The Durango Telegraph, July 21, 2022

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T H E

O R I G I N A L

I N D I E

W E E K L Y

L I N E

O N

D U R A N G O

&

B E Y O N D

Pay to play

On a roll

Feast or famine

Forest Service land swap with billionaire raises questions p8

Zine libraries save skateboard history from recycling pile p10

Weathering Durango’s dating droughts and monsoons p11

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The Alternative Resource 2 n July 21, 2022

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lineup

4 La Vida Local

Where the heart is Self-professed nomad explores what it truly means to be local

4 Thumbin’ It

by Morgan Sjogren

5 Word on the Street 6 Soap Box

8

7 State News

Pay to play

8 Top Story

Land swap with billionaire hailed for wildlife habitat, but raises concerns

by Jonathan Romeo

10 RocknRoll Sweetheart 11 End of the Line

10

12-13 Stuff to Do

Still rolling

13 Ask Rachel

Keeping skateboard history and culture alive with ‘zine libraries

by Alex Vick

14 Free Will Astrology 15 Classifieds

11

15 Haiku Movie Review

Feast or famine

On the Cover Patrick Cunnion takes a little stroll on a ridgeline in the La Plata Mountains./ Photo by Brandon Mathis

Weathering the inexplicable dating droughts in Durango

by Michael Jennifer

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EDITORIALISTA: Missy Votel missy@durangotelegraph.com ADVERTISING SALES: ads@durangotelegraph.com STAFF REPORTER: Jonathan Romeo jonathan@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: Morgan Sjogren, Michael Jennifer, Alex Vick, Lainie Maxson, Rob Brezsny and Clint Reid

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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.

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Ear to the ground: “That’s why you wear two Speedos.”

– Water polo player on combating the arguably unsportsmanlike practice of de-pantsing competitors

thepole

4

RegularOccurrences

In hot water If you think you’re hot, try living in a fish’s shoe – or gill? or fin? whatever – for a day.

Starting Wednesday, Colorado Parks and Wildlife instituted a voluntary closure for fishing the Animas and San Juan rivers as they pass through Durango and Pagosa Springs, respectively, from 12 noon - 12 midnight as water temperatures climb dangerously high for trout survival. The closure also applies to the Dolores River below McPhee Dam. CPW’s threshold for setting off voluntary fishing closures is 71 degrees. All this week, water temperatures have peaked over that limit, with temps on the Animas hitting just over 72 degrees Monday.

Fueled by high air temperatures, no rain and low river levels, CPW is now asking anglers to give fish a break until the weather cools off and moisture returns.

“I think our angling community and the people who care about our fish understand this measure pretty well,” John Livingston, a spokesman for CPW, said. “I hate to say, they’re getting used to it.”

Trout love cold water, with ideal water temperatures below 65 degrees. But even overnight and early morning water temperatures, when the river should be at its coldest, are registering above that threshold.

When water temperatures are that high, trout become incredibly stressed. Add on being caught by a hook and the ensuing struggle, the chances of that fish surviving after it’s released back into the water is extremely low.

“It’s difficult to safely catch and release fish because they’re worn out to a point where they can die,” Livingston said.

And, it should be noted, all forms of river recreation cause added stress on fish (looking at you, tubers and boaters).

Cole Glenn, a shop manager at San Juan Anglers, said guides are actively recommending people fish elsewhere – in reservoirs, at tailwaters and in the high country – instead of in town. And, he said most customers are understanding.

“It’s voluntary, and you can’t stop them, but we strongly suggest they fish somewhere else,” Glenn said. “It’s frightfully warm for trout; no one should be fishing.”

Whereas other rivers, such as the Yampa (which has extreme fishing pressure), have mandatory closures, CPW’s order on the Southwest Colorado rivers is voluntary. CPW will constantly monitor the situation, and lift the voluntary closure if conditions change, which might happen with the forecast calling for rain and cooler temps next week.

“We need air temperatures to get a little bit lower and more monsoon rain,” Livingston said. “Then hopefully that will improve conditions in the river.”

It’s always recommended that anglers buy a thermometer and bring it along to test water temperatures if there’s any question the level may be too high. And until then, we wait for rain.

July 21, 2022 n

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opinion

LaVidaLocal So you want to be a local?

It was a zero-degree morning, and I was dressed in two down jackets, trying to fill the gas tank of my old yellow Jeep with frozen hands. My credit card kept getting declined. That was a past life, my first winter in the eastern Sierra, and I had not yet learned that credit card readers don’t work when it’s that cold.

A guy stopped to help and teased, “You almost fooled me for being a local. Now that you know to run your card inside when it’s this cold, you just need two dogs in the back of your rig.” Later that morning, I found two dogs nearly frozen to death and took them home. That did not make me feel like a local, but the time immersed with those dogs in the backcountry solidified a sense of place.

Just as I began to sense I was a local in what John Muir once called “the range of light,” it ceased to be hospitable. I hopped in my Jeep and drove to the Four Corners with a busted rearview mirror.

For more than five years, I have roamed this region living out of my vehicle, and for three of those years, Durango was my outpost.

Despite not having a permanent abode, I tend to say “I’m going home” just about every time I hit the road. My destination, when I have one, usually has a familiar face or place on the other side. Home spans the Colorado Plateau, from the canyons of southern Utah, the Mogollon Rim in Arizona and as far north as the San Juan Mountains. Time zones and state lines have come to mean almost nothing.

As my sense of place (especially the wild ones) deepens, my allegiance as a “local” feels scattered. Qualifying as a local is a badge of honor, especially in mountain towns. For some it’s the number of years you have lived somewhere, if you know where the secret climbing stash is, how many peaks you’ve bagged or how you pronounce names like Main-kiss. Others fly a Colorado flag, dress up for Snowdown or know the speak-easy password.

I wonder if where I pick up my mail or buy groceries counts toward my localness. Even nomads maintain the yearning to belong. Home is a state of mind. It’s a place that holds you in its familiar embrace, that offers you shelter – physical or metaphysical. Home is less four walls than a soul-satisfied state of being.

I see myself between red sandstone walls, orange sand underfoot and cobalt sky overhead. In this habitat, I am grounded. Locals tend to give back to their communities. Be it volunteer efforts, planting community gardens or conservation efforts. I do these things, too. It just happens to be in remote areas, uninhabited by modern perspectives, in southern Utah. Somebody must stand in unison with the cryptobiotic crust, uranium-tainted water and coyotes – the last one I encountered walked me back to my tent in Glen Canyon like a good neighbor.

My bliss in feeling like I belong to the landscape is often punctuated with the thought that following that bliss is alienating me from ever being a local. The guy at the coffee shop probably does not know my name. It can take me months to pick up my mail. I am unwilling to claim local affiliation with bumper stickers. My license plate rarely reflects the state I am actually in. Ironically, a small town in southeastern Utah offers me the locals discount whenever I stay in one of its rental cabins, which sums up my transient local-ness well. Often, I ask myself if I even want to be a local. Becoming a local will not suddenly anchor my curious soul.

