the durango
Turning the big 4-0 and the reality of routine maintenance by Zach Hively
Colorado’s first licensed psilocybin healing center readies to open by Molly Cruse / Colorado Public Radio 11
Who saves who?
Sometimes, when a stray wanders into your life, it’s for a reason by Lawrence Goral
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The Durango Telegraph publishes every Thursday, come
10 April pickins
Bluegrass Meltdown, Ragtime Fest, Beat Kitty, Ghost.Wav and more ... by Stephen Sellers
On the cover
Two elk appear to have a private conversation under the streetlights while the city sleeps. The mural, on the side of the Gardenswartz store on 8th and Main, was done by artist Ben Rogers and made possible through city’s lodgers tax funds and the Durango Creative District./ Photo by Missy Votel
Ear to the ground:
“For his 60th birthday, someone gave him a pickleball paddle and five Viagras.”
– How to party like a rockstar at any age
The winners are ...
In case you’ve been doing the Rip Van Winkle lately or, more likely, taking a break from the thoroughly exhausting news cycle, Durango’s got a few new/old City Council members
In last Tuesday’s election, incumbent and current mayor Jessika Buell and newcomers Shirley Gonzales and Kip Koso were elected to serve four-year terms as city councilors.
In addition, Ballot Question 2A, which asked voters to re-approve a half-cent sales tax for parks and recreation and to renovate the old 9-R Administration Building into a new police department and city hall, also passed.
• Koso, 58, grew up in Durango, moving back most recently in 2016. He retired from a consulting job for a large hospital on the East Coast in September. He has worked in the health and wellness field for more than 30 years, including nine years with the Southern Ute Indian Tribe and SunUte Community Center in Ignacio. He is also a member of the Local First board and said he enjoys volunteering and fostering community.
• Gonzales, 52, moved to Durango two years ago from San Antonio, where she served as a city councilor from 2013-21. In San Antonio, she also operated a small family business. She said she is especially passionate about transportation alternatives and small-business development. She owns Pedal the Peaks in Durango with her husband and has three children.
• Buell, 44, was first elected to council in 2021. She owns two businesses, Marketing Concepts Squared and Lucky Services, and is a mother of two teen-age boys. She supports small businesses and said the city has made great strides in economic development and housing, but there is still work to be done. According to the La Plata County Clerk and Recorder, total voter turnout was 34% with 4,875 votes cast out of 14,307 registered city voters. Election results are preliminary and will be finalized at the April 15 City Council meeting.
Preliminary results, in order:
• Kip Koso: 3,571
• Shirley Gonzales: 2,725
• Jessika Buell: 2,698
• Chris Elias: 1,781
• Olivier Bosmans: 1,305
For Ballot Question 2A, there were 3,230 yes/for votes and 1,557 votes of no/against. Councilor Melissa Youssef's term limit has been reached, and her last City Council meeting was April 1.
LaVidaLocal
Derm and dermer
I’m nearing 40. Reaching this age teaches a man a lot of things, among them that 40 is not nearly as old as I thought it was.
I came by this delusion honestly. Forty sure seemed old until now because my parents, when they were 40, were significantly older than I am now. I can also think of one middle-school teacher in particular who skewed my perceptions. He had the visual texture of a neglected Red Wing boot. Now, having also been worn down by almost 40 years of my own, I realize he had something extra: excessive exposure to middle schoolers. For putting up with the likes of us for nearly two decades, he looked GREAT.
Even though I’m not as old as other nearly-40-yearolds, I still need to take certain precautions into consideration. Like continuing to limit my exposure to middle schoolers. Like learning what exactly a 401(k) is. Like partaking in routine health exams recommended for Men of a Certain Age, Whether or Not We Agree with That Age.
It’s in my interest not to die young even if, on paper, I’m getting older. I’m beginning with what appears to be the least invasive of these routine health exams, which is a skin cancer screening.
least in that moment, accepted my insurance. That’s right: the don’t-make-meuse-the-phone generation is entering its big four-ohs.
The dermatologist’s office scheduled my critical preventative care appointment several months out. Fortunately, this placed my appointment in that small window when health insurance companies were reluctant to deny any coverage at all, especially for handsome white men.
I took great skin care precautions in my earlier years. For instance, I wore a baseball cap – the same baseball cap – for four presidential terms, back when we youths curved the bills of our caps AND wore it over our faces. This fashion provided shade and shielded me, at a distance, from an obvious lack of coolness.
I also wore a shirt in outdoor public spaces for most of my adolescence and manhood, due to such debilitating body image issues as acne, lack of muscles and middle-schoolers being really mean at the pool, even to college graduates.
All for naught. If you listen to experts, you learn that you are at heightened risk for skin cancer if, like me, you have left the house at any point. Your odds worsen if you went out in daylight hours. You might slough off your epidermis every month, but UV radiation? That sticks like glitter, and it gets EVERYWHERE.
And that’s how you get spots like the one on my arm. I thought it was another weird zit. But then it didn’t pop and never went away. For two years. Now, as close to 40 as I’ve ever been, this spot inspired me to figure out whether or not I have insurance, and what, if anything, it covers.
Then I had to call and make an appointment with a dermatologist who, at
Thumbin’It
Relax, Buffs fans. You can now sleep –Coach Prime just signed a five-year contract with CU to remain as head football coach. Someone get me my Blenders.
Well, apparently the only friend Elon Musk can buy is Donald Trump. Despite his efforts to bribe Wisconsinites to vote for the Republican candidate in the state’s Supreme Court race, liberal candidate Susan Crawford won, by more than a little. Maybe try cheese curds next time, Elon.
Score one for working moms. The U.S. House just passed a measure to allow proxy voting for house members who are new parents, despite Republican leaders who tried to derail it for being “unconstitutional.” Wait … now they care about the Constitution?
I arrived on time, which is late, to fill out my emergency contact info. Then they put me in a room in full view of the lobby and told me to strip to my underwear.
So I’m in there, down to my skivvies, for two trained medical professionals to inspect at their leisure. They make casual chit-chat to put me at ease and make a conversation in my underwear feel more normal. Their idea of casual chit-chat appears to be asking me what they’re looking at today.
I balk. That’s why I’m HERE. In this room, our expected medical knowledge directly correlates to the layers of clothing we are wearing. The only resource I have in my pocket (which is over there on a chair at the moment) is the internet. It has convinced me that I am a walking squamous cell carcinoma because I forgot to wear my cap that one time.
So they whip out what sure looks like a black light flashlight. This makes me nervous. I don’t know what that black light will reveal on my skin. Remember, I was once a middle schooler. There is no telling what stains might show up. Also, isn’t UV light what caused this checkup in the first place?
But the trained medical professionals don’t seem concerned. They flash that radiation stick over every inch of my skin outside of my undies, and as a sign of their advanced education, they did not make a single hurtful comment about my physique. They aren’t concerned with any of my many spots, despite every one of them sure looking irregular to me after I stare at them too long.
