Happy birthday Pedro and Liggett
elegraph thedurango
FREE Oct. 3, 2019
Vol. XVIII, No. 40 durangotelegraph.com
inside
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
Smoke signals
Down the fox hole
Tofu curious?
S.J. Basin Health tackles vaping epidemic locally p8
Purple Fox brings big city art experience to Mancos p14
Bacon provides perfect training wheels for veggie newbs p16
A perfect
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(Issue 10 is here.) Wherever you find the Telegraph or at www.gulchmag.com. To find out about advertising opportunities, email: steve@gulchmag.com 2 n Oct. 3, 2019
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lineup
8
4 La Vida Local
Up in smoke San Juan Basin tackles teen vaping with public presentation
4 Thumbin’ It
by Tracy Chamberlin
5 Word on the Street
11
6-7 Soapbox
Home grown
10 Murder Ink
Slow Money announces first micro-loan for local farmer by Missy Votel
Ear to the ground: “They’re fake bangs. I call them fangs.” – Local woman discussing the latest advancement in hair-extension technology
Miley does Powell
thepole
RegularOccurrences
If you were traipsing through the desert last week, perhaps you were lucky enough (or unlucky, depending on your taste) to catch a glimpse of none other than Miley Cyrus. The former Disney “It” girl came in like a wrecking ball to the Southwest, according to her Instagram posts. As best we could discern, (though not fond of clothes, Miley is at least a responsible geo-tagger, or more likely trying to dodge the paparazzi) daily highlights included: hiking in Zion National Park; exploring (and draping herself all over) Antelope Canyon; sea kayaking on Lake Powell; and cavorting by the pool.
12-13 Day in the Life
12
16 Flash in the Pan
Going for gold
17 Top Shelf
Taking in fall’s splendor on Missionary Ridge photos by Stephen Eginoire
18 On the Town
14
20 Ask Rachel
Foxy ladies
21 Free Will Astrology
Mancos artists present immersive Purple Fox Conundrum
22 Classifieds
by Zach Hively
22 Haiku Movie Review
17
On the cover: The skeletal remains of aspen stand out as a beautiful but ghostly reminder of the Missionary Ridge Fire this week./ Photo by Stephen Eginoire
Townie hoedown Plus ... Floydheads and gathering of the clans
by Chris Aaland
boilerplate
EDITORIALISTA: Missy Votel (missy@durangotelegraph.com) ADVERTISING AFICIONADO: Lainie Maxson (lainie@durangotelegraph.com) RESIDENT FORMULA ONE FAN: Tracy Chamberlin (tracy@durangotelegraph.com)
T
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: Lainie Maxson, Chris Aaland, Clint Reid, Stephen Eginoire, Jesse Anderson, Ari LeVaux, Tracy Chamberlin, Zach Hively, Shan Wells and Jeffrey Mannix VIRTUAL ADDRESS: www.durangotelegraph.com
MAILING ADDRESS: P.O. Box 332 Durango, CO 81302 PHONE: 970.259.0133 E-MAIL: telegraph@durangotelegraph.com
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distributed in the finest and most discerning locations throughout the greater Durango area. 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.
telegraph
While twerking her way across the desert, Miley was joined by her mom and sister. They made Utah’s exclusive Amangiri Resort, about 10 miles northwest of Page as the crow flies, home base. “Love it there,” commented none other than Justin Bieber, one of Miley’s nearly 1 billion followers, of the secluded luxury resort where rooms go for about $3,000. Other amenities include private fire pits, reflective pool, yoga pavilion and gourmet meals that resemble delicate edible works of art. (Which may explain why some followers urged the scantily clad star to eat a burrito.) Guess you could say it was the best of both worlds.
Disenchanted A mountain biker in Golden isn’t taking what he or she sees as unfair trail persecution sitting down. According to a story in Adventure Journal, officials in Jefferson County posted warning signs on the popular Enchanted Forest this summer reading: “Cyclists, are you prepared to stop? This is not a downhill course. Expect to see hikers, dogs, or wildlife.” Of course, as any trail user knows, trail etiquette is a two- and sometimes three- or fourway street. One clever cyclist fought back, posting nearly identical signs: “Dog walkers, are you prepared to carry that bag of poo all the way back to your car?” and “Runners and hikers, are you paying any attention to the world around you? This is not a concert venue. Take your headphones out and pay attention.” Local trail user Chris Le Schieffer, who mountain bikes, hikes and runs, saw the signs and posted them to her Facebook. “At first I thought, ‘wow, Jeffco really went nuts with signs,” she told AJ. “Then I thought, those are way too sarcastic for a government agency.” But it was the fake phone number and the signature on the bottom, “Jefferson Airplane Fan Club,” that really gave it away. Alas, the rogue signs have been taken down, but perhaps the conversation is only getting started. “We should be concerned about simply having common courtesy and trail etiquette while we’re all out there for the same reason,” she said.
Oct. 3, 2019 n
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opinion
LaVidaLocal Lavender fields forever I for one am fascinated by the ever-evolving dynamics of gender identity. Being a human being is quite unlike being an NFL fan – it is possible for one person to encompass aspects of male and female and everything in between, whereas it is not feasible to like both the Broncos and the Raiders in the same lifetime. Sure, I get confused by the proper grammar behind they/them/their as an individual’s pronouns. (Do they prefer a singular verb, for instance, or doesn’t they?) But I have also learned to explore the expression of my own inner being with curiosity and openness. I, like Whitman, contain multitudes. Perhaps I can also embrace the divine feminine and the divine genderless and the divine all-gender too, no matter where I grow hair on my body. These were fun thought experiments. Then I went to a lavender farm and realized, nope, I’m just a guy. Now I am not saying that flowers are inherently not-guy things. I’m just saying that lavender is inherently a not-guy thing. Other flowers are more fluid. Take roses. A ticking time-bomb of a rose rests at the center of Beauty and the Beast, a princess movie targeted directly at the mothers who need Disney to watch their children for an hour and a half. But roses are also the emblem of the Rose Bowl, an annual sporting event participated in by dozens of 18- to 23-year-old males. And have you smelled the locker room at the Rose Bowl? I haven’t either, but it would likely benefit from some actual roses. At least that’s what non-guys might advise. Guys have largely had their olfactory nerves singed to the nubs by their own bedrooms and other EPA-regulated environments. The only times we intentionally isolate and utilize our sniffers is to take a whiff of something certain to be foul, like an expired jug of milk or an unidentified substance that our dogs rolled in. We don’t sit around and have candlesmelling parties, and we don’t buy essential oils, and we are careful only to use the word “aromatherapy” sardonically. Yet my sisters and I took my mother to a lavender farm for a landmark birthday celebration. I like the color purple. In my explorations of self, I
even acquired a purple T-shirt. I’m also fond of violet. The lavender farm, however, carried the pale-purple motif to an extreme that would make Sesame Street muppets say, “You know what else starts with the letter P? Pump the brakes, please.” But it’s not the color that’s so not-guy about the lavender farm. And it’s not the farm part, even though, in lieu of tractors, they had golf carts. I don’t know what it is. So I took it upon myself to study the people at this farm as an anthropologist. All the people who did not present themselves as guys floated through the ground in a gentle, euphoric high. And us guys – sons and husbands, all resigned to our tethered fates – resisted making eye contact or conversation with each other. In this way, it was a lot like standing at the public urinal, only with a pervasive smell we found mildly offensive. We guys get accustomed to smells, like septic seepage and armpit odor, and we stop noticing them. But lavender’s scent is like a car alarm at 3 a.m. We can’t tune it out. It crests on us in waves. Even in the café, where we think we can finally get a bite to eat, every item is baked or steeped in lavender. This was too much. The non-guys lingered over their lavender scones and their lavender teas and made no signs of ever going home again. And the guys? The guys all cracked. I could see it. Two guys at a nearby table fidgeted with their cameras, clutching tenderly to some shred of technology made of metal and plastic, eager to go shoot some rocks or carcasses or anything but more lavender more lavender more lavender. And the man at the other table, buried under his impotence in this situation, burst out so loudly in the middle of his conversation that the entire patio heard him exclaim, “Cuban anal!” Then he quietly returned to his meaningless existence. As far as I know, us guys all made it out alive. And no one has heard from the non-guys in weeks. They are probably still there, roaming the fields, clipping their own sprigs, dining on cake and testing every lotion sampler in a 3-mile radius. And I am left to contemplate my multitudinous. Can I truly embrace the diversity of my existence if I cannot stand lavender? I don’t know, but it’s a good question for my aromatherapist.
This Week’s Sign of the Downfall:
Thumbin’It
4 n Oct. 3, 2019
– Zach Hively
Welcome economic news after a dismal 2018, with strong August sales tax numbers for Durango for the second month in a row
Taxpayers getting stuck with the bill for the fiery truck crash clean-up on Highway 550 near Cascade after the trucking company went AWOL
Hope that marijuana businesses can actually open legit bank accounts like any other business, with the U.S. House passing the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) banking act
The sound of ATVS and side-by-sides coming to a remote national park near you soon, with the Park Service announcing the vehicles will now be allowed on back roads on Utah’s five national parks, including Zion, Canyonlands, Arches, Bryce and Capitol Reef
Four Corners Slow Money helping to bolster local food security and create economic opportunities by offering its first zero interest loan to help small local farmers
A possible setback for the chances of new presidential leadership in 2020, with Democratic contender Bernie Sanders undergoing emergency heart surgery this week
telegraph
Nothing Burger Rick Wiles, a Floridian TV host for a Christian show called “Tru News,” claims that the new “meatless” burgers at fast food restaurants are a “Lucifarian plot” to alter human DNA, because eating the burgers will turn us into non-humans that aren’t allowed in heaven. Wiles, who also claimed Rachel Maddow tried to decapitate Donald Trump, and that democrats would slaughter Christians in the streets after winning the midterms, is a self-proclaimed “endtimes” journalist, which is ironic, because he’s a walking sign of our downfall.
WordontheStreet
Q
With the Apple Days Festival this Sunday, the Telegraph asked, “What are you bobbing for?” Annie McGraw
“For my husband, Bob.”
Fran Hecht
“Gold is $1,500/ounce, so gold nuggets.”
John Robinette
“Happiness.”
Mary Kirwin
“I would rather bob for pears.”
Wendy Aspinall
“Chocolate.”