No, I don’t spend 364.25 days a year in Durango, but from its periphery, I gain a bird’s view of this bustling town my old-time friend calls “Durangeles.” On any given day, especially during the summer, most people in Durango are not locals.

They are families passing through on great American road trips; Texans summering at second homes; Arizonians escaping the heat; or thru-hikers completing the Colorado Trail. They are people like me five years ago, who look at the majestic array of peaks and stay for a while.

If you live in the Four Corners, Southwest Colorado will eventually beckon you. Whether it’s to buy a patch for your tent or booze to drag across the Utah state line.

A few weeks ago, with my bags packed, I was preparing to untether myself from part-time domestic life in Durango and move back to the desert. That same day I got an email from The Durango Telegraph asking me to write for the “La Vida Local” column. I had to laugh.

For a week, I walked around the Navajo Nation backcountry soaking in the irony and contemplating whether to write the column. Here, I will never be a local. These are Indigenous homelands, as all lands are. Acknowledging myself as a visitor is a form of respect, one that feels more meaningful than the label of socalled local.

The life I live may not afford me a home, but it has expanded my understanding of being a local, to include connecting with people whose customs are distinct from my own, and with the non-human world – animal, plant, sky, stone.

Perhaps the term local is just a misnomer for a sense of place and community humans instinctually need. Belonging is not the same as conforming; it’s understanding the unique way we fit somewhere. It’s the way a location and its people make you feel.

Until I moved from Durango, I never felt a place where I fit, nor a reason or a way to belong. This page has finally given me a version of local that I can embrace.

My words can live in the Telegraph, but the rest of me belongs in the desert.

– Morgan Sjogren is a freelance writer and author of the forthcoming book, “Path of Light: A Walk Through Colliding Legacies of Glen Canyon.”

SignoftheDownfall:

Thumbin’It Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper introducing legislation to designate a portion of the Dolores River Canyon as a National Conversation Area, which would protect more than 68,000 acres of public lands.

The Bureau of Land Management moving to protect migration corridors and other wildlife habitat with new rules aimed at curbing the impacts of oil and gas development.

The playful yet deadly serious “sign war” between a McDonalds and Dairy Queen in Missouri. Because now that the Depp-Heard trial is over, we really need another distraction from all the crappy stuff going on.

4 n July 21, 2022

A new poll showing 74% of Colorado voters think national leaders aren’t doing enough on climate change.

So, uhh, are we going to do something about that?

A prairie dog in La Plata County testing positive for the plague. We know you want to, and they are pretty cute, but don’t pet prairie dogs and be the first person to contract the plague.

A recent survey finding just 38% of Americans approve of the Supreme Court, down from 60% last year.

Hmm, we wonder what the court did between then and now that everybody abhorred so much?

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Pea Nut-job Bob Salem, of Colorado Springs, pushed a peanut up Pikes Peak with his nose this past Friday.

It took Bob seven days to summit the 14er, and he used a spoon taped to a CPAP sleep machine facemask to scoot the nut along. And Bob wasn’t the first to do so: Texan Bill Williams did it in 1929 to win a $50 bet, and Ulysses Baxter did it in ’63. However, in full disclosure, Bob lost 24 peanuts along the way, meaning he was the only nut to make it all the way from the bottom to the top.

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“Equal rights; it’s fundamental.”

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“Medical and technology. They go hand in hand.”

Robin

“Not crypto; that’s just fake money.”

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July 21, 2022

n

5

SoapBox Dear Abby, kind of Imagine reading this letter in the back of the newspaper: Dear Abby, This summer I have been inundated with unwelcome guests. They leave trash in my yard and shopping carts that they have taken from local businesses. They sit around smoking and hassling the neighbors, even asking for handouts. They want food but haven’t offered to help around the house. Now they have invited others and their unruly pets.

Meanwhile my son has a friend who has found a job in town (everyone is shorthanded and hiring) but can’t find a place to live on his service industry wages. I’d love to offer him my space but these others won’t leave.

What can I do? I don’t even like going outside anymore.

Signed, Concerned Resident Now replace “guests” with the word “homeless.” The current situation at Purple Cliffs is not working. The current model of handouts is enabling them and not changing people’s lives. It is not the city’s nor the county’s place to subsidize their choices. It is only encouraging bad behavior. People have rights but also responsibilities, and many of their actions are illegal (littering, taking shopping carts, building fires, etc.)

If faith-based and federal agencies want to help the homeless that is their role. We should instead support our local businesses that give people jobs and con-

D-Tooned/by Rob Pudim tribute tax revenue. We should be subsidizing and creating housing for workers and those that are investing their energy in our economy and community.

– Karen Carver, Durango

Lies, lies, lies The Supreme Court discriminated against women and minorities by overturning Roe v. Wade. Women lost control over their bodies by being forced to carry babies to term, especially women who are raped, suffer incest and experience life threatening medical issues. Minority women constitute a large portion of women receiving abortions.

The three justices nominated by Trump – Kavanaugh, Gorsuch and Barrett – misled the Senate during their confirmation hearings. Kavanaugh said, “Roe had been reaffirmed many times. Precedent is critically important. It is the foundation of our system.” Gorsuch said, “Roe is a precedent of the U. S. Supreme Court” and he also said he would have “walked out the door” if Trump asked him to overturn Roe. Barrett said she would apply stare decisis, which is to abide by things decided (precedent).

The three crafty justices deliberately used ambiguous responses to Senators questions concerning Roe v. Wade, and misled the Senate. The veracity of the three disingenuous justices is highly sus-

BENEFITING YOUR LOCAL UNITED WA WAY OF SOUTHWEST COLORADO

pect, and they cannot be trusted to make non-partisan legal decisions. It is unfortunate presidents nominate highly partisan individuals to the Supreme Court, and the Senate confirms the nominees

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based on partisanship.

We need non-partisan and independent thinking judges.

– Donald Moskowitz, Londonderry, N.H.

StateNews

Tapping out San Luis Valley farmer opts out of growing crops in latest strategy to save shrinking aquifer

by Michael Elizabeth Sakas

A

front-row view of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains frames a line of grain silos overlooking a 150-yearold farm in southern Colorado. The fields would usually be green this time of year, grown lush on a supply of millions of gallons of groundwater pumped to the surface.

Now, the fields are brown, cracked and dry. Farmers and ranchers across the San Luis Valley face a deadline: Their underground water source is drying up from a combination of overuse and a decades-long drought driven by climate change.

To restore a balance of supply and demand, farmers and ranchers across the valley need to drastically cut how much water they pump out of the ground, according to the Colorado Division of Water Resources. If they don’t, the state has threatened to step in and shut off hundreds of wells, which local water managers say would devastate the valley’s agriculture-driven economy.

