The Durango Telegraph, Dec. 28, 2023

Huddling around the space heater

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FREE Dec. 28, 2023 Vol. XXII, No. 52 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

Oh, what joy

Top of the pile

Quitters never win

Gearing up for the holiday supermarket battle p4

A reluctant music writer’s list of the top albums of ’23 p8

One caffeine addict’s quest to kick the habit p10

2 n Dec. 28, 2023

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lineup

Gearing up for the holiday grocery store Grand Prix

5 Writers on the Range

4 La Vida Local

Belly of the beast

by Addyson Santese

6 Soap Box

6

7 Big Pivots 8 Kill Yr Idols

The name game Scrubbing places of controversial figures complicated undertaking

11 Coffee Confidential

by Allen Best / Big Pivots

12-13 Stuff to Do

8

13 Ask Rachel 14 Free Will Astrology

Taking stock A reluctant list of what was on the top of the album pile in 2023

by Jon E. Lynch

15 Classifieds 15 Haiku Movie Review

10

On the cover A couple takes the plunge – literally – after getting freshly hitched at Purgatory. We wish them luck – may they navigate the bumps of thier new life together as well as the bumps at Purg./ Photo by Andy High

I can’t quit you One caffeine addict’s shaky, foggy quest to kick the coffee habit

boilerplate

by Jennaye Derge

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Ear to the ground: “My dog got cat-called the other day.”

– Sometimes you have to face it: your dog is just hotter than you

Ticket justice

thepole

4

RegularOccurrences

Uncouth ticket resellers beware – Telluride Bluegrass is on to you. This year, the uber popular music festival launched a new ticket-buying system after thousands of buyers were shut out last year by ne’r-do-well bots and scammers.

According to a story in the Colorado Sun, last year, ticket sales were a veritable feeding frenzy, with the festival selling out in less than three hours. It was the 50th anniversary, so organizers expected high demand, but scrolling through social media later that day, they found a more insidious reason: ticket scalping (their word – we’re not sure if we should be using that word anymore.)

“They have systems. They have bots and things set up that’ll just go on attack during a sale. They have so much force that they’re getting in before people that are actually like waiting in line with their one computer,” Grace Barrett, director of communication and partnerships for Planet Bluegrass, told the Sun. So, Planet Bluegrass got crafty. This year, they required would-be ticket buyers to preregister in November. After pre-registration, Planet Bluegrass, teamed up with its online ticket software company, See Tickets, to use “Excel wizardry” to weed out suspicious registrants. Red flags included multiple email addresses leading back to one mailing address, multiple credit cards for one email address and computers with hidden IP addresses.

“It’s a pain-in-the-butt, but it makes my whole year go so much better,” Planet Bluegrass’ Geoff Wickersham explained. “So it’s worth it.”

During the screening, about 150 accounts were identified as fraudulent or suspicious. If an account was flagged in error – a typo in the email address, a misunderstanding about the rules – the festival team helped to get it fixed.

The approach seemed to work. Tickets for the Bluegrass Festival went on sale Dec. 7, and anyone who made it through the screening process got a code to enter the main ticketing queue (which is sort of like a virtual version of the morning tarp queue at the actual festival.) Last year, without preregistration, there were 12,000 people waiting to scoop up tickets on the first day, which is the festival’s maximum capacity.

This year, there were less than 6,000 people queued up with sweaty fingers on the “pay now” button.

Telluride Bluegrass has since opened tickets sales up to the general public but has yet to announce the line-up for 2024, which takes place June 20-24. Stay tuned or buy tickets at bluegrass.com/telluride.

Dec. 28, 2023 n 3

opinion

LaVidaLocal Grocery store warrior Brothers, sisters, friends and enemies! Long have we battled, 12 months besieged by ceaseless holidays, each one requiring of us its own feast, each feast requiring of us yet another descent into madness. BBQs for the 4th of July, Memorial Day and Labor Day. Assorted snack-sized candies for Halloween.

Butterball turkeys for Thanksgiving. The Christmas ham. Do the horrors ever end? How much torture can any man (or woman) endure? How many times can one plumb the depths of that foul realm of interminable suffering and return, their soul unscathed?

You know the ill place of which I speak.

THE GROCERY STORE! Gods forbid, the grocery store! The very words are enough to strike fear into the heart of the bravest among us, and yet the terrors only deepen for those that live deep within the mountains. For there is no hell like that of a small-town supermarket.

Each week, we must face a choice: shop or starve. Each week, we must steel ourselves against fire and slaughter, fighting for a space in a parking lot that’s three sizes too small, dodging stray carts and bike racks that would shatter not only our spirits but also our insurance claims. We brawl for the regular sustenance of our families but also for inane office parties, birthdays and holidays, an endless hum of overhead fluorescents and the cries of self-checkout haunting our every step.

Soldiers, I know the war has left you battle-weary and broken, but you must hold fast and find courage, for the hour dawns on one last fight. One last holiday for which to shop. New Year’s Eve. Take up arms! Ride, valiant warrior, astride your squeaky three-wheeled shopping cart, grocery list in hand. Fear not the shoppers who lack spatial awareness and dawdle in the center of every aisle. Fear not the store changing its layout for the third time in two months. Fear not the howl of pop stars that blare over speakers, their mass-produced music like the screams of banshees in

your ears, their lyrics about Santa Claus growing increasingly sexual with each verse, for within you, you have a strength that cannot be vanquished!

The path to victory may be treacherous, but anything worth winning is seldom easily earned. Some of you may die, forced to come cart-to-cart with your ex spouse, your ex-boss, your ex-roommate, or worst of all, an acquaintance from high school, yet they say fortune favors the bold.

Fly! Fly to the shelves and take the bottles with which to drown the memories of awkward eye contact and stilted small talk! Let the bubblies consume you, then search the battlefield for the spoils of war – the soft cheeses and sliced salamis destined to adorn the charcuterie board that finally proclaims your adult-ness this New Year’s Eve. Suck on that, acquaintance from high school! And nevermind the dried apricots and figs and olives. They’re destined to perish anyway.

You’ve come far and fought with the strength of a thousand lions in your beating heart. But halt! The battle is not yet won, soldier. There is one more foe to vanquish.