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Oct. 3, 2019 n 5
SoapBox
ReTooned/by Shan Wells
The heroes of the 50 other fires To the editor: Thanks to the Sept. 26 Telegraph, I learned there were 50 fires put out by those lads in the little railroad carts over the increasingly drought-stricken weeks leading up to the 416 Fire. And it struck me that we have a bunch of unsung heroes who probably never got a communal fist pump or high five, though day after day they rolled into that tinder box and put out fire after fire. I want to commend those railroad employees who obviously reported every fire and were apparently ordered back out until they failed. Still, 50 times in a row, no more than two at once, they came through! That seems exceptional to me, especially with their primitive tools and comparative squirt gun. Is it possible their heroic efforts were purposely hushed up? Is it possible these workers were used, abused and discarded, if not blamed? Where are they today? I would like them to know how much I appreciate their dedication and efforts. I don’t think it would be proper to blame them at all. – Philippe LeFevre, Durango
Preserve Durango’s uniqueness To the editor, Over the past year, citizens throughout our town worked to develop an application to have Durango certified as a Colorado Creative District, as defined by Colorado Creative Industries and the Colorado State Office of Economic Development and International Trade. Though a mouthful, the Durango Creative District effort was developed through communitywide, grassroots efforts through over 40 meetings, 686 individual engage-
6 n Oct. 3, 2019
ments and online surveys, led by Local First and community volunteers. Recently, Durango submitted its application to certify
telegraph
the Durango Creative District. The question is: “Why is this important for Durango?” Many things make Durango unique, including our4
culture, music, shops, galleries, food, beer, artists, writers, poets, crafts people, students, teachers, entrepreneurs and our creators of all kinds. All make this an amazing place to live and visit. The Creative District is not just about art. It encompasses different industries such as culinary arts, trails, galleries, museums, manufacturing, performance venues, hotels and anything that is made or produced here locally, whether by hand or in the mind. With population growth comes the potential for a community to lose its identity. By becoming a Colorado designated Creative District, our uniqueness is preserved, our creativity is promoted and a place for creativity to grow is protected. To learn more, attend a Creative Connection Hour held every other month. The next one is Wed., Dec. 4 at the Durango Arts Center, from 5-7 p.m. Learn about and celebrate our creative economy with your support. – Charles Leslie, Creative District Steering Committee, Durango
Skipping vaccines is a risk to us all To the editor, According to the Centers for Disease Control, Colorado has the lowest immunization rates of kindergartners for measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) at 87.2 percent. This statistic is important because as an airborne virus, measles has a high contagion rate. Measles causes a rash, fever, sore and watery eyes, and can lead to death in the most vulnerable community members. Recent research (Science News 6/8/2019) has shown that the measles virus attacks the immune system and wipes clean its memory of past infections. This puts patients at risk for fatal infections for months after recovering from the measles. Due to the high infectivity rate of measles, the CDC estimates that at least 93 percent of the population be vaccinated to keep measles from spreading. Lower levels allow the disease to spread. One reason for our low vaccination rate is that Col-
orado allows people to opt out of vaccinations for medical, religious and personal reasons. Some parents are concerned about the safety and side effects of the vaccines even though these concerns have been fully evaluated and the benefits of vaccines far outweigh any risks. These parents chose personal reasons to refuse immunizations for their children despite physicians’ best efforts to provide vaccine information and support. Measles epidemics are a public health hazard as the state of California learned the hard way after an extended outbreak. Now California only allows medical reasons to opt out of immunizations. I support a similar change in Colorado’s public health laws to protect all its citizens. – Dr. Joan A. MacEachen, Durango
‘Elks vs e-bikes?’ Really? To the editor, And just how exactly do e-bikes degrade our wildlands and wildlife? Maybe they make lots of noise? Have a several 100- to 1,000-pound footprint? Have aggressive 618”-wide treads? Can reach speeds over 50mph? Have high torque and horsepower? Or perhaps pollute like ORVs (off-road vehicles such as motorcycles, side by sides, ATVs) which are expected to reach $24 billion in annual sales by 2024? NOT!! Colorado Backcountry Hunters & Anglers should focus instead on supporting more roadless designated habitat like the Colorado Wilderness Act (HR2546) and nonmotorized designation if they honestly want to support wildlands and wildlife. – Tim Thomas, Durango
Stay off the moki steps To the editor, I am writing in regards to the “Gaining a Foothold” segment by Stephen Eginoire. I write as an archaeologist who has been studying this culture and hiking southeast
telegraph
Utah for over 30 years. This segment is sending a very bad message to people, especially ones new to the area. Climbing on moki steps should never be encouraged as it’s very similar to touching rock art, where the oils on our skin will slowly erode them and/or turn them black. Not to mention, it can be very dangerous. Many routes are eroded and one can get stuck very easily. With the increased visitation these places are seeing, the last thing we need is more people thinking this kind of behavior is OK. Educating people on how to visit respectfully, which means refraining from climbing on moki steps, is the only way these places stand a chance. – Aaron O’Brien, Durango
Reduce and refuse to use plastic
To the editor, It’s fairly clear we will always have plastic in today’s world. But maybe we should be asking ourselves how badly we need that single-use bag or container. The visible trash and invisible micro plastics are a detriment the health of all the planet’s inhabitants. This isn’t a partisan issue – it’s a multicultural and worldwide problem that isn’t going away easily. We might want to consider REFUSING plastic. Consider that North City Market uses 15,000 bags per day!! Just one store! Just one day! Next time you shop, can you take reusable bags? There are even free ones available at North City Market made from old T-shirts. (We would love to expand this program. If you can help contact columbine.sb@gmail.com). In addition to refusing single-use bags, we need to refuse products packaged in plastic. Ultimately corporations must take responsibility for reduced and smart packaging. However, we can influence this through our purchasing power and grassroots demands. This isn’t going to be easy but we can do it – for your future generations of inhabitants. – For the planet, Sarah Musil Burris, Durango
Oct. 3, 2019 n 7
LocalNews
As of Sept. 27, the CDC confirmed 805 lung-injury cases related to vaping or ecigarettes in 46 states and one U.S. territory. So far, 12 people have died.
Smoke signals Local health officials to discuss dangers of vaping, e-cigarette use by Tracy Chamberlin
T
he first one came less than two months ago in Illinois. “We are saddened to hear of the first death related to the outbreak of severe lung disease in those who use e-cigarette or ‘vaping’ devices,” Robert Redfield, director for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in an official statement Aug. 23. “Vaping exposes users to many different substances for which we have little information – including flavorings, nicotine, cannabinoids and solvents.” Since that first confirmed case, the CDC, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, state and local health departments, and other clinical and public health officials have launched a multi-state investigation into the outbreak. So far, the lung illnesses have not been connected to any specific vaping or e-cigarette product or manufacturer. In some cases, the patients have used nicotineonly products, while others have used ones containing THC, or Tetrahydrocannabinol, the active ingredient in marijuana, or CBD, cannabidiol, marijuana’s non-psychoactive ingredient. In other situations, the patients have said they’ve used more than one. The data compiled by federal authorities, and available on the Centers for Dis-
8 n Oct. 3, 2019
JusttheFacts What: “Speak Now & Start the Conversation” interactive workshop When: Thurs., Oct. 3, 5:30-7:30 p.m. Where: Animas High School To register: email amombourquette@ sjbpublichealth.org or visit https://tinyurl.com/y5sgs58b ease Control’s website, shows only one common thread – all of the patients have used some type of e-cigarette product or vaped. An e-cigarette or vape pen works by heating a liquid and producing an aerosol that users can inhale, according to the CDC. Part of the reason for the increased popularity of these products in recent years was that users felt they could get the nicotine from tobacco without some of the harsher chemicals usually found in cigarettes. And, for many smokers, it has been touted as a way to quit smoking. Similarly, in states where marijuana has been legalized for medicinal or recreational use, like Colorado, it’s been an effective way to get the benefits of THC or CBDs without all the smoke. The concept of heating liquid substances into vapor is a technique that can be traced back to ancient times. The modern vape pen or e-cigarette, however, didn’t hit the marketplace until 2007. It is
a relatively new innovation with little data on potential impacts to human health. “Part of the challenge is these products are not well-regulated,” Claire Ninde, director of communications for San Juan Basin Public Health, said. “There is so much uncertainty, we feel everyone should be cautionary.” As of Sept. 27, the CDC had confirmed 805 lung-injury cases related to vaping products or e-cigarettes across 46 states and one U.S. territory. Twelve people have died – two in California and Kansas, and one each in Illinois, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri and Oregon. “The specific chemical exposure causing lung injuries associated with e-cigarette product use, or vaping, remains unknown at this time,” according to the CDC, and “no single product or substance has been linked to all lung injury cases.” Not all information is available, but for the 771 patients the CDC has collected data on, all of the patients have been under the age of 35. Although most are over 21, 16 percent are under the age of 18. Tapping down on teen use Before the recent outbreak even started making national headlines, authorities in Colorado were already concerned with the increase in vaping and e-cigarette 4
telegraph
By the Numbers: Vaping-related illness in Colorado • Number of cases: 9 • Number of deaths: 0 • Average age of patients: 25 • Gender: 7 males, 2 females • Counties where the illness was reported: 4 in Denver; 2 in Boulder; and one each in Arapahoe, Jefferson and Weld counties. So far, there have been no reported cases in La Plata County. • Patients hospitalized: 7 • Substances vaped: 3 vaped marijuanaonly products; 3 vaped nicotine-only products; 2 vaped both nicotine and marijuana products; and one is listed as unknown Source: As of Oct. 2, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment • For details or to keep up with the latest updates, call San Juan Basin Public Health at 247-5702 or check out their Facebook page. • Get the latest from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment at www.colorado.gov/pacific/cdphe/vapinglung-illness. • For CDC news and updates, check out www.cdc.gov/tobacco/basic_information/e-cig arettes/severe-lung-disease.html
use among youth. “Vaping has replaced cigarettes as a way for underaged youth to use nicotine,” Dr. Larry Wolk, executive director and chief medical officer of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, said in a July press release. “Too many of our young people don’t realize the health risks involved.” Annie Mombourquette, substance-use prevention coordinator for San Juan Basin Public Health, explained that’s why San Juan Basin has been partnering with schools in the area for years to host events on how to address teen use of tobacco products and other substances. She said when parents get involved, it makes a difference – regardless of whether it’s an e-cigarette, alcohol, marijuana, opioid or any other substance. They plan to host an interactive workshop on how to talk to kids about vaping, JUUL products and other electronic nicotine devices on Thurs., Oct. 3, from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at Animas High School. “If youths can go to parents to talk about difficult topics, they are less likely to use substances,” Mombourquette explained. According to the Healthy Kids Colorado survey – which samples more than 50,000 students in grades 6-12 every two years – the use of e-cigarettes is second only to alcohol with 44 percent of those surveyed saying they’d tried e-cigarettes at least once in their lives. For those in Colorado currently using tobacco products, 14 percent say they prefer something other than ecigarettes, like traditional cigarettes, chewing tobacco or cigars. But 27 percent admitted they favor e-cigarettes – which is twice the national average. “Teens and young adults are targeted by e-cigarette companies,” Mombourquette said in an email. “We see this in the flavors (banned in combustible tobacco), in sponsorships of celebrities and youth-focused events, and allegedly in marketing of the products online and through social media.”