I point out the not-a-zit on my arm, which the trained medical professionals seem to have overlooked. They freeze it off to shut me up and make me confident that I am getting my insurance money’s worth.
They recommend I come back once a year for the rest of my life, just to be safe. They even rebooked my next appointment for one year later, down to the minute. I appreciate their faith that I, who will be nearing 41 at that point, will still be kicking.
– Zach Hively
SignoftheDownfall:
The measles aren’t so measly anymore. Colorado had its first reported case this week in an unvaccinated Pueblo resident. We don’t care what happened in “The Brady Bunch,” we don’t want that sh**.
It’s been another week for Lauren Boebert. Not only is she still trying to remove wolves from the endangered species list, but in a hearing, she confused filmmaker Oliver Stone with Republican operative Roger Stone (who is not to be confused with Roger Rabbit.) Way to do us proud.
Fort Worth is ending a contract with a maker of fertilizer made from sewage sludge over concerns that forever chemicals are contaminating farmland and water, and sickening animals. Good thing we’re dismantling the EPA.
Last week, the makers of Fireball Whiskey launched a sweepstakes wherein 15 people will win a lifetime supply of Fireball. But to enter, applicants have to be at least 90 years old. Apparently, the goal is to put the “social” back in Social Security. According to the fine print, no whiskey will be awarded – winners will receive $2,700, enough to buy 158 bottles, which is a lifetime supply for anyone given that it’d kill you. The contest is open to U.S. residents only, which makes sense given that Fireball is banned in most European countries because of its high propylene glycol content. Fun fact: propylene glycol is an embalming fluid, so luckily, the 15 nonagenarians who win will get a head start on their funerals.
Whiskey Trick
Digging in
When environmental reality weighs us down, action is the antidote
by Richard Knight
Alot of us feel hopeless today. There’s the return of energy dominance as a federal goal, which places oil, gas and coal extraction above all other uses. There’s the extinction crisis affecting animals and plants that’s 1,000 to 10,000 times the regular rate of extinction. Then there’s the erosion of soil, as half of the planet’s topsoil has been lost in the past 150 years.
Water pollution has increased because about 80% of untreated wastewaters worldwide get discharged into waterways that supply communities. Worse is the elephant in the room –climate change – causing ever more major floods, violent hurricanes and extreme wildfires. Last year was also the first year the world exceeded the climate threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, at which climate impacts are expected to significantly increase.
These are just the headlines. It seems so grim today on planet Earth that archaeologists, biologists and other -ologists want to name this epoch the “Anthropocene” for our humandominated, hopeless present.
Is there an alternative to this gloom and doom? To function, I think there has to be, and much of that certainty comes out of a freshman course I teach called Environmental Conservation at Colorado State University in Fort Collins.
A hundred or more students enroll each semester, representing majors from pre-business to interior design, and the students are just three months out of high school when they arrive in the fall. The world they’ve begun studying seems anything but stable.
At the beginning of the semester, I ask them if their generation can “save the world.” There are always optimists who say “yes,” though in recent years fewer and fewer hands reach for the ceiling.
Over the course of the semester, we discuss the losses of land and wildlife, as well as the impacts of human population growth, the starkly different levels of per-capita global consumption, and the unintended consequences of technology.
We also gain familiarity with our local and regional watershed. We do that by participating in “ecological restoration” workdays, going to work on ranches with
conservation easements. There, the young students use their hands and tools to protect water sources, build wildlife-friendly crossings, and slow soil erosion by filling in gullies, among other solutions.
Watershed-based experiences like this can cut through the murky esoteric to the pragmatic: There are ways to live on our home planet without spoiling it. The best part is seeing students shifting away from a sense of despair.
Colorado has more than 150 collaborative conservation groups (collaborativeconservation.org) that bring
people together where they live, work, recreate and worship. Their aim is to improve the health of soil, water, plants and wildlife. This movement has grown throughout the West, spanning 11 states.
The antidote to our planet’s illnesses also has global reach. Paul Hawken, in his book
“The Blessed Unrest,” describes the more than 1 million bottom-up groups around the globe working toward environmental sustainability and social justice. Unlike traditional movements, this network is decentralized, collaborative, diverse and not driven by a single ideology or leader.
This good news applies to climate change as well, even though President Trump has, for the second time, removed the United States from the Paris Climate Accord. That leaves our country in the company of Yemen, Libya and Iran. But people concerned about global warming reacted by going public and objecting. More than 3,800 leaders from America’s city halls, state houses, boardrooms and college campuses have signed the “We are Still In” declaration (www.wearestillin.com/we-are-stilldeclaration). Signers represent more than 155 million Americans and $9 trillion of the U.S. economy.
My gut tells me that many of us refuse to give in to hopelessness. But can young people, inheriting our mistakes and the determination of some to deny there’s even a crisis, “save the world?” That’s a gigantic ask.
But can they make the watershed where they live better? If the state of one watershed after another improves, might the Earth over time become healthier, one watershed at a time? All we can do is get involved in conservation locally, regionally or nationally, joining a group or starting our own.
We can also contact our elected representatives to protest this administration’s intent to maximize extractive uses on public lands.
Let’s choose hope, get our hands dirty and make our optimism real.
Richard Knight is a contributor to Writers on the Range, writersontherange.org, an independent nonprofit dedicated to spurring lively conversation about the West. He works at the intersection of land use and land health in the American West. ■
Students from CSU’s freshman course “Environmental Conservation” build “beaver analogs” on the conserved Roberts Ranch, north of Fort Collins, in 2022. / Photo by Richard Knight
SoapBox
Dismantling democracy
As an elder, I’ve lived through many political crises in this country – but I have never seen an attack on our democracy like this. In the past, there was bipartisan opposition to lawlessness. Today, the guardrails are being dismantled before our eyes, and we must sound the alarm. How can my daughter and grandchildren survive such blatant, dictatorial actions. We must act now and until our rights are restored!
– Margaret E. Cozine Landrum, Durango
Trump has GOP fooled
As I read the news, I see no positives for Trump. Remember he is a convicted felon and has a photo of his mug shot in a frame near the Oval Office. How cute. He has many friends who are felons and make him feel great and secure. He moves from one thing to another to make you say, “What’s up doc?”
Wake up GOP, he has you fooled, and he lies and makes things up to please you. He has had six bankruptcies, and now he is going to bankrupt America.
Name a business that would hire him in Durango to manage the store? Oh maybe a few.
He could care less about us vets, as he has laid off 80,000 workers at the VA and fired or let go FBI, CIA and other government workers. I could go on and on … It’s all to cover his backside. Just like a mob boss, have all in your pocket.
I think Putin has him in his pocket. Why snuggle up to a dictator? We need to know. Vets or police officers, would you trust Trump to protect you in a fox hole or dark alley?