When they sing songs of you, your fearless charge between the sliding glass doors of hell, the way you held fast to your shopping basket when the child in the cart beside you wouldn’t stop screaming and the age of man threatened to come crashing down, they will sing of your bravery. They will sing of the way you scanned all 12 items in your possession, stared the kneebuckling total in its red eyes, and pulled out your credit card like a young Arthur Pendragon removing Excalibur from the stone. Like a battle cry, your song will echo in the accursed halls of all the City Markets and Albertsons and Walmarts for centuries to come.

So, fair warrior, though the grocery store may take our mirth, our youthfulness, even our will to live, they will never take OUR FREEDOM! For those about to grocery shop, we salute you.

(Oh, and don’t forget your reusable bags in the car.)

– Addyson Santese

SignoftheDownfall:

Thumbin’It Ouray landowner Eric Jacobsen donating 7.5 acres of his land to the Town of Ouray, clearing up years of confusion and ensuring permanent public access to routes in the Ouray Ice Park, the Ouray Via Ferrata and several area trails.

The City of Durango enlisting the help of area residents in crafting a new land acknowledgment to be displayed at city departments and city open space, parks and trails recognizing the contributions of Indigenous peoples and the historical impacts of colonialism.

The holidays made brighter for 536 local kids thanks to a toy drive sponsored by the La Plata Family Centers Coalition.

4 n Dec. 28, 2023

We know we said we’d never comment on the weather again, but it was 54 degrees in St. Paul, Minn., on Christmas Day. People were jogging in T-shirts, and fisherman were falling through the ice.

Something is wrong with this picture.

On the upside, maybe Minnesota will become the new, cheaper California?

Move over fentanyl. A synthetic opioid 10 times more deadly, called N-Desethyl etonitazene, has been detected for the first time nationwide in Boulder, where it was implicated in an overdose death.

A.I. experts are warning of a “tsunami of misinformation” in the 2024 election, with even more sinister deep fakes than the last election. Can we book that oneway ticket to Mars yet?

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Crave the Date

The Las Vegas Review reported last week that this coming New Year’s Eve might be the biggest date for weddings in Las Vegas history. Numerically, the date for the big day is 12/31/23, but if you take out the forward slashes, it’s 123123 which makes it a “specialty date” in Vegas given how easy it is to remember. And with New Year’s Eve in the mix, many Vegas reporters are saying that this specialty date will eclipse the biggest one on record, which was 7/7/07. But if you flip the date, it’s a bit ominous because it makes a countdown: 3… 2… 1… divorce!

WritersontheRange

Year in review A look back at the things Westerners cared about in 2023

by Betsy Marston

T

his past year, Writers on the Range, an independent opinion service based in western Colorado, sent out 52 weekly opinion columns. They were provided free of charge to more than 200 subscribing editors of publications large and small, each of whom republished dozens of the columns.

Writers on the Range has a simple two-part mission.

One of its aims is to engage Westerners in thinking and talking to each other about issues important to the region. The other aim is to entice readers to look forward to these fact-based opinions, with the hope that they’ll then want to keep their local journalism outlet alive and flourishing.

This year, the focus of writers ran the gamut from A to W. Abortion bans, wrote Idaho-based Crista Worthy, caused women’s health to suffer severely, while wolves, wrote Story Warren, were unfairly blamed for killing livestock in Colorado.

Several columns covered the depleted Colorado River, while longtime journalist Rocky Barker wrote that at last, four Klamath River dams would be demolished in the Northwest to help struggling salmon populations.

Greg McNamee made an excellent case for paying wildland firefighters what they deserve for hazardous work, and Pepper Trail, the renowned Oregon biologist, wrote several opinions, including one about his own efforts to save wildlife from fatal encounters with vehicles.

No matter what Marjorie “Slim” Woodruff writes from her perch at the bottom of the Grand Canyon – insulting hikers for their lack of trail etiquette, mocking visitors for their Instagram obsessions – readers love how she slings her stings. Her pieces routinely run in 50 or more outlets.

From the Yellowstone area, Molly Absolon was also a popular writer, telling about backcountry heroes – mostly volunteers – who extricate hikers, climbers and drivers of snow machines from dangerous situations they’d gotten themselves into.

In Colorado, Erica Rosenberg detailed how federal land exchanges almost always serve the wealthy, and in Alaska, Tim Lydon wrote about his recreationally oriented town of Girdwood, so out of whack economically that teachers can’t find local housing.

Ernie Atencio celebrated the work of two Westerners who died recently: New Mexico rancher Sid Goodloe, who transformed ranching by promoting short-duration, rotational grazing; and Dave Foreman, founder of EarthFirst! who worked to save old-growth forests, wilderness and migration corridors for big game.

The most-read award goes to Writers on the Range publisher Dave Marston, whose piece about the looming energy gap appeared in 67 publications. It also prompted an invitation from Amory Lovins, the guru of energy efficiency, to visit his Rocky Mountain Institute and learn why his column was so wrong about small, modular nu-

telegraph

clear power being an option. Marston accepted that invitation, and this January his opinion will reveal whether he’s seen the light, so to speak.

Writers on the Range fields diverse reactions on its website, and some, to put it mildly, get personal. The column by Dana Johnson headlined “Mountains don’t need hardware,” enraged some technical climbers. The director of The Access Fund, which wants climbers to be able to put bolts into mountains in wilderness, vilified Marston, even accusing him of securing his position through “nepotism.”

Marston, who wrote eight opinions this year, didn’t bother to point out that not that many people choose to work for free, no matter what their last name.

There also emerged a healthy conversation about whether too many out-of-area hunters crowded public land. Andrew Carpenter’s opinion prompted rancher Lesli Allison to reply that 80 percent of scarce winter habitat for big game is provided by ranchers, and that cutting hunting tags for outsiders threatened the ability of ranchers to make a living.

Whatever retired land-use professor Rick Knight writes about – monster mansions polluting views or how much fun it can be to work like a dog restoring neglected land – readers love his message. They can tell he knows and cares about protecting the region’s open lands. But then, every opinion writer this year seemed to share his passion for the fascinating and often contentious West Finally, opinions can have impact if they’re sent out at the right time. “Outrage in Wyoming,” by Savannah Rose, urged the state not to auction off 640 acres within Grand Teton National Park. Her piece helped raise the number of angry objectors to 9,000, with 7,000 comments coming in the last week. The pressure worked: Wyoming officials postponed a decision on an auction until sometime in 2024.