Talking to teens about vaping Key points to remember: • When talking to kids, remember to listen, consider their opinions and stay calm and nonjudgmental • Answer questions honestly and, if you don’t know the answers, help your kids find reliable ones • Have more than one conversation. If you see someone vaping or hear a story about it on the news, take the opportunity to talk about the issue • Set clear boundaries at home, discuss the rules at school and the consequences of breaking those rules • Remind your kids that not everyone is doing it. In fact, according to studies, most teens are not. Source: San Juan Basin Public Health Mombourquette said she has been in touch with area businesses who sell vaping and e-cigarette products, and most are interested in reducing the access of products to kids. Several states and cities have recently raised the minimum age for buying nicotine products, like e-cigarettes, to 21 years old. Just this week, the Denver City Council became the latest to join in. Others communities have decided to ban flavored va-
AUTUMN
ping and e-cigarette products, something that’s also been discussed at the national level. In addition, law enforcement officials have been stepping up their campaigns to address illegal sales. “We don’t have answers because they still have not determined what is making people sick,” Mombourquette said. “It is a very new product, and we don’t have long term data. Right now, it’s probably a good idea to not use those products.” n
2019
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970-749-0888
telegraph
Oct. 3, 2019 n
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MurderInk
The thin blue line
‘Stolen Things’ a fascinating foray into real-life police corruption and cover-ups by Jeffrey Mannix
I
t’s always exciting to come across a debut novelist with a quality book to show for all the anxiety and waves of incredulity that go into such an audacious act of actually writing a book. Writing a book – especially a book of fiction that depends on making up a long story with believable characters and a beginning, middle and end – is at once cathartic and terrifying. Like the standup comic “whose monstrous ego is matched only by the abject conviction that he stinks,” writing for others has the specter of always being a step away from ignominious failure. And the freshman novelist must be rhapsodized if she can illuminate a path through a dark sky that was a moment before nothing. R.H. Herron offers up such a beacon in Stolen Things, published valiantly by the Dutton imprint of Penguin Random House in August. We follow the frenzied panic of a veteran 911 dispatcher when she hears her teen-aged daughter begging for help on the other end of an emergency call. After 20 years on the job, Laurie Ahmadi had heard every conceivable life crisis, counseling victims to keep them alive, giving instructions to deliver babies, stop bleeding, hide
from drunken husbands after Super Bowls and diagnose drug overdoses, and comforted mothers of lost children. Nothing surprised Laurie until hearing the hysterical voice of her disoriented, insensible daughter on the phone just before her shift ended – “Mama? Help me.” An adrenaline junky and a veteran of crisis management, Laurie ignores her chest pain and goes to work. She teases out that Jojo, her daughter, is on a mattress in a pitch-black room, barely able to coordinate her body enough to fish out her mobile phone from her back pocket to make the call. You can imagine the panic in dispatch, then the police department. Laurie coaches her delirious daughter into turning on her phone’s location services and badgers her to talk about how she got to where she was and what she knows about where she is while the radio signals cross-reference her phone’s approximate GPS coordinates. “Turn on the phone’s flashlight for me, OK? While you’re doing that, I’m sending a bunch of guys in your direction, and they’re driving as fast as they can. You tell me when you hear a siren, all right? Listen for me, baby.” Laurie takes off in search of her daughter as the police become uncharacteristically clumsy in efforts to find the daughter of one of their own. What’s going on? Something isn’t right. Instinct is making an appearance. Trust in the system takes flight.
Laurie tears out of the parking garage in pursuit of the phone signal. She finds Jojo in a vacant apartment. She’s been mauled sexually and doesn’t remember how she ended up at the home of Kevin Leeds, Laurie’s friend and a pro football player known for his work with Citizens Against Police Brutality. Kevin isn’t there. Jojo swears he didn’t do this to her. There’s a dead man in the closet, and none of the swat boys seem to want to interview the damaged teen as they send out APBs on big Kevin. This could be a career maker for cops if Kevin, a black man, is found guilty or if he resists arrest with the slightest argument. You see where this is going? The police badge is protection from the same vigorous scrutiny the badge indulges others in, and what Laurie discovers is a sex trafficking sideshow behind the thin blue line. Stolen Things is fashioned from a true story author Herron, a former dispatcher herself, followed when she was first learning the trade. It burned a hole in her and finally forced her, 20 years later, to write about it knowing she would lose all her friends and put herself at risk over a mostly made-up narrative. And here it is; the story must have poured from her, and she was up to the challenge of writing well. Having the badge is power, and absolute power corrupts absolutely, except when it doesn’t. It’s like Russian roulette, absolutely predictable if it’s played recurrently. This book needs to be widely read. It’s an exhilarating ride as well as an experience of unexamined hierarchies and woebegone oversight. Stolen Things is in paperback at Maria’s Bookshop, with a 15 percent discount if you mention “Murder Ink.” It’s the cost of a hamburger and you will have made a healthier investment in your future. n
c i ture p a y . u .. B
it lasts longer. Some of the amazing photos you see in the Telegraph are now available to purchase online, in digital or print. (*for personal enjoyment and use only.) To find out more, go to durangotelegraph.com and click on “buy photos.”
10 n Oct. 3, 2019
telegraph
LocalNews
Slow Money for area farmers takes off by Missy Votel
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here’s nothing slow about the Four Corners Slow Money movement. After officially setting down roots in March 2019, the group is ready to fund its first local farmer. On Sun., Oct. 6, the group will host its inaugural Potluck and Farmer Pitchfest at Manna Soup Kitchen, from 4 – 7 p.m. During that time, members, each of whom have voting privileges, will hear a pitch from local farmer Linley Dixon, of Adobe House Farms, who is asking for $3,000 to fund a new greenhouse. If members vote yes, Dixon will receive a 0 percent interest loan to help pay for the project. Payments on that loan will go back into the Slow Money pot. The hope is to have another pitchfest next February, making it a bi-annual event. Former local restaurateur and member of Four Corners Slow Money, Linda Illsley, said the micro-loans offer hope to small, local farms. “Through the 14 years I was in business, I watched farmers quit and leave farming all together. I often asked them why and ... the common trend was that it was too expensive, they could not pay the bills and had no hope of ever owning land,” she said. In addition to helping grow opportunities for local farmers, the goal of this event is also to raise awareness of the Slow Money mission, strengthen ties among the farm community and celebrate the local food system. The Slow Money movement is built around local groups, which catalyze local food investing in a variety of ways, including: peerto-peer lending; public meetings; pitch fests; and on-farm events. Local Slow Money groups are organized as informal networks and/or investment clubs, with 27 groups globally that have invested $73 million in 752 food enterprises. Illsley and others in the Slow Money movement feel investing in small, organic farms is especially important now, given climate change, decreasing soil fertility and increased acidification of the oceans, all of which is exacerbated by large agribusiness. “It does not matter how much money there is, if we continue to invest irrespectful of how much we are hurting the environment, we will reach a point where we will not be able to produce food,” she said. Four Corners Slow Money's goal is to build a robust local food economy by giving community farmers, growers and local food enterprises a leg up in the Four Corners region, which includes southwest Colorado, northwest New Mexico, southeast Utah and northeast Arizona. To join, members must make a donation to the club ($250/year or $150/year for grower/food entrepreneur). The money is then put into a pot that makes 0 percent loans to farmers.
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Linley Dixon, of Adobe House Farm, holds a pint of sungold tomatoes. Dixon is the first local farmer to apply for a zero percent micro-loan through Four Corners Slow Money. She is asking for $3,000 to build a greenhouse that will help extend her season./File photo
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According to the group, loan-ees are selected based on his or her potential to make the greatest positive impact on the local food economy as well as a set of ethics. As of August, there were 14 members who had contributed close to $5,000 for the loans. The group is overseen by a steering committee, which recommends farmers applications for loan approval. Folks interested in seeing what Slow Money is all about can attend the event on Sunday or go to www.fourcornersslow money.org. n
CU workshop ‘Demystifies Entrepreneurship’ by Missy Votel
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eed help launching your big idea, or even just distilling it down from several big ideas? Next week, Telluride Venture Accelerator and The University of Colorado-Boulder will host their second annual “Demystifying Entrepreneurship” workshop in Norwood, on Oct. 11-12. According to organizer Margaret Hedderman, the event is a great way for any business to learn the “entrepreneurial way of thinking.” “It is a great refresher to recharge innovation and find new growth for existing businesses, while providing the perfect primer for new businesses that are navigating their way through starting up,” she said. The workshop starts with an intro session and reception from 5:30 – 8 p.m. Fri.,
Oct. 11, at the Livery in Norwood. It continues for a full day on Sat., Oct. 12, at the Norwood Public Library. Topics include: risk v. reward, funding your dream, standing out in the market; and creating customer value. The workshop is made possible through Startup Colorado, a CU-based program that helps rural entrepreneurs and communities tap into the resources they need to thrive. The program is based out of CUBoulder’s Silicon Flatirons, a center for innovation that aims to serve students, entrepreneurs, policymakers and professionals at the intersection of law, policy and technology. The program is a targeted effort to help grow the state’s rural economies. The event will be facilitated by Erick Mueller, executive director of CU’s Deming Center for Entrepreneurship. “We’re
thrilled to bring CU’s expertise to the Southwest Colorado region and the surrounding communities to elevate entrepreneurship and innovation and help drive economic vitality and increased quality of life,” Mueller said. Telluride Venture Accelerator Director Ashley Nager understands the value of hosting such an event and making it available to entrepreneurs in the region. “The health and growth of small businesses is vital to our economic vitality, and we are excited to offer this content and information to the entrepreneurialminded folks in our region,” she said. Cost for the workshop is $50 which includes three meals, and some scholarships are available as well as special lodging rates. Registration and information is available on the Demystifying Entrepreneurship page on www.eventbrite.com. n
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True Colors by Stephen Eginoire
ose who love the colors of au- a picnic, and enjoy the blissful pigmentation of local or the books. This week may leaves sans chlorophyll. Here’s a look from above the Anab a loved one, make yourself imas Valley on Missionary Ridge.