– Bob Battani, Durango
Leaving Tri-State is risky
Joe Lewandowski’s recent letter (Telegraph, March 20, 2025) leaves out crucial facts about LPEA’s decision to leave Tri-State – and what’s really at stake for co-op members.
Tri-State isn’t some big, faceless corporation. It’s a member-owned, not-forprofit rural cooperative made up of 42 co-ops like ours. Its mission is to provide reliable, affordable power while reinvesting in local communities – not profits for investors. Tri-State has steadily in-
creased its renewable energy portfolio, now providing more than 50% renewables and working toward 70% by 2030. fossil fuels and consistently meets strict environmental regulations.
In fact, Tri-State’s environmental efforts have earned real recognition. It has been awarded Silver Achiever status in the Colorado Environmental Leadership Program and received the Environmental Stewardship and Pollution Prevention award from the Colorado Mining Association for six consecutive years. In October 2024, even the Sierra Club highlighted Tri-State’s selection as a finalist for the USDA’s Empowering Rural America (New ERA) program, designed to support clean energy initiatives in rural areas. And in June 2024, the Sierra Club also recognized Tri-State’s proposed Electric Resource Plan, which not only outlines significant emission reductions – targeting an 89% decrease – but also provides direct financial assistance to communities impacted by coal plant closures. That’s a track record of proven, measurable commitment to cleaner energy, rural communities and responsible operations.
Instead of strengthening this successful cooperative model, LPEA’s current board voted to pursue an unnecessary and costly $209 million buyout, walking away from a stable, member-owned partner to hand our future to Mercuria Energy Group Ltd. – a for-profit, multinational commodity trading company headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. Mercuria operates in global energy markets, trading in crude oil, natural gas, electricity, renewables and other commodities. Mercuria doesn’t produce energy or invest locally. Their business is buying and selling electricity on the open market, focused entirely on maximizing profits for shareholders. There’s no binding guarantee they’ll prioritize renewable energy, lower rates or community interests. Their loyalty lies with global investors – not with La
Plata County residents.
Even worse, LPEA members are already paying the price. Our energy rates are increasing to fund this $209 million buyout – money that could have stayed in our community. And here’s a fact often overlooked: the buyout won’t be finalized until April 2026. There’s still time to stop this risky, unnecessary move and return to a model built on local control and accountability.
The current board has steered us away from the cooperative values that built LPEA. No incumbent directors should be reelected. We need leadership who will protect rate stability, cooperative principles and longterm sustainability – not multinational profits.
Ballots arrive in April. Let’s take our co-op back.
– Kelly Hegarty, Durango
Public lands need protection
Last October, a group calling itself the Free Land Holder Committee (FLHC) decided to make claim to 1,460 acres of Forest Service land near Mancos. The rational? The U.S. Constitution, Louisiana Purchase, Treaty of Guadalupe Hildago excerpts and a loose affiliation of the group’s spokesman, Patrick Pipkin, of being Native American and some connection to a Mormon Pioneer in the Mancos Valley in the 1800s.
Now if memory or, more accurately, history serves, the Navajo and Ute peoples inhabited the area well before the 1800s, and prior to them, their relatives, the Ancestral Puebloans lived there. So the claim of “prior ownership” makes little sense.
The U.S. government claims ownership of the land and uses it for multiple purposes to serve the public. In
the FLHC “Proclamation - 001” dated Oct. 9, 2024, they state “under law and exclusive equity” – evidently referring to U.S. laws in prior named rationale – the group wishes to not only take the land ostensibly for grazing purposes (so they don’t have to pay USFS fees) but says it will not keep the public out.
Then why the fencing off the USFS lands they claim? Thankfully, Mancos residents took it down in support of the public lands. So let’s see, dispute U.S. government ownership of lands based on some excerpts of past law, throw in some nebulous Native ancestry claim, as well as Mormon pioneer connection, and sue the federal government to get the land?
This sounds a lot like what the Bundys tried with armed force back in 2014, with the exception of the FLHC not being armed.
And what about the state of Utah trying to take federal lands to return to the state, aka Celeste Maloy’s (UT-02) bill or the State of Utah’s lawsuit in the Supreme Court trying to wrest some 18.5 million acres of “unappropriated” federal lands into state hands?
Whether it’s individuals who believe they have rights to lands near them or a larger group in government who wants to exert state control over public lands, the bottom line is our public spaces are under threat. Land is a resource that is getting more and more valuable as a commodity, to make money or to make a livelihood from, and those seeking to make money off the land will use whatever means possible to attain it. Let your representatives know that you value our public lands and that we need to protect them now more than ever.
– Tim Thomas, Durango
Boom town
Colorado’s first licensed psilocybin healing center is getting ready to open in Denver
by Molly Cruse / Colorado Public Radio
The Center Origin, a newly established psychedelic-assisted healing center based in downtown Denver, is officially the state’s first licensed healing center.
The state began accepting license applications for healing centers, psychedelic facilitators and mushroom cultivation centers at the end of last year. Just under three months later, The Center Origin has now received its license to operate as a standard healing center.
“We’re eager to see all these other places coming online and also be able to give the good news that ‘Yes, it’s happening – we’re there,’” Mikki Vogt, a licensed psychedelic facilitator and co-founder of The Center Origin said. “I know it’s been a long wait for everybody.”
While the new center can’t immediately begin providing psychedelic-assisted
therapeutic services – they need to wait for the regulated medicine, psychedelic mushrooms, to become available – Vogt says she’s excited about this “next chapter.”
The Center Origin will also need to coordinate with local authorities on time, place and manner restrictions before providing services, according to a spokesperson with the state’s Natural Medicine Division, which oversees the licensing.
In 2022, Colorado voters approved Proposition 122, decriminalizing the personal cultivation, possession, consumption and sharing of psychedelic mushrooms. The measure also paved the way for state-licensed healing centers, where psilocybin can be administered to adults 21 and older by licensed facilitators – making Colorado the second state in the nation next to Oregon to offer regulated psychedelic-assisted therapy.
In addition to The Center Origin, 18 other applications for healing centers
Mushrooms for patient use are shown at a psilocybin service center in Gresham, Ore., on Nov. 18, 2024./Craig Mitchelldyer/APFILE
have been submitted to the state since the process opened Dec. 31, 2024. In addition, there have been 11 applications for cultivation facilities and four for product manufacturers.
Anybody 21 years or older who can afford it and passes a health screening can seek out psychedelic-assisted therapy. Many healing center advocates say these therapies could be revolutionary in helping with certain chronic mental health diagnoses including anxiety, addiction, PTSD, treatment-resistant depression and
major depressive disorder, a severe form of depression.
Once fully operational, The Center Origin plans to offer a range of holistic healing services, including massage and meditation alongside its psychedelic-assisted therapy program.
According to its website, The Center Origin also will serve as a space for outside facilitators to meet their clients and provide psychedelic-assisted therapy.