Betsy Marston is the editor of Writers on the Range, an independent opinion service that seeks to spur lively conversation about the West. Want to comment, get on our newsletter list or write a column? Go to writersontherange.org.■

Dec. 28, 2023 n 5

D-Tooned/by Rob Pudim

SoapBox Fly Away Fat and happy geese Better to be a snowbird Than Christmas dinner – Karen Carver, Durango

First rule of Fight Club

You may remember the first rule of Fight Club: You do not talk about Fight Club.

Here is the Government’s first rule of inflation: You do not talk about inflation. And when you do, you manipulate the numbers and give half-truths.

Sure, it seems like things cost more.

Housing and gas prices are up, and don’t you love the “Inflation Recovery Fee” on your restaurant bill? But the technology of the chicken egg isn’t two times better, and your running shoes aren’t 30% better than two years ago.

What has happened is, the U.S. dollar has become less valuable. The dollar buys 97% less goods and services than in 1913, and 50% of what your 1971 dollar bought. Why? A great question worthy of your deep study. A partial an-

swer is because while you work hard for your money, the Federal Reserve “prints” money with a few clicks of a button, so that there is now more money chasing the same goods and making the prices rise. And do you think that new money gets evenly dispersed to everyone? Of course not.

Seems like a broken system, doesn’t it?

Unfortunately, that is only the tip of the iceberg.

And before you slam into that iceberg, I suggest you get a lifeboat. Bitcoin is that lifeboat. Yes, it’s going to take some effort to learn – all good things do – but it’s worth it. The Durango Bitcoin Study Group can help.

For info, email: bitcoinstudygroup@protonmail.com.

– Hank Rearden, Durango

“We’ll print almost anything” The Telegraph prides itself on a liberal letters policy. We have three requests: limit letters to 500 words; letters must be signed by the writer; and thank-you lists and personal attacks are unwelcome. Send your profundities by Monday at noon to telegraph@durangotelegraph.com.

It’s not hairy shopping at Jimmy’s.

Hours: Tues. - Fri. 11-6; Sat. 11-5 • www.jimmysmusic.supply 1239 Main Ave., Durango • 970-764-4577

6 n Dec. 28, 2023

telegraph

BigPivots

Scrubbing Kit Carson Removing controversial figure from place names proves complicated

by Allen Best

M

y hike up Kit Carson Peak in June 2000 began with great ambition and ended with confusion. Confusion remains now, almost 24 years later, if in a different way. We’re not sure what to call the 14,167-foot summit in the Sangre de Cristo Range.

My 12 hours above treeline that day left me hypoxic, my brain suffering from too little oxygen. I insisted that the route down took us to the west side of Willow Lake, but my companions knew better.

Now I contemplate what to call Kit Carson from the floor of the San Luis Valley. A proposal before the Colorado Geographic Naming Advisory Board would have us call it Frustum Peak. A frustum is a flat-topped cone or pyramid.

Still others prefer Crestone, as was considered – but rejected – by a federal board in 2011. Two other 14,000foot peaks, Crestone Peak and Crestone Kit Carson Needle, lie a short distance away. Three 14ers named Crestone? One stone too many. Other names may yet be considered.

Colorado also has a town and a county named Kit Carson, but neither is up for change as they are not on federal land.

The state advisory board members will resume their discussion Jan. 24.

They will also review alternatives to Garfield County’s Dead Mexican Gulch, Jefferson County’s Redskin Creek and Redskin Mountain, and Montezuma County’s Negro Draw.

Whatever they recommend will be

Kit Carson Peak stands at 14,167-feet in the Sangre de Cristo mountain range. just that. The U.S. Board of Geographic Names has final authority for names on federal lands as Colorado seeks to cleanse its geographic drawers of names with tawdry historical footnotes. Earlier this year, the 14er west of Denver gained a new name, Blue Sky. It had been called Evans, after the territorial governor in 1864 who seemingly turned a blind eye to the Sand Creek Massacre.

Christopher Houston “Kit” Carson has a more confused and interesting story.

Born in Kentucky, reared in Missouri, he fled an apprenticeship in leathermaking for western adventures. As a fur trapper, he was quite successful. He survived.

Like other trappers, he found friends – and foes – among the native Americans, taking two of them as spouses. One called it quits, putting his belongings outside their teepee, as was the custom.

Taos was his favored home. His remains are buried there along with those of Josefa, his final wife. They both died in southeastern Colorado, at Boggsville, near today’s Las Animas. By then, he

was General Carson in the U.S. Army Consult “Blood and Thunder,” by Hampton Sides, for an immensely rewarding read about Carson. Sides acknowledges the complexities of Carson and other frontiersmen. “The mountain men lived with Indians, fought alongside and against them, loved them, married them, buried them, gambled and smoked with them,” he writes.

Trappers unwittingly left a more damning legacy.

“As the forerunners of Western civilization, creeping up the river valleys and across the mountain passes, the trappers brought small pox and typhoid, they brought guns and whiskey and venereal disease, they brought the puzzlement of money and the gleam of steel.

And on their liquored breath, they whispered the coming of an unimaginable force, of a gathering shadow on the eastern horizon, gorging itself on the continent as it pressed steadily this way.”

That is the conundrum of Carson. It’s also the question many of us ask our-

selves. Will we leave the world a better place – or worse? Or both?

While in the U.S. Army, Carson was responsible for corralling the recalcitrant Navajo, who had long been feared by Spanish, Hispanic and Anglo settlers because of their persistent raiding and sometimes killing. He complained to superiors about the lack of provisions for the Navajo as he marched them to an encampment in eastern New Mexico.

Once there, one-third died.

Afterward, although gravely ill, Carson accompanied Ute leaders to Washington, D.C., at their request to represent them in meetings with President Ulysses Grant and others.

His story was complicated.

Carson was mythologized in his own time. Today, we tend to idealize Native Americans even while we fail, in some important ways, to pay them their due, such as water rights in the Colorado River Basin.

A former newspaper columnist in Colorado Springs responded to my ruminations on Facebook with this: “In our re-naming craze, we should not name anything after humans any more.

It turns out that all humans put their pants on one leg at a time.

Conquerors generally name things in their own honor. Sometimes, we do honor the vanquished. Among Colorado’s 14ers we also have Antero, Shavano and Tabeguache – all in recognition of the Utes. We have none to honor Navajos, who call themselves Diné. If they emphatically dislike Kit Carson, so far they have not proposed a replacement.

Unfortunately, we already have a Conundrum Peak, near Aspen.

I suggest Complicated Peak.