Sarah Parmar, director of conservation with Colorado Open Lands, a nonprofit that works to protect land from development, looks down at the brittle ground and recounts her first visit to this farm last summer.

“The farmer had a mix of peas and oats that he was growing, and they were up to his waist,” Parmar said. “It’s definitely a very productive farm.”

No food grows here now. The farmer has stopped watering these 1,800 acres. Instead, he’s working with Parmar on a deal to save the area’s shrinking groundwater supply and keep other farms in operation.

The farmer plans to sign a contract with Parmar to permanently end the use of his water rights to grow food here, and that rule would apply to any future owner of the property. Parmar calls the agreement a groundwater conservation easement – and said it could be the first of its kind in the country.

Conservation easements are legal arrangements that typically aim to protect a farm or a ranch by tying the land and its water rights together so it can’t be divided up and turned into a housing development.

In this case, Parmar said the groundwater conservation easement means changing the property’s use to provide a more regional public benefit.

Once the agreement is signed, the farmer plans to sell the land to the Rio Grande Water Conservation District, which will work to revegetate the acres with native plants.

Putting the farm out of production will keep about 358 million gallons of water beneath the San Luis Valley, which is desperately needed. Local leaders have been working to save the dwindling aquifer in other ways, including paying farmers and ranchers to temporarily fallow fields or try less water-intensive crops and more ad-

A disused water well pump stands in the midst of parched farmland east of Moffat in the San Luis Valley on June 30. Groundwater conservation easements are the latest tool there to help save the valley’s dwindling water supply, whereby farmers are paid to not grow crops./ Photo by Hart Van Denburg/CPR News vanced irrigation systems.

The farmer – who Colorado Open Lands declined to identify while the land and easement transactions are being finalized – told Parmar he was in a good position to exit the agriculture business because he and his wife don’t have any children. He knows that his neighbors have a new generation that will eventually take over the management of those family farms.

Putting this single farm out of production is expected to preserve enough groundwater for the Rio Grande Water Conservation subdistrict to meet its water sustainability goals – or come really close.

This likely means the region can avoid state interventions and well shutoffs, and other farms can continue operating and growing food.

Other areas of the valley are still at risk of widespread well shutdowns.

Chris Ivers, a program manager for the Rio Grande Water Conservation District, said the state historically issued more well permits than the area could support. Climate change has only made the situation more dire, he said.

“We’re dealing with sort of the sins of our fathers, trying to reduce the draw on the aquifer and get back into a sustainable balance,” Ivers said.

The groundwater conservation easement is a permanent solution, which Ivers said is needed. He said temporary moves, like

farmers or ranchers agreeing to cut back on water use for a season or two, haven’t been enough. He said the water district has struggled to hit sustainability targets, and water managers in the valley are starting to realize that some farmland needs to be removed from production for good.

That isn’t great news for the San Luis Valley, where 500,000 irrigated acres that host potatoes, alfalfa and vegetables like lettuce and carrots are the primary economic driver. Ivers said shutting down some farms is better than the alternative, which is a forced shutdown of hundreds of operations.

Republican State Sen. Cleave Simpson, who represents part of the valley and is the head of the Rio Grande Water Conservation District, uses groundwater to irrigate about 2,000 acres of family farmland. The operation mostly grows alfalfa, which Simpson said is the most water-intensive crop you can grow in the region.

“I lay awake at night thinking, ‘I don’t think I can keep doing what I’ve been doing and what my family has been doing for decades,’” Simpson said.

Simpson said farms like his are part of the problem. He’s experimenting with growing hemp and other drought-friendly crops in an attempt to use less water. Simpson said if farmers and ranchers in the area don’t start to do things differently and the climate continues to get warmer and drier, then 20% of the current irrigated farmland

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will be without water in 20 years.

Simpson said new ideas like groundwater conservation easements are the kind of incremental solutions necessary to avoid a sudden economic fallout in the valley, which he said is getting harder to do.

“This isn’t just 20 years of drought, this is truly the aridification of the West,” Simpson said, referring to research that has found that long-term impacts of climate warming mean the dry conditions aren’t temporary like the term drought might suggest.

Simpson said groundwater conservation easements also give farmers more options for making money off their water rights.

Commissioners in Douglas County, south of Denver, recently considered working with a private company to buy water rights from San Luis Valley farmers to pump to local residents. The project is on hold after meeting strong opposition.

Simpson said groundwater conservation easements could help keep that water in the valley. He said farmers and ranchers have reached out to him about the idea.

“If we don’t come together and work together to manage this more appropriately, we’ll look similar to some parts of California where people just keep deepening the well as far as they can,” Simpson said. “And the last one with the most money is the last one left to pump.”

For more from Colorado Public Radio, go to: www.cpr.org.

July 21, 2022 n 7

TopStory

Wildlife success or deal with devil?

Land swap approved in Southwest Colorado, but not without detractors

by Jonathan Romeo

T

he U.S. Forest Service has approved a land exchange with a group of property owners near Pagosa Springs that has sides split: is it a success story for wildlife, or a deal with the devil?

Well, it depends who you ask.

In fall 2020, the Forest Service announced that a group of landowners – including Kelcy Warren, CEO of Energy Transfer Partners (of Dakota Access Pipeline fame) and owner of Boot Jack Ranch, northeast of Pagosa Springs – requested to give the Forest Service 880 acres they owned south of Pagosa Springs, known as “Valle Seco.” In exchange, they would get pockets of public lands near Wolf Creek Pass and the Blanco River in the South San Juan Wilderness that amounted to about 380 acres in an attempt to expand their estates and private recreational opportunities.

The Forest Service, along with wildlife agencies and hunting advocacy groups, say once under federal control, the 880 acres would be protected as critical habitat for big game, such as elk and deer. Without the exchange, supporters say, the property, which is surrounded by national forest, could be developed and displace animals.

Detractors of the project, on the other hand, argue the wealthy consortium of landowners forced the Forest Service’s hand by threatening to develop the 880-acre Valle Seco property. On top of that, these groups fear the Forest Service has set a precedent for tampering with the Colorado Roadless Rule, which could threaten future public land decisions.

On June 29, the Forest Service released its final decision, approving the land exchange (though it does not become official until the real estate transaction is complete, which is pending).

“Any kind of land exchange that’s done for equal value, you’re going to lose some resources and gain others,” Dave Neely, acting forest supervisor for the San Juan National Forest, said. “It is a tradeoff.”

Public Land Ultimatum In 2014, Warren bought Valle Seco, a former inholding (property surrounded by public land), for $4 million.

Calls to the Boot Jack Ranch and the project’s representative, Western Lands Group, were not returned.

It appears, however, the landowner group had been looking for years for land it knew the Forest Service wanted in order to initiate a land swap to expand their lands for hunting, fishing and other recreational activities.