For more from Colorado Public Radio, go to: www.cpr.org ■
apply or learn more, email:
BetweentheBeats
Sonic bloom
April brings full spectrum of sound, from bluegrass to indie crooners
by Stephen Sellers
Greetings, dear readers! Spring is finally springing in Durango, and the music scene is blooming just as much as the daffodils and crocus outside your front door. From ragtime rhythms to bass-heavy blowouts, bluegrass pickers to indie crooners, there’s a full-spectrum of sound and community this month – and you’re invited. Now is the perfect time to get out and support your local music scene! May the blustery spring winds be at your back and, as always, see you on the dance floor!
• Durango Ragtime and Early Jazz Festival, Durango Arts Center, Fri.–Sun., April 4–6, 5 p.m. - If you’ve ever longed to stroll into a 1910s parlor and tap your toe to the sweet sound of a stride piano, this one’s for you. The Durango Ragtime and Early Jazz Festival returns with a stellar lineup, including Adam Swanson, Danny Coots, Jeff Barnhart and more of the most respected names in early American jazz. Whether you’re a seasoned jazzophile or just curious about the roots of modern rhythm, this is a rare chance to see true masters bring vintage music to vibrant life. Full schedule at www.durangoragtime.com
• Beat Kitty, Forest Thump, BADGOAT, Spark Madden, Animas City Theatre, Sat., April 5, 7 p.m.Classically trained flautist, metal enthusiast and DJ on the rise, Beat Kitty headlines her first ACT show this Saturday, bringing Spark Madden, BADGOAT and Forest Thump along for support. Beat Kitty has been knocking out sets at places like Meow Wolf, Sonic Bloom, Lightning in a Bottle and The Great Northern, just to name a few. Expect a high-energy, bass-forward experience with groove-infused rhythms and glitchy surprises. For fans of Maddy O’Neal, Glitch Mob and heavy low-end.
• Western Wallflowers and Alicia Glass, The Subterrain, Sat., April 5, 7 p.m. - Prefer your Saturday nights a little more introspection? Head underground, literally, to The Subterrain, and let the Western Wallflowers and Alicia Glass take the wheel. Expect moody melodies, rich lyricism and a warm atmosphere for anyone needing a sonic reset from the digital noise of daily life. The Wallflowers’ Southwestern sway meets Alicia’s crystalline vocals and dirtbag dream pop in a pairing that feels like a desert sunset in early spring.
• Kyle Smith and Ghost.Wav, Animas City Theatre, Wed., April 9, 7 p.m. - Midweek, ACT switches gears with a genre-bending double bill featuring Kyle Smith, a rising voice in California’s coastal punk-reggae scene, and Ghost.Wav, whose shimmering electronic-meets-organic soundscapes have been turning heads across the West. If Sublime, Pepper and Stick Figure make your playlist, this is your midweek medicine.
• Durango Bluegrass Meltdown, DAC, ACT and Wild Horse Saloon, April 11-13 - It wouldn’t be spring in Durango without the Bluegrass Meltdown, our homegrown hootenanny that takes over downtown with foot-stomping joy and furious fingerpicking. This year’s lineup is bursting with talent, including Danny Paisley and Southern Grass, Rob Ickes and Trey Hensley, Nick Dumas and Branchline,
Trey Hensley and Rob Ickes will take the stage for this year’s Durango Bluegrass Meltdown, April 11-13.
Stillhouse Junkies, and dozens more. Don’t sleep on the Old Time Barn Dance, either. Whether you’re stage-hopping with a weekend pass or catching a single set, the Meltdown offers something for diehards and dabblers alike. Expect spontaneous jams, family vibes and a crowd that blends cowboy boots with Birkenstocks.
• Duff Thompson w/ Westfield, Toast Records & Bakes, Sun., April 13, 6 p.m. - Wind down your weekend at Toast, where the intimate atmosphere and warm acoustics set the stage for a dreamy double bill. Duff Thompson brings a smoky, analog vibe reminiscent of ’60s-era folk-pop, and local Westfield opens the evening with her signature SpaghettiEastern reverie and reverb-laden dreamscapes. Perfect for all of you vinyl lovers and anyone looking for a quieter kind of magic in Durango’s favorite place to buy wax. Be sure to come early and stay after to peruse the collection of new and highquality used records.
• iAM Music Fest, multiple venues, May 1-4 - Looking a bit ahead, you’ll want to clear your calendar for this one. iAM Music celebrates 10 years with a four-day takeover of stages around town, spotlighting independent musicians from across the Four Corners and beyond. Featuring March Fourth, Blessing Bled Chimanga, Elder Grown, Desiderata, Westfield, Dana Ariel, Eli Emmitt and many more, this sprawling showcase serves up genre-hopping excellence, from Afrofusion and funk to folk-pop and psych-rock. More than just a concert, iAM is a living example of Durango’s collaborative spirit and DIY ethos in action. Damn, are we lucky to have them in Durango! ■
Man on the run
“The Oligarch’s Daughter” keeps pages flying with tale for the times
by Jeffrey Mannix
In keeping with an ancient, unattributed Chinese curse “May you live in interesting times,” our present way-too-interesting times exhorted me to take a deep breath and wallow in a new spy thriller. This one is by an expert in teaching readers how to bite fingernails that must now be worn to the nub in the Land of the Free and Home of the Brave.
Joseph Finder, who has 15 previous nail-biters that have won numerous awards and been made into a number of Hollywood movies, has a new suspense novel that dropped in January, “The Oligarch’s Daughter.”
The title almost seems as if it could have come from yet another exposé atop the second section of the New York Times. And while I’m not a connoisseur or even a casual fan of espionage thrillers, I am in awe of the writers who can keep all the analytic tradecraft and subtleties in order, only to pull out of the shadows a flawless plot. Finder has pulled the rabbit out of the hat here with “The Oligarch’s Daughter,” and smart money bets that he had every surface of his office plastered with Post-it notes.
Finder’s characters are the strings of his instrument, and with clumsy handling, the tune would fall to pieces. One might even guess that aspiring espionage writers have more rejection letters than writers of all other genres. It’s a locked-room stunt that not every novelist can pull off. Finder pulled it off in “Oligarch’s Daughter,” and I’d guess he’s nearly able to go out in public after three months of learning how to walk again.
How to explain the plot of “Oligarch’s Daughter” without spoiling the spectacle is either a Post-it note absurdity for a reviewer or a study of the characters’ porous personalities that enable recruitment and snooping while blood pressure rises. So here are the principal characters drawn with a pointillist’s thin, sharp brush.
Paul Brightman is a thirtysomething Wall Street cu-
bicle denizen in the bullpen of a small stock market speculator, Bernie Kovan, moving hundreds of millions of dollars in investment funds. Anything anywhere is game, and backbenchers like Brightman work obscene hours inspecting target companies in volatile industries. He can make fortunes overnight if his research holds water, as cousin Vinny would say.