Mount Confusion could work, too. ■ Allen Best mostly tracks Colorado’s energy and water transitions, sometimes taking time to study history, at BigPivots.com.

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Dec. 28, 2023 n 7

KillYrIdols

It’s been a year – gasp!

A reluctant music writer’s top 11 albums of 2023

by Jon E. Lynch

U

gh. Suffice it to say, I’m not the biggest fan of year-end retrospectives. Surprising? Not if you know me at all past the pages I spew here. I find looking back a bit obnoxious. Tedious, really. It’s not the recollecting so much as it is the demarcation. I don’t like the societal expectation of this type of examination simply because the calendar is rolling over yet again.

Maybe I’m more annoyed that many only find it necessary now, at an arbitrary end of a year, to take stock.

That said, as promised last month, I am here to give a quick recap of the albums I kept returning to over the course of the last 12 months. I’d hardly call this a “Best Of” – rather, it’s the music I couldn’t help but go back to over and over. If I had to begrudgingly choose a top 11 albums of the year, it’d likely be a tossup of the following: 1. Americana/alt-folk/country artist Dean Johnson (one fourth of Washington’s Sons of Rainier) gave us the wonderfully somber and introspective “Nothing for Me, Please.” If this wasn’t a breakup album, it certainly worked as one for me. I must’ve flipped the record over and over 30 plus times over the year – and it never once failed to impress. Pretty certain he had a track featured in this year’s final season of Reservation Dogs, which will garner a handful of new fans, I’m sure.

2. Hip Hop luminary Billy Woods (stylized as billy woods) with producer Kenny Segal released “Maps” back in May. His sixth release, it features guest appearances from Elucid, Danny Brown, Aesop Rock, Quelle Chris, ShrapKnel, Benjamin Booker and Samuel T. Herring (of the band Future Islands). If I used “number of listens” to aggregate my top album, this might be it.

3. Chicago doom-dripping post-punkers FACS released “Still Life in Decay” on hometown label Trouble in Mind. Two years ago, when the world slowed to a crawl, many missed out on the brilliant

8 n Dec. 28, 2023

billy woods’ sixth album, “Maps,” was in regular rotation on this writer’s turn table in 2023.

“Present Tense.” If you’re a fan of classic discordant, angular guitars, give this both your time and energy.

4. Back in 2021, Ashville, N.C., band Wednesday released “Twin Plagues,” which earned them a spot on the storied Secretly Canadian adjacent label Dead Oceans. This year’s “Rat Saw God” – their first album after signing – honed their confluence of indie, shoegaze and alt-country. If that melding of styles doesn’t quite mesh in your brain, just give it a chance or two. It’s a scorcher.

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5. Sweeping Promises, the duo of Lira Mondal and Caufield Schnug, based in Lawrence, Kan., released a stripped-down earworm of low-fi, no-wave punk titled “Good Living is Coming for You.” I have a special place in my heart for LFK, and more so for a twosome that can create so much with seemingly so little. For fans of Pylon, The B-52’s, Kleenex or Gang of Four.

6. Psychedelic garage stalwarts Night Beats put their latest long player, “Rajan,” on the Pacific Northwest indie heavyweight label Suicide Squeeze. On “Rajan,”

they deviate a bit into darker, soulful sonics but keep the momentum chugging forward. After releasing their debut over a decade ago, this may be their most cohesive and grounded album.

7. Lathe of Heaven (named after the 1971 sci-fi novel by Ursula K. Le Guin) is a NYC-based rock band that released “Bound by Naked Skies.” The album is described as “melodic riffs, urgent rhythms and science fiction-themed lyrics … in the no man’s land that exists between beauty and dissonance, offering a unique sound as reminiscent of Finnish post-punkers Musta Paratti as they are to pop pioneers A Flock of Seagulls.”

8. Andrew Savage (A. Savage) is the co-frontperson of Parquet Courts, but his latest solo album “Several Songs About Fire” stands firmly on its own. These don’t feel quite like the songs of his full band, though they’re clearly, obviously, of the same vein and family.

I was sold after hearing the advanced singles “Thanksgiving Prayer” and “Elvis in the Army,” but the full album is worth your time and repeated spins.

9. Back in October, the Swedish collective known as Goat, released its fourth album for Sub Pop titled “Medicine.” By any metric, it is a hard-to-pigeonhole record of “alternative and experimental fusion.” Is it folk? World? Psychedelia? Rock and roll? I’m honestly not sure, and I certainly don’t care. It was easily one of the best I heard all year, and it only got better with each subsequent listen.

10. Julien Baker, Lucy Dacus and Phoebe Bridgers were all indie successes prior to forming boygenius and releasing “The Record.” I will admit to being fully late

to them as a whole, while having seen two of the three rippers live in their solo states. The lone member I have never seen live, Julien Baker, won me over from a pure guitar-playing standpoint. I never gave their collaboration album the listens it deserved, but I made up for it the last five months or so after seeing footage of Baker. Consider me a convert.

11. As you may or may not know, I am fortunate enough to work for our local college and community/public radio station. As such, part of my job is monitoring the airwaves, our many students and volunteer DJ’s, and the music they choose to play.

Over the last few months, I’d hear a band/song that I wasn’t rightly familiar with but very much into, and I’d either walk down to or call the main studio, or check kdur.org to see who it was. I think seven times out of 10, it was something off Slow Pulp’s sophomore record “Yard” – female-fronted downtempo indie rock, which I bet translates to a hell of a live show.

Finally, here are those that could’ve been made into a Top 11 on their own – and I gave them previous mention this past year. Keep in mind that all of them should be included in the above conversation. If you’re so inclined, go back for listens: Yo La Tengo – “This Stupid World;” Shana Cleveland – “Mannzanita;” Water From Your Eyes – “Everyone’s Crushed;” Slowdive – “everything is alive;” Gracie Horse – “L.A. Shit;” Woods – “Perennial;” Spitting Image – Full Sun;” and Ghost Woman (who actually released not one but TWO records this year) - “Anne, If” and “Hindsight is 50/50.”

Chances are I missed some of your favorites, so –

boygenius, made up of indie powerhouses (from left) Phoebe Bridgers, Julien Baker and Lucy Dacus, released “The Record” in March of 2023. per usual – please send those recommendations my way. Along with questions, comments, and gripes.

Especially the gripes. KDUR_PD@fortlewis.edu ■

HEY!