Valle Seco had long been on the Forest Service’s radar, since at least the 1980s. In fact, the Forest Service had been negotiating a land exchange with the previous property owner when Warren and others stepped in. Now, the landowner group has no interest in selling to the Forest Service.

Instead, a sort of public land ultimatum was thrown

8

n July 21, 2022

Looking south from Wolf Creek Pass, one can see most of Boot Jack Ranch on the valley floor. Its owner, Kelcy Warren, CEO of Energy Transfer Partners, just added acreage to his estate after successfully negotiating a land exchange with the U.S. Forest Service./ Courtesy photo out: hand over the pockets of forest land to expand the private ranches or risk development of the 880-acre inholding. According to federal documents, Warren said if the land exchange was not approved, he’d fence the property, raise elk (which spread chronic wasting disease to wild animals), apply for year-round motorized access and build a hunting lodge.

Warren purchased the 3,100-acre Boot Jack Ranch, about 14 miles northeast of Pagosa Springs, in 2010 for $46.5 million, surrounded by the San Juan National Forest and the upper reaches of the San Juan River. As part of the deal, Warren would acquire three parcels totaling 192 acres. Other landowners include: Linder Ranches (three parcels, 58 acres); and David Skidmore and Cynthia Sites (three parcels, 133 acres).

A Key Piece Over the past two years, the Forest Service analyzed the pros and cons of the swap. The Valle Seco property is indeed a critical habitat for big game in the winter, espe-

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cially at a time when elk and deer populations are on the decline in Southwest Colorado. And, winter habitat under Forest Service control is in short supply in the region, Neely said (the land the Forest Service swapped was summer range).

Colorado Parks and Wildlife wrote in a letter of support that “this proposal presents a rare opportunity to possibly expand sensitive, high-quality habitat for big game and other wildlife species in southern Colorado.”

The project even has the backing of hunting groups, such as Backcountry Hunters & Anglers and the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership. Jon Holst, energy and wildlife senior advisor for the partnership, said a study showed big game uses the area around Valle Seco for winter grounds and migration routes.

“It’s just a key piece (for wildlife),” Holst said. “We understand concerns, but from a biological perspective, given how rapidly developing that area is, it’s hard to ignore the benefit to the public to get that parcel.”

Twisting Arms Conservation groups and opponents of the swap don’t disagree that Valle Seco is an important habitat. They do, however, take issue with the way Warren and his group went about the process, given the history of wealthy landowners twisting federal land agencies’ arms. Often, by the time the public learns of the exchange, it’s pretty much a done deal, Graham Ward, community engagement director for Colorado Wild Public Lands, said.

“That’s how exchanges in Colorado have been going: private interests purchasing attractive properties and using it as bait,” he said. “Then the Forest Service is forced to play along.”

The land the Forest Service is giving up does include wetlands and riparian areas, as well as some popular camping and recreational spots, especially near the Blanco River. It also includes some areas of the upper San Juan River, which under the swap will lose their potential for a Wild and Scenic designation but will be placed in a conservation easement.

And these groups have voiced concern the process has not been transparent. When a land exchange was proposed for the Hermosa Creek Special Management Area, for example, it took years of public meetings, tours and engagement.

“We have to find a way to get more involved on a proactive basis,” Ward said, “as opposed to reacting when we hear of a new exchange.”

Road Rage The deal may also conflict with the Colorado Roadless Rule (CRR). The broader road-

less rule across national forest lands was adopted in 2001, protecting 50 million acres of habitat and watersheds. As part of that rule, individual states could add protections, which Colorado did in the 2010s.

The Valle Seco land swap gives away about 176 acres of designated roadless area, which opponents say will set a precedent for further weakening of the rule in the future (though it should be noted the Forest Service added 4,623 acres of roadless area in the South San Juan Wilderness).

“This sets a precedent for the Forest Service to manipulate the CRR as they see fit,” Jimbo Buickerood, public lands coordinator for San Juan Citizens Alliance, said. “This is not just about this exchange. This is about the defense of the CRR, too.”

One more area of concern, Buickerood said, is the work of Western Lands Group, a lobbyist group he said specializes in holding public lands hostage (such as the Village at Wolf Creek).

“A huge amount of work has gone on behind the scenes, engineered by Western Lands Group,” Buickerood said. “They’re bending the rules to get this to happen.”

Money Talks Although groups opposed to the swap are considering legal challenges, Neely said there are conditions within the CRR that allow for adjustments to boundaries, and the Forest Service doesn’t believe they’ve acted outside the bounds of the law.

Meanwhile, now that the exchange is approved, it’s unclear what Warren and his group have planned for the newly acquired lands, whether that means developing the property or just expanding hunting and fish-

Valle Seco, south of Pagosa Springs, offers critical habitat for big game in the winter months./ Photo by San Juan Citizens Alliance ing terrain. Once in private hands, those lands would be subject to the review of Archuleta County’s permitting process.

“The fact is, they have the freedom and right to do with private land as they see fit,” Neely said.

What is clear is that about 880 acres will be preserved and protected for big game, nothing to scoff at amid all the intense pressures on wildlife. In recent years, too, elk and deer populations have been on an alarming decline, in no small part to habitat loss. According to CPW data, elk and deer remain

below population objectives.

However, what should (and could) be considered a wildlife success story comes with some potentially concerning caveats of federal agencies dealing with wealthy, influential owners, and the future protections of public lands, Buickerood said.

“This is a case of billionaires bullying the public to get the property they want to expand their ranch into roadless areas,” Buickerood said. “They’re trying to enhance their private holdings at the expense of the public.”

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July 21, 2022 n

9

RocknRollSweetheart

Magazines hold memories Nonprofit works to preserve old skateboarding zines

by Alex Vick

S

kateboarding has been a constant influence on the art and music I often enjoy. I remember thumbing through the back of a Thrasher magazine to find new album releases and pausing the credits of a skateboarding video to seek out the song from a specific part.

Rock ’n’ roll fused with skateboarding gave an extra raw and fast-wheelin’ explosive energy that captivated me as a youth and to this day.

I found myself immersed in what was seen by my parents as “aggressive music.”

With a love of the radical art found on skateboards and on the cover of albums, I would try to reproduce skate logos and art at home in my bedroom in the basement, along to music booming with electric guitars and pounding drums. Some of my favorite shows that I’ve played have been for skateboarding events. There is something so fueling in playing on the edge of a 6foot quarter pipe, screaming all my feelings into a microphone and having a skateboarder slash a grind going Mach 10 and nearly missing the microphone stand.

The energy of the skaters increases, which in turn energizes the performers, further solidifying the relationship between viewer and musician. When these lightning forces are paired, it creates a firework display of talent and motion.

Recently, I had the opportunity to meet with Kevin Marks, director of Look Back Library, a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving the history of skateboard magazines. Marks lives in San Diego but was in town to set up a skateboarding magazine library at The Hive.

