “Star Wars,” which George Lucas gleefully ripped off from “Dune.”

Vast alliances forming, dissolving and reforming only to betray one another all for a precious resource without which life collapses. Sound familiar? Yep, “Dune” foresaw this, too, over 50 years ago.

“Dune,” by Frank Herbert, is generally acknowledged as the greatest sci-fi novel ever written. A cult favorite in the ‘60s, it has grown into a huge franchise prompting several attempts to capture its essence on film, “Dune,” then and now: The book cover, circa the 1960s, and the poster for the film, scheduled to hit theaters Fri., Oct. 22. with limited success. Most notably was the 1984 movie of the same name directed by fascination with messianic figures and the potential for their own David Lynch. He was so horrified at the studio’s final cut that he had his name removed from the credits. Though it mystified audi- corruption. Political power, betrayal, environmental exploitation and the savage treatment of a native population; the seductive ences and was panned by critics (despite including then-superstar power and danger of a latter-day Mahdi – such wide-ranging topSting), today the movie has assumed its own cult status. Lynch’s ics would seem enough for any book, even a classic. But Herbert “Dune” suffered from trying to squeeze the massive book of the was just getting started. same name into a single movie along with a storyline impossible By 1984, and the release of the original “Dune” movie, Herbert to follow without knowledge of the book. had achieved his own cult status, much to his dismay. “Dune” is Fast forward to 2021. Probably the most anticipated movie in partially a cautionary tale against creating savior figures as a soluyears – and delayed more than a year by COVID – the new “Dune” tion to our problems. Nevertheless, many nascent environmentaldirected by Denis Villeneuve hits theaters Oct. 22. Villeneuve wisely ists, green liberals and sci-fi fans held Herbert up as a limited this movie to the first half of the book; a sequel is planned. leader/savant, even a prophet, to his great discomfiture. However, Villeneuve and screen writers Jon Spaihts and Eric Roth updated Herbert was concerned about the environment and was instruHerbert’s work by gender switching pivotal characters and expandmental in organizing conferences to discuss ecology, the environing key roles of the Bene Gesserit, a quasi/religious society of mostly ment and how to ameliorate our impact upon the planet. women who for millenia have controlled breeding in an attempt to “Dune” is even more relevant today than it was in 1965. Rising influence the future. They manipulate politics and exhibit spooky oil prices, shrinking water resources, terrorism, climate change, a mental and physical prowess. damaged and reeling planet, greedy power plays by calloused govBut to first understand “Dune,” one must understand Spice, ernments to control valuable resources, Herbert foresaw it all. He the most coveted substance in the Empire. In Herbert’s far future, went on to write five more books in the “Dune” saga. His son it drives everything. The Bene Gesserit use the drug to enhance Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson have coauthored another 12. their psychic ability. It is essential for Guild Navigators who In the mid-1970s, I was a sci-fi fan yearning to be a sci-fi writer. guide interstellar travel at speeds faster than light. Spice extends I attended a writer’s conference in Washington State featuring life and vitality. And it is highly addictive. Great houses in this Herbert. He was affable, approachable and funny. Every particifeudal empire rise and fall based on control of Spice. In this farpant got a one-on-one with him. The encouragement Herbert flung future, it is the equivalent of oil. Of water. It is life and gave me during our conference has sustained me thru many dark power and a constant threat for those who possess it and certain hours of my writing. (FYI: Science fiction writers are some of the annihilation for those who oppose them. Spice is found on one most creative people on the planet. Not long after the conference planet only: Dune. with Herbert, I realized I simply hadn’t the chops to be one.)

Herbert famously said that power does not corrupt. It attracts Herbert addressed our group of writers several times during our those who are easily corruptible. The author begins “Dune” by weekend with him. He was from a different time and held differshowing power wielded by the powerful. He then segues to the ent views, some of which would not be P.C. today. (He liked to oppressed fighting back. The Fremen are the outcast desert joke that there is only one plotline in all of Western literature: dwellers and natives of the planet Dune. Only they understand Boy meets girl. Girl gets into pickle. Boy gets girl out of pickle. the source of Spice, thus their exploitation. Their guerilla moveBoy tries to get pickle into girl.) ment deep in the desert has fought back for generations. When Nevertheless, he was a gentle soul with a generous spirit. Herbert Paul Atreides, the heir of the House Atreides, and his mother, saw the perils we face long before others. And though he would’ve Lady Jessica, a Bene Gesserit, land in their midst after a brutal beshuddered at the label “prophet,” visionary extraordinaire would be trayal, the Fremen sense Paul is more than a young prince on the an appropriate mantle for his mind-bending talent. Frank Herbert run. The Fremen have been waiting for a Messiah. Perhaps Paul is remains one of the brightest stars in the sci-fi firmament. ■ that leader. Which peels back another layer of “Dune” – Herbert’s

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Oct. 21, 2021 n 11

StufftoDo

Thursday21

Bluegrouse plays, 5 p.m., 11th Street Station.