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Oct. 3, 2019 n 13
thesecondsection Erin Bohm, as Wildest Purple Fox, spotted just outside the Wilding Exit Portal near Mancos./Courtesy photo
Going down the fox hole Purple Fox Conundrum develops pop-up immersive art journey in Mancos by Zach Hively
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ho among us hasn’t dreamed of slipping off down the rabbit hole, or through the wardrobe? This weekend offers the next-best chance to enter the land of the surreal, the mystical and the magical, when the Purple Fox Conundrum opens its doors – er, portals – for two days of immersive outdoor theater and art near Mancos. “Magical realism is alive and well,” Sarah Syverson, executive producer of the Purple Fox Conundrum, said. “We are creating a one-of-a-kind, pop-up performance and art installation through the fields and forests of the Mancos Valley. Think Meow Wolf meets wilderness and whimsy.” The Purple Fox Conundrum is honestly impossible to explain fully in words. It’s an experiential adventure along a roughly 1-mile trail with several live-action vignettes and various pieces of artwork, all installed in open-air settings in sight of Mesa Verde. The fourwoman production team (Syverson, Margaret Paradise, Liz Bohm and Kellie Pettyjohn) brought together 25 local performers and artists to construct the journey, which lasts about an hour and a half. Visitors – or Intrepid Travelers, as the Purple Fox crew calls them – will venture through the installation in groups of 15 leaving at pre-set departure times. (Yes, that means you’re bound to get to know strangers on your journey, unless you wrangle an entire group of friends and fam.) Along the way, they’ll meet iterations of the eponymous purple fox and a rabbit, as well as
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JusttheFacts What: Purple Fox Conundrum Where: Sacred Song Farm, 6982 Road 41, Mancos When: 3-8 p.m., Sat., Oct. 5, departure every 10 mins. Tickets: $20 adults, $10 kids under 12. Buy in advance at purplefoxconundrum.com/tickets other characters. These include Terr and Oir, the French food critics; Siri the Cell Phone Preacher; and DJ Faux dropping some open-air beats. Every group will get a slightly distinct performance, too, because the travelers are not separated from the performances. “I love breaking that fourth wall and bringing our fellow human beings into that playful interaction,” Syverson said. “There’s a basic structure, they’re sketched out collaboratively, and a lot of the performers involved in the vignettes have an improv background.” In addition to the performers (whose costumes are themselves works of art), large-scale art is installed throughout the journey. Syverson doesn’t want to give too much away, which is why the Purple Fox social media pages are offering more stripteases than previews. But she does hint at such exhibits as a “shifting perspective piece,” the Church of the Cell Phone, and the “DJ lounge portal potty area.” Because the Purple Fox Conundrum is such a nontraditional experience, there are a few things that visitors should anticipate. As stated, the experience takes place over a one-mile trail with uneven terrain, and it
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does take place entirely outdoors, so travelers are encouraged to dress appropriately for light hiking and shifting weather. There are places and times to take a seat approximately every other vignette. And after ducking through the exit portal, they’ll find a tent with food and nonalcoholic drinks for sale – the perfect opportunity for everyone to talk about the experience with each other. Because unlike your more blasé films at the cinema, this trip will leave you wanting nothing more than to talk about and process it with your fellow travelers. Speaking of conversations, all of the art – visual and performance alike – works in conversation with the land. Syverson described how they allowed natural features in the land, from natural clearings to wooded areas and breathtaking vistas, to shape the walking trail and the vignettes. Furthermore, the Conundrum is taking place on Sacred Song Farm, which is a working ranch with heritage sheep and cattle. So the crew couldn’t come in and decimate the land to accommodate the pop-up show. Not that they’d want to anyway. A subtle storyline weaves together the entire Purple Fox experience, represented in the evolution of the purple fox sightings. “It is about moving from a synthetic, technological world into a more simple world, a more vast and wild world,” Syverson explained. “There’s this really great question, that is not necessarily answered, around how do you meld nature, wildness and vastness with technology? That’s the world that we live in, and I have a sense of joy for both those things.” 4
That’s an important thread throughout the Conundrum. The show isn’t telling you how you ought to live your life. It’s not declaring TECHNOLOGY BAD. It is, though, asking us questions about the lives we wish to lead, and the lives we’re actually leading. And Syverson is the first to acknowledge that the Purple Fox Conundrum could not exist without technology. Cell phones and Zoom calls have enabled all the artists and directors and performers to collaborate more effectively, she said – and the fact that cell phones die quickly at the ranch helps her keep everything in perspective. This is perhaps the first installation of its kind to take place in Southwest Colorado, and the creative team took a huge chunk of inspiration from the Southwest’s most famous immersive art experience. Meow Wolf’s House of Eternal Return in Santa Fe has redefined conversations around what art means, how people can experience it and how artists can collaborate. It’s also a bit of a mushroom trip, where every conceivable surface is integrated with art and the senses get precious few chances to pause and process. “All that was inspiring,” said Syverson, who is no stranger to art – she stages her own one-woman shows and co-produces the “Raven Narratives” live storytelling events. “Yet it felt closed-in and urban. I wondered, what would it be like to do immersive theater, similar to this, but outside? On agricultural and wildlands with the whimsy that we could cultivate, but also this vastness and quietness?” Enter the myth of the purple fox. It’s the Mancos Valley’s version of Nessie or Sasquatch. A legendary creature, the pur-
Top Left: Terr (Nathan Brown) and Oir (Michael Jordan), French food critics, argue over the beauty of both synthetic and natural foods. Top right: The Purple Fox Production Team, from left: Margaret Paradise, Sarah Syverson, Liz Bohm and Kellie Pettyjohn./ Courtesy photos ple fox is elusive, yet has a distinct and undeniable presence in the area. People swear they’ve seen it. Creative director Margaret Paradise, who runs Sacred Song Farm with her family, reports she’s spotted the fox on her land. The creative team circled around the idea of the purple fox being central to this experience. The fox enters into all these worlds – the perfect creature to bring to-
gether the wild and vast with the manmade and technological. The elusive character also plays a central role in many shapes, from the “Techno Fox” to the “Wilding” and “Whimsical” foxes. Plus, there’s something undeniably playful about the fox, purple or no. And play is really what the Purple Fox Conundrum is all about, from the production team and the artists all the way down to
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every last Intrepid Traveler. “As adults, we get so serious and so focused on our bills that we need to pay and the car that needs fixed and the family members who are sick,” Syverson said. “Sometimes we lose track. We see little kids and think, oh, look at them play. They’re so free in that. So this is an opportunity for adults – and kids, but for adults especially – to feel a sense of freedom and play.” n
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FlashinthePan
Tofu curious by Ari LeVaux
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wo miles from the Las Vegas Strip is the city’s Chinatown district. Unlike the labyrinthine Chinatowns of San Francisco or New York, this neighborhood consists of a laser-straight section of Spring Mountain Road, lined on both sides with double-decker strip malls, roughly half the flashing neon signage on Earth, and an overwhelming diversity of Asian food. The options include familiar themes like noodles, seafood or hot pot, but also an array of niche delicacies served in quirky eateries like Kapit Bahay Filipino Fast Food, Namu Shabu Bar, Spicy Crawfish, Spicy City and, my favorite, Mr. Tofu. My introduction to tofu came when, as a young idealist, I decided to be a vegetarian in order to save the animals. My dad made me eat “bean curd,” as he called it, so I wouldn’t wither away from protein loss. Thanks partly to bean curd, I didn’t last very long as a vegetarian. And thanks to experiences like mine, tofu has a reputation of being the bland epitome of the supposedly unsatisfying nature of vegetarian dishes in general. The playbook for cooking tofu is that it is a blank slate that will conform to its surroundings. But the downside of this chameleon-like adaptability is that if tofu is cooked with a lackluster stir-fry and left among a mess of overcooked veggies, it will taste like a lackluster mess. But if you cook it with a rich sauce, your opinion might change. And if you cook it with a slice of bacon, you may well learn to love it. Asian cooks don’t necessarily look at tofu as a meat substitute, so it’s totally normal to cook tofu and meat in the same dish. Mr. Tofu, which closed in 2006, specialized in a Korean dish called sundubu jjigae, a spicy soup built around blinding white chunks of silken tofu, aka sundubu, with choice of pork, chicken, beef or seafood, and with a half-cooked egg on top. Silken tofu has a delicate, flan-like texture, so cooks
usually add it when a dish is nearly complete, or it will disintegrate. This makes it difficult to follow the firm tofu playbook – namely, cook it long enough that it absorbs the flavors around it – with silken tofu. But the game is the same. Instead of cutting the tofu into pieces and stirring them into the dish, simply add a whole chunk of tofu to the finished product, and use it like a condiment. As you spoon the sauce and whatnot into your mouth, make sure to include a bit of tofu. As such, it functions like a serving of plain rice or noodles that assumes the flavor of a curry when you mix them together and eat. In sundubu jjigae, the pillowy chunks of tofu gleam in the red broth, and fall apart deliciously in your mouth as you chew it with the soup. I would tell you how to make it, but this column is for the tofu-curious, and that’s an expert-level dish. Instead, let’s get our feet wet by adding a block of tofu, or part of one, to a pot of instant ramen. If you want to invoke the history and flavors of sundubu jjigae, try to find a packet of Nongshim ramen, which comes in several spicy flavors. You can find it in any Asian store and some American supermarkets, too. Meanwhile, pick up a box of silken tofu. To make a cheater’s sundubu jjigae, follow the directions on the package. After adding the noodles and flavor packets, add half a block of sundubu, and perhaps an egg, to the simmering pot. Whatever you try, you should be guided by the fact that silken tofu is about as fragile as a raw egg. But unlike an egg it doesn’t get any more solid as it cooks. Without a soup to help support its mass, a hunk at the mercy of gravity is all the more delicate. Add the silken tofu last, so it can do its falling apart while you eat it. And serve it with a sauce that is strong enough to make you seek the occasional refuge in its forgiving, lily white embrace. And whenever possible, serve it with bacon. Here is a recipe for tofu with broccoli and squash in a Chinese-style sauce. Like Las Vegas’ Chinatown, this recipe has flavors from other Asian cuisines.