Marks’ love for skateboarding started in 1986 as a youth in Wichita, Kan., after watching the newly released “Back to the Future” movie. At the time in Kansas, the skate scene was in its infancy, and Marks was thirsty for skateboard knowledge. Because of his isolation, he found a bond with skateboarding outside of his town through magazines.

“My love for mags flourished,” Marks said. “I found a connection to the greater world of skateboarding – this activity I was quickly falling in love with.”

Through the magazines, Marks was able to “learn the nuances of skateboarding” through carefully analyzing sequenced skate trick photos. But work still had to be done to create a skate scene locally. So Marks and his few skate buddies started building ramps, modeling them after the ramps shown in the magazines. Music quickly became part of the work, too, with the crew getting together for “ramp jams.”

“Friends would bring their tapes, and I would bring mine; we’d share and expose each other to new music while skating,” Marks said. “The music gave the aggressive

10 n July 21, 2022

edge to put your fears at bay to try something new on the ramp. We’d go to the ramp and throw on that Metallica tape and get pumped!”

Skateboarding and music has cultivated wanderlust and passion for Marks’ work now. In 2015, Marks was asked by the founder of Launch, an indoor skatepark and community center in Fort Collins, to join its Board of Directors.

“Launch already had an extensive library of skate mags, and it became my pet project to build up and fill in the holes of this collection,” he said.

Months into this project, Marks, now 50, asked himself, “Wouldn’t it be cool if all skate shops had their own libraries?”

Upon some self-reflection, Marks began to make this goal a reality and has since curated more than 150 libraries, including 10 overseas. He has also worked with the Skateboarding Hall of Fame and Museum, as well as a number of skate shops that foster the love for the preservation of skateboarding history, including Cowtown, Cardinal, Jokers, KCDC and others.

With many magazines going out of print and moving into the digital age, it has become Marks’ mission to protect and archive this faltering media platform.

“Will all of this be forgotten?” Marks

telegraph

has asked himself. “I look at this work as promoting print. I want to share this knowledge with other skate nerds. This endeavor may only reach a niche group but it’s fun to make connections with others who have lived a part of this history that is so ingrained in me.”

Marks looks into the future and contemplates how to improve the reach that these libraries have. “My role is to establish the physical archive of magazines and maybe one day someone can take all this to a digital platform,” he said.

The library’s mission is to obtain and preserve all skate mags, including publications from other countries. “Every major country has had a skateboard publication,” Marks said, As Marks combs the Earth for forgotten magazines in need of preservation, he tries to live by his motto: “Keep doing the work and keep looking for new ways to reach people.”

For more information and ways to contribute to Look Back Library, visit lookback library.org or check it out on Instagram, @lookbacklibrary. Also, feel free to stop by The Hive for a hangout in “The Chill Room” to view Durango’s own Look Back Library, chock full of skateboarding, inspiration, art and music.

EndoftheLine

When it rains, it pours Manly musk sends off endorphins to prospective women, but at what cost?

by Michael Jennifer

T

he Perins Peak Fire in May appeared to be a glimpse toward a tinderbox kind of summer.

My house was surrounded by dust that would creep inside every time I opened the windows and doors, and I decided not to plant a garden out of fear of a prolonged drought. This was also the first time I put together a plan if my neighborhood should catch fire.

Then, we started getting rain.

While it was not a daily deluge, the weather conditions dampened afternoon plans and made for muddy evening bike rides. Then – more heat and more fires. Though the rain is a blessing for so many reasons, this year-round feast or famine leaves much to be desired. I prefer some consistency.

Strangely, my dating life also follows this pattern. For months, I could only find a few dates here and there, but nothing that really sparked my interest, and not for lack of trying. I could hardly find anyone to go on a date with. Then, about a month ago, things shifted.

It reminded me of an old adage from my younger years: when it rains it pours, when it’s dry, use lotion. If I met someone cool, within a week, I would meet two more. If I was lonely and couldn’t find a date, it would last for many months, and I would feel helpless, ready to gather a proverbial bug-out bag and reach out to an ex or a friend for some companionship.

I was a late bloomer. I was the guy in high school and college who had many attractive female friends but never a girlfriend. Of course, I wished these girls were more than friends, but I was only the break glass in case of emergency guy for them, and they never had an emergency. I couldn’t get anyone to go out with me until my 20s.

Since then, and for most of my 20s and 30s, I made sure that I slept with all my female friends and room-

mates at some point, just in case of drought. I wanted an emergency back-up partner instead of being one. Also, I was tired of being the guy who heard about their experiences with other guys instead of being one of them. And once I found success, suddenly there were women interested in me.

Over beers at Anarchy Brewing recently, a married female friend was lamenting how all her male friends eventually hit on her and she didn’t seem to understand why. I had to explain to her how we straight men constantly have a Sisyphean battle when it comes to finding a partner. Basically, we have to exhaust every option or else we end up wandering the desert like Chevy Chase in “Vacation.”

For attractive women like her, it seems to be more of a “Space Invaders” scenario: constantly shooting down the barrage of interested men until one gets through. I was told recently by another single lady that most local women on Tinder don’t have enough time in the day to respond to all the messages and likes, while I am lucky to get a couple a week.

This has always been my history, and now it is repeating itself.

I meet someone I like and want to make an effort with her, then suddenly I get more attention from women than ever. As Chris Rock put it, it wasn’t until he got married that he started getting calls to be a judge in a, uh, fellatio contest. It must be some kind of musk that lets women know we are getting attention from other women.

It seems to work virtually, too.

Last month, a friend gave me his coworker’s number, then a coworker gave me his friend’s number, then I got over 20 (!) matches on Tinder in a week, then a hot, single friend of a friend asked to stay over while on a road trip, then I met someone else at a bar, and then I ran into an old crush at Maria’s Bookshop!

It was starting to get muddy, and I wasn’t feeling the joy I should have with my new musk.

After deflecting the deluge by first simply avoiding everyone, then getting COVID, I have tried to focus on one woman of promise. She has many traits I admire: attractive, financially stable, a large cache of friends and family who care for her, a solid sense of humor and a great sense of adventure. We have already had a few dates and a boat-shaking tryst on Navajo Lake, but it turns out she is doing so well on her own, that there is not much time left for me.

It seems I am not quite done dating yet; I suppose I will just have to welcome the monsoonal flow when it returns.

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July 21 2022 n 11

StufftoDo

Thursday21 Ska-B-Q with Farmington Hill, 5 p.m., Ska Brewing, 225 Girard St. Dustin Burley plays, 5 p.m., Fur Trappers Steakhouse, 701 E. 2nd Ave. Dem Roots Music plays, 5 p.m., Mancos Brewing.

Carter Sampson & the Jackalopes play the free Concerts in the Park series, 5:30 p.m., Buckley Park.