Paul has cozied up with a lovely and unattached woman by the name of Tatyana. She’s quick to identify as Russian-America, and lives in a modest Manhattan apartment and takes photos of street people as an occupation. Paul is in love. Ta tyana is in love. And, after not too long, it comes time to meet Tatyana’s father and his latest wife. They’ve been invited to the traditional Sunday family dinner. And here is when the curtain rises, this story begins in earnest and sleep is lost in increments for the next 350 pages.
Tatyana’s father’s home is comprised of two elegant Upper East Side neoclassical townhomes put together. For Paul, who weighs observations all day long, the value of combining two century-old homes built for the very wealthy of a hundred years ago is so grandiose as to be self-effacing. And that’s before we go inside to see the gilded trappings and meet Tatyana’s garrulous father, the Russian oligarch Arkady Galkin.
nance business. He surprises Paul with questions about how he likes working for Bernie Kovan. In a short time and with the announcement of Paul and Tatyana’s engagement, Paul ambivalently accepts the clichéd sonin-law job offer, and Tatyana can’t refuse Daddy’s offer to upgrade and furnish the Manhattan townhouse they will move into after their marriage.
Arkady, it won’t come as a surprise, is also in the fi-
It’s important to understand that Paul is a straight arrow, nearly naive and dependably guileless. All the richness, Russianness, and 500foot yacht, Lear jet, helicopter and bodyguard ballyhoo plays in Arkady’s favor as he attempts to make Paul a company pet. And you have to appreciate that Finder has Tatyana recede. She has set the stage and becomes just the wife as Paul’s innocence is exploited by Arkady’s dubious worldwide operations being observed by U.S. and Russian undercover operatives.
That’s enough of a tease for you to see that these characters will cross lines, play roles and get rich beyond imagination. And you’ll be surprised to see that none of it makes Paul comfortable. Finder has crafted a kaleidoscopic world with “The Oligarch’s Daughter” that will doubtless be made into an expensive motion picture. And if you’re in the mood for a ride in a speeding transport, this book is guaranteed to overshadow the grim news of today for as long as you read it.
And when you go to pick it up, don’t forget to ask Maria’s Bookshop for your 15% Murder Ink discount. ■
An ode to the stray messiah
Once in a great while, if you are fortunate, an entity will touch your life – rare as a unicorn, bright and transitory as a shooting star. A gift, a fulcrum, perhaps a revelation.
Entities, I say, because not all are human. Maybe, even, had we eyes to see and hearts to feel, most are not.
Our neighborhood, in the skirt of piñon-juniper woodland, has a moderate human population, but other residents abound. Deer, squirrels, rabbits, foxes, coyotes, skunks; not infrequently I follow mountain lion tracks on my morning walk. A trio of bald eagles spent the winter on the ridge behind us. It’s a rich community, but not kind to the vulnerable or infirm wanderer.
The cat appeared to us, one random day when the nights were falling into single digits and puddles never thawed, out of the brush: skeletal, near blind with pus and discharge, skulking and desperate. Feral was my first thought –but when I approached, he thrust his crusty head into my hand. When I left to get him food and water he followed me, diligently as a well-trained dog. After we assembled a place for him in our garden shed, complete with blanket and heater, he still tried to follow me to the house. But I walked him back and pointed at the gapped door, and he entered without me and took up his new abode as if it had always been his. As if he knew.
Thus he entered our lives.
This is not the self-congratulatory story of adopting an unfortunate creature but a reflection on the myriad lives we overlook. Thibault – the name we gave him, signifying brave people – exhibited extraordinary qualities from that first day. He, like only two other cats I’ve been privileged to know, transcends the normal limitations of his species. I’ve met a handful of dogs over the years that likewise rose above the conventional understanding of doghood.
I have even, I must acknowledge, en-
countered a few humans who merit inclusion in this transformative fraternity.
All these shine in memory.
Such beings are scattered like windborne seeds across cultures and centuries, intersecting lives by chance or some unfathomable design. Some become seers, prophets, dreamers and visionaries – even messiahs – while others fall on barren ground where they lie unremarked and ultimately lost.
Time and timing, chance and serendipity, shape our destinies in ways we can never know. A momentary shift in our daily schedule, and Thibault would have ended as a coyote’s meal or a furred and flattened stain on the roadside, another passing casualty, insignificant as the rest. He was, in any event, no more than days from death when he found us.
What story would he tell if only he were able? What chain of circumstance or misfortune threw him onto this precipitous descent? Where had he journeyed, what had he endured? Clearly he was loved once, or he’d not be so human-attuned. Just as clearly, he was somehow severed from that idyllic past, cruelly, casually or just circumstantially.
Something else we can never know.
So one wonders – one must, unless one deliberately chooses not to – how many others? Not just thrown-away cats or dogs, but humans, too. How many children languishing in refugee camps; how many homeless, so easily dismissed as human flotsam; how many washed in the rising tide of mass migrations, flights from war, poverty, persecution or just a hostile sky or season; how many, subsumed in these hordes of the name-
less wounded, carry that same spark, that same potential for extraordinary transcendence, as the stray cat who staggered half-blind and toothless into our quotidian existence and transformed it?
Metaphor abounds and lessons surround us, an encroaching army of wisdom. If we listen, if we see. If we strive to penetrate beyond the disfigured skin, to discern, beneath our differences, our commonalities: deeper than race, gender, religion, nationality – deeper even than species.
Thibault looks into my eyes in a way most cats never do: as if there is a seeking, a reaching for communion. I look back, trying just as hard to connect. Likely I can’t; likely some secret message must remain forever untransmitted, untranslated, interdicted by the gulf between species. But maybe, maybe, the real illumination rises in the attempt.
It’s been a few weeks since Thibault came to us. He’s still not well –wheezing, struggling – but he is improving. We have learned that we’ll never be able to restore him to full health, but we don’t know, can’t know, how long we’ll have with him. Of course that is the great uncertainty each of us must carry through every life, every relationship: the whims of fate and hazard. What we do know is that he has, in his quiet needful way, immeasurably enriched us.
So maybe, even in the darkest times, the fundamental lesson is this: that it will always be the smallest, most unremarked kindnesses, given or received, that sustain us.
– Lawrence Blair Goral
Sometime in elementary school, Lawrence Goral decided he wanted to be a novelist when he grew up. Decades later, after an eclectic run of intervening years, he landed in a grown-up job as a technical editor and writer in environmental consulting. Now retired, he and his wife relocated at the tail end of the pandemic from New Mexico to Bayfield, where they have lived with one cat, until the subject of this essay joined them. ■
Thursday03
First Annual Read-a-Thon Fundraiser for Maria’s Literary Foundation, April 3-9, Maria’s Bookshop, 960 Main Ave. mariasbookshop.com
Real-World Theatre Speaker Series with Actor Erika Vetter, 1-2 p.m., Fort Lewis College Main Stage Theatre
Music Room Dedication honoring past piano players of the Diamond Belle Saloon, 2:30-3:30 p.m., Strater Hotel, 699 Main Ave.