Cafe au Play free outdoor baby group, 10 a.m.12 p.m., 495 Florida Road (behind Christ the King church). 970-749-9607 for info.

Ignacio Friday Night Market, 5 p.m., 115 Ute St. Artist Dan Groth exhibit “An Accumulation of Events, featuring Insect Footprints.” Studio & Art Gallery, 1027 Main Ave. Exhibit thru Oct. 23.

Fruit Glean Happy Hour, 4-6 p.m., harvest excess fruit from Durango backyards, RSVP at goodfoodcollective.org.

Live music, 5:30-8:30 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.

Get the Scoop on Climate and Energy talk, featuring San Juan Citizens Alliance’s Mike Eisenfeld, 5-6 p.m. More info. at sanjuancitizens.org.

Live music, 5:30-8:30 p.m., The Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave.

SkaBQ, 5 p.m., Ska Brewing headquarters, 225 Girard

Ben Gibson plays, 6-9 p.m., Fur Trappers Steakhouse, 701 E. 2nd Ave.

St.

Deadline for “Stuff to Do” submissions is Monday at noon. To submit an item, email: calendar@durangotelegraph.com

Dustin Burley plays, 5 p.m., Fur Trappers Steakhouse, 701 E. 2nd Ave.

DJ Spark Madden plays, 7 p.m., 11th Street Station.

Sunday24 Open Mic, 1 p.m., Mancos Brewery.

Open Mic night, 4 p.m. every Sunday, Fenceline Cider, Mancos.

Live music, 5:30-8:30 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave. Live music, 5:30-8:30 p.m., Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave.

Monday25

Friday Nights at Fire Fox Farms, 6-9 p.m., 5513 CR 321, Ignacio.

Meditation and Dharma Talk, 5:30-6:15 p.m. Online at: www.durangodharmacenter.org

Live music, 5:30 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.

Saturday23

Tuesday26

Live music, 5:30-8:30 p.m., Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave.

Colorado High School Mountain Bike State Championships, Oct. 23-24, Durango Mesa. More info at durangodevo.com.

Bingo night, 5 p.m. every Tuesday, Fenceline Cider, Mancos.

Third Thursday Speaker Series with author Kase Johnstun, 6:30 p.m., Fenceline Cider in Mancos.

Durango Farmers Market, 9 a.m.-12 p.m., TBK Parking Lot, 259 W. 9th St.

Rotary Club of Durango dinner, featuring La Plata County Treasurer Allison Aichele, 6 p.m., Strater Hotel, 699 Main Ave.

Trivia night 6:30-8:30 p.m., Powerhouse Science Center, 1333 Camino Del Rio.

Rubia’s OktoberFest, 9:30 a.m., Aztec. Featuring music by Kirk James at 3 p.m.

Acoustic Music Jam, 5-7 p.m., all instruments and styles welcome, 11th St. Station.

“Native American Stories,” featuring three short plays by Fort Lewis College Theatre, 7:30 p.m., runs Oct. 21-23. More info. at durangoconcerts.com.

Drug Take Back Day, 10 a.m., drop off unused or expired prescription medication, Durango Police Station, 990 E 2nd Ave.

Wednesday27

Irish band The High Kings play, 7:30 p.m., Community Concert Hall. www.durangoconcerts.com.

Punk Rock Breakfast, 11 a.m., Animas City Theatre, 128 E. College Dr.

Beam Me Up Starlight Trivia, weekly 7:30-9:30 p.m., Starlight Lounge, 937 Main Ave.

Halloween Block Party, 12 p.m., Mill Street in Bayfield, near Bottom Shelf Brewery.

Geeks Who Drink Trivia, 8-10 p.m., The Roost, 128 E. College Dr.

Live music, 5 p.m., Fur Trappers Steakhouse, 701 E. 2nd Ave. “All Hallow’s Eve” Animas City Night Bazaar 5 p.m., North Main Avenue area.