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

Ru Paul’s Drag Race Watch Party, every Friday, 68 p.m., Father’s Daughters Pizza, 640 Main Ave.

Six Dollar String Band plays, 6-9 p.m., Union Social House, 3062 Main Ave.

Lisa Blue Band plays, 6 p.m., Fox Fire Farms, Ignacio.

Community Yoga, 6-7 p.m., Yoga Durango, 1485 Florida Rd. Donations accepted.

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

Pops Night Benefit featuring “The Magical Music of Harry Potter,” 6:30 p.m., Sky Ute Casino Event Center. Part of Music in the Mountains.

Agave plays, 6 p.m., Fenceline Cider, Mancos.

Sunset Outdoor Movie: “Jaws,” movie starts at sunset, Pine River Library, Bayfield.

La La Bones plays, 7-10 p.m., 11th Street Station.

The Mysto Really Big Magic Show, 7:30 p.m., Animas City Theatre, 128 E. College Dr.

Dylan Kishner Band play, 6-9 p.m., Durango Hot Springs.

Author Jennaye Derge reading from her humorous essay collection “How to Cry on Your Bicycle,” 6:30 – 9 p.m., Fenceline Cider, Mancos.

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

Powerhouse Trivia Night, 6:30 p.m., Powerhouse Science Center, 1333 Camino del Rio. Patrick Crossing plays, 7-10 p.m., 11th Street Station.

The Mysto Really Big Magic Show, 7:30 p.m., Animas City Theatre, 128 E. College Dr. Silent Disco, 10 p.m.-1 a.m., 11th Street Station.

Sunday24

Devin Scott plays, 6 p.m., James Ranch Grill, 33846 Highway 550.

Jeff Solon Jazz Duo plays, 6-8 p.m., Lola’s Place, 725 E. 2nd Ave.

McCurry Organ Trio plays, 7-10 p.m., 11th Street Station.

Saturday23 Durango Farmers Market, 8 a.m.–12 noon, featuring music from Victor Andrada, TBK Bank parking lot, across from the Transit Center.

87th Annual Durango Fiesta Days, July 28-30, 8 a.m., La Plata County Fairgrounds.

Bayfield Farmers Market, 8 a.m., 1328 County Road 501.

Trail Work Day: Dry Fork, 9 a.m. - 1p.m. For info go to www.durangotrails.org Cylus O’Connor plays, 1-4 p.m., 11th Street Station.

The Mysto Really Big Magic Show, 7:30 p.m., Animas City Theatre, 128 E. College Dr.

Authors in the Parklet: R.L. Sherman, 4 p.m., Maria’s Bookshop, 960 Main Ave.

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

Picnic Concert Series: Zia Chicks, 4 p.m., Fox Fire Farms, Ignacio.

Comedy Show, 9 p.m., Olde Tymers Café, 1000 Main Ave.

High Altitude Blues play, 5-8 p.m., Weminuche Woodfire Grill, Vallecito

Durango Flea Market, 8 a.m., La Plata County Fairgrounds, 2500 Main Ave. Durango Fiesta Days, 8 a.m., LPC Fairgrounds.

Gracie Jay plays, 1-4 p.m., 11th Street Station.

Silent Sundays with Swanson, 2-4 p.m., pianist Adam Swanson accompanies classic silent film comedies, Durango Arts Center, 802 E 2nd Ave. Open Mic, 2 p.m., Mancos Brewing Co. Live music, 5:30-8:30 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave. Open Mic Night, 6 p.m., Mountain Monk Coffee, 558 Main Ave. Devin Scott plays, 6:30 p.m., Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave. Comedy Show, 6 p.m., Olde Tymers, 1000 Main Ave. The Crooked Rugs, Thrust Fall & Round Table play, 8 p.m., The Hive, 1150 Main Ave.

Zarfha plays, 5 p.m., Mancos Brewing Co.

Friday22

Monday25

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

Authors in the Parklet: Bethany Warner, 5:30 p.m., Maria’s Bookshop, 960 Main Ave.

Smelter Mountain Boys play, 5 p.m., Weminuche Woodfire Grill, Vallecito

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

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

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

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

Sit, Stay, Slay! Drag Queen Bingo Fundraiser, 6 p.m., 11th Street Station.

Twin Buttes Farm Stand, every Tuesday, 3-5:30 p.m., 165 Tipple Ave.

Authors in the Parklet: Cherry Odelberg, 5:30 p.m., Maria’s Bookshop, 960 Main Ave.

Kirk James Blues Band plays, 6-9 p.m., Gazpacho, 431 E. 2nd Ave.

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

Ben Gibson & Larry Carver play, 6 p.m., Derailed Pour House, 725 Main Ave.

Thin Air & Clementine Was Right play, 6 p.m., Fenceline Cider, Mancos.

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

Terry Rickard plays, 6-9 p.m., Union Social House, 3062 Main Ave.

Terry Rickard plays, 6 p.m., Fur Trappers Steakhouse, 701 E. 2nd Ave.

Gracie Jay & Ryan Hanseler play, 6-9 p.m., Durango Hot Springs.

&%$#"! !% "$ & #%" # % % # "% $ % % "

12 n July 21, 2022

# "% %$ $ % #$ " telegraph

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

Tuesday26

AskRachel

Ants in pants, fear of flying and office romance Interesting fact: An infectious disease expert with the Mayo Clinic says you are more likely to catch a bug in the airport than on an airplane. Except, where do you think all the people on the airplane came from, hmm, Dr. Mayo?

Dear Rachel, For those who care… So sorry about Roe v.

Wade. I have heard from GOP voters that men will not be able to get a vasectomy to prevent child bearing and that condoms will only be given out behind the counter at a drug store, like in the ’40s and ’50s, in GOP-held states.

What?? Also, I heard that a male must prove he really needs Viagra only with GOP doc prescription. Your woman’s thoughts on this? To the GOP: stay out of my bedroom and my boxers.

– Oscar Meyer Dear Weiner Mobile, I had an ant crawl up my leg the other day, and the little a-hole bit me. I didn’t expect to get bit, but there it is, and the bite is still swollen. Now imagine that the ant was one of those sci-fi ones that lays eggs under the skin after it bites you. I become a host for mutant ant babies that I’m unprepared and unwilling to raise. I’m not saying this is a perfect metaphor, but I am saying that the GOP would never get rid of ant Viagra, even for the male ants. So Oscar, I think your boxers are safe.

– Bite me, Rachel

Dear Rachel, Just flew the friendly skies for the first time since 2019. I know masks aren’t mandatory anymore, but I was still startled how few people wear them. Whereas me, I think I was holding my breath on airplanes before then and never really realized that masks were an option. I don’t want to breathe the droplets of 200 people in a pressure-sealed metal tube even without a pandemic. Do you think masks are here to stay?

Or do I need to start hoarding them for all my future trips?