Weekly Dart Tournament, 5:30 p.m., Union Social House, 3062 Main Ave.
Spanish Conversation Hour, 5:30-6:30 p.m., Durango Public Library, 1900 E. 3rd Ave.
Free Poetry Workshops, 6-7 p.m., Fort Lewis Mesa Library, 11274 Highway 140, Hesperus
Name That Tune Trivia Bingo, 6-8 p.m., Barons Creek Vineyards, 901 Main Ave.
Tim Sullivan plays, 6-9 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.
Andrew Schuhmann plays, 6-9:30 p.m., Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave.
Kirtan Chanting introduction, 6:30-7:30 p.m., Unitarian Universalist Church, 419 San Juan Dr.
Trivia Night, 6:30-9 p.m., Powerhouse Science Center, 1333 Camino del Rio
“Disney Descendants the Musical” presented by BHS Theatre, 7 p.m., Bayfield Performing Arts Center, 800 CR 501, Bayfield
Durango Ragtime & Early Jazz Festival Sampler Concert, 7:30 p.m., Durango Arts Center, 802 E. 2nd Ave.
Drag Trivia Night hosted by Aria PettyOne, 7:309:30 p.m., Starlight Lounge, 937 Main Ave.
Friday04
Durango Ragtime and Early Jazz Festival, 10 a.m.-9:30 p.m., Strater Hotel and the Durango Arts Center, 699 Main Ave. and 802 E. 2nd Ave.
“Dorothy’s Market” First Friday Maker’s Market, 3-7 p.m., EsoTerra, 558 Main Ave.
“Hit the Road” artist reception with Tony de Luz, 5-7 p.m., Blue Rain Gallery, 934 Main Ave., Unit B
Opening reception of “Sardines” artwork by Kimberly DeVenero, 5-8 p.m., The Recess Gallery at Studio &, 1027 Main Ave.
“Honoring Your Inner Child” art exhibit and opening reception, 5-8 p.m., Create Art and Tea, 1015 Main Ave.
First Friday Artist Social, 5:30 p.m., The ArtRoom Collective, Smiley Building,1309 E. 3rd Ave.
Larry Carver & Friends play, 5:30 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.
Andy Beyer plays, 6 p.m., American Legion Hall, 878 E. 2nd Ave.
Learn to Square Dance free beginner lesson, 6-7 p.m., LaPlata County Senior Center, 2424 N. Main Ave.
Celebration of Southwest Artist Joe Toledo, 6-8 p.m., Dancing Spirit Center for the Arts, 465 Goddard Ave., Ignacio
The Mindful Canvas intention-setting workshop, 6-8 p.m., Down, Dog Durango, 2970 Main Ave.
Dustin Burley plays, 6-9:30 p.m., Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave.
Duranglers Fly Fishing Festival, 6:30-8:30 p.m., Double Tree Hotel, 501 Camino Del Rio
“The Letter C,” written and performed by M. Wladron, 7 p.m., Sunflower Theatre, 8 E. Main St., Cortez
Spring Band Music Showcase presented by Stillwater Music, 7 p.m., The Light Box at Stillwater Music, 1316 Main Ave., Ste C
“Disney Descendants the Musical” presented by BHS Theatre, 7 p.m., Bayfield Performing Arts Center, 800 CR 501, Bayfield
Durango Ragtime & Early Jazz Festival After Party, 9:30 p.m., Diamond Belle, 699 Main Ave.
Saturday05
Duranglers Fly Fishing Festival, 8 a.m.-4 p.m., Duranglers Flies and Supplies, 923 Main Ave.
Free Never Ever Pole Dance Class, Saturdays thru April, 9 a.m., Durango Pole Dance, 3600 Main Ave., Ste. B, sign up at www.durangopole.com
Animas Valley RV Park Community Meeting to discuss proposed Roberts Resorts RV Park, 10-11:30 a.m., Durango Public Library. AVACDurango.org.
National Day of Action “Hands off!” downtown march and speakers presented by Indivisible Durango, 1 p.m., Buckley Park
Durango Ragtime & Early Jazz Festival silent movies with live music, 2:30-4 p.m., Durango Arts Center, 802 E. 2nd Ave.
March Madness Final Four viewing, 4-9 p.m., Union Social House, 3062 Main Ave.
Bluegrouse plays, 5-8 p.m., Mancos Brewing, 484 Hwy 160 E. Frontage Rd, Mancos
Duranglers Fly Fishing Festival Film Tour, 5 & 8 p.m., Doubletree Hotel, 501 Camino Del Rio
Euchre Night, 5:30-7:30 p.m., Union Social House, 3062 Main Ave.
The Mindful Canvas intention-setting workshop, 6-8 p.m., Down, Dog Durango, 2970 Main Ave.
Darryl Kuntz, 6-9 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.
Matt Rupnow plays, 6-9:30 p.m., Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave.
“The Letter C,” written and performed by M. Wladron, 7 p.m., Sunflower Theatre, 8 E. Main St., Cortez
Beat Kitty x Forest Thump x BADGOAT x Spark Madden, 7 p.m. doors, Animas City Theatre, 128 E. College Dr.
“Passion Meets Precision,” concert by the San Juan Symphony Orchestra, 7:30 p.m., Community Concert Hall, FLC
Durango Ragtime & Early Jazz Festival Grand Finale Concert, 7:30-9:30 p.m., Durango Arts Center, 802 E 2nd Ave.
Western Wallflowers & Alicia Glass play, 8 p.m., The Subterrain, 900 Main Ave.
Durango Ragtime & Early Jazz Festival After Party, 9:30 p.m., Diamond Belle, 699 Main Ave.
Sunday06
Durango Ragtime and Early Jazz Festival Sunday Brunch, 10 a.m.-12 p.m., The Strater Hotel and the Durango Arts Center, 699 Main Ave.
Lost Goat Market Days, 10 a.m.-3 p.m., Lost Goat Tavern, 39848 HWY 160, Gem Village
Board Game Sundays, 12-3 p.m., Lola’s Place, 725 E. 2nd Ave.
NCAA Women’s Final and Potluck, 12:45 p.m., Animas Valley Grange, 7271 CR 203
Weekly Peace Vigil & Rally for Gaza & Palestine, every Sunday, 4 p.m., Buckley Park
Blue Moon Ramblers play, 6-9 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.
Andrew Schuhmann plays, 6-9 p.m., Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave.
Monday07
Joel Racheff plays, 5:30-10:30 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.
Basketball National Championship viewing,
AskRachel
Heavy lifting, secret sauce and wannabe fan boy
Interesting fact: Baseball saw double-digit increases in its national TV audience for viewers age 1834 last year. Weird, because I didn’t think kids these days had attention spans.