Trivia night, 6 p.m., every Wednesday, Mancos Brewery.

Pete Giuliani plays, 12 noon-3 p.m., 11th St. Station. iAM Music Fest, early show 3:30-6 p.m. & late show 7-9:30 p.m., featuring Stillhouse Junkies and Taarka.

Durango Craft Spirits, 1120 Main Ave.

Friday22

Maddy and Kev play, 5 p.m., 11th Street Station.

Gary Walker plays, 10 a.m.-12 noon, Jean-Pierre Bakery & Restaurant, 601 Main Ave.

Jack Ellis Band plays, 6 p.m., Fur Trappers Steakhouse, 701 E. 2nd Ave.

“The Stomping Grounds” and “Something About McConkey” movie showings, 5 p.m., Ska Brewing, 225 Girard St. Fundraiser for Durango Winter Sports Club, $25 tickets. durangowintersportsclub.org

Live music, 5:30-8:30 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.

Know Your Dough fundraiser, featuring games and music, 5-8 p.m., 11th Street Station.

Live music, 5:30-8:30 p.m., Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave.

Upcoming Halloween Bike Parade and Powerhouse Science Center party, Oct. 28, parade leaves Durango Rec Center at 4 p.m., ends at Powerhouse for party and fundraiser, 1295 Camino Del Rio. Sponsored by Durango Devo.

The Hive Grand Opening, Oct. 28-31, 1150 Main Ave., featuring haunted house, dance party, live music and new skate park. More info. at thehivedgo.org.

The Rocky Horror Show by Richard O’Brien, Oct. 29-30 showings at 7 p.m. and 10 p.m., and Oct. 31 at 7 p.m., Durango Arts Center, 802 E. 2nd Ave.

REAL radio, REAL people DURANGO COMMUNITY RADIO AT FORT LEWIS COLLEGE

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91.9 93.9

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AskRachel Clean freaks on holiday, number feels & rotten eggs Interesting fact: Coconut oil’s usefulness as an antibacterial agent is one of those suburban myths that make for much less enticing storytelling than their urban counterparts.

Dear Rachel, Recently I took my first me-time getaway in years. The Airbnb in a galaxy not very far away was cute and tidy, but not clean. Not like I would have cleaned it. So, I went to the dollar store, bought some supplies and spent two days of my four-day vaca making that place sparkle.

It was the best I’ve felt in ages. But my spouse doesn’t get it. My friends don’t believe me. Is it really so crazy to enjoy scrubbing so much that I do it on holiday?

– Mrs. Clean Dear Bubbles, Yes. – Come stay at my house, Rachel Dear Rachel, I experience things in feelings. Feelings almost like colors, but not visible ones. Like numbers – 1, 4, and 7 all have a similar feel. Like they are related. 2 and 8 share a feel. 5 and 3 and 9 aren’t alike, exactly, but they feel the same in the way that everything looks the same color at dusk. I opened my trap at a quiet dinner party recently and was promptly made to

Marvel Years & Maddy O’Neal, Underlux, Omega play, Oct. 29, 9 p.m., Animas City Theatre, 128 E. College Dr. “Addams Family: The Musical,” Oct. 29-Nov. 13, presented by Durango High School Troupe 1096. Tickets at: troupe1096.weebly.com.

Three Springs Fall Fest, Oct. 30, 11 a.m.-2 p.m, featuring live music, pumpkin patch and trick or treating. 175 Mercado Street.

Secret Circus Society & DJ-Calvin, DJ Vanny Vance play, Oct. 30, 9 p.m., Animas City Theatre, 128 E. College Dr. Downtown Children’s Halloween, featuring free safe trick or treat options for kids 10 and under. At participating businesses on Main Ave., Oct. 31, 4-6 p.m.

Rotary Club of Durango dinner, featuring speaker Tim Walsworth, director of Durango Business Improvement District, Nov. 2, 6 p.m., Strater Hotel, 699 Main Ave.

feel like the village Quasimodo. I can’t be the only one to think and feel this way, can I? – Sixth Sense Dear Sick Sense, Strictly because there are billions of people on the planet, I doubt you are the only one to think and feel this way. That’s what gets me through my dark and lonely times, when I think no one could be as miserable as me. Pure mathematical odds are that someone out there is actually exactly like me. Which makes me feel normal, and then makes me feel unoriginal. So thank you for giving me reason to say, next time I feel down about being milquetoast, “Hey, at least I don’t feel numbers.”