– Masked Crusader Dear Faceless Passenger, I always thought it was gross as eff that people touch everything they touch in airports and then eat those little in-flight snack pouches with their fingers. I promise you that half the people coming out of the restroom did not wash their hands, and that seat belt has never been disinfected. Yet they’re still slurping cheese dust and salt off their fingers at 30,000 feet halfway to Vegas. It’s inexcusable. Unless the peanuts are honey roasted. That is delish.

– Tray table up, Rachel Dear Rachel, I started a new part-time job where my girlfriend works, and she’s the one who recommended me. But they don’t exactly, strictly speaking, know we are together. We aren’t like making out at work or anything inappropriate like that, since we barely do PDA anyway. But

Tim Sullivan plays, 6 p.m., James Ranch Grill, 33846 Highway 550.

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

Concerts in the Plaza: Kirks James Blues Band plays, 6-8 p.m., Three Springs Plaza.

Animas City Night Bazaar, 6 p.m., North Main Ave. Featuring art, performances, music & games.

Open Mic Night, weekly 7:30-9:30 p.m., Starlight Lounge, 937 Main Ave. Comedy Open Mic, weekly, 9 p.m., 11th St. Station.

Spanish Conversation Hour, July 28, 1:30 a.m. -12:30 p.m., Pine River Library, Bayfield.

Giovanina Bucci plays, 7-10 p.m., 11 Street Station.

The Mysto Really Big Magic Show, 7:30 p.m., Animas City Theatre, 128 E. College Dr.

Ongoing “Wish You Were Here,” July 21-23, a collection of short plays based on vintage postcards, presented by The Durango Arts Repertory Theatre (DART). durangoarts.org.

Great Garden Series: Using Plants to Survive in the Wilderness, 4 p.m., Durango Public Library.

Music in the Mountains, thru July 31, info and event listings at musicinthemountains.com.

Trail Work Day: Log Chutes, 5-7 p.m. For info go to www.durangotrails.org

Women’s Resource Center’s Scavenger Hunt Fundraiser, self-guided through July, more info at wrcdurango.org/events/scavenger-hunt or call 970-2471242.

Ali McGwirk plays the free Concerts in the Park series, July 28, 5:30 p.m., Buckley Park.

Alex Forsthoff & Friends play, July 28, 6-9 p.m., Durango Hot Springs.

Pine River Festival, July 30, 12 noon-8 p.m., Bayfield.

Featuring music by Marty O’Reilly & the Old Soul Orchestra, Elder Grown, Liver Down the River, High Country Hustle, Blue Moon Ramblers and others. Food, drink and craft vendors. More info at pineriverfestival.com “Cheers for Children,” a fundraiser for Riverhouse Children’s Center, July 31, 4-8 p.m., River Bend Ranch.

Transportation will be provided by Mild to Wild.

Tickets: cheersforchildrendurango.com.

Shock Wave Drag Night, first and third Friday of every month, 9 p.m., Father’s Daughters Pizza, 640 Main Ave. 18+ The Hive Indoor Skate Park open skate and skate

Dear Man at Work, Literally no one cares about your intimate relationship. Except the Supreme Court. They care too much.

– Get a room, Rachel

Upcoming

th

Colorado Parks and Wildlife Wolf Advisory Group, July 27 & 28, 7:30 a.m., Vallecito Room in the Student Union Building, Fort Lewis College.

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

now I’m stressing about them finding out outside of work. Like, is this nepotism of a kind?

Do I need to come clean? Will they even care?

– Clocked In

lessons. Waivers required. For schedule and online waiver, go to www.thehivedgo.org

Wednesday27

Six Dollar String Band plays Community Concert Series, 5-7 p.m., Rochester Hotel, 726 E. 2nd Ave. Benefit for La Plata Open Space Conservancy.

Email questions to telegraph@durangotelegraph.com

Two Wheel Toosday, Aug. 2, 5-8 p.m., annual competition for scooter and BMX, Durango Skate Park. DM Instagram @kai_lamont_benton

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July 21, 2022 n 13

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14 n July 21, 2022

FreeWillAstrology

by Rob Brezsny ARIES (March 21-April 19): You are entering the Season of Love’s Renewal. To celebrate, I offer you a poem by eighth-century Tamil poet Andal. Whatever gender you may be, I invite you to visualize yourself as the “Snakewaist woman” she addresses.

Here’s Andal, bringing a fiery splash of exclamation points: “Arouse, Snakewaist woman! Strut your enchantment! Swoop your mirth and leap your spiral reverence! As wild peacocks shimmer and ramble and entice the lightning-nerved air!

Summon thunderheads of your love!

Command the sentient wind! Resurrect the flavor of eternal birth!”

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Tips to get the most out of the next three weeks: 1.

Work harder, last longer and finish with more grace than everyone else. 2. Be in love with beauty.

Crave it, surround yourself with it and create it. Be especially enamored of beautiful things that are also useful. 3. Taste the mist, smell the clouds, kiss the music, praise the earth and listen to the moon in the daytime sky. 4. Never stop building!

Keep building and building and building: your joy, your security, your love, your beauty, your stamina, your sense of wonder.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Gemini astrologer Astrolocherry says that while Geminis “can appear naive and air-headed to onlookers, their minds usually operate at light speed.

They naturally absorb every surrounding particle of intellectual stimuli. They constantly observe their interactions for opportunities to grow their knowledge.” I believe these qualities will function at peak intensity during the next four weeks, Gemini – maybe even beyond peak intensity. Please try to enjoy the hell out of this phase without becoming manic or overwrought. If all goes well, you could learn more in the next four weeks than most people learn in four months.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Naeem Callaway founded Get Out the Box, an organization that mentors at-risk youth in low-income and rural communities. Here’s one of his central teachings: “Sometimes the smallest step in the right direction ends up being the biggest step of your life. Tiptoe if you must, but take the step.” Even if you don’t fit the profile of the people Callaway serves, his advice is perfect for you right now. For the time being, I urge you to shelve any plans you might have for grandiose actions. Focus on just one of the many possible tasks you could pursue and carry it out with determined focus.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): A Leo astrologer I’ve known for years told me, “Here’s a secret about us Lions. No matter what happens, despite any pitfalls and pratfalls, my ego will stay intact. It ain’t gonna crack. You can hurl five lightning bolts’ worth of insults at my skull, and I will walk away without even a hint of a concussion. I believe in myself and worship myself, but even more importantly: I trust my own self-coherence like I trust the sun to shine.”

Wow! That’s quite a testimony. I’m not sure I fully buy it, though. I have known a few Leos whose confidence wavered in the wake of a minor misstep. But here’s the point of my horoscope: I encourage you to allow a slight ego deflation in the coming days. If you do, I believe it will generate a major blossoming of your ego

by August. And that would be a very good thing.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Virgo poet Claude de Burine described how one night when she was 3 years old, she sneaked out of the house with her parents’ champagne bucket so she could fill it up with moonlight. I think activities like this will be a worthy pursuit for you in the coming days.