Dear Rachel,
My grandpa is about to have rotator cuff surgery. He is 70 and they say his recovery is going to take 10 months. My parents told me it’s my summer job to help him lift things and do yardwork. I asked them if they’re paying me, and they say no. This means I can’t go get another summer job. What should I do?
– Volun-told Worker
Dear Enlisted Hand,
Family first, I’m afraid to say. Does Gramps require full-time support? I can’t imagine he has so many unlifted things that he needs you to lift them from 8-5 MF. If you’re so gung-ho about working, I have to think you could slot in some part-time employment around being a good grandkid. Either way, this has to put you in good standing for the eventual inheritance.
– Trust the fund, Rachel
Dear Rachel,
I’m a Coloradan, and my Mexican home cooking is probably far from the real thing. But I just had friends over for dinner, and one
6:30-9 p.m., Union Social House, 3062 Main Ave.
Comedy Open Mic, 8 p.m., Starlight Lounge, 937 Main Ave.
Swing & Brewskies dance lessons, 7-9:30 p.m., Durango Beer and Ice Co., 3000 Main Ave.
Tuesday08
Great Decisions Durango discusses “U.S. Changing Leadership of the World Economy,” 11:45 a.m., Durango Public Library, 1900 E. 3rd Ave.
Breast Cancer Networking Group, 4-5 p.m., Support Community Southwest Colorado, 1701 Main Ave., Ste. C
Pain Care Yoga, Tuesdays thru May 20, 4:30-5:45 p.m., Smiley Building Room 20A, 1309 E. 3rd. Ave. innerpeaceyoga therapy.com
“Like a Spark from Fire” book club, 5:30-7 p.m., Wild New Way LLC, 813 Main Ave., Ste. 201
Nook Ceramics grand opening celebration, 5-7 p.m., 98 Everett St., Bodo Park
said my red chile enchiladas weren’t real enchiladas because they didn’t have white sauce. I’m no expert, but he couldn’t tell me about it. Except it wasn’t spicy but it is definitely white. Oh and he’s from the Midwest. I bit my tongue in case I was the stupid one. Please tell me if I am in fact the stupid one.
– Enchi LaLa
Dear Gringo Salsa,
I’m also no expert on Mexican cuisine. Except I eat a lot of it. A LOT. There are some delicious creamy, cheesy sauces I’ve had. There are some others that I’ve regretted eating. But one thing I’ve never seen is “enchiladas de Indiana.” Ask your new friend to pronounce “tortilla.” If it starts like “tortoise” and ends like “flotilla,” you can discount everything he says.
– Buen provecho, Raquel
Dear Rachel,
I’ve been a baseball fan forever, but I haven’t had a team since the Expos. I live here now and wonder if I should adopt the Rockies. But I don’t meet many Rockies fans. Phoenix is only an hour farther than Denver. Maybe I should root for the Diamondbacks. Except Dbacks sounds an awful lot like … you know. Who do you think I should cheer for?
– Root Root Root
Email Rachel at
Dear Cracker Jack, Why would you pick real losers for your team? At this moment, the Rockies are in last place and the Dbags are in next to last. It doesn’t matter that they’re only four games in. Baseball is now an old fogey’s game. Maybe you should take over that kid’s summer job and talk about America’s pastime with his grandpa while he recovers.
– Yer out, Rachel
Sean Killoy speaks about American Red Cross to the Rotary Club, 6-7 p.m., Strater Hotel, 699 Main Ave.
DIY Body Care, 6-7 p.m., Durango Public Library, 1900 E. 3rd Ave.
Compass Points: Navigating Community Resources Speaker Series, 6-7 p.m., Sunnyside Library, 75 CR 218
Jason Thies plays, 6 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.
Wednesday09
Dealing with Bullying & Peer Pressure, skill-building workshop, 5:15-7 p.m., ELHI Community Center, 115 Ute St., Ignacio
Jason Thies plays, 5:30-9 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.
Skyhawk’s Football Happy Hour, 67 p.m., Lola’s Place, 725 E. 2nd Ave.
Writers & Scribblers Writing Group, 6-8 p.m., Durango Public Library, 1900 E. 3rd Ave.
Open Mic with Leigh Mikell, 7 p.m., EsoTerra Ciderworks, 558 Main Ave.
FreeWillAstrology
by Rob Brezsny
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Have you ever been part of an innovation team? Its goal is not simply to develop as many new ideas as possible but rather to generate truly useful new ideas and approaches. The most effective teams don’t necessarily move with frantic speed. In fact, there’s value in “productive pausing” –strategic interludes of reflection that allow revelations. It’s crucial to know when to slow down and let insights ripen. This is excellent advice for you. You’re in a phase when innovation is needed and likely. For best results, infuse your productivity with periodic stillness.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Barnacles are crustaceans that form vast colonies on rocks, whales and boats. They may grow so heavy on a ship that they increase its heft and require as much as a 40% increase in fuel consumption. Some sailors refer to them as “crusty foulers.” All of us have our own metaphorical equivalent of crusty foulers: encumbrances and deadweights that drag us down and inhibit our progress. The coming weeks will be a favorable time for you to shed as much of yours as possible. (I’ll be shedding mine in June.)
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): In 1088, the Chinese polymath and statesman Shen Kuo published his book “Dream Torrent Essays,” also translated as “Dream Pool Essays.” In this masterwork, he wrote about everything that intrigued and fascinated him, including the effects of lightning strikes, the nature of eclipses, how to make swords, building tall pagodas resistant to wind damage, and a pearl-like UFO he saw regularly. I think the coming weeks would be an excellent time for you to begin your own version. You could generate maximum fun and self-knowledge by compiling all the reasons you love being alive on this mysterious planet.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): The mimosa is known as the “sensitive plant.” The moment its leaves are touched, they fold inwards, exposing the sharp spines of its stems. Botanists say it’s meant to deter predators from nibbling it. Although Cancerians sometimes display equally extreme defense mechanisms, I’m happy to say that you will be unlikely to do so in coming weeks. You are primed to be extra bold and super-responsive. Here’s why: You are finely tuning your protective instincts so they work with effective grace – neither too strong nor too weak. That’s an excellent formula to make fun new connections and avoid mediocre ones.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): While sleeping, I dreamed of an old friend I had lost touch with for 20 years. When I awoke the next day, I was delighted to find an email from this friend, hoping for us to be back in touch. Hyper-rationalists might call this coincidence, but I know it was magical synchronicity – evidence that humans are connected via the psychic airways. I’m predicting at least three such events for you in coming weeks. Treat them with the reverence they deserve. Take them seriously as signs of things you should pay closer attention to.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): A star that astronomers call EBLM J0555-57Ab is 670 light years away. Its diameter is the smallest of any known star, just a bit larger than Saturn in our solar system. But its mass is 250 times greater. It’s concentrated and potent. I’ll be inclined to compare you to EBLM J0555-57Ab in the coming weeks. Like this modest-sized powerhouse, you will be stronger and more impactful than you may appear. The quality you offer will be more effective than others’ quantity. Your focused, dynamic efficiency could make you extra influential.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Libran jazz pianist and composer Thelonious Monk was an influential musician in part because he didn’t conform to conventions. According to music writer Tarik Moody, Monk’s music features “dissonances and angular melodic twists that are consistent with his unorthodox approach to the piano, which combine a highly percussive attack with abrupt, dramatic use of switched key releases, silences and hesitations.” Many of Monk’s most innovative improvisations grew out of apparent mistakes. He explored and developed wrong notes to make them into intentional aspects of his compositions. “His genius,” said another critic, “lays in his ability to transform accidents into opportunities.” I’d love to see you capitalize on that approach. You now have the power to ensure that gaffes and glitches will yield positive and useful results.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Author Richard Wright said that people “can starve from a lack of self-realization as much as they can from a lack of bread.” That’s rarely a problem for Scorpios, since you are among the zodiac’s best sleuths when exploring your inner depths. Does any other sign naturally gather more self-realization than you? No! But having said that, I want to alert you to the fact that you are entering a phase when you will benefit from even deeper dives into your mysterious depths. It’s an excellent time to wander into the frontiers of your self-knowledge.