Taking m ore 1 paper than stealing!is

If you need extra papers for fire-starter, piñatas, hamster cages or insulation, we keep back issues at many of our racks around town including:

• The Durango Post Office • Peerless Tire • Tele HQ in the Mayer Bldg, 679 E. 2nd Ave. Or give us a call at 970-259-0133 & we’ll try to hook you up.

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Dec. 28, 2023 n 9

CoffeeConfidential

Quitters never win A cautionary tale of trying to kick the caffeine habit

by Jennaye Derge

L

ike any true-blooded, deep-to-thebone addict, I took my first sip of coffee when I was young and I haven’t really stopped since. There is no need to explain why, or how I can’t stop drinking coffee, but there is a reason to ask why I’d want to. Which is exactly what my friends asked when I told them I was quitting caffeine this week. Again.

I say “again,” because this is probably the third time I’ve unofficially quit drinking coffee in my short life; mostly for health reasons, but I also think it would be nice to wake up early and not have to be late everywhere I go because I have to complete my full coffee routine.

Or, it would be nice to go on overnights in the backcountry without having to be “that person” who has to sit outside in the cold morning to boil water for a bitter cup of instant coffee while everyone else sleeps or packs up camp. Yes, it all would be nice.

As nice as drinking coffee? No. Of course not. Drinking coffee is amazing, but I somehow decide to quit caffeine every quarter of a decade for reasons that hold more weight than my love for the beverage, and every time I quit, I have to lie to force myself to take that last and final sip.

That last sip – the cold turkey first step to quitting – is a total sham. If you’re thinking about quitting caffeine, let me tell you that the first moments seem fun and exciting because you are proud that you are doing something difficult that is, hopefully, good for you.

Withdrawals schmidrawals. That first moment of quitting, the symptoms have yet to set in, so you think it will all be a piece of cake (not coffee cake though), and you think you are strong and brave and you can’t wait for your bright new future sans caffeine.

The internet warns that withdrawals start to set in after about 12 hours. My younger self would agree to this fact.

However, my older self took note of a two-hour onset. Before I knew it, it was early afternoon and I was staring blankly at the wall. I was starting tasks and immediately abandoning them because I remembered another task I needed to do, and then I’d abandon that

task as well, forgetting where I was going to begin with. Within four hours of going caffeine-less this week, I was walking around my house with two different shoes on and a half-eaten pop tart in my hand, while a timer was buzzing, and my phone was sitting in my hand with a half-written text message to my friend whom I was supposed to somehow meet in an hour. My head hurt,

Four Corners Slow Money 2024 loan application for Deadline Jan. 14! local organic farmers Now available at www.fourcornersslowmoney.org 10 n Dec. 28, 2023

telegraph

and I felt lost, so I sat down on my bed, in the middle of half-folded laundry and I Googled, “How do long symom…”

Backspace. Backspace. Backspace.

“When does cafene adict…” Backspace. Backspace.

“When will this fucking end???”

Search.

Google had a lot of opinions about the Ultimate Ending, including concern for

me, but the answers weren’t what I was looking for.

When I finally succeeded in my internet search, I discovered that caffeine withdrawals last anywhere from two to nine days, with a warning asterisk about symptoms lasting longer than two months. I was barely five hours in, I had friends to meet, things to do, and it was already Sunday. I had two important meetings on Monday and a full week’s worth of work ahead of me, so I Googled ways to speed up the process. Which you can’t. The internet told me to suck it up, take some painkillers and, like a bad hangover, drink a lot of water, pray I don’t puke (or maybe that would help?), and wait it out.

Wait out the list of caffeine withdrawal side effects which, coming from The National Library of Medicine is: “headache, fatigue, decreased energy/activeness, decreased alertness, drowsiness, decreased contentedness, depressed mood, difficulty concentrating, irritability and feeling foggy/not clear headed.” Included in other lists were nausea, questioning your sense of self, and some unspoken digestive issues. Which all sounded like things I didn’t want to do on a Sunday, so I started to second guess my decision. I was in the denial and bargaining stages, starting to think that my numerous cups of coffee a day wasn’t actually the source of my ailments, and that maybe if I just immersed myself with lavender and meditation every evening, my day full of caffeine wouldn’t harm me. I was second guessing my decision to quit, so I reached for informational backup again from Google.

“Why should you quit caffeine?” I typed in my phone, sitting on my bed, still wearing different shoes.

And Harvard School of Health’s website responded with their freaking chair of the Department of Nutrition at Harvard saying that “‘The overall evidence has been pretty convincing that coffee has been more healthful than harmful in terms of health outcomes,’” and that “2–5 cups a day … is linked to a lower likelihood of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, liver and endometrial cancers, Parkinson’s disease and depression. It’s even possible that people who drink coffee can reduce their risk of early death.”

I was, by quitting coffee, in a roundabout way, opting in for disease and an early death.

I tried a different link, and a different search, and over and over the seemingly trustworthy articles listed all the good things that coffee does for us, followed up by a small list of the bad: jitters, anxiety, sleepless nights and pregnancy complications. None of these things really applied to me (perhaps a touch of anxiety, but who doesn’t it apply to?) so I got sad about my decision to quit (because depression is a withdrawal symptom), and then went to bed and slept for 10 hours.

The next morning I woke up and did nothing because I no longer had a coffee routine. I sat on my couch like I usually do with a french press of joe, but without the french press or joe, and I looked out the window at birds. The birds were cute and bouncy and they were flying around while I was floating in fog for an hour and then I took 30 minutes to dress myself for a professional Zoom meeting that I could barely log into.

“I don’t feel very well.” I felt forced to tell my Zoom team. I told them I was feeling sick, which wasn’t a lie, just in case they asked me a question I couldn’t respond

to. Or I asked them a question they just answered, or I said something really dumb and confusing about something we weren’t even talking about. However, I floated along the meeting surprisingly well, and logged out feeling pretty good about myself until I got a follow-up email that took me 45 minutes to respond to.

I was just past 24 hours into a hell of my own making when I buckled down at my computer to work. I braced the edges of my desk, took a deep breath and told myself I could do this. I could focus and be productive. I could be analytical with the projects I was tasked to do, except that I couldn’t. Everything felt painful, literally because my head hurt, and because I could not get my brain to do what it needed to do.

Why was I doing this to myself? I had to keep going. I had to follow through. It might suck now, but it could really help me in the long run. Only time would tell.

I felt cold and confused and the clock was ticking while I zoned out on the sky outside my window.