You’re entering a favorable phase to go in quest of lyrical, fanciful experiences. I hope you will make yourself available for marvels and curiosities and fun surprises.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): There is a distinction between being nice and being kind.

Being nice is often motivated by mechanical politeness, by a habit-bound drive to appear pleasant. It may be rooted more in a desire to be liked than in an authentic urge to bestow blessings. On the other hand, being kind is a sincere expression of care and concern for another. It fosters genuine intimacy. I bring these thoughts to your attention because I think that one of Libra’s lifelong tasks is to master the art of being kind rather than merely nice. And right now is an especially favorable phase for you to refine your practice.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): You sometimes feel you have to tone down your smoldering intensity, avert your dark-star gazes, conceal your sultry charisma, dumb down your persuasive speech, pretend you don’t have so much stamina, disguise your awareness of supernatural connections, act less like a saint and martyr in your zealous devotions, and refrain from revealing your skill at reading between the lines. But none of that avoidance stuff usually works very well. The Real You leaks out into view. In the coming weeks, I hope you won’t engage in any of the hiding behavior I described. It’s a favorable time to freely pour forth your Scorpionic blessings.

telegraph

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22Dec. 21): There could be interesting and important events happening while you sleep in the coming nights. If a butterfly lands on you in a dream, it may mean you’re prepping for a spiritual transformation in waking life. It could be a sign you’re receptive to a breakthrough insight you weren’t previously open to. If you dream of a baby animal, it might signify you’re ready to welcome a rebirth of a part of you that has been dormant or sluggish or unavailable. Dreams in which you’re flying suggest you may soon escape a sense of heaviness or inertia.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): How to be the best Capricorn you can be in the coming weeks and months: 1.

Develop a disciplined, wellplanned strategy to achieve more freedom. 2. Keep clambering upward even if you have no competitors and there’s no one else at the top. 3. Loosen your firm grasp and steely resolve just enough so you can allow the world to enjoy you. 4.

Don’t let the people you love ever think you take them for granted. 5. Be younger today than you were yesterday.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): In the next seven to eight weeks, I’d love for you to embody an attitude about intimacy articulated by author Hélène Cixous. Here’s her aspiration: “I want to love a person freely, including all her secrets. I want to love in this person someone she doesn’t know. I want to love without judgment, without fault.

Without false, without true. I want to meet her between the words, beneath language.” And yes, dear Aquarius, I know this is a monumental undertaking. If it appeals to you at all, just do the best you can to incorporate it. Perfection isn’t required.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): I periodically consult a doctor of Chinese medicine who tells me that one of the best things I can do for my health is to walk barefoot – EVERYWHERE! On the sidewalk, through buildings and especially in the woods and natural areas. He says that being in direct contact with our beloved earth can provide me with energetic nourishment not possible any other way. I have resisted the doc’s advice so far. It would take the soles of my feet a while to get accustomed to the wear and tear of barefoot walking. I bring this up, Pisces, because the coming weeks will be an excellent time for you to try what I haven’t yet. In fact, anything you do to deepen your connection with the earth will be extra healing. I invite you to lie in the sand, hug trees, converse with birds, shout prayers to mountains and bathe in rivers or lakes.

classifieds

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

(Sorry, no refunds or substitutions.)

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

ing SW Colorado’s children and communities. Start 9/8. Living allowance, health insurance, and the opportunity to make a difference. Visit teamup-swco.org/openpositions/ or email Program Coordinator at Mikek@unitedway-swco.org for more information.

Announcements Make America Great Again Jail Donald Trump and abort the Supreme Court.

Lost/Found Found: Sport Watch Crater Lake Trail, 7/16. Call to identify and claim. (970)764-7388.

Lost Cell Phone at Lyle Lovett event. Outside the venue near road in front of rodeo grounds. If found please call 970-382-1313.

Classes/Workshops West Coast Swing Dance 6-week class starts July 27. Learn the basics of West Coast Swing. Registration is required at www.westslopewesties.com.

HelpWanted Sales Associate Wanted Sales Associate wanted for Crystal Boutique. 25+ hours a week. Must have 1-2 years experience in sales. Must be at least 18. Must work weekends. Send resume and 3 references to Mandy Houpt at crys talsdurango@gmail.com or drop off in person at 1053 Main Ave in Durango.

SJMA is Hiring Operations Director San Juan Mountains Association is in search of a full time Operations Director.

Please see our web page sjma.org/jobs for more information. No phone calls please.

We’re Hiring!

Join our award-winning team dedicated to supporting rural Colorado’s nonprofit, agricultural and small businesses working to grow and enrich our communities. We put customer deposits to work to improve southern and rural Colorado’s social, environmental and economic landscape. First Southwest Bank is a locally owned, independent community bank currently seeking staff for our Loan & Deposit Services departments. High starting pay, strong benefits & career growth opportunities. For details and to apply, visit us at our website, fswb.bank/who-we-are/careers. Member FDIC. Certified CDFI. SBA Preferred Lender. EOE. EHL.

elec., gas. 1-yr lease. Refs req. 970-3171018, please text.

Wanted We are in hell!

We’re a young couple who has lived in Durango since 2015, but decided now was the perfect time to buy a home because we’re idiots. But, if you want to sell to people who have been here long enough to know what the Arc of History is, contact us: san.juaner1122@gmail.com Cash for Vehicles, Copper, Alum, Etc. at RJ Metal Recycle. Also free appliance and other metal drop off. 970-259-3494.

Services RSE Handyman Service Home repair - yard work - odd jobs 970-903-0449 Harmony Cleaning and Organizing Residential, offices, commercial and vacation rentals, 970-403-6192.

HaikuMovieReview ‘An Evening With Beverly Luff Linn’ Not since ‘Spinal Tap’ has a film been this stupid and hilarious – Lainie Maxson Lowest Prices on Storage!

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

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

NewspaperOrigami

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

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ForSale Orgain Protein Powder Three containers chocolate, unopened, $15 each. 970-903-5636 .

Local Tempeh Factory for Sale Do you love fungus? Local, Profitable established fresh tempeh factory for sale with even more room to expand. Sale comes with training and equipment. serious inquiries only please. info@luvbox foods.com Reruns Home Furnishings New inventory including patio sets, bistros, garden pots, nightstands, lamps, bookcases and lots more … Come in! 572 E. 6th Ave. Open Mon.-Sat. 385-7336.

ForRent Team UP AmeriCorps Positions Open!

AmeriCorps: Do something big! Recruiting multiple f/t & p/t positions serv-

1-Bed Cottage Downtown Offered to mature, quiet, FT worker.

No smoking, no pets. $1,000/mo. + sec.,

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July 21, 2022 n 15

16 n July 21, 2022

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