– Seven ate nine, Rachel Dear Rachel, I have come to a life-altering realization: I do not need to wash all my dishes. If they’re dirty, yes. But take my frying pan. I cook eggs in coconut oil every morning. The pan always has remnant coconut oil, which solidifies when the pan cools. I no longer wash that oil out every day.

I’ll heat the pan again tomorrow, kill anything that might have grown in there despite coconut oil being antimicrobial, and cook my eggs. I’ll wash the pan every three or four days, so I’m not a barbarian. It’s saved me so much time and stress. Now I just need you to convince my wife.

– Egghead

Email Rachel at telegraph@durangotelegraph.com Dear Green Eggs, My gut response is to gag up every breakfast I’ve ever eaten. But then I think of cast iron, and how people spend generations “seasoning it.” I’ve never had cast iron. But I gather this is a process wherein you never actually wash a pan beyond wiping it out with a paper towel. So I recommend switching over to Team Cast Iron. Or switching your wife out for that cleaning vacation lady, once she’s done with my place.

– I do not like them, Rachel

Friends of the San Juans fundraiser, featuring the film “Stoke the Fire.” Nov. 4, 5:30 p.m. & 8 p.m. showings, Durango Arts Center, 802 E 2nd Ave. So The Thing That Happened Was…, one woman show, Nov. 5-6, showings at 7 p.m. & 8:30 p.m., Merely Players Underground, 789 Tech Center Dr. Friends of the Library Book Sale, Nov. 5-6, 10 a.m. – 3 p.m., Durango Public Library. All proceeds benefit Durango Public Library.

GA-20 and JD Simo play, Nov. 6, 8 p.m., Animas City Theatre, 128 E. College Dr. All Together Now, cabaret show, Nov. 12-13 at 7 p.m. & Nov. 14 at 2 p.m., Merely Players Underground, 789 Tech Center Dr. Tickets go on sale Nov. 3.

The Movement, Denm & Vana Liya play, Nov. 7, 8 p.m., Animas City Theatre, 128 E. College Dr.

Deadline to submit items for “Stuff to Do” is Monday at noon.

E-mail your stuff to: calendar@durangotelegraph.com

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Oct. 21 , 2021 n 13

FreeWillAstrology

by Rob Brezsny ARIES (March 21-April 19): Even the wisest among us are susceptible to being fascinated by our emotional pain.

Even those of us who do a lot of inner work may be captivated and entranced by frustrations and vexations and irritants. Our knotty problems make us interesting, even attractive! They shape our self-image. No wonder we are sometimes “intensely, even passionately, attached to suffering,” in the words of author Fyodor Dostoevsky. That’s the bad news. The good news, Aries, is that in the coming weeks, you will have extra power to divest yourself of sadness and distress and anxiety that you no longer need. I recommend you choose a few outmoded sources of unhappiness and enact a ritual to purge them.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): In Norway, you don’t call your romantic partner “boyfriend” or “girlfriend.”

You say kjaereste, which is gender neutral and is translated as “dearest.” In Sweden, you refer to your lover as älskling, meaning “my beloved one.” How about Finland? One term the Finns use for the person they love is kulta, which means gold. I hope you’ll be inspired by these words to experiment with new nicknames and titles for the allies you care for. It’s a favorable time to reinvent the images you project onto each other. I hope you will refine your assumptions about each other and upgrade your hopes for each other. Be playful and have fun as you enhance your empathy.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): The band Creedence Clearwater Revival, led by Gemini musician John Fogerty, achieved tremendous success with their rollicking sound and socially conscious lyrics. They sold 33 million records worldwide. In 1970, they were the best-selling band on the planet, exceeding even the Beatles. And yet, the band endured for just over four years. I foresee the possibility of a comparable phenomenon in your life during the coming months. Something that may not last forever will ultimately generate potent, long-term benefits. What might it be? Meditate on the possibility.

Be alert for its coming. Create the conditions necessary for it to thrive.

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CANCER (June 21-July 22): Cancerian philosopher JeanJacques Rousseau wrote, “I am unlike anyone I have ever met. I will even venture to say that I am like no one in the whole world. I may be no better, but at least I am different.” I urge you to make that your own affirmation in the coming weeks. It’s high time to boldly claim how utterly unique you are – to be full of reasonable pride about the fact that you have special quali-

ties that no one in history has ever had.