Deadlines were imminent, emails were stacking up and going unresponded to. My dog kept pawing at me and when I’d stand up to let him outside, I’d get distracted by a misplaced dish in the kitchen or a jacket that needed to be hung up. Then I’d sit back down at my computer with a half-written email …to whom? I couldn’t remember, and I don’t even know what I was trying to say, and when I saw all the confusion, sadness and unproductivity in my life, I folded. I had to.

There were things that needed to be done, so I made myself a small cup of coffee, took one final foggyheaded gaze at the bouncy birds outside, took a sip and happily got back to work. ■

POWER IT FORWARD

WITH LPEA’S GIVING TREE Donate and help your neighbors keep the lights on this holiday season.

1.

Venmo us @GivingTree_LPEA (or scan the QR code) 2. Call us at (970) 247-5786 3. Drop off your donation at our office in Durango or Pagosa Springs.

Donations will be accepted through January 31st, 2024.

www.lpea.coop | (970) 247-5786

telegraph

Dec. 28, 2023 n 11

StufftoDo

Thursday28

SW Sierra Club Group Meeting, 3:30-4:30 p.m., Carvers Brewing Co.,1022 Main Ave. Winter Friends and Family Art Show, 4-7 p.m., Durango Welcome Center, 802 Main Ave. Whiskey Tasting & Cocktails, 5 p.m., Hoody’s, 1 Skier Place, Purgatory Resort.

Thursday Night Sitting Group, 5:30 p.m., Durango Dharma Center, 1800 E 3rd Ave., Ste. 109

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

Bluegrass Jam, 6 p.m., Durango Beer & Ice, 3000 Main Ave.

Aria PettyOne presents Aria’s Pizza Party, 8:30-9:30 p.m., Father’s Daughters Pizza, 640 Main.

DJ Party, 9 p.m.-2 a.m., Roxy’s, 693 Main Ave.

Saturday30

New Year’s Eve party, featuring DJs Bad Goat, Baby Del & Spark Madden, 8:30 p.m., 11th St. Station, 1135 Main Ave. Desert Child plays, 9 p.m., Dec. 31, Animas City

Coke Race #1, 9 a.m., Durango Nordic Ski Club, HWY 550

Theatre, 128 E. College.

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

Monday01 New Year’s Day

Adam Swanson Ragtime, 5:30-10 p.m., The Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.

Poetry Night, 6 p.m., Durango Sustainable Goods, 1259 Main Ave.

The Black Velvet duo, with Nina Sasaki & Larry Carver, 6 p.m., Derailed Pour House, 725 Main Ave.

Live music by Tim Sullivan, 6-9 p.m., The Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave

Karaoke, 6 p.m., Durango Beer & Ice, 3000 Main Ave.

Live music by Rob Webster, 6-9 p.m., The Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave.

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

Trivia Night, 6:30 p.m., Powerhouse Science Center, 1330 Camino del Rio.

NYE Countdown Party! 8:30 p.m., EsoTerra Ciderworks, 558 Main Ave.

Silent Disco, 10 p.m.-12:30 a.m., 11th St. Station.

Ukulele Jam, 5 p.m., Durango Coffee Co., 730 Main Ave. Happy Hour Yoga, 5:30 p.m., Ska Brewing, 225 Girard St. Comedy Showcase, 7:30 p.m., Starlight Lounge, 937 Main Ave. Meditation and Dharma Talk, 5:30 p.m., Durango Dharma Center, 1800 E. 3rd Ave., Ste. 109, or at www.durangodharmacenter.org

Tuesday02

Drag Trivia Night, 7:30 p.m., Starlight Lounge, 937 Main Ave.

Sunday31

Friday29

Feed the People! free aid for homeless community members, 2 p.m., Buckley Park.

Slow Bluegrass Jam, 5:30-7:30 p.m., General Palmer Hotel, 567 Main Ave.

Vinyl Sundaze, 12 noon, Lola’s Place, 725 E. 2nd Ave.

Open Mic Night, 7 p.m., Starlight Lounge, 937 Main Ave.

Sunday Funday, 6 p.m., Starlight Lounge, 937 Main Ave.

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

Free Friday Yoga, 8:30 a.m., Lively (a boutique), 809 Main Ave.

Gary B. Walker, 10:15 a.m.-12 noon, Jean-Pierre Bakery & Restaurant, 601 Main Ave. Sitting with Peace meditation, 12 noon, Durango Dharma Center, 1800 E 3rd Ave., Ste. 109 Fanny Pack Fridays, 3 p.m., The Nugget Mountain Bar, HWY 550, south of Purgatory.

Tinsel Party, 5 p.m., EsoTerra Ciderworks, 558 Main Ave. Jack Ellis & Larry Carver play, 5:30 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.

New Year’s Eve

Community Yoga, 4:30-5:30 p.m., Yoga Durango, 1485 Florida Rd. Donations accepted.

New Year’s Eve Fireworks Show & Torchlight Parade, 6-7 p.m., Dec. 31, Purgatory Resort.

New Year’s Eve Performances, 6-9 p.m., The Strater Hotel, 699 Main Ave. Blue Moon Ramblers, 6-9 p.m., The Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave. Live music by Joel Racheff, 6-9 p.m., The Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave.

Wednesday03

Morning Serenity: Small Group Meditation, 8-9:15 a.m., Durango Dharma Center, 1800 E. 3rd Ave., Ste. 109

Restorative Yoga for Cancer, 9:30-10:45 a.m., no cost for cancer patients, survivors and caregivers, Smiley Building, 1309 E. 3rd Ave. Info and register at cancersupportswco.org/calendar

Friday Dance! 6 p.m. West Coast swing lesson; 7 p.m. dance-of-the-month lesson; 8-10 p.m. open dancing, VFW, durangodancing.com

Live music by The Garrett Young Collective, 7 p.m., Purgy’s at Purgatory Resort

Live music by Ben Gibson, 5:30 p.m., Public House 701, 701 E. 2nd Ave.

Live music by Dustin Burley, 6 p.m. – 9 p.m., The Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave.

New Year’s Eve Gala, 7 p.m., The Subterrain, 900 Main Ave., Suite F.

Open Mic, 6:30 p.m., EsoTerra Ciderworks, 558 Main Ave.

New Year’s Eve Party

Sun., Dec. 31, 8:30 p.m. - 1 a.m.