Canan’t tell ll if it’s wi winter or sprpring?
We’ve got a great selection of both - lots of winter items on sale plus fun stuff for spring from Kuhl, Chacos and Anthro
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Andean condors hunt for prey while flying through the sky with their 10-foot wingspan. They’ve got a good strategy for conserving their energy: riding on thermal currents with little effort, often soaring for vast distances. I recommend that you channel the Andean condor in the coming weeks. Always be angling to work smarter rather than harder. Look for tricks and workarounds that will enable you to be as efficient and stress-free as possible. Trust that as you align yourself with natural flows, you will cover a lot of ground with minimal strain. Celebrate the freedom that comes from embracing ease.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): While hiking in nature, people often rely on their phones to navigate. And what if their battery dies or there’s poor cell service out in the middle of nowhere? They might use an old-fashioned compass. It won’t reveal which direction to go, but will keep the hiker apprised of where true north lies. In that spirit, Capricorn, I invite you to make April the month you get in closer communication with your own inner compass. It’s a favorable and necessary time to become even more highly attuned to your ultimate guide: the teacher within you.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): “It is advisable to look from the tide pool to the stars and then back to the tide pool,” Aquarian author John Steinbeck wrote. I think it’s useful counsel for you in the coming weeks. What does it imply? 1. Be tuned in to the small personal world right in front of you and the big picture of the wider world. 2. If you shift your perspective back and forth between the macrocosmic and microcosmic perspectives, you’re far more likely to understand how life really works. 3. You may flourish best by blending the evaluative powers of your objective, rational analysis and your intuitive, nonrational feelings.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): The earliest humans used bones and pebbles to assist in arithmetic calculations. Later, they got help from abacuses and crude mechanical devices. Electronic calculators didn’t arrive until the 1960s. All were efforts to bypass tedious reckonings. All were ingenious attempts to manage necessary details that weren’t much fun. In that spirit, I encourage you to seek time-saving, boredom-preventing innovations in the coming weeks. Now is an excellent time to maximize your spacious ability to do things you love to do.
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 durangotelegraph.com n classifieds@durango telegraph.com n 970-259-0133
Announcements
Applications for Advanced Standing MSW Program Students with a bachelor’s degree in social work (BSW) are eligible for a one-year Masters of Social Work program through the University of Denver. The program starts summer 2025 and classes are taught in Durango. Stipends for child welfare, integrated behavioral health care are available. Native American tuition support to eligible students is also available. For more info contact Janelle.Doughty@du.edu or www.du. edu/socialwork.
HelpWanted
La Plata Food Equity Coalition (LPFEC) Hiring Leadership Position. The LPFEC is searching for a 3/4 time Project Weaver to lead our coalition. Their work includes building and maintaining partnerships, managing the coalition’s 3.5 staff, facilitating strategic planning and implementation, and coordinating resources and accountability. The anticipated start date is July 7th, 2025. Learn more and apply here by 4/13: www.good foodcollective.org/available-positions
Wanted
Cash for Vehicles, Copper, Alum Etc. at RJ Metal Recycle. Also free appliance and other metal drop off. 970259-3494.
Books Wanted at White Rabbit Donate/trade/sell (970) 259-2213
Lost/Found
My Cat Cid is Missing
Long hair, white with black spots, green eyes. Last seen near 18th St. and E. 2nd Ave., by St. Columba. Reward. Call 970-403-6192
Classes/Workshops
West Coast Swing
Ready to dance? Join our 3-week West Coast Swing Basics series for beginners! It’s fun, social, and easy to learn—no partner or experience needed. A new series starts every few weeks, so join us for the next one! We also offer a weekly social dance – a fun drop-in option or included with your series registration! Sign up at: www.westslopewesties.com
Are You Ready for Guitar Lessons in Durango? I teach all ages and experience levels. Please contact Seth at 602-908-4475
Services
Boiler Service - Water Heater
Serving Durango over 30 years. Brad, 970-759-2869. Master Plbg Lic #179917
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.
Chapman
Electric Mike 970-403-6670
New construction, remodel, service upgrades, EV chargers, split systems and more. Colorado state licensed electrical contractor.
Electric Repair Roof, gutter cleaning, fence, floors, walls, flood damage, mold, heating service.
BodyWork
Massage by Meg Bush LMT, 30, 60 & 90 min., 970-759-0199.
ForSale
Reruns Home Furnishings
Time to spruce up your outdoor space. Multiple patio sets, bistros and patio items. Also looking to consign smaller furniture pieces. 572 E. 6th Ave. Open Mon.-Sat. 385-7336.
HaikuMovieReview
“A Complete Unknown” Folks seem to love this mush-mouthed prick but not as much as he loves him –
CommunityService
Dog Fosters Needed Parker’s Animas Rescue urgently needs foster families to provide temporary homes for rescued dogs. We supply all necessary items and cover vet visits. Join our mission: parkersanimalrescue.com.
Community Compassion Outreach at 21738 HWY 160 W is open Tues., Wed. and Fri. 9 a.m.- 4 p.m. for case management, client services, light breakfast, snacks, beverages and lunch with peerbased support and services for those with substance-use disorders and co-occurring mental health issues. Saturdays, CCO Coffee & Conversations takes place 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m. On Thursdays, Harm Reduction from 10 a.m.-1 p.m.
Engaging Volunteer Opportunity
Alternative Horizons needs volunteers to staff our hotline. Training provided. For info., visit alternativehorizons.org
by thousands of discerning eyeballs every week.
Lainie Maxson