Bonus: The cosmos is also granting you permission to brag more than usual about your humility and sensitivity, as well as about your other fine qualities.

been attending to this transformative work in the past few weeks, Scorpio. Ready to be born again? Ready to begin anew? To achieve maximum renaissance, get rid of a few more things.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Nigerian poet Ijeoma Umebinyuo writes, “I will always want myself. Always. Darling, I wrote myself a love poem two nights ago. I am a woman who grows flowers between her teeth. I dance myself out of pain. This wanting of myself gets stronger with age. I host myself to myself.

I am whole.” I recommend you adopt Umebinyuo’s attitude as you upgrade your relationship with yourself during the coming weeks. It’s time for you to pledge to give yourself everything you wish a lover would offer you. You’re ready to claim more of your birthright as an ingenious, diligent self-nurturer.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22Dec. 21): “I haven’t had enough sleep for years,” author Franz Kafka (1883–1924) confessed to a friend in 1913. I think it showed in his work, which was brilliant but gaunt and haunted. He wrote the kinds of stories that would be written by a person who was not only sleep-deprived but dream-deprived. The anxiety he might have purged from his system through sleep instead spilled out into the writing he did in waking life. Anyway, I’m hoping you will make Kafka your anti-role model as you catch up on all the sleep you’ve missed out on. The coming weeks will be a fantastic time to fall in love with the odd, unpredictable, regenerative stories that well up from your subconscious depths while you’re lying in bed at night.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): As author David Brooks reminds us, “Exposure to genius has the power to expand your consciousness. If you spend a lot of time with genius, your mind will end up bigger and broader than if you spend your time only with run-of-the-mill stuff.” I hope this strategy will be at the top of your priority list during the next four weeks. You will have abundant opportunities to put a lot of “excellent stuff into your brain,” as Brooks suggests. Uncoincidentally, you are also likely to be a rich source of inspiration and illumination yourself. I suspect people will recognize – even more than they usually do – that being around you will make them smarter.

I suggest you help them realize that fact.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Self-help author James Clear describes a scenario I urge you to keep in mind. He speaks of “a stonecutter hammering away at his rock, perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it.

Yet at the hundred and first blow, it will split in two.” Clear adds that “it was not that last blow that did it – but all that had gone before.” You’ll thrive by cultivating that same patience and determination in the coming weeks, Libra. Proceed with dogged certainty that your sustained small efforts will eventually yield potent results.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Nobel Prize-winning poet Odysseus Elytis was speaking like a consummate Scorpio when he said, “What I love is always being born. What I love is beginning always.” Like most Scorpios, he knew an essential secret about how to ensure he could enjoy that intense rhythm: He had to be skilled in the art of metaphorical death. How else could he be born again and again? Every time he rose up anew into the world like a beginner, it was because he had shed old ideas, past obsessions and worn-out tricks. I trust you’ve

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CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): “The reason life works at all is that not everyone in your tribe is nuts on the same day,” writes author Anne Lamott. I will add that on rare occasions, virtually everyone in your tribe is functioning at high levels of competency and confidence and compassion. According to my analysis, now is one of those times. That’s why I encourage you to take extraordinary measures to marshal your tribe’s creative, constructive efforts. I really believe that together you can collaborate to generate wonders and marvels that aren’t normally achievable. Group synergy is potentially at a peak – and will be fully activated if you help lead the way.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): I believe your plan for the rest of 2021 should borrow from the mini-manifesto that Aquarian author Virginia Woolf formulated at age 51: “I will go on adventuring, changing, opening my mind and my eyes, refusing to be stamped and stereotyped. The thing is to free one’s self: to let it find its dimensions, not be impeded.” Does that sound like fun, Aquarius? It should be – although it may require you to overcome temptations to retreat into excess comfort and inertia.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): “Anyone who isn’t embarrassed of who they were last year probably isn’t learning enough,” writes author and philosopher Alain de Botton. That’s too extreme for my taste. But I agree with the gist of his comment. If we are not constantly outgrowing who we are, we are not sufficiently alert and alive. Luckily for you, Pisces, you are now in a phase of rapid ripening. The cosmos is conspiring to help you learn how to become a more vibrant and authentic version of yourself.

classifieds

Deadline for Telegraph classified ads is Tuesday at noon.

Ads are a bargain at 10 cents a character with a $5 minimum. Even better, ads can now be placed online: durangotelegraph.com. Prepayment is required via cash, credit card or check.