Featuring DJs Bad Goat, Baby Del & Spark Madden 1135 Main Ave. • DGO, CO

12 n Dec. 28, 2023

Tickets available on Eventbrite

telegraph

AskRachel

Rings around the rosie and spelling divorce Interesting fact: Auld lang syne is Scots for “old long since,” or basically, “long long ago.” I’m holding out for Scots-language “Star Wars,” in a galaxy far, far awyne.

Dear Rachel, Ring in the New Year with a ring. I see rings on eyelids, noses, lips, nipples, belly buttons and of all places, the privates. What’s going on?

How do they get past airport security?

– Ring Worm Dear Ringarounda Rosie, Where are you going that you’re seeing all these nipple rings and rings-around-the-privates? Let alone – wait, eyelid rings? You couldn’t bleeping blink with an eyelid ring. Also, that could not, not, not be good for your eyeball. Now I’m dying of curiosity. Are these proper 360-degree rings you’re seeing punched through eyelids? Or are they more like earrings, gems and danglies on one side, studs or long hooks on the back?

Do they fasten shut the top and bottom eyelids?

– Ring ’em up, Rachel Dear Rachel, My dear friend just remarried this year. I don’t know the new wife well. But she sent me a Christmas card. She misspelled my name inside. Half a point deduction – it’s easy to

Trivia Night, 7 p.m., Bottom Shelf Brewery, 118 mill St., Bayfield.

misspell my name. Then, she signed her name and my friend’s and misspelled his name. Her own husband’s! Ten points in the minus column. How, in what world, is this acceptable?

Not only do I officially dislike her now, but I feel I ought to check with my amigo and make sure he knows. You think?

– Name Check Dear Naim Chek, Haven’t you ever been in love? Annoyances and inconsiderations are charming! Those are just the quirky little touches that make your friend realize just how smitten he is with his darling bride. Her mind is too vast to be worried about his name. At least she used the right name! Right? Right?? Only after the first sheen wears off, and the first crack breaks in the amor, will the marriage come crumbling down.

There’s nothing you can do to rush it, I’m afraid.

– Nominally, Raychelle Dear Rachel, I’m officially old. I don’t wanna stay up til midnight. I don’t wanna be awake for the countdown. I don’t need to kiss someone at the stroke of twelve. I really, truly, don’t care about NYE anymore. It’s not the only opportunity around here to get dressed up and party.

Nor is it the best one. Do you think it’s OK

Cascade Canyon Winter Train, thru May 2024, Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, 479 Main.

Karaoke Roulette, 8 p.m., Starlight Lounge, 937 Main Ave.

Upcoming

The artwork of Louisa Palmer in the Recess Gallery, Studio &, 1027 Main Ave. Exhibit runs thru Dec 31.

“Ec(h)o,” woodwork and art of Ted Moore, thru Jan. 5, 2024, 11th Street Station.

that I want to save my effort for much worthier occasions in 2024?

– Dropping the Ball Dear Fumble, You are not alone. I have never, ever, ever loved New Year’s Eve. It’s just, I don’t know, not exciting to me. And what is an auld lang syne, anyway? I say we party poopers unite to celebrate the new year in like Greenwich Mean Time or something. We could all go get our nips, privvies and eyelids pierced around four o’clock and be in bed by sundown.

– New year, same me, Rachel

Wars” on Native artists, FLC’s Center for Southwest Studies. Thru August 2024.

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

Ongoing

telegraph@durangotelegraph.com

“Landscapes of Light,” artworks by Matthew Sievers, Jan. 5, 5-7 p.m., Blue Rain Gallery, 934 Main Ave. Elks National Hoop Shoot, Jan. 6, doors 8:30 a.m., Whalen Gymnasium, Fort Lewis College, 1000 Rim Dr.

Christmas Tree Drop Off, 8 a.m., Santa Rita Park, thru Jan. 31, 2024

Demo Days, Sun., Jan. 7, 9 a.m. -3 p.m., Purgatory Resort.

Venture Snowboards Demo Day, Sat., Jan. 14, 9 a.m.-4 p.m., Purgatory Resort.

“The Return of the Force,” art exhibit exploring the influence of “Star

Mountainfilm on Tour, Jan. 13, 5:45-8:30 p.m., Kendall Mountain

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

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

Dec. 28, 2023 n 13

FreeWillAstrology

by Rob Brezsny ARIES (March 21-April 19): Among couples who share their finances, 39 percent lie to their partners about money. If you have been among that 39 percent, please don’t be in 2024. In fact, I hope you will candid about most matters with every key ally in your life. It will be a time when the more honest and forthcoming you are, the more resources you will have at your disposal. Your commitment to telling the truth as kindly but completely as possible will earn you interesting rewards.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): According to ancient Israel tradition, a Jubilee year happened every half-century. It was a “trumpet blast of liberty,” in the words of the Old Testament book Leviticus. During this grace period, enslaved people were supposed to be freed. Debts were forgiven, taxes canceled and prisoners released. People were encouraged to work less and engage in revelry. I boldly proclaim that 2024 should be a Jubilee Year for you. List the alleviations and emancipations you will claim in the months ahead.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): “Make peace with their devils, and you will do the same with yours.” The magazine Dark’s Art Parlor provides us with this wisdom about how to conduct vibrant relationships. I invite you to make use of it in 2024, because I suspect you will come to deeply appreciate how all your worthwhile bonds inevitably require you to engage with each other’s wounds, shadows and unripeness. Healthy alliances require you to deal respectfully and compassionately with each other’s darkness. Disagreements and misunderstandings are not flaws that discolor perfect intimacy; they are often opportunities to enrich togetherness.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Cancerian author Franz Kafka wrote over 500 letters to Felice Bauer. Her outpouring of affection wasn’t as voluminous but still very warm.

At one point, Kafka wryly communicated to her, “Please suggest a remedy to stop me trembling with joy like a lunatic when I receive and read your letters.” He added, “You have given me a gift such as I never even dreamt of finding.” I predict that 2024 will bring you, too, a gift such as you never dreamt of finding. It may or may not involve romantic love, but it will feel like an ultimate blessing.