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Given that tofu absorbs the flavors around it, cooking with bacon is a no-brainer. It’s not vegetarian, of course. But at the same time, it’s a way to stretch a single slice of bacon into a tasty, protein-rich meal. Seriously, vegetarians, you know you want to; just one slice of bacon, and it will be the best tofu you ever tried. That said, you are welcome to skip the bacon. This recipe calls for broccoli, but any seasonal vegetable works, including cauliflower, summer squash and winter squash. Tofu with Broccoli and Bacon in “Chinese” Sauce Serves 2 1 block silken tofu, kept in the package until the last minute for its own protection 1 tablespoon cooking oil 1 slice bacon, preferably thick (if skipping bacon, substitute an additional tablespoon of cooking oil) 1 broccoli crown, broken into florets, stems sliced 1 tablespoon sesame oil 1 clove garlic, smashed 1 garlic clove-sized piece of ginger, sliced 2 tablespoons oyster sauce 2 teaspoons fish sauce 1-2 tablespoons soy sauce, to taste ½ teaspoon black pepper Chop the bacon crosswise into ½-inch pieces, and put them in the center of a frying pan, so all the pieces lie flat. Open a block of silken tofu and carefully place it atop the bacon pieces, and set the pan to medium. Add the cooking oil. As the bacon sizzles below the tofu, add the broccoli stem slices around the block of tofu, and let them start to cook. After five minutes, flip the stem slices and add the broccoli crowns around the tofu, along with 2 tablespoons of water. Cover, and cook for another 5 minutes so the broccoli steams. If the bacon starts to overcook, gently flip or roll the tofu so you can stir the bacon underneath it. Continue to cook around the tofu, while you treat the blinding white block like a Faberge egg. Remove the lid. The broccoli should be bright green, rather than overcooked Army green. Clear a space in the pan next to the tofu, and add the sesame oil, garlic and ginger. When you smell the garlic cook, about 2 minutes, add the fish sauce and oyster sauce. Stir this fragrant puddle of garlic, ginger and sauces, and stir the bacon and broccoli through the sauce. Season with soy sauce and black pepper. Make sure each serving, and each bite, contains a little bit of tofu. n
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Townies, Floydheads and gathering of the clans by Chris Aaland
Monday or at KSUT.org in advance. They’ll also appear live at a KSUT Session at 2:06 p.m. Monday. ld friends are something we can all use more of. Musically SFTRB is the brainchild of Grammy-winning bassist and songspeaking, this week is filled with many of them. Town writer Charles Humphrey III. Humphrey, whose other passions Mountain returns to Durango in the latest KSUT concert. include fishing and long-distance trail running, was a longtime Per the band’s request, they’ll play a dance show at the Wild member of Steep Canyon Rangers, a group he officially left in Horse Saloon at 7:30 p.m. Saturday. Most of Town Mountain’s January 2018. (Ironically, former Town Mountain bassist Garrett past Durango performances have been to seated audiences at the Smith replaced Humphrey in SCR.) Steep Canyon’s music Strater or Durango Arts Center. The Asheville, N.C.-based quintet changed in recent years, eschewing the hard-driving bluegrass has always had one foot in the honky tonk, though, with a rauthey’d played for nearly two decades in favor of a poppier Americous hybrid of classic country, bluegrass and rock and roll. This cana sound. But the handwriting was on the wall. past Monday, they opened a Humphrey was simply three-act bill at Red Rocks churning out one great song that included Robert Earl after another and needed a veKeen and Tyler Childers. hicle for them. Kindred spirits On its sixth studio album, Mark Schimick (mandolin, vo“New Freedom Blues,” the cals), Sam Wharton (guitar) band has shared the wealth a and James Schlender (fiddle) bit more in terms of songwritbecame Humphrey’s core ing and lead vocal turns. Sure, bandmates. Robert Greer’s voice is among The Community Concert the most powerful in blueHall presents its annual Jazz grass, drawing comparisons to on the Hill fundraiser at 5:30 George Jones. But mandolin p.m. Saturday when vocalist player Phil Barker, one of the Joyce Lyons performs. Her rich most acclaimed songwriters alto has been compared to Diin the genre, offers a distinct anne Reeves and Oleta Adams. stylistic counterpoint. Banjo Reeves tackles everything player Jesse Langlais has even from classic Broadway to the assumed more lead vocal asTown Mountain returns to Durango at 7:30 p.m. Saturday when Great American Songbook and signments in recent years, hard-swinging jazz. Lyons will they play the Wild Horse Saloon. and some of his tunes are be accompanied by the Phil among the highlights on “New Freedom Blues.” Even longtimeAaron Trio. The evening starts with hors d’ouvres and libations at fan-cum-country-star Tyler Childers shares vocals on the album’s 5:30, followed by dinner and the show (7 p.m.) closing track, “Down Low.” The Animas City Theatre throws a reggae party at 9 p.m. FriSaturday’s gig is a homecoming of sorts for Town Mountain. day, with Telluride’s Niceness and our own Afrobeatniks Greer has told me that Durango was one of the first regular Westspearheading a two-band regional lineup. ern gigs the band could count on in the early years. They even What does KDUR mean to you? Show your love by pledging name-check our burg in “Comin’ Back to You” on their “Southduring KDUR’s Fall Membership Drive, which runs from Friern Crescent” record. Many locals have become some of the day to Friday, Oct. 4-11. band’s most ardent supporters and fastest friends. One of them, “It means a lot of different things to a lot of us,” station manKDUR honcho Bryant Liggett, will celebrate his 50th birthday at ager Bryant Liggett said. “Memories, great music, local informathe show. Rumor has it cake will even be served. Tickets are availtion, locking a DJ out of the studio when you’re with Dave able at KSUT.org, but are selling quickly. Any remaining tickets Thibodeau to spin a bunch of punk rock.” The latter, of course, is will be available at the door. a personal jab at the Ska skipper and me. We famously barricaded Celebrate the music of two of rock’s greatest bands, the Grateourselves in the KDUR studios one morning in the summer of ful Dead and Pink Floyd, when Dead Floyd rolls back into the 1991 when Thibodeau’s ex flaked out and missed her show. We Animas City Theatre at 10 p.m. Saturday. The extensive catalogs managed to serenade Durango listeners with our favorites from of both groups are mashed together into a high-energy, unpreThe Police, Metallica and a Boulder buddy of Thibodeau’s who dictable show. Everything from early rarities to radio mega-hits performed as Dave Rave & His Male Slave, singing lo-fi punk odes are included, leaving fans to ask “What next?” after every tune. about animal cruelty. Yet I digress. Thibodeau and I both support Based out of Fort Collins, they formed in 2009 and have consisKDUR because we appreciate everything Liggy mentions – the tently been voted as one of the top tribute bands in Colorado. tunes, the dirt and, of course, the chances the station has given Dead Floyd’s members are well versed in jazz, funk and rock. hundreds of locals to share their musical favorites with the The nice thing about Saturday’s stellar lineup in town is that masses. Call 247-7262 or visit KDUR.org to make a pledge. fans can warm up with Town Mountain at 7:30 p.m., then move Finally, the Aztec Highland Games & Celtic Festival across the street to rock out with Dead Floyd at the ACT at 10. brings a taste of the Scottish Highlands to the Southwest on SatHippies unite! urday and Sunday at Riverside Park in Aztec. The weekend feaAnother Asheville-area group, Songs from the Road Band, tures Celtic athletic competitions, Highland dance contests, will play the Wild Horse at 7:30 p.m. Monday in another KSUT bagpipe exhibitions, live Celtic music, vendors and Clan tents. affair. This one was a last-minute addition to the group’s radio Where else can you eat authentic haggis and fry bread on the tour of the state in which they are doing in-studio appearances at same day? Denver’s Stubby Sillelaghs headline the event. For public radio stations that are favorable to bluegrass, including sports fans, heavy Celtic competitions like the caber toss and KSUT. A stop in Ignacio means they’ll be lodged in Durango Braemer stones are the highlights. overnight. They’ve agreed to play a fundraiser that night at one I don’t know where ye been, but I see ye won first prize? Email me at of the same venues they graced last spring during the Durango chrisa@gobrainstorm.net. n Bluegrass Meltdown. Tickets are cheap – just $10 at the door
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onthetown Submit “On the Town” items by Monday at noon to: calendar@durangotelegraph.com
Thursday03
Community Acoustic Music Jam, 7 p.m., Pine River Library in Bayfield.
Durango Cowboy Poetry Gathering, Oct. 3-6, headquarters at Henry Strater Hotel, 699 Main Ave. www.durangocowboypoetrygathering.org.
Open Mic & Stand-Up, 8 p.m., El Rancho Tavern, 975 Main Ave.
“The Humans” by Stephen Karam, presented by Merely Players, opening night 7 p.m., show also runs Oct. 5, 10-12, and 2 p.m., Oct. 13, Durango Arts Center, 802 E. 2nd Ave. www.durangoarts.org. Joel Racheff performs, 7 p.m., The Office, 699 Main.
Baby Meetup with Durango Café au Play, 9:30-11:30 a.m., 2307 Columbine. 749-9607.
Karaoke, 8 p.m., Wild Horse Saloon, 601 E. 2nd Ave.
State Ballot Issues Forum and Vision 2020 Presentation, sponsored by League of Women Voters and Colorado Fiscal Institute, 11:45 a.m.-1:15 p.m., Durango Public Library. 387-3380.
Plursday featuring DJ Zirk, 9 p.m., Starlight Lounge, 937 Main Ave.
22nd annual Manhattan Short Film Festival, 7 p.m., Sunflower Theatre in Cortez. www.manhattan short.com.
Friday04
The Badly Bent performs, 7-9 p.m., Durango Craft Spirits Tasting Room, 1120 Main Ave., Suite 2.
Durango Early Bird Toastmasters, 7-8:30 a.m., LPEA, 45 Stewart St. 769-7615.
Drop-in Tennis, 4 p.m., Durango High School, 2390 Main Ave.
Free yoga, 8:30-9:30 a.m., Lively Boutique, 809 Main Ave.
22nd annual Manhattan Short Film Festival, 4 and 7 p.m., Animas City Theatre, 128 E. College Dr.; event also runs 7 p.m., Oct. 4, Sunflower Theatre in Cortez. www.manhattanshort.com.
Zumba Gold, 9:30-10:15 a.m., La Plata Senior Center, 2424 Main Ave.
Karaoke, 7 p.m.-close, VFW, 1550 Main Ave. Reggae Party featuring Niceness and special guest Afrobeatniks, 9 p.m., Animas City Theatre, 128 College Dr. www.animascitytheatre.com.
Saturday05
Thursday Afternoon Social Club for veterans, their spouses and supporters, 4-6 p.m., VFW, 1550 Main.
Cowboy Poetry Train, 10 a.m., Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad. www.durangotrain.com.
Aztec Highland Games & Celtic Festival, Oct. 5-6, Aztec. aztechighlandgames.com.
Fruit Glean Happy Hour, hosted by Good Food Collective, 5-7 p.m., meet at Smiley Building, 1309 E. 3rd Ave. info@goodfoodcollective.org.
STEAM Lab: Lego Club, 3:30-4:30 p.m., Durango Public Library.
Leah Orlikowksi performs, 5-8 p.m., Ska Brewing, 225 Girard St.