(Sorry, no refunds or substitutions.)

Ads can be submitted via: n www.durangotelegraph.com n classifieds@durango telegraph.com n 970-259-0133 n 679 E. 2nd Ave., #E2 Approximate office hours: Mon: 9ish - 5ish Tues: 9ish - 5ish Wed: 9ish - 3ish Thurs: On delivery Fri: Gone fishing; call first

Announcements The Perfect Gift for your favorite dirtbag. Literature from Durango’s own Benighted Publications. The Desert, The Climbing Zine, The Great American Dirtbags, American Climber, Climbing Out of Bed and Graduating From College Me are available at: Maria’s Bookshop, Pine Needle Mountaineering, the Sky Store, or on the interweb at www.climbingzine.com.

riods of time and lift up to 50lbs. Please send a resume and a copy of your MED badge to jesse@durangogreenery.com to apply.

Classes/Workshops Spanish Classes Now accepting students for in-person beginner thru advanced Spanish. Call 970-309-5966 or visit espanolahora.net

ForSale Reruns Home Furnishings Lots of vintage furniture, Brody midcentury barstools, Bassett side table, good selection of tables and beautiful lamps, kitchenwares and lots more … Come in today! 572 E. 6th Ave. Open Mon.-Sat. 385-7336.

Wanted Help Wanted Big Brothers Big Sisters of Durango is seeking a Program Specialist This part time 20 hrs. to full time position is responsible for providing program support in response to all inquiries; conducting volunteer and child enrollment and matching; providing ongoing match support and reporting, to ensure child safety, positive impacts for youth, satisfying relationships between children, parents and volunteer mentors, and adhering to Big Brother Big Sisters one-toone child advocacy standards. Must be software proficient. Candidate will be required to drive to local schools and have a valid driver’s license. Position reports to the Executive Director. Non-Profit background not required, a passion to help kids is. Must have a clean driving record and pass a background check. Wages are $17.00/hr health stipend and a mileage reimbursement. Bachelor’s degree required. BBBS is an EOE. Email resume to paul@bbig.org Cultivation Assistant – The Greenery Valid MED Badge required, but no experience necessary. Come join one of Colorado’s fasted growing (pun intended) industries! $14 per hour to start with plenty of room for growth, paid vacation and sick leave available, along with an HRA and wonderful employee discounts.

Must be able to stand/sit for extended pe-

Cash for Vehicles, Copper, Alum, Etc. at RJ Metal Recycle. Also free appliance and other metal drop off. 970-259-3494.

Massage by Meg Bush LMT, 30, 60 & 90 min., 970-759-0199.

HaikuMovieReview ‘Duff’ Sure, you’ll see it all coming but who doesn’t love a feel good ending

massageintervention.life Voted best massage in Durango 18/19/20. Couples, cupping, local CBD. Reviews on FB + Yelp. 970-903-2984

– Lainie Maxson

CommunityService In-Person GED and ESL Classes Nov. 1 The Adult Education Center in Durango and Cortez kicks off in-person winter GED (high school equivalent) and English as a Second Language (ESL) classes. All classes are free and begin Nov. 1. On-site child care for evening classes.

Registration is required and runs thru Oct. 28. Visit www.durangoadulted.org or call 970.385.4354 for more information.

SJBPH Vaccine Clinics Free vaccine mobile clinic provided by San Juan Basin Public Health. Walk-ins welcome. Contact 970-247-5702 or visit https://sjbpublichealth.org/covid-19-vaccine/ for more information. SJBPH is also hosting a winter clothing and blanket drive in October. Items should be clean, washed and in good condition. More information can be found by visiting SJBPH’s website at sjbpublichhealth.org.

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Services Drew Gunn Personal Trainer Endurance, strength, and mobility training for all ability levels. Specializing in training for trail running and mountain sports. ACSM certified. Contact drewgunntraining@gmail.com Friendly Carpentry and Painting Stucco repair, 707-806-3456.

Harmony Cleaning and Organizing Residential, offices, commercial and vacation rentals, 970-403-6192.

Lowest Prices on Storage!

Inside/outside storage near Durango and Bayfield. 10-x-20, $130. Outside spots: $65, with discounts available. RJ Mini Storage. 970-259-3494.

Body Work Lotus Path Healing Arts Now accepting new clients. Offering a unique, intuitive fusion of Esalen massage, deep tissue & Acutonics, 24 years of experience. To schedule call Kathryn, 970-201-3373.

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