14 n Dec. 28, 2023

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Inventor Nikola Tesla (1856–1943) felt an extraordinary closeness with sparrows, finches, pigeons and other wild birds. He loved feeding them, conversing with them and inviting them into his home. He even fell in love with a special pigeon he called White Dove. He said, “I loved her as a man loves a woman, and she loved me. As long as I had her, there was a purpose to my life.” I suspect 2024 will be an excellent time to upgrade your relationship with birds, Leo. Your power to employ and enjoy the metaphorical power of flight will be at a maximum.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): “All the world’s a stage,” wrote Shakespeare. He was suggesting we are all performers attached to playing roles. In response, the band Kingpins released a song “All the World’s a Cage.” The lyrics include these lines: “You promised that the world was mine / You chained me to the borderline / Now I’m just sitting here doing time / All the world’s a cage.” I believe that in 2024, you are poised to live your life in a world that is neither a stage nor a cage. You will have ample freedom from expectations, constraints and the inertia of the past. It will be an excellent time to break free from outdated self-images and your habitual persona.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): At age 12, an American girl named Becky Schroeder got her first of many patents for a product that enables people to read and write in the dark. I propose we make her one of your role models for 2024. No matter how old you are, I suspect you will be doing precocious things. You will understand life like a person at least 10 years older than you. You will master abilities that a casual observer might think you learned improbably fast. You may even have seemingly supernatural conversations with the Future You. SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Here are excellent questions for you to meditate on throughout 2024. 1. Who and what do you love? Who and what makes you spill over with adoration, caring and longing? 2. How often do you feel deep waves of love? Would you like to feel more of them? If so, how? 3. What are the most practical and beautiful ways you express love? Would you like to enhance the ways you express love; if so, how? 4. Is there anything you can or should do to intensify your love for yourself?

telegraph

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Like the rest of the planet, Scotland used to be a wild land. It had vast virgin forests and undomesticated animals. Then humans came.

They cut the trees, dug up charcoal and brought agriculture. Many native species died, and most forests disappeared. In recent years, though, a rewilding movement has arisen. Now Scotland is on the way to restoring the health of the land. Native flora and fauna are returning. I propose that you launch your own personal rewilding project in 2024. What would that look like? How might you accomplish it?

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Capricorn-born Lebron James is one of the greatest basketball players in history. Even more interesting is that he is an exuberant activist and philanthropist. His list of contributions is too long to detail, but he is a bountiful supporter of charities like After-School All-Stars, Boys & Girls Clubs of America, the Children’s Defense Fund, and his own Family Foundation. I suggest you make Lebron a role model in 2024. It will be a time when you can have more potent and far-reaching effects than ever before through the power of your compassion and generosity.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): I propose we make the shark your soul creature in 2024. Not because sharks predators. Rather, I propose you embrace the shark as a role model because it is a stalwart, steadfast champion with spectacular endurance. Its lineage goes back 400 million years. Sharks were on Earth before there were dinosaurs, mammals and grass. Saturn’s rings didn’t exist yet when the first sharks swam in the oceans. Here are the adjectives I expect you to specialize in during the coming months: resolute, staunch, indomitable, sturdy, resilient.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): In the 19th century, many scientists believed in the bogus theory of eugenics, which proposed that we could upgrade the genetic quality of the human race through selective breeding. Here’s a further example of experts’ ignorance: Until the 1800s, most scientists dismissed the notion that stones fell from the sky, even though meteorites had been seen by countless people. Scientists also rejected the idea that large reptiles roamed the Earth, at least until it became clear that dinosaurs had existed and become. The moral is even the smartest can be addicted to delusional beliefs and theories. I hope this inspires you to engage in a purge of your own outmoded dogmas in 2024. A beginner’s mind can be your superpower! Discover a slew of new ways to think and see.

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-Wed: 9ish - 5ish

Announcements Earn Your Master of Social Work (MSW) From the University of Denver (DU) here in Durango – for the two-year program starting in fall 2024. Classes are held on Fridays. For more info contact Janelle.Doughty@du.edu or www.du.edu/ socialwork.

Friday 6pm Dancing Lesson at VFW Go to DurangoDancing.com to get on notification list.

KDUR is Celebrating 50 years of broadcasting in 2025. Staff is on the hunt for past DJs with a fond memory, story or even recorded material! Please email station manager Bryant Liggett, Liggett_b@fortlewis.edu.

Classes/Workshops Intro Aikido Series Aikido boosts self-discovery through self-defense. Find the true you in the new you 2024. 4-week intro class M 6-8pm begins Jan 8. Register durangoaikido.com.

Text/call questions to 970-426-5257.

West Coast Swing Dance Dance more in 2024! 6-week class starts January 3. Learn the basics of West Coast Swing. Registration is required at www.westslopewesties.com.

HelpWanted PT County Coordinator Wanted Wildfire Adapted Partnership (nonprofit) seeks one parttime (30 hr/wk) County Coordinator to manage wildfire

education and mitigation programs in Montezuma and Dolores counties. Visit www.wildfireadapted.org to view full job announcement.

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

BodyWork

Wanted Cash for Vehicles, Copper, Alum Etc. at RJ Metal Recycle. Also free appliance and other metal drop off. 970259-3494.

Compassionate, Informed myofascial massage and structural integration, offering well-being and mindbody connection for 17 years. Now Receiving new clients. Melanie Higbee LMT, 970.238.0422

Lost/Found Lost: Man's Ring Lost in P.O. parking lot, inscribed, reward 970-375-7616

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

Lotus Path Healing Arts Fusion of Esalen massage, deep tissue

HaikuMovieReview ‘Reptile’ All the slithering creatures: dealers, dirty cops, real estate agents – Lainie Maxson & Acutonics. Kathryn, 970-201-3373.

CommunityService WRC Extraordinary Woman Award Nominations for 2024’s theme, “Women who advocate for equity, diversity and inclusion.” at wrcdurango.org.

Nominations due by Mon., Jan. 15.

ForSale TaoTronics 4k Action Camera New and in the box. Comes with user guide and all accessories that came with it: waterproof housing, handlebar/pole mount, mounts, battery, tethers, protective back cover, USB cable and lens cleaning cloth. $50. J.marie.pace@gmail.com Reruns Home Furnishings Brighten up your space. Lots of new inventory including serving and glassware for the holidays, and cool furniture, lamps and decor. Looking to consign smaller furniture pieces. 572 E. 6th Ave. Open Mon.-Sat. 385-7336.

Services Marketing Small/Local Businesses Media, website building and content editing, copywriting and editing, newsletters, blogs, etc. for small, local, independent or startup businesses. www.thesaltymedia.com or email jnderge @gmail.com 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.

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Dec. 28, 2023 n 15

16 n Dec. 28, 2023

telegraph