Spanish Speaking Parents & Littles Fridays, 4-6 p.m., Durango Café au Play, 1309 E. 3rd Ave., Room 201. durangocafeauplay.org.
31st annual Durango Cowboy Gathering Parade, chuckwagon breakfast 7:30 a.m., live music 9:30 a.m., parade 10 a.m., Main Avenue. www.durangocowboy gathering.org.
Adam Swanson performs, 5:30 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.
“Skyhorse Saddles,” a collection of Western belt buckles and bolo ties, with live music from Almeda Bradshaw, opening 5-7 p.m., Toh-Atin Gallery, 145 W. 9th St.
Snowdown Kick-Off Party, featuring 2020 poster unveiling and volunteer sign up, 5:30 p.m., The Roost, 128 E. College Dr. www.snowdown.org.
5th annual ELHI Harvest Festival, featuring games, carriage rides, live music and more, 5-8 p.m., ELHI Community Center in Ignacio. 563-4600.
Sitting Meditation, 5:30-6:15 p.m., Durango Dharma Center, 1800 E. 3rd Ave.
Adam Swanson performs, 5:30 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.
Open Mic Night, 6 p.m., Eno Wine Bar, 723 E. 2nd Ave.
Community Art Show Artist Reception, 5:30 p.m., Pine River Library in Bayfield.
The Black Velvet Duo performs, 6 p.m., Oct. 3, Dalton Ranch.
Thrive! Shindig at Manna’s, featuring music from Leah Orlikowski, auction and more, 5:30-8 p.m., Manna Soup Kitchen, 1100 Avenida del Sol. www.thrivelaplata.org.
“Reinventing Power” screening, hosted by San Juan Citizens Alliance, 6-8 p.m., Durango Public Library. Gary B. Walker performs, 6:30-8:30 p.m., Jean-Pierre Restaurant & Wine Bar, 601 Main Ave.
Live music, 6-9 p.m., DJ Hakan 9 p.m.-close, Starlight Lounge, 937 Main Ave.
Trivia Night, 6:30-8:30 p.m., Powerhouse Science Center, 1333 Camino del Rio.
4CORE’s Solar Barn Stomp and Solar Home Tour, featuring music from Tim Sullivan Band, live auction and more, 6-9:30 p.m., event also runs 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Oct. 5, solar barn on Sun Mesa Lane. 259-1916.
Jose Villarreal performs, 7 p.m., The Office, 699 Main Ave.
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Journey of Hope 5K Run/Walk, fundraiser for prevention and treatment of breast cancer, registration 8 a.m., race begins 9 a.m., Mercy Regional Breast Care Center, Three Springs. 764-6000. Durango Farmers Market, featuring Kitchen Jam Band, 9 a.m.-noon, TBK Bank parking lot, W. 8th Street. www.durangofarmersmarket.com. Drop-in Tennis, 9 a.m., Durango High School, 2390 Main Ave. River Cleanup, hosted by 5 Rivers Trout Unlimited and Artemis, 9 a.m.-noon, Rotary Park. ski3pin@yahoo.com. Apple Days Community Harvest Day, 9 a.m.12:30 p.m., and 1-4:30 p.m., meet at Buckley Park. info@goodfoodcollective.org. Henry Stoy performs, 10 a.m.-1 p.m., Jean-Pierre Restaurant & Wine Bar, 601 Main Ave. VFW Indoor Flea Market, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., 1550 Main. American Association of University Women’s annual Fall Luncheon, 11 a.m., Doubletree Hotel, 501 Camino del Rio. durango-co.aauw.net.4
Purple Fox Conundrum, 3-8 p.m., Sacred Song Ranch, Mancos. www.purplefoxconundrum.com Cowboy Gathering Poster Session, 4:40-6:30 p.m., Toh-Atin Gallery, 145 W. 9th St. Adam Swanson performs, 5:30 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave. Jazz on the Hill, featuring Joyce Lyons with the Phil Aaron Trio, a fundraiser for the Russ & Bette Serzen Endowment Fund, 5:30 p.m., Community Concert Hall at Fort Lewis College. www.durangoconcerts.com. Bob Hemenger performs, 6-10 p.m., Seven Rivers Restaurant at Sky Ute Casino Resort in Ignacio. Jaylee Cole performs, 6:30-8:30 p.m., Hermosa Coffee Roasters, 738 Main Ave. The Black Velvet Trio performs, 7 p.m., Derailed Pour House, 725 Main Ave. Andrew Schuhmann performs, 7 p.m., The Office, 699 Main Ave. Star Party at Mesa Verde, 7:30-9:30 p.m., Morefield Campground, Mesa Verde National Park. www.facebook.com/mesaverdenps/. Comedy Cocktail Open Mic Stand Up, 8 p.m., Eno Wine Bar, 723 E. 2nd Ave. DJ Side Affex, 9 p.m.-close, Starlight Lounge, 937 Main Ave. Dead Floyd, 10 p.m., Animas City Theatre, 128 E. College Drive. www.animascitytheatre.com.
Sunday06 Durango Flea Market, 8:30 a.m., La Plata County Fairgrounds. Veterans Breakfast, 9-11 a.m., Elks Club, 901 E. 2nd Ave. 946-4831. Henry Stoy, 10 a.m.-1 p.m., Jean-Pierre Restaurant & Wine Bar, 601 Main Ave. Blessing the Animals and Pet Expo, (on leash please), 10 a.m.-2 p.m., Rotary Park. 11th annual Apple Days Festival, 11 a.m.-4 p.m., Buckley Park. info@goodfoodcollective.org. Free Books, hosted by Durango Book Rescue, noon-4 p.m., 923 Narrow Gauge Ave. Traditional Irish Music Jam, 12:30-4 p.m., Irish Embassy, 900 Main Ave. Writers’ Workshop, 2 p.m., Ignacio Community Library. Four Corners Slow Money Potluck and Pitchfest, fundraiser for Four Corners Slow Money, 4-7 p.m., Manna, 1100 Avenida del Sol. info@fourcornersslowmoney.org.
When life gives you apples: 11th annual Apple Days this Sunday What: The 11th annual Apple Days Festival When: Sun., Oct. 6, 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. Where: Buckley Park It’s time to roll out the apple barrel and celebrate the region’s apple abundance, while feeding the community, reducing waste and saving the bears. This Sunday, the Good Food Collective and Fenceline Cider are partnering up to present the 11th annual Apple Days Festival in Buckley Park. The daylong event takes place from 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. and features apple pressing, live music, local food, pie-eating contest (apple, of course) and family-friendly activities. This year will also include a craft cider tasting hosted by Mancos’ Fenceline Cider, featuring hard cider microbrews from near and far. For your cider-sipping pleasure, music will be proBlue Moon Ramblers, 5:30 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave. Open Mic Night, 6:30-8:30 p.m., Hermosa Coffee Roasters, 738 Main Ave. Joel Racheff performs, 7 p.m., The Office, 699 Main Ave.
Monday07
vided by Stillwater Music bands as well as local bluegrass purveyors High Country Hustle. In advance of the mass pressing on Sunday, the Good Food Collective will host a community apple harvest of backyard trees and orchards on Saturday. The apples collected will be pressed into juice at the Apple Fest, which will be available to buy for a suggested donation. All proceeds from juice sales go to support the Good Food Collective. Volunteers are still needed to help press and pour apple juice and for other duties. To roll up your sleeves (and get some free juice) go to: https://forms.gle/27HrAvkFwTor23zN8. Apple Days is a free event thanks to the main sponsorship of the Ore House as well as several other local businesses and organizations.
Rotary Club of Durango, presentation from Durango Police Chief Bob Brammer, 6 p.m., Henry Strater Hotel, 699 Main Ave. 385-7899. Adult Board Game Night, 6-8 p.m., Durango Library. Mesa Verde Backcountry Horsemen, presentation on leather tooling, 7 p.m., First National Bank in Cortez. www.mesaverdehorsemen.com.
Yoga Storytime, 9:30-10:45 a.m., Smiley Building Studio 10, 1309 E. 3rd Ave.
Trivia Factory, hosted by Ben Bernstein, 6:30-8:30 p.m., The Roost, 128 E. College Dr.
Watch Your Step class, 10:15 a.m., Durango Senior Center, 2424 Main Ave.
DJ Crazy Charlie, 6:30-10:30 p.m., Billy Goat Saloon, Gem Village.
Adam Swanson performs, 5:30 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.
Leah Orlikowski performs, 7 p.m., The Office, 699 Main. Latin Dance Nights, 8 p.m., Wild Horse Saloon, 601 E. 2nd Ave. salsadancedurango@gmail.com.
Durango 9R School Board Candidate Forum and Ballot Issues, sponsored by League of Women Voters La Plata, 5:30-7 p.m., City Hall, 949 E. 2nd Ave. www.lwvlaplata.org.
Open Mic Night, 8 p.m.-close, Starlight Lounge, 937 Main Ave.
Classic Movie Mondays: “Gunman’s Walk,” 6 p.m., Pine River Library in Bayfield.
Wednesday09
Rob Webster performs, 7 p.m., The Office, 699 Main Ave.
Fired Up Stories! for preschool children and families and featuring firefighters and EMTs, 10:30-11:15 a.m., Durango Public Library.
Trivia Night, 7 p.m., Blondies in Cortez. Contiki Party with the Aussies, 9 p.m.-close, Starlight Lounge, 937 Main Ave.
Tuesday08
Green Business Roundtable, featuring “Using Policy to Drive Better Business” with Good Business Colorado’s Debra Brown and hosted by San Juan Citizens Alliance, noon-1 p.m., Henry Strater Theater, 699 Main Ave. www.sanjuancitizens.org.
Zumba Gold, 9:30-10:15 a.m., La Plata Senior Center, 2424 Main Ave.
BookMarks Discussion featuring Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver, 2 p.m., Pine River Library in Bayfield.
Drop-in Tennis, 4 p.m., Durango High School, 2390 Main Ave.
Kennebec Market, featuring farms, baked goods, handmade products and more, 2-6 p.m., each Wednesday, Kennebec Café in Hesperus. 759-7345.
Adam Swanson performs, 5:30 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.
More “On the Town” p. 204
Autumn is here and we are FALLing in love with new styles "! !
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Oct. 3, 2019 n 19
AskRachel Interesting fact: I googled Interesting Facts about football telephones, and I learned instead (through that People Also Ask feature) that people also ask, “Were there phones in the ’80s?” and now I pretty much want to quit everything. Dear Rachel, Friends of mine are all excited about the prospect of impeachment. Yeah, the sitting president (with an emphasis on sitting) is a buffoon and a danger and an embarrassment. But I know better than to get my panties wet counting on the Democrats to handle anything well. Plus, if they do succeed, then we get Mike Pence? Yet my pals don’t explain why I go flaccid at the mention of impeachment. Maybe you can help explain it to them. - Not All Limp Dicks Are in Office Dear Half Mast, Politics are not sexy. I mean, have you seen Dick Durbin? But my god, sometimes you gotta go through with something even if you can’t get it up. No one’s asking you to get a boner for impeachment. But our country deserves better than it’s getting right now. A little tongue action, or at least a reach-around, if that’s your style. All consensual, of course. Because that’s the sort of dignity we’re talking about refurbishing here. – Yes please, Rachel Dear Rachel, Subscribing to a podcast feels like the biggest commitment I’m asked to make these days. Sure,
OntheTown from p. 19
Adam Swanson performs, 5:30 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.
it doesn’t cost me any money. But the drain on my emotional bank account is massive. Every week, a new episode stacks up, and before long I’m three months behind, and I panic and bail on the relationship. I’m ready to stop subscribing altogether and just date individual episodes. Am I doing something wrong here? Why does this tax me so? -Podcan’t Dear Polycaster, No one is asking you to commit to a full-on subscription. Well, I suppose the podcasts are, but you don’t agree to marry someone before you go on a date with them. Give them a whirl! Listen out of order. Find random strangers and pop ’em in your ears for an hour or two. Save those subscriptions, my friend, for when a podcast tickles your insides and leaves you begging for more. At least until podcasts start offering those football telephones for your subscription. Then, take the plunge. – Always at an introductory rate, Rachel
Dear Rachel, I get why Christmas decorations are already up in stores. Yes, it’s unfortunate, but Christmas is a whole season. What I don’t get is why is Halloween such a big deal? It’s kind of like Thanksgiving, where the holiday consists entirely of one meal. Halloween is, what … one chance for kids to get candy? One chance for people who get drunk every weekend to get drunk one more time? It should get a week of grocery-store shelf time, tops. - Slutty Pragmatist
Dear Hollow Weenie, Think of Halloween like impeachment. You think maybe, just maybe, everything will go your way this year. You never put “sexy” and “Nancy Pelosi” together, and yet, for this one moment in time, it makes some sense. There’s a contest to carve up some large bulbous orange thing. Then you black out, and when you wake up in the morning, your vomit smells like candy corn and you realize you got tricked again. – Does that help? Rachel
“Inside Out: Visions from the Artist’s Mind,” thru April 2020, Southern Ute Museum, 503 Ouray Dr. www.southernutemuseum.org.
“Nerd Amongst Men,” stand-up comedy with Skippy and the Comedy Warriors, 7:30 p.m., Oct. 12, Community Concert Hall. www.durango concerts.com.
Karaoke, 8 p.m., Thur-Sun, 8th Ave. Tavern, 509 E 8th Ave.
Thank the Veterans potluck, 5:30 p.m., Peter Neds performs, 7-8:30 p.m., VFW, 1550 Main Ave. 828-7777.
Upcoming
Loki Moon – Raw Experiments, 6-8 p.m., Eno Wine Bar, 723 E. 2nd Ave.
Durango Marijuana Hospitality Association hosts “Learning Session 1 an Introduction,” 12:30-2 p.m., Oct. 10, Durango Public Library. www.durangomjhospitality.com.
Pub Quiz, 6:30 p.m., Irish Embassy Pub, 900 Main Ave. 403-1200.
A Rockin’ Snowdown 2020 Volunteer Organizational Meeting, 5 p.m., Oct. 10, Elks Lodge, 901 E. 2nd Ave.
Terry Rickard performs, 7 p.m., The Office, 699 Main Ave.
Dirty Dozen Brass Band presents “Take Me to the River,” the music of New Orleans, 7:30 p.m., Oct. 10, Community Concert Hall. www.durango concerts.com.
San Juan Basin Archaeological Society, presentation on “Becoming Chacoan at the Aztec North Great House,” 7 p.m., Center of Southwest Studies at Fort Lewis College. sjbas.org. Open Mic Night, 7:30 p.m., The Roost, 128 E. College Dr. Karaoke, 8 p.m., Blondies in Cortez.
Karaoke with Crazy Charlie, 8 p.m.-close, Wild Horse Saloon, 601 E. 2nd Ave.
Ongoing
“Marks, Strokes, Scribbles: A Survey of Drawings” by Rosemary Meza-DesPlas, exhibit runs thru Oct. 10, Fort Lewis College Art Gallery.
“It Was There all Along,” handmade books and photography by Frank Hamrick, exhibit runs thru Oct. 29, upstairs Art Library in Durango Arts Center, 802 E. 2nd Ave. www.durangoarts.org.
20 n Oct. 3, 2019
Free Legal Clinic, 4-5 p.m., Oct. 11, Ignacio Community Library. 563-9287. A Couple of One Acts: “The Zoo Story” & “Three Women and an Onion,” opening night, 7:30 p.m., Oct. 11, event also runs 7:30 p.m., Oct. 12, and 2 p.m., Oct. 13, Sunflower Theatre in Cortez. www.sunflowertheatre.org. Elder Grown performs, featuring special guest Alex Blocker, 9:45 p.m., Oct. 11, Animas City Theatre, 128 E. College Dr. www.animascitytheatre.com. 5th annual Southwest Ag Seminar, 8:30 a.m.-3 p.m., Oct. 12, Lewis Arriola Community Center in Cortez. 529-8368. The Met: Live in HD, featuring Puccini’s “Turandot,” 10:55 a.m., Oct. 12, Student Union at Fort Lewis College, Vallecito Room. www.durangoconcerts.com. Artist Reception for Dina Herrmann, 4-6 p.m., Oct. 12, works on display thru Dec. 7, Olio in Mancos. 533-1381.
telegraph
Email Rachel at telegraph@durangotelegraph.com
Animas High School Information Nights, 5:30-6:30 p.m., Oct. 14, events also run Nov. 13, Jan. 14 and 30, Feb. 10, March 25 and April 14, Animas High School, 271 Twin Buttes Ave. 247-2474. Ignacio School Board Candidate Forum, sponsored by League of Women Voters La Plata, 5:30-7 p.m., Oct. 14, Ignacio High School Auditorium. www.lwvlaplata.org. FLC Sustainability Summit – Find Your Action, 4:30-7 p.m., Oct. 15, Student Union Ballroom at Fort Lewis College. mlpool@fortlewis.edu. Skerryvore performs, 7:30 p.m., Oct. 15, Community Concert Hall at Fort Lewis College. www.durangoconcerts.com. Fort Lewis College Student Ballot Issues Video Presentation, sponsored by League of Women Voters La Plata and Fort Lewis Political Science Department, 5:30-7 p.m., Oct. 16, Noble Hall at Fort Lewis College, Room 130. www.lwvlaplata.org.
Deadline for “On the Town” submissions is Monday at noon. To submit an item email: calendar@durango telegraph.com
FreeWillAstrology by Rob Brezsny ARIES (March 21-April 19): In 1956, the U.S. federal government launched a program to build 40,000 miles of highspeed roads to connect all major American cities. It was completed 36 years later at a cost of $521 billion. In the coming months, I’d love to see you draw inspiration from that visionary scheme. According to my analysis, you will generate good fortune for yourself as you initiate a long-term plan to expand your world, create a more robust network and enhance your ability to fulfill your life’s big goals. TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Taurus-born Youtube blogger Hey Fran Hey has some good advice for her fellow Bulls, and I think it’ll be especially fresh and potent in the coming weeks. She says, “Replacing ‘Why is this happening to me?’ with ‘What is this trying to tell me?’ has been a game changer for me. The former creates a hamster wheel, where you’ll replay the story over and over again. Victimized. Stuck. The latter holds space for a resolution to appear.” GEMINI (May 21-June 20): “The soul has illusions as the bird has wings: it is supported by them.” So declared French author Victor Hugo. I don’t share his view. In fact, I regard it as an insulting misapprehension. The truth is that the soul achieves flight through vivid fantasies and effervescent intuitions and uninhibited longings and non-rational hypotheses and wild hopes – and maybe also by a few illusions. I bring this to your attention because now is an excellent time to nurture your soul with vivid fantasies and effervescent intuitions and uninhibited longings and non-rational hypotheses and wild hopes. CANCER (June 21-July 22): I know people of all genders who periodically unleash macho brags about how little sleep they need. If you’re normally like that, I urge you to rebel. The dilemmas and riddles you face right now are very solvable IF and only IF you get sufficient amounts of sleep and dreams. Do you need some nudges to do right by yourself? Neuroscientist Matthew Walker says that some of the greatest athletes understand that “sleep is the greatest legal enhancing performance drug.” Top tennis player Roger Federer sleeps 12 hours a day. During his heyday, world-class sprinter Usain Bolt slept 10 hours a night and napped during the day. Champion basketball player LeBron James devotes 12 hours a day to the rejuvenating sanctuary of sleep. LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Actor and dancer Fred Astaire was a pioneer in bringing dance into films as a serious art form. He made 31 musical
films during the 76 years he worked and was celebrated for his charisma, impeccable technique and innovative moves. At the height of his career, from 1933-49, he teamed up with dancer Ginger Rogers in the creation of 10 popular movies. In those old-fashioned days, virtually all partner dancing featured a male doing the lead part as the female followed. One witty critic noted that although Astaire was a bigger star than Rogers, she “did everything that Fred Astaire did. She just did it backwards and while wearing high heels.” According to my reading of the astrological omens, you may soon be called on to carry out tasks that are metaphorically comparable to those performed by Rogers. VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Your number one therapy in the coming weeks? Watching animals. It would be the healthiest thing you could undertake: relax into a generously receptive mode as you simply observe creatures doing what they do. The best option would be to surrender to the pleasures of communing with both domesticated AND wild critters. If you need a logical reason to engage in this curative and rejuvenating activity, I’ll give you one: It will soothe and strengthen your own animal intelligence, which would be a tonic gift for you to give yourself. LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Every time my birthday season comes around, I set aside an entire day to engage in a life review. It lasts for many hours. I begin by visualizing the recent events I’ve experienced, then luxuriously scroll in reverse through my entire past, as if watching a movie starring me. It’s not possible to remember every single scene and feeling, of course, so I allow my deep self to highlight the moments it regards as significant. Here’s another fun aspect of this ritual: I bestow a blessing on every memory that comes up, honoring it for what it taught me and how it helped me to become the person I am today. Dear Libra, now is an excellent time for you to experiment with a similar celebration. SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): “Depression is when you think there’s nothing to be done,” writes author Siri Hustvedt. “Fortunately I always think there’s something to be done.” I offer this hopeful attitude to you, Scorpio, trusting that it will cheer you up. I suspect that the riddles and mysteries you’re embedded in right now are so puzzling and complicated that you’re tempted to think that there’s nothing you can do to solve them or escape them. But I’m here to inform you that if that’s how you feel, it’s only temporary. Even more importantly, I’m here to inform you that there is indeed something you can do, and you are going to find out what that is sooner rather than later.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22Dec. 21): “How inconvenient to be made of desire,” writes Sagittarian author Larissa Pham. “Even now, want rises up in me like a hot oil. I want so much that it scares me.” I understand what she means, and I’m sure you do, too. There are indeed times when the inner fire that fuels you feels excessive and unwieldy and inopportune. But I’m happy to report that your mood in the coming weeks is unlikely to fit that description. I’m guessing that the radiant pulse of your yearning will excite you and empower you. It’ll be brilliant and warm, not seething and distracting. CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): I envision the next 12 months as a time when you could initiate fundamental improvements in the way you live. Your daily rhythm 12 months from now could be as much as 20 percent more gratifying and meaningful. It’s conceivable you will discover or generate innovations that permanently raise your long-term goals to a higher octave. At the risk of sounding grandiose, I predict you’ll welcome a certain novelty that resembles the invention of the wheel or the compass or the calendar. AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Modern literary critic William Boyd declared that Aquarian author Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) was “the best short-story writer ever” and “the first truly modern writer of fiction: secular, refusing to pass judgment, cognizant of the absurdities of our muddled, bizarre lives and the complex tragi-comedy that is the human condition.” Another contemporary critic, Harold Bloom, praised Chekhov’s plays, saying that he was “one of the three seminal figures in the birth of early modernism in the theatre.” We might imagine, then, that in the course of his career, Chekhov was showered with accolades. We’d be wrong about that, though. “If I had listened to the critics,” he testified, “I’d have died drunk in the gutter.” I hope that what I just said will serve as a pep talk for you as you explore and develop your own original notions in the coming weeks. PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Pisces-born Dorothy Steel didn’t begin her career as a film actress until she was 91 years old. She had appeared in a couple of TV shows when she was 89, then got a small role in an obscure movie. At age 92, she became a celebrity when she played the role of a tribal elder in “Black Panther,” one of the highest-grossing films of all time. I propose that we make her one of your inspirational role models for both the coming weeks and the next 12 months. Why? Because I suspect you will be ripening fully into a role and a mission you were born to embody and express.
telegraph
Oct. 3, 2019 n 21
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 classifieds@durango telegraph.com n 970-259-0133 n 777 Main Ave., #214 Approximate office hours: Mon., 9ish - 5ish Tues., 9ish - 5ish Wed., 9ish - 3ish Thurs., On delivery Fri., 10:30ish - 2ish please call ahead: 259-0133.
Announcements
HelpWanted Busy Clock Shop Needs part-time help. Strong mechanical ability a must. Call Robert, 247-7729. Grow Technician Wanted The Greenery, Durango’s top-rated cannabis company, is looking for a fulltime, entry-level grow technician. Please send a copy of your MED badge and resume to info@durangogreenery.com along with any questions you might have about the position. We’re your best buds!
Classes/Workshops
Himalayan Kitchen 992 Main Ave., 970-259-0956, www.himkitchen.com. Bringing you a taste of Nepal, Tibet & India. Try our allyou-can-eat lunch buffet. The dinner menu offers a variety of tempting choices, including yak, lamb, chicken, beef & seafood; extensive veggies; freshly baked bread. Full bar. Get your lunch punch card – 10th lunch free. Hours: Lunch, 11am-2:30 p.m. & dinner, Sun. Thurs., 5-9:30 p.m., Fri. & Sat. ‘til 10 p.m. Closed 2:30 - 5, daily. Caregiver w/25 Yrs Exp. Seeking clients. CNA/CPR lic. Local refs. 806-420-3314.
Mommy and Me Dance Class Come join the fun! Now registering for classes. Call 970-749-6456. mom myandmedance.com.
ForSale 100% Grass Fed Bulk Beef from 1/8th to 1/2 cow available now. Happy Ground beef always available 970-259-5366 offfamilyranch.com 1986 Crown Victoria Station Wagon Low mileage, clean $1,500. 970-7695837 17 Foot Mad River Canoe Excellent condition $500 970-7695837 25’ Sailboat New sails w/trailer at NL $8500. 970749-5776
Housekeeper and more Professional housekeeper for your home, Airbnb, VRBO or rental. Concierge services, incidental property management, home/pet sitter. 541.999.2830 Radon Testing & Mitigation Fall radon test sale $20 off! Adaptive Solutions is nationally certified (NRPP 110544-RMT) and insured. 970.903.6642 Need Someone to Walk Your Dog? Retired dog lover wants extra funds. 970-903-0628 Lowest Prices on Storage! Inside/outside near Durango and Bayfield, RJ Mini Storage. 970-259-3494 Harmony Organizing and Cleaning Services Home and office 970-403-6192 Marketing Small & Local Businesses Media, social media, website content, SEO, etc. for small, local, independent or startup businesses. Email jnderge@gmail.com Advanced Duct Cleaning Air duct cleaning specializing in dryer vents. Improves indoor air quality; reduces dust and allergens, energy bills and fire risk. 970-247-2462 www.advanced ductcleaninginc.com
BodyWork
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.
Reruns Home Furnishings Storewide sales in both stores! Coffee table, end tables, chest of drawers, entertainment center, Pier One bookcase, and bistros. FLC discount. New great stuff and daily markdowns. 572 E. 6th Ave. 3857336.
Wanted
Services
Fall in Love With Massage! 30, 60 & 90 min Meg Bush, LMT 970759-0199
Cash for Vehicles, Copper, Alum, Etc. at RJ Metal Recycle, also free appliance and other metal drop off. 970-259-3494.
Ready to Change? Transformational coaching + energywork October special: $50 for 75 min text Christine at 970-309-3542
Massage “Special” 1 hr. - $50 / 1.5 hrs. - $75 - foot detox$35/ in town Durango/free parking/call or text Nancy R. @ (970) 799-2202
22 n Oct. 3, 2019
telegraph
CEU Workshop for Massage Therapist Masteringtouch.com is offering a 16 hr continuing education workshop. Become a master at your trade. Nov 9-10th in Durango. Go to website to sign up.
HaikuMovieReview ‘Good Boys’ Kinda like Ferris Bueller’s Day Off but for a new generation – Lainie Maxson massageintervention.life Voted best massage in Durango 2018. Couples, cupping, local CBD. Reviews on FB + Yelp. 970-903-2984 Massage with Kathryn 20+ years experience offering a fusion of esalen style, deep tissue massage with therapeutic stretching & Acutonics. New clients receive $5 off first session. To schedule appt. call 970-201-3373.
RealEstate Radon Services Free radon testing and consultation. Call Colorado Radon Abatement and Detection for details. 970- 946-1618.
CommunityService Residents Needed for NWS, NOAA Focus Groups In partnership with National Weather Service, Nurture Nature Center is hosting two focus groups in the Four Corners area about flood and river forecast products. These groups will provide feedback to NWS to help improve their products for the community. A session for residents will be held at 6 p.m. Monday, Oct. 7, at the Durango Public Library. Participants in this session will be paid $50 for their time and input. A second session for emergency management and water resource professionals will be held earlier in the day from 10 a.m.-noon also at the library. These groups are part of a social science research study funded by NOAA to improve river forecasting. Participants will be asked to answer questions and provide feedback about various forecast products. The sessions are fun and engaging, and provide a very valuable service to National Weather Service. Participants can register online at www.focuson floods.org. For more info, contact Rachel Hogan Carr, Executive Director of Nurture Nature Center, at rhogan@nurture nature.org or 610-253-4432 x. 101.
EndoftheLine
Lessons from Louie
L
ouie Jevis died 13 years before I was born. He was struck violently and killed by a hit-and-run driver in the early morning hours of November 1, 1936. The incident took place on the muddy road south of Oxford, which heads southeasterly toward Ignacio. Louie was a Navajo deaf mute. Unfortunately, he decided on that fateful Sunday morning to walk home, according to witnesses who saw him last. He left the Sumner Hotel at about 2 a.m. and was walking on the wrong side of the highway when he was suddenly struck, head-on. As fate would have it, (it was revealed later) the vehicle that struck him had no working headlights. Unable to hear or yell, Louie never had a chance. Louie’s body was found by a Herman Peterson at around 3 a.m. He promptly notified the authorities. Peterson was quoted as saying that at least six cars had veered away from the lifeless body. This was evident apparently by tire marks on the road. Peterson was incredulous that no one took the time to stop and help Louie. He believed the accident might have been unavoidable, but he couldn’t understand why no one aided the injured pedestrian. Tribal policeman John Burch examined the crime scene and found a headlight rim near the body. When Jevis’ body was examined more closely, they
were surprised to find an unbroken bottle of whiskey in his pocket. It was surmised that it was planted, as witnesses who saw Louie last said he was not drinking. The culprit had planted the evidence as to give the impression that the victim was drunk and had wandered aimlessly onto the road. Examination of the body revealed that Louie, who was referred to cruelly as “Dummy” by the locals, had suffered a fractured skull, broken neck and fractured leg. Death was believed to have followed immediately. On Wednesday evening of that following week,
We’d give you the shirts off our backs ...
Pete Litz and his son David were arrested by Courtesy Patrol Officers Raymond Dow and Russell De Salvo. After intense questioning, David confessed to the crime. He was only 16 years old. He had no operator’s license, no inspection certificate, nor operable headlights, one of which was missing a rim. Pete and David were tried before Justice of the Peace Florence Ruffe and both were sentenced to one year in prison and each fined $5,000. I researched to find an obituary for Louie but I could not find one. I doubt anyone would remember Louie, but I do. By perusing through an old Ignacio Chieftain one afternoon, I somehow became destined to be Louie’s last recorder. You see, our lives are ruled by strange fates and circumstances; the interplay of time and actions which can never be reversed. I have wondered about all those hindsights. What if Louie had walked home just a few minutes earlier? What if the car had working headlights? What fears caused the planting of evidence? What if someone had stopped? What if Louie Jevis had been saved by a passing “Good Samaritan?” Those questions will never be answered. All I know is that Louie’s death is just one of many small town tragedies that are recorded in the archives of small town libraries around the country, waiting patiently to be rediscovered and pondered. n
– Burt Baldwin
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A swan telegraph
Oct. 3, 2019 n 23
24 n Oct. 3, 2019
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